The Tuapeka Times. SATURDAY, MARCH 6, 1869. "Measures, not Men."

Tuapeka Times, Volume II, Issue 56, 6 March 1869, Page 2

The Tuapeka Times. SATURDAY, MARCH 6, 1869. " Measures, not Men."

When the monarchs of Europe awoke to the awful reality of the French Revolution ; when their hordes of mercenaries were poured .into France — then in the first; delirium of joy at recovered freedom — they found the revolutionists divided amongst themselves, and the country distracted by personal and partizan rancours. Prussia and Austria on the north-eastern, Sardinia and the Italian States on the south-eastern, Spain on the Pyrennese frontier, threatened the newlyfreed country ; while* the navy of England held the seas and blockaded the harbours. At this supreme moment, when their existence trembled in the balance, when the solemn declaration had been made in the Assembly, " The country is in danger ! " all party spirit seemed at once forgotten. A general reconciliation took place; and so truly did union prove strength, that in a few months the disciplined warriors of Europe had learned to dread the iierce Vcilour of the sansculottes of the new republic. While to compare our pigmy race or petty difficulties with the glorious Titans who flourished during the revolutionary epoch, or their noble labours, would be an absurdity, we may with profit draw a lesson from their example. We, too, although no foreign enemy threatens our island home, are engaged in a conflict, of which the issue is as momentous to us as the victories of Dumourier were to the French Republic. We also are harrassed by the self-seeking and private jealousies of our public men, and by the partizan spirit which blindly follows a particular cry without .thought or consideration. And yet " The country is in danger ! " The warning has been proclaimed in no uncertain tones by every man whose opinion is worth having, but without effect ; for the vultures still quarrel over their dying prey; and all the slimy parasites of the body politic sneer at the alarmists. No man appears in the smallest degree inclined to sacrifice a jot or tittle of his political creed for the sake of union. None are bold enough to recommend action, untrammelled by red-tape or circumlocution. And yet the crisis ,isagrave one, and can hardly be called unexpected. New Zealand, ! and Otago more than any other Province, has been to a great extent peopled by an unsettled yet valuable type of immigrants — the mining class. This colony indeed was placed in a peculiarly advantageous position to start from. The Victorian miners who hurried over here at the first discovery of gold were in most cases past the heyday of youth — had lost much of the wild wandering spirit which led them to berserk it over half the world, and were in fact just in the mood to form permanent settlers, but the necessary inducement was withheld, and we have already to lament the loss of very many who would have proved most valuable

duiA-lii. iklD the cXCKiU-J btdi COfitinues; and this country, with a climate so admirably adapted for the European constitution, so well qualified to preserve the full vigour and energy of the British character, so fertile in its soil, so rich in its resources, threatens in a few more years to become entirely depopulated. Men of all classes are hurriedly preparing to emigrate to other lands " while it is yet in theis power ; " and in some cases a veritable panic appears to have ari^tits And it is in the face of a criss"" n ' a q/ this that men squabble uiiwri</ eral and Provincial Goverifc Water and join battle over the body^i an ism. What on earth does it matter to us whether we are governed from Dunedin or Wellington, if we are only governed well; and it is to secure this desirable consummation all our efforts must be directed. But good government generally is associated with self-government — a luxury we are at present denied. At present our local revenues, or rather the revenue that should be considered such, is despatched either to Wellington or Dunedin, a small portion to find its way back in the form of " subsidies." This is an ingenious method of being charitable to a man at his own expense, in high favour with our colonial statesmen. The popularity of the system is not indeed to be wondered at, seeing that it necessitates a large staff of officials, and consequent^ an amount of patronage very convenient to a minister who has the will to bribe but lacks the money. The additional burden laid on the shoulders of the already over-burdened tax-

j>ayers cannot of course be considered any objection to so valuable and excellent a system — the convenience of our great politicians being, os we all know, a much more important matter than any consideration of the public welfare. In short, a reform is necessary, but not a reform of the red-tape and cheese-paring order. The voice of public opinion has been too long unheeded ; but the time has come when the most careless see the necessity of a change. The clumsy intricacy of the present mode of government must give way to a more popular and simple system; and the only way to obtain that is by means of Universal Suffrage and The Ballot.