The Southland Times. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1870.

Southland Times, Issue 1348, 16 December 1870, Page 2

The Southland Times. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1870.

The explanation tendered on hebalf of the local members charged with malversation of office, shifts the original ground of complaint, but it certainly does not improve the position. The extended boundaries have been provided for, but the provision has been made under circumstances which renders the ■ holding quits as insecure as that of the tenant-at-will. Eejeeting an Act of the superior Legislature, made and provided expressly for the purpose of consummating the basis of reunion, a subsidiary provision emanating from a small majority of the United Council has been adopted in its stead. To contingencies of this inferior holding the extended territorial rights have been entrusted, without the slightest reservation. The consequence is the extended land district of Southland will be held subject to the whim and caprice of the Superintendent of the province, and Bis -. nominees, instead of being held, as was originally intended, by virtue of a special right, flowing directly from the highest branch of the colonial administration. Briefly stated, the effect of this extraordinary predilection is that instead of getting a tenure secured upon the basis of the fee simple, we have got one which may at any given moment be revoked by the "Waste Land Board, of Otago,with the concurrence of the Superintendent. What aggravates the conduct of the local members who aided and abetted in carrying out this device, is that they J have acted in open defiance of the primary principles of their election. In the general acceptation of the term, they j proceeded to Dunedin as representatives, but so far as the administration of the Otago and Southland Union Act was concerned, they simply occupied the restricted position of delegates. That Act was the fixed and irrevocable basis of the reunion, and in accepting office they virtually admitted the obligation under which they rested to see that the provisions of the Act were carried out in their integrity. Instead of doing that, they thought proper to discard the Act altogether, and adopted in its place a provision made expressly to suit the purposes of the opposite party to the union. Under any circumstances, Southland was entitled to view a proposal coming from that quarter with extreme caution, more especially when it affected a part so vital as the basis of reunion. Had such an alteration effected a material advantage instead of inflicting a material wrong, the proceeding would have been open to censure. "Whether the blunder was committed through design or by mistake does not matter so far as the public aspect of the question is concerned. It is a blunder for which Messrs Wood, Wilsoit, Ki.vboss, and Toshack can alone be held responsible. Their example, no doubt, influenced the votes of other members not so closely identified with the question as they were, ao that they must make up their minds to relinquish every claim they had, or fancy they should have, upon the suffrage of the electors. We have no desire to aggravate the pain they must feel on. calmly reflecting upon the probable results of their action, at the same time we believe they would only be consulting their own interest to retire from public life as soon as they possibly can. They must feel that they have incensed the public mind to an extent which precludes the bar© possibility of their re-election* The position in which this action has j placed us in relation to the Government ' of the day is altogether an anomalous one. However much a section of the district representation is to be blamed, the Government cannot possibly be excused for having taken the first step towards violating the treaty of union. Knowing as they did that the basis of union had been ratified by an Act of the General Assembly, it seems very plain that their object must have been to gaiu a forced march upon the annexed province. What has been conceded to Southland, practically speaking, amounts to nothing ; on. the other hand, it paves the way towards that assimilatTon-oT-^oir land laws which will eventually lead to their administration being placed under the sole control of the central Board, Its immediate effect will be to ]>ut settlers within the proposed land district to such serious inconvenience that the central Board will be compelled to alter the boundaries so as to . place their . appliea-? L uuiiß xtrm6re*airec't connection with the administrative function, instead of taking the former, as at present, arranged, in a diametrically opposite direction. Eor example, a settler on the east bank of the Mataura lodges his application at the office in Invercargill, from whence ■ it is transmitted to Dunedin for consideration. It is nonsense to expect that the delay incidental to such a meaningless routine will be quietly submitted to. No one knows this better than the Government itself, and it is no less plain that the probable consequences entered largely into their views of the project. Even supposing that the arrangement could be made to work otherwise satisfactorily, the Waste Land Board of Otago, which is identical with the Government of the province, would be in a position to exercise its discretionary powers over the district for political purposes, and that of itself forms a serious objection to the whole scheme. The transaction, ; from beginning to end, is a discreditable one, and the question of rescinding it is the question we are most interested in considering. The original provision under the Union Act remains intact, and it will be for the constituencies to elect men on whom they can rely to get that Act carried out. Meantime a representation j on the iiibject to the Superintendent J

might be judiciously made. The object of the obnoxious amendment is to request the Superintendent to take steps [ as early as possible to establish the. proI posed land district. A public representation, pointing out that the request is antagonistic to the basis of union, and asking that further action in the matter should be delayed until the next meeting of Council, would in all likelihood prevent additional mischief being done.