The Waikato Times.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 687, 9 November 1876, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

E^ual and exact justice to all men, Ol whatever state 01 pentuosiun, lcligious 01 political # # # # * Here shall the Tresi tha People's right maintain. Unawed by inßuence and unbribcd by gnin.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1876

Nothing, bo much as its action in attempting to excise from the Waste Lands Administration Bill the clauses empowering the sale of lands on deferred payment could have more clearly shown how "utterly at variance with the spirit of colonisation is the Upper House of the Legislature, as at present con strncted. True to their traditions, true to their instincts as the representatives of class, true to their character for natfrow-minded bigotry and intense selfishness, the " Lords" were averse to a popular occupation of the waste lands of the Crown. Keep labour labour, and capital capital, was the Gibbon Waketield motto in the early days of the occupation of New Zealand, when colonisation was organised and carried out by red tape rule, and it was sought to establish settlements on the basis of an English country village including all grades from the squire down to the parish clerk — and the motto of the Upper House is the ' same now, as then. It was •only 'the other day when obstructing the spirit of the Counties Bill by endeavouring to deprive County Councils of the power to raise money for public works, that one of these territorial magnates, a Mr Mathew Hoi me?, is reported to have said, that he would vote for the excision of the clause conferring such power on County Boards, for be saw clearly enough that if the local Boards went in for public works it would interfere with sheep shearing and the price of shepherd's wages ! And these are tho leaders in Israel. These are the men selected to occupy in New Zealand the position of an elected House of Peers. The experiment has beeu a failure. The idea itself was a mistake. The base metal shows too plainly through the thin outside platiflg of wealth and the position it gives, and we can no more make "lords" from our Holmes' and Khodes' and " Ready money" Robinsons than we can, to use the homely but expressive proverb of Solomon, make a velvet parse from a sow's ear. Wkat we want in an upper House, in a purely democratic Government.»uch as ours, is a calmly delißerative body that will stand between the people and themselves in times of political excitement and prevent them from rushing blindly into excess, that will guide the torrent of public feeling into safer and Binoothcr cluin-

nels. Inste.ul of this in the Upper Kouse of New Zealand we li.ivo a body of plutocrats and pseudo-ai istocratic ex-inihtairos seekiug to build up a colonial aristocracy, the very existence of which is an nuomoly in and an unhealthy social excrescence oa colonial life, even were it not, what it really is, supremely silly and ridiculous it ia, however, uiote than ridiculous. Jt has shown that it can be highly mischievous also, and had it the power in the same degree as the will, ifc would ride supierae over the rights and interests of the colonists at largo, as in this matter of the land regulations. It has proved itself a very Ahab envying Naboth the possession of his vineyard, and it has but to continue to show itself actuated by the same motives and the fate of its prototype will be its own. The arrow of public opinion will pierce the joints of its harness.

As we predicted in a late issue the Otago Convention is brought together merely to allow the pressure of feeling in the Provincial section of the Otago public to blow itself off harmlessly. Those taking part in the affair, however, will have to act cautiously, — if there is any truth in the telegraphic account of their programme—lest they exchange the role of the revolutionist at the barricade for that of the clown in a pant'omine, anil make their exit from the political statre amidst the laughter and ridicule of the audience.