Untitled

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XX, Issue 2220, 1 September 1864, Page 6

(l ItOM nil ( IMI! PLKY ' PR' S-, ' ) TnE qno-tiou which 1-. now befoic the pio\inco is, oiip M Inch goes to tho mot of thoM (in uici il lelilions which wcic estab'i-diod by the Constitution Act bctuitn tli-> Guild iml I'kimukil (!o\ ci nmeuK , and the diflifiiUy which Ins in^en is one which nou'd not but aus-e oui of tho~e lohtions Wo su<l 1 1 iv that ltwa^a dishonest thui» ili.it loans 1 Uslil by tlic Genet (I <4o\ eminent should neeiSsiHl^ tike the puetdcucc of tho^e 1 used liy the pioviuceThis IS a shone; c\|HCi-lon , but is it too sfcionir' Let us pit the ciso — Cmteibmy pisses m OITI nance, -1^ in 1800 [01 iiwim" 1 lorn of 1 500 000 on tho --eeiiiitv of hu Ig\ emir -. 01dm ny md tciiitonil I'lie li»\i iii"), 1)', thi. ad\iLC of the -Mmistef-, gnci h's psncnt to tint Oidinwep 'I ho money is instil we will suppose, 111 London, upon lcpieSLiiti'iiins siijipoitid by tho public document-, showing the i(.\cii'io iml c\,» ndiliu j of the pio\n ct, and the S"iui c fiom which th it lcveuuc is d> in el '1 he most impoitant of tho->c sou ice-, is tlie land fund, which, hv a ics ilution of the House of liepHScntahws, is pudoici fo the piovmcial e\ ehequu. (Tpon the faith of these lepie cntations, and of all the public aet-> of the (!o-\cimnents, (ieneial and Pi >mhci J, the money lendei 111 England him hu canitil in the pio\incnl loan Om of tho (iiit points m'o whuh the cnpita'ist has liiquned ]i is been, -\\liethti the 3 eciiiitics thus ofki d to him liave Ik en pic-won-Iy cncumbeied by any pi 101 eucrac;emf nt> , he InuU that that is not the ca^e, hut that theic is a clem title to the estUo at the tnvo lie invests la-, capital So fu, the tiansaotnu) is a clcai and '■unnlc one But in, let us say, ISb} two years aftei the money has been bouowed by Cuitcibiuv on the f.nUi of aiiaiisjcincnts to which the Oi in lal Government was a ]vulj,tho flonei d Assembly, In me; in want of luonoy, piocecds to l.uso a loan iWlf. Wo asU any men of busnus-, wlicthci it is just 01 honest that tho loin so 1 \ised l>y tho Goneial f-iovoinnipiit should tike jmoiity as a inoitgiigo of the samp ie\cnne. -hliilli have been ihnily plel«ed foi the piovincKil loan of ISGO' Suiely tint is not an honest .iiiansjpmoiit , and yet it is one undci the pic^ent sy-.ttm of finance, must ntcci sauly e\ibt wliene\oi the Oencial Assembly piocecds tn uuse moil' y, bei ause tho pioMnces ha-\ o leally no revenues at all o\crpt those wlueli lemnn aftei the f-icnui il \sscmbly has appiopn.itcd whit evoi it thinks liLrht Wo say they h i\-e no ic\enuc-. in lan— lia\e they none m aputy' By the Financial lies ilutious of IS3G Ihe House of Rppie sentacu'cs founally pledged lt-olf to the abandon mont of tho tcmtoiial luvonue to the piovinccs, and it has acted on tli it pledge cvci since, w ith one exception Tn lais-mg money — the lumdied and fifty tliousand pound Join foi the fust yoai of tho wu, and tho half million foi the second you— tho Resolutions of ISoG vcio -\iiUtally violated, when tho Genci il A-^soinlily offered as a seciinty tlioso teiutonal leveiim-s which it had jncMously pledged itself should bo h mded ovet to the piovinccs It must be admitted that this was a distinct leimdiation of a baiirun Wp say of a baigam foi Mi Sowpll's Hesolutions of ISSO weie not the piomultjation of a stluino, but tho latificmon of a conti let, in which theie was value loccned on botli sides Let 11s local foi a moment the cnciimstaiipes of that contiaet. Tho clony avis called on at that time to pay the debt of the New Zealand (Jompiny, about 6200,000, which h id been expended 111 founding Wcllinqton, Nelson, and \'ew Plvmouth 'ilieio was a debt of about £120 000, winch lir>d been inclined by the Now Zoaltnd Government, and had been expended en tnely, w e believe, 111 the Noithci 11 Island and it was tnoiight deniable that money should be lac-ed foi tho imichasp of native lands 111 the Northern Tslaml Mr iScwell theiefoic jnoposrd to taiso €500,000, of