AUCKLAND GOVERNMENT HOUSE.

Observer, Volume XXXIII, Issue 1, 14 September 1912, Page 2

AUCKLAND GOVERNMENT HOUSE.

And Southern Economists. PARLIAMENTARIANS have a passion for wrenching up something or other. Under their tender care a large area of well-grown gardens and arbours have been devastated in Wellington to plant an expensive House of Parliament, from which the same amount of quality of work will proceed as heretofore. An odd Parliamentary destroyer here and there, anxious to let the Governor (who ever he may from time to time be) feel that he is quite small potatoes after all, frequently makes suggestions for his proper control. The latest suggestion was that Auckland Government House (probably because it happens to be in. Auckland and of great historic and national interest) shall be chopped down or chopped up and that the Governor if he dares to come to this city shall find lodgings. There doesn t

seem to be any reason why he shouldn't carry his swag up on the ground that train travelling is too expensive for mere Governors.

That great statesman, Mr E. V. Pearce, of Pa'tea, probably feeling that Government House grounds in Auckland should be a home for blackberries, ragwort, gorse and ox-eye daisies, complained about the expenditure of .£4OO on the upkeep of the place. Mr Pearce has not complained of the expenditure of many times this sum on purely destructive " work " in Wellington. But Mr Pearce generously admitted that the Governor was entitled to live somewhere. This will cheer Lord Islington and Lord Liverpool up a lot. A Southern gentleman (G. W. Forbes, of Hurunui) said that on 6 Government House was enough for one Governor, the suggestion being that the King's representative should stay at home in Wellington, or go into lodgings, or do what he liked for a shakedown as long as he didn't spend money.

It will be noted 'that Mr Forbes made no reference to the very large sums spent on furnishing Ministerial residences for the gentlemen who occupied them for three months. It is perfectly obvious, despite what was said in Parliament, that petty jealousies are aired in Parliament. Mr G. W. Russell got his little shaft in by agreeing that the member for Hurunui was right in trying to wipe a historical building off the earth, shoeing his utter unselfishness by suggesting that a Government House might be established at Christchurch ! What guarantee would there be that the patriotic people of Christchurch would not mistake it for a pom-pom and throw it into the Avon ? The fact that Auckland Government House can't be wrenched off the earth without the consent of the Imperial Government struck none of the Southerners. It appears that Mr Forbes' only notion in desiring to eradicate Auckland Government House was "to indicate a direction in which economy could be practiced."

The fact that two noble-hearted Ms.P. could more than cover the cost of the upkeep of a national possession by refusing their wages for one year didn't strike anybody. The fact that Parliament eats up large sums in a day or two in perfctly futile debates such as this is not waste of money— it is statesmanship. The fact that thousands of pounds are spent every session in the production of Parliamentary papers that no one ever reads doesn't matter. The cry of North v. South is after all merely the expression of civic spirit. When we are older and there are more of us, we shan't care whether Dunedin railway station cost <£250,000 or .£SOO, and may have the grace to believe that the borrowed money poured into undertakings is a national" business and not a •parochial one. Perhaps the new idea of making the Governor " toe the line has been copied from New South Wales, where the alleged democrats seem to be very angry that a Governor should want a place to sleep m.

The disposition among Australasian Parliaments to angrily discuss the domestic arrangements of Governors has led to a slump in the Australian Governor market, and it is frequently quite difficult to persuade suitable personages to take vice-regal billets. The preservation of Government House m Auckland is very necessary, simply because Auckland must at some time become the headquarters of the Government, and therefore of the Governor. If Southern cities are really anxious for Auckland to lose something they might recommend the destruction of the railway station. No Northern tears would be wasted on it, and no historical association would make the citizens rise in protest. In committee of supply the House frequently says "Aye" in its sleep to big items,and wakes up to quarrel over a trifle. At any rate, Auckland Government House is apparently safe for a further season, and it will be unnecessary to ask a boarding-house to. kindly permit Lord Liverpool to become a paying guest.