THE CAUDINE FORKS.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XVII, Issue 1347, 6 November 1860, Page 2

THE CAUDINE FORKS.

At the eleventh hour, and through somewhat clumsy generalship, the Government contrived to get themselves fairly jammed. Unable either to advance or to retreat, they had no choice but to surrender. It was ( ' The battle of the Provinces ■" the casus belli being the distribution among the Provinces of the Ordinary Surplus Eevenue. Our readers are aware 'that the Surplus Kevenue is that portion which remains for the Provinces after the General Government shall have helped itself, at discretion, out of the General Kevenue of the Colony ; that portion, in fact, which is not appropriated, for specific purposes, by the Assembly. Let us now suppose the Assembly to have appropriated for the year 1858-9 £72,000, in addition to the permanent charges ; and, also, that the Government shall have exceeeded that sum by £38,000 ; the question remains — is that sum, for which no appropriation had been made, Provincial money,- (we purposely avoid technical terms), or is it General Government money. Undoubtedly Provincial, if left unappropriated ; and the point at issue is, whether a subsequent appropriation, by means of supplementary estimates, can make good the original defect, — whether that£38,000, after having once become surplus revenue, and which ought to have been divided, can be unprovincialized. The {point admits jof dispute; but, upon the whole, we think that the money cannotbe unprovincialized ; because the supplementary estimates are charged upon the current expenditure of a subsequent financial period. It appears to us that the gist of the much vexed question is in this : — did the Assembly appropriate within the period, or beyond it 1 If within it, the Provinces have no case ; for the Assembly cannot divest itself of the power of appropriating within the period, during which, several Sessions might not impossibly be held. If beyond it, the Assembly is too late, the sum in question having become already provincialized by law. In the present instance, the Provinces have the best of the argument, but of nothing more. A wrong has been committed, but for once, the legal maxim fails, — that where there is a wrong there is a remedy. For how is the money, taken from the provinces and spent, to be recovered by them. It is as water spilled upon the earth, not to be gatbered up again ; unless, indeed, the ministers be made personally liable. The General Government have no money to give, for the simple reason that by the Constitution Act, they can never have one penny of surplus revenue out of which to pay. There is no drawing blood from a door post. The Provinces contribute the Colonial Kevenue : to borrow an expression fiom the Clown in Twelfth Night, they " breed" the money ; the General Government take what is necessary for their own purposes, and return the surplus. Consequently, in affecting to return what has been spent without appropriation, and in so far diminishing that surplus, they pay the Provinces with their own money. The Superintendents, however, forgetful of the Pythagorean maxim — Ex nihilo nihilfit, still insisted upon the recovery of what had been lost. The trenches were opened by Mr. Fox. The hon. member moved the following resolution, by way of amendment to the vote of £40,000 for arms and ammunition : — That In making provision for war expenses, provision be also made for the Provincial Balance of Surplus Revenue, and refund of the Land Revenue deposits so far as a loan may be necessary for defraying the same. This resolution includes with the surplus general revenue, the reserved sixths out of the land revenue. For explanation, we refer to a former article in this journal. The Colonial Treasurer exhausted all the phials of his indignation on the proposal, and the debate became so stormy that at last it was adjourned. At the next sitting, Mr. Gillies proposed the following, by way of compromise : That the surplus revenue for the financial period ending 30th June, 1860, be paid to the Provinces, together with $ ths of the Customs Revenue for the current year. That any excess of expenditure over revenue, after payment of the fore-mentioned amounts, be provided for by the issue of bills extending over a period of two years after the current year. That the repayment of such Treasury Bilk be charged against any surplus revenues aiising after payment of f ths of the Customs revenues to the Provinces from year to year until such Treasury Bills be repaid. That the aboye arrangement be embodied in the Loan Act or other permanent Act to be passed this Session. Let us now consider what this proposal amounts to. The misappropriation by the General Government (we use the word in its technical sense) is irredeemable, because they have no funds from which to restore what they ' have taken. They have milked the cow, and cannot conjure the milk back into the udder again. " But," say j;the provincialists to the General Government, " you can borrow the money ; you can charge the refund against the loan, instead of against the ordinary revenue." So they can, assuredly j but by whom will the interest be paid ? .Of course by the Provinces themselves — the income-breeders for the colony. The effect of the resolutions is simirty to place a certain sum of ready money to the credit of the present Superintendents, at the expense of their successors. The Colonial Treasurer fought stoutly enough for a while ; but he, and every one else, knew from the first, that the Government must be beaten, if the opposition only pressed their advantage. No one said, — why ; but every one knew. We shall now inform our readers how they came to be jammed into a corner. It must be borne in mind, that the natural term of the present Parliament expires to-day. Yesterday was the last sitting day. The Government, by delay in the bringing down of important bills, — for instance, the Loan Act, had manifested a desire of leaving a crush of business for the last few hours, during which it might be expected, by help of a majority of yotea, that the Government measures would be

