THE Otago Daily Times. MONDAY, JULY 15, 1872.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 3257, 15 July 1872, Page 2

THE Otago Daily Times. MONDAY, JULY 15, 1872.

Asa rule a busy and prosperous people forget the past and is blind to the future. The past is everywhere full of warnings for the future, and if we heed them not we enter the awful void beffore us without our best guide. The future of thin Colony, though only too hopeful, has yet its dark side, and in •that darkness there loom dangers not

utterly indistinct; but we are dazzled with unexpected prosperity, and d baaed with the wlrirl that bears ub onward— we know not to what glory or what doom. It seems to need a prophet to make counsels of prudence and moderation heard at such a time, but the note of warning has come to üb. Here, in the midst of national prosperity and advanced civilisation, we hear a Rolemn invitation" to consider well that the vast natural resources of New Zealand, in wluch we trust so much, are finite and measurable, or are, to a great extent, beyond the use of the people for generations to come, and that we may therefore share the fate of other countries in the present age which have had their opportunities, played their part, and then sank into nothingness. We talk of ourselves, our statesmen, the go-a-head characteristic of our race, but no de[>endency of Britain owes more to nature than ourselves. Thero is none with so large a debt of this unwritten kind. It is only right, then, that we should leave this great heritage neither burdened nor unimproved to the successors of those who founded the Colony. There is no denying the fact, however, that thecountryis involved in a growing complication of misfortunes, almost every one of which is the consequence of blundedng, of which the Central Government is at once the source and agent. Every right-thinking man, who half the good of the Colony at heart, is dejected for reasons which ought never to have existed. The Crown ..lands are being rapidly alienated or pawned, other natural sources of wealth are being taken from "us; 'tuid the product squandered. The national debt is being rapidly increased and expended, with little to show for such expenditure. Mail and other contracts are entered into without due caution,

and consequently end in' costly disappointment. The Government of the country, instead of being administered economically, costs'more in proportion to the, population than that of. any other country in the world. And yet, when information is asked for about these matters, the Government persist in darkening their proceedings regarding them. •■ '■"■■ ■■'■-■■' ■"■'■ ■■'■ ■ "■■'•'

Unless, then, our c jrepi-e«c>ntativeß in the Assembly, and the entire community; are content to cut a Sorry ; figure in; history ; as men who came on a vast mine of wealth and other splendid opportunities, but" wasted them most selfishly; wje ought: to make an ejForfc to put an end to the present mode of administering bur' public aftairs. We are on the eve of another session of the General Assembly. There are a few honest and able Thembers to undertake the. < task of remedying the evil, and bringing about a healthier state of things. Therefore now is the jtime to make the choice and give them support. If we do not make the better choice now, we never shall. Irrespective of a change of administrators, there appears to be one course open to our representatives which, if will prevent the progress of this part of the Colony at all events ifrom being seriously retarded. At no time, we believe, since the institution bf representative government in New JZealaudlhas there existed such a unanimous feeling amongst the public men of the Middle Island in favour of the financial separation of the two Islands. OLeading politicians, who, two or three years ago, were the avowed advocates of jthe unity of the Colony, now see in a system of separate accounts and separate liability for the two Islands, the only means bf saving the country from that state of into which a continuation ;of the present policy must inevitably land it Unfortunately, personal differences, engendered of provincial politics, exist among our representatives, and it is notoriously the case that these differences have on many past occasions that united action on the part of Otago members, without which the interests of the Province and of the Middle Island can never be protected. JDoes not the present critical state of affairs present a fitting opportunity for the abandonment of those petty feelings which divide the Jvotes of Otago- representatives, and 'which are carefully fostered by cunning statesmen to further Northern selfishness and Northern aggrandisement? Well do the astute politicians of the North know that :'Middle Island liability limited to Middle Island expenditure' means i

that Mawke's Bay and Wellington 1 railways cannot bo constructed, and 1 that fijWjCui.colonismg experiment* at ' Mjuutwad^i. and elsewhetti will havo to gjjgh- The public mejauof/the fNortli ha¥e' -jnever ■fci^itatetbjbo express ij&eir implicit faitb ;in; ttie i-eproductLyc; tt&s£apt wfc&f ac|!sp ci^.^onstj^^ed Jit tfie' NorU*^^&tand .jpj^of '^lonial f«fiads: v« jjefe'themore pKpTr profeßsed belief in the * glorious futut« T tliat awaite their Provinces be put to the teat. Let the 3d iddle Island «till be liable for its share of past debte. Let it pay; in the future'ris H has done in the .puat, its. fair share «£, whatever* expenditure is found Tiecessary lo niaiujtaiu j*eaoe in tlie Native districte. Let it relinquish ungrudgingly all claims ,to the 'anticipated' profits from the Wairarapa and other railways in the North. But let the Northern Island clearly understand that if it« railways do not prove reproductive, and involve a loss to work them, such loss must fall upon its inhabitants, and must not be shared by the taxpayers of the Middle Island. The ' new party' which it is said has been organised with the view of obtaining Provincial administration in connection with Colonial public works, will "not likely turn out to be of sufficient dimensions to alarm the Ministry; but a party, the members of which would agree to sink all nii)ior differences, and who would insist upon the financial separation of the two Islands, would prove a powerful one, and would have for adherents men who have long advocated the unity of the Colony, but who are now willing to relinquish a piece of sentiment in order that tho settlers of the Middle Island may not be unnecessarily and vexatiously burdened.