The Southland Times. TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 1872.

Southland Times, Issue 1622, 20 August 1872, Page 2

The Southland Times. TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 1872.

The presence in the Assembly of a set of paid officials, connected with the various Provincial Governments, may be set down as one of the very worst features of the complicated and cumbrous system of political machinery with which the Colony is burdened. Provincialism has been truly described as the curse of New Zealand politics. Tbe people have long been awaTe of the fact, and if the country were appealed to to-morrow, nine out of ten of the electors would vote for its instant and utter abolition. But tbe abomination has struck its roots too deep ! to be easily got rid of. So long as a set of political adventurers, who derive their means of subsistence from the Provincial revenues, are allowed to sit and vote in the House of Representatives, which finds the Provinces in funds, it will be no easy task for any Ministry to make them take their hands out of the money-bags. In speaking of such matters it is necessary to use plain language. It cannot be too clearly understood that the Superintendents, Provincial Secretaries, and other officers directly interested in the maintenance of the Provincial Governments, who compose something like a third part of the House of Representatives, in dealing with the finances of the Colony, are in reality providing the funds from which their own salaries are paid. An anomaly so monstrous requires no comment. The bare statement of the fact is sufficient to condemn the system wbich permits it. Good government under such conditions ia impossible. But no defect, however glaring, in political arrangements, has ever been remedied in an Anglo-Saxon community so long aB it remained merely theoretical. The most absurd and indefensible institutions are tolerated with patience, until their mischievous results are forced on the notice of the public in the shape of tangible facts. The existence of a numerous party of salaried officials in the Assembly has long been regarded by thoughtful politicians as a source of danger to the State. But the reality and magnitude of the evil has not, until now, been understood by the general public. It might have remained longer unnoticed, but for the action taken by Mr Cuans and his friends. These people, finding — like Othello — their occupation gone, and their salaries, at no distant date, likely to follow, combine in a bold attempt to force the Ministry to find them something to do. The attempt seems likely to fail, and is accordingly abandoned for the time. One of the cleverest of the set, in what has been described as " a magnificent speech," moves the previous question. The Ministry, instead of standing true to their colors, accept the amendment, and the debate lapses. It would have been wiser, and more creditable, to have fought the battle to the last. Nothing has been gained by the delay. The Provincial officials have evidently made up their minds to try what can be done with a new set of men. This is clear from the terms in which Mr Staffobd has found it necessary to couch his want-of-confidence motion. He blames the Ministry for running about the country, instead of attending to their work. Their administration has been unsatisfactory in consequence, and deficient in unity of action. This is intelligible enough, as coming from Mr Staffobd. But what induced him, of all men in the world, to add tbat in administering the Public Works and Immigration scheme, the existing Provincial machinery should, " whenever practicable," be utilized. The answer is plain. He could not do without the Provincial official vote, and, by this specious addition to the terms of his motion, he hopes to Becure it. We cannot imagine a more convincing proof of the demoralizing influence of Provincial institutions on the political system of the Colony. The statement is too guarded,

indeed, to be taken as a serious promise, and it ia evident that its success is not expected to depend on its being so understood. The ruse is transparent enough. It affords a decent pretext for the support of the Provincial officials, whose aid cannot be dispensed with, if the Ministry is to be turned out. Tbey have evidently come to the conclusion that there is no hope of forming a Government on their own programme • and as the old set cannot be made available any longer, they may be willing to trust to the chapter of accidents under a new regime. What amount of mischief they may succeed in doing before they are finally got rid of no one can tell. Tbe failure of the Public "Works and Immigration scheme is a certainty if the Provinces once get the control into their hands. So long as salaried Provincial officials are returned to the Assembly, the danger will continue to exist. The remedy is a Disqualification Act, which would place them on the same footing as other paid servants of the public. The passing of such a measure at present may appear hopeless enough, but no one can tell what may or may not be done until it is tried, and that Ministry would certainly deserve well of the public who should make the attempt, whatever might be the names of its members. It is of less importance who governs the Colony, than that it should be well governed. We have consistently spp- ; . ported the Public Works and Immigration policy, initiated in 1870, believing that, if carefully administered, it is calculated to advance the interests of the colony, and promote its material development. We have done so from a conviction of the intrinsic merits of the scheme as a whole, if honestly carried out on the principles adopted by the Assembly when it was first proposed. So long as this is secured, it matters not at all to the public, and certainly not to ourselves, into whose hands its administration may fall. We have steadily deprecated Provincial interference and party log-rolling, and from time to time we have freely criticised any departure from the principles which we consider essential to the success of the plan. This course we shall continue to follow, whether we have to point out the shortcomings of the Government on the one hand, or to expose the fallacies of ill-informed critics on the other. Indiscriminate faultfinding, and abuse of the Government of the day, i8 often resorted to by a certain section of the Press, as a ready means of getting a cheap reputation for patriotistn and independence. But it never answers very long. We have never seen the propriety of bidding for popularity, after the fashion of the Southland News, by adopting the principles of the Irishman newly landed in America, who, on being asked what side he took in politics, replied, " I suppose you have got a Government ? Then I am agin it !" It is but seldom indeed that our contemporary makes any serious attempt to criticise political affairs, and he is certainly safe from the charge of inconsistency, which, with characteristic elegance of expression, he brings against ourselves, because, when he does make the endeavor, no one has yet been able to tell what he means, or what opinions he really holds. This may not, however, be without its advantages in his case, considering the gross ignorance evinced in his habitual misstatements of simple matters of fact, which we have been repeatedly obliged to rectify, as our readers are aware. It is certainly a prudent course for a journalist co avoid the discussion of subjects on which he is imperfectly informed, or which he does not understand, and in such a case no one will blame him too severely for filling his columns with the denunciation of imaginary abuses, or decorating his periods with choice specimens of low newspaper slang.