LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT.

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

LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT.

The following remarks w bich occur in an article in the London Times are pertinent to the above question which is of so much interest to the inhabitants of this district:— They who govern themselves aae as liable to make blunders and commit faults as they who govern othei’s ; but, upon the whole, they will be more likely to govern with a view to their own benefit and improvement. Utility has become the test of all measares and of expenditure more than it used to be, and the utility thus recognised has been of the higher quality. A Government really representing the whole people will hardly fail to insist that assistance shall be given to the whole people and not confined to any favoured classes. Such has been the tendency of popularised Governments and institutions, and such it will continue to be. They who are in high places may please to think they can govern the people better than it can govern itself ; and that ignorance or folly is less, likely to be found in the privileged and trained than in the simple sous of industry. But the laws of nature are irrepressible, and assert their sway everywhere. They who have power will use it for themselves more than for others ; and their very dreams will be shaped to their own taste and advantage. To govern for others, and to undertake trust for otheis, is a task that demands a vigilance, a fairness, and distrust in self that is found in very few men. Upon the whole, the work is better done by peeple for themselves, even though it be effected with a somewhat lower aim.