THE Wellington Independent Friday, May 23, 1862. THE SEPARATION MOVEMENT.

Wellington Independent, Volume XVII, Issue 1727, 23 May 1862, Page 3

THE Wellington Independent Friday, May 23, 1862. THE SEPARATION MOVEMENT.

In seeking to obtain Separation, our Otago friends have resolved to copy closely the tactics of the once famous anti-corn-law league. Pamphlets, lectures, itinerating platform speakers; iv fact all the well-tried practical methods of acting out the motto "Agitate, Agitate, Agitate," are to be put in [use with the view of bringingabout a disruption in the Government of this Colony. The movement is entered into in a spirit of " Sport in earnest." It appears to have about it all the excitement of foxhunting. The late "monster" meeting was a sort of breaking cover, and the Daily Times advertises a premium for thejbest essay, in the truly sporting form of "a Cup value fifty guineas." Iv a fit of petulance, with a wounded ! vanity most ridiculous to behold, Aucklaud set the ball rolling by agreeing to a petition to the Queen for the separation of thai; province into an independent Colony. Now the very reason that induced Auckland to act thus — ihe moving the Assembly (aud Government for the time being) to Cook's Strait, is the main remedy for the ills to which Otago believes itself heir to. It has always been felt that moved the seat of Government must be, so soon as population southward overbalanced that of the north. The suddenness with which a population has sprung up at Otago has brought about a crisis sooner than was anticipated, aided by the rritatiou engendered by the impossibility of communicating with the General Government as often as every novel and un-provided-for contingency arose. When the question comes before the Assembly, the grievance complained of can very readily be remedied, by removing the seat of , Government to the spot nature designed for it — the shores of this harbour. This grievance of the seat of Government is'the only one that can as yet be considered real. The only other grievance.thatof thepecuniary burdea to which the South is subjected for Maori government and control, is at present merely an imaginary one. On this subject, we, in common with our Southern cotemporaries know absolutely nothing ; and it strikes us as being somewhat quixotic to make such efforts, as Olago is making, for an attack on what may after all prove to be but aharmless windmill. When the Assembly meets, we shall probably know all about it — though from what Mr. Fortescue said in the House of Commons last March, it is possible that the views of the Home Government may not be sufficiently matured in reference to the amount which ifc is willing to provide from the Imperial Treasury. Until the Assembly meets, it is, therefore, impossible intelligently to discuss the pecuniary arguments put forth by Otago, as a reason for the separation of the Government of the two Islands. If we are to credit the articles of the Daily Times,thQ whole of the Middle Island is in a blaze — all its Provinces are agreed as to the necessity for separation, and will work harmoniously to procure it. Cantarbury is certainly desirous of it, but then Canterbury looks to Christchurch being made the capital of the new colony, and believes the position just as much fitted for that purpose, as every one acknowledges Wellington now to ' be. On this subject the Press says : — "Again, when Otago talks of separation, how is the question of the seat of government to be settled ? Iris said let us separate first, and settle the scat of government afterwards. But that will not do. Nelson and Marlborough, at all events, would violently oppose a separation which placed the seat of government farther south than Christchurch. Nelson can get to Auckland in two days ; but it cannot communicate with Otago in less than four. "The question of separation cannot be considered per el simpel. It is t» mixed question. For example, by us at Canterbury it will be considered thus — would it be better to have a Governor at Otago and no Provincial Government at Christchurch? or to retain our Provincial Government, and have the Governor General at Auckland— possibly at Wellington? The struggle hi separation of course involves the abandonment of the idea of placing the General Government

at Wellington ; and the possibility of fixing the General Government at Wellington will enter as an element inti the consideration of what we sboakl gain or lose by separation. There can be no doubt that a part of the advocacy of separation which will be found at Canterbury will arise from a belief that Christcliurch would be the seat of government of a Middle Island colony. Lst tiie idea once get abroad that Dunedin is to be the capital and seat of government, and we are satisfied the whole question will lose its interest in the eyes of ma,nv persons here." Our Otago friends are a little too fast iv thoir assumption, of the readiness with which other Provinces will vote for separation So far as Nelson is concerned, the Examiner brings a most rational consideration to bear, one that we feel convinced will be of vital weight in the formation of the opinion at which the Home Government must arrive, should an Act of separation ever be passed in the Assembly. The diversity arising from the presence or absence of a native population is undoubtedly what has re-opened this separation question at present. But it is first to be considered that | the native population is at this moment not very much larger, probably not a fourth larger, than the Europeau population even of the Northern Island, aud that in another ten years it is moie than probable that the proportions will be ex aclly reversed. * * * Sj that in any grea" political measures, the results of which will exercise au influence for good or evil for centuries, the position of the natives should not be the main or paramount consideration. As the European population coutinues to increase in this island, and the Native population diminishes (for diminish it seems it inevitably must) the two will become so completely interwoven, that the cost of governing the Natives will dwindle to nothing. With such a result clearly before us, we cannot thiuk that the disadvantages of separation will be incurred merely to avoid a few years temporary burden, even though it might at first be as great as the Southern journals assume.