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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 24

II

page 18

II.

The forcible overthrow of Provincial Institutions has left great spots of burning wrong throughout the country. But, indeed, for the country having become debauched by the enormous public loan expenditure of the past few years, accompanied by its correlative private borrowing, that large section of the community which opposed the Abolition measures would never have submitted to the action of the General Assembly. The Abolitionists traded upon this demoralization. One of the representatives of the party in the Lower House accurately expressed its notion by saying, in reply to the assertion that an insurrection might happen in Otago: "Is any one the worse in Otago from the abolition of the Provinces? Does any one make less money? Does any one sleep less at night? Has any one less food to eat in the day, or less raiment to cover him? There is nothing of the sort;" and deduced the conclusion that an outbreak would not occur. The people at large did not, and do not yet, perceive the vast issues at stake; but those issues will gradually unfold themselves to the popular apprehension, while the people will also learn that services which have hitherto been performed for them by the Provincial Governments free of charge will henceforth have to be paid for out of their own pockets by means of local taxation. Thus, animosity will continue, and base, indeed, would be a people which tamely surrendered full rights of local government without a corresponding equivalent, and further permitted a large transfer of political power to the wealthy, already unfairly favoured in this respect. I will not discuss the vexed question of the legal power of the General Assembly to pass the Abolition Act; but I take up this ground : Assuming the contention of the Ministerialists to be correct, and that the Act 31 & 32 Vic. c. 92 can be construed so as to give the Assembly such a power; still, it is perfectly certain—a pure matter of fact—that the Colony, when applying to page 19 the Home Government for the Act, never contemplated its being used for the purpose of abolishing the Provinces generally, but only supposed it was asking for an Act to validate the proceedings in connection with the creation of the County of Westland. Indeed, the official edition of the Statute contains a foot-note to the effect that "This Act was rendered necessary by doubts as to the validity of the County of Westland Act 1867." Now, it is always reprehensible for a Ministry to take advantage of the slip of a bill-drafter in order to promote its own views. It is bound to observe the spirit of the law, irrespective of its wording; whereas the Ministry, in the present instance, has done precisely the reverse, and that, too, when a fundamental change in the Constitution was at stake.

The manner in which these measures have been forced through the Assembly is likewise objectionable to the last degree. It has been assumed, as an axiom, that it is lawful for a Parliamentary majority to do whatever it pleases. But a majority has no Divine right to rule. As a pure matter of convenience, it has been agreed, in countries possessing Parliamentary institutions, that the majority shall rule the minority; but it is merely a rough and ready contrivance to save endless disputes, and "the representation of minorities" is one of the political questions of the day. The present system implies the exercise of moderation on the part of the majority, and just concessions to the minority. If the position taken up by the Abolitionists were sound, the majority in the Assembly would be entitled to deprive the people represented by the minority of all Civil rights. Obviously, the majority is morally bound to act with a due regard to the views and interests of the minority; and more especially so when Constitutional changes are at issue. It is an inherent right of every free man to choose under what system of government he will live; and no Parliament—no ruling body whatever—can lawfully impose a form of Constitution upon a community which is repugnant to its wishes. Hence, it follows as a sequence, that the inhabitants of every Province should have been consulted, through the medium of their Provin- page 20 cial Council, before the latter was abolished. That argument has never been refuted, nor can it be refuted; and when the dust of the conflict has cleared away, all parties will recognise what a violent outrage upon constitutional liberty has been perpetrated. It must be remembered that when the Assembly approached this subject, it did so, not as "the Parliament of the country,"—in the sens-, for instance, in which one would speak of the Parliament of Victoria in relation to that Colony,—but as the chief of a confederation of Legislatures, of which it stood prim us inter pares. The Provinces were created distinct entities by the Constitution Act, and, although great encroachments had been made upon their revenues, and their legislation been overridden by the Assembly, their legal powers and privileges remained intact.

