The Daily Southern Cross.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIII, Issue 3057, 14 May 1867, Page 4

The Daily Southern Cross.

LUOEO, NON XntO. ' If I h*r« be«n octlnfaidud, y«t thu* tin A. thoaund beaco&f from the ipurk I bon."

TUESDAY, MAY li.

The public journals of the colony have given no uncertain sound regarding its future policy. Centralism and Provincialism, as political war-cries, have been adopted by the leaders on either side j and the dispute between Otago and the General Government forms the text for most of the leading articles. We deem it right, for the information of our readers, to compile an article, giving, in short compass, the leading ideas in our Southern contemporaries. The Wellington Indcpen* dent, speaking of Mr. Macandrew's treatment, says: — We feel bound to express the strongest disapproval *t this way of dealing with * matter so important. It smacks of poltroonery and dishonesty. The Government were afraid to assert a sound principle, and they have apparently an ulterior object in view in limiting Mr. Macandrew's powers, while confirm* ing his election. At a stroke of the pen, the whole management and control of the Otago goldfields hat passed from the Provincial to the General Govern* ment. Mr. Stafford, in that department, » now Superintendent of Otago, and Mr. J. B. Bradshaw the agent to execute his orden. We will not paiuo to inquire why Mr. Eradsbaw, of all people in the world, should needlessly have been saddled on the country — at a coat, between salary and expenses, of. nearly £1,000 a year, because his political devotion to Mr. Stafford in the Assembly probably over* came all other objections; but we do prote.t against this attempt to limit provincial powers, before any clearly-defined scheme has been offered' in their place. It is well known that the sapping of provincial (institutions, the strengthening the Hands of the General Government,- <and the establishment of a municipal system throughout the colony, are the objects of the present Ministry. We are content to await the production of their plans in a practical shape, and to give them a fail consideration ; but as yet there i» nothing before the

* SS '^^Sb&tJWF soon to begin breaking down tfc» old structtfWf'Before even the plans of the new one have been produced. The work of destruction ™ ?***■ commenced at Otago : but the Ministry had better stay their hands till they are better informed as to the real wishes of the colony on the great question of Centralism versus Provincialism. The Advertiser, which speaks the opinions and views of the Government, does not justify their action in any way, but holds out as a bribe to the gold-fields population, that the surplus revenue on the gold produce will be spent on local works. This is intended to create division in the camp ; but we fail to see how the General Government can possibly administer the municipal affairs of the Otago gold-fields, and permit the existence of the Otago province. Virtually, however, the province has been erased from the New Zealand muster-roll, and Mr. Stafford and his creatures are supreme. The powers delegated under the Marine Boards Act to Superintendents of Provinces, have been withheld from Mr. Macandrew, and given to the Resident Magistrate, Mr. Strode ; and the Provincial Agent, Mr. "W. C. Young, has not been gazetted by Mr. Stafford's Government, although they offered to give him a letter of introduction to the Secretary of State for the Colonies accrediting his position. This is like adding insult to injury. Either Mr. Young is or is not agent of the province " to *' negotiate for the construction of a railway u from Dunedin to the Molyneux." If he is a proper person to be so employed, his appointment ought to ' have been gazetted. The course tat en by Mr. Stafford's Government is oppressive in the extreme to Otago, and we cannot help thinking, that it has ■been adopted more to gratify the malignant meanndss of the pe^ty minds of which that Government is principally composed, than from any right apprehension of duty. Meanwhile the opposition of Otago is thorough, and she must succeed in the lang run because, almost to a man, Auckland sympathises with her j and the other provinces also resent the unwarrantable assumption of authority by the clique who have managed to screw themselves into place and pay as members of the General Government. The I/yttelton Times, whilst maintaining that the Government was right, suggests that Mr. Stafford should compromise the matter by at once appointing some third party, agreeable to the province, to exercise the powers on the gold-fields, and warns the Government against attempting to strike a blow at Provincialism under cover of this difficulty. But this is just what the Government mean to do, as appears by the , Advertiser, of the Bth, "which holds out a money bait to the digging population. The Lyttelton Times of the 4th says : — So far as the General Government have hitherto acted in this affair, we are confident they may count upon the unanimous, or all but unanimous, support of the provinces north of the Waitaki. But it is not to be ooncealed that the affair has aroused the jealous watchfulness of the other provinces ; and that any attempt to take advantage of the present unfortunate crisis, in order to inflict an underhand blow upon provincial institutions, would only have the effect of increasing the strength of the party which is bent on defending them. It is quits possible for the Stafford Ministry to maintain the position they have taken up, with the greatest oredit to themselves and to the colony, and without any suspicion of playing the lower game of party policy. But, however essential it may be to maintain the authority of the Government of the colony, it is certain that a grave crisis has arisen. Almost the entire population of one of our largest and wealthiest provinces is in a state of quasi rebellion. Even while allowing that the mischievous effects of this extraordinary collision between Otago and the central authority of the colony would be chiefly felt in the offending province itself, they would be none the less injurious to New Zealand as a whole. Surely it is worth an effort to attempt to remedy this unpleasant state of things. The Otago Daily Times, although opposed to Mr. Macandrew's election, has several spirited articles on this quarrel. On the SJ9th ultimo it remarks :—: — The people of Otago possess, in this struggle "between local self - government and autocracy, founded on log-rolling and place-hunting, an inestimable advantage in local institutions regularly constituted, with an origin as legal as the Colonial Government itself, and, as deriving their authority flfem the same source— an act of the Imperial Legis-lature—co-ordinate with it. It 'will surely be no easy matter to beat Englishmen fighting behind Such an entrenchment on the side of freedom, and the lawful control of their own property and their own resources. Besides our provincial fortress, we have the General Assembly, to which we have not yet represented our grievances, and which the province can yet approach legally by petition, if it have not sufficient confidence in the whole of its members to trust their representations. We have not yet the right to assume that that Assembly will disregard the united voice of the most important province under its sway. Until the Assembly has unmistakably shown' its indifference to the grievances of those whose interests it is bound to protect, it is our duty to remain quiet — to abstain even from talk of violence. The Constitution granted to the colony by the Imperial Government, which Constitution recognises the provincial as fully as the colonial authorities, is under the guarantee of the power that constituted it ; and if we cannot get justice in New Zealand,, we may yet get it in England. One thing is certain. Mr. Stafford's Government has, in the appointment of Mr. Bradshaw, committed a mistake. A mistake pf this sort generally entails a good many more. Mr. Stafford's worst enemies have now no more to ■ do than to give him rope enough, and to avoid any mistake of their own which may attract attention from his— any act of violence, which may throw his violence into the shade. Of course it is no easy thing for a mass of people excited by a long aeries of Insults and injuries to maintain the attitude of an army of observation — to abstain front the slightest act of overt violence until every legal and peaceful method has beflh exhausted ; and, though strong and conscious of strength, to abstain even from the mention of an appeal to force. It is no easy thing ; but it is what our fathers have done, and what we can do. On the 30th ultimo we find the same journal saying : — Mr. Stafford little dreams what a rod for his own backhebas been putting in pickle. He has supplied the one thing which has long been wanting to complete the strength of Otago — a common bond of union. In was not until this open act of aggression that the people really understood how closely their interests were knitted together ; how much they were concerned in preserving the rights and liberties of the province. Mr. Stafford hasjawakened them. The dream of renouncing Provincial Government in favour of a strong Central Government is dispelled, when it is understood that, in practice, the meaning of the change will be to substitute for the Representative Government at present enjoyed a Government presided over by the recipients of Government patronage as a reward for political services. The bare possibility that the principal interests of the province may be left to the irresponsible control of a Bradshaw and a Fyke has startled even the most zealous Centralists into a reconsideration of their opinions. It may bo taken for granted that no form or machinery of government is perfect; and it is easy to believe that in a new system, such as that of Provincial Government, a great many shortcomings exist. The Provincial system was a novel experiment j and we believe Sir George Grey is iti principal author. That it should have many defects, is only natural ; looked at in the aggregate, it has performed a grand work in New Zealand. The Times then goes on to show how the opponents of Provincialism magnified its defects, and dreamed that a General Government must be a model of careful discretion —of liberal conservatism. It continues : — The ideal General Government was one thing ; the General Government that rewards a Bradshaw, and makes use of a Pyke, is another. The dreamers cannot concede that these gentlemen are preferable

