THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. MONDAY, AUGUST 9, 1875.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2058, 9 August 1875, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. MONDAY, AUGUST 9, 1875.

In a pamphlet entitled " Polities; a con-tribution-to the question of the day," the writer has urged everything, and a good deal more, that can be fairly urged in favour of the system of " Federation " or Gordrnment of one whole state by means of prorinces entirely independent of each other. To him th:a system of Federation seems to embody all that is good or wise in the way of goyarning, and Sir George Grey who deriied the scheme as applied to New Zealand, and Mr Gladstone who supported it in the English House of Commons in 1852, are of course, more or less throughout the pamphlet bespattered with prais». Briefly then, the pamphlet is a collectioa of articlei contributed to the Auckland Herald, which are now bond together, and, with a preface and introductiou full of warning notei as to what.

may be expected when the Provinces are swept away, and tho wise provisions of Sir George Grey things of the . past, form a very fair digest of the ideas of one wedded to the. sys-. tern of Provincialism, and should bo read by all who like to hear both sides of a question, notwithstanding its unsup- j ported assertions and ex parte statements. As a defence of Provincialism as it now exists, however, the pamphlet is an utter fail ure, for the: writer is driven even in self defence to admit that the present manner in which Provincial Governments are carried on falls very far short of the way which Sir George Grey had in view at the outset, and consequently that the good results obtained are far below what they should be. The whole blame of this state of things he throws upon the General Assembly, who have interfered (so says the writer) so much with the functions of Provincial Governments, and usurped their privileges, to such an extent, tint though willing and anxious to do good,. and perfectly competent to do th© greatest possible good of which any one form of Government may be supposed to be capable they are brought to a standstill from their want of means, tlrose means which of right are theirs being unjustly taken away and misappropriated.' In support of this at the very outset the writer states that whereas the sum appropriated to the province of Auckland was £18,342 out of £52,729 collected as revenue in 1859, only some £200 pounds more was appropriated to them ten years after, though the revenue at that time had increased to £211,787. But even allowing this state of the case to be as stated, it after all simply comes to this, that however good Provincialism may , be in theory, in New Zealand it has not been found to work well in practice; | whether on account of its being interfered with by the Assembly, as its friends j assert, or from the unsuitibility of its | nature, as its foes affirm, matters not; ' and as we live in a plain practical world, | and not in some ideal republic of Plato, j or colony of " Provincialist," wo gladly j hail the hope of seeing swept away that which w&s no doubt designed to be a' model form of Colonial Government, but | which has turned out nothing more or less : than a useless incumbrance. Provincialist;: its champion, acknowledges that it has not, does not, cannot, as it now is, do the work it ought to do; then in all fairness why should it exist ? That it is an expense to a colony which cannot afford that expense, no one will deny ; that its machinery is useless is almost equally true—nothing more than as it were one little wheel turning round inside a larger wheel, while the larger wheel does all the work. Why should not the larger wheel be suffered to do its work uncogged by the smaller wheel within it, which contributes nothing to its aid, but demands its full share of the 051 whereby the larger wheel is fed? Provincialist asserts by taking away the system of Provincial Government the people will be taking away the power of self-rule entirely out of their hands, and will find when too late that they hay* taken away the only check they now have on what he calls an irresponsible ruling class. We may well ask, how can these things be ? Will not the people when Provincialism is no more, be ablo to select their own representatives to the Assembly in the same manner as now? And Oft that Assembly what efficient check have the Provincial Governments ever been able to lay ? That they are powerless to hinder the Assembly when bent on carrying its own views and measures seems pretty clear from the attitude of things as they are ; for it is hard to see, if powerless to save themselves, how they could offer effectual opposition to any measure the Assembly were determined to pass, however inimical it might be to the interests of the people. Provincialist then alleges another grievance, by which Provincialism is unable to show the model form of government a strict adherence to its spirit renders is capable of, i.e., whereas the members of the Legislative Council should by right be elected by the Provincial Governments, they-are now merely nominees of the Governor, and are thus — so runs his argument—open to all sorts of temptations and corruption; but, says he, were they to be what Sir George Grey intended them, to be, and were the usurped functions of the Provincial Governments restored to them again, we should see wonders. In fact, wore we to have a total revolution of the powers which be, an annihilation almost of the Assembly except in name, and an Upper House of members of the Provincial Council (for this it would come to) we should please Provincialist and Lir George Grey; do what they think—and therefore must be —right, and present to the world in general the most perfect form of government which could be, desired, without even the exception of < America. But as it is not likely that we sbali ever have this consummation of what is good, however much we may wish it, and as even Provincialist allows that this Federation system is not quite wtr.t it should be to us, while it is practically found to be useless as well as expensive, we are content to take the certain good which we think must result from its abolition, rather than attempt any forms which however good in theory will be found very hard to be made trial of, and even if tried would probably be found wanting. One word more for Provincialist. So firmly rooted are lug beliefs in the excellence of Provincialism, and so great hia sense of the injustice it is receiving at its opponents' hands, that he would suggest any means whereby the evil day of its overthrow may be put off, even if it cannot be kept vff. He asserts that its abolition thould

only be done by the opinion of the people, and not-by the Assembly as at present constituted. far as the present opinion of the public can be ascertained from meetings heldf at the Thames and. elsewhere, it is certainly against the I existence of the Provincial Government, ■ as being a complete failure ; while, however much he may accuse the members; of the Assembly as being led by party motives and private interests, he certainly does not mend the cause of Provincialism with its many faults thereby, unless he be so bound up with Provincialism as to stick to it at all hazards, whether right or. wrong, and act the part of" the man who, we read, would willingly

" Compound for sins he was inclined to, By damning those he had no mind to."