RIGHTS OF THE NORTH

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 80, 6 April 1910, Page 4

RIGHTS OF THE NORTH

SHOULD BE INSISTED UPON. "PITCHED BATTLE ON FLOOR OF THE HOUSE." [IX TELEGRAPH — SPECIAL TO IM POST.J AUCKLAND, Thw Day. Both Auckland papers strongly support the proposal of the Hastings Chamber of Commerce in regard to tho formation of the Xorth Island Railway League. The Herald, which does hot think that the Hastings suggestion as it is goes far enough, says : "What is wanted, and what public opinion should be roused for, is not merely the redress of railway grievances, serious as these are, but a readjustment of the general relation of Parliament and the Government to the development of the North Island. Precisely the same causes as those which make it possible for the bulk of railway construction expenditure to be still spent iv the over-railwayed South Island, and for reasonable railway facilities to be refused to the Northern coiihtitiuentvs, aie at the bottom of the practical suspension of land settlement, of the inadequate oteps taken for opening up native lands, of the administrative indifference to roading necessities, and of other evils which particularly affect the North Island. A North Island Congress, composed of delegates from representative local organise t ions, !>houhi be called, to meet in Auckland, for the consideration of all pressing questions of a practical and non-political character. It should draft, after full discussion, a definite statement of grievances and claims, which statement, having the general approval of the congress, would become the manifesto and platform of a eoundly organ bed league, and ought to receive the hearty support of every member of Parliament descrying public confidence. . . Every good citizen must regret that it should bo nee pssary for the people of i the North Island to take any concerted action which may appear to encourage sectional feeling, with tlte possibility of resulting- sectional - animosity, but \v» have to deal with facts and not with vague theories, snd the fadts prove beyond disproof that unless we organise on, behalf of our legitimate interests ard reasonable claims, we shall receive no adequate consideration from a Government which i» dominated by South Inland Ministers, and chiefly concerned to satisfy the unreasonable but tradi tional demands of the South. There v a faintheartedness about our Northern members, and an arrogance about Southern member!", which, it is quite possible, may continue until a pitched battle on the floor of the House teaches both sections that the North is no longer the junior partner, with a, smaller voice in public affairs and a smaller share in publio moneys." Tho Star, in expressing approval of the proposal for a league, says :—"lt: — "It goes without saying that such a suggestion will ovoke vehement remonstrance from our Southern friends ' and rivals, but little as wo would desire that the interests of the two islands should be regarded as mutually antagonistic, it U not the fault of tho North that the necessity for such a movement has arisen, for a great variety of reasons : largely because *ecent have contained a disproportionate allowance of Southern members, and largely because the North Island and its possibilities arc 4till a sealed book to the majority of people in the South. The North Is-land has been, comparatively speaking, neglected by the Government, and its claims to a fair share of public expenditure have been too often ignored. . . . No doubt 4bi» movement will be described as 'provincial' and 'paro-* chial' by our Southern critic*, but we can afford to let cheap gibes of this sort pass unheeded."