Tuapeka Times AND GOLDFIELD REPORTER AND ADVERTISER. WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 23, 1874. "MEASURES, NOT MEN."

Tuapeka Times, Volume VII, Issue 393, 23 September 1874, Page 2

Tuapeka Times AND GOLDFIELD REPORTER AND ADVERTISER. WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 23, 1874. "MEASURES, NOT MEN."

Thb subject of Provincial changes is now the prominent theme in the daily and weekly press and with our statesmen, who have been airing their eloquence for the delectation or disgust of their respective constituent*. A writer in the " Otago Daily Times " has been very lugubrious over the supposed conscqnpnces to Otago, and Canterbury if the resolutions to abolish the provinces in the North Island are established into law. lie has written a roll like that of the prophet, "full of mourning, lamentation, and woe." Like another Laocoon, he appeals to those who have lent their aid to pass these resolutions and in similar terms : —

" 0 miseri I quae tanta insania. cives?

UCI aputatis

Dona carere dolis Danaum. sic notus Ulixes ? [" 0 wretched citizens ! what madness so great as yours ? Do you think the gift 3of the Greeks free from snares ? Have you known Ulysses (Yogel) thus ?"] Tf our representatives lend their aid to pass the resolutions into law, according to our Laocoon, we shall be holding up our hands to be manacled, and nothing shall prevent our becoming slaves. We shall be yield ing ourselves up to the despoiler, and nothing afterwards shall be able to prevent the confiscation of our land revenue. The opposition to the measure is more founded on imagined consequences than on anything to be found in the resolutions themselves, or in the exposition of their object as given by the Premier. For our own part, our thoughts have been going further in the direction of these resolutions every year. It seems to us that Provincialism is somewhat like the boy's suit of clothes which the robust youth, with his lanky wrists, and exposed ankles, and chasm at his waist, has manifestly outgrown, and not before time is the order going forth to supply an outfit more in accordance with hiß growth and development. We have long looked with anything but complacency on the huxtering barg.dns the impecunious provinces have been driving. We have felt, moreover, that the provincial towns have been absorbing more than their just share of land sales, &c. The writer in the " Daily Times " speaks of the provinces of the Middle Island stretching out their hands to be manacled if they support the Government resolutions when embodied in a bill. In our inland position we feel we cannot be in a worse position with the General Government than wg ai'e with ihe Provincial ; nay, we expect to be in a better. One thing we know, that when Mr. Bastings, as Secretary for Work 3, was doing a little to maka up for years of neglect to the gold fields, > the Provincial Treasurer resented it so emphatically that he broke up the Cabinet rather than allow so much to go past Dunediii and its environs. When again application was made for a recommendation for a sludge channel for Gabriels Gully, the Provincial Government would not look at the application, whereas at Wellington the prayer of the petition was entertained without any demurrer. So far then as the outlying districts are concerned, they are not particularly indebted to the Provincial Government. Nay, they have more faith in the General Government than in the Provincial. Taking our own province, the town and Taieri delegates prove so powerful that they can direct a great deal more than their fair share away from the outlying districts. Now, this state of matters was well enough so long aa settlements were confined to the Taieri, Tokomairiro, and Clutha districts ; but now when they are stretching inward further and further every year, we feel that other centers for road boards ought to be selected. Moreover, as these roads recede

from the provincial towns and near the boundaries of the neighboring provinces, for miles on either side, lest one province should benefit its neighboring province, the land is treated aa debateable ; a halt is called, and through communication is intercepted. A case of this sort, we believe, now exists as between Nelson and Canterbury ; and such obstacles will never be thoroughly mastered until such a scheme as that of the Premier be initiated, and the land revenue be placed under the direction of a local board, subject to a further control of the Colonial Government. The question will not be then as between, we shall say, Dunedin and Christchurch, or Christchurch and Nelson, but the matter will be placed in the hands of road boards and sliire councils. These will be free from the bia3 of favoring any district but their own, and the central Government will see to it that they have only their proper share of funds to allocate. They will " localise " no more than their share of funds. Had this been the state of things last season, when Dunedin representatives went in so strongly for the deepening of the harbor, they would have been compelled to do what they refused to do, i c., to rate themselves if the project should prove a failure. As it is these works, in the eveDfc of failure, are left a burden on the lands of the province. There are several aspects of this question which we could go into, but must reserve them for another occasion.