The New Zealand Herald. AUCKLAND, MONDAY, JANUARY 22,1866.

New Zealand Herald, Volume III, Issue 683, 22 January 1866, Page 4

The New Zealand Herald.

AUCKLAND, MONDAY, JANUARY 22,1866.

SPECTEiIUR AGENDO. " Givo every man thine ear, but few thy voice : Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment. This above all, —To thine ownself be true; And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.'*

Ix a recent article we instituted some examination into the Separation question upon general and to some extent abstract grounds. "Without going into any particular discussion of tlie reasons for which this or that portion of the Colony actually desires at tlie present moment to be separated from other portions, we endeavoured to point out in a general way what are the true bearings of the question, and what are the real points of interest or of difficulty which must occur to every thinking mind in connection with any sclieinc of Separation, upon whatever grounds it maybe demauded. But although we purposely excluded from our discussion of the broader aspects of the question, those smaller details which give to the whole movement the greater part of its value and interest in the estimation of particular districts or communities, yet the points which we raised were by no means of so abstract a nature as to be devoid of interest, and, indeed, of supreme importance, in any practical dealing with the subject. "We alleged that the whole question involves the consideration of two elements, distinct in their nature, and even to some extent conflicting in their practical bearings. On the one hand we have to regard the country as composed of a number of separate communities, whose interests may vary or even conflict in any assignable degree, and each of which will necessarily make its own interests the supreme object of its attention ; and, on the other hand, we have to consider the natural and salutary tendency which all these communities must possess towards an ultimate union and amalgamation as complete as exists betwen the different shires in England. In contemplating these two different aspects of the question we feel at once liow immeasurably the one of them surpasses the other in all the qualities which can enlist the sympathies of a statesman or a builder up of nations. We feci at once that the view which regards this island as an integral whole, destined to become one of the nations of the earth, is a broadei*, a higher, and in every way a more

rortliy view than that which limits itself to he present and fleeting interests, jealousies, r claims of Auckland, Taranaki, or "Welinrrton. But although this statement of the as'e must, we think, recommend itself to very mind which cares to look at aU he•ond the events of the present day, yet we aust he careful not to ignore or depreeiate he importance of the claims and inerests of the Provinces as they are at., it present constituted. Much as we mainain the wisdom of fostering by every means he natural tendency to amalgamation among ;he provinces of the same island, we still uplold without any reservation the right of jacli Province to insist to the utmost upon ts own rights against all aggression, either :rom other Provinces or from the General Grovernment of the country. And if a Province sees that its rights can only be preserved by Separation, it will assuredly clamour f or Separation, and if its grievances we real it will most probably attain its object. If anyone thinks that we hold contradictory opinions on this subject, and that our assertion of the right of a Province to agitate for Separation is inconsistent with our belief in the expediency of promoting amalgamation, a little consideration will dispel the difficulty. We hold that the formation of _ virtual, if not of nominal, Provinces in this Island, was a necessary and unavoidable thing. "We also hold that the natural and beneficial progress of civilization and prosperity tends to cause these Provinces to extend from their original centres until they meet together and become one community to all intents and purposes. This being so, we look upon the secession of a, single Province as, in itself, an evil, as causing a grievous interruption in the normal and wholesome progress of the country. But unless we arc prepared to deny the value of local Government, and of local political action in English communities, we must allow the right of a Province to defend its own interests by all available means: And if we admit this much, we cannot draw the line and say that a Province may do evervthing short of agitating for Separation. There may be circumstances, —a course of Weld Ministries for instance, — which would justily a Province in demanding Separation at all hazards. But while we admit that circumstances might exist which would leave us no other 1 other resource tiian Provincial Separation, we also maintain that our aim ought to be to secure if possible our rights as a Province without dismembering this Island, which is evidently destined iu the natural course of events to become one indivisible nation. If it be said that our argument carries us too far, and that the reasons which induce us to desire the integrity of eacli island ought also to make us advocates for the maintenance cf the Colony as a whole, we reply that this is not the case. The case of the islands is very different from that of the Provinces. The former are not, like the latter, united by the hand of nature ; they are on the contrary dissevered by the ocean, and we are not of that school of politicians who believe that "Wellington has more in common with IVelson than she has with Auckland. It may appear so for a time, and it is undoubtedly easier at present to go from "Wellington to Nelson than to Auckland. But who is so shortsighted as not to see that in the course of years AVellington will be connected with Auckland by an intervening population, filling up all the available country, and uniting the Provinces as parts' of one indivisible whole? Who does not see, in short, that the inhabitants of the Iforth Island must necessarily constitute a single community, and that of the South another, each forming a whole in itself and separated from the other by an ocean barrier. and one, too, wider than that which separates England and France. It is very triie that we do not see in the barrier of Cook's Straits any obstacle to a future political union between the islands. On the contrary we think such a scheme very likely to take eflect; but this will be for the two islands to determine when the time comes, and whatever arrangements may then, be carried out will have the advantage of being spontaneous instead of arbitrary, as is the present union. So strongly convinced arc we of the tendency to amalgamation among all the parts of the same island, that we believe no provincial Separation could become permanent. The natural progress of the country would in the end bear down all arbitrary divisions. It may be said that if this i 3 the ease, there can be no harm in provincial Separation, since its evils would be cured as soon as they might arise, in the natural course of events. We admit that in the event of a provincial Separation, any disatisfaction we might feel at such anarrangementwould be considerably mitigated by the reflection that the course of events would ultimately make us members of a community co-extensive with the INiorthern Island, and not merely of a single Province. But yet we feel that a Separation of Provinces might retard considerably the desirable result of amalgamation. Our view then is not contradictory, but perfectly simple. The necessity of the case causes at the present time a certain degree ot Provincial separation, and it may be that circumstances may necessitate an aggravation rather than a diminution of this state of things, but we object to any stretching of the principle of Provincial beyond what the necessity of the case requires. Let it be shown that we cannot emancipate ourselves from Southern interference without a separation of this Province from the rest of the island, and we acquiesce, although with some reluctance, but surely this is not yet proved. The scheme of the separation of the islands is more likely to obtain the aid of the South, as well as the sanction of England, and as we believe it to be a good and simple plan in itself, wo are glad that the people of Auckland and the .Northern Association have left the door open for its adoption.