THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. SATURDAY, JULY 30, 1881.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6147, 30 July 1881, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. SATURDAY, JULY 30, 1881.

The. political programme now seems to be that the Government are to place before the House as little business as possible, that what is to be done shall be clone quickly, and then that members shall "go to the country." Members, for their part, appear willing .to adopt this programme. The Opposition have not much to hope for from a prolongation of the session. They will do what they can to discredit, the Ministry, and at the hustings will seek

to maktVall this capital they can out oi the blindness' toS.'Wtiridering Min isters on the subject of local govern menfe There is one subject, however on which' we.think'the representative! from. Auckland.province might do some thing useful for theirconstituents before they return from Wellington; On this they might all unite, aiid by combined and individual exertion each might earr some claim if or; reelection.; v '< .It'hasibeen constantly, admitted foi the; past few years that ,in the distribu tioii bf'itlife money borrowed for public work's" Auckland has fared very badly This! was admitted ■; by Southern mem bers,'"but" the answer to our claims 1 which they r deemed effective, andwhicl was • not(.;in reality -without muct weight,/was something like: this: Th< South is'in; a-very much'iriore advancec position.: than ..the North.- Railway: made, in; Canterburyi and; Otago pas: throligh country' which is largelj j settled, /'and i! which' ' de ' mands,' ■ .aceominodation in the. wa] of improved; means of communica tionj; lines made through these .dis tricts will pay interest;on the cost o construction fronrr-the'-first;. In thi ■North, on the other hand, the country is mucH inore "sparsely settled, anc there are large tracts : of- native lane which: we cannot gain admittance to andi which "will'remain unsettled foi years., To spend money equally. ov.e: the ) whole colony : would ensure ,th< ruin;! of Vthe., Public Works scheme These -arguments had considerabli forcp. when .they were first urged, bu they arejmuchleas potent now. . Fron large .tracts of native Jand these 6b structions have been removed, and the] will! shortly be occupied by Europeai settlers.. As' we showed lately .iron the I report, /of :the. Crown : Lands De partmerit, it is acknowledged that foi any! extension of settlement on a 'con •siderable scale by farmers, the cqlonj must; depend.upon the North 1 Island thathiere weliavefertile soil and!a kindlj climate favouring the efforts of in dustry. 'It is therefore to this ,pari that the colony, must look for the ad yancemerit o£ the next ten years. - Ii these' 'circumstanced, it would seen something like common sense that the Government and Parliamentshould.de termine that as far as possible the} will aid arid'assist the natural course o: events, that, they would stimulate settlement in every possible; direction More than that, they are bound t< furnish settlers with means of com ■ munication, to some extent at least Tiiis is only'good policy and simple justice. The residents of this pro vince, however, naturally look to theii representatives to take the first step: to i set. them right. . The Southeri members, and they have influencec the Ministry to a very large extent, sei up I a quieer kind of argument in oppo sition, namely, that a large populatioi has been gathered in the South by thi Public Works scheme, that more rail ways must be made to keep those people in .employment; that in some districts lines have not been made in the most suitable places, that errors have been .made in various localities, and that all these mistakes. must now be; amended. What we urge, now is, that the Auckland members should strive during the remainder of the session to obtain as large a portion as possible of the money still available for public works ;. thaton this point they should be united as. one man, using as arguments the facts that the North has been neglected as compared with the South, and that means of- communication must be provided, if proper advantage ;i3 to be taken of this period when settlers from all quarters are waiting to go. on the land. We are only surprised that during the present session, when so many -trivial subjects have been discussed, this has not been , once mentioned, that when caucuses of! Auckland members have been held on small occasions, it has not been thought worth while making propositions for combined action in this direction. Almost every Auckland member has made this his stock subject for •the ■ hustings, but has forgotten it at Wellington. The lion. Mr. Whitaker made it the topic of an eloquent and statistical address when a candidate for Eden, but the Hon. the AttorneyGeneral has lost his enthusiasm, and forgotten his figures. In the wellknown " compact" a distinct and clear stipulation was made on this subject, binding not only the four members who went into it, but the Hall Ministry, who were then saved, and who still hold office, and are responsible for its fulfilment. The lethargy we complain of, has been manifested not only in the present session, but in the last, during which Mr. Hurst was the only member who seemed to take much pains to press the matter on the attention of the Government. The member for City Wesfc showed that of the fourteen millions loan expenditure up to 30th September, 1879, on the population basis, Auckland was entitled to £3,138,965, while she only.received £2,295,530, making a deficiency of £843,435, while Wellington had £769,853, and Otago £112,939 morethan' their shares. It must be kept in mind that in the South the population was largely augmented by the great public works set on foot, and that if the above calculation were made now it would, show a still larger discrepancy. Taking the contributions to revenue, we are deficient to the amount of £4.97,893. A more forcible way of; bringing the subjebt to ' mind is by actual observation. Those who have travelled in the South, md have seen the facilities which the jreat body of . the ; settlers have by roads and railways, and who then take i tour through almost any part of the jrovince of Auckland, are simply asxranded at the difference in the same ;olony. The English Princes, with the Admiral of the squadron, are to visit ;he Lakes, and.we are now gravely disiussing whether it is practicable to get jhem through at all. As for the :ountry to • the North of Auckland, Iβ would be- a bold man who vould attempt a journey through it at ilmost any season. .

Unfortunately, we cannot hope to have the same opportunities as the South has had. They had the land • revenue, and then the . profuse expenditure on public works, and for some time both of these sources yielded in great abundance. Now they enjoy the fruits of them in' completed works, and have the benefit of their providence for their own purposes in reserves, from the public estate. According to what was said by the Colonial Treasurer in his Financial Statement as to the loan account, there will be,from savings from native land purchase account, and money unexpended,, about a million to be devoted to public works. An effort to secure a large this should : .be made at once.. ;What the Government intentions are, Ve do not know, but action ought to be

takeAbytheAuckland membenr-witliouf;' ,3elajj; ; Ministers have-not niucu will of their<qwn, but mainly move -by,being, forced. If nothing is done till iMr. HaUimakes the Public Works Statethen,we look upon: the chance as lost. ; Ministersywillthen-jx> a, certain extent be pledged to their plan, and will be kept to it by those whoare to : benefit from it. . . •.. ..:,.--•;.;■ :■.-,-.- ;;•;'