A Wellington contemporary says that it is reported on good authority that the Government scheme of Aboli tion when brought down, will be found to apply to the provinces of the Middle Island as well as those of the North. We are glad of this. The question will then be discussed on its merits, and the future form of government of the colony settled finally for some time to come. In former articles on this question we have pointed out that the Government proposals last session were brought down in a hurry, without any previous consideration, and without any serious demand on the part of the people of the colony for such a change. No agitation has been going on in any part of New Zealand in favor of Aboli tion, and even the press with one or two exceptions, have not treated the question in that grave and serious manner which its great importance demands. No very decided public opinion can therefore have been formed on. the question. Besides, the present Assembly is eminently unqualified to discuss it. Its members were elected pledged to carry out in its entirety the scheme of immigration and public works upon which the colony had entered, and it is of the greatest importance that it should devote its last session exclusively to completing the work upon which it has entered. There are signs in plenty that time spent in this direction will not have been thrown away. In the recent address of the Superintendent of Nelson, reference is made to the gross mismanagement of the Brunner rail way —“ that remarkable specimen of a political railway,” as he calls it. The first estimate of its cost in 1871 was £26,250; in 1872, the .estimate was

raised to £54,400; in 1873, it was raised to £74,000; and in 1874 it was raised to £84,000, and it is said that £15,000 more will be required to com plete it. The Superintendent of Nel son is of opinion that after all this waste it will be found necessary to abandon it altogether and re-construct it on the other bank of the river, in accordance with a proposal made by him before the line was commenced. 