The Star. THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 1869.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 281, 8 April 1869, Page 2

The Star. THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 1869.

We liave frequently drawn the attention of the public to what, we have been long convinced, is the most serious evil in the representation of Middle Island constituencies in the General Assembly — the difficult}', almost impossibility, of getting leisured, disinterested, aud patriotic men to undertake the duties of representatives. Tlie evil is growing day by day, and it is, therefore, with great satisfaction that we find so keen au observer and so competent a judge as his Honor the Superintendent recognising its vital importance. At an anniversary dinner of the Oddfellows last night, Mr Bolleston used these words : — I think we are so geographically situated that we shall not find men to go up to the Assembly who can afford the time and leisure, and who have the mean-, to devote themselves disinterestedly to the service of the colony. That, in other and more appropriate words, is exactly what wo have been telling tho public for the last six or eight montha. We earnestly hope that lhey will think well over what Mr Hoi leston says. His Honor is not given to speaking loosely, nor would ho have made so important a declaration .had he not been fully convinced that what he was saying was the very truth. His experience in the public service, aud in the Assembly, must have giveu him ample opportunities of testing what is now advanced as a deliberate opinion. The people of this province know well how difficult ifc has beeu to: secure such representatives as they would desire to see in the Assembly. They know that, on more than one occasion, men have been elected simply because no other candidate could be got. And this great evil will go on increasing while the time of the Assembly ia necessarily occupied with questions in which the Middle Island has no sort of interest, except that of paying the bill incurred on their behalf by an agency which does not represent their true interests. This bad -representation is one of the fruits of that unity which Mr liichmond tells us is to bring us peace " eventually." The interests of the Middle Island provinces are as distinct from those of the North as 'are the interests of Victoria, Tasmania, or Queensland. And not only this. The interests of the Middle Island provinces are not opposed to each other on any vital point. They have all suffered from the same cause — the continual drain on their resources for the purpose of waging war against the Natives — and they all require the same restorative — repose, economy, and simple, vigorous ad miu k-i---tration. Tied to the North, they cannot hope to get what they want. ! It is evident, judging from recent disclosures, that another war loan will be proposed by the (xoverumenfc. We do not — indeed, cannot — blame them for this. It is the inevitable result of past mis-government, the most convincing proof that Middle Island constituencies have not been represented by patriotic, disinterested men. What we said in our issue of yesterday we repeat to day — there is a party iv the Assembly whose interests compel them to vote for war expenditure. These are the meu to whom the increase of population, our only hope, and the spread of colonisation, onr great object here, is not at a.l welcome. They are trembling for the monopoly which they have held so long, and a chronic Maori war, they see very well, is the best thing possible for them. Let the threat body of the people look to it ; they are the chief sufferers by war* they will have to bear the larger part of the fresh burdens which the Government find it necessary to impose.