MR WESTEERA AT AKAROA.

Press, Volume XXII, Issue 2680, 10 March 1874, Page 5 (Supplement)

MR WESTEERA AT AKAROA.

A meetine of the -electors of the-town of bffiWed. nesday evening, .for .the r purpoße of hearing from Mr Westenra do account of the procel'olngSibf toe lasfS'session of the Provincial CounciL-rTh«-e fair attendance ; »11 tFeinTOeWial erectors'were present. The chair was taken 'ay Mr S. Watkins, —ho briefly introduced the speaker. Mr WBSTBSTRA said he had asked the etoctdirto meet bim that evening in order to give them some-account of the transactions of the Provincial Council during its last session.;; iHe thought it was the duty of —embers to meet their constituents, to give an account of their, actions, and to explain their reasons Jot supporting or opposing the | different measures brought forward in the ! Council This wonld prevent any charge of discourteayrbeing brought against, individual —embers,'and ~aiao give electors an opportunity ioi asking- questions on -any subject they might >■; wish for information upon;' He wooldonly .touch on matters which would have a- special interest; for the residents-ef the district,'and he would first epeak on the question ofiand on deferred payments. The p—position to sell land on deferred payments *—sy. aslhey were, aware, brought forward by MrEvsnß Brown in 1872 ;.a long disenasion ensued upon this question, and itended-by tbepassing of a resolution, that land to the extent of-20.000 acres should be set apart for selection. under this system ; these 20,000 acres were to be laid out in four blocks of 600O«cres each ; the run-holder upon whose runthedand was opened, was to receive compensation* v. This proposal was not objected to by iiay member, although when tbe question «aare-before the House he thought-it jnjost< anwise to touch the land laws that were .working:so well. Still from the "epixuonsLexpressed by many members, be came to the conclusion tbac the disposal of land on defesred>p*yments would, help to-6Cattef-the popolaiian; and be the means of establishing Tillages in remote parts of the province. Altbflaghjbe .voted; for this-.meaßurei ie was-glad Mr Brown abandoned the idea o£-bringing the XBft^ x to.^]^eyhiston he ■ wisbjo explain why he was glad the Act never came He. was.. by alarming population, and..had therefore — of getting .information as to their habits and capabilities. After he, was obliged to come to this conclusion, that if the,.system of de^e— ed n»vfnen,ts was y carried out, it .would have" the effect of inducing men, who had gerbjap§,no capitalj aud were, without the necessary knowledge of farming, to rush ipto, small, .holding?,, out of which it would $£ for; them to make a liy4ugj, ancl which would, in a short time be thrown, back; .on the bands ; of the Gpvernment, the land impoverished, bearing only $eajLifjiJ<cropß. of sorrel, and; docks, apd the people themselves pauperised, [Applause.] In of thecountry it becjsmjagecessary tpalt[er.aud amend the Road Ordinance, it has been deemed expedient »gji§F Vi thfl - new; , Road ; Ordinance to -give greater powers to local Boards. There need be no difficulty in dealing with this Ordinance. If provides ~fbr~ Hie "division of djateifitslin seme cases; their; amalgamation in others. He would, .wish .to correct an error that many people have fallen into, and, that was that Boards have the pOWeT to proclaim roads through griviate property, and 'take the {land required-at a valuation made by the Board. The facts are these—Should a road be required through any person's land the Board has power to lay off the road, but no power to take tile laud without giving compensation, and if (and this is the important clause of the" Ordinance); the person whose land is required is not satisfied with the amount of compensation offered, he can appeal to the Superintendent, who is empowered to grant an increased compensation if he considers that of the Board inadequate. He would speak of an Ordinance that he believed had been of greater service to the province than any Ordinance that had been passed yet by the Council— he meant the Education Ordinance. It was but a few years ago" that the present system was introduced, by which every householder was liable to a rate of £1 a year; and a further payment of 5s for each child up to the number of four. He had no hesitation in saying that be Considered this clause to be one of the greatest boonsever introduced by the Council.- He spoke with a two years' experience as chairman of a local .school committee, and the effect of the introduction of the present system was Been in the large increase of children attending school. Before ■the rates were levied the attendance at the school he was connected with was twentyfive, since the enforced payment of School rates there had been a gradual increase, and now the attendance was fifty-two. The good effect of the present system, as inducing increased attendance, was to : be accounted for -the"-fact that when people were obliged to pay their mohey they made every ■■>• effort to get /their moneys worthy He" would call- attention to ; the''provision made in the Ordinance for leading the Holy Scriptures every day for half an hour, and that the religious in- ; strUetioH'bf-thechildren was also provided' for by permitting clergymen 11 or persons ap-J by ; them to-teach the children of ( their own denominations, on'two half days every week ; and with these provisions, par-' ticular care was taken that the feelings of no< denomination should be 1 hurt, for no childj was permitted to- be present either at the reading of J th'escriptnreß dr 'at the religious -teaching'Of^any minister unless a written request was made by the parents of the child requesting that' sdeh, religiotfs in--Strnctien : sbjeuld'be-given.' He would also; to show vow carefully the Ordinance, was drawn- up so- as not 'to offend any denomination, 1 that neither sacred nor profane historyiwiaiSl to-be taught any "ichild whose parents objected. There wasA' great future before this province in the means provided for education.- 3 At present the income d&i lived from educational reserves waS £260 dJ 1 ' 1 years' time 'if waa estimated that- the income would be I -£$90«H -and' ; in fourteen years £25,798 per annum. There ; were also' other rer serves: * purposes, for the Museum, College,' &cV which- now brought . in. an annual-income of £3000. He' would j explain the leaious why it bad been necessary to vote such a large sum as £185j©00 for the Lyttelton Harbor Works, , and he would refer to Messrs Carruthers and Blackett'a report, in which they state—-"That no diSeretice of opinion can exist as to the disabilUSefc -under which the Port labours ; j that of a heavy easterly swell J noCbjßlystbpFalfwbrk at times,' but renders the position'of-vessels extremely dangerous ; that the southwest gales alsostopall work, and arffseriously- to Srnhll craft;; that theharbor is so shallow, that,no vessels except thoseof smallest class can approach near enough; to take advantage of wharf -aticomraodatidn, and that it was absolutely necessary both' to erect; substantial breakwater, and to deepen the harbor by dredging." To carry out these works, a sum of £150,000 was voted in'the first instance; but in' oohseqneßce of the increased price of labor, Jtc., a further vote of £35,000 had to be placed on the estimates. These works -were for the protection of the shipping, still he could not help contrasting the harbor'of• <Akaroa and that of Port Lyttelton. Here tbe largest vessels could anchor throw of the shore. On his arrivaToijGe fn>"Lyttelton, ithe vessel he was by had to lie out at some distance from t&eSwbarf,' the danger ball was up, and the passengers were landed from the vessel , *t the risk of their lives. He would now j *P^k on a gabject of very great interest— ' tneTahd sales—and would particularly give details of the sales on the Peninsula. During the past year there were 17,242 acres of land sold on the Peninsular-bringing into the the sum of £34,484. Out of this "Mm there ' had been voted for roads, bridges, And other public works, £12,450, and "rait'-gum was a fair share of proceeds of Peninsula land *ates. £ 10,170 of this sum w a new vote, the balance was voted previous of the late session. In all parts of ttfcp province the land sales during the past year have been very large, and the Ration arises, what is the cause of ■Ms a rush to obtain land! He thought

