The Southland Times. MONDAY, APRIL 15, 1867.

Southland Times, Issue 657, 15 April 1867, Page 2

The Southland Times. MONDAY, APRIL 15, 1867.

New Zealand has too few politicians entitled to take rank as statesmen to view with complacency the retirement from the political stage of one who, by undoubted ability and earnestness, has played a most conspicuous part in colonial legislation since the foundation of the colony to the present time. Both admirers and opponents of the policy persistingly advocated by Mr Fitzgerald cannot but feel an uneasy emotion on realising the fact that this accomplished orator and active-minded politician has ceased to be a representative man — that he has become a non-political Government officer. On many occasions we have been constrained to pronounce some of that gentleman's proposed measures as unworkable and visionary. But whatever may have been the nature of our criticism upon any particular action or speech, his brilliancy as a speaker, his originality of mind, and honesty of purpose we have never questioned. That Mr Fitzgerald has long stood in the front rank of colonial politicians is a fact that few will dispute ; and that his ah-' sence in the G-eneral Assembly will be matter for regret, is equally true. It is therefore pleasing to find that the people of Canterbury have not permitted him to retire into private life without publicly recognising his past services, and evoking from him an elaborate statement as to his view of the present position of the colony, and the conclusions he has arrived at as to what should be the future policy to be adopted. At a public dinner given to Mr Fitzgerald, at the Town Hall, Christchurch, on the 4th inst, his past services were highly and deservingly eulogised, and in return, he favored his friends with an epitome of the political history of the colony in a speech of considerable length. He spoke with caution ; yet he did not hesitate to speak his mind freely. The length of the oration precludes our reprinting it, but we cannot refrain from commenting upon some portions that are of general interest. Mr Fitzgerald, although removed from active life, is still an authority on public matters; he is is still the confidant of Stafford, Fitzherbeet, and RichabdsoN, his former colleagues/ and therefore his utterances are of colonial.interest. In his speech before us the one | idea thpt pervades the whole is— -that j Provincialism is doomed-— that the ex- j travangant departmental expenditure attendant upon nine petty Governments has plunged the colony into difficulties, and brought almost every Province to the verge of bankruptcy, TTpon this sub* ject lie is very clear and lucid, He paints out that Oftftteiite^ not*

