New Zealand Tablet. Fiat Justitia. FRIDAY, AUGUST 4, 1876. THE LAND FUND.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 175, 4 August 1876, Page 10

New Zealand Tablet. Fiat Justitia. FRIDAY, AUGUST 4, 1876. THE LAND FUND.

Mr. Whittakkr's motion regarding the disposal of the Land Fund will probably be disposed of before this sees the light. This gentleman proposes that the Land Fund shall be thrown into the consolidated revenue and be treatpd as the common property of all New Zealand. At this moment, it is impossible to say what will be the fate of this motion. It may be rejected by the House of Representatives, but then it may not.

Be this, however, as it may, one thing appears clear to vs — either the land revenue must become a part of the general revenue, and in this event the sooner the better, or there must be two separate and independent provinces — one for each Island. With the total Abolition of provinces, it is morally impossible to save the land levenue for purely local purposes. There are two insurmountable obstacles to the localising of this revenue — viz., the clamorous wants of the Central Government, and the jealousy united with the cupidity of poor localities.

Before the final absorption of the land revenue of the Southern Province into the general revenue some time might elapse ; but during this necessarily short period, how much bitterness, discontent, and mutual recrimination would there not be ? These could not fail to alienate North from South, and dissipate the energies of colonists in local feuds and party conflicts to the great injury of the common interests.

The time has come to settle this question once for all, and if insular separation cannot now be obtained, it would be

better, because wiser fcr the South at once to surrender the land fund for general appropriation, than to carry on the unequal and harrassing conflict to retain a remnant of it, for a few years, which has become inevitable. Nothing can save the land fund of the South for purely southern purposes but insular separation, even financial separation, so long as there should exist only one Legislature for the entire Colony, would not suffice.

Insular separation and the retention of the land revenue by the South Island are inseparable, and the sooner this is realised by the South the better for all New Zealand. In the supposition that insular separation cannot be obtained, -what must be the effect of the struggle by the South to retain even a little of the land revenue ? This is a very important question, and what is the answer? To us it appears to be this — the South, in consequence of this struggle, must become more or less isolated and deprived of that influence and share in the Government to which it is entitled.