The Southland Times. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20, 1875.

Southland Times, Issue 2055, 20 January 1875, Page 2

The Southland Times. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20, 1875.

Whatever special interest may be supposed to attach to Ministerial utterances during the recess, must be accorded in a., more than ordinary degree to the recent addrees of the Hon. C. C. Bowek to the electors of Kaiapoi. Mr Bowen's position is very peculiar. A very few weeks ago be was, as Eesident Magistrate at Christchurch, a member of the Civil Service of the Colony. he addressed the electors of Kaiapoi, he was at once a member of the Legislative Council and a Minister of the Crown, and at the same time a candidate for their suffrages as their representative in the elected House, Mr Yogel no doubt had his own reasons for making this somewhat singular appointment, and it is to be hoped that the result will justify his choice. Mr Bowen, in his address, cays that " in the present state of things it was much better that the South should

be represented fully in the Government, hence it. was very desirable that another Southern member should be added to the Cabinet," but does n'ofc explain^— as indeed it would be too much to expect him to do— how it, happens that among the existing members of the Legislature who support Hho (-fcoverntflent policy none were, found fitted fi)r the .task he^has undertaken. Mr Bowen is personally very popular, and counts amongst his friends a large number of those who might be regarded as more likely to follow Mr Stafpoed as a leader than Mr Yogel. 111-natured critics go so -far as to aay that Mr Bowen's appointment was made solely with a view to propitiate this element in the Legislature. We are not in a position to say whether there is any truth in the idea or not, but we should regard such policy on the part of the Government as a great mistake, and likely to prove a much greater source of loss than of gain, in the way of political support, and altogether too great a blunder for a shrewd manager like Mr Yogel to have made. Mr Bowen gets the name of a capital administrator, and he is not altogether without experience in the practical part of politics, having been a member of the Canterbury Provincial Council and Executive in the very early days. He is also a ready and pleasing speaker, and. seems to have had very little trouble in making a favorable impression on the electors of Kaiapoi. When we turn to the speech which he delivered to them on the sth insfc., however, it must be confessed that there is very little to be learned from it which was not known before. The Northern Provinces are to be abolished, because they can no longer fulfil their functions. The Provinces of the Middle Island must follow in course of time, but not for a while. Canterbury and Otago are doing good work yet, and need not be abolished, so long as they continue to do so. The allocation of the land fund will present difficulties, in any new scheme, which it will require the serious consideration of Parliament, perhaps for two, possibly for three sessions, to overcome. Yet Mr Bowen expects — as the outcome of this protracted consideration — to see a fairer allocation of the land fund than is now attained under Prpvincial management. (We may remark, in passing, that it does not require a great effort of imagination to conceive a fairer allocation than the present.) Whatever form of institutions may succeed the Provinces, the cause of true local self-government will be a gainer, and yome progress will have been made in the direction of national unity and national life. This is pretty nearly the sum of Mr Bowen's utterances on the great question of the day. All this, if not very original or brilliant, is very sensible and safe, and strengthens the idea— suggested by the peculiar circumstances in which Mr BoWEN stands at the present time— that the new Minister is an individual gifted with quite the ordinary share of tact and prudence, and that whatever additional strength Jiis accession to the Government may bring, it is, at all events, very unlikely that he will ever lead his colleagues into trouble by the originality of his ideas, or the independence of his attitude in any critical conjuncture of political affairs.