The Waikato Times.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 761, 3 May 1877, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

Equal ami exact justice to all men, Of ■whatever- state ot'persuasion,- religious or political ###■## Ilere shall the People's right 'maintain,'"'' ••-w~~" *- •■ -■■ Unaweil by..,inßuence and}.unbribed by gain 'vy^ffKffsS2yT2Liy^37aß?7T: ; Tnte' utterances ; 'pf':; i tlie Premier^ Major -Atkinson, at<s,ew\ 'Plymouth;' are published m another colaoan. He speaks: avowedly for the Minis try j not for himself alone, but as their' mouthpiece.; ,W]ien the . Asi sembly meets, and as circumstances "generally* or as pressure front this side, or from that, may operate upon the Treasury . .benphesj. the •, pro-! grfimm,e whicii! .he tno\7 enun,ciates will doubtless, be> ' mor 9 or iV^s de-i parted from • but; "the 'leading r features of ..Major , Atkinson's. speech must.be looked upon as the: back-; bone of the- Government policy m the next' session^by which it' niusfc stiftnd' or fall. , aside, the question of. finance^—which we: sincerely Jielieve will be leftJby evepy< new Qombinatiqn. of Minis-; terial talent to work oat and develop itself—thei programme of business which the Government seriously proposes for itself is a very' compreliensi.ve" and 'satisfactory one." First' and forediost, asi naturally might haiye been. expected, comeV the; qiieStibn of 16c.i1. self-gqyerfim'ent.i Tliis, 'if'the G'ovbrh'hieut did not make it a work bf primary inapor--tance, :would. be; forced; upon theirattention as such. : The Counties; Act, even, .where itf lias been ac~ cepted by the peopfe,iis condemned: as faulty, not onlf/ m detail,' but m; principle. Indeedyit'dS more .than; probable that" public opinion will; demand an, entire _;reicorisideration; of the question, and that legislation: • will be directed, not to the amendment of defects m the existing Act,; but' to the building up of a! system! of local self-goveirriment; by extending the powers of the existing high-; way boards, leaving these', x as cifcum-: stances may arise, and the require-' ments of special cases' may'demand, \ to develop themselires into counties 1 by' amalgamatioh'witK eaxin' U 6the: r.! Only m this ,way,; it', is believed by; man^, can' cohtiicting local jealousies be got over'and the work of local self- government 'be harmoniously carried out. ' ' The .question/of education is another which, like; tßat of finance, we scarcely ;;hope to see grappled] with at once. ; What is wanted ; is'--the ' bbsorbption'of the several existing - Provincial systems into one , national, system, for, the Colony, admjnistei'ed by local committees, under the control; not of a number of central boards, swayed by. petty jealousy and feeling, as no w, but of a Department „ Another point touched upon by the Premier was the land—native and European. This is a fundamental question, m either, case. If it ■is desired; " to cultivate and maintain a good understanding with the native race," the first step towards doing so is to' repeal existing Native, Lands Acts and substitute for ; th,em J;jan Act which Bhall give the native owner facilities for selling his Tarid to equal advantage with the European holder. The unfairness of the,^Native Lands Acts underlies the whole question of Maori discontent and disaffection. So, too, m the case of Crpwn'.lands, a more liberal policy m. their disposal is needed. There is too much of the " Eeady Money Eobinson " element m the Colony. .Capital is crowding, oufc the .true and best emigrant classes, and, if the present system of land "purchase continues much, longer, .future New Zealand immigration schemes will come to be directed rather to the importation ,of Chinamen and/Cnpllies than of English men and women. The cure for this is the sale, of land .upon deferred, payments. "We give the Government all credit for their desire to liberalise the land laws m this respect. It was the vote of the wealthy lower orders m the Legislative Council—the Barney Rhodes, Holmes, and " Ready Money Robinson" element m the Wellington fossil museum—which excised the deferred payment clauses from the Waste Lands Bill last session. Possibly the Government see their way to carrying their point m the coming one, for Major Atkinson dwells specially upon this amongst other features of i the Government policy. The speech touches upon many matters of detail, which call for no special remark, and which, indeed, for brevity's sake,- we have omitted from the report. Those questions spoken to, which we have offered to the notice of our readers, are really the gist and marrow of the Government policy, broadly sketched, it may be as yet, but nevertheless those special subjects for legislation which, at the Cabinet meetings to be held this month m Wellington, will necessarily have to take definite form and shape m the direction indicated, and become the political faith of the Government and its party m the coming session.