ABOLITION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XII, Issue 4297, 21 August 1875, Page 1 (Supplement)

ABOLITION.

Eo the Cditor of the Herald. i Sib, —Indisposition having prevented my attendance at any of the political meetings ■ held during the past week, I avail myself of your columns to express my opinions on the question of the day—the Abolition of the Provinces. Let me say at the outset that I welcome the revival of public interest which the recent meetings have called forth. And though I regret, as every well-wisher to this country must regret, that in some quarters appeals have been made, more or less direct, to the settlement of the question by the armed hand, I am satisfied that the good sense of the community will regard these foolish and impulsive utterances as mere "sound and fury signifying nothing"; and that ultimately there will grow up a healthy public opinion, without which the most liberal institutions must become of little value. Most people admit that the Provincial system was at first a necessity, and that it has done much "work, and done it in the main well. Nearly all its ancient duties are, however, now done by Municipalities, Harbour, Education, and Road Boards. In the provinces ' destitute of land fundß the system is dying j of inanition. In the provinces with large land funds it has developed into a wasteful Centralism of a very narrow and selfish type. Provincialism has fostered a mean provincial jealousy, greatly subversive of the true interests of the colonists. The presence of the Superintendents and their nenchmen in the House has created a system of log-rolling and intrigue which, so long as the Provincial syotem continues, will render good government well nigh impossible. These considerations, amongst others, have during the past year produced a general desire throughout the colony for the abolition oftheProvincialsystem. This remarkable concurronce of public opinion North and South can only point to the conclusion that the great body of colonists have well considered j the question and fully made up their minds that all the provinces must Do abolished. That being so, the minor question of when becomes simply a matter of convenience. Of course, when the time has come for opinion to take the form of action, there is the usual, and not unnatural, disinclination to part company with an old acquaintance, just as some men cling to an old coat long after tho threadbare and worn-out garment has ceased to be of any use; oven the enfranchised beggar wonders how he will get along without tne wallet he no longer needs, but which he has carried so long that he can hardly bring himself to believe he can get along without it. The Opposition in the House, with a few exceptions, have had very little to say against abolition per se. The cry is for postponement; remit the question, say they, to a new Parliament. Most of the speakers at the Auckland meetings have taken up the same cry. Divested of its sentimentalism, there is nothing in it. If the thing ia to be done, the Booner the better. Rid of the Superintendents and their cliques, the House will the better address itself to the real work before it—the codification of crude Provincial ordinances and the adoption of measures to secure the peace, order, and good government of the colony as a whole. I am no partizan of the Government, but I give them credit for being able to read accurately tho state of public opinion, in the colony as being by an overwhelming majority in favour of abolition, and I hope they will not be deterred by the intrigues of timeserving politicians or the cries of impulsive orators from carrying this desire to its logical conclusion, namely, abolition, both absolute and immediate.—l am, &c., J. C. Firtii. Auckland, August 20, 1575.