TOWN EDITION. PUBLISHED AT 4.30. The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, The Morning News, and The Echo. MONDAY. AUGUST 25, 1879.

Auckland Star, Volume X, Issue 2921, 25 August 1879, Page 2

TOWN EDITION. PUBLISHED AT 4.30. The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, The Morning News, and The Echo.

MONDAY. AUGUST 25, 1879.

For the Close that lacks asslstanco, For the wrong tha needs resistance, For the future in the distance, And the eood that we can do.

Tue Minister of Public Works, Mr Macandrew, instead of trusting to hustings speeches, from which the pressure of public business and personal inclinations deter him, has addressed the electors of Duncdin through a printed circular. He reviews regretfully the fall of Provincialism and the'eauses which led to it, and observes : " It was not a blunder merely, it was a political crime, which the future historian, when the passions aud prejudices which have led to it shall have passed away, will look upon with amazement, It is not because I was for so many years associated with Provincial administration that I hold these views. My convictions are based upon very different considerations. PerBonallv, the position of a Colonial Minister is one" of far greater influence and power than was ever held by any Superintendent of I a Province. And it is for this very reason, among others, that I think the time may come when New Zealand, composed as it is of such heterogeneous elements, may find itself suffering from the evils of an imperialism-evils upon which the existence of the Provincial ius'.itutions so recklessly swept away would have been an eftectual ° More than half the address is devoted to deploring the consequences .of this blunder, and contrasting the work of Provincialism with that of centralism in the past and present. Ho concludes : "It is of little us now, however, to lament the errors of the past. The question for all to consider is what is best for the future ? I confess it is aquestion much easier to ask than to ansv/er. The Colony has, under the overpowering influence of centralism, drifted _ into a position of eytravagan.ee which it is al_i?3t

hopeless under the preseut system of government to attempt to curb or cut down. The ordinary revenue is not more than sufficient to meet what has become the ordinary expenditure. The Colony from one cud to tho other is clamorous for public works, the means for which cau only be obtained by a successful scramble in the House. of Representatives. Already one section of the Colony [Nelson] gives a block vote against any Government which will uot agree to the construction of certain railways irrespective of whether they will pay or not. It is evident that so long as the system under which this state of things exists is allowed to contiuue, there can be no good government in New Zealand. Depend upon it that so long as the expenditure upon public works throughout the Colony is regulated by no geucral principle, and is chargeable against the consolidated revenue, the House of Representatives must degenerate moro and more into a gigautic board of works,prodigal and inefficient, aud there can be no party government in the true or higher seuse of tho term. The essence of Colonial statesmanship will be the obtaining of a culvert here aud a railway there. Such will be the price of votes in the High Court of Parliament. Iho possession of power will have no aim higher than that of holding on to the loaves aud fisheSjto which public policy and every other consideration must needs be subordinate. The high tone which ought to — and as a rule—does animate our public men will be broken down and destroyed in spite of themselves. All this may appear to be oversttained ; it is nevertheless the position into which the Colony is drifting." Mr Macandrew thinks that to prevent Parliament from becoming a vast log-rolling machine the provision which existed in the original Immigration aud Public Works Act —"that in respect of all railways constructed by tho Colony which after completion ditl not yield sufficient profit to cover interest 011 their cost, the Province in which they are situated should be liable to make up the deficiency" - ought to be reenacted. "As regards myself personally," he says, "I have been charged with all sorts of corruption and favoritism. It has been loudly whispered that I have oeen in league with contractors—on insinuation which is as false as it is degrading to its authors. The men who make and gloat over such charges are, as a rule, those who, if they had themselves tho opportunity, would not hesitate to feather their nests in the way in which the/ so virtuously condemn. I have been told that Duuedin papers, which I seldom see, charge me with uuduly expending public money in the North to the neglect of the South. In the North the charge is just the opposite. Perhaps the greatest compliment that could be paid to my administration is the universality of such a charge. I need scarcely say that a reference to the actual expenditure would show that in this case both North and South are equally unjust in their judgment. Such charges only serve to show the utter impossibility of any Government giving general satisfaction under the existing political constitution of New Zealand." * * "As you arc aware, I have always held it to be an utter impossibility to administer satisfactorily or economically the affairs of New Zealand from any ono centre, and the result of nearly two years' personal experience amply confirms me in this view. With such convictions, although I have striven to deal fairly and impartially towards all parts of the Colony and have devoted my energies incessantly to the public business, I havo felt myself in a somewhat false position as one taking an important part in the administration of a system so unsuitable to the position and requirements of New Zealand. Nothing but the force of circumstances aud the exigencies of part}' could have induced me to occupy such a position. lam persuaded that if this country is to bo properly governed the administration must be greatly decentralised. The Colonial Legislature must confine its attention to national questions, and leave tho parish business to local bodies."

