POSITION OF THE PROVINCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume V, Issue 1307, 24 January 1868, Page 4

POSITION OF THE PROVINCE.

To the Editor of the Hebaid. Fallt ague furan orst eanag Mα saa a Gcarloclis'heoul a.—Old Celt. Sib,—3ly attention has been drawn to the letter of your correspondent " P.E. J.," in this day's paper, drawing a contrast between Mr. Carleton and Mr. Wiliamson, and still advocating the retention of our present Provincial Government, tho propriety of which is useless to nrgne in the faco of tho stale of the province ; and should Mr. Curleton be a. bad man, and Mr. Williamson a good man, they both with the reet of us, one and all, have " brought the country" into an ugly mesa. And iflam tojudgetheforopartof Mr. "P.KJ.'s" letter, by the last paragraph, when he refers to the Island of Cape Brotou, in Nova Scotia, I fear I have but a vaguo guide to go by. Ho eays, "I may state from my own personal knowledge, that the island of Cupe Breton, in British North America, once enjoyed a Constitution of its own, and a separate Government, but in an evil hour it consented to annexation to Nava Scotia, and from that day to this it has cause bitterly to regrat its folly nnd infatuation." Now, Sir, there is not a word of tho above correct, for 1 ought to know having resided in Capo Breton f*om the year 1820 to the your 1557 ? The people of Capo Breton were never consulted in the matter at all; but Sir James Kempt, Governor of Nova Scotia, with one etroko of his pen wisely annexed O»po Breton to Nova Scotia, to tho evident, benefit of Cape Breton, and to tho satisfaction of the inhabitants ever since, and although we complain in this couutry of large expenditures of money, yet it is not spent so despotically as it was under thfl Governor of Oape Breton when it had a " Constitution" Of its own. It was said when the Treasurer had o party in lrishousa {worthy man I fctcto him tcell) playing; at cuds, and whe-'ho lo't monoy dipped his hand into tho iron cheat, public tronjury, which was bosido him, and paid out thn dollars without any restriction. Happy days those for treasurers !! Tour correspondent is again grossly mi-taken, that the members for Cape Breton " wero swiirapud in the House of Assembly Siy overwhelming numbwrs:" Cape Breton returned eight member?, and hai the advuntagc of being able t$ turn out any Government of the day, so that Oape Breton wus actually bettor treated than nny Other part of the province. The revenue ot Cape Breton M , about £16,000 currenoy. und it got £10,000 of that yearly for roads and bridges. Rducation had absorbed the rest, and inoie, it was allowed they always got more than their shara. And should every word o" your correspondent, '' P.E.J.," be correct, still, it would be but a sorry precedent to ua to try to uphold a and a rotten yyatera of Government, that the ablest advocates in the world cannot uphold, as it has destroyed itself—and almost destroyed everything connected* with it. The diiy of Provincialism is gone in New Zealand, nnd its advocates may now exclaim tic transit gloria mundi. —l am, &c, An Ou) Cirs Beetoxiak. January 22, IS6B, P. 9 would be a hippy day for Kew Zealand if we had a Governor win wou!d with one stroke of his pen demolish tho province?, and substitute County Institutions, as established in the diys of old iu all the British North imoriciin Colonio3. j I j