The Press. TUESDAY, MAY 4, 1869.

Press, Volume XIV, Issue 1888, 4 May 1869, Page 2

The Press. TUESDAY, MAY 4, 1869.

iRETFBNrtf& to Mr Fitzberbert'sl Act, we come,now to an. examination of its financial provisions, i They areas! follow.:—The G-overnor is ! emjtower'eil 1 ;to' i&siie 'at 1 any time or! from timeto time, upon application%yi the Commissibneirs, debentures, charge-: able upon the consolidated revenue of j *the ebloiiyi ito a total sum: not exceeding! /this fixed; does i-bt appear), £100,000 in any one year; tbe pro-! ceeds debentures to 'be 'Handed! over to the Commissioners, and applied; by them in the manner afterwards! specified. The interest and sinkingfund charged wpon the debentures is? not to exceed six'per wihichj respect the proposed loan is made Gf -an-issue- similar—to. .the--consoHdatedj loan. The 13th clause authorises the Commissioners to nx the proportions in which the immigration futid'shall ;be applied for tie service of the respec-j tive cproYinces , and i counties in the; colony; the proportion so assigned to be expended in defraying thej expenses incident to the introduc-j tion of immigrants into such province or county, or in connection therewith. The 15th and 16th clauses provide for the repayment of all moneys so expended ; every province or county being charged with such a sum as shall cover the interest and sinking fund chargeable in respect of the debentures issued for its service, the territorial revenue- applicable to the service of each province o? county being ; chargeable primarily with the repaymentjof such interest and sinking fund, and in the case of deficiency the same being chargeable upon any other monies payable to or for the service of such province or county out of the ordinary revenue of the colony. By the 17th clausQ 30 per cent of the territorial revenue of any province or county is appropriated in augmentation of its immigra-f tion fund, and is directed to be paid over to the Commissioners and applied by them for the service of such o pro-! vince or county. In estimating thi| percentages all monies charged against the territorial revenue for interest an 4 smkitig fund on:advance3 for immigration are to be taken into account; Lastly, the proceeds of any rate of assessment levied in any province fo* the purpose of immigration are to be fund of'the province and expended by the Commissioners in its behalf.

These provisions may be thus sum-" marised. , money required for immigration is to be raised by loan, to the extent of not more thanI £1,000,000, at 6 and Lfixpejided, at. the.„ discretion^of,jfche Commissioners,, Every province. w}ll have to repay ! so much-of the" loan as~«hall have been spent for its special Ibenefit; and for that purpose will be jcharged with interest and sinking fund on the amount so spent. This interest land sinking fund will be charged first ! on the land fund, or, if a province has jno land fund or the land proves insufficient, on the money payable to it !out of the ordinary revenue of the colony- that is, out of its share of the •consolidated fund. In addition to the ■funds accruing from the loan, 30 per ; cent, of the territorial revenue (in- ' eluding all charges Tfor; interest and i sinking fund) will be paid over to the j Commissioners to be expended for Ithe benefit of the provinces Mieiice it jis derived. _At t first, sight these arrangements seem 1 perfectly equitable. ■'■= -livery carb is taken that money raised in one ! province shall; : . not, be, spent in ; another, and that no province shall :be charged with any portion of the loan which has not been! s_peut ; within ; its boundaries. The Commissioners, it is. true,, have the power. of deciding I wliat ahiout-t shall be expended 1 in this province or that, but the liability accompanies the expenditure in exact proportion. Thus should they determine to.expend the. whole .#JLOO,OOOj the limit of the ahnual* issue, : in Auckland or Wellington, the whole charges on account of that £100,000 would be borne by Auckland or "Wellington, and the other ..provinces .would have nothing to pay at all. So" too with the territorial revenue. Tlie percentage of lajiijfhnd appropriated td immigration is to be expended solely for the service of the proyincea which contribute it. The 30 per cent, of the land fund of Canterbury or Otago, for| instance; ia to be'spent in Canterbury and Otago, -.. and nowhere else. That is expressly provided in the Bill. The _ writers of the Lyft'eitott Timesf'vfh'd jump to the conclusion that the Bill is intended to seize upon the Southern; land fund for, the use of the North, dishonestly sup-, press that fact, _vid rj in,the J tgeth,qf an explicit declaration to the contrary,; represent that the land fund of Canterbury is liable to he expended by the Commissioners for the benefit of other i provinces. There is no foundation fori such a statement. The 17th clause: plainly enacts that the contribution from the land fund, so far from' "being; thrown into the general immigration; fund, shall be applied, to the: augmentation of the immigration fund, and for the service, of the province where it was; raised. The same principle is adhered: to in clause 20, which provides that all monies >xecejvqd .. from % i n i repayment of their immigration ex-l penses .shall go the credit of the im-; migration ftihd L b£ 'tnb !: province or | county on whose account the immi-j igrantfii shall; liave ' "We shall no doubt be asked, why, if such is our-; opinion, have ; we so; strongly condemned the arrangements; embodied in these clauses ? "We reply '%hat Opposition -is ; ! based,not on their unfairness to the. provinces, but on the effect they 1 would produce onj the colony. They would perpetuate a system ; which has /beeu;n a&d? will; continue to be, so long as it is allowed to exist, destructive to the finances of New Zealand. ; They- S would 'lead tcj additional and unnecessary taxation.; They would play into the haq;ds of the 1 Provincial Governments, and give them; opportunities of 7 using the Assembly, according to their custom, as an in-: strument for increasing their revenues at the expense of the colony; These results may not be primd facie apparent, but they would inevitably follow from the Operation of the Billi We must however reserve the consideration of them till another occasion: They are "tea-' important/ and will occupy too much space, to be entered into at the fag end of an article.