THURSDAY, JUNE 11.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIV, Issue 3402, 11 June 1868, Page 2

THURSDAY, JUNE 11.

lir the article winch we published a few days ago, we stated our belief that the.want of trust in the House of Representatives, so generally felt throughout the colony, is to be laid mainly to the charge of 'the electors themselves. The reasons for this distrust we stated to be the log-rolling system which so' notoriously affects much ot our legislation. It remains for us to show in what manner the electors can remedy these evils, and render the House ot^ Representative's more worthy of the confidence of the country. c "We may first of all premise that, could such a remedy be found and successfully applied, and the full faith of the people be thus attracted to the House, the only show of sense by which provincial institutions can be maintained would vanish. There would then be no reason why local interests should be protected by local legislation, or by an Executive independent of that of the colony. The privileges and rights of the sub-divisions, whatever they might be called, into which the colony was cut up, would of course be hedged around by law, so that no limitation could be introduced except with the will and consent of the House, and it would become the duty of the Colonial Ministry to see that the law was obeyed, and that each district and sub-district received what was its just due. The responsibility for the good government of the country would thus be undivided, and would reside solely m a Ministry chosen from a body of represent atives - in whom the full confidence of the country was placed. If a fault was committed, the blame could at once be laid upon the right shoulders, and an immediate remedy applied. At present the energies of the^ country are exhausted in the struggle between fj the provinces and the colony, or between pro- * vincialism' and centralism. Both .parties have been and are so busily entrenching their respective positions, each building up fortifications against the other, and neither of them very squeamish about the material employed, that they have been hitherto unable to see the approach of a common toe in the shape of poverty and possible bankruptcy, against which, if it is to be successfully repelled, the rival forces must be amalgamated. Now that the enemy s approach has been seen, and from a cloud the size of a man's hand the evil has spread until it covers the whole sky, all that our lone-sighted politicians' do is to abuse one another, and, instead of abandoning thendifferences and taking counsel together howbest to avert • impending misfortune, they expend their whole strength in shouting at each other, "It is all your fault ; we are quite ".immaculate,",, -, . ' What'isrequired throughout the colony is that the people should take more interest in general questions." 'At present members are elected on. the .strength of their promise to try and obtain one er two sugar-plums for their particular constituency. The .people do. not see that if every member 'is chosen on this 'sugar-plum principle; father than on any wider, grounds, the log-rolling, at which the "electors" are' the loudest grumblers, is an inevitable consequence. Each member must get something for his , district, and he can only do so by bartering his vote. It is surely a most instructive,-tbough curious fact, that the supporters of provincialism should rely mainly upon the argument that the General Government, Legislature and Executive", is untrustworthy and venal, when they are themselves the very people who most encourage the practices to which we have alluded by electing members to serve the interests of one district, and to let the colony take care of itself. The Assembly cannot, therefore be regarded as a body each member of which is a representative for . the colony. Each representative is merely a" delegate to an niternational congress, sentup from a petty State, and his duty is to inveigle the delegates from other States into giving him more' than his fair share of spoil. Now' it is clear 1 enough , "that, where one'gets overpaid, one, at least, i and probably more, must be underpaid, and for once that a district, ;gets more than it ought there will be a number of occasions on which it gets less. This state of things can- ' nb^afrtb' keep-alive Wat deplorable enmity which divides the colony of New Zealand at present,, and renders 7 the whole mystery ot our poHtics one long system of "grab,' and { forces' our politicians to become nothing more than apt pupils of old Fagin, irho can sku1 frilly empty 5 the pdekets of the suspended dummy— the' "colohj^- without ringing the bells Surelyrtkem* it -would be much more to tfre-mter^fc <>f % districts if they were to elect men,' not on the strength of flattery, and promises which they can hardly ever fulnl, but .because their principles are known, because^ ,they have shown themselves honest '.and fearless,t, and -have proved jthemselves capable of looking beyond their owa threshold w,hen forming a judgment on^any ques•tioh. Supposing the/petty local jealousies, • which at present 'form, the only marKworthy feature in , the.' meetings of our representatives, couldbe/ cast out, and that the "purchase of votes became a practice against which- the. Hous©,;set , its, face, and for which the electors were ever prepared to call their members to account, each man !,w6 : uld ! th©n ! lioj,4,hip l seatin the interests 01

