THE EVILS OF A CENTRAL GOVERNMENT.

Wellington Independent, Volume XV, Issue 1413, 16 March 1860, Page 5

THE EVILS OF A CENTRAL GOVERNMENT.

(From the Lyttelton Timet.)

The more we consider the form of Government imposed upon New Zealand by the peculiavities of her geography, and the obstacles , and hindrances which, arising from the same cause, render that imperfect form still move impracticable, the more forcibly we arc impressed with ' the necessity of separating the two islands. We have adverted already to the practical mischief resulting fiora one grand defect 1 in the. constitution frajped for this colony — a constitution begotten from-the self-government theory by geographical necessity. The defect simply consists in demanding unity while giving an interest in disunion td f sijc or more belies of .mefiji The principle is recognized that each" 'of thfse separate bodies knows best what is for Its own interest, but with the limitation that in the most important matters the rest are to have an over riding voice and control. ' '■ ' It is no wonder thatsome will desire to have Ihe interests of all combined, and their affairs settled by a general administration ; and that others will demand .to be permitted to settle their own concerns for themselves, and hid iheir neighbours not to interfere. Seeing also' -that m point of fact, the leading interests ofall the provinces are not unifbrnvand cannot be amalgamated, it becomes obvious that the theory of a united government fop Now Zealand is faulty We have equal evidence to prove that physical difficulties are of so insuparable a character as to render the reduction even ot a more perfect theory into practice impossible. . . Doubtless, all the pre§ent members of the treneral Government aarte t strictly conscientious men ; and perhaps there is not much fear that the colony will ever fall into the hands of men who are otherwise. The inducements to take part in such a government are considerable; there is a halo of supreme power around the heads of men to whom other men are subordi nate ; there is a dainty pleasure in being able jat will to demolish the labored plans of one's fellows, or magnificently to" permit them to go on existing. But when the case is that of one government controlling a number of other governments, the sensation must be intensely giatifying to those concerned. The part of a New Zealand cabinet minister towards the seven Provincial Governments must be similar to that of Paul Morphy with seven chess players ; he can shut his eyes and beat them as he likes. Nevertheless, iv this appearance of power there is essential though latent weakness. There is altogether an absence of the popular element, without which no government among free men can exist. The General-Government •of tbrsi-colpny is reraoved.entirelKfromJbeoawts, and sympathies of those whoih it governs.? In gpite.of its- name of responsibilityjit is not in fact responsible ; for instance, no complaint of harsh dealing.urged on the part of one. province by its Governrrfertt can have the slightest r effect, if. only the General Government cboo.se to be deaf to the representation ; this has been prove.! to be the case in the neighbouring piovinco of Wellington. And the ultima ratio, the attack npon the House of .Representatives, is an idleefiort on the part of a few representatives- of thdt one province, since au overpowering number of representatives from other provinces, uninterested in the facts and careless as to the issue, are always ready to support the existing state of things ; unless, on the log-rolling prUi" ciple, they sell their assistance to obtain : help in turn for some project of their own: How can a Government under such circumstanced be at once efficient and responsible ? The natural consequence is that it should become despotic out of session, and iv session liable to be overthrown through some chance combination, in • the formation of which rm interest of th.c. public at large has a share. However conscientious may be the men of whom the Government is constituted, they cannot continue to act towards the public of the different provinces as. : if -responsible to them; and the practical difficulties of distance and ignorance help to make the attempt at constitutional administration altogether hopeless. . . '■'•".

' '- There are many particulars in which the practice ofthe Geneial Government has become i disagreeable, not to say offensive, to. the public I of these southern and distant provinces!. We have bad all sorts of enactments and regulations imposed upon us which have their origin \a some local demand of the pjoyiuee iv which the seat of Government has happened to be .situated. We have bad the demands of tlie provincial legislatures unattended to, their expressed wishes ignored, and -tlJeirWaugemfenV over ridden, j But we have suffered in worse ways than these. Either from a consciousness of- ignorance, or from a desire to evade the position of simply t'recordiug the acts ufjthqj proviqrcd^, the General Goversirieot "tfas^bjeenjj itemijited to refuse to do those acts wJiiob t!Lela,\v, leaves to them to be done ministerially. We may instance: the case of public reserves. All ie> serves for .ordinary public purposes are vested by law in the Supeirihleudeiit of tbe jkWvince; .but he cannot, by the ; same !aW, aiieiiute.or lease them for a lo«g period without an ordm' -ance. passed by'ihe uouncil of ihe province to that.effect.- ; -That is to 'say ; the reserves belong to. the jifroyince, to be dealt with only accordingto their viewjs of what is best. But the General sGp.vernin.ent has" the power of advising a veto., upon all ordinances of Provincial Councils ; which power, , in the case to which we refer, they use to forbid the passing of an ordinance

' alienating a reserve ; alleging in terms, that it is not good for the provinces to deal with these properties, in spite of the general act on the subject to the contrary. Advantage is thus taken by a side wind to nulify the . operation of a law of" the colony, for the purpose of restricting the powers of the provinces.

Another instance of the same kind occurs to us, in. a case which intimately concerns the welfare of individuals as well as that of the province. The lands of the province are sold to individuals under a law whicb, while it provides ' all the machinery of sale and surrey, is obliged to. refer back the purchaser to the Crown for his title. The practice is for the Provincial Survey ] Office to lay out the section, and for the * Crown Grant' to be filled up from the survey by written description and plan. The deed thus prepared ' is forwarded to Auckland to be completed by the signature of the Governor. There is among the departments of the General Government a ' Crown Grant Office,' intended by an arrangement ratified by the Assembly, to be under the control of the Attorney General, as involving questions of conveyance. The Attorney General was even furnished with additional deparc mental assistance, in order to provide for such an increase of his work. Now, however, the office seems to have got into the .hands of the Secretary for -Crown Land 3. It is not to be wondered at that this officer looks at the faceof a deed and then at the back, and gets rather puzzled in the performance, of his duty, being neither a lawyer nor a surveyor. He seeks assistance ; and for this purpose sends a cool de mand to the province to furnish him with maps of the country, wherewith he may compare the plans endorsed on the Crown Grants, and correct their errors. Those who know what a mass of mapping goes to furnish the land office at Christchurch, and to render possible a reference to any occupied spot of land in the pro. vince, may imagine what a task the Secretary for Crown Lands has imposed upon the province. We are assured that three or four .months incessant application would be necessary in order to comply with the demand : and that at a time when the Land Office is crowded with work in trying to keep pace with the current demands of the day. But the difficulty J&f^cqmpliance is as nothing compared with the monstrous absurdity of the idea tbat an uninstructed man in Auckland may correct errors in survey plans made by professional men on the spot! It is in fact ni insult of an aggravated character offered to a department which is notorious for completeness, accuracy, and efficiency. We have heard of nothing before so conceitedly complacently audacious. But the department is a provincial one, and the ' General Government will put no faith in provinces. Not in a political sense, but as far as the system of administration goes, the General Government holds its provincial subordinates at a respectful distance, gives them none of its confidence, and takes every opportunity of reducing them to eat bumble pie. It has the upper hand, as in the case to which we refer,; for if the province is contumacious, and declines to send up its maps, the Secretary for Crown Lands declines on his part to take any action about the Crown Grants which lie in unexecuted heaps upon the shelves of his bureau. . What the consequence may be to indiiiciuah he does not care, and we need not point out. The proceeding is a mere compound of ignorance and jealousy, apparently belonging to this case in particular, but in reality a sample of the- defects which the admistration of a Government, so far removed in time, distance, and interest from the public, may be expected lo acquire.