OPINIONS OF THE NEW ZEALAND PRESS. (FROM "THE LYTTELTON TIMES,"NOV. 6.)

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXI, Issue 2602, 20 November 1865, Page 6

OPINIONS OF THE NEW ZEALAND PRESS. (FROM "THE LYTTELTON TIMES," NOV. 6.)

The beginning and end of, every argument against Separation istthat we are Yin }i° no « r bound to tho North." This plausible Buying has no truth in it whatever. We are not bourn! in honour or m leason to ruin ourselves. Mr. ,Weld ,and Mr. FitzGernld have said so before now. , W,hile the Wlntaker Government was spending the. Three Million Loan, eveiybody in Canterbury ,\yas alarmed , for the futme, and was ready to deny the light of the North to insist on our submitting to bo taxed., It is poor locio that doesjnot work both ways. If it was true then., as all agreed, that tho Middle , lsland was not bound to submit to an unlimited liability on account of tho Noith, it is true now j and it is otrangoly unreasonable to declare that the right of either islaud to withdraw from the union is to cease.wheu wo put iv a Ministiy of our, own olioice. . Bui theie is more to be said even than this. We are not in honour bound to do damago to tho North Island, or to do what we thiuk is pood for tho Noithern settles against their will. The t# about honour falls to tho grouud entirely when two tbitdsof the North desire us to sever the bond which |»>l<ls us and them together. If hoqour compels us to do anything, it u to separate, and not to, interfere with those who believe our interference to t bo mischievous and injurious to them. But it is aigued that this feeling is confined to the Province of Auckland. Even if it wete, that province contains the large majouty of both Europeans and Natives. Two-thirds of tho white population, face to faco with tin ec-fourths of all the Maous, beg that we will not frame war policies for them, or direct how they shall fight. And we tell ourselves that we are " bound in honour to the North" to persist 1 But it is a tot-il mistake to suppose that this feeling it confined to Auckland. It i 3 shared in by Wellington. A pi eat number of the leading men of WellmgLon, including Dr. Feather •ton,— who stands in the fust rank as a oolouul statesman and man of aiFaiis,— differ pntiielv from Mr. Weld's policy in the abstiact, and du>l>elie\e in the financial plane of tho late Government. , Wo go so far aS to "-ay that, weio the seat of Government not in quesJ'ou the teptesentatjiyos and public of Wellington would 'w« been in st F one opposition timing the Mo session. .*« & was, Dr. Feathersfcon and three other of the meinbors cJ" 1 " » ot 1)e » lulu C« rt to give a i cat support to the Goveruracu* sonemei. The fear of losing the seat of Government has m n| '° the public feeling thero what it is; it has c»lleil Messis. Rhodes, Itenall, and Bunny to account, and would even depose Dr. Peatherstou if it could. What we are now bid to do is to trade on that fear ; to insist upon Wellington swallowing a pLin of defence and a financial scheme of winch it cannot ai>piore, a-, the only hope of retaining its position as thecapitil. Of the other provinces, Taraniki gives a much uioie real consent to Mr. Weld's plane, which appioaoh the old aims and desires of its people. What they have longed for has been to fight for themselves They have nothing to lose and everything to gain if the colony pays any amount of money on a selfdefending scheme. But 'lai.waki would go further still. It does not want Southern men to tell its people how to light; it does not want a Native Minister from Canterbury to maiiuf.totme new plans And pi od uce new complications. It wants, only the liberty to use the military organization, which it has now got, to protect itself, and it will do so successfully. On the other coast, at Napier, no doubt the people would do the same ; but the case theie in somewhat different. Although they do not want Separation, they have no particular need of us. .They have among them a man who has done moio than armies to keep the peace and protect, the country from rebels. It is laughable indeed to insert that the South is in honour bound to assist the North by finding men who shall direct Mr. McLean how to manage the native difficulty. And it must not be forgotteu, besides all this, that the pecuniaiy argument applies as strongly to the North as to the South. By and by the South, heing the Holier, nny have to go on paynig after the North is exhausted ; but at piesent the contributions to the expenditiue are made propoitionately to the revenue. We seem to forget down here, when we talk of our being, " honourably bound," that it is really au assumption of the right, not only to tax ourselves, but to take the revenues of tbo North too to further our own plans fordoing thorn good against their will. Canterbury certainly would not submit to be governed by Auckland, but it expects Auckland to be governed by Canterbury. When nexb we are tempted to uss fine high-sounding words let us think what they niean.t Instead of setting up a fictitious moral obligation, let.apedkers say plainly that they, have a right to direct how, the Taranaki .Volunteers shult , fight, how the .Fawke's Bay . statesmen shall, diplomatise, and how Wellington and Auckland hhatl pay their, money to be spent by a .Southern Government beyoud their own contiol. The smaller provinces may not desire Separation; butdfri* ridiculous to assort that we are "honourably bound" to maintain the union and treat them as we have been doing. , ' , , .