Owing to the peculiar nature of the Constitution originally bestowed upon New Zealand, precedents are not easily obtained; and, in considering this matter, we are forced, to a great extent, to fall back upon first principles, but still illustrations of my argument may be found. The mode of making amendments to the Constitution of the United States is one. There, a bare majority of Congress is not gifted with the power of amending the Constitution in however trifling a degree. Before an amendment can be proposed, a two-thirds majority of each House must concur, and the decision of Congress must be ratified by the Legislatures or Conventions of three-fourths of the States; or the amendment may be initiated by the Legis latures of two-thirds of the States calling a Convention, in which case Congress acts as the ratifying body. In the Swiss Federation, too, when a few years ago a change in the Constitution was determined upon, it did not acquire the force of law until ratified by a popular vote. Looking at these circumstances, and at general principles, it semis to me morally certain that had the Imperial Parliament been formally and plainly asked to confer power upon the General Assembly to abolish the Provinces, it would have stipulated that it should be done by a substantial vote of the Assembly, ratified either by the Provincial Councils or by a popular vote; and I maintain that the proper course for the Ministry to have pursued at the page 21 beginning was to bring down a new Constitution Act, which, while sweeping away the old institutions, would immediately establish new in their place, and permissive in its operation, so that the people might have seen the precise nature of the exchange offered to them, and been enabled to say Yea or Nay to it. That, is, of course, assuming it to have been within the jurisdiction of the Assembly to abolish the Provinces.

Throughout the political struggle the Abolitionists have displayed a singular lack of noble principle and comprehensive statesmanship. Their ideas are antiquated. They travel along the old ruts. They fail to appreciate the strength of the new philosophy which is permeating men's minds. They are unable to discern that our nation is casting its eyes around in order to discover new paths by which to achieve fresh triumphs in the are of government. They did, indeed, at the outset, propound the idea of "the unity of the Colony;" but it soon fell dead. It was a sham. The Colony was united in all things where unity was really needful, but preserved a healthy rivalry in minor matters between its different parts—a rivalry which has been the mainspring of its prosperity. What is its condition new? The Abolitionists have set all New Zealand by the pars. Before the Abolition resolutions were produced, in 1874, Canterbury and Otago were the best friends in the word; now, a huge political chasm parts them in sunder. Wellington stands isolated—a political Ishmael, ready to be attacked and slain as soon as her brethren have done quarrelling amongst themselves. For the first time in the political history of Mew Zealand the lurid light of class warfare flickers on the horizon. Surely it is the rudest of statesmanship which entails consequences like these.

The Counties Act furnishes the name of local government only. All the staunchest Ministerialists can find to say in its behalf is that it may be licked into shape by and bye. In point of fact, the Colony for the time being is bereft of real local government; and it can never be governed satisfactorily from Wellington alone-Even the bulk of the Abolitionists make that admission. Few, if any, of the Abolitionist candidates went to the constituencies at the page 22 general election with such a proposal. An independent Press and full publicity are essentials to the proper working of the Parliamentary system. Neither can be gained if the whole business of the country is confided to the General Assembly seated at Wellington. A few years ago, there was a certain independence of spirit in the Wellington journals, but all three supported the Ministry last session, and differed only in the virulence of their abuse of any member of the Assembly who was bold enough to criticise the actions of the Government; and it is reasonable to suppose that the Wellington Press will yearly become more official in tone. Nor can the mass of the population of the Colony obtain reliable information of the proceedings of the Assembly. The Wellington papers practically do not penetrate beyond the boundaries of their own Province; and, moreover, the brief abstracts of the debates of the Assembly which they furnish are, for the most part, not "reports" at all, but partisan summaries. The newspapers in the other Provinces confine themselves to publishing telegraphic abstracts of the debates, which are always imperfeet, and often do the grossest injustice to the speakers, as any one will discover by comparing the summaries of the principal debates of last session with the extended reports in 'Hansard.' All the general news which conies from Wellington, during the session, is strongly tinged with partizanship, the official colour predominating; and, as a further means of misleading the public mind, the Ministry is in the habit of using the Government printing, telegraph, and post offices for the purpose of disseminating its views on any important question throughout the country at the public expense, while the same facilities are not afforded to its opponents. Of course, ' Hansard' contains a corrective; but who reads 'Hansard?' So far as the inhabitants of Auckland and Otago are concerned, the Assembly might almost as well sit in Sydney or Melbourne as in Wellington. All they see is the dust and smoke of the conflict; all they hear is a confused shouting; but of the merits of the dispute, and of the respective behaviour of the combatants, they can form no just conception. Session after session, bills of the most important character are page 23 passed without the Press of the Colony having even an opportunity of criticising them.

