New Zealand Times. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1874.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4218, 26 September 1874, Page 4

New Zealand Times. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1874.

The subject of the proposed sale by the Provincial Government of unreclaimed land in the harbor o£ Port Nicholson was conspicuous by its absence from the speeches of the two members for the City on Wednesday evening. That they were judicious in avoiding a subject that is certain to engender much bitterness of feeling, we are fully prepared to admit; but they could not have given it greater prominence by anything they said than by omitting to notice it. They knew, well enough, that it had engaged the attention of nearly every elector in the room ; and they must have felt that some persons present would expect them to make a statement respecting a topic of so much interest. Both are membera of the Provincial Council, and one a member of the Executive. Therefore, had they spoken, it would have been with considerable authority. But in the very fact that it is impossiblo to forget that whilst they are members of Parliament for the City of Wellington, they are also members of the Provincial Council, may be found a reason for their reticence. Mr. Hunter could not, under the circumstances, condemn the proposed sale ; and we are utterly unable to conceive upon what grounds he could justify it. A subject that lie, it may be presumed purposely, resolved not to trench upon, could not be touched upon by Mr. Pearco. If the one member had expressed an opinion about it, the other must have followed suit. It is certainly one about which very warm feelings are entertained, and probably, it could not have been intro duced with advantage into a meeting convened for a defined purpose of an entirely different nature ; and it will not suffer by being allowed to escape being dealt with on the occasion we allude to. A different disposition of it to the one proposed so nearly affects every ratepayer or resident in Wellington, that the Provincial authorities may expect to receive a notice of the opinion of the people in a very pronounced and definite manner.

The question has been raised of the legality of the proposed sale. By this we mean that tliero has been a labored attempt made, in the interest of the Provincial Government, to prove that the sale would be a legal one. At the time, this legality had not been questioned, but now it will certainly bo tested. There is such a thing as attempting to prove too much, and persons accustomed to the order of business in criminal courts are bound to know that such attempted proof is atolerablysureindicationof guilt. The persons primarily interested in forbidding Iho sale will notice the corner of the white flag that has been run up, and they will take their measures accordingly. The opinion of the highest legal authorities will doubtless bo secured, and these will determine the course of action. A newspaper opinion on a bare question of law would satisfy no one, and would not be put forward by any journal professing to bo impartial, or that was not of an entirely partisan character. For this reason we express no opinion on a question that only a lawyer should answer decidedly. The Provincial Government, we presume, has boon advised by its solicitor. If it always has acted on his recommendations it has sometimes got into trouble thereby; but it has the opportunity of seeking the very best legal advice thoro is in Wellington, and, wo daro say, has embraced it. But, from when we first heard of the iniquitous proposal, we put it as ono of common sense, time and expediency, rather

than as one of law. There is no doubt whatever that if the sale should take place, there will be a tremendous sacrifice of public property—property that might be of incalculable benefit to the City if it were properly disposed of. The ludicrous and absurd cry that the money is wanted because Mr. Vogel is trying to make the Province bankrupt, imposes on no persons, except it be those who have so long reiterated a falsehood that at last they have believed it. Mr. Hunter, a member of the Provincial Executive, told the electors a very different story the other evening. He paid the Premier a very high compliment. On this subject there is a very considerable difference of opinion in the Provincial Executive. Mr. Hunter considers the Premier better qualified to fill his position than any other man in New Zealand. Messrs. Fitzherbert and Bunny regard him as the very incarnation of evil. Mr. Hunter says Mr. Vogel is not an enemy of the Province of Wellington, but that he assisted it when in its deepest difficulties, that he has shown a very good feeling towards it, and that without the assistance he rendered the Provincial Government would have been helpless. Messrs. Fitzherbert and Bunny are never weary of declaiming that he tries to render the Province bankrupt. Whilst it is the general duty of every person in Wellington to protest against the proposed sale, it would seem to be the special ono of tho City Council. That this unreclaimed land, should Provincialism be abolished, would revert to the Council, can hardly be questioned. The terms might be a matter for arrangement, but there is no fear of the municipal authorities having to haggle with the General Government as they are compelled to with the Provincial. And we fail to see why the Provincial Government should object to the City Council ultimately acquiring tho freehold of this estate. Whoever has it, it will be brought under the same rule as the City now is. But for some reason or other, the Provincial Government has a feeling against the municipal. Whether this is because the one is a moribund and the other a permanent institution, we cannot say ; but the fact remains. Indeed, the Provincial Government seems to havs an unhappy knack of quarrelling all round. It quarrels with the General Government, it has misled the City Council, and we do not suppose it agrees with the decision registered against it in the Supreme Court. We have no wish to point to the difference that there is between hot and dirty water, or to institute any analogy of the noted "blue-gum" character; but this proposed sale of so many acres of the bottom of tho sea is just a trifle too absurd. Bankrupt's stocks may be sold at tremendous sacrifices, but the Provincial Government of Wellington has no right to thus categorise itself. Nor, unless wo are much mistaken, will it be permitted to do so.