the colony ; and when the affairs of particular localities were brought forward, it would not he a fight, or. trial of successful cajolery, between the member for that district and the rest of the House ; but the matter would receive the honest attention and judgment of the whole number of representatives, because, as ''honest men elected to serve their country, they would look upon it as their duty to do their best for every district of- that country, subject always to a due regard for the interests of the remainder. , „ ';, , r This end, we affirm, ' can only be achieved by the return of members who hold- broad , views, and who are capable ,of enforcing those views. ISfe point to no person or ' party in particular, when we say tnat in the present House of Representatives the large majority of members directly oppose the i .consummation aimed at, and that not from any intentional malice, but because they are , so shortsighted, so ignorant, as to imagine that they can sacrifice the whole for the good of a part without injury — nay, with positive benefit — to the latter. It is not only of • ■' professed provincialists we speak. Centralists ' " "so' precisely the same thing : they divide the colony on a ridiculously narrow ,' issue, and leave the weightier matters and higher duties t of legislation untouched. We may say indeed that of the two we have a decided 1 preference for the provincialists because they honestly avow their opinions, utterly wrong though we hold them to-be. The centralists scarcely know what they want or what they are' aiming, at beyond sacrificing the provinces y they have been misled by a name fathered on them by their opponents, and are' insane enough to endeavour to build up a creed suitable to thelname. Between these parties, however, there isanintermediateparty- springingup and making itself more and more felt every day, a party which will take into consideration, no&iihe wants of a province, nor yet' what measures may be devised for retaining a Ministry in office — for making political; capital at the expense of the country — which will x nevertheless gather to itself persons who at present hold opinions almost antagonistic on ' ,«;^he questions of the day, but who see that the ft ■ 'country's good is the sole criterion by which \ their opinions mvii; be judged, and who are willing to submit all former conclusions to this test. ' It is the duty of the electors to see that their members act for the interests of the colony; and, if they do this, they may rest assured that they are doing for themselves the' best thing that they possibly could. "When we consider the present condition of the country, it seems by no means improbable that a dissolution of the House will take place before long, and the electors will then have the future of ijTew Zealand placed in their hands. It remains for them to say whether that future shall show New Zealand a united country, making for itself a high. political and commercial name in the world, or a number of insignificant States, 'whose sole ►•• political life may be summed up as a mutual , and- never-ceasing snarl. ; At present the constituencies waste all , , their energies, in spasmodic, fits of peevish- , ness, and consequently their action is scarcely felt in the House. At times Jthey ■ show a little political earnestness, but the fit passes off, and the onlynoticeable result is perhaps a change" of Ministers. In the words of, > Josias Biglow :—: — They march in percessioni, an' git up hooraws, An' tramp thru' the mad tor the goad o' the cause, An' think they're a kind o f fulfillm' the prophecies, When theyjre on'y jest chingin' the holder* of offices : Where A sat afore, B is comfcably sealed, One humbug's yiotor'oas, and t'other defeated, Each hon'abln doogh-face'giti jest what he axes, An' the people, — their annooal sof t-sodder an' taxes.

"We have only space at our disposal in the present issue to call attention to the! report of an important public meeting held at Mangonui on the 26th May, at which Mi\ Ball, M.GKA., in answer to a requisition, attended, and addressed his constituents on the question of local self-government, and other subjects which it is considered probable will come up for discussion at the next session of the General Assembly, Eesolutions were carried expressive of want of confidence in ' institutions as at present consti- ' tilted, and in. favour of the adoption of some simple system - of, looal government \ that a petition should be prepared to the General ' Assembly, praying for relief from provincial institutions by the substitution of local gbysrnnrent, in such form as to enable districts I'-*'<%(>'&&&&£& tneir own Affairs, and for the (/ .receip^of a fair(*hare of revenue raised within *' '£ne 'limits',, of the' various distriots, A II .iPSPJkPAtthe, proposed petition was submitted by Mr. Ball,s and adopted after some 4 discus-

