THE SUCCESS OF THE SEPARATION LEAGUE.

West Coast Times, Issue 630, 1 October 1867, Page 3

THE SUCCESS OF THE SEPARATION LEAGUE.

(WEST COAST TIMES, SEPT. 26.) The public meeting held last evening could not fairly have come to any other conclusion than the one arrived at — viz., that the Council of the League have attained a great success, and that the thanks of the people are due to them. The gentlemen who had either held aloof or had seceded from the movement — on the ground of their objection to the establishment of a separate provincial government — expressed their willingness to join the League now that it had consented to accept the terms offered it by the General Government, which fall short of actual Separation. But it is due to all parties to have this fact borne in mmd — that the arrangement now proposed by the Government, or any one akin to it, was never contemplated as practicable when this movement first originated. What were the several plans proposed at the outset of the agitation ? One was to place the district absolutely under the control of the General Government, by withdrawing the delegated powers of goldfields management from the Superintendent of the province and conferring them, on some Wellington nominee. Against this proposal the obvious objection lay, that it would merely effect a change of masters, the new one being more freed from responsibility in the exercise of his powers than the old. The substitution of a goldfields agency for the present .Christchurch Government was the least acceptable reform that could be offered to us. In the next place, it was suggested that the district should agitate for annexation to Nelson; against which pi oposition several patent objections lay — not the least of which was that no legal provision existed for effecting such an arrangement under the present constitutional settlement. A third suggestion was $hat the provisions of the Local Government Bill should be applied to the district. But even if that Bill had become law, it was obvious that it would not meet the radical requirements of Westland. What was the principal requirement of the district ? The control of the whole of the local revenues. Any scheme that gave simply the power of raising and spending grates " would have left us as completely'as ever at the mercy of the Provincial Council. So long as they had the power of dealing with our customs duties and our gold duty, they would havethe power of repeating the financial tyranny of the last session ; of withholding from us the permission to spend our own money, and of staying public- * works expenditure here, in order to create a surplus revenue for East Canbviry appropriation. At the time wlben the League determined to petition for the erection of a new province, thei% was nothing to indicate the & Dossikilityof obtaining the control of %rQTjg TevelStekJoa|auy~T6form short of that exi^ra^Tu^sure. Men may say now to the League, " What you have succeeded in gaining is all that we ever asked for.'' But we maintain that it is much more than was ever asked for by those who seceded from the League. Thepwould have been content with a reform that would have fallen very far short indeed of the result now practically secured. The Bill introduced by Mr Stafford gives us all the practical advantages of Separation with-1: out the only drawback that attached to the creation of a new Province, viz., the necessity of the establishment of a Council with legislative powers. There has not been, probably, in the history of the colony, any instance of a movement honestly and earnestly conducted amidst "many discouraging influences, being crowned by so prompt and signal a success". And for that succes| v thgj)eople of Westland will be indebJetUtb thqse who steadily persevered m.the.task they had undertaken, andgWho : allowed no defections froDQ^^eJ^ranks and no counter inovemeprepnnterfere with their proceedings. Th|re was talk last night of the action of another league. But what have the public ever heard of it ? What have the Government who have introduced the Westland Bill ever heard of it? Again, what has become of the Grey movement, for annexation |to Nelson ? It is now an utterly dead letter ! The Grey refused to join the League, because it had a scheme of its own, and its scheme is defunct. There has been oue body in earnest ; one set of men who have worked steadily amid reproach, misrepresentation, and the imputation of all evil motives, for a practical end : and there is every reason to believe that they have gained it. Their " verbose" petition has not been cast aside by the General Assembly ; their case has not been ignored by the Government of the Colony ; they have enlisted the highest influences in support of their case. And if the Government measure in our behalf is carried, the greatest and most comprehensive practical reform, apart from a change in the Constitution, ever attempted in New Zealand, will have been achieved. The meeting held last night was convened both by advertisement and by circular addressed to every member oi the League, and to every member oi the original Separation Committee appointed at the meeting held at the Theatre some months back. Its imme diate objects were two. First to extern the basis of the present movement by in viting the co-operation of those wh< have hitherto held aloof from th< pi League, and secondly to put the Genera '> Government in possession of the fact o "^ our acceptance of the terms offered t< us. We should have been very glad under the circumstances, to have seei Mr Cassius present. As the only towi member of the Provincial Council no holding an official position, we certain!;

think it was a duty lie owed to his constituents to attend on an occasion of so much importance, to assist in the deliberations of the meeting. It is not a moment at which our members ought to desert us, or show any lukewarmness in our cause. An energetic assistance at last night's meeting-, might have done more to serve the district, than any labors put forward in the Provincial Council under its present constitution. Considering the vast importance of the telegrams received from Wellington, it is hard to understand the reason of the town member's absence. We congratulate the people, however, on the fact, that neither defec- j tion nor timid and wavering support will materially affect the fate of a cause which has strongly recommended itself to the sympathy of the. most eminent statesmen in New Zealand.