which t'lBo 000 was to be spent 111 land puiehcsos, and the lest use Ito pay oft" existing debt , and tho loan was to be chained on the tlifT. lent parts of tnc colony, in fixed piopoition,, the Middle Island taking the £200,000 of the company's debt." The cost of pui chasing native lan 's piomisod to be a heavy bunlcu on the eiiiient ic\cnuo of the colony foi many ycaiN, and theSoutheiii piovinces uatuially lesisted tho.ittompt to talce tlicii land fund foi such a puipose. Now let us tike the case of C.mtcibuiy. Caiitiihuiy owed no pait of the New Zealand Company s debt; Cantcibmy owed no pait of the debt spent 111 yoais bcfoio it was founded in tho Noith ; but the levenues of Canteibmy weie liable midir tho Constitution Act to bo expended 111 land pmchases in tho NOl them Maud— if the Assembly voted the money. But it wis 111 tho ponci of the «outh, by lefnsiiif,' supplies to put a stop to the puichaso of lands 111 tho North altogether The Woith then had a distinct niteiest 111 buying up the opposition of the fcouth by maluns; a fuibngain: and the pioposai w.vs that, if the Middle Island weio for ever 10

lievert from chaiges on its laud fund by the General Government, it would take upon itself the debt of tho Now Zealand Company. We did not owe one penny of that debt. We had as good a claim to bo leheved fiora it as Auckland had ; Lub that was tho puco at winch wo bought up our land fund for evei It was a bad bvi gain at the time. The Can- 1 toibuiy land fund was then n, mere bagatelle, and sho ,vis sitting undci the scorn of the colony foi |iei sitting in maintaining thithei l.mds woie woitli twice as much as hoi neighbour ehaigcd for theiis A debt of £70,000, whioh wis iboutout shaioof tho Now Zealand Company's debt, \\ is a heavy liability foi tins piovmce to mulct bike at that tune. But we did take it as tht< pi ice of keeping our land fund Tho event piovcd lh \t out sagacity wis not m f mlfc, and that we hid made .1 good b.iig.un But the point wo wish to piess upon 0111 icaden is this— that the piopcity in its own land fund by Canteibwy, and the othei piovinces of tho Middle Island, was a thing bought and pud foi. The icsolulion? of IBOG weio rot ni tlicnahiic oE a convenient Im.uioial ar lansiemout to bo dealt with, iefc.iin< dorabandoneil, ab the Geneial Assembly might think fit, but woio the conclusion of a contiacl 111 which v ilmble consulci ation put on both sides The wai loan of IS6O was a violation of lint contiact 111 theoiy, though not in piactice , foi though the Government mtioduced tho lands of the colony into the secuuty for that loan, the land icvcimc still continued to bo paid to the piovincial chest as befoio The example was a dangcious one, as it ptepaicd the way foi a fiuthei viol it ion of a solemn engagement In ISG2 the Domett Ministiy had occixion to go to tho money lendcisfoi £500,000, nnd the land fund was again introduced as a collatc-ial s> cunty for tho debt In ISO.'?, nuclei the ten 01s of the Auckland panic, the pm-.o stmius of the colony wcic again withdiawn, and undo counsels which sound' d veiy Inm.ll like those of him -who s.aul, "Yea, all that a mm hath will lie £;ive foi his life," the Geneial Government once moic went to the money maikct foi tinea millions But, by some unexplained ouciiinstanco,'vhethei 111 leil ignoi nice of the language offonnei \cts, 01 whethci intentionally fclninking fiom so daunt; a violation of nitionil engagements, we know not, but so it is (and we believe veiy few of on 1 leadeis ate avvaie of the fact) tho tlneo million loan winch Mi. Bonder is about to negotiate, if the Panama Company will Ulow him to do so — isnot Si'cmcl on the lamh of tho colony at all All sums of money ban owed and laisod undci the authority of this Act, and liitciesttlu icon, shall boa chaigo upon the oubnaiy levenuc of Now Zeal md, as "defined by tho "Oidiuaty Revenues Act, ISIS" Such aio the wouls of the Loan Act of ISO.