The Lyttelton Times.

Lyttelton Times, Volume V, Issue 314, 3 November 1855, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times.

Saturday, Nov. 3

The letter of our correspondent "Quieta non movere" will, we think, be read with some astonishment. He is almost singular among thinking politicians in the South in depreciating the importance of the Seat of Government question. He says that it has assumed all of a sudden an unnecessary degree of importance. Now the real fact is, that it has never been lost sight of in the South : and southern politicians have on this one subject alone been almost unanimous. They have bided, their time. The South has suffered severely from the present state of things ; and we are quite sure that it will be no longer tolerated. In the earliest days of New Zealand we find the question agitated by the Cook's Straits settlers. Even the Colonial office saw such just grounds for their complaints that they sent instructions to Governor Fitz Roy, under which he established a Superintendent at Wellington. This was not found sufficient to obviate the annoyances arising from Governor Hobson's absurd choice of a seat of Government, and very soon a Lieute-nant-Governor was appointed for New Munster. Even with the assistance of an officer with such large powers, Sir George Grey found it impossible to govern the colony satisfactorily without spending a large portion of his time in a central position. If the difficulty was great for an almost despotic ruler, we need scarcely point out the impossibility of a good General Government at Auckland on a " Responsible" basis. Our correspondent accuses us of not taking account of the objections which might be urged against the removal of the seat of Government from Auckland. We have preferred dealing with dangers of which we have had actual proof, to raising up possible bugbears* and perhaps imaginary grievances. Of course there are, and always will be, objections to any position whtch may be chosen as the seat of Government. No one will, however, argue that this is a reason for not attempting' to ameliorate our condition. The very apprehension expressed by our correspondent, of danger from increasing the power of Wellington by making it ihe seat of Government, admits the groundwork of our argument that Auckland is dangerous to the bouth from ibe establishment there of a (so called) " central" Government. Our correspondent's hatred of Wellington apparently blinds his better judgment. If the placing _of the seat of Govorument in a Province confers a dangerous power, is this power likely to be better held in check at tlie extremity ofthe islands of New Z'jalan-1, than when it is situated where all the provinces can easily briii, the influence ol their votes and their public opinions to bear upon it. We did not attribute the disallowance of our iaud-regnlations to " the unfortunate position of Auckland." but to the unfortunate fact of our being governed by own Jixedin that extreme comer of New Zealand, who have never moved out of il to another Province. All we know is thaithe acting Attorney General, Mr. Whittaker,

used his influence to get our land regit" ations disallowed, while those framed by himself for Auckland were passed, although by them a most unjust robbery is perpetrated upon the Land fund of the south.

Though denying the inference placed upon our language, we do not care boldly to assert that " Messrs. Featherson, Fitzherberf, and Fox " woirld not have been likely to oppose the passing of our land regulations. Had those men been in power we should have had a better opportunity of controlling them. Their sympathies are at least Southern, and more like our own than those of Auckland ever can be. Our best men couid attend the sessions at Wellington; the public opinion of the province would reach them in a reasonable time, and would be understood by them. Now Auckland lives in an atmosphere of its own. Its connections and sympathies are infinitely more with Sydney than with New Zealand. It is the centre of the world to Aucklandites. Ignorance almost of their existence alone has prevented a mare active dislike of the southern Provinces : - a dislike which has lately increased and which will increase every day as Auckland finds out that the south is likely in the end, not only to take the lead in intellect, but even in wealth, the only boast and pride of that Province. If the worst comes to the worst,—if we can imagine it necessary that we must be robbed by some province or another, we should certainly prefer to *he robbed by Wellington, to being robbed by Auckland; in the former ease at least we might hope to get some slight contingent benefit from the plunder. As to the recriprocal benefits to be exchanged between us and Auckland, and the danger of Auckland's anger if we oppose its interests, we cani:ot but consider the whole argument extremely fallacious. In the first place, if we did Auckland's work for her, we have no guarantee that that Province would be unanimous in helping us. Indeed, we know that on almost all questions, except that of the removal of the seat of Government, Auckland is split into two parties ; and that it is enough for one party to vote one way to make its opponent vote the other. Gratitude and revenge are very seldom the characteristics of political parties. Even if they were, we can scarcely understand the logic of the inferred warning lest we should induce Auckland to help Wellington iv robbing us of our Land Fund. Wellington, Nelson, Canterbury, and Otago, unite in altering the seat of Government from Auckland—say to Wellington (we will takeour correspondent's supposition) ; therefore Auckland, although it does not much care about the Land Fund for itself, joins Wellington, which has obtained the boon (the loss of which has made Auckland spiteful), iv order to w.eak its vengeance upon Canterbury for the assistance given fco Wellington ! This is the pith of our correspondent's argument. We do not see the force of it. li The people of Auckland as a body have not. shown any de.-dre to act unfairly, or inimioally by us." We might expect such an assertion from an Auckland partizan ; but we could scarcely have expected to hear it from any Southern cognisant of the proceedings of the last session alone. Every body knows the history of Colonel Wynyard's dissuasive circular announcing to the members of the Assembly'the outline of the proposed legislation. There was little to he done. The circular had its effect; so only three southern members attended. The Auckland members took ihis opportunity of attempting to move an address to the Governor to induce him to send down a bill for an alter.ition , of the representation in favour of Auckland. The conduct of the majority of the Auckland member* was so barefaced and unfair, thai a few even of their own number remonstrated against the

