The Southland Times. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 2, 1867.

Southland Times, Issue 613, 2 January 1867, Page 2

The Southland Times. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 2, 1867.

The Provincial Council will meet for the despatch of business, on Monday the 14th January. The session will be an important one. Many questions not only of local but of colonial interest will have to be considered, and expression of opinion in no uncertain tone elicited. Among those that have a more immediate local interest may be classed the Eailway Leasing Ordinance, and the operations of the new Audit Act. Again, the question of the actual financial position of the Province as respecting the General Government requires it to be clearly understood, and many other questions calmly debated. To take the leasing of the railways first into consideration. Experience has proved that no Government can work such undertaking as railways with the same economy, and at the same time to public advantage, as private companies can. The most wealthy of the Australian colonies has come to this conclusion. South Australia has made extensive lines of railway, and leased them section by section as they were completed. Victoria favors the leasing system, and New South Wales endorses their views. If such colonies as these after mature deliberation have arrived at the conclusion that governmental railway traffic means extravagant working expenses, and no profit, what hope can Southland have that her railways will not become (as the Oreti-line is now) a source of annoyance, labor, and loss, under government management. We do not think that the present limited Oreti line would put in a better appearance in the half-year's balance sheet under any management, but one thing is certain, we have a good line of railway from the BlufF Harbor to Invercargill, and a mongrel line from Invercargill half way to Winton. It " is patent that if the Bluff Harbor and Invercargill line is to prove productive, the Winton line must be constructed, and completed with iron rails. Can the Provincial Government do this Bingly ? We think not. The General Government will not sanction any railway operations being carried on at a loss to the Province, but it is in favor of the construction of railways on certain conditions, and also the leasing of them — in short, it says, we acknowledge the advantages of railways, and if you can get them made without troubling us to pay for their construction immediately, and prevent an annual loss in working, we wiU give you assistance . The Eailway leasing question is therefore an important one. It must be adopted, but in its adoption, it is imperative that the freest competition should be invited. That tenders should be called for, and published throughout not only the provinces but the neighboring colonies, and sufficient time given for all desirous to send in their proposals to do so before the day appointed for the opening. There can be no question that if our railways, that have been costly, are to become productive, the line to Winton must be completed, and, if possible, an Eastern tramway or light railway constructed. There are many other important measures to be considered. The powers the New Audit Act invests in the Auditor are great, and every member of the Council should make it a duty to study that act previous to giving his vote upon any financial question. The next subject of importance that the Council is called upon to seriously consider is, what Eosition does the Provincial Legislature old with respect to the General Government ? It is well known that the Provincial estate has to some extent been pawned to the General- Government. But does that imply that not only the landed estate, but all the revenue derivable from various sources is General Government property ? If such is the case, the Provincial Government is a "nothing," a name, and not a reality. Sometime since it was stated that the General Government would appropriate the revenue derived from pastoral licenses and assessments to Provincial purposes. Will such be done? It is the duty of the Council to carefully consider this question. The time has passed when the people's representatives, with happy-go-easy instincts, and homeward bound desirings, can perpetuate the slovenly mode of legislation they formerly indulged in. The time has come, when the Council should make a stand. It is i essential that the question should be put to, and definitely answered by the General Government ; "is the Province to receive the usual three-eighths of the Customs and the Pastoral revenue?" This is an all important query. If these items of revenue are to be withheld there can be but little or no funds for public purposes — in fact the Provincial Government will be hopelessly powerless to do anything whatever, without General Government permission and authority — the executive administrators of the Province will be reduced to the position of distributers of General Government crumbs; cease to be responsible ministers; and local self government, as far as Southland is concerned, will be destroyed. This question is of the most vital interest. It is intimately connected with the subject of a reconstruction of the constitution of the whole governmental system of the colony — a subject that, disagreeable as it may be, must be faced, and that at once. The above may be deemed the cardinal questions ; but there are others of scarcely less import. It is desirable that a defined policy ior the future should be laid down. It is evident that some means for inland communication should be at once arranged, and the Government to this end ought to be prepared with a clear statement of the expenditure required for the working of the Oreti Eailway — what it has been in the past, and what it is likely to be in the future — the amount now paid for engineering supervision of both lines, fie. The pnblic have a right to require from the government a Jclear and com-

plete_ltatement upon these matters. It is to be hoped that the members of the - Provincial Council will enter upon the labors of the session with a determination to act wisely, deliberately, and in earnest. The time has passed when the high pressure system of rushing Ordinances through the three readings before half the members had read, much less digested, their contents. Province has much to gain, or much to loose, from the deliberations ofthe Council during the coming session. If the members are dignified and self-reliant, cautious but not rancorus, honest, but not declamatory, much good may result. But on the other hand, if personal animosities and unmanly bickerings are indulged in, the most serious consequences* will result. Let every member think dispassionately and act wisely, and Southland will take her legitimate position among the Provinces of New Zealand.