THE NELSON EXAMINER. Saturday, December 7, 1867.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XXVI, Issue 147, 7 December 1867, Page 2

THE NELSON EXAMINER. Saturday, December 7, 1867.

Journals become more necessary as men become more equal and individualism more to be feared. It would be to underrate their importance to suopoae that they serve only to secure iberty ; they maintain civilization. Db Tocqtjbvililill, Of Democracy in America, vol. 6, 230. No person who has paid attention to the manner in which the affairs of this colony have been conducted for the last few years, can resist the conclusion that the first Btep towards better government is the awakening the great body of electors to a better sense of their responsibilities, and to their becoming sensible that — whatever may be the shortcomings of members returned to sit in Parliament — they are primarily to blame, if they do not make a better selection of men. Any proceeding that will induce the electoral body to bestow more consideration on the qualifications of persons "who offer themselves as candidates for election, and to cause it to look more closely into public affairs, must be a gain. It may justly be said of the Financial Reform League organization lately started in Nelson, and now extended to Canterbury, that it has at least the merit of inducing men of all classes to give public affairs increased consideration, and thus to become better qualified to take broad views of the questions brought under their notice. Another great advantage the organization will possess, if it goes on extending itself, is this : When any question arises on which it may be desirable to obtain an expression of public opinion, either to support the Government in a good measure, or to oppose an attempt to carry out a bad one, means will exist by aid of local committees spread throughout the country for subjecting to discussion any subjects that may be considered desirable, and a healthy political life will be thus maintained throughout the colony. It has e?er been the curse of New Zealand politics, that little regard has been paid to public questions otherwise than as they directly affect individual communities. With very few exceptions, our public men care more for the welfare of their provinces than they regard the interest of the colony ; and think the comparatively small interests of Auckland, Otago, or Wellington, of greater importance than the well-being of New Zealand. So long as this state of feeling prevails, good government for the colony is an impossibility. Men elected to take part in its government must learn, and act upon the knowledge, that the interests of New Zealand as a country are paramount over all local considerations. If the country is to prosper and become great, its inhabitants from North to South must unite in striving to become good citizens of the State, and not, as hitherto, for each one to think J his own wretched Little Peddlington entitled to his first and last consideration. These thoughts have been suggested by a movement that has taken place in Auckland, to induce the Government to continue the subsidy to the steamer running between j Sydney and that port, after it has been deter- j mined as a measure of economy to abolish it. \ As noticed elsewhere, most, if not the whole

of the mercantile firms in Auckland, have addressed a memorial to the Governor, praying that the subsidy may be continued until Parliament can have an opportunity of again considering the question. No doubt the maintenance of direct steam communication between Auckland and Sydney is a thing desirable in itself, as by its means the English mail by way of Suez is insured an early delivery in Auckland. But we protest against the colony being saddled with this cost for the sole benefit of Auckland. Other provinces have had their steam services curtailed on grounds of general policy, and suffered considerably in consequence, and no province so much as Nelson, yet not a word of complaint has gone forth. We cannot, therefore, quietly see pressure put upon the Government to prevent it effecting a saving, which Parliament had decreed should be made, because the merchants of Auckland will be inconvenienced if direct steam communication with Sydney is discontinued. If the interest and convenience of communities is to be considered before the interests of the State, it will be impossible to effect those reductions in the public expenditure which are necessary to save the colony from ruin. It is a. hard lesson to practise, for a country or a province to bring its expenditure within a greatly diminished income ; this Auckland, as a province, has not learnt to do, and the result will be that the colony will have to make good the deficiency. But if the colony continues to spend more than its income, where is the deficient balance to be got? To borrow more money will be the only way to enable the Treasurer to square his accounts, but then the increased interest, and consequent increased taxation to meet the charge, will act as so much additional weight to sink the country in irretrievable debt. If New Zealand is to regain the prosperity she enjoyed a few years ago, other provinces as well as Auckland must make up their minds to forego many things it would be •very pleasant to possess, only that their possession costs money. It is not, we admit, by striking off £6,000 or £8,000 of subsidy to a steamer running between Sydney and Auckland, that the colony will owe its salvation, or even to the saving which will be effected by discontinuing subsidies to all the steamers in the inter-provincial service. A much broader measure of reform will be necessary, and one which the Government is as unwilling to look in the face, as the Auckland merchants are to return to their clipper-sailing vessels for intercourse with Sydney, or avail themselves of the steam mail route via Wellington. That reform must consist in a thorough reorganization of all public departments — undertaken not by a Civil Commission composed of men whose sympathies are thoroughly identified with the service, but by some independent person or body, possessing a competent knowledge of the work to be done in the various public departments, and the labour necessary for its performance. An essential part of this reform will be a return to a more simple method of keeping the public accounts. The complexity that has been introduced in the mode of keeping the colonial accounts within the last few years, has added immeasurably to the labour, and necessarily to the cost ; and this has been done simply to gratify a crotchet, and not for any real benefit it is calculated to confer.

"We have heard with surprise that an attempt is being made to obtain signatures to a memorial to the Governor, praying that the sentence of death passed on Wilson may be commuted. If murder is to be punished with death, then "Wilson is as deserving of it as any culprit ever placed in the dock. If the sentence passed on Wilson is not carried out, the lives of Levy and Kelly ought to have been spared. As remarked by the Judge in passing sentence on Wilson, the crime he was found guilty of was increased in atrocity by choosing for his victim a man who had trusted him by becoming his mate. But it is said the evidence on which Wilson was convicted was only circumstantial. When are murderers convicted on evidence other than circumstantial? Men seldom commit murder in the presence of witnesses unless they are associates in crime. When circumstantial evidence is weak, it should be accepted witli caution, and if there are wellfounded doubts of a man's guilt, by all means give him the benefit of that doubt. But no one who was present at the trial, or who will carefully read through the evidence, can for a moment doubt Wilson's guilt. To intercede, therefore, for the life of such an offender, is a piece of sentimentality we must most sti-ongly condemn. The action taken can only be consistently supported by those who are opposed to capital punishment altogether.