THE Otago Daily Times. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 30, 1575.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 4170, 30 June 1875, Page 2

THE Otago Daily Times. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 30, 1575.

Rumour is so constantly, so persistently, busy with the intentions of the Colonial Government during next session, that it is by no means easy to sift the grains of wheat from the mass of chaff, and make out with any certainty the schemes which they propose to take up. Their position is an anomalous one, and may aptly be compared to that of a worm which has suffered decapitation from a gardener's spade, or been split up into several parts by that well-known agricultural implement. Everyone who has seen the operation take place knows how the parts wriggle and squirm after they have been divided, and how sometimes the several portions set to work travelling in diametrically opposite directions. If all be true that we'hear, the present Executive is not likely to meet the House with a very united front. On the contrary, there are one or two matters which it is proposed to introduce which will cause not more dissension in the Assembly at lai-ge than among the occupants of the Government Benches. It is now just eight years since Mr Travers introduced the followine resolution:—"lbis desirable that for the future the. entire legislative and

cecutive control over the following de-'l artments of Gov«rnment in tkis Corny, namely, Police, Gaols, and Harours, should be vested in the General Government," &c, efce. After a long ,nd interesting dedate the motion was vithdrawn, and the matters referred to nit have for the most part been alowed to rest in peace. We understand that it is the intention of the Government to introduce a Bill during ;he next session empowering them to :ake over the control of the Police Force of the Provinces, and to put that force under central control ; to disturb the condition of things which has worked so well among ourselves, and to ippoint an Inspector-General of Police for the whole Colony. Now, it may be baken for granted that" some such arrangement would necessarily follow upan the Abolition of the Provinces. Remembering, however, that abolition as at present proposed only deals with the N"orth Island, and noting the probability so strong as to amount almost to a certainty that the consideration of this important matter will have to be postponed until after the next general I'lection, the fact that the Government propose to deal definitely with the Police force separately and apart from other matters, has great significance. While putting upon one side for the moment the question of the Abolition of the Provinces, we cannot too strongly oppose this idea of driving the linn edge of the wedge in, and taking over one important Provincial function,, without dealing with the whole question. Possibly it may seem a wise policy thus to test the sense of the House : we do not think that it will prove true wisdom. < We understand that for the to-be-created office of Inspector-General of Police there are several aspirants already. The present Minister of Justice, Mr Bowen, being one, and Major Atkinson another. With regard to the first gentleman, who is considered to be the most likely person to be appointed, we can only say that not all the esteem in which he is held by all who know him, will blind our eyes to the manifest impropriety of such an appointment. Only a few months ago he was pursuing his course quietly enough as Resident Magistrate in Christchtirch. To the very great astonishment of all who knew him, he vaulted by a sudden feat of athletic daring—not indeed without precedent —into the seat of Minister of Justice. The most unfavourable comments were made at the time everywhere about this action. If, after having held the portfolio of Justice for something less than a year, he undergoes another transmutation, and accepts the permanent appointment of Inspector-General of Police, we can only say that it will he disgraceful both to himself and the Government with whom he has been associated. Supposing for a moment that the scheme of which we have spoken is favourably received, and we have no notion that it will obtain a hearing at all, it is quite clear that there are Police officers in the North Island as well as here, who have every claim to be considered before any political, star whatever. Mr Weldon, for instance, has a right to have his claims considered, and it would be utterly demoralising to the Civil Service in all its branches, if political claims were allowed to override those ot special knowledge and experience, and once more prove to be the only claims considered in making- chief appointments. We have had enough already, and too much, in the case of Mr Gisborne, of this kind of thing. We have excellent reason for saying that a scheme such as we named will be submitted to the Assembly at its next session. Quern Deus wit perdere, (fee. Never was the proverb more true. The intellect that devised this shallow proposal as a means of testing the feeling of the Southern members towards abolition, must have gone a long way already upon the downward road. We are confident that many of the representatives of Otago, who ai-e prepared to support total abolition, will prove recalcitrant supporters of the Government when a proposal so monstrous is made to them. It is a curious fact that Mr Reynolds should be a member of the Ministry which intends to bring forward such a scheme. The Mr Reynolds of 1867 spoke as follows, when a similar proposal was niade to change the control of public departments : —" For himself, he could say that in his own Province he was thoroughly satisfied with the way in which the departments alluded to in the motion (i c., Gaols, Harbours, and Police) were managed by the Provincial authorities, and he knew that they wei-e infinitely better managed than they could possibly be by the General Government." Every man has of course a right to change his mind, and circumstances alter cases—nevertheless the change in our Mr Reynolds is as remarkable as it is complete. As we have said, the segments of a severed worm often set off wriggling in different directions, and we are not as yet sure whether our argumentum ad hominem has much force in it until MiReynolds speaks. We are quite clear at any rate that the Bill we have referred to has no chance of passing. The question of Centralism must be discussed in its main bearing and not on any side issue. To attempt to dismantle the Provinces bit by bit is as injudicious as it will prove impossible.