X. Effects

Having seen the nature of the changes proposed, it will be in place now to look at the effects likely to follow.

On the Colony, as a whole, the effect will be injurious. As already so clearly pointed out in the speech of the Premier, quoted in the previous chapter, the suddenness of the change will produce a sense of insecurity in the stability of our institutions. If changes can be made so suddenly, and without notice, there is no limit to their extent, or assurance as to their frequency. In the financial aspect, it will tell most. It betrays mistrust in the Government as to the soundness of its position—that there is something rotten in the State; and rottenness there is, but it exists in the Central Government, not in the Provincial. The Financial Statement of the Treasurer indicated this fact. Some of the Provinces are poor, but they do not try to conceal their impecuniosity; the cause of it is well known—the General Government deprived them of all their revenues, and then told them to carry on their works. The secret for the change is that the Government of the Colony want money to maintain their extravagance, and they must have it by some means or other. Already they have taxed every article of import possible, and to the utmost bearable limit; they have borrowed all the money they can venture with safety to ask; and now they wish to appropriate the land revenue of the Province—not to turn it to profitable account, but to squander it in the keeping up of an enormous civil service. If they succeed in this, the next will page 85 soon follow—to collect all auctioneers' and publicans' licenses, all taxes on dogs, horses, and vehicles, and make them Colonial revenue, under and by Acts of the General Assembly. The money lender takes notes of such sudden alterations, and draws his own conclusions.

The change, if effected, will not be permanent or final. No one will for a moment suppose that the eminent men who, in the foreground, denounce the alteration, backed as they are by the largest and most influential constituencies and provinces which contribute by far the most to the general revenue, and where the greatest amount of intelligence naturally exists, will rest quiet and contented under a form of Government forced on them by the numerical superiority of the representatives of the smaller provinces and outlying districts, when they are fully convinced that it will be prejudicial to the best interests of those whom they represent. Such a supposition would reflect dishonor on the leaders of the popular party. If overpowered in the Assembly, they will not tamely, and with broken spirit, submit to the change, they will not willingly yield up the valued privileges of which they are the custodians, and on their refusal, they will have the undoubted support of almost the entire populace.

The prospect of the change has revived the cry for separation. The Premier was, in former times, a fierce denouncer of Centralism and its extravagance; was a warm advocate, first for the separation of the two Islands, then for one Province in each Island, afterwards to abolish the North Island Provinces, and now, to abolish the Provinces altogether, and support the Centralism which he formerly condemned. Truly, if he can be trusted who circulates so remarkably within a few years, men professing less ability, but possessing more stability, may, when they see their common country in great danger, adopt measures which their best judgments tell them, though not desirable, are imperatively demanded. If this rude and uncalled-for interference with existing lawful rights is carried out—and the power of the Assembly to do so without the consent of the Imperial Government is by some questioned—then it is not difficult to foretell that the dismemberment of the Colony is sure to be the sequence. In addition to insular separation, the shout has already been heard, "Let Auckland and Otago bear their own page 86 burdens, and have the management of their own affairs." Such a result will be detrimental to our prosperity, and hinder the glorious prospects of the future.

Another effect will be that those Provinces which have been making the greatest strides in prosperity and advancement will be checked, and brought to a stand-still in their career. Otago will be by far the greatest sufferer, and Dunedin will suffer more than any other part of Otago. Having had greater obstacles to overcome, greater opposition and indifference from the General Government than any of the other Provinces, it has, by dint of dogged perseverance and plodding industry on the part of its settlers, steady enterprise, and careful calculation on the part of its merchants, prudent forethought and proper administration on the part of its Government, combined with the great impulse of the gold discovery, forged rapidly ahead, till now it stands far before any of the rest, both as regards population, revenue, commerce, productions, industries, and institutions, so that by the entire removal of its own affairs from its own territory to a distant and jealous centre, there will be a re-action on its prosperity to a greater extent than on any other of the Provinces.

