THE Wellington Independent. Tuesday, January 3, 1880. THE NEW YEAR.

Wellington Independent, Volume XV, Issue 1394, 3 January 1860, Page 3

THE Wellington Independent. Tuesday, January 3, 1880. THE NEW YEAR.

The ordinary compliments of the season kindly and -genial as the expression may be — are necessarily confined in their interchange to those between whom personal acquaintance has grown into something like friendship, and we should ill express the feelings with which we regard our readers, numerous as they are, if we did not in all sincerity wish them " A Happy New Year." Yet we feel that in so doing we should discharge but a part of our duty. As public journalists, we believe ourselves t_> have duties to discharge to the whole of this Province, and in a restricted sense, to the whole of New Zealand, so that we should be unfaithful to

our trust if we did not advocate those nqeasures, which in our concientious belief are calculated to promote " the greatest happiness of the greatest number." Much then as we are attached to .to the party with whom we are proud to be identified, we love the Province more, | and therefore without restriction, we wish a year of prosperity and happiness to all our fellow-colonists. In so doing wo ' cannot Help looking forward with some anxiety, and endeavouring to form an '< opinion as to the prospects of the year. 1 Unquestionably the event of greatest i moment that is seen " looming in the 1 distance," is the meeting of the General 1 Assembly^ To the whole colony this is a ' i subject of interest, but most especially to < this Province, and one thing that makes ■ it so is, that . its session is to be held in I this city. At length and for the first J time the claims of Wellington have been * recognized, and that which claims f,r it- < self the title of a Central Government, is about to hold the sittings of its Parlia- { ment iti the point that is the nearest 1 possible to the geographical centre of the j islands, If a3 a consequence it should be i shewn, as we believe it will, that.the Uepre- 1 sentativesoftheimportantlandfast growing ] districts in the extreme South, can and will [ ] come. here, yet would. not incur the in- < evitable sacrifice of time and money that 1 would be involved by a session held in < Auckland, then we may hope that even * the Government itself may be influenced 1 by such an unanswerable argument. < Auckland is already provided with I a Lieutenant-Governor, and the Gover- < nor may therefore properly fix himself 1 where he can most readily communicate ' with all the Provinces of the colony, and t where at no distant date, the centre of < steam communication between, the different i parts of Australia and Europe must al- ' c -raoat-ncecssarilybe. Let Wellington be £ but true to itself, and its future is safe, i but if through petty local jealousies., or ' the influence of self-socking demagogues, * the hands of the Wellington Representa-. tivos arc weakened instead of being i strengthened in the forthcoming Assembly i then "'good me l and true," though we ' know them to be — md for the first time, 1 we can say this of them all — we shall despair of much good being done for this < Province by their efforts. 1 Another reason fjr our looking with 1 interest to the meeting of the Assembly, 1 is the feeling that from it only can we ] expect anything that shall extricate the 1 affairs of this Province from the present < most unsatisfactory " dead-lock.". To < hope that the Government of Messrs. i Stafford, Richmond, Whitaker, & Co., . will do anything t> promote the interests of Wellington, is utterly futile. They have too much fear of, and intense dislike. for the nisiKwhom they will shortly have to i meet on the- floor of the House of Repre- , sentatives; and that of the Legislative Council. They have already learned that there are man in Wellington — aye and true-hearted women too — who will put their hands behind them, rather than touch the palm of one however high his station may be, who has stooped to falsehood. Hence every appeal for justice or consideration have been alike in van. Sustainei almost alone by Auckland influence, they have not had the courage, even if we could be enough to suppose that they had the will, to do that simple act, which . would at once have relieved this Province from alt its difficulties. Perhaps, however, out of this evil good may come. The Assembly may be thereby convinced how useless is the power to dissolve Provincial Councils when thu3 entrusted solely to foreign — and it may be adverse-hands, and may therefore be but the more disposed to grant that reasonable rcquQ3^, which would make the recurrence of late events almost impossible — the giving to the Superintendents the power to dissolve, either once cr oftener as may be deemed moit advisable. There will also be another Prefrincial matter, but o;ie which equally affects all the Provinces of New Zealand, that must be dealt with in the next sesssion, we mean the re-apportionment from time to time of the representation in the Provincial Councils. How useless the present arrange-mant-Avhich leave 3 it optional with those Councils to do it if and when they .like, w<i3 conclusively shown by the reception Mr. Carter's motion on the subject met with from our Provincial Council, one of the " Radical" members of which it .will be remembered took opportunity with ; that elegant force of language which so characterizes that party to •" wish he might got it," anl this too although the Electoral , roll shows that in one district there is a member for about every sixty electors, while another district has but. one for about one hundred and sixty ! The principle of periodical re-distribu-tion must also bo applied tj the Assembly itself, and for this also some general* enactment will be necessary. The " New Provinces' Act" will also occupy a considerable share of theatten- ; £ion.ofouy. Legislators, for if that dis- I grace to the " statutes of New Zealand" (a3 the precious eighty Acts of the last session are magniloquently styled) is to continue unrepealed, some at least of its blunders mudt bo corrected, and its operation ia same degree restrained. The 1

I -r_ ~ *■*-•' j* V:.y.-".v ';*-'i^ft*Siit*3 Provinces, of Nelson -mi^M^^m^ not bs expected their reserved handed Wer.M:Jtfi.fr|j|^ vince3 ofMarlbor6ugha,ndH^i^^'-GsaJ^ nor will either the old Proving or thej new be satisfied without some fair ai^ | portionment of. public debt, trust funds^ [ &c. The example of Now South Wales;; in this matter should be borne in min<j. The imperial Legislature ha 3 thought fit to separate the district of Moreton Bay, and make it an independent colony, but the Sydney Parliament rightly considering that the public lands in the whole territory were pledged forthe public debt have refused to be parties to any measures which would , damage the security of the public creditor. Let New ZealaridT —and more especially Wellington — copythis example, or we may not improbably find ourselves dragged into so jaething not altogether unlike Penslyvanian repudiation. , ':■_.■'."

There are also other subjects of very t grave interest that must come before the v House. Among them we" may mention, the Sewell steam" contract which must bo reinvestigated, the loan proceedings in England which must be enquired into, an Insolvent Law which cannot longer be postponed, and ; the disposal of convicted . criminals, which • is -becoming a matter : ok s pressing difficulty and importance. -The. " Customs' Tariff will also, we should in^s agine, be again . considered, but we.&opp? that this may be let alone, unless it be. dealt with upon large and comprehejisiv'e "i principles, and due time given for the consideration of any proposed changes, both within the Legislature and without. " The Regulation of Elections Act," .and the " Registration of Voters Act," must also be greatly modified, unless they are intended to be Acts to limit the franchise ( and restrict its exercise, but we are not' sure whether the shorter and more satis-, factory way would not be, to repeal the " Ei ghty Acts "in one batch, and commence the whole work again. Beyond this session of the Assembly we also see a dissolution. * This will keep members on their " good behaviour," an# \ will give the constituencies the opportunity to try by their actions tho3C of them, who may intend to offer themselves W canditates for re-election, and we trust that in all future elections those men frill be chosen who shall show themselves fear^ less in a Ivocating that which, is true and right, as above and apart from all merely local or private considerations} Let the elected and the electors- thus do their duty, and we venture tp predict aswell as wish for New Zealaad " Many Happy New Years." ...-