Abolition will not diminish these evils, but will make their consequences more serious. It will not bridge Cook's Straits, nor level the Kaikoura Mountains, nor cause an extra steamboat to ply between Dunedin and Wellington, New Zealand is a country of peculiar physical configuration; its mode of settlement has been peculiar; and he is the true state sman who, while preserving general principles, knows how to apply them to the particular circumstances of the community whose destiny he sways. It is of the utmost importance to maintain the individuality of the different parts of the Colony. It is the individuality of our race which has made England great; it is the same quality developed in communities which has enabled New Zealand to overcome the vast difficulties which have beset her progress, and to attain her present proud position. I look upon the half-a-dozen towns, with their surroundings, which are scattered from one end of New Zealand to the other, all keenly bidding for supremacy, as one of the most promising features in the New Zealand economy. Instead of a single overgrown and vicious capital, there are several centres of nervous energy, diffusing vigour through the whole body politic. It would be a fatal mistake to destroy this autonomy of parts. Let each carve out its own career as it best may. Auckland and Otago are opening up separate spheres of action for themselves, why debar them from doing so for the sake of a spurious unity? Look at the proceedings in the Assembly last session in connection with the Canterbury runs. The attempt which was made to renew the leases of the present holders, without public competition, was regarded by the bulk of the inhabitants of Otago as an attempt to commit a fraud upon the public revenue; whereas, in Canterbury, to most people, it seemed a justifiable and proper thing to do. This divergence of opinion is attributable to the different views on the land question which are commonly held in Canterbury and Otago respectively. Why should not each community be permitted to work out its own laud system for the mutual edification of itself and its neighbours ?

page 24

The position of affairs when a Constitution was given to New Zealand rendered it expedient to unite the two islands under one Government, but, as an abstract proposition, it was an error to do so. The only bond they required was a Customs' Union. The presence of a large Maori population in the North Island, and its absence from the South, alone pointed to a fundamental difference of political interest; and the physical characteristics of the two islands tended to separate their commercial spheres of action. They have as little in common as England and France. The result of their union, however, has been the creation of an enormous public debt, whose existence prohibits an absolute political separation. There must be some Government exercising common jurisdiction over both islands, but its functions need not travel beyond the elementary duties of a Government. It would be sufficient if it provided for the administration of justice throughout the Colony, and its safety against foreign aggression; the management of the Customs and Postal Departments; and the raising of funds for the payment of the interest upon the public debt. Its legislative functions would be proportionately restricted and confined to matters of general interest. The administration of the waste lands, the conduct of public works, including the construction and management of railways, and the enactment of laws for the regulation of local matters might, on the other hand, be wisely left to each island; and, in order to get rid of a running sore, the management of the Natives could be entrusted to the North, which would cheerfully undertake it. A. practical difficulty would, nevertheless, arise in each island, because Wellington and Auckland in the North, and Christchurch and Dunedin in the South, would never agree about where the seat of Government should be, and the choice of an insignificant town, in a central locality, seems an awkward expedient. The natural way out of the difficulty is the division of each island into two provinces—or, if the name were hateful, they could be called "departments," "divisions," or "cantons,"—each with its own Legislature, and the whole federated under a General Government. In the North Island, the amalgama- page 25 tion of Wellington and Taranaki would enable a splendid Province to be formed, with Wanganui as its capital, leaving the rest of the island for the second. In the South Island, Otago and Westland would be a good combination.

