The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. Equal and exact justice to all men. Of whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or political. TUESDAY, MAR 25, 1890.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 2761, 25 March 1890, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. Equal and exact justice to all men. Of whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or political. TUESDAY, MAR 25, 1890.

The ,people of ; New Zealand will Soon be called upon to say whether they are prepared to join in an Australasian Federation, or. wish to stand aside after an Australian Dominion has been formed. The issue is momentous beyond ordinary conception The step once taken will be irrevocable. The Dominion will 1 resist to the uttermost the 'secession of any of its members; just as other nations resist disintegration, and punish as treason any attempt to bring it about. This consideration is sufficient to bring before the wind the transcendent importance of the subjects The Federal Council, lately sitting in Melbourne, represented all the continental colonies excepting New South .Wales. But Sir Henry Parkes and one of his colleagues were there to speak for New South Wales in a special conference with the Federal Council. Let us imagine the Australian Dominion formed, and glance at what must be its essential features. In the first place the Customs duties must be fixed by the Dominion Parliament for the whole Dominion. If the majority .of the people be Protectionist it will respond. If free trade, it will respond also. The question is one of regulating trade and commerce, a function which can only be performed by the Supreme Government of a country. The post office and mail services must be under the Dominion Government; together with the bankruptcy and currency laws, and other matters affecting the whole people. The Federal Legislature must bo supreme and, to make it so, power must be given.for its laws to supersede those of any ot its component parts. This is imperative, as the supremacy of the Crown would be affected if any Court of Justice were allowed to say whether ail Act to which its assent had been given, exceeded ; the powers of the. legislature by which the Act was passed. The Supreme Court of the United States is endowed by the Constitution with the power of practical veto. With us, and throughout the Empire, the courts administer the law, but Parliament may without question, make what laws it thinks proper. The position would therefore be this. We should have a Federal Parliament sitting in some part of Australia, a Federal Ministry, and a Governor General appointed by the Crown. The Customs revenue would belong entirely to the Government, which would be certain at first, a_g under our old eonstitution of 1852—t0 subsidise the minor Governments from that revenue. Their main reliance can Only, however, be on direct and local taxation. To this they must, like the: separate provinces in Canada, mainly trust, and to it they would gradu- , ally, if not rapidly, be broken in. i These minor Governments will be ( called provinces, and they must be more numerous than at present. I Queensland, for example, is already ' being torn to pieces by the agitation - of its Northern territory for separa- i tion from the rest. With us in s New Zealand, it would certainly be ] necessary to form more than one 1 provincial Government. To leave J any one place with the power of f levying direct taxation and pushing' j on public works, throughout the f colony, is impossible. Such a state f

of affairs would soon become intolerable. How would, it suit New Zealand to form part of such a Federation 1 representatives would be separated by 1:200 miles of ocean from itheijf-. constituents, who would be "unauje* to watch their proceedings intelligently, or to give them the moral support that the continental representatives could ( afWays rely upon from tlioir constituents' in acfy of the crises that are sure to occur. The Dominion Parliament would control the Customs lievenue, the mail-services, sand the inilitary ( andT naval" forces." It only 'would-be 5 recognised as the channel of communication with the Imperial or with foreign Power's? 1 The other Governments in the minion would exist for local purposes, :- and must depend chiefly,; if > not entirely, on local and direct taxation. In New Zealand |we should ._.., certainly have two, aitd perhaps four such provinces. The railways . would, we, presume,, he under their control,; forit is scarcely to be supposed that they would: be placed* under the Federal Government. The public debt niusf; be assumed by the Federal Government with the Customs "Revenue from which the interest, of New Zealand!at all events, is.paid. These* however, are, matters iof arrangement. ; The main , thing l is that the Federal Legislature' must he supreme and independent; and .work through its own executive and its own officers if the Union is to be effective and not a delusive sham.' To the continental colonies the gain by Federation will be incalculable. They will have free trade with one another, get rid of border Custom houses, and have no obstacle to free intercourse from one end of. the continent to the other. In face of- this immense gain, any drawbacks possible in their condition are hagatelles, scarcely worth mention. To have free trade with such a Dominion would be'also a great gain to us in New Zealand. But situated as we are, the price paid may be far too dear. We should have to part with the control of our" own destinies and place them in the hands of a distant authority-, with which communication will not be easy, and in which bur influence must be comparatively slight. The question is fast ripening for solution, and must be answered clearly when the time comes. The strong inclination and the sincere desire of all New Zealanders will be to form the Dominion and take part in it. To do so without mature consideration would be reprehensible folly. The question cannot be too soon or too fully discussed. It should be presented to the public in all its phasee, and -people must: be made familiar .with it before the time for decision comes. The decision will be the most momentous which the people can be called upon to give. event can only happen once iu a. nation's life, and the whole of New Zealand's future must depend upon the.course that may then be taken?.