LATEST TELEGRAMS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 2344, 27 June 1868, Page 2

LATEST TELEGRAMS.

ME FOX ON THE POLITICAL SITUATION. [by submarine telegraph.] Wellington, June 26,5.20 pm. Mr Fox was elected for the Eangitikei Seat in the House of Representatives on Monday, without opposition. He declared himself free to support any beneficial policy, and would support Mr .Stafford's policy if, when enunciated, it was good for the country. But it was difficult to discern what Mr Stafford's policy is. He had never enunciated a policy yet. Mr Stafford had made numerous speeches defending past doings, but he never commits himself, except in the vagueßt terms, to any great principles by which his party might stand or fall. Is Mr Stafford a Provincialisfc? Judgingby his statements he is an ardent admirer of Provincialism, but judging by his acts and the bad company he keeps, he is bent on its entire destruction. He talks tenderly and affectionately of

Provincial Governments, while he supports and introduces measures which gratify the wildest hopes of the Centralists. The New Provinces Act is a case in point. Its mischief was not in the creation of three feeble Provinces, but in hanging a halter round the necks of the old Provinces, which by rendering them uncertain when they would be led to execution, paralysed them for good, and destroyed the selfreliant spirit which animated their early years. Again, there never was a more hollow pretence of conferring local government than the measures of last session. Their whole aim, object, and result, was to concentrate all local government power and patronage iu the hands of one Central Government. He (Mr Poi) never saw a more feeble parody on self-government. Such institu-

tious as Westland's were feeble suckers growing up from the roots of the proviucial tree, which, incapable of bearing I flowers or fruit themselves, destroyed I the vital energy of the parent stem. The extension of local self-government must be something very different; it must be genuine, not a sham. Yet these County institutions were part of Mr Stafford's avowed policy which, while destroying Provincial institutions did not extend local government. The Provincial Governments were weak, because they have no inheritance in their work; they were mere tenants at will, indisposed to drain and till as they would, if tbey had 'a lease; they have been brought to tremble before the lash of any outlying minority, and to dread the loss of their very existence at the will of any Minister adroit enough to conceal, or bold enough to avow, his intention to exterminate them. Is it yet too late to limit the power of the General Government; to thwart its great appetite for aggrandisement; to reinstate Provincial Institutions as the fountains from which local self ■ government must flow ? The coming session would show. The Assembly would insist on knowing beforehand whither it was drifting; whether it is, as in last session, to reject by large majorities principles embodied in a general measure, and then quietly adopt the same principles by a large majority in particular measures; whether institutions refused at an early period of the session for adoption by the whole colony, are, at the close of the session, to be slyly introduced in detail into every part of the colony whether, in short, Provincial Institutions are to be maintained in vigour or insidiously undermined by pretended friends of local self-government. The policy must be definite, intelligible and fearless, and not a thing of shreds and patches, which the Government was not bold enough to stand by as a policy, but it left to chance decisions of" open questions" on which its own existence was never staked. He condemned the Public Debts Act, and greatly feared that the result of Mr Eitzherberfc's mission would prove nothing else than some clever scheme for a large addition to the already excessive liabilities of the colony. He could not foresee what financial questions would arise, but he could nevertheless pledge himself to two points—he would not sanction any attempt to add to the already too heavy burdens of the people. It were better they had no Government at all than get deeper into debt. Nor should any vote of his support such an obnoxious impost as an income tax. The native difficulty was only to be met by treating the friendly natives with kindness, and by leaving to themselves such as preferred to remain in the sulky seclusion of kingship; time would work the cure. But, when they were guilty of unprovoked aggression it must be checked by decisive and summary punishment. In reply to a question, Mr Fox said that Mr Stafford had exhibited a creditable desire to retrench extravagant expenditure in the ordinary service of the colony, though this was rendered useless by such reckless waste as that inflicted by the Public Debts Act.