The New-Zealander. Be just and fear not: Let all the ends thou aim’st at, be thy Country's, Thy God’s, and Truth’s. AUCKLAND, SATURDAY, JAN. 4, 1862. PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

New Zealander, Volume XVIII, Issue 1640, 4 January 1862, Page 4

The New-Zealander. Be just and fear not: Let all the ends thou aim’st at, be thy Country's, Thy God’s, and Truth’s. AUCKLAND, SATURDAY, JAN. 4, 1862. PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

On Monday next the Auckland Provincial Council will meet for its fourteenth session; wc observe that Jim Superintended has notified that he w*l be in attendance at the Council Chamber at 3 p.m. on that day, for the purpose cf opening the session. The proceedings of the Council will be watched with anxiety by the people of this Province; the times are critical; there is much to be done, of a practical and useful nature, in the way of improved legislation, as well as in public works, and there never iwaa a raopv *- hj the fbuadatiOil of

Province when great public works could b undertaken under circumstances so singularly; auspicious. There is another reason why the working of the Council will be jealously watched by the people. The crucial experi-|

ment in the working of our present Provincial Institutions is about to be tried. From causes which are well known—from apathy on one side, and from activity and uuscrupulousness on the other, —a Council has been returned, a large majority of whom were elected upon the opposition “ticket,” and are understood to be politically hostile to the Superintendent, elected only a few days previously by the voice of the majority of the constituency of the whole Province. How much of mischief opposition on the one hand and resistance on the other can accomplish under such circumstances, has already been witnessed in the Southern part of this Island. Here indeed, it may be said, that there exist no questions which can properly be considered as raised to the dignity of “ party” questions, in the sense in which the mode of dealing with the waste lands was “ a party” question five or six years since. The power of altering the Waste Land laws is no longer vested in the Provincial Council ; the functions of that body at present are humbler but not less useful, being in character more

purely municipal. We have seen, nevertheless, that projects of public importance, practical projects, when they could not be inflated to “ party” proportions, have been compressed into “ personal” proportions, and been considered and determined in Council, not with reference to their usefulness, but jealously and with regard to the question whether or not a particular individual should have the credit of carrying them out. Of this latter phase of opposition, the fate of the Auckland Water Works Bill, in the last session, was a very notable example. Let us hope, however, that we have changed all that, and that in the new Council old traditions will not be preserved. There is plenty of useful work to be done. After the election and appointment of the Auditor, which will, doubtless, be the first operation,— there will be need to consider, amongst others, the question of Steam Communication with Australia. A project lias more than once, we believe, been brought under the notice of the Council and the public by the present Superintendent, for the establishment of small military colonies upon the plan which, in the Pensioner Settlements, has been productive of so much advantage in several parts of the Province. It needs but to look at the country surrounding those centres of labour aud population, to see how much the Onehunga, Otahuhu, Paumure, aud Howick districts owe to the settlement of the Pensioners at each of these places. Upon the advantages to be derived iu a military point of view, from the establishment of such settlements at certaiu well chosen positions throughout the Province, we need not expatiate. We believe that if the Province is prepared to make the necessary provision for the purpose, it will be found that the hearty co-operation of His Excellency the Governor may be counted on with certainty. Many hands are now employed on the other side of Drury in making the approaches to the Waikato river from that place. Drury, from its position and natural advantages, will become a place of some importance; the roads which are the main lines of communication to the districts of Wairoa, Hunua, Maungatawhiri, Waiuku, converge upon it, and it contains the only available coal field iu the neighbourhood of Auckland. The necessity of obtaining some more easy and rapid mode of communication with such a centre begins to force itself upon public attention, and the project of making a tramway or railroad from Drury to Auckland, will no doubt in some way or other be brought under consideration of the Council.

The valuable endowments set apart for the improvement of the Harbour of Manukau, will, we doubt not, be turned to account, and the complaints which have been made so often and so loudly by Commanders of Her Majesty’s ships, and by others, of the deficiencies of the establishment there, and of the want of buoys in the South channel will be obviated.

In Auckland Harbour, provision will no doubt be made for completing the Wharf by the construction of the outer J. Great inconvenience, even witlv the present extent of traffic, is caused by the want of that accommodation.

The City Water Works question, which has been discussed in our columns at great length, and. considering the unirritating nature of the subject, with unnecessary fierceness, —will again be brought upon the tapis and finally disposed of; if the citizens think that the time has arrived when a Corporation or City Board should be established, there ought not we think to be any obstacles to the attainment of their desire. It is very certain that unless by the process of local rating, the funds necessary for the improvement of the City cannot be obtained, and, that before long in Auckland as elsewhere, the alternative “ taxation or typhus” must be deliberately accepted by the people.

We have indicated a few of the more im-

portant topics which must engage the attention of the Provincial Council. If they are considered in a liberal spirit there will be some “fruit;” the public will notin that case complain, even if the moles are active and the political dodgers should fill up with their little bye-play the intervals of serious business.

Immigration, public works, roads, bridges, works for wat-u-supply are not party questions, and those w .o obstruct their extension on party grounds may find, at the first convenient opportunity, that they have mistaken the purpose for which they were elected members of the Provincial Council.