lubstitutes for the machinery of the Provincial GoVernment, imperfect even as they deem it. They were disinclined to allow the Provincial Council to expend the revenues, to exercise patronage through its representatives, to resume possession of pastoral country, to do, in short, a hundred things which it has fallen to the lot of the Provincial Government to do. Bat they are ten times more disinclined to allow all these things to be done by Mr. Bradshaw and Mr. Pvke. They begin to see that the General Government has not been aiming at effecting any improvement in the form of government ; that it has not even a solicitude for the welfare of the people. They see it in its true colours — a selfish aspirant for increased political powers, to be used for political purposes. Speaking of Mr. Bradshaw, the Witness of the 4th says :—: — Throughout the last session, he acted against the interests of the province, and voted with the Stafford Ministry. He has obtained his reward, and justice to himself, the province, and the colony, requires that he should retire from the Colonial Parliament. A writer in the Nelson Colonist of the 7th ably argues that the Middle Island cannot stand neutral in a struggle as to what shall be the dominant power. He anticipates that Canterbury will coincide with Otago (the Press has partly done so), and adds that unless the smaller provinces join with Otago, the words of the late Superintendent of Nelson would be verified, that "the General Govern- " ment will crush the provinces, and arrogate " to themselves the power of dictating what " they please as a substitute."' The writer in the Colonist says :—: — The amount of taxes raised from the mining community is unprecedented in any part of the world, and Otago feels the vital energies are ground out of her by unwise legislation, instead of having her commerce fostered. And for four years this has been going on among a class of men whose restless energies hare developed the mining interest to such an extent that millions of gold are exported from your shores, utiaided or unassisted by the General Government. * * * * The Middle Island provinces cannot stand neutral in the magnitude of the various interests at stake ; and Nelson, being one vast bed of minerals, is more deeply interested than almost any other province. You have 15,000, likely to increase to double the number, merchants, traders, and miners, on your south-west borders, — a mining community contributing to your provincial revenue £65,000 per annum — that will call upon you to expend more than you receive in public works. This interest will point to the taxes raised if you do not meet their views. You will then point to the General Government. Then arises one of the great questions at issue — taxation without representation. There are not less than 40,000 men on the West Coast concerned in the goldfields interest, and yet there is only one member, Mr. Moorhouse, although one-fifth of the entire population of the colony, contributing not less than 25 per cent, to the General Government revenue.