THE PROGRESS OF THE PROVINCE.

Otago Witness, Issue 852, 28 March 1868, Page 1

THE PROGRESS OF THE PROVINCE.

(From the Daily Times, March 23.) To-day we enter upon the celebration of another Anniversary of the Settlement of the Province. Twenty yeaTs have just passed to-day since the John Wickliffe arrived with her load of pioneer settlers. There were earnest, ardent men amongst those Immigrants, but it is to be doubted if any of them were enthusiastic enough to even hope for the results which twenty years have developed. A population of 48,480 souls, a chief city such as Dunedin has become, other towns and townlets scattered over the country, and the whole Province occupied for agricultural, mining, or pastoral purposes ; these are the results which have sprung up during the twenty years which have elapsed since the John Wickliffe landed her living freight. From a comparative point of view, much may be said. Otago, in its young years, was often subjected to slights from the older Provinces. The youngster, it was alleged, was too forward and presuming, did not sufficiently recognise the exalted position and paramount claims of the elder settlements. It is now some years since the tables have been turned, but even yet the recognition that such is the case is only partial. i Far a-head of the other Provinces as Otago has reached, its position is still but grudgingly admitted, if not altogether denied. There has been no hesitation in accepting the hundreds of thousands of pounds of revenue Otago has yielded to the Colonial chest ; there has been no sort of delicacy displayed in spending the money on objects wholly indifferent to Otago ; but there has been hesitation and delicacy in giving the Province credit for what it has done — in recognising the position to which it has attained — in according to it the weight and the influence to which it is entitled.

But though looking back the whole twenty years, we may admit the great advancement of the Province, it does not follow that the position of late years has been altogether satisfactory. It would be wrong to assume that there has been one continuous uninterrupted prosperity, and that the Province is still marching on, in the same even course. The last three years have not been prosperous to the- Province — the late Census disclosed that such was the case, even if other evidence were wanting. One of the great Colonising works has been siispended: taking into consideration the natural increase by births, the figures show that the tide of has exceeded that of immigration. Again, there has not been that increase of material wealth during the time indicated, which in a new country there is the right to expect. The agricultural, the pastoral, and the mining interests to <K>me extent languish. There are many causes to which the depression may be referred ; but it is not ©ur intention to I analyse them now. Tne fearfully heavy

taxation is, to begin with, a patent one. ■ Industry is taxed more than, with all the advantages the t country offers, it is well able to endure. The want of Assisted Immigration on a sufficiently large scale is severely felt, as" also the absence of that large expenditure on public works which is an ordinary feature of the settlement of a young Colony. We hope, before another year comes round, there will be much upon which to hang more congratulatory reflections : a decrease in taxation, an extension of assisted immigration, and the commencement of the construction of the Clutha Railway, would contribute largely to placing the Province in a much more prosperous condition.