THE Wellington Independent. Friday, June 27, 1862. THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT.

Wellington Independent, Volume XVII, Issue 1735, 27 June 1862, Page 2

THE Wellington Independent. Friday, June 27, 1862. THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT.

Mr. Thomas Padmore Hill, Professor of Elocution at Melbourne, must either be always on the gui vive to do a nipping stroke of business, or else he must be a man intensely fond of a joke, and not particular as to the trouble he takes to ensure one. By the last mail from Melbourne we had sent to us, for review, a . : little work by Mr. Hill entitled the .. "The Oratorical Trainer," which contains, in a small compass, rules for the instruction of those who are anxious to speak well in public. True ease in speaking, as in writing — " cornea from art, not chance, As those move easiest who have learned to dance 'Tis not enough no harshness givea offence, , The sound must seem an echo to the sense.*' Mr. Hill states that he is prepared to assist gentlemen in the cultivation of this art j he "is prepared to instruct clerical and lay pupils in the art of delivering written and spoken language," and supplies numerous testimonials in favour of his ability to teach that which he professes. Has the fame of our Provincial Council reached Melbourne, and does Mr. Hijl wish us to introduce to their notice a short and easy method by which they may discourse in more melodius, and, therefore, in more persuasive strains than hereto* v fore; or has the prospect of the General Assembly meeting here, induced the idea that a ready sale for some seventy or eighty copies of his " Oratorical Trainer '* may be secured amongst the members of' that august body. We charitably assume that Mr. Hill is desirous of doing a little stroke of business, rather than solicitous to poke fun at the unadorned eloquence which distinguishes our local legislature, or at that higher flight with which we expect to be treated by the Assembly. The pushing character of Mr. Hill illustrates the age. Men are not left to seek for what they want now-a-days; things wanted and not wanted are pressed on their attention at every favorable moment. When a South* Easter is brewing and Wellingtonians are in fear of getting wetted through, every soft goods store on the beach, from Warmoll's to Piokett's, invitingly hangs out the very thing wanted to keep them from being even unpleasantly moist; or when Judge Johnston reads Shakespeare, do not all the book stores, from Lyou's to Carpenter's, make a most ensnaring display of the works of the immortal bard in all bindings and at all prices ? We don't like to be behind the age, and therefore always endeavour to suit the ciicumstauoes of the times. We don't like offering grass cloth coats to ; our readers when it pours with rain, nor waterproofs wheu the thermometer is up to 90 We like to do as Mr. Thomas Padmore Hill does, as Warmoll and . Pickett, and Lyon and Carpenter also do ' — supply the right thing at the right moment. Verily, there is a time for a(l things, and just on the eve of the opening of the General Assembly, could w« hang out anything more worthy of the attentive consideration of our readers than the following very latest importation from Canterbury, and received direct from the manufactory of the Press:— "In fact it is impossible with ant regard to the safety of the cotokt, to blink any longer this questiov 0* the Skat ok Government. The Government OUGHT TO BE REMOVED TO Wellington." The most careless cannot help stopping to examine the above.' It is the very ; article above all others they are io want of— the very thing we have all been

wanting fur ihe last twenty-two years. Now for the first time, we are able to feel that we are likely to reoeive help in this mailer. Tnauks to the Otago King Movement, the Seat of Government question is being brought forward in a manner that must, ere very long.lead toils being, settled on a different basis than heretofore. The absurdity of continuing the Government, at one end of the colony is now so palpable that changed it shoitly must be. Ever since Canterbury has seen through the design of the Otago agitation she has regarded favorably the claims of Wellington, and both the Press and the Lyttellon Times have evinced a Willingness to favor the removal of the Seat of Government to this Province, as the best foil to the dismemberment of the colouy ; and now the former speaks so plainly, that we cannot come to any other conclusion, than that the powerful help of Mr. Fitzgeiald and the other Canterbury members will be enlisted on our behalf, when the Separation question is dealt with in the approaching As sembly. (from the press, 14th June) The ' Daily Times' at Dunedin began the Ofcago king movement by assuming that it had only to pipe, and all the Middle Island would dance. We JiAve waited to see whether an agitation commenced with such vigor W6uld produce any fruits. We were told that the Middle Island was unanimous for the dismemberment of the colony, and we have neivously watched for any outburst on the part of the public, or of the leading orgaua of public opinion, -v c thought we should have had to wage an unpopular battle against a strong, eager, and determined party. It was not without great hesitation that we began to treat of this question, just at this momentthe most important question which is presented to the colony for its consideration, isever were we more agreeably surprised than by the result. Not a single leading man or journal out of Dunedin has come forward as the champion of separation ; and if we may judge by the public meeting at Otago, the intellect of that province is for the most part content to be silent. The ' Nelson Examiner' has pronounced against separation, and from the public men in Canterbury we believe ] a lukewarm and doubtful advocacy on the part of a faw, is the utmost support which will bo gained. In Auckland, the ' New Zealander' not only opposes the movement, but' goes so far as to assert that Auckland has never demanded separation J The fact however is admitted that the Auckland j people have always said— and that upon all sides j that, if the Gent-rat Government were lemoved to Wellington, there ought to be a Lieut. Governor at Auckland. Aud the Aucklanders have really asked no more than what is just and prudent, and what they have a fair right to. ] In fact it is impossible, with any regard to the safety of the colony, to blink any longer this question of the seat of Government. The Government ought to be removed to Wellington. It isadmitt- j ed on all hands that the policy to be pursued to- j wards the natives is not one in which the whole colony is so interested that it should absorb all the time of the General Government and the General Assembly. There was much truth in what Mr. Gillies said at the meeting at Otago on this head : bat, from the same facts, we should draw a very different conclusion from that gentleman. If the native question be so important to the Northern Island, and so unimportant to us, that is just the aort of question which ought to be dealt with by local ««tuniiy; we do noo mean to Bay by the present Provincial Governments ; but by a Lieut. Governor for the Northern provinces. Looking at the separation movement in every light, this is the result to which all reasoning seems to point, and to which we cannot but think the colony will come at last, namely, to a decentralization of the General Government itself, and a localization of the administration of its powers in the different provinces or groups of provinces. We may possibly live to see a General Government seated at Wellington or Chratchurch, with a Lieut. Go- ■ vernor at the north dealiug with the natives, and a Lieutenant Governor at the south dealing with diggers,