SEPARATION, OR REMOVAL OF THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT.

Press, Volume III, Issue 128, 28 March 1863, Page 1

SEPARATION, OR REMOVAL OF THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT.

jUB Times' says wo arc inconsistent. Snaking of tho writer in this journal it says " 110 {ommences by ridiculing tho idea of a temporary Separation, and save, truly enough, that tho tendency between Separated States is to grow more ,nd more apart every year. Who would conceive, jfter laying down this dogma, that he would end to proposing as an alternative for Separation tho removal of the scat of Government to the Middle Hand, tho placing of a Lieutenant Governor in Auckland, and the financial independence of each Island." Jfow no useful end is gained by this stylo of wiring. We givo every writer due credit for baring a proper sense of the responsibility under whicL lie writes. With some indeed that senso b totv low, with some it is an absorbing sentiment. A writer in a newspaper who misleads the public as to facts, is in the position of a lawyer who wilfully misleads the court by misquoting a case. Why does tho ' Daily Times , tell its readers that tho ' Presj' has changed its views on this Separation movement ? \ Wo do not condescend to reply to every paper in New Zealand, but "when such journals as the 'Kelson Examiner , object to our arguments, they I print our articles, so as to allow thoir readers to judge between us. Now when wo aro charged! with inconsistency, we call on the • Daily Times' to read and publish our first articles on the mbject of Separation which appcarod in March and Apiil last year, and to point out one single point in which the views there expressod differ from those we advocate now. We think it very possible the writer in the 'Daily Times' has never read those articles with any care, because % called for further explanation aa to the views rf tho Sepnrationists, which tho * Times' has not condescended to afford. Jfo good, we say, can come of these hackneyed attacks, whilst great public scrvico may bo done oy a faithful discussion of a question of incomparably greater importance to tho public than any ;°foer at present presented to them. Tho view we have always held is this—that all we settlements in New Zealand had an interest in tomon, and all too had separate interests. It "is a mere question of degree, which of tho two, fo 'central or the local, were more important. «ifl Provincial Governments were intended by the institution to satisfy tho want for local govern"fnti and their powers were capable of contraction * expansion as required. Now wo have asked— *tat interest lias Nelson in common with Otago *Wch should induce her to give up her Provincial \ Government, and unite in a General Government fcr the Middle Island? We have asked this Wion, and it has not been answered. When we & y the ecu of Government of the Middle Island *tfboat Christdiurch, tho « Daily Times' calls Uom <*- But what would Nelson gain by rc--oTms tlac seat of Government from a place two % s distant to one Jour days distant ? Wlcr tuc Separation movement is simply a selfish do -•-. t <■»» c lor aggrandisement on the part of the traders, or they must be prepared to taswen 1 i' H.sc questions as to how the interests of oUler 11arts of the colony are to be satisfied.

A Licutonant-Govornor at Auckland is tho same as Separation, wo are told. Does tho 'Daily Timos' know that thero has boon a LieutenantGovernor at Auckland already ? That thero was one only tho othor day when tho Governor was at Wellington at tho General Assembly ? Was the j colony dismembered then ? Again and again wo ask— What special grievances do you want remedied at Otago ? Let us have specific statements instead of vague complainings. We know what is wanted hero in Canterbury. Our postal arrangements aro misorably inadequate. Wo mint a heal authority on behalf of the General Government to act. Wo want a Lieutenant Governor, or some ono to fill that position. That is tho real secret of tho wholo disease at Otago. They want local Government, not only in the provincial departments, but in the general. Well, then, how shall wo best satisfy that want ? Wo reply, as common senso woidd at onco suggest, let an agent of tho General Government, with plenary powers' bo established thero: in other words, let a Lieutenant Governor bo appointed. Tho ' Daily Times' may call tho appointment of Lieutenant Governors ' Separation , if it likea; wo aro glad to hear that their views extend no further. What we mean by Separation is tho constitution of two colonies—that.is what we are opposing. We, on the contrary, advocate tho removal of the seat of Government to tho Middle Island, and tho appointment of Lieutenant Governors whoro any province desires it and chooses to pay for it. In tho provinces distant from the seat of Government it would bo indispensable: in those at or near the seat of Government it would bo useless. Now, surely, our contemporary can perceive tho distinction between an officer administering in a province the law of a united colony, and a separation into two colonies. The great point is—ls tho highest legislative authority to bo one ? Is thore to be one Parliament or two ? Wo think Otago will get all it wants by a decentralization of the Executive, keeping tho common Legislature. But we are told wo advocate soparato chests for the two islands. This is a dream: we have never proposed anything of the sort. In ono senso wo wish to soc every province with a separate chest; in another senso we wish to see a common chest. Tho subject of tho financial arrangements of tho colony, and how they bear on tliis separation question, will, however, demand ft separate article We shall recur to it on Monday. After all, it may turn out, by friendly discussion in a disinterested spirit, that there is not so much difference between us as appears on the surface. The Separationists have not issued a programme of their new constitution. Thoy*aro not pledged to any pavticula/ measures. f/ We invite them to a friendly igrcussipn as tor the actual measures they req\JM| &n* »'O, to givo publicity to thciffifHK. One thing M|By&< cordially unite with them in that the next Session of ,£ho Assembly be held at Christdiurch or Duncdin. Nothing short of that will break through the subservience of the Assembly to Native Policy. It is the only thing which will save the unity of the Colony. And, as at present advised, we arc not prepared to deny that Otago

has strong claims to bo tho place of meeting of Parliament in the next Session Tho enormous progress of Otago does demand the serious attention of tho wholo colony, and whilst tho permanent seat of Government can never, in our opinion bo settled so far south, a Session at Duncdin is a claim wliich may possibly bo successfully urged. We havo never urged the claims of Christchurch in a selfish spirit. In this question Christehurch is but ono town in the colony. Wo bnnish nil local predilections in tulking of tho colony as a wholo : because wo havo a higher citizenship than that of a single town ; wo acknowledge an allegiance to a common country. It is tho interest of the wholo oolony wo aro now considering, aud, compared with that, local claims ought to weigh but lightly.