THE Wairarapa Mercury. SATURDAY, JANUARY 18, 1868.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume II, Issue 55, 18 January 1868, Page 2

THE Wairarapa Mercury. SATURDAY, JANUARY 18, 1868.

Local Self-Government is the great political question of the day; the necessity of establishing* it in some form or other we may consider as accepted hy the majority of the people, sick of the extravagance, intrigues, and incompetence of Provincial Executives. We must not expect however, that constitutional reforms can he effected without difficulties being met with in the way of bitter opposition from those interested in maintaining things as they are. Representing, as to the best of our ability we endeavour to do, the interests of a large and populous rural district, we should fail in our duty did we hesitate in taking a decided course in advocating unflinchingly the cause which we consider thatofthe people,andespecially the country settlers. It is against the centralism of the provinces that we have to fight, that principle under which our money is expended on each petty capital and its suburbs, and doled out fractionally to the outlying- districts, in inverse,proportion to their distance from the towns. But leaving, for the present, the general question let us look at home and see now how the Wairarapa stands effected under the present form of Government, and Under the prospect of such a change as we expect and hope for. We find by the returns before us, that while this district has contributed directly to the Provincial Treasury over

£240,000’ from the sale of land, independent of its contribution to otheir sources of revenue, Customs, Stamps, &c.> not £50,000 has been in all expended. Calculating that a certain amount might fairly have been devoted towards improvements of the Port, there remains a very large balance still due, and which in all justice should be spent in further developing the valley. Does any man in his senses expect that we shall ever get this, or even a fractional part of it ? Is it any use appealing to the Provincial Council with its 12 city members ? Shall we ask aid of the Executive, the very humble servants of the Wellington Rangatira, who as Superintendent ■of the Province, has always utterly neglected this district 1 Shall we maintain our glorious Provincial Institutions until the large residue of our lands are swallowed up—sold for a mere song to speculators—because useless to settlers from the want of roads ? Let us look the matter fairly in the face; we have lost hopelessly our paid-up land fund; we have had just so much roads made as have opened our market to the Wellington merchants; our rivers are unbridged; vast areas of magnificent country remain unsurveyed and unapproachable. Is there any chance that under the existing system, things with us will improve ?We can see none; on the contrary, the reckless silly extravagance of the present Executive leads us to expect the worst. The adornment of the capital, the construction of useful public works may fairly have their advocates, but whowill approve of public money being lavished like water upon legal proceedings, brought on and fostered by the hotheaded obstinancy and ignorance of our Provincial Executive. Would not what has been spent already on futile contests with contractors have rendered us free for ever from the dangers of the Tauherenikau, the Rnamahunga, and the Waingawa ? The Local Government Bill, of last session failed ostensibly because its provisions were not considered universally . applicable, really, because Parliament did not gird itself to the Work of doing what sooner or later it felt must be invitable, namely, the sweeping away of Provincial Governments, There are doubt* less great difficulties of detail to overcome but they are not insurmountable. Our opinion is that the division of the colony into large shires—say the present Electoral Districts—would be found to work better than smaller divisions, the governing bodies of which are more liable to purely personal influence, and to the ordinary failings of small municipalities, namely, officialism and jobbery. The Wairarapa under this system would form one shire, with its elected council entirely independent on all local matters, and receiving all revenue now absorbed by the Provincial Treasury. An adjustment of account between the new County and the rest of the Province must necessarily result, and an amount be placed to its credit which would enable the Council to proceed at once to the opening up of the at present unsettled portion of the valley. Then we need not doubt a land fund would at once accrue, which would so far as can be judged, exceed what has been already realised. We should have only ourselves to blame if our large natural resources were not to the utmost developed, our property would be in our own hands.

Let every man in the Wairarapa fairly consider what the perpetuation of the Provincial system means as regards this fair valley. Are we to go on bleeding gold for the furtherance of Dr Featherstone’s caprices? Is the costly machinery of our Provincial Government of any advantage to us ? Can a political system be sound which allows in places of power an Executive so utterly ignorant of the real requirements of the Province as our present Executive have proved themselves to be ? Let us stand out firmly, and with determination, against the continuance of this expensive sham, and support with all our might those who are working with honesty and intregrity of purpose, to place the control of their own affairs in the hands of the people.