OTAGO.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 2280, 14 April 1868, Page 3

OTAGO.

The twenty-fourth session of the Provincial Council of Otago was opened on April 8. The following is the speech of the Superintendent, which we take from the Otago Daily Times of April 9: — Mr Speaker, and Gentlemen of the Provincial Council—

When last I Lad the pleasure of addressing you, we were engaged in a conflict for the right to manage our own Provincial affairs, and I have now to congratulate you upon the fact that this privilege has been so far conceded, and the administration of the goldfields has been so far resumed by the Provincial Executive. Although the concession which has been made is by no means so ample as you in many ways last session, showed you desired it to be; still, a great deal has been gained in getting rid of the mischievous system of political interference, and the exercise of political patroDage, which the General Government evince the desire to fasten on the province. It was not until nearly the close of last year that the delegation was completed ; it will therefore be seen that the Government has had but little time to devote its attention to goldfields matters. Short as the time has been, however, it has not been wasted, and from the action which has been taken, beneficial results may be anticipated.

A considerable reduction is about to be made in the official staff on the Goldfields, and the saving thus effected will be devoted to their material development. From papers which will be laid before you, it will be seen that theOtago Goldfields are yielding a larger return of the precious metal per man than perhaps any other gold-pro-ducing country in the world. Without seeking to give any undue preponderance to the mining interest, I feel that it is one which will specially repay the best atteution of the Government. There is every reason to believe that the golden resources of the Province have, as yet, been scarcely touched, aud that a judicious and liberal policy on the part of the Council cannot fail to produce results which will throw the past altogether in the shade. One great desideratum towards this end is the construction of water reservoirs upon a sc 'le which can only be undertaken by the Government. A report and plans will be submitted to you upon this subject which, I trust, will commend themselves to your approval.

Peeling that I should be acting in accordance with your wishes, I invited H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh to viaib this province, and had his health permitted, I have no doubt we should have been honoured with his presence. I am sure you will lose no time in preparing an Address both to Her Majesty the Queen, and to H.E.H. the Duke of Edinburgh, expressive of your abhorrence of the late attack upon the Prince, and your fervent congratulation at his wonderful escape and'rapid recovery. Since you last met, a new Governor has been appointed to the colony. You will no doubt feel it your duty to present his Excellency with an AddreßS of welcome, and also to ex-

press to him the hope that he will visit,' as speedily as possible, this important portion of the colony under his charge, You will have observed, from the public prints, that an interesting shipment of salmon ova is now on its way to the province, and that breeding ponds for their reception have been constructed upon the banks of the Waiwera river. Should the same success attend the experiment to its termination as has characterised its commencement, we may fairly hope to congratulate ourselves upon having acquired a new and valuable source of wealth at a comparatively trifling cost. I am certain you will accord to Mr Toul especially, and to Mr Young, Mr Buckland, and others, through whose exertions the shipment has been made, your warm and cordial thanks.

I propose to ask you to refer to a Select Committee the consideration of the subject of the Proclamation of Hundreds.

It will be recollected that some time ago I addressed a circular to you individually with regard to the new Postoffice building. Although a large proportion of your number responded favourably to the object set forth in the circular, yet that expression of opinion was not so generally favourable as to warrant the action contemplated at the time, without obtaining a further expression of your views. I am still of opinion, however, that an effort should be made to procure the building for the purposes indicated; and should you, on consideration, eoncur in that opinion, it is probable that arrangements might yet be made with the General Government to relinquish it. One of the chief purposes to which I think the building might be devoted, would be that of a College and a New Zealand University. It appears to me the time has come when measures towards obtaining such an institution should be commenced, and there is no part of the Colony in a better position to make the commencement than ourselves.

It is proposed that 100,000 acres of land should be reserved by way of endowment; the annual revenue from which, together with that which will be derived from other sources, will suffice to provide the living agency which will be required to institute a University worthy of New Zealand. All that is needed now to give effect to this arrangement is your concurrence. Gentlemen—l am sure that it is not necessary for me to dilate upon the advantages, both material and moral, which such an institution may be expected to confer; and I confess that to me it will be a source of no little satisfaction, if, during my tenure of office, the Legislature of Otago should distinguish itself in this direction. A Select Committee will be proposed to consider the whole subject. _ I had hoped upon the present occasion to have been able to announce to you that arrangements had been concluded for the construction of the Southern Trunk Railway. It is possible, before the session terminates, that I may still have that pleasure. From the correspondence with Mr Young, which will be laid on the table, it will be seen that that gentleman was not in a position to act definitely in this matter until the arrival in England of the January mails. I am in hope, from the tenor of his last advices, that ere now his mission has come to a satisfactory termination. A commencement has been made towards deepening the Upper Harbour, and in a few months hence interprovincial and inter-colonial traders will be able to load and discharge at Dunedin Wharf. The new building for the Industrial and Eeformatory School is now completed ; and you will be asked to sanction the necessary expenditure, in order to place the school in operation.

An earnest desire has been expressed to me by the settlers in the northern districts of the province that a railway should be constructed from the river Waitaki to Moeraki, and thus to form part of the Great Trunk Line, which will, no doubt, eventually extend from the Bluff to Cook's Straits.

