AUCKLAND AND NEW ZEALAND. (FROM THE "CANTERBURY STANDARD," JANUARY 8)

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXII, Issue 2668, 5 February 1866, Page 6

AUCKLAND AND NEW ZEALAND. (FROM THE "CANTERBURY STANDARD," JANUARY 8 )

An able article in the Press on Saturday points out some unanswerable objections to the plea of Auckland for separation from the rest of tue colony. The Northern Association complain that native affaus are mismanaged in consequence of their bemgmeddled in by Middle Island politicians, who are alleged to be ignorant of the subject, and to sacrifice the interests of Auckland to the advancement of their own crude theories . The reply is threefold In the first place, whenever there has been glarmg mismanagement, it has mostly been by Ministries in which Northern, and especially Auckland, interests have been represented by a majority. Secondly, several of the leading politicians who have represented, or aspire to represent, Southern constituencies, have resided for years m the Worth Island, and have long ago gained personal experience in questions of the relations between the Maoris and the white colonists. The Press gives, as instances, the names of Mr. Weld, Mr. Mantell, and Mr. Dillon Bell. We may add that of Mr E. J. Wakefield. All these have resided m the North Island, and have a considerable knowledge of Native questions. Thirdly, the Aucklandpeopleareabsurdly Inconsistent when they object to the interference of Middle Island members in native aftairs on account of their alleged ignorance of the subject,— and in the same breath propose to give up the management of tihose and all other affairs in the province of Auckland to the Home authorities in Downing-street, who are naturally more ignorant of the subject than even the so-called "ignorant theorists" of the Middle Island ! , , „ . „ , We can add another rea.san against the Auckland plea which appears, to us iwansWerable. The Auckland people assert that we have no right to interfere in" the legislation on a subject which they allege to concern their interests exclusively. This is entirely a false assumption. It concerns every portion of New Zealand that its affairs, and especially its native affairs should be well managed, The fact of having a portion of the oolony in a chronic state of disturbance acts injuriously gn all the other portions. The credit and character of every part of the colony are injured by the stagnant or retrograding condition of any part, however small and distant. Persons of all classes, in every part of the world from which we might expect an accession of capital and labour, go as to increase our population an.d pr-ogress, our prosperity, and our revenue from all sources, draw little or no distinction between one end of New Zealand and the other. In the consideration of the people in Great Britain, in F\u-ope, in British America, the United States, and India, who are inclined to emigrate, it matters little whether native disturh^oes. t*fce plaoe in Auckland, Taranaki, Wellington, or Hawke's Bay. With those persons it is a "New Zealand' war or rebellion, and while it continues they are unwilling to risk their lives, families, and fortunes in any part of New Zealand. So also with our credit. While the continuance of native disturbances involves unremunerative debt, and arrests the prosperous progress of colonisation, capitalists are shy of oi\r loans whether general or provincial. To th§m, Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Nelson, and Marlborou"h are any of them just as nmch New Zealand as {h'e°ctisturbed provinces. Separation would make no difference. Leaving the Auckland people to mis manage native affairs, as they have been mismanaged by ministers containing a preponderance of Auckland men, would still leave the credit and character of New Zealand as a Avhole, and every portion of it, tarnished by the evil consequences of that mismanagement. ... Was it not, for iustance, an Ai>oMaud ministry, inwhiph Mr. W¥tnM' aM Mr - Thomas Russell had the chief sw-ay, which so grossly mismanaged the plausible scheme of military settlements in the Waikato ? The delays in carrying this scheme into §ffect— the blunders in its execution— the worse than blunders by Avhioh the best land was put aside to be speculated in by Auckland land-jobbers, while the worst was allotted to the military settlers— the consequent dissatisfaction and considerable desertion on the part of the latter class— and the cost and disgrace to the colony of all these mistakes are notorious, and it is equally notorious that the breakdown is attributable to the jncompetency, jf not worse, of leading Auckland politicians. Even if th.ase leaders were not themselves interested in making a job of the military settlements, many of their most influential and monied supporters have been so interested. It is to avoid the discredit which ensues to the whole of New Zealand from transactions of this kind, that it becomes essential that politicians not se//-interested in the details of those transactions, and not actuated by the selfish motives of a monopolist class among their constituents with regard to the land affected, should bring their impartial judgment to bear upon the subject ; with a view of procuring the adoption of such a system with regard to the defence of the colony, and the colonization of waste lands in the North Island, as will be for the greatest good of the greatest number, establish tranquillity, prosperity, and progress in the North Island, as well as the South, and thus restore the attractive character of all New Zealand as a field for emigration, and its credit in the money-market as a good investment for capital in loans to be expended on remunerative objects. It is not because Southern politicians know so little of the relations between natives and whites in the North— but because many Southern politicians ape so well acquainted with the "little game" of some of the Auckland leaders, that the latter object to Southern interference, and would prefer bringing their plans to a successful issue under the auspices of the Home Government, which from its distance and indifference, and from its utter want of interest in the prosperity of New Zealand or any part of it (except as it migUt wish to spare itself expense, secure the English creditor, and yield to the pressure of missionary or any other influence having weight in parliament)— would be unlikely to interfere with the selfish interests of the Northern wouldbe land monopolists. The "Middle Island Association" here contains hardly any politicians really acquainted with the subject. It is to their ignorance of it that we may attribute their disposition to wash their hands of the native affairs, and to allow Auckland politicians to bring the whole colony into discredit and disgrace. They only represent, however, an insignificant portion of the inhabitants of this province, or, indeed, of the Middle Island, whose name they take in vain.