withstanding her boasted progress, is pplorably in debt— that her public liabilities amounted to the enormous sum of £1,600,00 and her commercial liabilities, in the shape of mortgages on property, Ac., would require £3,000,000 to extinguish. This is certainly a startling statement, but still its truth cannot be questioned — Mr Fitzgerald speaks with authority when he confines himself to Canterbury. He also asserts that all the other Provinces are in like difficulties ; in short he exhibits a panorama of New Zealand's impecuiosity dismal and dark; and argues soundly, that nothing but the destruction of the Provincial system can change the character of the picture. He says :— (we quote from a report in the Lyttelton Times, April sth.) " Unless some very marvellous change took place provincial institutions would come to an end in a very short time. They would very shortly be a financial impossibility. He deeply deplored what was inevitable, but he felt it coming with a certainty which nothing could throw back. The provinces at the present time were in the same position as the man in tEe German tale. He was in bed, and felt that the top of it was gradually desending upon him. The room was so constructed that he could not escape, but was obliged to lie there feeling that an inexorable fate was crushing him to death. So it was with the provinces. Take the province of Southland. It was bankrupt, and the people of Canterbury as well as those of other provinces were creditors. of the estate (Mr J. C. Wilson, — ' Its not a bad security '). The security, as his friend had reminded him, might not be bad. That was not £he point. It was a fact which no one could dispute, that Southland was bankrupt. Take the Province of Auckland, which had once been the greatest of the provinces, and would again, as he believed, outstrip them all. What condition was was it in? Why, at the end of the year the debts which she has contracted will swallow up every penny of her share of the Customs revenue. Auckland, at the end of the year, will not have one penny with which to carry on provincial works. Was that a proper system under which such cases arose ? It was the old game of 'heads, I win; tails, you lose.' Auckland had been playing that game for some time. Again, there was Marlborough. That province was actually in debt to the General Government, and last year had received a hundred pounds less than nothing as its share ot the Customs revenue. (Laughter.) And Canterbury had to pay for it. Was Canterbury in a position to cast stones at her neighbors ? She was better than others certaintly, because she had a land fund. Otago, also, was better than many of the provinces. They must make up their minds during the next few months either to stand by provincialism or centralism. (Cheers.) His own opinion was that if the provinces existed beyond twelve months, they would all have to go into the bankruptcy court. He was not advocating any one policy, but merely declaring his own firm convictions when he said that only two out of the nine provinces had one vestige of real vitality left in them ; that was because they had a land fund." We are free to confess that taken as a whole the speaker's description of the awkward financial position of New Zealand is tolerably correct, but it is not so fair an exposition of Provincial indebtedness as might have been expected from Mr Fitzgerald. We doubt not that his official investigations, as far as the northern provinces, and even Canterbury is concerned, are religiously correct, but we most distinctly take exception to the wholesale defamation of the character of Southland in which he has indulged. He says : — " Take the province of Southland. It was bankrupt, and the people of Canterbury as well aa those of other provinces were creditors of the estate." This we maintain to be an assertion as unjust as it was ungenerous. Southland is not in the position described. It is true that she owes the General Government some £300,000, but the security given is ten times that amount, and both capital and interest is gradually being discharged by the rapid sale of land. In addition iq this the Southland loan was assumed by the colony, at a time of emergency and excitement, and the terms given were far less liberal than had been awarded to Auckland, Canterbury, -and Otago, which was in a far worse position. What, however is the real state of affairs ? According to Mr Fitzgerald's own showing Canterbury is politically and commercially indebted to an amount so enormous, that Southland's loan sinks into insignificance j again Southland has cleared off a large amount of its debt. Has Canterbury or Otago, op Auckland doiie ■ likewise P We are also told that . Canterbury was better off than ; others, because she had a land fund, j And Otiago was also better off than j many $ tfce ether proyiaesr* : W^ j

is the meaning of this ? Mr Fitzgebald plainly demonstrates that his province is deeply -involved in de.bt, asserts without any reference to facts or figures that other provinces including Southland, are " bankrupt," and then informs his friends that they are not quite so bad as their poor neighbors— that they have a land fund. Has not Southland a land fund? With two or three million acres of first class land, together with a railway complete, and only one debt of some few hundred j thousands of pounds, can she be in a less substantial financial position than those who can count their indebtedness by millions? 3?br the ..-information of Mr Fitzgerald and other northern politicians we now state that Southland is steadily extinguishing her debt, that she does possess a land fund, hypothecated, it is true, for a time, that, compared with other she is in a flourishing condition ; that her commercial stability will compare favorably with any province in ISTew Zealand ; and that she has gone through that flood of tribulation in, which our more boastful neighbors have yet to- pass. Southland is now steadily progressing j is Canterbury, Auckland, or Qfcago? We trust that public speakers in other provinces will in future make themselves familiar with the true position of Southland before giving utterances contrary to fact. Mr PiTZGEEA.i.D, we repeat, is an able man ; his language, is brilliant, his instincts, generous, and his perseverance great ; still he lacks the one thing needful, the power of restraining himself from speaking uppnsubjects on which he. is only partially informed. Had he been posted np in Southland's affairs he could, not have made the blunder of classing her first among insolvent provinces. The most important of all Mr Fitzgerald's sayings is comprised in the following sentence. Speaking of the provinces he asserts : — " They must make up their minds during the next few months either to stand by provincialism or centralism." Southland has made up her mind. She emphatically repudiates the provincial system ; she condemns the narrow-minded policy of absorption ; and she is prepared, failing the accomplishment of Financial Separation, to accept the next best thing to it — the abolition of Provincialism, and the creation of a comprehensive system of municipal self-go-vernment.