Untitled

Southland Times, Issue 1342, 2 December 1870, Page 2

#hat must be admitted as a redeeming eature in Mr Cat-d r's amendment is hat part of it which deals with the unsatsfactory relations existing between the Northern and Southern divisions of the •olony. The proposed remedy is one vhich has been long sought after. : Down ;o the year 1867, when the collision tool )lace between the two administrations, 10 constitutional change was received ivith more favor by the earnest and 111---■elligent portion of the people of Otago. Since the provincial loans became a coionial charge, doubts have arisen as to the possibility of separation being achieved^ amendment, if it serves no^other purpose, svill set that difficulty at rest. Apart from the practicability of the scheme, its propriety can hardly be doubted. Neither the Colonial nor the Provincial Governments, as at present constituted, meet the requirements of. the colony. The one bas a field of action too varied as regards bhe nature of the interests involved. - Its movements are hampered from the adverse character of these interests— interests in bhemselvea insulated, so that their collision becomes purely the result of the extraneous measures applied to them. The Native difficulty has so. long dragged out a dubious course, that influential opinions are entertained that it has come to be regarded by our fellow-colonists in the North_as a beneficiary trust. That may be an extreme view, still the fact cannot be denied that we have very little evidence of an earnest endeavor on their part to stamp it out, The drain upon the Colonial Exchequer is something alarming. Last" year a sum of £240,000 was expended for war purposes, which corresponds so closely with the deficit shown by the Treasurer's balance-sheet, that we can arrive at no other conclusion than that this is , the great incubus under which the Middle Island labors. The gross amount of the deficit was £290,000, showing New Zealand to be exceeding her annual income at a uniform rate of £790 odd per day. This shortcoming was mildly got over by the Colonial Treasurer, when stating his fiscal by policy, setting it down under the head of extraordinary expenditure, which he contended should be ignored on the assumption that it was exceptional. That itt^m^gi' l JU^.gffr'^'e'i? I ''li^ I 'year's 'expenditare. Had this shortcoming been represented as unproductive expenditure, it would have, come nearer its right mark than by the classification of exceptional. The bulk of it was swallowed up in war expenses, and so far from the war impost being an exceptional event, it is to all intents and purposes likely to continue a permanent burden. A state of matters like this cannot go on always. Virtually, speaking, we are borrowing money for the payment of interest on loans, .which proves .beyond doubt that there is something radically wrong. By going on at this rate the time must come sooner or later when we 3hall find ourselves in a position to borrow nothing more, so that the financial separation proposed by Mr Oai/deb acquires no mean significance measured by our relations to the Colonial administration/ - - As regards Provincial Government idministration, it is rather late in the 3ay to tell Southland the flagrant abuses rf which it is capable. It is a form of 9-overnment suited to the times when it svaa instituted. These days have gone by, and the specialty _of their requirements no longer exists. Intercommunication has been rendered so complete that jven the remotest end of the Colony las become, more accessible than, adoining districts were only a few years igo. At his last election, Mr Macak>eew stated provincialism had still a jreat work to accomplish in the way, of jxtending settlement. We should like ;o know what, as head of the province of Dtago, he has succeeded in doing during lis four years 5 term of office ? The jopulation "is smaller than he found it, md we have, .ye.t . to_. learnof any _new lettlement worthy of the name having )een .added to, the province. . Martin's Bay is the only attempt, and even that sso very weak that it seems questionable whether or not it will survive. In a erritory like the Middle Island, four or sven five separate Governments, each naintaining an independent civil service, 3 a government farce that would be lighly amusing were it not for the exlense incidental to the plot. To show he recklessness of the principle upon rhich these services are modelled, in. tances can be named of "departments aaintained at an expense of two and yen three hundred per cent, in excess of heir gross returns. Revenue receivers, Dr example, collecting - not more ban five per cent. of the ctual amounts appropriated to them, s salaries show's the vaunted superision of a local government to be : Lttle better than. a mere myth. Cer-i ainly a grosser' abuse of-'power would ot be tulerated by any administration ' owever distant might be its personal , npervision. Governments of this kind annot afford to act with that amount. of ■■ idependence necessary to ensure just [{ministration. Claims are made' upon; aem which, are estimated not [ by tlieir wn intrinsic value, but by the Amount ; c patronage they secure, hence arise the

threats we hear so often about political influence being withheld in the event of certain demands being rejected. _ The whole affair simply resolves itself into a species of barter, the rate of exchange being a government expenditure in proportion to the political support it acquires. What is denominated an appropriation becomes in reality a scramble, in wbich the stronger districts overpower the weaker. We do not mean to say a central administration would cure the evil, but to a very great extent it would alleviate it. Interests at. pre-.saat-diTided-by-the ua,rruw-prejudiees of provincialism would merge into a common cause, extending from one end of ~ the Island continent to the other, and joint action for their mutual benefit would overmatch the cravings of a 'local jealousy. The Government established , on such a principle could afford to stand firmly upon its own footing, instead of being left to the caprice of every turbulent spirit that thinks fit to sow seeds of disaffection in the circle of its own local habitation.