The General Government would thus be confined to the prime functions of a Government, and the principal cause of corruption in the Assembly removed, because the patronage of the Ministry being reduced to the smallest dimensions, it would have fewer baits to dangle before the eyes of office-seekers and their relatives, while the constituencies would no longer gauge the merits of the Government by its capability of bestowing good things, in the shape of public works; and their honest representatives in the Assembly would be relieved from the unpleasant dilemma of having to choose between duty and the desire of securing an undue expenditure of public money in their respective districts. The purification of the Assembly would be accompanied by a marked reduction in the cost of administration. The Assembly itself would not be one-quarter of the expense to the Colony that it is now. The number of members of the Lower House could be reduced to 25 or 30; and it need not meet more frequently than every second year, because, as the General Government would only raise revenue for certain purposes, and any surplus would be divisable amongst the Provinces on fixed principles, it would not be requisite to vote annual supplies. The present staff of seven Ministers, with a threatened increase to eight or nine, might also be reduced to three or four. If an Upper House were required at all, it could be made elective by the Provincial Legislatures, and the number of its members, like that of the Lower House, could be much curtailed. Fifteen or twenty ought to be sufficient.

The form of the Constitution would be an effective guarantee of economy, for it would be the direct interest of the Provinces to keep the expenditure of the General Government within the narrowest limits. When the Separation resolutions were before the House last session, it was said by their opponents, "Oh, you propose to reduce the cost of one Government by creating three." The page 26 reply was epigrammatic, but nonsensical as an argument. There are Governments and Governments. There is a certain quantity of actual work to be performed in administering the affairs of the country; and the question is, What is the cheapest way of doing it? I contend that to maintain and extend the powers of the General Government is a monstrously extravagant way of doing it, and that the only means of conducting the public business cheaply is by keeping the Government constantly under the eyes of the people; whereas, by the system just inaugurated, it will be sedulously hidden from them. The argument of economy, indeed, which figured so prominently in the Government programme at the general election, has since been quietly dropped; and it must be plain to every intelligent man, who has taken the trouble to study the figures, that the cost of several County staffs will exceed the cost of a Provincial Government. But that is not the danger to be dreaded. The outlay in this direction is patent enough; but not one elector in five hundred is aware of the large additional expense caused by the protracted sittings of the Assembly last session and the increase in the members' honorarium, which, moreover, is likely to be further augmented, solely by reason of the whole burthen of legislation being thrown upon the shoulders of the Assembly. The public is equally ignorant of the fact that the departmental estimates showed serious increases upon those of the preceding year, and when the Ministers were asked why, they explained that it was on account of the abolition of the Provinces. They begged the House to give them another colleague, Mr. Whitaker pleading that the constitutional changes had increased their work by one-third. The House refused; but the gods are sure to be propitious on another occasion. Now, a fresh Minister means a fresh department, and a fresh department always adds to the work of those pre-existing; and so the ball goes rolling on. Spasmodic efforts at retrenchment, made when the country is in a highly-strung state of political tension, and the Ministry on its good behaviour, cannot be taken into account : we must consider what is likely to happen in ordinary times, when the Ministry is left to its own devices; and if anybody had page 27 wished to devise a system eminently calculated to breed extragance in the Government of this Colony, it would have been difficult for him to have framed one better suited for the purpose than that which has just been initiated.

An immense benefit in the shape of better legislation would accrue from the federalization of the Government. During last session 183 Bills were laid before the General Assembly, of which 104 became law. Now, it is physically impossible that the General Assembly, in the space of four months and a half, could have properly considered 183 Bills, many of them being of a most important and elaborate nature, in addition to performing its other work. The same mischief has been going on for years, with the result of loading the statute book with Amendment Acts upon Amendment Acts. Then, too, look at the subject matter of these Bills. Amongst those passed were seven reserving pieces of land for Athenaeums, and there were several others of an equally local character, like "The Taranaki Botanic Gardens Act." As a matter of economy, it is preposterous to use such expensive machinery to perform such trivial work. Moreover, the work is very badly done, because the House is compelled to take such Bills on trust, and all kinds of dirty little job? may be perpetrated without anybody but the jobbers being aware of it. Local Legislatures can alone weigh the merits of local Bills; and, in this respect, the Provincial Councils were extremely useful.

