The Press. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1880.

Press, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4755, 29 October 1880, Page 2

The Press. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1880.

Mb. Moss, the member for Parnell, is not a gentleman whose utterances on the political questions of the day are likely to attract the eager attention of the colony. Why indeed he should ever have succeeded in persuading any constituency to elect him would be a mystery, did we not know that he owes hie present position entirely to the fact that he is one of Sir George Grey's most faithful adherents. He was floated into Parliament on the top of the wave of popular enthusiasm for Sir George, which swept over the provincial district of Auckland in 1878, and his unswerving obedience to his chief's behests has kept him there ever since. Hβ is impressed with the belief that he has been born to put the affairs of this colony in order. The consequence is that ho is continually making financial statements to which no one ever listens, and in propounding new schemes of government which no one comprehends. He occupies the House by the hour with his monotonous utterances, and, with the assistance of Mr. Seddon and others, helps to enormously swell the cost of Mansard. The speech which he delivered to his constituents at Parnell appears to have been more dreary and more stupid than the worst of those he was in the habit of inflicting upon the House. He commenced by complaining that the Government had nearly created a panic by exaggerating the deficiency of the revenue, but he was apparently discreetly silent as to the reasons which led him to this conclusion. It would be totally out of place to calmly argue the question with one who can in the face of the real facts make eucE an accusation. Mr. Moss would, we presume, have applauded the Treasurer had he skilfully covered up the real deficiency, and attempted to convince the public that there was no cause for fear. Then the member for Parnell proceeds to draw a purely imaginary sketch of the policy of the Government with regard to the acquisition of Native lands. He wishes to make it appear as if the Government were withdrawing from the purchase of this block and the other, not as the result of the adoption of a line of policy, but ia obedience to the wishes of particular speculators, and he

instances the fate of the Patetere block ia proof of his contention. Now, either the reporter has done the speaker a grave injustice, or Mr. Moss has deliberately misrepresented the policy of the Government on this matter. That policy, he knows qaite well, is to retire as speedily as possible from the whole business of Native land purchase. But it will be impossible to do so all at once. There are some blocks upon which a large sum of money has been expended, and upon which only a few pounds more are required to be paid to complete the purchase. There are others upon which only a small sum has been paid, and so on. But it is the policy of Ministers, and that policy had met with the approval i of the House, that the Government should retire from Native land transactions as soon as the engagements which they are compelled to fulfil are completed. Mr. Moss, however, chooses to make it appear as if no change had taken place in the policy of the Government at all. He would make his hearers believe that the old system of purchase still continues, and that the Government only retire from particular transactions from time to time to suit the convenience of their land-sharking friends. A more grossly untruthful picture it is scarcely possible to show. The whole question was argued at great length in the House last session, when the vote for Native land purchases came on, as well as on particular motions, and Mr. Bryce's explananations and arguments were so convincing that even his bitterest opponents were ! compelled to admit that his hands were in every instance perfectly (jlean. Then again, what Mr. Moss had to say regarding the relations between Auckland and Otago members during the last session displayed a lamentable want of perception of what the duties of a public man are. The member for Parnell is an excellent personification of the smallminded fossil provincialist of by-gone days. The time was when Auckland and Otago were united in an unholy compact to aggrandise themselves at the expense of the rest of the colony. Abolition was carried because, among other reasons, provincialism made a colonial public opinion all but impossible. The General Assembly at one time was little more than a congress of provincial caucuses, able by their united action to control the General Government. Mr. Moss remembers with regret the days when the members from the far North and those from the extreme South used to agree together to secure important local advantages, which were quite inconsistent with the public interests of the colony. This state of things has now passed away, and we are already feeling the benefit of its departure. Public opinion is brought to bear upon the doings of our representatives in Wellington, and it is now possible to witness such a phenomenon as certain of the Auckland members working in harmony with those from Canterbury for the benefit of the colony. Mr. Moss regrets that such a thing should be possible, and even dreams, ib would appear, of the restoration of the state of things which prevailed previous to the passing of the Abolition Act. The fact that he can talk seriously of a return to provincialism is the best possible proof that he is incapable of reading the signs of the times. The growing interest which is now everywhere manifested in questions which affect the whole colony proves that the day is gone when it is possible to put life into the dead body of provincialism. The time was when the doings of our petty local council were more to our readers than the fate of our fellow settlers in the North engaged in a death struggle with the Natives. If we thought of them at all, it was but to get up a somewhat languid cry for separation. But Abolition has changed all this. We can now see clearly what the acts and policy of our statesmen really are, and bring to bear upon them the irresistable force of public opinion. We do not know whether it has any real significance, but it is a curious fact that the few public men who still profess a desire to see provincialism restored are nearly all to be found in the ranks of the present Opposition. Can it be thac they have had more than enough of living in the full blaze of public opinion, and would gladly welcome any change which would divert popular attention from the doings of the central administration P Be that as it may, we have long been of opinion, and have more than once given utterance to it, that had the provincial system been in existence a year ago it is exceedingly improbable that we should so easily have got rid of Sir George Grey and his colleagues.