The Daily Southern Cross.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXI, Issue 2607, 25 November 1865, Page 4

The Daily Southern Cross.

LUCEO, NON TJRO. , " If I have boon extinguished, yet th»re ri«o A thousand beacons from the »p»rk I bore.'

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 25.

The citizens of Auckland have now done honour, in tho manner so peculiarly English of a public dinner, to their representatives in Parliament during the last session. Wo have already expressed our opinion that tho honour was one well deserved, and that anything which might remain in men's minds as a memorial of the strength and blessing of unity of purpose, and a compact front in action, was to be hailed as at least a matter of provincial, if not of colonial congratulation. The thing has now been done ; the dinner has been eaten, the toasts drunk, and the guests have gone as well as tho entertainers j and the only thing left to be considered is whether wo have anything more to do to carry out the principle that led us to give tho feast and drink the toasts. To such a question as this we must return an answer in the affirmative. We think that much, very much, is still to do before we shall have carried out our principle to anything like its legitimate results. We tako it that tho meaning of tho dinner was to commemorate the faithful discharge of a very onerous duty in tho last session of the Assembly by our representatives ; and, inasmuch as it was a joyful celebration, to commemorate tho great success that attended their exertions. To a certain extent, the exertions made in the last session of the House may be said indeed to have been crowned with success. So far as it was an object to overturn a bad and a hostile Government, and to oppose a ruinous and a vicious policy by every possible means, the last session saw not only the exertions made, but the success actually achieved. The bad Government of Mr. Weld was not merely attacked — it was destroyed; the vicious policy of his Government was not only opposed — it was rendered impossible by the action of the House, influenced by our members. Had, therefore, thisbeen all, we should nothave been in a position to say that work yet lay before us. Had the object set before our members this session been of no more lasting a character than this, we might indeed have thought a public dinner a compliment that was well deserved by the members who had been at so much trouble ; but we should not have thought of referring to it again when tho thing was past and gone. But the object for which our members exerted themselves in the House was something far more than this. The Government was hostile to the North ; and so they overthrew it, as it would equally have been their duty to have overthrown a Goverment hostile to the South, had such a one existed. Tliis, however, was to some extent a matter by the way ; it was not the main purpose of their attendance at the House, or of their firm, prudent, and united action there. That purpose was to secure the good government of the colony, by promoting whatever measures might be necessary; but it was chiefly to secure, as ' far ' as might be, the future good government of the colony, by tho separation of the present colony of New Zealand into two parts at the natural boundary of Cook's Straits. So far as the tomporary'provision for tho good government of the colony is concerned, there can be, little or no ground to doubt that our members, or as they were termed — and the term was, a compliment-—" the " Auckland phalanx "—did ' the best thing that could be done, when they placed Mr. Stafford in power. In his hands, if in those of any New Zealand statesman, tho interests of North and South will receive equal attention and care ; and this, with economy, is all that could be hoped for at present.. The effort made in tho House to .provide for tho future was not, in the full sense of the expression, a success. The' Separation resolutions were negatived by a considerable majority of votes, and the Separation aimed at was conseqently postponed, although it certainly was not finally defeated. Yet thii was the real and grand object of the 'session of 1865, so far as our members were concerned.' The overthrow of Mr." "WoW Government, and the substitution of ,that of Mr. Stafford was, after all, but a temporary expedient, and has yet to be followed up by the adoption of that which, in some form or other, must be the security for the future good government of both the islands of New Zealand — namely, Separation. We understand that some members of the Council of the Northern Association think its work is done, and we do not quarrel with those gentle* men for entertaining such an opinion ; bul of this we are sure, that the work for which our memberi went last 'session 'to' the Assembly ia yet to do. Separation, or the government of each island in somo form or' other % the men who really knpw and feel the needs ,an,d the interests of each, was that work ; and in spite of th'e'great/and'to some extent unlooked-for success that has attended the efforts loFolir members, in other respects the 'fight, for/ this thing is so far from being done that it is 'only 1 barely begun. And this, we mean" to say, >is what remain! yet to be done ; it 'is- the" 'thing jwhioh must not be put out of our minds as soon as we have forgotten the excitement of oir

political dinn»l- rtAlfchd^lT^e^^ref^^ cessful ia gaining'SeparatiohSin lasT'jeision'of the AssemM^/^e^^etV'srf^essM^a setting the thing fairly, going: " The -. vote was againifc" the proposal, but r 'tlie mind* 1 6f the House was not expressed fully by the vote. From day-to day, while the\s«ssiou lasted.rtho leaven iritro--. duced by Mr. RusboH's resolutions and the debate upon them, continued to -work more and more evidently 5 and it is hardly too much to say that the majority of the House which. ra« jeefced the Separation resolution! 1 early in* the session was in favour of them at its 'close*. This state of. things- wai perhaps to have been expected under the circumstances, but there can be no doubt that it should be taken advantage of. It fell to Auckland to give the first , real, impetus to, the, cause of Separation, and we do not at all exaggerate when we say that , on Auckland evpn. now de« pends its success. 1 . 1 are sanguine 'of a ipeedy success if Auckland bo true to itself and the cause of which it has really been. 'the father; but in any case we feel certain, under these conditions, of an ultimate triumph. ■It; depends; we repeat', upon 1 ourselves and upon Us alone, whether we shall 'carry this scheme of separate Government to a successful issue, ookr k whether we Bhall leave it a wretched failure jf and it is to this work —to all that in our deliberate opinion can aid this object— that we *re now to address ourselves. The general elections are . at hand, and this/work may call upon us tolre-elect old members if we feel sure they are the best men, or to elect new ones if wo -think we have found better. But in any case there is thii one object to be kept ateadily before us, andjto it we must be prepared to sacrifice, if need be, our inclinations and our prejudices.