The Press. FRIDAY, JULY 6, 1866.

Press, Volume X, Issue 1142, 6 July 1866, Page 2

The Press. FRIDAY, JULY 6, 1866.

A despatch from Mr. Card well, which we publish elsewhere, leavee no doubt as to how the Home Government would receive any proposal for the division of the colony. It is written in reply to a despatch from Sir George Grey, referring to a petition from the Auckland Provincial Council that the northern part of the island might be formed into a separate colony, under the immediate control of the Imperial Government, of which plan he had at the time spoken favorably, and explaining that he had not forwarded his promised report because the matter had since become one which had excited strong political feelings, and her Majesty's Government and his responsible advisere having adopted views opposite to those which he himself entertained, he thought it bis duty to refrain from doing anything which might tend to embarrass either the Home or the Colonial Government. Finding however that Mr. Cardwell had inferred from his silence that he had changed his views, Sir George Grey was desirous of stating that nothing which had taken place had induced him to alter the opinions he then expressed, and that, " unless some such arraugement was carried out, a long time of difficulty and trial lies before the northern part of the island." In reply Mr. Cardwell remarks that there are many obvious difficulties in the adoption of such a course, and that it is desirable he should have some information as to how it is intended that they should be overcome. "When," he adds, " the Crown and Parliament have deliberately established in any colony the system of responsible Government —when that Government has been in existence several years, —when institutions general and local have grown up under it, I private interests have arisen, and public debts have been contracted: it is no easy task to retrace these steps." The next sentence is Btill more significant : —" Even if I were assured by the voice of the Legislature of New Zealand that the public feeling of the Colony was in favour of such a course, many practical questions of great difficulty would require solution before I should be justified in assenting to it on the part of Her Majesty's Government." Mr. Cardwell proceeds to quote Sir George Grey's opinion on the Auckland scheme; as expressed in the despatch under reply, and recommends him to submit to his responsible advisers the question, " not whether a separate Colony should be created in the Northern Island by the dismemberment of New Zealand — but whether the Legislature of New Zealand might not, by local and temporary enactments, meet the necessity which he had declared to exist." ' Any measures adopted by the Colonial Legislature would propably require the assistance of the Imperial Parliament, and Mr. Cardwell promises that they shall receive full considera- ! tion. It is perfectly clear from this des- | patch that even if resolutions in favor I of separation were carried in the General Assembly, they would be so ill-received at home, and so many obstructions thrown in the way, that long before they could be carried into effect the evil which they were intended to check would have been past remedy. This has always been one of the arguments used by the anti-separationists, and it is confirmed by Mr. Cardwell's despatch, that an attempt at separation, even if ultimately successful, would involve a tedious amount of negotiation with the Home Government, and that meanwhile the Middle Island would have incurred such liabilities that the release, when it did come, would be too late to save it from ruin. What is required is precisely what Mr. Cardwell suggests —some local aud temporary arraugements by which the management of! Native affairs may be handed over to I the North Island, which alone is concerned in them, and the Middle Island be relieved altogother both from the

responsibility and the expense. The question is, by what means can this be accomplished • and the question is one of those that are more easily asked than answered. The whole subject is one of extreme difficulty. That the Provinces should undertake the management and cost of Native matters within their respective boundaries, seems a very reasonable proposition, and one that would meet the views of all. But directly an attempt is made to apply it practically, complications spring up on all sides. One arises i from the impossibility of confining any disturbances among the Natives to the Province in which they begin. In the case of a disputed land purchase, for instance, if the provincial authorities '■ thought fit to take forcible occupation of the land, and hostilities spring up, they would not long be confined to the Province. Other tribes, from relationship to those aggrieved or other causes, would be drawn into the struggle, and the local outbreak would gradually expand into a general war. Nevertheless, some step in this direction will have to be taken during the current session. The South cannot go on paying for expenditure in matters which concern the North alone, while the North for the same reason is jealous of the interference of the South. We hope the members of the Middle Island will be able to cooperate on this question, and that their united exertions may devise and carry out some scheme of finance, or some change in the system of Government, which shall relieve this Island from the burden it has so long borne, and which it has pretty well made up its mind to bear no longer.