It will' be'seen Jtpm the, letter of out) Hastings -. „,.coiTespondent)ihjLJb.. another exceedingly rich leader baa been sttuclc upon Messrs. Qainn and Cathell's qu»rM))e)iig,fouQd,»tu4ded with nuggets .of. fine and,.brigbtjgold.t , , „ I h' „ The^leefcion 6& qualified 1 person* ttf represent West Ji'Wards No. 2 and 3 *'nd f EaBt< Ward No.' 1 will bo held at the City Board Office at noon to-wjfi . ;, - . ■'■ -> The highfray triutewJ of the district of '. ifangapai ; at the meeting held on Wednesday, the 27th' May, " That it it our opinion (from a knowledge of the disinclination of the ■ettlers to tax taemwives. tuSSelTairAct which has met with, aach general disapprobation) that it is unnecessary to call a general meeting of the 'ieftltrs for the'consideration of the poatibility dfciirrying out the pr6«ent Education Act in:tbis:d»trict." ! -A public meeting of the elector! of Franklin and -Raglan will be held to-morrow, at 2 p.m.; at the Xf Pagakoif* Hotel, Papakura, to take into consideration "*""** the political action to be observed by pur'repreKentaiffeftat the forthcoming session of the General M< J. As'iembly.'' The representatives,: or candidatta for the repretentatipA of both districts, are expected to bojptoent ;i m / , „ . '; \ I', , ' The sittings' of the Compensation Cimrt' were contifiae3^y«iterday,<at theDutrict Donri), aadjfour, '•-•n»^TeclaittiaJw«>ere-ifaveitigabed. , i ' "V,, , 111 j{ %e J l)ody of Mr. J. WJlaon, late of the 1 Garibaldi i , . jton, ShqrHand^,waii! brought up in tty steamer 1 u morning. 'Deceased, it .appears, bHef illness df *fo,W a& ioLiAfc,'ibi».jPoiwii Cour*,.iyesterday, ..before^Jimrt' Naughton, Eiq., J.P., three persons weri panished r .f)3janlcthe rinina'limaanWi:forf drafnkenneis. j .Elizabeth -- Lynch,Hfor using obscene'anoV abusive language, was fined" 20i., f ofrrtors&ffefJ seven days' impriaonmeni.XUVPAWzzitf®*^** WrSWftt* 0 three month. l, (imprjfonmi^t fQj4*B%^WWkenaesa» hiving been previou^ > ,oo liwwted^nine ltimes. „O 0 A meeting'of. the Auckland Regatta ' Committee , pipceedings, which were intimated tp on r reporter n '!>wijeidi[6i» y-&{vWey -&{vWe ttafcnr*!. md frfiqfw thdrew in ™l 0l 0 cmpßanc^wltli^heireciaeatJ'of'tlie-sftifetary.,, „eu, A,xnan nafl&d Pepper, wfio ww yesterday fined at the P6lice.jkQurfcJPr being drunk, #as detained byr the police on % charge ,p? stealing a shirt. The harimthiihom ti^mn?m>*** provides mh „ , bMOrttolon. i?« will be brought up «Bhtrfefed"with (1 ./e!,JJi.a)He»dipK;jtliplit!pffih«?B^*n<l soholirs of the ' Wellesley-street Sunday-school met together m the h-iniavtaartfom apd partook, of, an e?opllent;tea. The ~—meeting w*»-convened-in order to afford an mwaaeat , exenipg?! recreation to the scholars who attend the SundM-koteol. On the iveninr before there had

and last evening wu devoted to the children who hid not been present at the entertainment of the adults. About a hundred scholars and teachers sat down t > tea, which had been provided on a very liberal scale, and the youngsters determined to pay their best attention to tbo good things of this life in the shape of oake» and pastry. Aftar tea th© children ttijonrned to the c'iftpei and sang several hymns in a very creditable manner, while the sohoolroom was cle«red of the tjiblts and the remaias of the tea, fornu being placed in their stead. On the return of the juveniles, Mr. Coroford was toted to the chair, and the proceedings were opened with prayer. The paitor then proceeded to deliver an addre ■ suited to the comprehension of his hearers, after which se?er»l papers were read by the various teuton. Mr. BuUook, Mr, Ewingtou, Mr. Renthaw, Mr. Battley, and other gentlemen connected with the Sunday-school, each in turn addressed the scholars, who, throughout the whole proceedings, seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves. The nautical drama " Ben Bolt " was repeated at the Prince of Wales Theatre last evening, before a moderate audience, and the various character* of the piece w ere well sustained. A new musioal interlude by the juvenile members of Mr. W. H. Foleys troupe followed, and was well re«eived by the audience, who evinced their appreciation of the efforts put forth for their entertainment by several encores. The whole concluded with the Hibernian farce, "The Irish Tutor," in which Mr. 0. O'Brieu, as Dr. O'Toole, completely convu'ssd the audience by his inimitable power* of pourtraying the Irish character. At the Police Court yesterday, at the usual hour 'or commencing buainess, no Justice of the Peao* had made his appearance ; and after waiting for more than an hour, Mr. Commissioner Naughton took his ae»t upon tie Bench, and disposed of the case* on the charge sheet Mr. Beckham could not to be present, having to attend the Compensation Court ; and two Justices, Mesars. Kempthorne and Turton, bad been summoned in the usual mannner. but neither of them appeared. The *ummon9es having been left at the Post-offioe, Auckland, and these gentlemen living in the suburbs, it is very possible th»t ,they never received them. The officer of the Court w*s despatched to see if he could get any "stray" Justice about town to attend, but returned without having attained-hia object.— Since the above was in type, we have been informed that Mr. Turton called* at the Police Court in the afternoon, and stated that up to that hour he had not reoeived any intimation that he was required to lit on the Benoh. In order to make amends as far as possible for hit absence, he will officiate to-day.