As to the “financial difficulties” they are, I apprehend, as respects the colony, sufficiently grave already, and one of the most effective ways out of this would be to make Otago a separate colony, relying entirely upon its own resources. It is far better able to stand alone than were any of the neighbouring colonies when they were created. And I believe that notwithstanding the millions of money of which it has already been drained by the Colonial Parliament, it would be willing, and it would be clearly to its interests, to pay a handsome price, if by doing so the province could steer clear of the maelstrom of colonial finance.

Were Otago a separate colony New Zealand would be compelled to start afresh, and to cut its coat according to its cloth, in which case it present civil service and its standing army must needs be reduced and brought within the compass of its absolute requirements. No doubt this end might be attained in a less degree were each island to be charged with the uncontrolled management of its own affairs.

As to the savings which you say will be incidental to doing away with the Provincial Executives, savings by the way which your colleague the late Colonial Treasurer was forced to admit would be nil, I confess that with every desire to be enlightened I cannot see how the creation in Otago of a number of counties, each with its staff of officials, small Provincial Councils —in fact, under another name—is to be less expensive than one Provincial Council. Your saving of £10,000 a year will, I fear, result in an additional expenditure of double that amount. Even assuming, however, that there would be such a saving, I am convinced that the people of Otago are content to pay much more towards the upholding of their local Parliament.

As to the proposals you intend to submit to the Assembly, it is unnecessary for me to allude to them further than to repeat my opinion that you cannot seriously believe that a body like the General Assembly may not demand various and serious alterations in any proposals your Government may submit to it.

I would now refer very briefly to your remarks on the branch railway lines and the absorption of our land revenue. You express surprise that the Provincial Government should have formed branch railways. You seem to be unaware that those lines have all been sanctioned by the Colonial Government, and that no line has been sanctioned which does not open up a settled country or a district fit for occupation. Would it be found that the light lines now being constructed in Otago will be quite as cheap as metalled roads. I assert further, without fear of contradiction, that every railway in Otago will pay interest on the cost of its construction were the management left in the hands of the Provincial Government.

I have yet to learn that it is right to form railway lines close to the sea-board, not thereby opening up much fresh land for settlement, and wrong to construct lines into the interior, thus giving those districts which are far removed from water communication a reliable and speedy means of bringing their produce to market. I look upon it that while both are desirable, the one is of much more importance than the other; and that if the money which has been, and is being, expended by the Colonial Government in Otago had been at the disposal of the Provincial Council, the results, as regards the beneficial occupation and development of the resources of the province, would have been vastly different.

Under the Abolition regime the many districts to which branch railways ought to be made are to be denied that privilege, inasmuch as Otago railway profits and land fund must be absorbed by the Colonial Treasury. This must be very consoling to the country districts for whose interests the Colonial Government now express so much concern.

And now one word as to the astounding proposal to repeal the most important provision of the “Immigration and Public Works Act.” To me it is a matter of most extreme surprise how you can possibly have arrived at the conclusion that such a proposal was just. It is far from comforting to those who, like myself, supported you in the inauguration of the Public Works policy to be told that your promises of 1870 and 1871 are to be cast to the winds in 1876. Were I, you write, to be “a member of the Colonial Government for three months” I would cease to doubt the necessity of upholding the law which has decreed the abolition of the provinces.

This is an extraordinary statement. Can it be true, after all, that this policy, which at its outset promised so fairly, has so involved the colony in financial disaster that the constitution must be swept away, and our political action controlled by money lenders? Pledges the most solemn, oft-repeated promises, Acts of Parliament—all to be ignored.

It is anything but pleasing to me to write in this strain, but with all due deference I submit that these are thoughts that should weigh with the Colonial Government in considering well the results of any proposals they may make before attempting to force them upon an unwilling people.

Nothing could act as a greater beacon of warning to the people of Otago than these proposals, proclaiming as they do that to trust to an act of the General Assembly for localising the land fund, even should there to be any residue to localise, is placing reliance upon a rope of sand.

Indeed you have now to admit that Abolition means that the people of Otago must either be deprived of their land revenue or submit to an income tax to meet the charges on unproductive railways elsewhere. My own impression is that they will have to submit to both if Abolition becomes law.

I fear I have trespassed far too long on your attention. The grave position in which you find the colony, as disclosed by your letter, must be my excuse.

I cannot better conclude this letter than by sincerely thanking you for the trouble you have taken in explaining your policy, although to my mind you have failed to make good your position.

I believe the attention you have paid to my opinion will not be wholly thrown away. It will tend to excite an interest in the study of politics, which this colony much requires, whilst it will also shew that a sincere, an earnest, and an able man may from force of circumstances, apparently uncontrollable, be led to adopt a political creed he once denounced, and to ally himself with a political party with whom he has little in common.

Again thanking you for your courtesy,

I have the honour to be, Sir,

Your most obedient servant,

(Signed), J. MACANDREW,
Superintendent of Otago.

The Honorable the Premier, Wellington.

Province of Otago, N.Z.,
Superintendent’s Office,
Dunedin, 4th May, 1876.

SIR,—Referring to your telegram in reply to mine, requesting you officially to contradict the rumour current here that the Colonial Government had intimated its desire that the Waste Land Board should refuse to grant certain applications for land recently proclaimed by the Provincial Government, under the delegated powers open for sale at 20s. an acre, I much regret that while you neither deny nor admit the rumour alluded to, you express your approval of the action of the Waste Land Board in declining to grant the applications, and as a necessary inference