THE Marlborough Express. SATURDAY, AUGUST 14, 1869.

Marlborough Express, Volume IV, Issue 189, 14 August 1869, Page 3

THE Marlborough Express.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 14, 1869.

“ Give me tbe liberty to know, to utter, and to rrgue freely according to conscience, above all other liberties.’ —Milton.

We are glad to find that our contemporary the Picton Press holds similar opinions to ourselves with respect to the proposal to re-annex this Province to Nelson, although •we cannot coincide with all its expressions of opinion on the subject. We distrusted the Stafford Government, for we saw no effort made to relieve this Pro vince through all the years our troubles have been accumulating, and with many others considered a change could not, at any rate, be for the worse. We never dreamt that such a base sacrifice of our rights and liberties would be attempted, especially without consulting the people, who were most interested ! We have seen a letter this week however, from one who holds such a position in

Wellington that his word is beyond doubt, which states in so many words that the insult to Marlborough was premeditated, and of set purpose of revenge on the part of Mr. Fox, for past slights he has received, and to resent the division from one of the original “ Six Provinces. ” But we are assured that if we only speak out as one man, and that boldly, we shall be backedup by sympathisers in the Assembly, who will not tamely submit to such an atrocious act. It is recommended by our contemporary that a public Meeting should be held in Picton for the purpose of doing their utmost to avert the threatened danger, and if anything we can say can add weight thereto, we would urge it with all the force we are capable of, and not only in Picton, but Ivaikoura and Havelock also ; and we trust the Petition when prepared, will be signed by every man without hesitation, as he values his interests aixd his freedom.

Mr. Ward vexy properly said, the other day, [Let us oppose the re-annexation by all constitutional means, but all means are constitutional in our case !” We would irnpress this sentence on the minds of our readers. It would appear that looking on our past history, and apathetic conduct, it is imagined that nothing will move us, but we trust it will be found that “ little,” “pool’,” “ beggared,” “ bankrupt,” “insolvent,” as we have been termed by our various interested critics, we may be sat upon until we adopt means in very desperation which had better been left alone. But we have precedents in plenty for such a course, and it is not the intention of the people of Marlborough to be handed over nilly willy to any foreign power. Mr. Wogel twits us with insolvency—as if he did not know the cause lay with the Ministry itself—and with a determination not to tax ourselves ! It is a base, untruthful charge. Wo do tax ourselves, we pay the same taxes as every other part of the Colony, but we do object to tax ourselves for the benefit of other Provinces, because they happen to be larger in area, or numerically stronger. It is true as our enemies assert, that we knew perfectly well when we separated from Nelson the difficulty which existed as to the Ordinary Revenue, but we relied on the law then existing, which provided a remedy. The Surplus Revenues Act stated that the Governor should make such an apportionment as was fair and reasonable, from time to time, but such was not done, although various Superintendents drew the attention of the Ministry of the day to the matter ; and we only blame them lor not taking moans to compel by law, such apportionment, instead of trusting to fair and quiet remonstrances. In 18G7, before the iniquitous Public Revenues Act became law, our case was laid before the Assembly by a most clear and ably drawn statement of our case, which was signed by nearly every person in this part of the Province, but it was in vain, and it remained for the FoxVogcl Ministry to propose to terminate our grievance and orrr existence together, not by meeting the difficulty bravely or fairly, but by simply—cutting the knot. We assert without fear of contradiction, that no Province in New Zealand is so little involved, or is as free from debt, public or private, as Marlborough. It is true we have no reproductive Public Works—more’s the pity—as Canterbury, with its public debt of £830,000, besides mortgage debts of £2,500,000, with its tunnel and railway, which its public men unblushingly seek to retain, whilst trying to foist its debt upon the Colon}', of which we form a part—but we have no Public debt worth notice, and none of our own making. Let our readers bear this fact in mind, and resist any scheme or Government to the utmost, which will not give us our fair due.