The Press.

Press, Volume XI, Issue 1409, 15 May 1867, Page 2

The Press.

WEDNESDAY, MAT 15, 1807. "Whex the Government is taxed with not paying, or paying only in part, the sums voted by the Provincial Council to the lioad Hoards and Municipalities, they answer in forma pauperis. Their invariable reply is, that they wotii.i be liappy to pay if they had the inoiiey but that they Lave none—that the Treasury is in point of fact empty. Their supporters take up the sama cry, and are loud in their denunciations of thoae who expect the Government to perform the impossible task' of pouring out an abunduut supply of money from ; au exhausted exchequer. Now this plea of iuipeeuuiosity, so far.as it goes.! is unanswerably good. U.v nihilonihil \ Jit. If the Government are ;\t the end i of their funds it is plain that they have no resource but to suspend payments. - By what inisoiauageuieut they have | ai'rived at such a position is another i matter. But the remarkable thing ig that this Government, which at one time declares itself so bare of cash as to bo unable to carry out its own

estimates, can at another time and for other objects afford to spend with the most princely liberality. They profess inability to pay the sums voted by the Council, while they do not hesitate to incur expenditure for which the Council has made no provision. Their economy cannot get beyond the one fixed idea of stinting theEoad Boards. ! They have no money for the works absolutely required for the settlement of tho country, but can find plenty for works of luxury or ornament. They cannot spend j £4000 on that long promised work, the Timaru breakwater, but can spend £20,000 in buying a useless wharf at Lyttelton. They cannot pay in full the suras appropriated to the country districts of the East, but they can lavish money without stint or limit for the benefit of the diggers on the West. For instance, when the complaints of the JRoad Boards were loude3t, and their applications for assistance were being met with assurances of the total want of funds and the impossibility of making any further payments, the Government took the opportunity to broach a scheme for the purchase of the Mechanics' Institute (first buying up the interest of the shareholders) and converting it into a library, reading-room, &c, for the use of the public of Christchurch. Now an extensive, well-managed, free library iv Christchurch would undoubtedly be an excellent institution, and it might be an advantage to have some place where young men of the town, or coming in from the country, might resort of an evening for some more rational and profitable recreation than is to be found in bar parlors. Whether indeed anything of the kind should be set on foot by the Government may be questioned, though, if the state of the finances permitted, it might very properly be assisted with a generous contribution from the public chest. But surely the establishment and maintenance of a public reading-room is one of the luxuries of expenditure, which should be incurred only when the revenue is in a most flourishing condition, and not till after all the more immediate wants of the province have been fully satisfied. What are we to think of a Government which chooses as the fittest time for such an outlay, a time when there is a heavy over- -, draft at the Bank, when the revenue j shows a deficit, and when their only way of making both ends meet is by diminishing the amounts appropriated by the Provincial Council to the use of the country districts ? Again, the work of most pressing importance in Canterbury at the present moment is the completion of the harbour works. It will not be many weeks before the tunnel is open for traffic, and it is of the utmost consequence that wharfage should be provided in Lyttelton so as to allow vessels of large size to lie alongside and discharge directly on to the railway. Unless that is accomplished half the benefit of the tunnel and railroad will be thrown away. The best authority in the colony, specially consulted for the purpose, has pointed out how it can be effected in the shortest time and at the least cost; yet the Government, in spite of his recommendations, propose to waste some £20,000 in the purchase of a wharf that not only no ship, but not even any of the coasting steamers, unless of the smallest size, can approach. The West Coast, again, presents another,instance. There, a most liberal expenditure is going on. The fortunate inhabitants, so far from having any portion of the sums voted by the Council withheld, are receiving vastly in excess of the estimates. The country is being surveyed, roads made, hundreds of miles of tracks cut through the bush, ferries established with a grant in aid where the traffic is not sufficiently remunerative; no expense is spared to assist prospectors and to encourage the development of thegoldfields. And all this by a Government which, when asked by the Eastern districts, not for any special or unauthorised expenditure, but simply for what is their due, declares that it has no money ! Oα the East, the friends of the Government boast of it as a most meritorious achievement that only one-quarter lias ! been deducted from the alluwnuces of the l?o:i(l Boards : on the Yves', the over expenditure, beyond what w.is sanctioned by the Council, has been without limit. Nor can it be replied that Wepllaud is entitled to the expenture of its revenue. Suppose we grant that, these expenses are not defrayed from the revenues of the West, but from the E;ist. Tho resources of West land- are insutficient for the demands upon them, and require to be supplemented by largo contributions from the other side —that is, from the land fuud. The fund which of all others should be expended in promoting the settlement of the country is charged with the expense of hunting after goldfields on the West Coast, and the very districts in which it was raised have their share lessened in consequence.

These capricious alternations cfrigid economy and profuse expenditure, and this inconsistent and partial dealiug with the two sides of the province, are calculated to destroy al , confidence in the present adiniuistratiou. They indicate a fatal degree of weakness and irresolution ; on the one hand, a recognition of the fact that the times are such as to require the utmost economy in the management of public affair? ; and od the other, an inability to resist a sort of spasmodic impulse towards what appears a more energetic course of action. The interests of Canterbury cannot safely be entrusted to a Government of counsels so wavering and divided. The province has fallen into an embarrassing position which calk for the exercise of patience, caution and firmness of purpose on the part of its rulers, aud these are qualities which the instances we have quoted show to be most plentifully lacking.

The Glass Blvstkus. — This company will give two entertainments to-day in the Town Hall, At the evening one, the glans steam engines will be taken to pieces. The i list of prizes to ba giveaawayJa a very large one. West Coast Tbaffig.—During the week ending Bth May 102 head of cuttle, in two mobs of fourty-two and sixty, and 600 sheep,, in two mobs of 300, have been driven past the Kangiriri station on the road to Hokitifca. Katafoi Volunteers. —On Monday last the usual parade of this company took place us usual. A large proportion of the company were present. The officers in command were Captain Beswick and Lieutenant Porter. We are much pleased to notice the proficiency which has of late been acquired by the fife :md drum bund, who, under .Sergeant Ashworth's instruction, have mastered sevoral capital selections of march and other music. The annual supper of the company will shortly take place at the Kaikuinui hotel. Otago Finance.—ln committee of the Provincial Council the following motion w-is discussed: —"That it is expedient to raise a lonn of £600,000 for the following purposes— Ist. To pay the expenditure in excess on the harbor, and for further improving the harbor. 2nd. To repay the Otago Loan Ordinance,lß66, for Public Works and Immigration." The Treasurer, in moving the resolution, suggested the alteration of the amount of the loan to £1,000,000 ; and Mr Julius moved &uch an amendment, believing that there were many works which it was almost an absolute necessity should be carried out, that to carry them out «s they ought, to be it was necessary to have large funds at command. The amendment was agreed to.