AUCKLAND AND THE IMMIGRATION AND PUBLIC WORKS ACT.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXVII, Issue 4401, 22 September 1871, Page 3

AUCKLAND AND THE IMMIGRATION AND PUBLIC WORKS ACT.

The first annual report of the Immigration and Public Works Department was one of the Parliamentary papers laid on the table of the House. It shows bow far Auckland was behind the other provinces in availing itself of the beuelits conferred by the Act ; and throughout the document, in its references to Auckland, there seems to bo something like sorrow expressed at the perversity of the Superintendent of " Our Province." One portion of the report states : — "Part IV. of the Immigration and Public Works Act authorises the Governor, at the request of the Superintendent of a province in the JNorth Island, to acquire land in that province for the purpose of settlement, the cost of the purchase being chargeable to such province. In the province of Auckland this provision has been taken advantage of to a alight extent, but in the provinces of Hawke's Bay and Wellington a large purchase has been effected" It then relates how "231,430 acres of fertile land" (about Ib. 4<id. per acre) has been bought by these provinces "for about £16,000." A large block at the Wairarapa also is being negotiated for, and there exists a " strong hope that the whole block will soon be acquired." From a schedule attached to the report "we learn that the purchase made in Auckland was at the Wharau.and a sum of £150 paid; but for the purchase for the provinces of Wellington and Hawke's Bay of the Sevenfr^Mile Bush there was a sum of £80 paid, and a further liability of £18,000. In the schedule giving the results of the expenditure pn roads and tramways in the North Island, up to the 30 th June, 1871, the comparison is still more unfavourable to Auckland. There are numerous little bits of road's being constructed in Auckland here and there, but the total •mount expended under tht £30, 000 vote of 1869, and the Immigration and Public Works Act, 1870, up to the 1 above date, was £12,783155. Id. There were ho we ver liabilities on the same heads "contracted for," and " authorised," but " not yet contracted for," a further sum of £ If, 653 145., making a total of £24,437 9s. Id. In like manner, and under the same authorities, the £30,000 vote ' of 1869, and Immigration and Public Works Act, the province of Hawke's Bay footed up a total of £18,864 19s. 10d.; Taranaki, a total of £14.415 17s. Id.; and Wellington, a total of £29,015 14s. Bd., to which latter item had to be added a sum of £11,285 for tramways in that province, making a grand total f<* Welliagton of £40,300 14s. Bd. No ,one who knows anght of the importance of the four provinces named, and the respective populations they contain, can say such an expenditure ia at all equitable ; and the only explanation of the anomaly is to be found in the taotj' that /the Superintendent of "Oar Prevjnce'' his taken more delight in fighting and Quarrelling -with the Government than iri: ; |nitiating an extensive system of road making in this province, which would have

» done more for tho settlement and prosperity of the province tuan the settlement of half-a-dozen Buaby claims. The same fatuity is seen when the returns of the expenditure and liabilities for the survey of railways ia the various provinces are examined. Auckland is far behind, simply becau.se a scheme of works desirable to be carried out in " Our Province" was not recommended in time by the proper person to do so. There is only one railway survey going on in this province — Auckland to the Waikato,— and that was not initiated by the Superintendent of the province, but was ordered to be undertaken by the last Amenably. The cost of that work is put down at £1,150 11s.; Tar&naki, £471 6s. 6d. for similar service ; Wellington, £4,180 14s. 4d.; and Hawke's Bay, £1,007 7a. sd. So much for the North Island. In the South, we find Nelson with £264; Canterbury, £1,572 18s. 5d.; Otago, £2,884 Is. 3d. ; and a railway bridge over the Waitaki, to ba divided between Otago and Canterbury, £333 10 a. lOd ; and for Westland roads only, £51 Gs. 3d. There can ba little doubt that the works will be undertaken in proportion to the costs of the surveys ; and, if so, it will be seen that our Southern colonists have acted upon the old adage, "The early bird catches the worm." i