Wanganui Chronicle. and TURAKINA X RANGITIKEI MESSENGER. TUESDAY, 20th APRIL, 1869.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XIII, Issue 1016, 20 April 1869, Page 2

Wanganui Chronicle. and TURAKINA X RANGITIKEI MESSENGER. TUESDAY, 20th APRIL, 1869.

A parliamentary paper dealing with the statistics of the petitions for Local Government, presented to the House of Representatives last session, affords some of our Southern pro-provincial contemporaries an opportunity of depreciating this movement. Their reasoning is that, because only a small proportion of the electors of the colony have signed the petitions referred to, there is, therefore, but a faint desire for Local Government, They forget or at least ignore the fact that none of the large centres of population, the seats of provincial government, has joined this movement. It is not the interest of these places,aud consequently they take care not to see it to be their duty, to do so. And thus when you deduct the populations of Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin, &c., from the census of a thinly-peopled country like New Zealand,you can, as a matter of course,run up a formidable percentage either for or against any special object,; but we submit that this is not the correct way, even as a question of figures, to look at a matter like this. Rather let us see how the districts away from the seats of government, and seeking a change, deal with it. If a majority of the electors in any one of these districts refuse to sign a petition for Local Government, we should at once acknowledge that there, at least, the movement was premature. On the other hand, if a clear majority, —no matter although the figures are numerically small, —of a locality wish to be left to their own keeping, then the thingshould be regarded as bona jid.e and treated accordingly. Tried by this test the movement on behalf of Local Government is wonderfully strong, considering the want of organization generally prevalent in outlying districts. And referring to the Wanganui district specially, there is here at all events no room for the least doubt on the subject. The signatures to the petition were carefully analysed by sufficiently unfriendly critics at the time, and nothing could be urged either against their number or their genuineness. The people of Wanganui wish to manage their own affairs, and the getting the power to do so is only a question of time —a year more or less —despite of all counter endeavours.

Tee visit of Prince Alfred to these shores forms a pleasant chapter in colonial history, and he is simply an ill-conditioned person who begrudges for a moment any of those expressions of unbought loyalty which spring up spontaneously on such an occasion. There is a democracy which is vulgar and shows its vulgarity in sneering clamour at birth and rank, which all the while it envies ; and there is a democracy, true and noble, which accords even to adventitious circumstances all the weight to which they are entitled —“the grand democracy of forest trees,” where the giants of the wood naturally tower above the parasites and creeping plants. We hope this last is the exhibition of democracy which the Prince has seen and will see in these islands —a democracy which will give a hearty welcome to the scion of a royal house. There is little political significance in Prince Alfred’s visit. Yet more or less of this there must be. The addresses of the colonists and the replies of the Prince are

brimful of the throne and the constitution. No one, we daresay,’?would have it otherwise. But these generalities, which passed muster so well on the Australian Continent, require an addition here. No sooner does his Royal Highness touch the soil of New Zealand, where the people are jfighting single-handed a hard fight against barbarism and cruelty, than our native difficulty forces itself upon his attention. Use as much rose-water as we may, the blight of it obstinately refuses to wash out. In the reply which Prince Alfred read to the address of the people of Wellington, the following paragraph occurs :

It is mv most earnest prayer, gentlemen, that in the portions of this island now so unhappily disturbed by the savage hostility (characterised by the greatest cruellies) of certain hostile natives, the blessings of peace may speedily he restored, through the energy which already has been displayed by (be colonists, and Ibe guidance of Almighty God. More than this expression of vague sympathy could scarcely have been expected, and yet, when read by the lurid light of burning homesteads or translated by the thoughts of those who have empty places — gaps never to be filled up—at their firesides, calamities caused by the ruthless savage, how cold such phrases really are. A pound of lead would outweigh them all. We are dissatisfied we hardly know why. Everything seems chaotic, unveracions, and wrong about this miserable business. We are dissatisfied, not with the speaker ; he could not well do otherwise ; but with the circumstances under which the words are spoken. There is something incongruous, inconsistent, unfitting in the conjunction of a meaningless “ prayer ” for “ the blessings of peace being restored” with “ the energy of the colonists ” and “the guidance of Almighty God.” This is scarcely the time to find fault with the Prince’s syntax, although it is none of the best, but we cannot help repeating that this “ prayer,” doutless without meaning it, sounds so hollow that the mention of it would have been better omitted. While a whole district, within a few hours’ sail of Wellington is in the grief, the agony, the indignation of insurrection, and other districts are lying desolate after the ravages of the rebels, the Queen’s son is receiving and giving compliments, and the Queen’s soldiers are idle in barracks. Plenty of soldiers are scattered over the British dominions with nothing to do, yet British men, women, and children are murdered in this colony, and the murders remain unavenged. We do not now inquire why this strange anomaly exists ; we merely state fact. We do not try to apportion the blame. Everyone in authority ment, Colonial Government —is to blame. Our native question seems utter confusion worse confounded. The Prince is not to blame ; we should be wrong in blaming him ; yet, when he speaks the mildest commonplaces upon a subject, where ’tis almost impious to be calm, and measured, and polite, we cannot help feeling, if not angry, at east, strongly stirred.