Occasional Notes

Clutha Leader, Volume II, Issue 79, 13 January 1876, Page 6

Occasional Notes

-By Colonus. CONSEQUENCES. j What the' ultimate effect of the! Abolition of. the Provinces will. he--, whether good or cvil — it is impossible, to .ay with absolute, certainty. It is |. this very ;uncer tain ty that should have induced, us to ! delay such a sweeping! measure^ until the opinion of the • ..Colony was more decided than !it is ! at present. If there exists, as un-i doubtedly there does in Jseyeral ofthe! Provinces, a strong feeling, against the j abolition of the Provincial form of! Governinenit, and the slaughter of the! Provinces considered as political, existences, the General Assembly wbuld! seem,,, to have greatly. abased. its power' when it abolished all the Provinces at j i " one fell swoop," utterly regardless ofj whether public opinion in the indiyi-' dual Proyinces was or was not in: faypr, ;of. such, a measure. . The just and proper .course .undoubtedly for the' General Government to have adopted* would have Leeri : First of all to have! drawn up a scheme of ; local Govern-- i > ment. and to have submitted it to the; people, and after full discussion of the; samej: if. tiie people were satisfied with; it, then and not till then to have introduced an act for the abolition of the; PrPvinces. If there exists, as there does without a doubt in Otago; a large; amount bf public opinion adverse to the; destruction of the political life ofthe Provinces^ it is by.no means just that such opinion should be ignored by the General Assembly, and the people of the ; Province be deprived of their Provincial Governments against tbeir declared. '.wish and inclination. What was the use of creating Provinces! if they can be destroyed m this summary manner? ..The people of the Province; ought not to be deprived of their Provincial Government without, their consent. What the ultimate effect of this organic change in the national constitution will be, and whether we may not after a while be, disposed to revert to a system of local legislation, it is not easy at present to V predict with certainty, but in the immediate future I think there cannot be a doubt that Otago will be a loser by the change^ and that the people of this Province will soon have reason to regret the abolilioh of their Provincial Government, and the destruction of the Province considered as a political entity! How much dissatisfaction the people are likely to experience it would not be easy to say while there exists so much uncertainty as to what. js to supplant an elected Superintendent and Council — if there are to be Boards of Works, what powers will be granted to such Boards, and what functions they wili be allowed . to perform. It is ; highljr improbable that even a Board of Works for the Province will be found a satisfactory equivalent for . the Council. These Boards wiil be much more under the thumb of the General Government, arid have less freedom of action than the Provincial Councils had. XJndoubtedlyoiu;, Council and Government has hitherto been of great utility to the people of the Province. The Council has withleld revenue from the grasping rapacity of the General Government,ari(£ applied such revenue tp Provincial purposes; it has stood between .the people and the power of capital ; it has m^de strenuous endeavours to; deal! with the waste land in such, a manner as to prpmote . settlement, and in doing sb ias .fought a hard battle. with the runholders ; it has seen to the performance of a large amount, of work, such as roads,, bridges, and railways; ha|s paid great attention : fay* education ; and hag generally attended to'the well-beinkr of the Province". Is it likeiy that the people of Otago Will be satisfied when a large proportion of , the! powers and 'functions . hitherto . exercised and performed by Provincial Councils, are surrendered to the General .Assembly, or General Government ? It must be borne in' mind that our New Zealand' Parliament is riot nearly such a popular assemblage as the Victorian Parliament is. The runholdihg and capitalist element is probably. much!rripre considerable in our Parliament than if is' in the Victorian Parliament. .Our Upper House is , com posecJ^ I , suppose, almost exclusively of runholders, great landed proprietors, arid large (Capitalists, and in the Lower House the runholding and capitalist interest is strong. If -our Parliament, was as popular an assemblage as the Victorian Parliament the people of this Province might feel less reluctarice than they do to part with their local Government. Mr Macandjew,: after his speechat Port Chalmers, was asked " whether on litis ho^or as; a gentleman it was his opinion of the Abolition' „^^ it '\tai_ld; be against the welfare of New Zealand as a Colony at large ?"vand he replied that such would no doubt be the effect of it. I am disposed to think Mr Macahdrew was right, for : - t I believe' it. is bad general policy to drain V the revenues of the more prosperous arid go-a-head;l^rpVirices inorder t _ '.bolster up the impecunious Provinces. Not 1 to check 'a Province which Vexhibits a' tendency to advance i_j I^expect, ihe wisest course to adopt,, not pnly -for ihe Province, but for the i;polqiay/ r ; lf !ota;go' goes .ahead she wili, draw ,th'e i^qbfrer Provinces along ; with her, -but: if? her careeris checked there is dairig-r ;of <al! sticking in .the .mud;-. .; Mr .Macandrew also ysaid he believed 'the effect ; of abolition would $$i 8 "iiepr. v^^ IW-

vince of at ; "east L2Op ? OQO a-yeafior 'all! time coming.. Undoubtedly the ', effect ;pf abplit® .will : be "greatly Vto j reduce the yearly amount of cash laid out in Ipdal works,, an;d. the result y^ill prpbably be Wsevere blow to the pros-; perity of the Province, involving the; depreciation' of the 'Jy alue of property, : the reduction of wages, and -injury to trade. The Abolition of the Provinces' Will, however,, apparent "be; a gre^t; boon to'the runholder!* arid to large! capitalists proposing to. inv.est in land, j