Looking at the extent and importance of the territory which will be intersected by this railway, and to the beneficial effects which must eventually result from it, I do not anticipate that there will be the slightest hesitation on your part in conceding to the north the same advantages which have been already granted to the south. I may state that overtures have been already made to me on the part of capitalists willing to find the money for the construction of this railway upon the same terms as are being offered in the case of the Southern trunk line, and, with the view of enabling me to deal with them, resolutions will be submitted to you during the present Session. It is true that, by the recent action of the Colonial Legislature, we are now debarred from giving any such guarantee as we have done in the case ot the Southern Trunk Eailway. At the same time I apprehend that it cannot be intended to maintain such a course of action to the prejudice of a province, the resources of which are very far beyond any liability it has yet incurred, or which it is likely to incur. Gentlemen—l need not Bay that the past year has been, in various respects, somewhat unpropitious to the onward progress of the province. What with the political struggle in which the province was engaged for six months of the year; the prolonged duration of unseasonable weather; the low price of agricultural produce, and the severe losses incurred by the late floods; we have had no ordinary difficulties to contend against. Notwithstanding all these drawbacks, I believe the province was never in a more sound and healthy condition than it is in at the present time; the best proof of which is to be found in the fact, that while depression of trade and a consequent reduction in the Customs Eevenue have fallen to the lot of most of the other provinces, no such result has befallen ourselves.

The great want of the province now 1b population; and one of the duties to

which the Government is earnestly devoting itself is, that of influencing an adequate stream of immigration of a suitable class from the Mother Country. During the past nine months we have had thirteen vessels with immigrants from Great Britain and Ireland; and I believe we could have absorbed three times the number of immigrants with advantage. Gentlemen,—Perhaps the question in which we are most deeply interested at present, and to which it is probable that your attention will be directed, is, AVhat is to be the future form of Government in New Zealand? This question is now exciting considerable interest in various parts of the colony. It is held by some that the provincial system is, and has always been, an abomination; whilst others think that, although it has done good service in the past, it has now fulfilled its end, and ought to give place to something else. I confess I cannot admit either the one proposition or the other. Had the provincial system been let alone, arid been permitted exclusively to fulfil the functions assigned to it under the Constitution Act; and had the Central Government confined its attention to purely federal matters, it would have been to the advantage of the colony as a whole this day. As it is, I feel persuaded that, if New Zealand is to be successfully colonised, it must be by means of Provincial Governments; and that to supersede the provinces indiscriminately would be not only premature, but a measure decidedly retrogressive in ita tendency. With all the disadvantages with which the provincial system has had to contend from without, and with all its abuses from within, it is probable that, but for this system, these islands would have been ten years less forward in material prosperity than they now are. And I think that every reflective mind, in this province especially, would do well to pause before rushing into an organic change, the practical result of which will, lam perfectly persuaded, be one purse for all New Zealand. That is the true meaning of centralism —one purse for the colony : that is to say, the application of the revenues of Otago to the supporting of hospitals, police, and gaols in other provinces, the revenues of which are absorbed in payment of interest upon their loans.

It has become the custom in some out-lying districts, whenever people fancy themselves aggrieved at the action of the Provincial Legislature, immediately to decry the provincial system, aud to demand its abolition, To those who take this ground I should say that, if they are successful, it is very certain the outlying districts will speedily discover the difference between the colonial and the provincial treasury.

Gentlemen—lt is my desire, as it is doubtless yours also, to appropriate the revenue at our disposal equitably throughout every district in the province; and I feel assured that the interrests of outlying districts will be much safer in the hands of this Council, where they are fairly represented, than they can possibly be in the General Assembly of the colony. It appears to me that the great object which those who have the interest of the whole province at heart should aim at is—to get clear, if not of the political, at all events of the financial partnership with the North Island. I know of no more likely means of attaining this end than for the two provinces of Ofcago and Southland to re-unite. The interests of both are precisely identical, and conjointly they possess the elements of a magnificent colony. Were such a union effected, there can be little doubt that the first step towards a gradual and voluntary fusion of the Middle Island into one province would be effected. I would suggest, that with these objects in view, overtures for a union should be made to the people of Southland. There were several extensive and much needed public works sanctioned by you last year, the carrying out of which was contingent upon the Loan Ordinance, 1867, being assented to by the General Assembly. In consequence of the refusal of this assent, these works have not been undertaken.

One very marked feature of the expenditure of the year has been the Grants-in-Aid to district Road Boards and Municipalities. By means of these grants a large portion of the revenue has been diffused all over the province, and probably more district road-making accomplished than since the commencement of the settlement. It is much to be desired that, in ap portioning the revenue for the current year, we may be enabled to make provision for continuing these grants on the same Bcale.

Various measures of a more or less important nature will be submitted to you, for which I bespeak your careful attention.

I have to congratulate you on the improved financial position of the Dunedin Corporation, which has resulted from the action of the Council during its last session. The estimates, which will be laid before you, will be framed with a view to the utmost economy, consistent with efficiency in the departmental expenditure.

Tou will be asked to vote for public works such moneys as the revenue will admit.

Tou will join with me in regretting that many of the works required have been rendered necessary by the severe floods with which the province has been afflicted.

In conclusion, I would remark, with reference to our relations wilh the rest of the colony, that it is much to be regretted that tho.se relatious should continually involve us acting on the defensive. I am persuaded that nothing is more prejudicial lo the real interests of this colony than a meddling General Government. That there must be a change of some sort is imperative. To my mind, the proper direction of that change should be to permit, and, if necessary, compel each province to provide for its own peace, order and good government, out of its own re-

sources, as best it may. This is the policy of the Constitution Act. Had it been adhered to, the colony would have been spared the perplexities and the burdens in which it is now involved; and this province, instead of bein<> forced by the instinct of self-preserva°-tion into a position of chronic antagonism with the General Government, would have been left untrammelled in the pursuit of its natural and proper functions.

I have only further to express my earnest hope that the result of your deliberations may be the advancement and happiness of the whole body of the people, and the more speedy development of the vast resources of the Province which, under Providence, has been confided to our joint administration,