The Southland Times. FRIDAY, JUNE 17 1870.

Southland Times, Issue 1266, 17 June 1870, Page 2

The Southland Times. FRIDAY, JUNE 17 1870.

••- '" '' ''_ i m The last session of tlie present Parliament of New Zealand opened on Tuesday last, and the eyes of the Colony are now turned to Wellington. That momentous questions will come before the members is an unnecessary assertion, but it would be a hazardous conjecture to predict that any- of— the more - important- problems waiting solution at the hands of the people's representatives. wUI be finally disposed of by the existing House. We should rather imagine the probability to be that grave matters will be merely introduced, partially ventilated, and then, by means familiar to statecraft, shelved, and left, a legacy of trouble, to the" next Assembly.- Under the circumstances this is probably the most desirable, and for the colony the tnost advantageous course events could take. Since 1866 a mild revolution has taken place in the public mind upon the leading principles of colonial polity, and it is more than doubtful whether the opinions of representatives have kept pace with the development of ideas on the part of their constituencies. Indeed, a large majority of the members were elected on the ground of holding opinions on the main question of the hour— the form of Government best adapted to the country— diametrically the opposite of those which now command almost universal acceptance, and, remembering that consistency "cdmpelsin mostxases an adherence to publicly expressed principles, it will scarcely be contended that the elected have' in the interim experienced the same radical changes in their views as the electors — more at liberty to change. The proposition, sure to be brought forward, for the union of this province with Otago, will strike the key-note of the whole subject, of the future constitution of the ■ ueiug luu-IDLi Jtakal ■Ho"A t fl£ffi*iL>qDF'**Jafll] we have already disputed, and see no reason to "reverse bur opinion. The moment the subject is broached, the case for the entire colony is opened, and we venture to think the House, on the eve of its demise, will not deem itself warranted to decide the point until i it has been prominently referred to the people. What the popular verdict will be when the question of constitutional ! reform comes to be submitted to the country, may be easily anticipated by all I who care to mark the signs of the times, ; or study the beacons which point the bearings of public opinion. That sweep- : ing changes are necessary in our political I organisation is but too patent, nor is it '■ difficult to perceive the direction those, alterations ought to take. The Provincial I system, as it. is called, which has c done: good in its day, no doubt, is now worse j than useless, it is positively mischievous, I gradually sapping the foundations of our I whole civil structure, and smothering our; naturally elastic energies under unbear-' able burdens of uselessly incurred debt. If! anything were needed further to demon- j strate the pernicious operation of the; system/ the present Session ia nofc likely 1 to end without" f ur riishing "ample "proof.; We need riot to cross Cook's Straits for, instances of selfish, narrow. Provincial' schemes lording it over the interests of the colony in the legislature. By mutual good offices in the way of " log-rolling,": the powerful provinces have again and again helped each other to the oyster^ leaving their weaker neighbors to extract what sustenance they might from the! shells. On the present occasion we find there. are likely to be as good opportunities for the display of skill in the' game of " beggar my neighbor " as ever. Otago and Canterbury are both, going in : heavy iai the borrowing business, and the former at least has been promised the: support of the Premier in its audacious; attack upon the revenue of the colony.! The other provinces are also all in a bad: plight., TEach has its peculiar " difficulty "j to urge/ and its little pressing liabilities which " im;st. be temporarily met " by a dip into the general^ chest, and, as is( usually the case, the most clamorous; meridi<»nt will be first served- In shorty the Superintendents who have seats id the House, almost " without exception^ appear at this Session in forma pauperis^ or in that still more objectionable char- 1 acter — the unscrupulous acquaintance, inveterately addicted to borrowing your spare cash -on the strength of his " great expectations." Their treatment should be -the same asthat merited by sturdy beggars and impudent financiers — scant ceremony, \ and less assistance. Writing of the provincial loans to be urged in the Assembly, the Southern Cross says:— 1 " Otago has large schemes to promote. One of these involves the borrowing of £600,000 for public works. The security which Otago could offer is undoubtedly good; but we hardly think the Assembly will be inclined to sanction so large a loan for local improvements, if it is to be raised on the security of the general revenue, inasmuch as it would not be the

revenue and resources of Otago which would then be pledged, but the revenue and resources of the entire colony. * * * The estimated income for Otago, for 1870-71, is £327,900 ; and one might reasonably suppose that a community of fifty thousand souls could manage to find enough, to spend onpublic works out of this revenue, without going into debt. "We may remark, in this connection, that the expenditure of Otago last year exceeded the income by £27,000. ...... ... " "We next come to Canterbury, which stands in the- van of the borrowing provinces. Like Otago, Canterbury has a llarge landed estate; and like Otago, it ; wants to borrow money on the security iof the colonial revenue, and to spend ithe proceeds of its land sales and pasjjtoral rente oh works of a purely local I character. - ■ ------ lj # # # - * 1 "Substantially, the policies which the i Provincial Councils of Canterbury and Otago have approved, are policies which tend to their own permanent advantage^ 'without respect to the colony as a whole." Of course, were those large 6onciSssious to be judiciously expended, less objection would be raised to their being granted, hut we know only too well that a wise distribution of the public money has not hitherto been a feature in provincialism, and we know also that there is • little likelihood of improveme'ntirfthjs respect. Moreover, it seems impossible: ijo curtei}, or reduce the extravagance "and costliness = inherent in the system ; the multiplicity of departments eats up everything in.the. shape of local revenue. Under this head, the Canterbury Press, in discussing the Estimates as laid before the Council, i remarks on the affairs of even that prosperous province :—" In short, the whole annual income of the province, inclusive of pasturage rents, is very little more than enough to defray the ordinary costs of Grovernment and to carry on. ; theTJpublic:. services. -JLII--that the Council does is simply to legalise the issue of the money from the Treasury. Whether that object could .SQt.be gained by a less troublesome and expensive process than that of collecting forty gentlemen at Christchurch to go through a formal ceremony is a,:question into Lwhich we shall not enter. We merely wish to set out the facts of the case ; our readers can draw their own conclusions. And the facts are that the ordinary income of the province is almost entirely pre-engaged for absolutely necessary expenses ; that the estimates, of . all .those branches of expenditure pass aii -a rule without -the alteration ? of a figure ; and , that even where there is room for some little liberty of choice, the reductions or— additions effected by the Council do not go beyond i comparatively trivial amendments." i In view of these facts* it. is .plain that the sbonefr the present system is abolished [ the' better, although it would acarcely be \ desirable that any material change took . place before the - country had an oppor- [ t* n mf-y of declaring what directiouj-he i the consideration which will rul 0 - the ) action, of the House on thiß' subject: - In » the meantime, there are other matters , numerous and important enough to , occupy its attention for some time — l amongst them, the providing of relief foi ! thos.e portions, of the colony which are t otherwise7 .absolutely helpless. ;