The General Government have executed no public works in Otago out of revenue, excepting the erection of a few buildings and the line of telegraph. This latter was, however, originated by the Provincial, exended to outlying districts, and purchased by the General Government, when it was found expedient to have the whole system under one control. Any works which have been commenced or executed have been done out of loan, and the experience of these is not such as to commend them in preference to Provincially executed works. Take for instance the operations under the Immigration and Public Works Act of 1870. Immigration had, prior to that date, been exclusively conducted both as regards numbers and class by the Province. Since that date the Colonial Government assumed control, and if the experience of the settlers and the records of the Police Courts tell reliable tales, the character and suitableness of the immigration have fallen very far short of the standard it had obtained under the local management. The Province has been able to absorb all the labour introduced when it was at all suitable, but a large number of people have been brought who would not have passed page 87 muster by the Provincial Agents. Take again railway construction from both points of view. At the outset the Colonial Government made a boast that it would build the railways cheaper, quicker and more substantial than the Province could do. The result has not testified to the truth of the assertion. The first estimated cost of the lines has been greatly exceeded, the time occupied in their construction has been most tediously protracted, and the cost which will be entailed for maintenance will be a serious charge on their returns. If the Provincial Government had been in possession of the funds, the lines would have been as cheaply and more substantially constructed, and a much greater length of mileage would have been open for traffic than has yet been accomplished. The result of the management of the lines now opened is a strong proof in favour of this conclusion. In the Province of Auckland, the lines are under General Government management, they are not paying, and elicit loud expressions of discontent from the public. In Otago they are managed by the Provincial authorities, are paying well, and almost every one is satisfied. Another strong proof of the unfitness of the General Government to carry out efficiently public services will be found in the mail arrangements. Otago as a Province, before the General Government moved in the matter, established a steam Mail service between Victoria and New Zealand, which is carried on still, and is wrought with so much punctuality and despatch as to command by far the greatest amount of support from the people. The Colonial Government some years after Otago had started the venture, entered into arrangements for inter-provincial and colonial services, which proved miserable bungles and soon collapsed. Afterwards it attempted a Panama route, terminating in bankruptcy. The San Francisco service is on its second or third trial and again is giving signs of decay, and the very management of the mails along the New Zealand coast shows such a want of capacity as would damn the effort if made on the part of any private firm The reason is obvious to any calm observer, and it is this—that instead of making the mail service subservient to and dependent on the mercantile and travelling community, the attempt is to make the public dependent on the service and to direct trade and commerce to a centre of its own choosing. Other instances might be adduced to prove the inability of the Central Government to page 88 efficiently and economically carry on public practical business, but these will suffice to affirm the statement.

In every department of the public service in Otago under control of the Central Government—Customs, Postal, Telegraph, Registration, &c., a far larger amount of revenue is yielded than is required for management, the whole of that surplus is taken away from the Province and spent some where else, so that the Province is not only self-supporting, but is the largest contributor to the support of these Institutions in other Provinces and of the General Government itself. The whole history of the dealings of the General Government with Otago has been one of spoliation and deception—Obtaining its revenues under false promises. Two notable instances may be given. Under one pretence or another the Customs Revenue was gradually abstracted until 1870, when even the proportion of three-eighths was taken away, and a greatly reduced payment in the shape of a capitation allowance was substituted. Under the Immigration and Public Works Acts the surplus revenue in each Province, from its own railways, was guaranteed to that Province. Otago railways show a large surplus, and now, forsooth, that honest Government tells the people of the Province we intend to take your railway profits from you and with these profits pay the loss on the Wellington, Nelson, Marlborough and other lines.

Again, when the Abolition Act was passed, the solemn assurance was given that the compact of 1856, by which the lands of the South Island were assured for the uses of that island, would be fixed securely by statute; it now appears that the exigencies of the public service, which means the extravagance, wastefulness, and incapacity of the Central Government, has squandered all its income, unprofitably invested a large amount of its loans, has been reckless in its enterprises, and now the patrimony of the Middle Island, which it has carefully and judiciously utilised, is to be taken away to support the cumbrous administration at Wellington.

The future will tell whether the people of Otago will quietly submit to such arbitrary interference with their property and rights.