The Southland Times. FRIDAY, JULY 5, 1872.

Southland Times, Issue 1601, 5 July 1872, Page 2

The Southland Times. FRIDAY, JULY 5, 1872.

The formation of a party opposed to the Vogei, Ministry, in which two very decided Supporters of the Government last session, Messrs Fitzhebbebt and Bunitt, are spoken of as taking a prominent part, is announced. The party thus initiated is for the present known as the " new I party," an appellation sufficiently comprehensive to include politicians of all ahades of opinion, and certainly by no means indicative of any common principle or bond of cohesion amongst its members. It is understood, however, that the object sought to be attained is in the first place to oust the existing Ministry, and in the second to hand over to the Provincial authorities the administration of the Public Works and Immigration Acts. It is not likely that at this time of day any such retrograde policy will find favor with a majority of the Assembly. The Provincial system has long been felt by the country to be rotten to the core, and it now drags out a lingering existence simply because a number of professional politicians are directly interested in its continuance, and these men unfortunately happen in many instances, as in the case of the two just mentioned, respectively Superintendent and Provincial Secretary of Wellington, to be members of Assembly as welJ. Mr Donald Reid is another case in point. He was never tired, during the last session of the Provincial Council, of lamenting that the' Government would not hand over to the Provincial authorities the ; mo-ney for Eailways and Immigration. But if this idea really be one of the leading principles of the " new party," it is difficult to see how they can hope to command the support of such men as Mr Stafford and Mf Hall, who are stated to have joined its ranks — men whose political career for years has been marked by unceasing and strenuous effort to curtail the power of the Provinces. .It improbable that many who might be willing to assist the " new party" in carrying out the first part of their programme — the deposition of the present Government — would hesitate before they committed themselves to the second. The day has now fairly gone by when " more power to the Provinces " will ever serve as a rallying cry for a parliamentary crusade. Should there prove to be any truth in the idea that this issue is the one really contemplated by the Opposition, we think it by no means improbable, as has been suggested, that^ the Government themselves will raise it in the Governor's speech, and challenge a trial of strength at once. If by any unforeseen combination the Ministry should happen to be defeated, we think there would be a fair ground on which to appeal to the country, and we have not the slightest doubt of the result. If the question of further bolstering up the Provincial institutions be referred to the Colony at a general election, there can be but one opinion as to the kind of answer that will be returned. Year by year the dislike of the public to this worn-out and mischievous part of our political machine is becoming more intense and universal. The thing continues to exist, not because

it is wanted, but because it is there. No one has a good word to say for it, although no one sees exactly bow to get rid of it. The opportunity is all that is required, and such an opportunity would be easily found, or made, by a new Assembly elected on the question. The Provincial Councils have of late years been shorn of their powers to an extent which has rendered them practically useless for any good purpose, although unfortunately their means of doing mischief have by no ! means been equally diminished, and will never entirely cease, except with their J existence itself. The expense and waste arising from the maintenance of two separate staffs of officials has often been insisted on as an evil arising from the Provincial system, sufficiently serious to warrant its abolition. And certainly it is a very important instance of the bad effects of Provincial institutions, though by no means the worst. Of much greater { moment we hold to be the consideration j that, so long as the Provinces have to be consulted on the subject, it will be impossible to obtain a settlement of the land' question on a comprehensive and satisfactory basis. Our ten or twelve sets of land regulations will still continue to puzzle intending emigrants, and Provincial Councils will continue to deal with the public estate as. if it were inexhaustible, and meant to subserve no better purpose than to etuve off Ibe claims of some pressings debtor, or satisfy the passing exigencies of a Provincial Treasurer's budget. A far more serious evil we believe to be the influence of Provincial jealousy and greed on the action of the Assembly. These nine centres of political action and influence have to be considered by every Ministry as furnishing possible supporters or opponents, whose support must be secured, or' their hostility disarmed/ by I judicious bribery in the way of public expenditure. Whether the money bo spent be for the general good of the colony, or whether it might almost as well be thrown into the sea at once, becomes a secondary. -question, compared with the all-iinpQftant one, to the Ministry, of securing the votes of this Province r or of that. Log-rolling is a term we are now unhappily becoming familiar with inNew Zealand,- and it cannot .be denied-. ' that this practice is likely to prevail, more,, or less, in any representative assembly, where the special interests of different localities have to be considered. ' But if the Provincial system of New Zealand had been specially designed to foster this odious practice, and bring it to the highest perfection it is capable of attaining, it could scarcely have been more successfully adapted to the purpose. It is ; worthy of note that the circumstances j which are stated to have led to the formation of this " new party" afford an illustration in point. The Provincial magnates of Wellington, Mr FitzheeBEiiT and Mr Bunny, seem, since their election as Superintendent and Provincial Secretary, to have discovered many good points in Provincial institutions of which they were not previously aware. As a natural result of their devotion to their own pet province, they have fallen foul of the Government because they will not, or cannot, make the Wairarapa railway. Hence this " new party" in the politics of the colony.