New Zealand Tablet. Fiat Justitia. FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 1877. ABOLITION AND CENTRALISM.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 209, 6 April 1877, Page 10

New Zealand Tablet. Fiat Justitia. FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 1877. ABOLITION AND CENTRALISM.

The people were solemnly assured by the advocates of Abolition and consequent Centralism, that these measures would ensure prompt administration, and cheap and good government, rrovincialists disputed these assumptions. These had on their side the teachings of the history of the world, as well as theory ; and they maintained that a sad experience would soon confirm the soundness of their arguments. The oppo-

nents of Abolition and Centralists contended that these measures, if carried, must necessarily result in misunderstandings, mismanagement, tardy administration, inefficiency, and a greatly increased expenditure. One year has not yet elapsed, since Abolition and Centralism became accomplished facts, and these predictions have been only too clearly accomplished. The County system, which has superseded Provincialism, already stinks in men's nostrils, owing to its extravagant expenditure, the petty self-seeking it has so disgustingly developed, and the intense local spirit it lias engendered. We are not in the least surprised. To us, from the very first announcement that such measures were in contemplation, it was clear that such must necessarily be the result of destroying genuine local self-government, and centralising every-thing in one town outside this island. We never wavered in oui? conviction that Centralism, as it has teen effected, would, before long, have succeeded in setting every man residing beyond the immediate influence of Wellington, against that city, and making all utterly dissatisfied with the present distribution of political influence and power. The event has justified our views, and tins, too, much sooner than we had anticipated. The present Government would do well to take note of the fact that, from one end to the other of the country, there i 3 great dissatisfaction, which, if neglected or contemned, must before long bring about not only their own downfall, but also serious injury to the commonwealth. It always struck us as very strange, something for which we could not reasonably account, that whilst others were either contending, ardently struggling for what we possessed, or busily engaged in securing similar advantages, the people of New Zealand, that is a majority of their representatives, were wantonly flinging from them those advantages of local selfgovernment, which they possessed in such large measure. It was to have been expected that, instead of perpetrating such insanity, they would have been found fighting for not only the confirmation of their privileges, but also for enlarged powers of both Provincial administration and legislation. Such, certainly, would have been the natural course ; and we did hope that, at least, each Island would have been constituted a province, with greatly enlarged local powers. Whilst the majority of our Houses of Legislature were destroy ing a wise aad liberal constitution, other peoples, notably the Spaniards, were engaged in securing their Provincial Legislatures and immunities from the interference of the Central Government and Parliament. According to the Constitution of 1869 — Every commune in Spain has its own elected council, consisting of twenty-eight councillors, presided over by the Alcalde. The entire municipal government^ with power of taxation and authority for preserving the public peace, is vested in these councils, which are elected every two years. From the muuicipal representation flows that of the provinces of Spain, each of which has its own Parliament. These Provincial Parliaments have large political powers, and are in many respects independent of the National Government and Legislature. They meet in annual session, and are permanently represented by a committee of from three to six members elected every year. Neither the Cortes nor the National Executive have the right to interfere with these Municipal and Provincial Governments, so long as these confine themselves within the bounds defined by the Constitution.

Now look on this picture and look on that. And a similar state of things obtains in the German Empire. Even Alsace and Lorraine, though conquered provinces, enjoy, even under their conquerers, Provincial Legislatures and Executives. Here in New Zealand, however, a majority of representatives has flung away what two of the provinces almost unanimously desired to retain, and what the people of othev countries so zealously laboured to conserve, and what theii masters with conquering swords in their hands thought it wise and even necessary to concede, viz., Provincial Legislatures and Executives. The wisdom of the New Zealand legis lature and government does not appear to advantage in the contrast.