Such are the outlines of the Four Provinces Scheme, first propounded to the Colony twelve months ago, and the adoption of which seems to be the true method of healing the prevailing discord restoring unity to the Colony; and enabling it to continue on its career of prosperity. It is a common ground upon which all parties can meet; and the Abolitionists, triumphant now, must remember that, when in the ordinary course of things, the Parliamentary majority becomes the minority, the same hard measure which they have meted out to their opponents will, in all probability, be meted out to them. The Provincialists, too, are pretty sure to come into power again before long, unless some such radical page 28 alteration of the Constitution as that suggested be made, and their views met to that extent. They form the only party in the Assembly which has fixed principles, and thus possess an immense advantage over the Abolitionists, who are united solely to destroy, and many of whom openly express their contempt for the Ministry which they temporarily support. Nor have the Provincialists, to all appearances, lost ground in the country, although their real strength there could only be ascertained by a plebiscitum. The defection of Mr. Reid does not appear to have done any material injury to the Otago section of the party; and, in Canterbury, the Provincialists seem to be waxing in strength. They will gather all the discontented around their standard; and, if kept well drilled and wisely led, have little reason to doubt of ultimate success. When the people of the South perceive that they have been virtually deprived of their Land Fund by the charges heaped upon it, and the North discovers that while the Compact of 1856 has been scattered to the four winds, it is none the better off; when the outlying settlers learn, as they speedily will, that instead of getting more Government money to spend, as they had been promised, they are getting less; when patriots see that all the real powers of administration are centred in a beaureaucracy at Wellington, while to the people is left but the empty name; when all those petty discontents which have hitherto vented themselves upon the heads of the Provincial Governments are concentrated upon the General Government—then Provincialism will rise again with renewed strength, and re-establish itself in the Colony, not probably in its old form, but still essentially as Provincialism.

The effect of the Abolition measures is different in different parts of the Colony; but to Otago, at all events, the change is a dead loss. She loses the control both of the administration of her waste lands and of education—two privileges which her people have always dearly prized. It is not sufficient to reply that the Waste Lands Administration Act and the Education Boards Act are merely temporary measures, and that the old powers may hereafter be restored. Reasons have already been given why it will be very hard page 29 to secure a liberal administration of the waste lands in the future; and, as to education, a powerful party exists in the country, and is ably represented in the Assembly, whose aim is to establish a common system of education throughout the Colony, without regard to local feelings, and to throw all the education reserves into hotchpot. Moreover, even if there were a reasonable chance of getting these powers and privileges back again, it is surely pure insanity to surrender the citadel to the enemy, when you desire to retain it in your own possession. Then Otago loses a portion of her revenue immediately, and is likely to lose far more in the future. Take the constructed railways for an example. The interest charges on this account will remain stationary, whereas the traffic receipts will grow year by year. Under the old system the Province would have got the benefit of the increase, while now it will not. It also possessed a pastoral estate, which in a few years would, under judicious stewardship, have produced a noble income for the exclusive enjoyment of its people; but under the most favorable circumstances—making the incredible assumption that the present financial arrangements will not be altered to the disadvantage of the Province—it would be absurd to imagine that a squatting Ministry, with full control over the administration of the waste lands, and the Legislative Council at its back, will husband the landed estate of the Province with the view of providing it with a future revenue. Even were it actuate! by the best of sentiments, the Ministry would find it practically impossible to accomplish such an end, because it could not, like the Provincial Government, keep a single eye upon the interests of the inhabitants of Otago, but must consider the wishes of its Parliamentary majority; and, if they were antagonistic to the interests of Otago, the latter would, in the ordinary course of things, go to the wall. Otago has also been deprived of the control of her Laud Fund, which she had enjoyed undisturbed for twenty years; and it is a singular proof of the influence of names that even the Provincialists as a body have not yet clearly recognised the fact. The Land Fund has been "localised," as it is called, and most persons, deceived by the term, have supposed that, whatever dangers page 30 may threaten the Land Fund, it at present belongs to Otago just as much as it did before the passage of the Abolition of Provinces Act. Nevertheless a vital change has been effected. The essence of the Compact of 1856 was that each Province should do what it liked with its own Land Fund, and that the General Assembly should not touch it. The new arrangement is just the reverse. It Is the Assembly that does what it pleases with the Land Fund. I am not disputing the fairness of the allocation that has been made, although that might reasonably be challenged. The point is that it is the General Assembly which has made the allocation, and not the Provincial Council, or any other local body j and the right of the Assembly to allocate the Land Fund being once admitted, the Fund is to all intents and purposes converted into colonial property. Next session will probably witness a bold attempt to effect a formal conversion. Mr. Stafford has publicly announced his intention to support the proposal when again brought forward; and the only measure, indeed, which can baulk the attempt is the political separation of the two islands, subject to the modifications necessitated by the existence of the colonial debt.

