THE IMPERIAL AUTHORITIES AND THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT.

Wellington Independent, Volume XX, Issue 2217, 10 June 1865, Page 3

THE IMPERIAL AUTHORITIES AND THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT.

An esteemed correspondent, writing from London by the last mail, remarks : — " I was present in the House of Commons during the whole of the New Zealand Debate, and I clearly gathered from it that it is the decided wish of the Home Government that the Seat of Government should remain at "Wellington, and so the question may he deemed settled so far as England is concerned." This is very had news for the Auckland journals, and we cannot even console them hy doubting ita authenticity, as from other and equally reliable sources, our intelligence is of a similar tenor. Wo Bcarcely believe the Auckland settlers are fairly represented by their local journals. Were it so, wo could blush for the selfishness and inconsistency of our fellow colonists, who have been rejjresented by the Neio Zealand Herald as being at ono time the stauncheat sticklers for constitutional rights, the firmest supporters of the late Ministry, and the bitterest foes of the Governor ; while nt another, they fall down beforo Sir George Grey, submit humbly to the Colonial Oflice, and earnestly beg that the right of" self government may be taken from them. It is surely impossible that colonists who are Englishmen could act in this way, even to avert tho removal of the Scat of Government from Auckland to Wellington, it is surely impossible that they could be mean enough to sacrifice overy political right which men hold dear, for the sake of preventing a change which was solemnly resolved upon by the Colonial Parliament, as being calculated to confer a great benefit, not on any particular Province, but on the Colony at large. That the Herald must havo been guilty of very gi'oss misrepresentation ia what every one here is disposed to believe, and it is to be regretted that the British public mny perhaps have taken its opinion as that of the Auckland settlers. If so, it is little wonder that the House of Commons and the Imperial Government should have been disgusted with the spectacle of meanness and duplicity exhibited for months in the Auckland broadsheet, and have passed by with contempt the host of interested representations so persistently thrust under their notice. That Auckland is not New Zealand, and that its opinions are not tliose of the Colony, has now fortunately become clearly understood in England. The resolutions of the Assembly that Imperial aid might be withdrawn, }f Imperial interference should cease, and the accession of a Ministry to oflice pledged to to such principles, clearly proved this. It also proved that the Colonists as a body, are sufficiently patriotic and independent to cling still to self-government, and to assert the right of managing their own affairs, even though the adoption of such a course involves a heavy sacrifice, both personal andpecuniary —a sacrifice which, for tho sake of a great future good, will be cheerfully borne.