The Waikato Times. "OMNE SOLUM FORM PATHIA." TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 1872.

Waikato Times, Volume I, Issue 42, 6 August 1872, Page 2

The Waikato Times. "OMNE SOLUM FORM PATHIA." TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 1872.

\V r. forget ;u, the moment who ifc was made the '""hat in iliu uourist! of ages lii.-liii'v repeals itself." We, in New Zealand, jiri) proving, to some extent, the fcrii(',li of the assertion. It is many years ago since most of us sal, on a form, ami had instilled into] na the early history of the country from the inhabitants of which we are an off-shoot. Not ko long, however, that many of us have altogether tort'olien tl o Saxon Heptarchy and the sev< n K 114s wi h, to us at that time, almost nnjti'ouounoeiiMit! names. We have only to substrate the Superintendents- and their ('onuoils tor the separate Kings and their (olio.vers. The (.lencral (loverhmcat represents the heal King or Jliel v/-alda, the provinces themselves standing - in the piaoe of* tlie diU'eient kinudon s, thus we have)lie picture. ?No hin,ol iiiu has ever mil; Lresied that the existence, of seven different despotic monarchies in Kimhmd eoudec-d in any way (".• iis welfare, and when the history of Now Zealand is written (or fhe ins'rn.c'iou of our descendants, the writers will, doubtless, condemn in no measured terms the statesmen of this day, for '• been so ignorant of the principles of political economy as to continue the errors of those who first created provincial institutions lon<r after the only reason or doing so had passed away, vis., the difficulty of communioAiiiig with the Government b\- officials resident at a distance.

The threat that has been held out by the is noi< at all mil dee in >rincip!e to that which not un frequently oe;uned in the days of the Heptarchy ; tlie wee plica being tliab our sturdy ancestors iVOiiM have torn the sceptre from the hands ->f their head by a series of throat-cuttings, .vhorens our Superintendents will endeavour :<> effect the same object by means of a series .)f resolutions in tho House. The most en- i thusiasiic supporters of provincialism admit I that the majority of the Provinces wdl have, i within a very short time, \? call unou the ; tumoral Government to help then; out of the ' ihflicu'ties into which most of them have ' drifted in consequence of (he want of admi- i nistintive ability. It is quite time Suner- \ inteuoeuts' Councils and all tho paraph er- \ wilia of the puppet parliaments were hidden { away carefully, tuniiy as they are, unpleasant ; reminders of the absurdities of the past. J The Superintendents now practically ask that • each re ay have the management, of the Public j Works within his dominions. The effect- of j, this \\(mld be to place much more patronag'e j j than fit present in the hands of these petty j ' kings, and the Colon}' would have no irnaran- i j too whatever that, the money would be pro- j . pcrly applied. To adduce any argument iu / t

favour of such a step, it first Incomes neces-Hti-y to establish the fact that it is impossible to i'orin a Mininfry in this colony capable of administering our limited revenue arid governing our two hundred and fifty thousand inhabiUntH. The Telegraph has placed reHuonsibl.j Ministers in immediate cotitict with every district in the colony, and they through their olhcers should be euabed to understand Uie requireooents'of >w'h district qudoas well as the Superintendents. To provincial institutions- we mast attribute to a great

■*i<tH the contracted view which members of the House have always taken on ill colonial questions. They speak and act Ujc this province or that, forgetting ai together that their province is only u small part of their adopted country. The ostab'.liUmvut of iioad Boards and Municipalities Has cut from under the feet of provincialists their last argument: "ff we do away with the provinces what will become of the outlying districts." We answer that outlying districts have a much better chance of receiving justice at the hands of the General I ban ,ii. those of any Provincial Govern ment. In the absence of Provincial O'uiijcil.s there will not bo the same opportunity for log-rolling. The General Government will bo able lo look at every question on its merits, without consideration ior the few whose interests may be injuriously .-.tocted for the benefit, of the many. VVe trust that in placed the Legislafcme .granting any-additional power to Superimenlicnrs and Provincial Councils, that they will lie abolished altogether, and a less caniber-v-oinoandt-jcpctisive mode ol government substituted. The absurdity of having no less : hau four Couneds conducting their business with ail the forms and ceremonies of the Briiish of Commons, is but too otivious.