The Press. THURSDAY, JULY 7, 1870.

Press, Volume XVII, Issue 2248, 7 July 1870, Page 2

The Press. THURSDAY, JULY 7, 1870.

The resolution passed at the meeting last evening expresses, we think, pretty accurately the general opinion

!of the people of| Christchurch with respect to Mr Voxel's scheme. It is curious, by tho bye, to remark how every one instinctively al tributes the whole scheme to Mr Vogel ; the name of no other member of the Government is ever mentioned in connection with it. Of course comparatively few people at the meeting had studied the financial statement, and fawer still had ever so much a* seen the Bills for tjivin_r effect to it? proposals. All that, generally speaking, was known about the matter was flat the Government intended durinjj the next ten years to born w £0,000 000. to make it up to a total value of £10,000,000 by grants of land, miar.-inte«-s, and contributions from revenue, and to spend tbe whole at the rate of £1,000,000 x year, upon public works aud immigration. So far tbe scheme is entirely approved of. After wearily watching the resources of the colony engui phed year after year in the bottomle_3 pit of Native wars, every one munt feel relieved and gratified to find the Government able at last to subordinate native aifairs to the promotion of colonisation. That the Legislature should be invited to consider a plan, not for confiscation and military settlements but for railways and immigration, and to borrow money, not to be wasted in war but to be expended on remunerative purposes, is indeed a cheering sign. As Mr. Moorhouse said, all New Zealand must sympathise with the Government in their vigorous endeavors to further the progress of the colony.

But the resolution must not be taken as amounting to more than this. The general sympathy with the objects aimed at by the Grovernment plan, and the cordial agreement expressed with its main principles, must not be understood —and we trust will not be understood in "Wellington—as extending to all the means by which these objects are attained, or to all the | manner in which those principles are carried into effect. There are parts of the scheme, not alluded to by any of the speakers last night, which involve very serious consequences, and should at all events be very fully considered before they are adopted. The system of administration, again, when we come to spending seven millions and a half of money on railways alone, is a question of the first importance ; and this too was not touched upon by either the mover or seconder of the resolution. So that a full agreement with Mr. Vogel's cardinal point " that the great wants of the colony are public works, in the shape of roads and railways, and immigration " — a complete recognition " that the time has arrived when we must set ourselves to the task of actively promoting the settlement of the country " —and even a cordial assent to the principles which are at the base of the G-overnment proposals—are yet compatible with a strong opinion that there is much in these proposals which will need modification before they can be safely accepted.

We have already referred to the £200,000 allotted for the acquisition of a landed estate for the North Island as a possible cause of disturbance. Prom another part of the financial statement we learn that the Government have resolved on making an appropriation for defence, extending over three years, of from £180,000 to £150,000 a year. We do not question the wisdom of this course ; but it proves that they are far from thinking that all danger of fresh outbreak is at an end. Now there is nothing in the world more likely to lead to a rupture than any precipitate action on the part of the Government in the purchase of land. It was in a dis puted land purchase at Waitara, in Taranaki, that all the troubles of the last eight years began ; aud the colony has been brought to the verge of war by the quarrels between the Provincial Groverninent and the Natives of Wellington over the sale of the Manawatu. If £200,000 is definitely set aside for the acquirement of Nativeland, there will be much reason to fear lest the provinces, in their eagerness to get possession of their landed estate, hurry the Government into some transaction which will lead to fresh disputes, and lay the train for a renewal of war.

Another point that has not been noticed, will greatly affect the provinces of the Middle Island—at least, Canterbury and Otago; we allude to that part of the scheme which provides for the payment of works in land. The Act empowers any Superintendent, with the consent of the Provincial Council, to set aside any amount of waste land that may be determined on for the construction of a railway, which land the Governor may thereupon grant to the contractor for the railway as compensation in whole or part for the construction of it. Another clause provides that the Superintendent of any province in which a railway is about to be constructed may, with the consent of the Provincial Council,

agree with the Governor that such parts of the waste lands within the province as may be decided on shall be accepted in lieu of payment of the amount chargeable against the province. Such lands shall thereupon cease to be subject to disposal under the land regulations of the province, and shall be disposed of for such of tbe purposes authorised by the Act as tbe Governor shall direct. The Governor is authorised to make grants of land in compensation for tbe construction of railways to an amount not exceeding ? 500,000 acres. Mr assumes in bis statement thnt 6,000,000 acres of land will be applied under the Act to railway purposes ; 2.500.000 acres being directly employed in the w.-ty of payments for railways, and the oiner £3,500,000 being applicable in reduction of tho capital cost on tbe yearly interest, It is indeed an essential part of tbe scheme, and a source to which he looks for a reduction of tbe money cost of the railways, that " the land should be made to bear a considerable portion of the burden." But what would be the result of the process ? If so much land is subtracted from the available acreage, and made over to contractors or to the General Government — in either case passing out of the hands of the provinces —it seems to us that there will be a complete derangement of the existing land laws of the colony, and a considerable interference with the working of the provincial system. The introduction on so large a scale of payments in land is an important feature of the scheme; and its effect should be considered both upon the price of the waste lands and upon the settlement of the country.

There are other points to which we had wished to call attention, especially the mixed system of administration in public works which Mr. Yogel proposes to adopt, and the enormous influence which the absolute control over an expenditure of £L 0,000,000 would confer on the Ministry of the day. We referred to the latter point very briefly in our yesterday's article, but it requires fuller consideration Our limits are, however, already exceeded, and we must postpone any further remarks till another occasion.