PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT SIMPLIFIED.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 4, Issue 196, 21 June 1860, Page 3

PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT SIMPLIFIED.

The following extracts from the Address of the Superintendent of Marlborough, at. the opening of the Council on the 22ud ulti; de- . serve consideration:— “ There is one point oti which I hope for your cordial assistance—-that is, in. supporting me in can’ying on the business of this province,in the simplest manner.

“I have prepared, and will lay before you la draft Executive Bill, by which you will perceive that I do not intend to appoint any Executive; but have retained in the Superintendent the entire administrative and executive control of the business of this province. “ I have done this on mature consideration, and .for .these reasons :

‘‘■First,, being so small a body, and so easily ' called.together, I consider it much better, and. more ,in accordance with common sense, totalce the.opinion of the whole Council upon all. important measures,, than to rely upon the judgment of two or three, of your body as a , Government Executive.

“ Secondly, because one of the main priu-, ciplcs on which we grounded our arguments^-,

fir separation, was the intention ami the hope of conducting the busi-less of this little pro Vince in a plain and unostentatious mam er. devoid of all the expensive paraphernalia of other provinces.

“ The enormous expenditure and absurd assumptions of Provincial Governments; is one of the main arguments in the public mind against this form of government, and the cause, more than any other, tending to destroy the popu’ar feeling for Provincial Governments, arid the rock up >n which most assuredly they will be wrecked, if not guarded against; for, in a very short time, when the land sales do not yield the abundant harvest to the chest they have hitherto done, the costs of the Pro vincial Governments will exceed the ordinary revenue of the provinces, and then heavy taxation must follow.

“ By the course I am wishful to attempt, 1 hope to steer clear of the shoals that cthei provinces have struck upon,-who cannot, or have not the courage, t.o break through the harrier of official appointments, and the interminable net of machinery that has been gradually gaining upon them. Let us, therefore, in the beginning, while we are free to choose our course, view our little province as a small county, and manage all our matters in a plain, unostentatious manner, and then we shall be able to expend the prim ipal part of our rov enue in forming good roads ai cl bridges through the length and breadth of our province.

In following out this principle I believe we shall have the full concurrence and support of our constituents at large; and without that ro representative government can ever aspire to do any good. “ On this principle I shall ever try to act, and when I find I have not the support of a majority of this Council, upon the main qtiestio is of policy, I shall look upon my steward - ship as ended; for I hold that whenever a public man, at the head of a representative government, either large or small, loses the confidence of the people, it is time fbr him to resign his office ; for be liis intentions ever so good, or ever so pure, his power for doing good is gone.

“ In the matter of the sale of the Government land still remaining unsold in this province, my opinion is, that we should class that under three heads, namely,—

“ Pastoral, <£ Inferior agricultural, and “ Superior agricultural, or timber land ; and that now most of the best land in the province has been sold, I think it would be unfair to the public, and giving an undue advantage to the owners of land purchased at the fixed upset price of ss. and 10s. to make any higher assessment than—- “ Pastoral land, at 55., 1 “ Inferior agricultural, at 10s.

“ I am perfectly aware that there is a difference in the value of different parts of these two sorts of land, particularly the pastoral; but the line of value is very difficult to draw with equity, without a personal inspection, and as such would be impossible in all cases, it would be invidious in the few; therefore I consider it fairer to all patties to let the upset prices stand at ss. and 10s. than trust to any office assessment, which many of ns know to our cost is not always a very equitable one. “ And there is another advantage. I believe it will be more satisfactory to all parties for the upset prices to be fixed as far as prae ticable; and therefore the only land I shall advise an assessment to be made upon is the timber or superior agricultural land, and this ?nay vary between 10s. and 205.”