The Bruce Hearld. TOKOMAIRIRO, MARCH 16, 1865.

Bruce Herald, Volume II, Issue 49, 16 March 1865, Page 3

The Bruce Hearld. TOKOMAIRIRO, MARCH 16, 1865.

It is somewhat curious to watch the various influencing motives on the question of Separation as exhibited in the newspaper press of the several provinces. The Auckland arguments of to-day are very different frcm what they were some years since . Then, she was furnishing a very large proportion of the Customs Revenue, by which 'the machinery of the Government was kept in motion, she had a little military force, paid at the imperial expence, resident within her limits, and the personal presence of a Governor and a Ministry; now, she furnishes a much smaller proportion of Revenue, and that simply derivable from the presence of the troops, the Seat of Government is removed, active military operations are carried on elsewhere, the troops are to be withdrawn, and she has managed, through the administration of the late Ministry to obtain the largest share of the threj million loan, an increase of nearly 8000 men to her population, and more than one million of acres to her estate. She is willing either to form a colony of herself, or absorb 'Wellington, Taranaki and Hawkes Bay which have strongly protested against Separation, and with them to create a Northern island colony, where, from her numerical predominance, she could carry everything as she would. She is willing to agree to the suspension of the constitution, and the appointment of a dictator on one condition which is, the continued residence of the imperial troops at the expense of the British tax payer. Such is Auckland, and she asks Her Majesty to grant her prayer, and she hopes to gain as advocates in her cause the constituencies of the middle Island. In plain and unvarnished English she demands to ride rough shod over Wellington, Hawkes Bay, and Taranaki, and to be fed for a few more years at the cost of England. If the language of journalism is an}' test of the sentiments of a peop'e, this is the unmistakeable language of Auckland ; and in order to dissipate any doubt the language of her petitions, whether emanating from the public, the Council or her members of the Assembly is identically the same. v\'e need no evidence to assure us that neither the Imperial Government nor the Provinces of the Middle Island will, for a moment sanction the aggressive spirit of Auckland in desiring to absorb the remaining provinces of the North against ttair will, and especially in the crisis- of a native insurrection. The idea is simply absurd, it is intangible, argument cannot touch it, and common sense > and common feeling revolt at it. Deprived of her prey, Auckland turns to the alternative and asks that she ma}- be formed into a colony by herself. The language of the late lamented Duke of Newcastle is so clear and emphatic that we cannot withold it from our readers. In April 1862 the Province of Auckland renewed the petition she had made unsuccessfully in 1853, 1855, and 1858, and His Grace thus replied on the 26th June, 1862, after recapitulating the arguments adduced. "It appears to me, however, that the natural cure for this evil lies in giving strength to the central and paramount GojernmenVand Legislature, in the latter of wmch all the interests of the colony are represented, and in which, (if the constituencies do their duty), its political ability should be concentrated. I have been unable, therefore, to advise Her Majesty to take any stepa^ calculated to encourage a project so pregnant with disasters, as that of : dividing the Northern Island into- separate and independent Go vernraeots — a project, which if carried into effect 'would render the good government of the European inhabitants unlikety, and the maintenance of peaceful relations with the natives' impossible," Of the Northern Provinces of the Middle Is. land, we may say (we refer to Nelson and j M irlborough) that even ir they were not ; keenly sensible to the dishoaoV which would be attached to forsaking the smaller protesting '■ Provinces of the North, and subjecting them to the rapacity of Auckland, and"* the insupportable burthens arising out of a native insurrection, their own position woulJ be almost as undesirable with reference to Otago and Canterbury ; it would only be when the two would disagree that the might of the smaller Provinces would be felt. They have far greater chance of justice from a Legisla-

ture and Administration composed of different interests than from one in which the larger constituent elements are in unity; we may, therefore, expect to find them as we do, antagonistic to Separation, not only from the dictates of honor but from the instinct of self-preservation. Whatever might be the desire of Canterbury to be freed from the embarrassments created by the rebellion in the North, it is very evident that, considering the very active and prominent part she has hitherto tak-'n in urging on the vigorous prosecution of the war, she cannot withdraw from her position while the war is being vigorously carried on — and the principal burthen of it falls on the British Exchequer. We notice that one of the Canterbury papers suggests the expediency of Separation in order to convert the territorial revenue of the Provinces into Colonial revenues which it is supposed would thereby command greater weight in the Stock Exchange; but, we would warn our neighbours against doing anything which would disturb the territorial arrangements of 1856. The Northern Island contends that this arrangement have been once infringed by the Crown waiving the preemptive right to purchase lands from the natives, which has resulted in a severe loss to these Provinces: too rough a handling of this subject may bring them to the Thr ne with a prayer that the whole of the Crown Lands in New Zealand should become as they were formerly, one large estate — and that the proceeds should be divisable among the Provinces after the payments of all Colonial liabilities, We believe that public opinion in Otago is very much divided on the subject of Separation, but we are sure if the true state of the. case were fully in possession of the public mind that the voice of Otago, with very few unimportant exceptions, vould be unanimously in favor of union. Otago would be true to her engagements, true to the votes of her Representatives who have hitherto urged on the vigorous prosecution of the suppression of the rebellion, and she has to., much good sense to .believe that Otago governed from Canterbury would be any better than Otago governed from Wellington. Southland's sympathies, as her interests, are with the smaller Provinces, and in accord with an united New Zealand. We do not see any of the advocates of Reparation taking up the finance of the question and seriously examining it ; neither do we see any of the most influential and most respected of our lellow colonists taking an active part in forwarding the movement. This is a very significant fact, worthy of our earnest consideration.