THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8,1875.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2162, 8 December 1875, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8,1875.

It has been, laid down as a rule of action, not altogether satisfactory to one; party, "that they 'should' take who have' the power, and, they should, keep, who can." The maxim 'seems" eminently ap-

plicable now to the present state of affairs in this Province of Auckland, in which ' the bity and suburbs of Auckland, having taken to themselves' the privileges and powers conveyed by Provincialism, are naturally desirous.of keeping the same, though, it yet remain's to be seen whether they are able to do so or not. Those who read the, addresses of candidates and note the sympathies of constituencies cannot fail to be struck with the fact that

the principal towns of Provinces are in favor of Provincialism, and the mogt popular speakers Provincialists, while in the country districts the reverse is-the. case. The reason for this state of tilings is obvious, and is this, that Provincialism confers all the advantages of, which, it is. capable on the large towns, while its many.: shortcomings and disadvantages are borne; entirely by the luckless country districts.: Hence we hare .all the bitter speeches denouncing those who would abolish .this. state of things as destroyers of the liberties of the people emao&tiQg from (in this Province) Auckland, while hardly a; country district is to be found whose people do, not welcome; Abolition as one meansl'jtb the desired 6nd of being satisfactorily governed.. Auckland, having all the sweets and none of the bitters of Provincialism, naturally strives to keep it; the,country districts—we Of the Thames, included ■-tt. naturally wish ,for. a more equitable division of the burdens which are attached thereto. Heuee, it no_ doubt happens that people in Ajick-' laud, "with Auckland interests aad

Auckland sympathies, look at the Abolition Bill with vastly different feelings to what we of the Thames are compelled to regard it. They see in it a system of Government of which they hold the reins, and which they;, -or theirs-can make subservient to their own purposes'. We on the othor band feel that we have to "beg ,'and cringe for some portion of tha.}; .which is our own, and cannot even supply our most minute wants from the Provincial exchequer except by the favour of the good people of Auckland;' '"To this we | naturally object, and therefore desire to see abolished a state of things in which, as long as it exists, we have:nothing -to gain-4jut< everything to lose. This,.picture of $he country districts and the towns having totally different views because they will hold different interests ? iiJT no" new one, neither is it one peculiar to New Zealand only. In England the case of the boroughs and counties is one of direct analogy to our own, where the counties, desirous of conk serving their rights, return to a very great extent conservative members; while the boroughs, for the most part, support the radical movement. To an: Auckland politician, probably, the great fault of Provincialism is that it is not sufficiently carried out. The idea, he argues, of; making Auckland head and chief of a prpvince, is a'very good one ■;;-the only. cause for dissatisfaction is" that enough; 61 power is not placed in that head and chief to make it more important* than it is at; present. Hence, as he would argue, arises all the'grqund';of complaint as regards the, inefficiency of Provincialism. Once make it what it ought to be, a form of Govern? ment with enlarged powers and plenty of revenue, and all 'cause for, dissatisfaetiSn would soon cease to ' exist. -L Unfortunately for his ; view, j . of.; arguipg he .does not see it; as pothers do. He does not experience the difficulty with which each country district drags out of the provincial exchequer each petty sum it may require either.-as an aid for some necessary, improvement, or to supply some want greatly felfiniajt outlying district. He does not know the immense amount of what has been called "red tapeism" which has to be gone through, or the delay to be encountered before these wants are supplied; he but sees that, as a citizen of Auckland, Provincialism supplies the wants of his own town, and adds to its prosperity, and hence, regardless of what others may suffer in the matter, he looks upon them as careless of all ideas of liberty, and regardless ;of their own interests, and blindly follows Sir George Grey in his attempts to force down unwilling, throats a form of Government as unfair as inadequate —as faulty in its conception $s fruitless in its working out. What is wanted for the people, and what the people begin to see they themselves want, is a form of Government in which each community may have its say. It is all well enough to say that we have this in Provincialism; that we elect a fair amount of Provincial Councillors in proportion to our numbers and therefore are fairly treated; the idea is fair in theory, unfair in practice. Granted that each .district elects councillors ; suppose for the sake of argument, that their numbers are as they should be, but from the fact that each district has varied and divided wants, that the country districts are split up into numerous small bodies each bent upon gaining one or more prirate ends, their voices, w^hich united might be. of some avail, are practically .worthless unless backed by the powers which be at Auckland, who in reality can sway the resources of the Provincial Council in whatsoever way they will. This is the state of things we complain of, and this is what we would see abolished. The Provincial Councils are at present in a falge- position—they have not enough power in one sense ; they have altogether too much in another. What we want is local self-government, local that is, not with regard tp some one presumed chief town of an imaginary province, but local.as far as real local want is concerned, a Government i— subordinate of course—which may. embrace a locality of similar Wants 1, ..similar interests and united sympathies; '