The Southland Times. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1866.

Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 214, 9 February 1866, Page 2

The Southland Times. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1866.

" Theee is no public spirit — it is nobody's home." This is a sentence of portentous meaning. It goes straight to the pride of the independent and patriotic mind. It coyers with a forbidding cloud the country to which it is applied. It divests present positions of half the contentment arising from settlemindedness, and deadens the energies of all. When political and social institutions are neglected public activity falls to zero, enterprise is destroyed, and the few who still see in the distance a bright future are forced to hesitate lest their hopings should be a mirage deluding them to false conclusions. The community to which this sentence can be legitimately applied, is in danger of sliding into mistakes and blunders from which all after efforts will fail to extricate it. The social fabric will become unstable, the political institutions crooked if not corrupt, and the governing few venial and lethargic. All the higher and more ennobling attributes of the human mind will be made subservient to debasing vices or reckless indifference to future events. With no settled purpose, with hope imprisoned, and the mind distracted, they become the toys of circumstance, to be tossed and flung about, like a ship without a rudder, — thought and action will become leaden, progress contracted, shrivelled up and destroyed. Let a people once fall into this state of semiimbecility and they are unable to battle against difficulties, to mould circumstances, or direct the current, which, if wisely watched, would bring prosperity. Can this be applied to Southland ? We fear it can. Politically and socially, public activity is scarcely discernible. At the present time we "are on the eve of an election for members of the Q-eneral Assembly — four good men and true are required, and yet no systematic effort has been made to bring forward candidates of the right stamp. The future of Southland is tottering in the balance, and still the people make no attempt to kick the beam in favor of progress. The next Session of the Assembly will decide the question of Federal Separation, or a continuation of the mongrel, zig-zag, haphazard anything or nothing policy, which has hitherto been the peculiar characteristic of New Zealand legislation. It might have been supposed that the people of Southland, having suffered more than any other Province of New Zealand from the evils arising from a defective constitution, badly worked—who for years have been the smallest unit in the Parliament of the Colony — would have been aroused from the mesmeric slumber into which,

by hope deferred, they had fallen, but as yet their is no sign of their awakening. They have now a power— the four Southland representatives, if men with clear and fixed principles, united in sentiment, and honest in action, are found to represent this Province, their influence will be immense. At the present time the most urgent necessity exists for the display of a healthy and active public spirit. The ensuing session of the Assembly will be memorable in the history of the colony, and we shall be recreants to the country if we neglect to embrace the chance of, in some ; measure, redeeming the errors of the past. The old body has been dismissed, and there is now an opportunity to invest the new one with a deliberative character of a far higher order than has yet been obtained. There is now an open platform upon which the battle for justice may be evenly fought. The peculiar position into which this Province has been plunged, to a considerable extent, by the uuequal representation hitherto awarded it, should be a powerful stimulant to all who feel an interest in its progress to put forth the most energetic efforts to. find men to represent them — men who with comprehensive lo«al knowledge, liberal • and progressive principles, known integrity and good social standing, combine ability, perseverance and politicalattainments. Are such men to be obtained? "We believe they are. But they must be sought after. In a new country there are seldom many who possess that golden leisure which is so easily found in the Home country, still there are men who, while with perseverance, endeavor to realize a competency, do not neglect to keep themselves posted up in the politics of the day. It is the duty of the electors to seek out such men, and force them into the political arena. The writs for the elections have been received, and there is but little margin for action. The times are critical, and any slothfulness on our part may be fatal to the future. It is imperative that the: four Southland members should be pledged to united action on most of the leading questions which will occupy the attention of the Assembly during the next session — questions which, if wisely debated, will tend to revolutionise the system of legislative administration, and render responsible Government in New Zealand a reality instead of. -a mockery and farce, which it has hitherto been. Will the people in earnest, now, take up the subject. . There is no time to be lost, it must be action ; strong, sharp, and decisive. Solas", the wise legislator of Athens, enacted a law, making a capital crime the neglect to- exercise political privileges when any great public emergency arose — a great emergency for activity has arisen here, and should we neglect to display it, althoughpenalpunishment cannot follow, there may be the punishment of knowing that the finger of scornis pointed at us— that of Southland it will be said, — " There is no public spirit — it is nobody's home." ,