injustice. Our correspondent probably thinks this a fair transaction. We do not think that the " dodge" of building a Government bouse out of Provincial funds on tbe land of the General Government, and then setting up a claim on the grounds of a vested interest, is exactly a fair proceeding. Auckland will net unfairly towards the Southern Provinces if it lias the enormous uncontrolled power given to it by making so distant a place the seat of Government. Wellington and Nelson may have, but Auckland must have totally different interests to the largest portion of New Zealand, and it is those interests, and not feelings of gratitude or revenge, that will actuate Auckland politicians as a body in their dealings with the rest of the Colony. It may not be set up in large letters as an " article of the political creed. of Auckland to rob us of our Lund Fund;" it would not be a remarkably wise article to give . publtcit5 r to; but itjs not the less a fact that they have robbed us and are robbing us of our Land Fund. Where do the £11,000, not accounted for in Mr. McLean's hands, for the purchase of Native Lands, come from ? and who 'benefits by the purchase ? Auckland, almost solely. Our readers, especially if men of business, will appreciate our correspondent's argument that it s is as easy to go to a place which requires a fortnight s travelling to reach as lo one which requires a weekls travelling. They may i wonder incidentally at the narrow views of European excursionists, who confine their wanderings to the Rhine, when they might as easily visit Greece ; but a moment's consideration of the advantages which this Province would derive from the residence of the Superintendent and the Provincial Council Chamber being fixed at Timaru will bring them to a proper view of tlie question. Our correspondent is grievously in error about the expense of moving the seat of Government from Auckland. How he arrives at his calculation of £10,000 or £20,000 we are at a loss to imagine. " The erection of a government bouse and offices " need not embarrass the question in the least; but may even assist our argument. There is no government house at Auckland ; —there is one at Wellington which has been lying unused for three years. While we continue to allow our Governor £400 a year for house rent, he can as easily rent a house at Wellington, Nelson, or Canterbury, as at Auckland. A miserable tumble-down ,barrack at present contains the Colonial Secretary's, Treasurer's, and Auditor's offices. They would shortly have to be enlarged or rebuilt, and are totally uufU for the purpose to which they are put. The General Assembly\ building cost £3000. It is ill-contrived and unsuited for tbe sessions of the Legislature. All these buildings and the land upon which they are situated, which is in a valuable position, would sell for more than the sum named. The removal ofthe seat of government is no Herculean labour ; a very much easier one than to elucidate the financial eccentricities of an Auckland government during the last three years. As to tlie frequency of earthquakes at Wellington, it would not be a conclusive argument against being governed from thence, as long as Wellington can thrive, notwithstanding this much talkcd-of bugbear. We did not, however, particularize Wellington as the necessary seat/"of Government. There are many places in the vicinity of Cook's Straits which are not affected by earthquakes as Wellington is. Mexico, Valparaiso, Lima, are seats of Government, notwithstanding really dangerous earthquakes. Vesuvius does not frighten away the Government from Naples; nor does fear of Etna ever revolutionize the large population which lives within reach of ils fires. Finally,'.to dispose of our correspon-

dent's alarms for the predispositions of ncr- | vous representatives, we must avow our preference to " a seat on the top of" one supposititious and invisible " volcano at Wellington," to being surrounded, as at Auckland, by the small matter of from fifteen to twenty craters, all within ten miles radius of the Capital, where every stone is a huge volcanic cinder, where the liquid fire that once devastated the country; may again break out. as suddenly as the earthquakes at Wellington, and where to every inhabitant you may say— '• Tncedis per ignes, " Suupositos cineri doloso." The signature "Quieta non movere" completes the plausible appearance of candour with which our correspondent's letter is got up. The existence of " quieta" which do not exist is insinuated. We deny that the seat of Government is quietly fixed at Auckland. On the contrary, we maintain that the Southern Provinces were greatly aggrieved when, the seat of Government, which had been so long at Wellington, was suddenly removed to Auckland on the introduction of the Constitution Act. While on the subject, we will again point attention to the fact that for two out of five vacant seats at Canterbury, no candidates have even so much as presented themselves, although it has been so long known that there is to be a General Election. Not one Canterbury man took his seat in the Upper House where we are now wholly unrepresented. We ask any reasonable man whether this is not partial disfranchisement, and whether there would not be more chance of our being better represented were the seat of Government placed nearer to a central position. Our correspondent seems to desire to fasten on us an unqualified advocacy of Wellington as the place to be chosen. We guarded ourselves carefully from any expression which could justify such an inference. What we wish to express is the long-felt anxiety of the South that the seat of Government should no longer remain in a position so inaccessible to the Southern Provinces as Auckland.