WELLINGTON.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 510, 29 May 1869, Page 3

WELLINGTON.

THE CONDITION OE THE PROVINCE. Our Wellington correspondent, writing in anticipation of the election of Dr Featherston as Superintendent of Wellington, has the following remarks on the past and future of the Province: — Just now we should be in the excitement attending the election of a Superintendent and the Provincial Council. Yet there is no stir here of any kind. Wellington is taking matters as sleepily as ever. As regards the Superintendency no one but Dr Featherston has come forward, and he will have a quiet walk over the course. His address which appeared a few days ago was remarkably short, and eaid—" I'm the man; I've been in office fifteen years; the country is in danger; put me in again." That tevity was wit in this instance there m be no doubt, as some ugly questions would probably have suggested themselves to the reader of a lengthy address. Dr Featherston has not even

called a public meeting, and will, I suppose, content himself with a speech at the hustings. This again shows good generalship, for there it will scarcely be expected that any opposition speech will be made, unless some rival candidate comes forward, and

yet there are some points on which people here are beginning to think the Featherstonian policy not quite successful. For fifteen years this staunch and out-and-out Provincialist

; ' lias ruled "Wellington most autocratically. True, he has had Executives, and there have been Provincial Councils, but these have never ventured to oppose him in anything. Under these circumstances, remembering the character for ability which his followers ascribe to him, one naturally looks around for evidence of his wise government. What is to be seen ? Has the Province progressed; have large public works been executed ; has its population increased; is it prosperous? To each one of these the one monosyllabic answer, •• No," must be given. The fairest part of the original Province has seceded, and now, under the name of Hawkes Bay, bids well to rival us in wealth and power. Other portions of this province, the Wanganui and the i ¥airarapa districts, have been made dissatisfied, and, if their geographical I position would have permitted it, they would ore now have set up for themselves, and have left the Provincial prophet with his miserable, windy, ; dusty, hill-encircled "Wellington—with I its single good feature, the harbor—- , over which to administer his provincial I laws. The prosperity of what is left of the province' has not even been brought about. Hopelessly in debt, its land fund nil, its contracts unpaid, its very servants reduced to straights for want of salaries which the Provincial government cannot pay, the case is such that even Dr Featherston admits that "hopeful anticipations of former years have scarcely been realised." Then as regards public works in the Province, what do we find? The patent slip, which might have been a email mine of wealth at least to this city, will only be the pro- [ hfic cause of expensive lawsuits. The material lies rotting in Evans Bay, the contractor's agent is living in clover bere, and eventually we shall have to pay the piper. And the delay, loss, and annoyance are caused because neither our wonderfully talented Superintendent nor the dummy Executives of his own choosing had sufficient common sense and business ability to draw up an ordinary contract. The wharf extension, though completed after a fashion, was bungled, so that we had a law suit over it, and to the present day it has never been finished as was intended. The Wanganui bridge

affairs are in about as hopeless a state of confusion as is the bridge material, now kicking about in "Wanganui. The Manawatu hind purchase, which was to have resulted in rapid land sales, replenished exchequer, and a perfect rush of settlers up-country, has turned out a delusion and a snare. The purchasemoney was borrowed somehow and paid away, and so that matter rests. The Bales have been very few, the funds derived therefrom have been barely sufficient to pay the interest on the borrowed money, and the settlers fight shy of what is found out now to be a sand heap with about two inches of soil laid over it. The reclaimed land which has cost £50,000 has never repaid a third of its cost, and will not for years. In fact, turn where wo will we find mistakes, expenditure beyond our income, unbusinesslike bungling, and such legislation as has produced discontent and discord. Such are all the results gained by Wellington after having this man to reign over us for fifteen years. And yet we are, to all appearance, to have him again. Surely it would be better to give our talented Dr Featherston, " one of the ablest men of the colony," a little holiday, and to choose one who may perhaps not possess such rare talent, but who may have the far more valuable qualification of business habits and common Bense. It is a grand mistake to imagine that we want diplomatists for Superintendents. There is no vast difficulty in administering £50,000 or £BO,OOO a year, though it may require some skill, when our income is at that amount, to spend double and to persuade people at the same time that we are prudent and saving. This lattar is what has been going on here for some years, and it is time a chaDge should be made.