Lake Wakatip Mail. QUEENSTOWN, TUESDAY. NOVEMBER 3, 1874.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 877, 3 November 1874, Page 2

Lake Wakatip Mail. QUEENSTOWN, TUESDAY. NOVEMBER 3, 1874.

Sin George Gbey appears to have suddenly shifted his ground, according to later vievs given in the columns of Dunedin contemporaries, and of which a condensed account vas given in our telegraphie columns in last Friday's issue of this journal. Sir George, in his petition, or manifesto —or whatever it may be called —desired the Assembly to be again called together to reconsider the revolutionary policy it had already endorsed in the matter of the abolition of the Provinces. This proposal to call again together a constituent body that had already and so recently adopted a definite policy by an >verwhelming majority on two occasions, seemed too absurd to demand argument; but, with the shifting of ground alluded to, the proposal would not be so ridiculous. Sir George would, perhaps, now call them again together, not upon the plea contained in his petition, but for the purpose of carrying out a yet more revolutionary policy than that which tho Assembly sanctioned. Wo print elsewhere the outlines of the new proposal—or it ought to be properly called scheme —which the ex-Governor is said to be maturing. Such a scheme as that sketched out would, howover, demand more attention than tho mere consideration it could receive at the hands of a moribund legislative body. The Provincial party arc therefore in an awkward fix upon that point alone. They cannot get, by a vote of the Assembly, an issue upon this point unless the existing Government consent to it. We are looking upon the present Cabinet as strong enough to hold their own until the Assembly expires by effluxion of time, or until they choose to dissolve it. The shifting of the ground will, we think, advantage the Provincial party only by creating doubts. Tho light now exhibited will be attractive to many political moths, who will buzz around it, not knowing whether to fly away from it as an insidious danger, or to enter the flame, aud thus achieve a political destiny of renewed brilliancy ere annihilation. The scheme seems to us a dangerous one. It may be adapted to suit the purposes of the dreadful exergencies into which the Provincial party are driven. Jack's cry for refuge—any port in a storm —is now imagine the'cry on that tossedabout barque, " Provincialism." The party look probably upon the petition as being a great blunder, to bo repaired only by a masterly stroke. Wo admit that Sir George Grkt's last proclaimed views are, in one sense, masterly; they demand argument, aud are to a limited extent, feasible proposals, not altogether theoretical and visionary. In this consists the gain to Provincialism. Delay to the party is everything. Procrastinate—put oft' tho evil day —and that is something gained—anything but Vdeluge. No doubt this party will point out how, under the system indicated in the scheme, Provincialism and Centralism can be united as ouo policy. They will proceed to further point out how they would thus bo able to extend tho local self-government movement; in fact, wo have no doubt that they will laud and extol it as tho newly discovered panacea for the cure of the political evils of the Colony. By it tho disordered system will be made sound, aud the Provincial soul re-blossom as a thing of light and life; pleasant to behold, and much to bo desired. All this and much more we expect, and also to see many persons in the various electorates caught or attracted liko the moths referred to. But tho questions that naturally arise appear very vague and shadowy. # To shew how eminently unsubstantial and unpracticable this last shifting proposal is, let us, as a test, put half-a-dozen questions, leaving tho answers to be given, in each instance, by common-sense readers. Is it

probable that the English people would, with Russia looking down upon the plains of India, and with the Canadian Dominion troubles before them, consent to a Federative policy of the kind proposed, which would so largely hamper the hands of the Imperial Government? Would not such a connection be a source of weakness to both the mother country and the Colony 1 Would it not, in tho event of a European war, with Great Britain embroiled, bring down upon us the enemy in stronger force, while, at the same time, leaving a less co-relative force able to be detached, and devoted to our aid 1 Would it not tend to subvert our independence of feelings as colonists, and render lis O ' less apprehensive of attack from the foreign foesl Would it not retard that which we ought to be about now—the creation of a colonial navy, and erection of land defences? What kind of a body would the proposed Chamber bo—elective or not—and for what period of office; and how could the people reach it by their voices'! Would the colonists repeat the evils of a dual system of government in a more concrete form, and in which the people would be shorn of power for the benefit of a landed oligarchy 1 Is the time opportune for such an organic change 1 Would not the adoption of such a scheme look like grasping after the shadow and losing the substance 1 The replies to these questions will give some idea of the difficuties that surround the proposal. Its adoption, under all circumstamces, would be a matter of time, and it would, even then, only be received in a modified form. To us, it seems one of those fancy ideas that the so-called governing class delight occasionally to produce, and to play with—a political toy possessing peculiar mechanism, the working of which is wonderful indeed, and beyond the comprehension of the vulgar herd. Our own opinion is that the bulk of the colonists are eminently practical, not visionary, in their political views; and we think they will be found declaring that they have at present quite enough to deal with, without running after new-fangled notions and fanciful schemes—that, charm the ultra-Provincialists ever so wisely they will, in these movements, reckon without their host Had the proposals been the off-shoot—the product, as it were, of a prosperity produced by a system of a widely extended and ramified local self-government —then this federation scheme might have claimed more earnest attention. Then we could have understood the strength of the support behind. As it is—the Colony groanunder a system of unequal taxation demandin" reform, with vicious land laws in force—- © ' we think it would be folly to run a will-o'-the-wisp chase after an itjnus fatuus like the scheme under notice.