The Southland Times. FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 1867.

Southland Times, Issue 662, 26 April 1867, Page 2

The Southland Times. FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 1867.

The necessity of a change in the cohsti- 1 tution is daily assuming more importance throughout New Zealand. Erom nearly every source the opinions of men long resident in the colony, whose opinion is worth having, both from their experience and ability— those too, who were previously strong supporters of the Provincial system— are gradually verging towards the . abolition of the Provinces. A variety of causes have tended to produce this change. Formerly, on the discovery of the gold--ioldo in Olagu, "bub very few Of tbuao who were attracted to the shores of New Zealand from the neighboring colony of Victoria, solely intent on business pursuits, cared to investigate the nature of the constitution of the Government — -either Greneral or Provincial— and it wa,s only after the lapse of very many years tbat this subject assumed tbe importance it now has. In this indifference to public affairs may be attributed a good deal of the disasters that have befallen the colony, because most of those who then: held- the reins of power were absorbed in tbe consideration of the Maori difficulty from an Exeter Hall point of view, and allowed every Province to get into debt, in many cases, far beyond its capacity, or what sound prudence should dictate. The colony, by this mismanagement, has drifted into debt and difficulty. Possessing greater resources, perhaps, than any other settlement in tbe South Pacific, until very recently its credit in the, English market was below zero. "What led to tbis state of things, may naturally be asked ? Simply the Provincial system — the system that permitted each little province to assume the functions of a sovereign state — that so divided public opinion, upon important colonial subjects, as to render the disgraceful system of " logrolling" almost an institution. Indeed, the power of the G-eneral Government, until very lately, existed in name only. It was only by a system of indirect bribery that measures for the general utility, of the colony were allowed to become law. It was the party advocating the self-reliant policy that first grappled with this state of things; Mi* Weld was one of the foremost in conceiving the idea of controlling the power of the Provinces. Mr S-A-TOED has also persistently endeavored to consolidate the central Government, because he well knows that the present disjointed system cannot last, andwebelieve that in carryingoutth isproject he has borrowed largely from experience gained in Australia. Nearly every act of his Government tends to demonstrate that sooner br later, when the great battle has to be fought in the Assembly, on the question of Provincialism versus Centralism, that it will be found that the municipal system at present in force in the neighboring colony of Victoria, and which has contributed in a" great measure to place that colony far in advance of her neighbors, will be the one introduced in New Zealand. The three great questions tbat will likely agitate the public mind during the session of the Assembly, will be— Financial Separation, with Eederal union ; Centralism, meaning one strong New Zealand Government, with both, islands divided into counties and municipalities ; and Provincialism. The latter question has lately changed its aspect. Instead of Provincialism guaranteeing the integrity of the Provinces as they are at present constituted, it now simply is understood to point to the establishment of two large provinces, viz :— Canterbury and Ofcago. The Provincial party seek to endow those provinces with much larger powers than they at present possess, and likewise absorb all the lesser ones, such as Nelson, Southland and Marlborough. It will easily be seen what importance this question assumes, what vast interests are at stake, and in what a complicated state the general politics of New Zealand are at present. There can be no stronger argument in favor of the abolition of the Provinces than the i ! facts elicited by a report lately presented | ; to the General Government. It thus appears that there are upwards of thirteen hundred Provincial officials in the colony of New Zealand, and their annual salaries amount to the enormous sum of nearly three hundred thousand pounds* It may be argued by those in favor of the provincial system that all this money is spent in the localities in which it is raised, and consequently it ia beneficial, but we

contend that this argument is as : specious as it is fallacious. Because the money thus spent in keeping np , mock Provincial Q-overnments, with their "■ expensive paraphanalia, if devoted to the • opening up of the interior by making roads, railways, and offering inducements to thousands of our fellowr country men. to emigrate to a country, rich in alt the bounteous gifts of Nature, would really become reproductive, as being of advantage to the -general -welfare and the true spirit of colonization. -