Otago has thus lost heavily, and I defy the most ardent Abolitionist within her borders to put his finger on a single substantial advantage which she has gained by the destruction of Provincial Institutions. He could not even cite the Counties Act in support of his position, because, as has been shown time and again, she possessed a Counties Ordinance of her own, conferring as full powers as, and more certain endowments than, the Colonial Statute, which was available for any district whose inhabitants desired to have a County Council. The figures in the balance-sheet are all on one side. Her people are entitled to consider these things, and would be extremely foolish to surrender important rights of self-government and local revenues for the sake of idle theories about "the good of the Colony," and so forth, which may possibly be put forward as a mask upon other designs. It is a significant circumstance that those parts of the Colony where the greatest clamour has been raised for the destruction of Provincial page 31 Institutions are exactly those places where public spirit is usually the least manifested, and where the demands for Government money are the most servile and pressing. I confess it is utterly beyond my comprehension how "the good of the Colony" can be promoted by fostering its least important districts at the expense of the more flourishing. The true policy would appear to lie in just the opposite direction. And if I refer to the losses of Otago particularly, I do so simply because I happen to be residing in that Province, and the limits of this treatise forbid my discussing the effects of the Abolition Act upon each Province separately; otherwise, it might easily be shown that Auckland has equal reason with Otago to regret the passing of that Act, although from different causes.

On abstract principles, too, a federalisation of the Government is advisable. The civilized world is marching swiftly towards democracy; and one of the novel problems presented to modern statesmen is how to keep large democracies under control. The federal principle is commending itself to the minds of many as that on which the affairs of great empires must in future be administered. "Home Rule" would receive far more support in England than it does but for its real, or supposed, connection with Fenianism. The Colonies are growing so quickly in population and resources that it may not be very long before New Zealand is required to take her place and her duties in an Imperial Federation, with a career before it whose splendour will surpass even the glory which illumines the past achievements of our nation. It is well to prepare ourselves for that high destiny, by sharing in the practical working of a Federal form of Government in these islands. And when Great Britain and her Colonies form parts of a common Federation, they will not be less but more united than before. So, the establishment of Federalism in New Zealand would not imply disunion, but rather a firmer connection between the different parts of the Colony, derived from each being left full liberty of action in things peculiarly appertaining to itself, while all could move together where a common course was desirable. The fruit of a barbaric uniformity would be page 32 a debased people servilely obeying a corrupt Government; whereas a wholesome vigour in commercial enterprise, and a sturdy spirit of political freedom, would emanate from The New Zealand Confederation.

Dunedin: Mills, Dick & Co., Printers, Staeford Street