As the first and maiu remedy for the evils of the present Constitution Mr Macandrcw considers that a re-adjustment of the representation in accordance with the Constitution Act, manhood suffrage, and Triennial Parliameats, arc essential. He declares that, with these secured, all others will follow :— "Secure them, aud educate the people. We shall then hear no more of class legislation, or of setting class against class. New Zealand will then be governed by the people and for the people. Would that every individual iv it were fully alive to the glorious destiny which it is in their hands to shape for their adopted country." In defence of the Government, Mr Macaudrew says:-"The only other point to which I shall advert is the senseless clamor which has been raised against the Covcrnmeut—and agaiust myself individually. That either the one or tho other is perfect, it would bo folly to assert; all I would say is, that it is easy to find fault, that we have done our best to do what is right and proper. We have put nothing into the pockets of our friends or of ourselves, which is more than ,can be said of all Governments, aud that no cast administration in New Zealand has been guilty of fewer sins, cither of omission or commission. We have submitted to Parliament measures of reform which, had they been carried into law, as they ought to have been many years ago, would have prevented most of the abuses, extravagance, and mismanagement, which have grown up in this country. We had prepared a Bill to enable tho people to be located upou the Crown lands by means of small farm settlements—to a larger extent than has hitherto been attempted in New Zealand." Mr Macandrew earnestly protests against tho unscrupulous attempts which have been made to blacken his character by charges of constructing railways on his own authority, being in league with contractois, and even falsifying maps. " I need not say," he observes, "that were there a shadow of truth in those charges I should bo as unworthy of a seat in the Legislature as my accusers. I can safely leave the verdict in this case to those who havo known me best and longest." He touches on the question of taxation with the conclusion that " the only remedy to apply is the principle that, in relation to local works, those who spend the money should raise it, and those who raise it should spend it. Let the Colony confine its taxation to finding sufficient money for purely colonial purposes, and Jet local bodies be empowered to borrow aud to tax the districts themselves for all their local works." He seems to think that for this purpose the boundaries of the counties will have to be extended and that thoy will have to be endorsed with larger,powers. He remarks upon the incapability of the central Government to' do the work demanded of it, illustrating it by the statement that in his own case, exclusive of the timo he has been a member of the Government, he has spent from live to six years away from his home attending sessions of Parliament. The drain of money for payment of interest,, at ■ the rate of a thousand pounds hard cash per week for every million borrowed, forms a problem which requires solution, aud ho thinks that means could be devised which would make the public creditor our own citizens. He also touches upou his favourite scheme of direct steam communication with England, which has not iv his opinion received fair treatment. The views put forward by Mr Macandrew contain a good deal of sound common-sense, the fruit of practical experience, upon the main questions that are occupying public attention now. There is no doubt whatever that tlie evil of au overgrown and unworkable Centralism, which occupies the most prominent place in his address, is among the ■•■serious difficulties with which the Colony has to grapple, and unless mitigated by a more perfect form of local goverameut than we now have, will drive public opinion more and more in the direction of some form of Federalism. Mr Macandrew made a good hit in pointing to the universality of the complaint, which has been made both North and South, that au undue share of public expenditure was being given to the other. Fveu Wellington, which to a gigantic Civil Service expenditure added the bulk of the Public Works expenditure in the North Island last year, preferred a demand for more, causing, as will be observed from our telegrams, Mr Walter Johnston, a leading member of the Opposition and Wellington ;nan, to bluah. But wc are assured that the fairness of the case to be submitted by Auckland, if well stated, will satisfy even Mr Macandrew's judgment.