j, (FROSf TIIE "TARANAKI, HERALD," NOV., 11.) , It hai been a«eited in quarters usually well informed, and the turcoition seems to meet with verygeneial acceptance, that- we have at l*st got a Government without; a policy. ■It will 'be readily admitted on all hands that the 'Stafford Government — " My Ministry," as the head of it prefers it to be 1 called — has some very maiked peculiarities about it; 'but! its friends, we believe, do not go so far as to admit that it has' absolutely no policy, though they have hitherto very judiciously abstained frdra attempting to deiine what that policy ia. To have a polic3' requires 1 that a general line of aclidn should be laid 'down beforehand— that-you should state before' beginning! on what principles and in wh*t direction you are 'gojng to work, which is obviously an inconvenient (iractjice when you are riot quUe clear what your principle's 1 ho, or 1 what it is exadtly you intend to do. 'Mr. Stafford, when called upon to declare the policy of his Minis* try, m^ht very fairly have urged his inability to flq so until ho should know of whom his Ministry was' to be composed.- • Whon ho undertook the task of forming a Government, he set about it in the usual way,' 'and invited meii'df political standing and* ability, to join him ; . but" all of these, for their 'own 1 reasons, declhitd the friendlyfoffer, determined 1 not to ,be 4i»i appointed he sent atad called in the .halt, the malm,' and the' blind, who'apprar'to have come'mord readily, for<of them he secured three.' - For these probably he mighty wiehout it\<k, .have predicted any ■ polioy he preferred, 'and their dimness ofipeioeption ort-the cne. hand, and, on the other, their pleasurable surprise and gratitude 1 at being treated with' biioh' uriwon ;ed>. and splendid hospitality, would) hare j induced tneir ready acceptance of anything proposed' for 'them. 'But there are still several seats' at his' boaVd vao»nty and! as he hopes to fill j;hem with men having decided vi^v/A and opinions 1 of their own On the general ' business! of the country; and las 'he i»; moreover,, entirely in' the dark as to .where these men> are to come fronvor Who they *re to %c, he could not' with" ordinary prudence have predicted. what \rould' be their > policy^ nor would any fair opponent have expected it of him., If Mr. .Stafford libs «till any remembrance' df former! days, when he wds the' head' of a>'real /Government which not i only could "act, but w»s Hot^' afraid {of , announcing, beforehand ?and -in -the face, of .'adverse f opinion, on whatiprfnoiplc's the'ywbuldiaot— if.heslilli desires^tha good o£ thotcolony for which tHat Govern-, ment did so much, we hope noW'that ithe gessionS is ovei', he'will put awayMunworthylof him fcheifool th, maskthrough whioh he hasibean.«peakingiand«tr ye to undo by his act«.the,misohief his words have mafle, , Hemay* he will! repress outrage. •. :What'i«>it7that is,

Airparfspftlio oouinrMrbin 1 'fcftnfUto'Hlfe* WMto Cliffs f r He canuob^eVhtrbTtue* .linporlal ai-ray, it.it true.}*.but heJuroue ofchii.owiu The natives liero l , ate f?W jfad s »ro ib'ofd ! arilTdeteiA mined only'Beoftuse they lind'by expb'ridnoe that they <JMi"<sontltt\le the Mr wUh'bttt littlo risk; >"-But who!ther,ib:be wttlersMUp cannob iv ,sAfety oooupy.^heir laud, ,pc thoie \vhq .will, not, pay mo^e ta^es, tlio wholft colony should unito in demanding that this should bo 'tho last y^a^'of 'the war. ' Mr. Sta^Eoi'd Was v iiV offlcp when tho Avar began, and by ft htrange 1 '! evolution! of the wheel of.furfcuno he has suocoeded toiofficei again when, tlii'oligli the successful pulioy./ of his predocesliois^iL has boeu nil but finished, aiid if he, continues as they began, ho may finish it quite. Aud in iloinj? , so ho will fiu'd a policy if he has not bo'eiiable'to devise, one; • ' • ■• ■ ■ •■/' • . ',