The Southland Times. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1870.

Southland Times, Issue 1311, 23 September 1870, Page 2

The Southland Times. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1870.

A telegraphic communication, published in Tuesday's issue, announced that the proclamation of reunion -would take effect on Thursday, the 6th prox. This reminds us that the time for electing; members to serve in the first united Council must be at hand. As our readers may remember, the proceedings at such election are fixed by the 9fch clause of the basis of reunion, which provides, inter alia, that, notwithstanding the dissolution of the Council, its members shall assemble at a time and place to be named by the G-overnor, and then and there proceed to the election of eight of their number by lot or ballot, to serve as representatives of the district of Southland at the first meeting of the united Council. Failing such election, the Governor is empowered to complete the representation from the ranks of the aforesaid Council of Southland, or other registered electors of the province. This arrangement was so far modified by subsequent legislation that the Superintendent has been named a representative ex officio, so that the actual number remaining to be elected by ballot or otherwise is seven. The special features of the case render this election one of more than ordinary importance. It is no answer to this view that in a few months hence the Council of Otago will be dissolved by effluxion of time. Southland has a delicate part to play in the affairs of the united province, j and a great deal depends upon the skill and prudence displayed at the outset. ' The history of our interprovincial relations has been one protracted struggle for j certain commercial advantages to which we could only lay claim by virtue of our geographical position. Now, if we fancy our combined deliberations will remove every obstacle, and entitle us to a walkover, we shall find ourselves sadly mistaken, not to speak of the injustice we do the political principles of our ally. It is quite true we are entitled to assume that mo i- e of reason and less of avarice will decide our relative claims than we could have looked for so long as we remained a separate province, still even that expectation, m6dest as it may appear, will not be realised without an effort of our own. The fact is conspicuous that Otago's representative institutions are composed of- an element in many respects exceptional, so much so that it requires both political tact' and shrewd business habits to; cope with it. Tuapeka lately furnished a notable example in point in the extraordinary reasons of dissent stated to the Southern Trunk line of railway being formed by way of Invercargill. To say that these amounted to a novelty is to render them not more than half the credit they are entitled to claim, and yet they were urged with all the solemn assurance of a public boon. In all probability a similar train of argument will be introduced into the Provincial Council, and that too by men familiar from long experience with the more vulnerable parts of the Otago Government. This is only one evil against which the Southland representatives will have to guard, and the very fact that it has already cropped up may be taken as evidence of others lurking behind. The novelty of the situation however will not be confined to Southland. On the contrary, Otago will be called upon to deliberate questions which she has hitherto been accustomed to look upon as belonging exclusively to her own metropolitan centre. In other words, tne Council must be brought to know that Invercargill has claims in common with Dunedin, and that the one is equally entitled to as liberal an interpretation as the other. This is a more difficult task than may at first sight appear. Apart from any competitive view of the question, Otago has for a length of time been familiar with fictitious claims from her seaboard townships for coastal services and harbor improvements. Waikouaiti, Moeraki, Kakanui, and Oamaru have each in their turn' been " eager in the fray," and sundry efforts have from time to time been made to allay their clamor by demonstrating the worth— lesaness of their schemes. Conspicuous amongst these were the Kakanui sea-wall, and the Oamaru jetty, each of which was sacrificed to the sea, although ostensibly presented as peace-offerings to the public. Otago has now found out to her cost that agitations of this kind are no better than so many attempts to secure a lavish expenditure of public money regardless of consequences, and what could be more HAVE RECEIVED,

disastrous thnn to fin<l Southland's ports j similarly rated ? Between the Biuff Harbor and an open roadsteal like that of Oamaru there is nothing in common, and the responsibility will rest with our members of making this distinction sufficiently obvious that it will be recognised in future deliberations. The category, if one is to be sought, must be found in a parallel with Port Otago, otherwise we shall undo one of the principal achievements of our career as an independent province, viz., establishing the reputation of the provincial port in the face of unfounded prejudice. Entertaining, as we do, views of this kind, it is hardly necessary to say that J we are stronglj opposed to any proceeding calculated to prejudice the ensuing election. Anti-union predilections are no justification of such a proceeding. Virtually speaking the union has been accomplished, and any opposition that can now be shown will only injure our prospects under the new regime, without affecting in any way the tie by which we are bound to it. Such opposition will simply recoil upon our own heads, so that the proceeding ia one to be condemned as a suicid d policy. Nothing would injure the political standing of the province more than the fact that futile opposition j had rendered the exercise of the power reserved by the Governor necessary. A rumor, that gained but little credence, was some time ago put in circulation, that the Southland members opposed to reunion, or at least a majority of them, had entered into a covenant that, if elected to serve in the first reunion Council, they would positively decline. The rumor seemed so very absurd that, as we have already stated, little or no attention was paid to it. Taken in conjunction with the course adopted by Mr Lumsden", we are reluctantly forced to the conclusion that there is more truth in it than was imai^ned. Surely ifc will not be further acted upon to the prejudice of the district. Opposition to a debateable question, so long as it continues so, is perfectly constitutional, but so soon as it becomes a part of the political administration under which we live, every attempt to thw.irt its legitimate operations is to be deprecated.