The Hawke's Bay Hearld TUESDAY DECEMBER 5, 1865. SEPARATION.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 8, Issue 706, 5 December 1865, Page 2

The Hawke's Bay Hearld TUESDAY DECEMBER 5, 1865. SEPARATION.

In last Herald we referred to a letter which appeared in the N.Z. Herald f of the 27th ult., giving some account; of the meeting of the previous evening at which Mr, Colenso addressed his constituents. j That letter is headed in large letters* "Expression of opinion in favor of separation." This, we have no doubt, woul4 gratify the Auckland people, but ifc is; cot the less an untruth or the less calculated to deceive them, as Well as the colonists generally, as to the opinions held on separation by the, settlers of this province. At the meeting in. question no one spojce in favor of separation except Mr. Colenso himself j and no one voted in s its favor. On the contrary, the gentleman; yrho moved the vote of confidence expressly guarded himself against seemiug to flavor separation vie\vs by saying that, la this respect, he could not agree with Mr. Colenso. And we question much whether, one man in the chamber, not even excepting the chairman, was prepared to endorse the opinions which had just been enunciated. ..... The time has been — as referred to by Mr. Colenso — when separation was the dearest wish of the settlers of this province. The struggle was then one against centralism — the spirit of which was rampant in the city of Wellington, where the greater part of the revenues of the province were expended, to the utter neglect of this and other outlying districts. The present movement in favor of separation. is as much opposed to the one we have alluded to as light is to darkness. The movement does not now originate with the outlying districts, but with the centres, chiefly with the two great — we had almost said, grasping — centres of the colopy, Auckland and Otago. And if ever a steady front should be shewn to the encroachments of centralism, now is the time. Instead of the south for the southerners and north for the northerners, as it was put by Mr. Colenso, separation, . as now demanded, means the south for Otago and the north for Auckland. It means that Hawke's Bay and Taranaki are to be reduced from their present independent position to mere dependencies of i the latter, and — we do not hesitate to say — terribly neglected dependencies. As from Wellington in 1857, when this journal first saw the light, so from Auckland upon separation being achieved, and for ever after — the veriest pittance, of government as well as of expenditure, would be doled out to the district j and the c r y of neglect which would arise from all quarters would be callously disregarded. Were the people of Auckland the most liberally disposed section of New Zealand colonists, we should still urge in the strongest terms upon the settlers of this province to maintain at all risks the in- [ dependence for which they fought year I after year and which they at length gloriously achieved. That independence is assuredly endangered. The cry for separation now abroad means separation to the great centres and annexation to the little ones — nothing else — and we call upon our fellow settlers, by every means within their reach, to assert their birthright as against the encroachments of their northern neighbour. It was very truly said by Mr. Wilson, the other night, that,

Bay J&pttuldlbe Swallowed up by Auckland, shewn herself to be /Ili^reil^aijSjposed towards the people of to her own outsettlers '^^^:M^Co^l -^^^ from it. •;-..'■ V Hawfce's Bayy not very long ago, was ■-• 'jilted in a.critical position because Auckland, flushed with Imperial soldiers and ■ l^ith money borrowed on the ■ security of the Whole colony, chose to clear her owu borders by the easy but somewhat selfish s|&&sS/6$ drivitig the half famished aud Hordes of the enemy right in the J this province. At one tinie a - li4<ge body; of rebels, driven but of Waikato, <-wU stationed at Taupo, two or three day's journey from JjTapJer, ready to pounce upon it at j*^mbnienf«i notice, should the reports ,pf iheir numerous emissaries (who went to; and fro almost dally) be such as to ; warrant them in thinking such a descent likely to be successful. Auckland saw all tfiis, and contented herself with chuckling over the idea that she herself was cleared ;of the enemy.^ And %Hait has she done outsettter^ at Poverty Bay and elsewhere on the coast ? Absolutely noithing; their cry, so far as Auckland was „ -concerned, remained "unheard and unheeded; and such, we firmly believe, would be the case with this province were it once trdught under subjection to the „ northern ' ;capitali-rrather, to the would-be capital of tne Northern Island. _, v /\ C; Sobner °r later another public meeting wUlihave to be held in Napier, at which the opinion—-we may add, determination —-of the. settlers of the province, on the matter, shall be unmistakeably expressed. HiwieVßay has worked hard for its politicalprivileges, and the colony at large should be made to know as soon as possible thatthose privileges will not be relinquished atihe beck of any man or set of men.