Thjs Melbourne Press seem at last alive to the curse which the frequent Ministerial changes and disputes of party faction huve brought upon the country. To “ the unfixedness of ths social condition,” and “ to the almost utter absence of any true national feeling ” in Victoria, does the A"(jus in treating of this matter at-

tribute the deplorable chaos into which the Government

and people of that Colony have become merged. Admitting these to be the predominant causes of the present state of affairs, and few w ;n deny this to be the case, we could have wished that the deduction had been more clearly arrived at, that the primary evil rested in the mal-administratioa 0 f the Waste Lands of the Crown, a mismanagement to which we entirely attribute that want of a conservati» e balance in political feeling, which is so evidently the characteristic of society in \ ictoria. Cobbett has somewhere said, that “ give the most levelling radical a cow and a piece of land of his own and you immediately make him consemtive in principle. ’ There jg more truth in this remark than the Victorian legj s ] atnre seera t 0 have been aware of. Under a constitution which admitted of unirtfsal pfiffrogC) of is txattuncmnt to tljc

same, there was necessarily (in the 19th century at any rate) a destructive element to be dreaded, one against which every possible check should have been introduced. The popular will, all powerful as it is, was fully as likely to be wrought upon for harm as for good. However intelligent the mass may be, men seldom reason calmly upon an empty stomach, when the cause which outributes to that state is under discussion, and are at sch time readily led away into whatever is made to apear the nearest and most tangible form ot relief by tb specious advice of those who rise like scum upon ti i seething mass—the stump orator, and the demag gne. Ve have only to look back into the history of Victor a during the last ten years to find a plain illustration of this principle. No other colony received the gilt of responsible Government under more favourable auijic- s. No rival race of Aboriginal proprietors intense with the disposal of her territory a rich and never failing supply of gold attracted population from all qutrters of the world- Fortunes and independencies were acquired daily. Men naturally turn to the soil as an investment for capital. This was denied them by a s irt-sighted Government. He who had saved thov m;ls returned with his wealth to Europe, while the : .pi'alist of a few hundreds sought in this Colony of N sv Zealand, in Adelaide, and elsewhere that which was v mid him in Victoria; but by far the greater numl r scuandered their earnings in a few weeks dissipati o, debarred by the then existing scarcity of land and the system of sale, from becoming useful members of the community. From such a source the formation of a counter-balancing element, a strong middle class whose interest in the country would have been of no temporary nature, and whose position would have kept them above the temptation which any venal faction might have offered for their support —should have been effected by means of the settlement of the Waste Lands by a class of honi fide settlers, the largest proportion of whoi i would be of that grade known in England as yeom m, in Australia as cockatoo settlers, owners and occupiers of from 500 to 40 acres. In 1854, when the excess of population and the over-crowded state of the gold fields caused a supply of labour for general purposes greatly in excess of the demand, the construction of public works w»s demanded and conceded, as it always must be in a democracy, and in this was the beginning of the evil, The people felt their power and they used it. Men, to hold the reins of power were obliged to court popularity, by concessions, to say the least, unstatesmanlike. A debt of eight millions sterling was incurred for the construction of railways, two of which are still urfinished, and which can never pay a fair percentage on the capital invested even though every male colonist vere constantly engaged in travelling backwards and forwards at a high rate of fare. One million in addition has been spent in bringing water to Melbourne from a distance of thirty miles. These and all other public works are acknowledged to have been constructel in the most un-economical and un-business like way, We say nothing of the amount of peculation and jobbery which is said to be connected with these undertakings. The result of these financial experiments is summed up simply in the fact that every man, woman, and child in Victoria is taxed, on the average, at the rate of £7 per head per annum. To such a condition of disrepute have responsible institutions been brought, that the respectable portion of the community stand aloof from'any active share whatever in politics, leaving the field still more open to the operations of political charlatans. Party outbid party in their offers of kiles for popularity. The Healc’s Ministry and Mr. Booth’s popularity-hunting scheme of the occupation licenses has exploded. A more feasible land scheme, though one still open fo grave objections, has been troponnded by the present coalition Ministry. Where however this downward tendency in Australian political moralitj is to end, is only a subject for wild speculation. Then is no elastic power from within to which we can look for its regeneration. Every democracy which has ben hitherto set up has fallen from internal divisions, ind has reverted to the other extreme, that of a militay despotism. But that Victoria is a mere dependency of Britain such might ultimately occur in her casi. The interference of the Home Government for the maintenance of the national honor may possibly howevir terminate the farce which is being now played out.

Anniversary Regattj.—Wc are happy to perceive that the usual promoters of this truly British sport are on the alert. Thi word for “All hands to muster” at Mr. Webb’s Sakon, Fort street, on Monday at 7 p.ra. has been passed. The business to be transacted is the appointment of a Committee, and to initiate all the measures requisite for a first-rate Regatta. Mangawhai.—A meeting of about seventy persons has been held in this iraportmi and rising district, at which Mr. J. Close, of the Arai, presided, when the following resolutions were put and carried with an unanimity such as we scarcely ever before had the pleasure of witnessing. Ist. That the residents of this district, feeling the extreme need of a Minister, desire that the Rev. Mr. Breech, now here, be invited to that office. 2nd. That this meeting desire to record their willingness to assist as far as able in providing for the support of the Minister, cither by giving labour or money. 3rd. It being desirable that a place of worship be erected as quickly as possible, a working committee be now chosen to collect funds and carry out such erection. 4th. That s copy of these resolutions be handed to the Rev. Mr Breech. The above meeting was held at the house of W. Moir, Esq., J.P., and after selecting the Committee, separated. In the evening a singing class was heH at Mr. J. Close’s. Indeed the neighbourly kindlinss nad co-operation existing here, speak hopefully br the future and increasing prosperity of this district. Government Lawn.—By pernission of Colonel Wyatt and the Officers, the Band o’ H. M. 65th Regt. will perform a selection of Music this day, at four o’clock p.m. PROGRAMME. 1. Overture “ Egmont” Beethoven. 2. Selection “ Rose of Castile” Balfe. 3. Quadrille “ Mcßeth” Herzog. 4. Selection, (2nd) Op “ Mama” FJotow. 5. Waltz “ Beta of the Villagp” Jullien. 6- Galop “The Assault” Jullien. “ God ive the Queen.”