EveningPost. TUESDAY, MARCH 16, 1880. AUCKLAND ON WELLINGTON.

Evening Post, Volume XIX, Issue 61, 16 March 1880, Page 2

Evening Post. TUESDAY, MARCH 16, 1880. AUCKLAND ON WELLINGTON.

It is just as well that the people of Wellington should be made aware of the kind and brotherly spirit in which they are regarded by their fellow-colonists in Auckland, in order that they may be prepared in time for the opposition certain to be offered by the Northern members to any proposals next session for publio works expenditure in this district. The Auckland Evening Star, of the 6th instant, commences an article on Wellington in the following friendly strain : — " Wellington for many years past has been a vampire living on the rest of New Zealand. It is rarely that anything in the shape of moderation or modesty has been found in the true Wellingtonian ; but during the last political campaign Mr. Waltek Johnston.

i leading merchant of the Empire City, was shamed, by the unseemly clamors of the people, into saying that consideration for the large colonial expenditure constantly I maintained in the great central establish- ! menta should prod nee aome modesty in the demands for an unfair share of public works. That, however, was not the sort of doctrine to go down with Wellington people, and although, when the return of public works expenditure in the several provincial districts came down last session, it was proved that Wellington had received .£537,899 in excess of its fair proportion on a population basis, in which all the immigrants that have been poured into the city wero unfairly allowed to count, while the Auckland expenditure was ve>y largely under a fair proporteon, tto Wellihgtonians were unabashed. Ofer cdntempdrary then proceeds to denounce the proposed West Coast Railway and to cay "The pressure of deputations and pubhc meetings is being brought to bear on Ministers to drag them into more gigantic liabilities for the purpose of pacifying the vampire. There is no trouble in arousing Wellington enthusiasm on a topic like this. Suction from the public revenues comes to the true Wellingtonian like mother's milk, and ho is ready on each and every occasion to Bhow that expenditure in Wellington is a blessing to the colony." The Star next produces some ingeniously manipulated figures, intended to show that so far from Welling' ton having been unjustly treated hitheito in the share she has received of the public work expenditure she really has had far more than h9r real share. It is unnecessary to follow our imaginative contemporary in its arithmetical rambles. Probably the specious nature of its line of argument will be sufficiently exposed by our merely mentioning that all the expenditure at Napier, Taranaki, and Wanganui is put down to Wellington account, in wilful disregard of the fact that for some years to come that expenditure will be of no more value to Wellington than to Auckland— perhaps considerably less. It would be quite as reasonable to charge the Taranaki, Napier, and Wanganui expenditure to Auckland as to Wellington, and just \ as fair to debit Canterbury with the dls- | bureements in Nelson, Mairlßorough, and Westland. The Only railway expenditure which can properly be placed to the Wellington account is that on the one sole line which Wellington yet can boast — that from Wellington to Masterton, and the preliminary expenses on the proposed WellingtonWest Coast line. The official return made by the Minister for Public Works last session showed that thb l< total net expenditure to 30th -June, 1879." on Wellington railways {including for preliminary and working surveys on the WellingtonWest Coast line), amounted to .£619,635. Yet the veracions Star has the audacity to assert that it reached " the gigantic sum of je2,369,G99," and adds, "Pretty good, one would think, but not good enough, it seems for Wellington !" How our contemporary contrives to pile up this "gigantio" total we kave shown already. The "cloven hoof," however, peeps out in the moral deduced from this "shocking example" of Wellington's insatiable rapacity. The article from which we have been quoting concludes as follows :— " The presence of Ministers in Wellington, however, exposes them specially to the local pressure, and unless they take a resolute stand the mischief may be done before Parliament meets again. Considering the heavy obligations already incurred in that part of the Colony, Ministers will be highly culpable if they allow the local clamor to prevail. These agitations at the capital and extortionate demands upon the resident members of the Government are intolerable ; and if they continue, an united effort should bo made by members North and South to remove the capital to some place where the, local want 3 are fewer, and the people have' been less accustomed to look to a paternal Government for their means of subsistence." This is simply the " old, old story," so far as Auckland is concerned. Auckland has lost the seat of Government, and will be always unhappy until it is removed from the city by which she was superseded as the political capital of the Colony. We have not the slightest apprehension that this source of Auckland discontent will ever be done away with. Wellington is the natural capital of the_ Colony "by virtue of her geographical position and other advantages, and we are not at all alarmed at these threats of removing the seat of Government unless Wellington will meekly submit to be defrauded of her just rights, and plundered by the rest of the colony, in order that such gross political jobs as the Kaipara, Thames, Nelson-Greymouth, Livingstone, Toi-Tois, Catlin River, and other railways may be carried out. At the same time it is very necessary that wild misrepresentation of facts, and misstatements of figures, such as those to which we have directed attention, Bhould be plainly dealt with and promptly refuted.