THE CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM ASSOCIATION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 158, 13 November 1868, Page 3

THE CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM ASSOCIATION.

♦ (From tlie Otago Daily Times, Nov. 11.) The position taken up by Canterbury is creditable to the public spirit as well as thY good sense of its people. Believing tint the present course of events threatens d:s«ster tithe colony, and having no faith whatever ia the Ministry, they have taken steps to give practical effect to their opinions. Not content with expressing these opinions in a very unmistakeable manner, they,.. have c-al'ed i.ito existence a "Con>tituti ••> alAssociatio." for the purpose of spreading 'hem throughout the Middle Island. They have thus seenr-d for tbeir province a -distinction which might have heen secured for Otago — that <>f forming the head-quarters of a political movement which must of necessity ,be more or less successful. If this Association should not succeed in obtaining the political. Separation of the two Islands,' it will at least succeed in achieving many triumphs of minor importance. It will certainly succeed in arre.-iti.ig the progress of the present Ministry. It will convince tlie Premier that the unconstitutional designs he has in view have called into existence a constitutional power with which be cannot hrpe to contend. A public meeting may be sneered at ; but an organised nssrciition will present a front which no .vinister can pretend to despise. It will also succeed in leading the people of this Island to consider their position and their prospect, as affected by the policy of the Go'ven ment, and to throw aside the disgraceful spaihy which, in Otago at least, has hitherto re dered tbem powerless. To this extent, it is highly probable that the Association will succeed; »:ud for su h a result we should all have refit-on to be grateful. It is only by some p ich machinery ' that the constiiueiu.es can te taught how to act in critical periods ; only by some Buch tactics that their rude bit!alions can be brought to bear with effect npun the enemy. Hones' Jy and vigorously con ducted, these. Associations cannot fuil to accomplish much that they aim at, if not all. The moment that the p-oper channel ha* been cut, public opinion will flow into it with irrettible force. The task may not be an easy one. It never is easy to set in mo, ion any great natural power wiih a tendency to sluggishness. Large electoral bodies art* too apt to view with indifference those questions which do not imm. diately affect their .interests. But they are alwkys open to conviction, as. the phrase is. Demagogues seldom fail in fixing their attention ; nnd -they do so not by force of eloquence but by ,force,of taot. ■ When e'oquence and tact are combined — as they should be in the case before va — who can question the ree ult ? Although we entertain, .no sanguine expectations on the question of ,. eparatiun, we. see no reason to regard any legitimate eff rt to obtain it as utterly hopeless. It depend*, entirely on the people of ' this Island. Ir they are united on the matter iheir opinions canuoi be pooh-poohed. Mr StafFord does not represent the whole body of the Entilish people. No doubt he represents a very powerful class, to whom any proposal for the subdivision of a colony would be distaste r'ni. The Duke of Buckingham and Ch&i.dos would very probably shake his head orer any petition of the kind. But if the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos carried his colleagues with him, and their sup porters with him, -it does not follow that he . would carry with him Mr Bright or Mr Gladstone, and still less the great body of Liberal .politicians. We recently pointed out an analogy in the case, of Nova Scotia. The people of Nova Sotiaj haye 1 persistently expressed their objections to union with the neighbouring colonic*, for reasons which seemed good in their eyes, but bad in those of the Imperial Government. Their cause has been taken up by Mr Bright and by more than one leading organ of I- nglish opinion. Mr Bright has moved for a Committee of Inquiry on the subject, 'he result will in all probability be favourable to the colonists. If their material interests are at stake tbeir claims cannot in common justice be denied. Political u'-itv is a good thing in itself; but material

prosperity ..ia. lar better. It might have been good, from a political point of view, to have maintained^ the political unity of the Australian colonies, and to have governed the whole of them as they were governed forty j tars ago — by a central administration. But experience has justified the erection of distinct Governments. The case of the Middle Island is 'quite as strong as thst of Victoria or Queensland, when those settlements demanded Separation. If Canterbury and Otago worked together on this question, the other provinces of the. island would follow suit. A strenuous agitation from one end of it to the other 's requisite before we can form any anticipation of success; but with such an agitation, success would come at last. There are no better means for stirring up t'>e constituencies of Otago than the forma tion of a Constitutional Association, either in « onnec'ion with the ' anterbury Association or as an independent body. Desultory efforts can do little. A partial degree of excitement may he b r oujrht about by a meeting here and a meeting there; but the results will be nothing. We shall find ourselves, under each, a system, in the same un--BatjsfHCtory position a year hence that we occupy now* We shall hear the same comnlaints of political apathy and make the same oo.mp'aints against our politica' mis-repre-sentatives. Another seasfcr of Par Yimentwill h«- ye t assert by, wiih po*<*»ibl> the sume results, j It it painful to contemplate [i.-'-vifet**. such -•:• these,* for no element of good < an be sepn in them. The remedy we seek must) come, if it come at all, trom the c-mstituen'-ies. If they continue to regard the course of events with in iffereoce, the colony will drift ru'derhss along, trust- ( ing to its natural resources rather tl.an the wi*dom of its rulers. Some organisation is necessary in order ti direct .the attenti m of the electors generally to the questions which nroflt urgently, demand attention. To diffuse information among theni is essentially necessary, but even tint is beyond the power of individual agitators. An Association, under good management, would have no difficulty in accomplishing these , objects, and in bringing publio opinion in Otago to a focus.