SOUTH ISLAND “WRONGS”

Taranaki Daily News, 23 May 1934, Page 5

SOUTH ISLAND “WRONGS”

HOME RULE MANIFESTO CHRISTCHURCH EFFUSION. SOME AMUSING DEMANDS. The cry of “Home Rule for the South Island” has been raised very briefly at various times, mostly in Christchurch, but never so amusingly as in a recent manifesto, a copy of which has just reached Auckland. The document is one of the oddest ever sent out from Christchurch, that city of organisations for promoting strange causes. It purports to be issued by “the Christchurch Executive, Central Depot, South Island Separate Government Movement.” Printed in full, the manifesto would occupy at least a couple of newspaper columns. It is couched in formal, even pompous, language, but the effect is marred by solecisms that occur every few lines. Briefly, it puts forward a series of 39 “demands,” and declares with all possible solemnity that if these are not granted, “we, the South Island Subjects,” will petition His Majesty the King for a separate South Island Government.

The document begins: “Public Notice. Separate Government South Island Movement. Under a Basis of Reconstruction for Nelson, Marlborough, Westland, Southland, Otago and Canterbury. Directed by. the Executive Committee, Canterbury, Christchurch, for and on behalf of the South Island Public Residents, Citizens and Subjects. REPRESENTATION BY AREA. “To whoever this may concern, Whereas we, the South Island Citizens, Residents and Subjects, demand Equality in all matters pertaining to the wellbeing of South Island Public Progress, under Legislation Patent or otherwise, under those persons responsible for the Public Governmental Welfare of Parliament, we, the South Island Residents, therefore demand the following, viz.: Then follow the 30 “demands.” Some of them relate to the South Island specifically; some seem to be part of a programme of general governmental reform along radical lines and others, again, have their meaning obscured by slipshod, if high-sounding, language. A few of the most telling are appended:— “The abolition of exploitation of North _ Island over South Island in Commodities and Price Fixation. “Equal representation re Area. At the present time the North Island, with an area of 28,000,000 acres, has 48 representatives, whereas the South Island, with an area of 38,000,000 acres, has only 28. “Equality in Administration of Services and Finance. “The return of £500,000 on- loan to the Highways Board, Wellington. This was borrowed from the South .Island Motor Tax Revenue Fund in 1928. “Equal population basis re Taxation Costs and Expenses. “Equal representation of Public Service. “Taxation basis reduced to a par with population status of North Island Subjects. Census, North Island, 989,000; South Island, 450,000. SHIPPING AND RAILWAYS. “Abolition of Wage Tax and Levy from all South Island Subjects receiving £l5O and less than £l5O per annum, inclusive of board and residence. “A fast State Shipping Service. “Improved South Island overseas Steamship Mail Service. “The Abolition of Wellington Centralisation as South Island Depot, and equality of South Island Services for Canterbury and Otago. “Equal shipping conditions for all South Island Harbours. “Canals where suited, for example, Christchurch City Port Canal. “Continuation of South Island Main Trunk Railway, i.e., Blenheim to Christchurch, "West Coast Railway, Nelson Railway, Otago and Southland Railway, and the ’completion of all lines in the interests of South Island Subjects.” After calling for the abolition, “absolutely,” of Orders-in Council, export control boards, the sales tax in its present form, all wage-cuts (in the South Island), and various other things, the manifesto declares: “We demand Unadulterated Democratic Sovereign Law, legislated under True .Administrative Principles, unbiassed and reliable for rich and poor alike—in other words, absolute equality for the masses as a whole. In. conclusion the document- asserts that “we, the South Island Subjects, have had their demands neglected for many years by “the New Zealand Governments from time to time in power in Wellington, New Zealand,” and further, “that whereas we now demand that, failing to secure redress, equality and consideration, and at least, the majority demands accepted, that it is our. intention i to petition His Majesty the King for a ■ Separate South Island Government. The manifesto ends with a call for > “members in thousands” and a loyal “God Save the King.”