PROPOSED ANNEXATION OF POVERTY BAY TO HAWKE’S BAY.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 10, Issue 620, 20 June 1866, Page 3

PROPOSED ANNEXATION OF POVERTY BAY TO HAWKE’S BAY.

The Auckland Correspondent of the ‘ Sydney Morning Herald ’ thus remarks upon tlie above question : —“ There lias long boon an impression that extensive gold deposit exists in this district also, and there is no doubt whatever of tne ract that it is one of the very richest pxstoral districts in the whole island. I have .mentioned that it is situated at the southern end of this province, and it has the peculiarity that it may be said to be the only district of the province covered with natural grasses, and therefore fit for immediate occupation as a pastoral district, like those of Hawke’s Bay and Wellington, ft? well as, of course, the provinces of the Southern Island. This peculiarity, together with the extreme beauty and natural wealth of the district, has caused the' people of Hawke’s Bay to eye it very greedily, and to make very strenuous efforts to get a slice of it for their own. The affair promises to breed a very serious quarrel, as the people of this province being in possession, are far from willing to yield the point. Of course it will come before tlie Colonial Parliament for decision. ljie ground on which the land is claimed for Hawke’s Bay is a novel one in colonial experience, at least m this part of the world. Major Frazer, it must be borne in mind, belonged to the Hawke’s Bay Militia, and when he was sent out of - that province against the tribes further north, a good many of his men volentered to go with him. To these, of course, there were added a number of the colonial force and part of Yon Tempsky’s Rangers which was strictly an Auckland body of troops. The idea at Hawke’s Bay now is, that the southern portion of the Province of Auckland belongs to that province, properly speaking, by right of conquest. The assertion of such a principle would tend to divide the provinces into States too jealous of oue another even to accept help in emergency one from the other. This will be one part of the difficulty preparing for Mr. Stafford in the session of Parliament now coining on. It is said that he favours the idea, of saving the unity (in namo at least) of the colony by turning it into a mere federation of Sovereign States ; and that to effect this he is ready to readjust the boundaries of tlie provinces so as to establish a sort of balance of power. Under this'plan Taranaki would fall to Wellington’s share, and tlie southern part of Auckland to that of Hawke’s Bay. In the Southern Island, • too, Southland'would be reunited to Otago, and Marlborough to Nelson : so that once more there would onlv six provinces in New Zealand I'iie scheme has, as yourreadera will see, plausible things'about it, but, as it will prove in the Parliament, I have no doubt, it attacks too many interns to to pass'at all. Tlie pride of the smaller provinces will not allow of their quietly being absorbed by the greater, and the party of separation will oppose it, tooth and nail; as an attempt to shelve the question • for years in which they take so deep an interest now. This new policy is the one weak point in Mr. Stafford’s position. His hold upon the Government absolutely depends upon the Auckland vote, and ho will certainly lose that vote if he attempts any juggle with her present boundaries.”