WAIRARAPA.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXVI, Issue 3255, 19 July 1871, Page 3

WAIRARAPA.

(From our own Correspondent) political. Though there have been no events of importance since the date of my last communication, there has been a good deal of political discussion, both with regard to the merits of the measures passed during the last session of the Council, and the course which was taken by our members, more especially with regard to the Highways Dill. Of our four members two voted on one side, and two on the other, and consequently on a division the Wairarapa mny be snid not to have been represented at all. The question is, which side ought the whole of them to have taken with reference to that measure, and this question it is said will be discussed by their constituents at public meetings shortly to be convened. "When the Wairarapa representatives were elected they all f"- Ivocated1 vocated an anti- provincial policy, and ive was not one of them so violent or extreme in the expression of his opinions on the subject as the Provincial Secretary. In the views they then expressed they had not only the support of the local paper, but probably of four-fifths of their constituents. I ventured to express my dissent from the opinions then current. I felt then, and T feel now, that it is only by giving the fullest local powers of self-government to such important provinces as Otago and Canterbury in the one island, and as Auckland iv the other, that the maintenance- of one central government for the two islands is possible. I felt also that the evils ascribed to the provincial system roally originated in the physical character and conformation of the country, which that system tended rather to moderate than to aggravate. Mr Bunny took the opposite side of the question, and both before and after he was returned as one of our members for the General Assembly at the last general election, he pub. licly and repeatedly said that ho should advocate the transference of the departments now under the Provincial to the General Government, and, in fact, do his best to abolish the provincial system altogether. The views he expressed were, in short, very similar to those which were subsequently advocated by more than one of the opposition candidates at the late election lor the Superjntendency. The same views were also held by the other members for this district, and the general impression was that the death warrant of provincialism, so far as this province was concerned, had been signed, and that Mr Bunny would be its executioner. It is not strange, under the circumstances, that the electors in this district should be somewhat taken aback at the course which has been adopted by Mr Bunny, and that they should think it strange that this course should have been openly or covertly supported by the three j anti- provincial candidates for the Superintendency. How is it, they ask, that Air Bunny should support a policy which, instead of abolishing ihe Provincial Government, is so well calculated to give it stability, by getting the province out of its difficulties, and by placing it in a position which the advocates of the Provincial system think it ought to occupy ? And how is it, they ask, that 3Mr Fitzherbert's opponents at the hustings should become the warmest supporters of the Provincial policy of his Government in the Council ? These questions are very natural under the circumstances, but as I approve of the general policy of the Government, I am not disposed to endorse the censure the questions appear to imply. Since Mr VogeVs financial statement was made, and more especially since Mr Fitzherbert was elected Superintendent, the anti-provincial feeling has been dying out in the Wairarapa, and I believe that if the Education Bill bud been at once carried into effect, the great majority of the electors in this disdistrict, though opposed to a valuation rating for district roads, would not feel disposed to condemn, as a whole, the policy of the Provincial Government. They were willing — to quote the language of the Superintendent when opening the session — to accept the District Highways Act, because it recognised the liability of the wholelanded European property of the province to contribute towards the maintenance of district highways ; and to surrender, if such a surrender was absolutely necessary, the acreage for a valuation rate ou lands and landed properly ; but this was on the understanding that the unjust and unpopular house tax for the support of common schools would be abolished, and the new Education Act brought at once into operation. The course the Provincial Executive is adopting with reference to this last measure is alienating the affections of many of their warmest supporters, and I shall not be surprised to find that at the forthcoming meetings those who are conscientiously opposed to the District Highways Act, those who think that the districts are too large for the satisfactory working of the measure, and those who object to the payment of direct taxes at all, will, together, <y^gtitute an overwhelming majq^JS^and that it will result in a resolution calling upon Mr Masters, and possibly Mr Bunny, to resign. AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION. The provisional committee recently appointed at a meeting held at Masterton to take measures for the formation of a pastoral, agricultural, and horticultural association, have been stimulated in their exertions by the receipt of a letter from the Hon. G. M. Waterhouse, in which thatgentleman expressed his gratification at the course being adopted, which he considered was highly to be commended, and one likely to prove very beneficial to the district. He requested that he should be put down as a subscriber of ten guineas ; and this sum alone would give the association a start. Four years ago an attempt was made to form a similar association, but there was then no Mr Waterhouse in the district. There can

be no doubt that if properly encouraged such an association would prove exti'emelj beneficial. MEAT rUESKRYIN'G COMPANY. The next meeting of the shareholders in this company will be announced in the advertising columns of the Mail. Every exertion is being made to ensure the success of the undertaking, and it is highly probable that the two companies now in the course of formation will bo amalgamated. I understand that 20s per cwt. is being given for beef at the meat preserving establishments in Otago and Hd per lb for mutton, which is a much higher price than that which has lately ruled here, APPOINTMENT. It is stated that young Mr Spratt has received the appointment of Resident Surgeon at Palmerston, and if the change should prove beneficial to his future prospects, it will also be a source of gratification to his many friends, who would otherwise deeply regret his departure from a district, wnere his surgical knowledge and skill, as well as general character, are held moit deservedly in the highest estimation. It affords me the greatest pleasure to have this opportunity of expressing the high opinion I, in common with all my fellow settlers, entertain, of his professional abilities and moral worth, and I trust that the chaugo he is now making will prove to him a change for the better. THE WAIOIIINI. The river will not keep in its old course in spite of all the efforts which have been recently made to restrain its vagaries. It is doing no end of damage to valuable private property, and also to the public road. It would appear from an advertisement in the " Mail' 1 that the Provincial Government is at last about to take the matter in hand. Had the settlers co-operaied with the Piovinoial Government three years ago, much valuable property would have been aaved. I believe that it is the opinion of Mr Baird that the river cannot now be diverted into its old channel.