A PROVINCIAL JUBILEE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 652, 1 November 1909, Page 6

A PROVINCIAL JUBILEE.

.... .The people of Marlborough ..may feel assurod of . tho good wishes and congratulations of the rest of the Dominion on the occasion of tho provincial jubilee. For most of us New Zealand no. longer consists df provinces, although they are not, an insignificant minority who still regard: tho union,of .1876 as a great mistake. It, is fifty years, sinoe, Marlborough was born, as a provinoe, find.thirtythrce years sinoi' its provincial status disappeared, but in the seventeen years of its original .existence the seeds of provincial loyaltv took ,dcop root, .The progress of the" halfcentury has not perhaps been so grbat as the most ardent of Marlborough's patriots .may have desired; the province is not yet, for one thing, the most important ih the uniou, But. this is hot to say that there have not beon great and steady advances,' for Marlborough, is richly productive, and its prosperity rests upon the soundest of foundations. The time is considered by our. friends across the strait to bedrawing near when-their'provinco will become as important as any other. There are. dreams, indeed, of a day. when : the" seat of Government will. I>3 in fictoh or m Blenheim, when the waters of; tho. Soiinds will carry a volume of shipping that will exceed the best records of Wellington, when PicfcOn and Blenheim Will rival,,and even surpass,' Wellington and: Auckland., Fo,r before ,many have elapsed the South Island main trunk lino Will ha\'e beon completed, and: tho journey from Christchurch to Picton will be mado byrail. It is. never quite safe to indulge; in; elaborate prophecies as to the results that will attend the: dislocation of geographical rolations < following the extension of'means of communication .and.transport. Population and commerce ;haye a,'way : of settling themselves in ft manner that is least expeotcd. • But it tnay, with perfect safety. be predicted thGt an enormous impetus' will be given to.; the; ' whole province of Marlborough when the ■ whams'of Picton receive tho full volume products that it will be profitable to tend north rather than south to Lyttelton, and when the journey to. Chpst'church ' Duiisdm will not, involve a night upon ■the water.: The' completioh of the railway irom; Christchurch to Picton will havo a more striking effect than the completion of any ;othpr' railway in the Dominion. Nobody can say how near, "or how distant,- is vthat; fhieeting of the shovels" ' that will mean 6o much to the province. .. In' the. meantime it is very' proper that '^o (y Mlirl|i[p^i should take • piiins, tp,i make,, their memorable.. The about: jubilcesys. that- 'in /tho■ of things the, peoplis whom ; . it Woulds lw'. most>in-> teresting. to have present are'-deadend' gone., Happily some of the veterans are: with us still s it is something to have Captain Baillie, , a member of - the first Provincial. Council and tho second :-S.u.pcrintendent of the province. The younger generation may hot bo able jiilly to sympathise \vith the spirit of tho provincial jubilee., i There is abroad' a good deal, of raw impatience of the. .past -and: its institutions.. ,Yetthe provincial spirithas admirable .sidesitjsr always admirable when it exhibits itself as pride ■in ; .tho achievements of the men who, in founding the provinces, laid a soulld foundation for the nation to come. We all deplore " provincialism" when it dis-. plays itself, in absurd touchiness and petty jealousies; but with tho provincial system there passed awiiy not a little that ; -/as pracipus, : Self-reliance, for example, was encouraged by necessity in those older days] and it Cannot be denied that self-: reliance is not a striking public charac-' teristic to-day.' In Marlborough, we are sure, enough of it remains to guarantee that there will be Something great to cclc-. brate at the centenary.