rushed through the House, without debate. And it must be admitted, that the opposition (whether designedly or not we cannot say) had aided and abetted this procrastination. But the Government had miscalculated ; they had "drawn it a little too fine;" they had run the time so close, that it was found that the business of the Session could not be closed up without a suspension of the standing orders. But for suspension of the standing orders, the presence of at least two-thirds of the whole number of members (forty - one) is required. The Government, on ordinary occasions, (three members are absent) muster about nineteen votes, including their own. Consequently, it was in the power of the opposition to hinder a suspension of the standing orders, by walking out of the House. There was some talk in the House about " using all constitutional means," &c. ; but although eveiy one knew, no one breathed a hint of the precise manner in which this peculiar form of constitutionality was to be exerted. The Government had to go out, or give way ; and going out is awkward, after refusal of enquiry. For the first act of a new Government would be, — to institute enquiry. And they were debarred, from challenging the House to a vote of want of confidence, by their indignant repudiation of the idea that they would wait for such a vote. It must be admitted, that they were somewhat stionger then than now, — that they expected to carry all their measures, and indulged in a little -bravado accordingly. It must also be admitted that their ideas appear to have undergone a considerable change of late ; but still, the declaration had been made, even in offensive terms, with a misrepresentation of what had been proposed to them ; and to their declaiation they would have been held. The Colonial Tieasurer offerred another proposal, in lieu of Mr. Gillies' resolutions. He said that if the House would consent to the sound principle of charging the supplementary expenditure on the current expenditure of this year, he would propose a resolution, which he read, approving of the advance of the whole of the deposit sums, the Provinces receiving twoeighths instead of three-eights of the gross customs duties. The proposal was rejected by the northern members, because they would not be parties to the disadvantage to the Middle Island which would result. To which we may add, on our own account, that they would have been crazed had they accepted Mr. Bichmond's proposal in lieu of Mr. Gillies'. For although the Legislative Council have thrown out the bills sent down from the House repealing the reservation of the one-sixth land fund, it does not follow that they will continue their opposition* in a new parliament, against an enlarged House. They may or they may not ; but by taking Mr. Gillies' pioposalin lieu of Mr. Richmond's, the Provincialists letain the chance of 'winning both their obi eels. The Colonial Treasurer again gave way, having no alternative but that which we have mentioned. In his place, we should most assuredly have stood out to the last. But instead of taking his stand upon a principle — instead of talcing one side or the other — instead of declaring ex cathedra, either that the unauthoiised expcndituie was from moneys belonging to the Provincial Governments, or to the General, as the case might be, he accepted a compromise. And the compromise was to this effect : — if you will not press us — if you will not drive us to the admission that the Provinces have a valid claim, which we cannot satisfy, we will allow you to forestall your own future revenues : 'you may overdraw your account at the bankers. Of course, the ready penny carried the day.