that question,, and tbaX was that Messrs—F-ox—-and- —sogei-'a~ scheme.... of public works and immigration was the cause of these sales. No sooner was it known that the Rakaia and Rangitata were to; be. bridged, and that the country' was to be op-nedup by a network of railways, than farmers at once crossed these rivers and purchased land as far down as Waimate. Without the introduction of the policy of Messrs Fox and Vogel, the waste lands of the province would not have been taken up, nor would the population have been scattered through the remote districts. He would wish before resuming his- seat, to say how much he had always benefitted from the experience and advice of Mr Rhodes, with whom he had been associated for four years. He wished to express his sorrow at the circumstance that obliged Mr Rhodes to retire from public life* His retirement-would be a great loss fi id' the Peninsula,*, for both in the Assembly a'tMOoUrJCil advocated every measure that would benefit their district. He had also received valuable assiet&nce from Mr Buchanan—indeed he might say that whenever the interests of the Peninsula were concerned, they three had acted like one. Having spoken about the Sheep Ordinance,-and explained its provisions, Mr Westenra announced that he intended offering himself for re-election at the forthcoming general election, but if his constituents thought they could get anyone who would represent them better, or be in any way more eligible as their member, he would gladly jretire in his favour. [Loud applause]. • - ' The Chaibman—Does any elector wish to ask Mr Westenra any questions ?, Mr "Adams—'With-regard to the sum of money voted for the Peninsula, it appears to be about one-third of the proceeds of the land sales. Is this about what other districts get-? ■■''<' -■ Mr WESTENRA—At present when very extensive works are being carried out in some districts, the Southern district for instance, the proportion is perhaps, larger, but one-third is about the usual proportion. Mr Feltham—What about the Thistle Ordinance? Is. the Government going to take any steps toAbata tbe thistle nuisance 1 Has it ever come across your notice that we are in danger of being smothered out with thistles ? [Laughter].

was a Thistle Act in force, but it was found it would be rather hard to put it into operation, as the thistle down was blown from Government land over the land of persons who had cut down their thistles. Mr Feltham—Then its the fault of the Government. Oh ! I see ; then that falls to the ground: ' Mr Whitfield—l wish to ask Mr Westenra if he is in favor of compulsory education ? '' '' Mr WeSTENßA—Personally, I should support the introduction of such a clause into the Ordinance, though at present I do not think it necessary ; it may become so. The present Ordinance seems to answer the purpose. Mr H. Watkins —Do you think there is any probability of our getting arailway ? Mr there is. I hope to see a railway to Akaroa, and shall always use my-mfiuence to f urtherso desirable an object, although the matter will be laid b^flwe-anothei'-'Housed In 1 my opinion 'a railway would pay. *' : Mr Gabwood proposed a' vote of thanks to Mr Westenra for his statement, and expressed his full '< -confidence in him as the representative of Akaroa. Mr H. Watkins seconded the vote of thanks and confidence, which was carried unanimously. Mr Westenba thanked the meeting for the courteous reception he had received, and the confidence reposed in him. He would propose a vote of thanks to the chairman ior presiding at the meeting.