THE COLONY AND THE PROVINCES.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXI, Issue 2432, 25 October 1866, Page 5

THE COLONY AND THE PROVINCES.

(Canterbury Press, Oct. 10.)

Anotheh Session of the General Assembly has come to an end, and that the first session of a new and greatly enlarged Lower House. Not only was tho House of Eepresentatives enlarged, but nearly one-third of its members were men who appeared for the first time in public life. The general result of the session may therefore be regarded with more than usual interest. The first prominent feature which strikes us in reviewing the work of the session, is the conservative character of the Assembly as regards the great institutions of the colony. On the one hand, the majority against the disruption of the colony is decisive ; on the other, the claims of the provinces to financial consideration have been amply recognised. But we think it would be a mistake to draw too decided an inference from the votes of the Assembly as to the real wishes and feelings of its members. "Many votes are given, not so much by the wide principles or ultimate objects which are involved by the motion, as by the terms of the motion itself. It is not uncommon for a member to Bay, " I agree with the object you have in view, but I do not think your motion will attain it;" or, " I do not agree with the mode in which you propose to obtain it." For example, in the discussion on separation, as proposed by Mr. Whitaker, it was clear that his whole party broke down in tho attempt to show that the plan proposed was a practicable one. Ib has always been our opinion that this would be the rock ou which the separation party would split. It is easy enough to show that wo in the South are suffering severely by our union with the Northern Island ; but what is necessary to be shown besides, is, that any arrangement can be made by which we should suffer less, or which the the Home Government would assent to. Could this be shown, we have no doubt that many of those who voted against the question, as it has hitherto been presented, might be brought to regard it with more favor.

The same may be said of the'other side. There are a great mam'" who consider that the existence of separate Provincial Governments is no longer a benefit to the colony. They see plainly enough that the present form of Government is most costly, and that it tends to foster an isolation of feeling in the various parts of the colony, and to stimulate local interest to an extent which renders all common action and national sentiment impossible. They feel, and that Tery sadly, that we are growing a cluster of disorganised and disunited communities, whose local governments monopolize the allegiance which would otherwise be paid to the central authority, and without which, .on the part of the people, a free government is paralyzed. But, on the other hand, though fully alive to this growing evil, they do not see their way, and no proposition has been made which expounds a way by which the powers oi' government can bo centralised, and yet the uses for which Provincial Governments were created can be provided for. And thus many who are in principle strong centralists, will not at present support the destruction of the provinces, and will insist, as they have insisted throughout the last sessien, that, so long as the provinces last, they must be provided with the means o£ fulfilling those functions of government which hare been entrusted to them.

But whatever disinclination there may be to disturb existing institutions in the absence of any guidance as to what is to replace them, there are very few who do not perceive that the present distribution of political power is incompatible with the attempt to govern the colony by the machinery of an Executive Government holding office at the pleasure of a popular Assembly. Ministerial responsibility involves the existence of definite parties consisting of those who have distinct i sympathies and distinct differences of opinion. A system by which a Ministry shall leave office every few months is indefensible. The- longer a Government remains in office thef.better, so far as the administration s of government is concerned ; nor does the responsibility of the G-overnment to the House necessarily involve more than this, that when the objects and principles of the Government are opposed to those of the popular Assembly, it shall give way to another whose views are more acceptable. But all this absolutely requires that the maintenance or change of a Ministry shall depend on widely understood aud recognised outlines of policy. It is evident, however, that the life of a Ministry in New Zealand does not depend on such conditions. Questions do not receive in the Assembly a perfectly independent consideration solely on their merits. It is notorious that members condemn in private what they vote for in public, ; because they are compelled to vote, not as they judge the interests of the colony at large,' but as the interests of their local party — their province, compel them. We do not of course give instances of this, but they are not wanting were we disposed to cite them. In other words the allegiance to local interests absorbs that which is due to the colony. The measures, therefore, of a Ministry are judged not on their real merits, but as they bear on some remote interest in some part of the islands ; and not only so, but as some other question will affect such interest. " You vote for us on such a question and wo will vote for you on such another," is tho law by which votes are given, without the least regard to

the fate of a Ministry, or to tho general policy which it is pursuing. So long as provinces exist, and so long as Superintendents, Provincial Secretaries, Provincial Treasurers, &c, have seats in the Assembly, so long will this state of things last, and so- long will the General Government exhibit that recklessness in action and expenditure which is proverbially the attribute of short life.

The time will shortly come— we shall not be surprised if it come next session — when the Assembly will seek to emancipate itself from the thraldom in. which it is now held by provincial interests. It will have to say- whether the higher functions of (xovernment are to be sacrificed to potty local jealousies, and whether its consultations are to take the form of the deliberations of a national Parliament, or the form of arbitrations between small, independent, and jealous States. There can be little doubt which line the Assembly will wish to take. The one only question, is, how will the land fund be disposed of and secured to its legitimate purpose of colonising the laud which produces it. If that point can be settled in a manner satisfactory to those provinces which are mosfc interested in the result, namely, Cantei'bury and Otago, the result of the struggle between the General and Provincial Governments would not long be doubtful. Most of the Provincial Governments have done their work, so far as their functions of government are concerned. In this respect facility of communication has already superseded the necessity for a continuance of provincial authority. The only work which the provinces had to do; and which could not be done, or rather which would not have been done by the General Government, was the work of colonising, opening up the country, and peopling it with colonists. But how many provinces are left which continue this work ? In the Middle Island Otago and Canterbury alone ; in the Northern Isiaud at the present time not one. Except in the case of Ofcago and Canterbury there is not a province in the colony which would not be as Avell and as economically adininis-a tered by the General Government as by the existing provincial machinery; and in Otago it was a question discussed, aiid doubtfully fought even by the Otago members themselves, whether the goldfields would not be better admiuistered by the General Government than by the Superintendent. Throughout the smaller provinces, aud' throughout all the outlying districts of the larger provinces, the opinion is becoming general that a more equal attention would be given to the affairs of the whole country from head quarters at "Wellington than from the centres of the provinces j and if the present Government shall be able to introduce a measure next sesssion which will confer real local government upon all the districts throughout the colony, and if it is able also to secure the land fund to its legitimate uses, the present intricate machinery of government in New Zealand will, in all probability, be simplified. The land fund does not belong to the provinces, it belongs to the land. To dispose of the land fund so that it should be expended elsewhere than in the province in which it arises, would be to remove it further from its proper applicatiomj but to attach its expenditure to smaller districts in which it has arisen than the province, would bo to carry out sfcill more rigorously the principle for which the provinciaiists have all along contended. There are now four distinct uses to which tho land fund must be applied. 1. To the payment of the debts incurred upon its security. 2. To the work of immigration. 3. To the construction of arterial communications. 4. To the local works of tho districts in which it has arisen. If these objects are properly and permanently secured, it is of little importance whether the Provincial Governmouts be retained to administer the land fund, or whether some simpler machinery may not bo found for the second and third objects, whilst the fourth may be entrusted to the local authorities in the districts in which the land fund ai'ises.