PROVINCE V. COUNTY.

Westport Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1141, 13 January 1874, Page 4

PROVINCE V. COUNTY.

[WESTPORT EVENING STAB.]

For better or for worse ! Por little of one or much of the other the new province of Westland stands upon its trial. That the best of the aspiring candidates to the office of Superintendent has been elected the most energetic of his whilom opponents admit. The result of the impending elections to seats in the Provincial Council will show under what auspices the new regime is heralded. Success in the new form of Government is to be exceedingly desired, as affecting not alone the inhabitants of Westland territory but the entire coastal population. Good rule in Westland means improved rule in the coastal districts of Nelson province. Emulation will incile to action, and the people will gain thereby. And yet the future of the new province is obscured. The most sanguine dare not assert that the commencement of Provincial rule means the commencement of a better order of things, political or social. There be doubters, and many, who looking back to the past career of Westland gam little hope for the future. One among them, who at least uses words of truth, whatsoever his motive, writes to the Otago Guirdian in a strain which " points a moral," if it does not " adorn a tale " of Westland history. He says :-" Into the history of these six years it is needless here to enter, as the mismanagement, political quackery, and jobbery which have at intervals existed in Westland during the period named, have afforded a spectacle and a lesson to New Zealand which is not likely to besoon forgotten. And this brings me to my reason for believing that the province of Westland will not prove that unqualified succe s which people suppose, namely, that the e unty history supplies scarcely an example of disinterested public spirit I do not like to be rash, and will therefore avoid the obvious temptation to speak of silk purses and sows' ears ; but I may be pardoned for expressing the opinion that one might as soon hope to extract a sunbeam from a farthing dip, as to create patriots or honest politicians from persons who regard the possible quid pro quo, as the sole attraction which politics offer. That the change in system can immediately effect litttle or no alteration in this respect is self evident." 'iisa failing not confined to Westland.