TO THE RESIDENTS OF NAPIER.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 13, Issue 1052, 28 May 1869, Page 3

TO THE RESIDENTS OF NAPIER.

(Per favor of the Editor Hawko's Bay Herald.) Gentlemen, — There are occasions when the most diffident find it necessary to take part in matters affecting the public wel- - fare — occasions when'-.those who would be content to remain passive spectators of passing events, are forced ipto a course of action unlooked for and unexpected. The unenviable and distressing condition to which your rulers have succeeded in sinking the credit of the colony. The depressing and ruindiis effect which this lingering native war has on the value of your property and interests. The imperturbable coolness and off-hand assurance of your premier,- his imperial disregard of .every consideration but that which centres in self; hi s general want of. judgment in the appointments he has made, must, one would think, have taught you by this that your cherished " responsible government" is but a masquerade, sunk to its present mournful ancl deplorable state by the talents of those to whom the colony has entrusted its weal. In early days we were, and at the hustings we are told thafc responsible government insures the right of every legally qualified adult- to a share in the government of the colony, through his representative. Now-a-days and in practise we find the right a mere nominal one ; we find the local knowledge and well-earned experience of our special representatives studiedly despised ; the reasonable hope we had of realizing in security tho labours of many years of toil a visionary prospect ; the promise o£ personal freedom merged into something very like slavery ; ancl power, almost without' bounds, given to irresponsible brains — men active in their efforts, bufc never effective in their measures. In very truth, you. are free during the period of election of members ; no sooner, is this over than you are little else than serfs. Your experience in the happy results to this province of the benefits of responsible government, exercised as it has been by the present Ministry, must have brought home to all the enviable position ofthe colony; since our enemies pithily say that " our present Government has the great advantage of not knowing what ifc wants, has no programme, nor anything that it can explain or enforce." In your happiness you must feel what a boon such a Government is, for it teaches you to believe that, provided those who exercise power over you, overwhelming you with debt, and then insult you, do so because you are free — that this is to be preferred to any other calamity. Without being guilty of any depth of reflection, our present and prospective conditions must prove how thoroughly unsuited such a system is to a colony having two races to rule, with conflicting interests, the one governing by its bare majorities, and the other having its rights merged in the wili of that majority; a form of government mischievous and unjust in principle to oho of the two races, and giving opportunities to men to pursue power for tho gratification of covetousness and ambition ; men who engage in party broils and contentions ; in more words serving tho publio interests, but in fact making them their prizes. Responsibility, in truth; is a myth, no one having as yet been made to bear the responsibility of his deeds, save by his displacement from a well paid office, an office ancl salary he is reinstated in, after having, to the great comfort of tho public, retired into publio life, or disappointed his friends by the publication of a book. Blunders have been . made, many and serious ; valuable lives sacrificed ; customs duties of the heaviest levied to secure by indirect taxation a revenue which has been wastefully squandered ; militia obligations

:-__yr*_j__j_j| iUMaamrqnKmjxu jutximm unmiig— ".*«'•*•»* *JU**u. Pt«m i iiTnMf.i_.Juji i exacted in so arbitrary a form as to be positive, absolute, ancl direct taxation ; i loans raised to be wasted without benefit or gain to ihe public : ancl yet we find no one really accountable, no one to blame for a state of public dissatisfaction ancl bankruptcy no other couutry has ever yet been brought to iv so few years. No one suffers but the victims, ancl these for their simplicity are made to pay for their rulers' sins. You are told a change of men will alter much of this. Unfortunately for them and the colony, the hour is passed when a simple change of men can effect any permanent good. That which could have been clone the other day, cannot be clone to-day. Timo, opportunity, circumstances, ancl means, are no longer such as they were. Your members, experienced, capable, ancl honest, will find their heritage a terrible, steep, bare cliff, not to bo surmounted by the appliances and means at their command. Freedom to you is, harass of mind, toil of body, anxious forebodings, aud prospective poverty and ruin to many ; responsibility to your rulers and their satellites, the privilege of riding rough shod over others, the right of spending the public funds in the way they deem best, and the power of playing- battledore aud shuttlecock with your lives and property. Man is no doubt bound to bear with courage ancl patience the cares and duties of life devolving upon him ; but he is also bound to take such steps as will prevent those who accept positions of trust and responsibility from wrecking a whole comlnunity. Either, then, remain as you are — free, and fair spoil to such as now rule 3 r ou — or adopt, through your representatives, such measures as will secure by legal enactment thafc which wiil render your rulers practically and not nominally responsible ' — some system which will tako into consideration the power of the native chief's, a body of men whose rights in all questions affecting their interests, and consequently the peace of. this Island, should nofc be rashly set aside, — or submit, as the last alternative, to be ruled by a Dictator. — I am, &c, Guerilla.