SPIRIT OF THE PRESS ON COLONIAL POLITICS.

Southland Times, Issue 670, 15 May 1867, Page 2

SPIRIT OF THE PRESS ON COLONIAL POLITICS.

(EVoin the " Taupeia Presß, May 4th.) j In a late issue* we forewarned ouri readers' that a great ' cnjnaTn"tlie relations i of the Provincial «nd General Govern- i ments, was impending, and aigued.th^tihe mining districts (whose interests tutej no less at variance with those of thej Dunedinso-called Provincialists, than with •• the Centralists, of the Korth Ilsland),. should not Ix)6 Eagerly take part with| either of the self-interesrad and mercenaiyi combatants, but should rather hold aloof; until they see some tangible advantage to. be* Becuredr_tb "themselves,; either Tiy slip- \ porting the retention 1 of the status quo antpi or.by giving their adhesion. to ; the: change attempted to be brought about; by the General Government. : -\ We repeat now what we said pn that' occasion — " That the struggle will be decided by the weight and force of the Min-\ ing population ;" they are the parties: most interested ; they are the source from; whence is derived the revenue, which; alone gives importance to the subject.' And so great is that importance not oniy: to the Goldfields but to the whole Colony,; that the public should consider well all; the bearings of the question before: pro-! nouncing definitely on the one side or the other. The question is, in reality, one; of money. The General Government! says to the miners-— You have a revenue; of some £70,000 a year ; we will give it; to you to expend yourselves, and in your own districts. The Separationists, on the: other hand, tell us that Wellington wants to grasp the revenues, and to agrandize herself at the expense of the other Provinces — that Insular Separation (and of course a Dunedin metropolis) will solve the difficulties of the position, and that the revenues then derived" from" this Island will be expended in the Island. Such is the position the mining districts occupy at the present moment. Let us now glance at the proceedings of the past week or two, and the steps ; taken by the opposing factions to attain their very different aims and objects. Mr Macandrew, whose antecedents have been so freely and unfavorably canvassed of late, was certainly elected Superintendent by a very large majority of votes (though so far as the Gbldfields alone were concerned there was a considerable majority against him) and being elected" "although the meanest in her state," was certainly-entitled to be treated with the courtesy :due to the representative of the peoplecof Otago. The Governor, (by the advieeiof his ministry^ of course) lately caused-^an investigation to be made into the records p£, ( the Province at the date of Mr Macandrew's former Superintendency> with a view, no doubt, to decide the moot question as to whether the piartial control of the Goldfields, and other matters, could be delegated him as to former Superintendents. The correspondence published last week in this paper gives in plain words the reason of thus withholding the delegations. A new office waa created, via., Goldfielde' Agent, and Mr Bradahftw»

supporter of the General 0-ovemment, received^ the f^ntf mencea the exercise of his wthorii^E^l^r demanding of the public s^rraSSs in- thei Goldfields Department thai; they should give in their adhesion .ettfierr^tof' the .General oritb the, Provincial /JJojwainments> In most cases they hayp 'deciSp for the former. Meanwhile publicSoej^ ings have been held in Dunedin, Waitahuna, and' Lawreiicej; and 'aiaba meeting of the newlyrelectoid Provincial Council Members, and at^ each and-all of these meetings, resolutions strongly condemnatory .of .-the action, of ?th§ Governor in the matter were enthusiastically carried. . . , . . /- , The L Public Building&on most b"f the Goldfields have been seized, and are now in the possession, of the Provincial Government. The - Police, being a purely Provincial Force,, have, held fast, tothejr . allegiance— indeed we hardly see now they could have done otherwise — but all the ' other officials (with one solitary exception, we believe) have proclaimed themselves General Government servants, and therefore of course hold themselves under Mr Bradshaw's orders. ; ■ It is said the Superintendent has written to His Excellency the Governor urging him to at; ; qnce call the General Assembly together, and it is further reported £hat-mr Stafford is' now^ew route for Otago and that: all the " delegated powers" have, been^conferred.on him. ; It is to be sincerely hoped that' 'ijfljr Stafford will.find an opportunity to come to Lawrence., The "case ".of .the Superintendent and the Provincial Government has been well, laid before na recently by Mr Yogel, but audi alteratim portem was always held to"be a wise saws, and we are convinced that a large of persons are anxiously waiting, to have the conduct of the General Government placed .before. them if possible in a more favorable light than that in which Mr Yogel reviewed it. It was with this \ object that i>he letter reprinted in another column, was handed to Mir Bradshaw, but for some unexpl^ed reason „,tha _re? quest was not complied with. ~ - However discourteous and vindictive to \ iihe Superintendent and the~ Provincial Executive the' action of the * Governor may have be^en, thero is; no shadow of suspicion on our minds but that he has kept strictly witlan the. laWj and that " ; neither theappbin'tment of Mr' Bradshaw' . (to whom no powers are delegated), nor the refusal to entrust the Superintendent -with: the. ''"delegated powers " . were ultra ■- vires, and though impolitic in the extreme tb strike snch a ! blow at jbhe. Pj^'^jl^ v ,to r btmg^ogettixr Mff 7 fiiends anlO^gv to' : fight under one banner, it will be found that no infringement of the law hi* taken place. . . „..-. - ; ? On the other hand the SupermCendei% and the Executive of the Rrovince^ye" placed themselves in a false position by an act of open rebellion and denance of the Queen's representative. The legal point,' whether the buildings erected ; pn Crown Lands belong to the Crown, jbhough hardly to^our thinking even a debatable question, has but little to do with the matter. The Provincial Government have - done their utmost to cause a dead lock, by throwing every obstacle to the administration of justice and the performance of the Wardens' duties; indeed we understand' that the Wardens have all been dismissed the Provincial Government Service, at they claimed to be under: General LGovernjnent. control. -We think, by-the -way^ that neither the ; General nor Provincial Government acted justly or with proper dignity in .placing their officers in such a position that their situations depended on th'eir e decision as to" a dispute which' was no part of; their duty v to :decide, and on which even the lawyers themselves disagree. r No steps hajje been taken on the part of the Provincial Government to fill these vacancies, : but a bill has been brought before the Provincial Council, pushed through all its stages, and passed, to take a plebescite throughout the Proi vince immediately on the following question- — "Are you desirous that the management and administration of the GiDldfields in this Province shall be conducted by the Superintendent and Provincial Government ?" The result of this vote will not of course alter the legality of the acti6nj but will have great weight on futnro legislation. Every male of 21 years and upwards who has resided in the Province for six months previous to day of voting to be entitled to vote. , ; We have intimated on former occasions that the mining community have but little to choose between thevtwo Governments, and we are of opinion that if their representatives took the matter boldly in hand at the present moment a. medium, course might be arrived at, by which the " management andy administration "of the Goldfields should not rest either with the General or Provincial Government, . but with the miners themselves. Why should there not be a Board of Minei' constituted to administer the revenuea derived from the special taxation of the miners ? This amo unta in round numbers £4.0,000* yoar, in^ependentofthe Qkn«rt| BovcauicontributcUbythamincrtjifhioU

is little less than £70,000; this latter sum might still be expended aa heretofore juntil we get Insular Separation,-but-until then, and fojan immediate and only aolu-J tion of the present, difficulty that willbenefit the miners one iota, is to give to j themselves the control and administration i of their own special taxation. ■ i