The Southland Times. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 1874.

Southland Times, Issue 1888, 1 April 1874, Page 2

The Southland Times. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 1874.

Thebe .are : people so very clever that e\;en tlie plainest statements of facts are found to contain, when subjected to their searching scrutiny, deep and hidden coeariings. They can, as the French say, *' read between the lines." Our comments upon the unfulfilled promises of which the Southland district has a right to complain have been subjected to an analysis of this character by the Otago Guardian. The result, as usual in such casesj is more remarkable for ingenuity tham for accuracy and practical value "We deemed it our duty to call attention ijo the neglect of Southland interests which of late has characterised the administration both of the Provincial and the General Governments. In ioing so, we pointed out, in the plainest terms, that the bargain made at the time of v reunion to send every third immigrant ship for Otago to the Bluff had not been fulfilled, or even attempted to> be fulfilled, and that the district was suffering grievously in consequence. We showed that although the disgraceful condition of our public buildings was well known to the Government, and that although they were in possession of means to remedy the evil, no steps had been taken to de ;so. - -We said that the extension of the*Wint;on-Kingston line", promised last < year, should have, been commenced long •ago, but that nothiug, so far as the public knew, frathyet been done in the matter. We pointed out other well-known and important instances of administrative neg|eot, on the payt both the Provincial' ahd'thie General Governments, and we called attention to the wide-spread and growing discontent to which this course of action had given rise. A long list of unfulfilled promises — of fair profession's without periormance-shad given rise to this fueling.. The : inevitable result — as we said then, and as we now repeat--wi-11 be that in course of time the confidence of the electors will be withdrawn from those who are held responsible for this state of things. Nothing, one would .fjhinfi/T could .' 'W-- plainer. ' Continual neglect, habitual disregard of promises, must beget distrust in those who suffer from such conduct. It has already done so to a great extent in Southland, and the feeling is evidently increasing from day to day.' The way to remedy the evil which has already been done, and to allay the growing discontent for the future, is for the authorities to substitute even a small amount of Bolid performance for the liberal allowance of fair promises on which the district has hitherto had to subsist. But, should the courso hitherto fdllo'wed be ..persisted in, . " the inevitable consequence," we said, "would be the withdrawal of the confidence and political support which has hitherto been accorded by the electors of Southland to the members of the Governments now in power at Wellington and Dunedin." Upon this simple statement of facts the Guardian makes the following extra- ' ordinary remarks : — Perhapß this intimation has some connection with Sir F. D. Bbll's bland declaration of policy in Invercargill the same evening, in which he intimated that his purpose was not to give an account of the work of the past session, but to lay the foundation for a healthy and effective Opposition. The coincidence is, to say the least of it, singular. . . . Let the " powers that be" take heed, and conciliate Southland, or the members from that division of Otago will "go into opposition" in the Provincial Council and General Assembly. Another coincidence worth mentioning is thdt Sir F. D. Bern, magnified the first grievanoe (the war^fc of direcb immigration) in hi 3 speech. The wariest players sometimes expose their hand. Sir E. D. Bjelii made no such declaration of policy as that which the Guardian ascribes to him, nor did he say anything -which could f evens be mistaken, by ordinary mortals, for an announcement that " his purpose was to lay the foundation xrf a bealthv and effective- Opposition." The connection between our remarks and Bir F. D. Bell's expression of his viewa is, so far as we are aware, equally imaginary, except that of course tf'ic Ea^Ncrs '

may, like any other intelligent man, have seen that the facts, and the consequent stale of public opinion \vhich_ we described demand serious consideration. The " intimation," attributed to ourselves, that unless Southland is conciliated " the members from that district of Otago will go into opposition," is equally unsupported by any expression in our remarks, and owes its 'existence solely to the lively imagination of the Guardian. What the Southland members may do we do not know, and cannot undertake to announce. But we said, and we repeat, that the course pursued towards the district, is slowly but surely undermining the.con-. fidence hitherto felt by the electors of Southland in the Governments now in power, and no rational being can suppose that it could have any other result. The mysterious inferences which the Guardian draws from our plain statement of facts, are, we confess, utterly unintelligible to us. Our object was to call attention to the neglect, from which .the Southland district is unquestionably suffering injury, and to point out the natural consequence of this long-continued neglect, in producing the state of feeling which at present undoubtedly prevails in the district.