} ; and the "Oidii.ai y Revenue" does not, by the Act of 1S")S, include the temtoiial levcmips This is an nnpoitant fact, wlucli wete it c\ plained 111 inopei quaitcis 111 London, might ba\e a poweiful cftect 111 destio^mg the pernicious influence which the tin ce mil'ion loan has had in swamping 0111 cicdit It onuht to ho e\plamod that tho secuiity on which we aie boi lowing is totally di^tinot fiom that which the Geneial Go\ eminent olTeis lr 0111 icidois hai e followed us thioiigli this somewhat lengthy but nccssaty stoiy, they must li.ne come to the conclusion tint the light of the Piovmcial Governments to then 1 ind fund is one winch cinnot be violated without an uttei disiegard to tlioso fmanciil cngiu'cments which the whole honoiu and ci edit of tho colony demand that we shall maintun. But if the pi ovmccs hive an equitable claim to the enjovment each of its own land fund, it follow s that they have an equal claim to anticipate the ic\enues del i\ed fiom that somco, and that to inteifcic v lth such a powct, by siddling the land 10venues with chaiges on the put ot tho Oeneial Govcinmf'ut is in plain fact to violate the engagements of 1850 Wo asscit then, f'll-.t — that the bon owing of money by the Genual Gov ei iiment a& a fltst chaige upon the soouiity of the lauds which hue been^aheady pledged by the pi ov nice, with the consent of the (iciiei il Government, is dishonest tow aids the holdeis of the pirn metal debenttues ; and, secondly — that the bon owing of money at all on thosociuity of the land hind, of which the Genoi \\ Guveiiiment has by an honouiablc cugigemeut divested itself, is a bicach of intion.il laith tovvuds tho pio\ince=. In iwoiu tlicn, the 1111 mci il p ihcy pioposed by the piesont Ooveiument of Cantoibmv is a levetsa' of the ongxgomonts of 18^0 It piopose-. that the luid fund of Cauteibiuy shall be pledged foi \ debt ot \uukland, and tint of Otigo foi a debt of Taia II iki finely hit, llonoi' 1 * ulviseis ha\o not confemplat' d the matlei in this light And if not, sm 'ly it is not too 1 itc that they should icconsidci then policy. If tho policy weio one e^clusi\ely lc'ating to pioMucialpolitici, they might stuul 01 fill by it , but when the question is one so a\ ido in its be.itings, and in\ol\mg the financiil engagements into which tho (iuneial Government his cnleicdwith all the pio\ nices, suiely it would bo fat w i>ei to leave the m it^ei to the lopiescntatncs ol thi p-oplc 111 the Gciicitl \ssemhly, who •« ill, wo entei 111111 1111 n > doubt, 111 iko them elves fully acqu unfed with tho vuws ol then constituents in the mattci l<'s,pi,ci ill3' 111 iy wo e\po tthit Mi liolleston ho, fiom ln-> inoio lcccnt. advent to political life, can scaicely have a full 1 ouui/anco of all tho past ciicumstances out ol «luch lite pic>ent position Ins gtown, will fci I no h^itihon m yielding to the veiy genei il tooling -which 1-. cntcitiinel even amongst his own suppoitei,, that the mattei shall be moie fully cnisidcicd befoio the pio \nicc 1-, nictiicv ibly plclged to any action 111 the nnttei J fad the Opposition the othei night niteiod into a full disunion of all the beating-, of the qiiLstion, we hive not the =li!,'litest doubt but t'nt tlit. Government \ 011 Id have given vv iy, iconise which no Government WIHI any silf ltspoLten tak< , tho moniLiit theie is tho slightest appeuaiKo of a piity opposition And if the policy now (imposed bo aliindoncd, will it not be wisei, 111010 consistent with the nation il honoin, and moie co'isonuit with the mteiests of the most impoiUiit piovtnccs of the colony, tint any ligisl 1(1011 by tho Genet il Assembly sli ill t- nd 1 itlui to sticnifthen by the authouty of «pLCific \cts those engigcnients which aie no,v ilcokl. d m the h'-,-i ligul tlunigh not le=;s lionniiiahly binding, fonn of the 1 evolutions of ISSG ' Such would bi> the effect of the policy we blotched out ytsteidiy, a policy which wo believe to be consonnit with the views of most thinking moil in this piovniee, and which wo cinnot but beh(.\e would bo accepted by an Assembly 111 which theie is still to ho found almost all tho lc idmg nitii who woio pmtiaa to the financial engagement- of ISoO