New Zealand Times. FRIDAY, AUGUST 7, 1874.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4175, 7 August 1874, Page 2

New Zealand Times. FRIDAY, AUGUST 7, 1874.

It was not a surprise to the House of Representatives yesterday when the Premier announced that the Government might, during the present session, bring down resolutions on the subject of the abolition of Provincialism in the North Island, and that in next session action would be taken to consolidate the Government of the North Island, to place Wellington in the position it ought to bo as the seat of the General Government, and to ratify by Act of Parliament the compact of 1856. The subject had been canvassed in the House and in the lobbies for some days. The statement was precipitated by the course taken by the Provincial authorities of Wellington on the State Forests Bill ; and it may ha,yo had its origin in the contest: some time ago between the authorities of the Province of Wellington and the General Government which has lately occupied the attention of the Supreme Court. It has been satisfactorily ascertained that if the Government had proposed to proceed with the consolidation of the Government of the North Island in the course of the present session, late as the time is, they would have been supported by a large majority. There, is no doubt, however, that the Premier has taken the wisest course in intimating the intentions of the Government in so important a matter as this at the earliest moment, and giving full, notice that after the country has had time during the long recess now approaching to consider the subject Ministers will propose to Parliament the union of the North Island Provinces under one Government, and that the General Government, There can bo no question whatever as to the wisdom of the course proposed. The time has come when, in the North Island at least, Provincial institutions should bo abolished. They have served

their day; and in the North Island have become an encumbrance, a burden, ; and a drag upon legislation and the progress of the Colony. They contribute enormously to that over-government of which ' so much complaint has been made ; and they are a source of weakness rather than of strength to the Colony. It has already been necessary, in the interests of New;'Zealand, to* make a; decided stand on the Subject of Provincial borrowing .Provincial, loans. have .been.a cause of embarrassment to the business of the Colony, and of weakness to the; credit of New Zealand. None of the Provinces of the -North Island-have been- able' to undertake public -works, for themselves. Hawke’s Bay wants a harbor at Napier; Taranaki requires a shipping place for its enormous forests of valuable.timber; but neither of these Provinces is in a position to undertake the works itself. These are works purely of a national character ; they are absolutely necessary; without them neither the east nor the west of the North Island can enjoy that measure of prosperty which their great natural resources should secure for them ; and though the important ‘ lines of railway now in course of construction or projected will do much to open up both Taranaki and Hawke’s Bay, and enable the trade of those portions of the Colony to be developed to a large extent, the harbors referred to will still boa necessity. Already all the most important requirements of the Colony, and the North Island in particular, have to be provided for by the General Government. It constructs the railways and roads ; it lights the coasts ; it subsidizes the mail steamers ; it conducts the business of the post and telegraph departments ; it manages the business of immigration ; its officers administer the law ; its agents have charge of Native affairs; in great difficulties, in times past, it has been charged with the whole management of the Provinces, the boundary lines of which were then practically obliterated ; it regulates, by the aid of Parliament, the taxation of the Colony; it, leaves, in fact, to the Provincial authorities and Councils only so much of the real work of the government of the country as could bo better performed by an officer acting under the directions of the Ministry, or of the Minister at the head of the Government for the time being. The abolition of Provincial institutions would remove an obstacle to the enjoyment of thorough responsible Government; simplify the order of procedure in the management of public affairs ; save an enormous waste of money, and facilitate the progress of the business of the country. It is not necessary at present to discuss whether the South or Middle Island should not also be included in the legislation which the Ministry have intimated their intention to propose next session. Probably public opinion might not be found - altogether ripe for so large a change at once. Canterbury and Otago have been able to manage their affairs with a skill and a prudence that have been commendable, although even in their case the interference of the General Government in the interests of the country at large has been necessary at times. Neither Nelson nor Marlborough have any good claim to put forward why they should be left with their Superintendents and Councils, and their little petty Parliaments, to manage or mismanage their own affairs ; while Westland is perhaps too proud of its newly-fledged honor to contemplate so early a return to its original position of a county only. Yet the effort to introduce local Provincial Government there has, so far, been so much of a farce that possibly the public, and the officers of the Province themselves, would be found not unwilling to resign their functions to the General Government. Nelson, Marlborough, and Westland are all incapable by themselves of carrying out any groat public work. Nelson wants a better harbor, railways to open up the forest and mineral lands, and roads and supplies of water to enable the miners to develope its auriferous resources ; and for all these things the General Government must be appealed to. Westland has enormous tracts of auriferous soil, which can only be made profitable by the provision of water in sufficient quantity to enable sluicing to be carried on on a large scale ; and these works the General Government have now in hand. To maintain Provincial institutions in these portions of the island is not merely a waste of money in salaries and expenses of many kinds, but a positive hindrance to the progress of the districts they afflict. But the experiment may well be tried in the North Island. There are no natural boundaries separating the one Province from the other. All their interests are in common. The dangers and difficulties they have passed through were Colonial, and not Provincial. These are now all but over, and a season of posperity has set in which also is general and not provincial. The public works now going on must obliterate those artificial lines which separate Taranaki from Wellington and Hawke’s Bay from Auckland, Wellington, and Taranaki. The North Island is ready, we believe, for the abolition of Provincial distinctions, and will rejoice when it possesses but one Government only; while the extinction of Provincial Governments and Councils will be an important step towards the realisation of that united and powerful New Zealand which its people yet hope to see taking the leading position among the Australasian dependencies of the Throne.