ROADS IN THE NORTH.

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

ROADS IN THE NORTH.

In the House of R epresentatives on Septem bet* (I, Mr. Farnall, in resuming the debate, upon hia motion for public works in the North of Aucklaud, stated that, when the Speaker on the previous evening was about vacating the chair, he was commenting upon the anomalous state of affairs in this colony, namely, the extreme wealth of the few, and the comparative poverty of the many. He maintained that the existence amongst them of a qnasi-amtooratic class to which he had alluded, namely, of rioh land proprietors in the Middle Island, and of merchants of great wealth in the North Island", and of a large and even inoreasiDg horde of well-paid offioiala, was a standing practical antagonistic comment upon their colonising tendencies. The two great principles of his "olonising belief were thete: Firstly, that no man should hold more land than he could occupy, not for his own selfish ends, but for the benefit of the whole community ; and, secondly, every man was entitled to a fair share ef the public revenue. He would contrast with the three classes to whioh he had alluded the position of those colonists living in the northern part of the province of Auckland. These latter arrived in the colony imbued with a real colonising spirit. They went upon their lands, and, by Bheer downright honest hard work, they hewed out homes for themselves and their families, and now, after ten years of struggling against adverse circumstance*, they find themselv«» in a far worse condition than that in which they were whtn they arrived here. He based the claim lie made on this Homo as a matter of simple justice, and would now leave it in the hands of the House. The reason he mentioned, in hit notice of motion, the Public Works and Immigration Loan Aofc, was because he found, in the third clause of the bill, that the Colonial Treasurer wa* not granted a larger sum for expenditure under the Act for the purposes mentioned than £200,000 in any one year ; and he thought it was only jusfc that £20,000 out of the. £200, 000 should be spent in the manner indicated in his notice of motion. Mr. McLeod said that, as the motion was one which was of material interest to the constituency which he represented, he felt it his duty to make a few remarks upon the subject, in common with other members. He might say he was not oonsulted by the hon. member who brought forward the motion, otherwise it was most probable that it might have been placed before the House in a different form ; but as he was aware that the g object of the mover was to avoid trenching upon the etiquette of the House or the appearance of having any ulterior design to embarrass the Government in any way, the mover was more deserving of credit than of censure, although he brought the matter forward before the financial statement came down. It was well known to that House that the guaranteed million loan stood, or did stand, in a different relation to the colony from any of the other large loans which had since been effected ; and, whatever the legal manipulation of the matter might result in, it was at that time evident to the whole colony that the special and equitable interpretation of that guarantee was that the money should be spent mainly on roads and bridges in native districts, with the intention of occupying the rebels, and keeping the country in a paoific state. For these reasons he believed the hon. gentleman who had brought forward the motion was perfectly justified in the course he chose to adopt, and the remarks which it had drawn forth were equally justified. As regarded the particular district mentioned, the wants of which were set; forth by his hon. colleague the member for the Northern Maori District, he could bear ample and ready testimony to the exactness of his statements— that the country is extensive, is largely populated both by natives and Europeaus, all of whom have contributed largely to the revenue, while hitherto they had received but little. He trusted, however, that such an unfair proceeding would not be continued, and that, for the future, those districts might receive a just proportion of the revenue raised by them, in order that their progress and settlement might be facilitated. From Auckland to the North Cape it is 200 miles as the crow fliss, and embraces five constituencies, or afc least returned five members to that House ; and up to the present time these important portions of the country had been neglected. He might add that the population was about equally balanced, there being about 10,000 or 12,000 Europeans and about the same number of natives ; and this computation would show, according to the statistical statement of revenue, that each person paid about £6 per head. Therefore, if the population of these northern districts, covering a longitudinal area of 200 miles, might be estimated at 20,000, it would be apparent that their contribution to the revenue was about £130,000 per annum. Now, so far as the expenditure of the General Government in those districts was concerned, it appeared to bun to be truly insignificant, the most of it being absorbed in salaries for a number of yeare past. He knew of no other money which had been expended by the General Government in improving the business of the country in the districts referred to ; and, as for any roads and bridges, they had received absolutely nothing. Whatever progress that part of the country had made had resulted solely from its own unaided exertions, the proper fuuda which should have been disposed -I of for 'that purpose having been devoted exclusively for the benefit of Auckland. Auckland, being the powerful contre, had completely deprived the out-districts of everything to which they werp justly entitled ; and while Aucklaud had received the whole provincial portion of the several IoaDS effected, the greater portion of which had been spent in and about its vicinity — not more than about £500 having been spent in the north of Auckland of the half-million loan — yet they had to contribute very largely towards paying the iuterest of this and other loans. Considering the way theae Northern districts had suffered froni Auckland centralisation, owing to the indifferenco of that House, he thouqbx the inhabitants of those districts, both Europeans and natives, had particularly good ground for complaint, and were justified in coming to that House for protection against the injustice of Aucklaud centralisation ia the first place ; and, in the second, against the wholesale taxation they were subjected to, without receiving the slightest return in the shape of compensation. It might be deemed that the on9\ver of the Colonial Secretary was most cogeut reasoning when he said he was willing to give those districts railways ; but he really could not see that railways would confer any particular benefit when given ; indeed, with the exception of about' seven miles north of Auckland, nothing in the shape of a railway could be productive of much benefit to the inhabitants. Although the principal trade and export of the province wai derived from the districts north of Auckland, that trade was carried on almost without roads. A large trade was done in a wholesale maritime way, but the business which it created was not carried on in the usual way, and by those means by which cities are maintained — that is, there were no large back settlements in the north of Auckland connected with the chief city by roads. Such settlements as there were were principally Maori settlements, small and scattered, and mostly occupying small bays, the mouths of rivers and -creeks, and other cen-venient-spots; and the main trade of these places had been carried on by the native inhabitants themselves, by the help of their little vessels, better known as the "mosquito fleet." The very nature of the circumstances showed that Auckland city was in the position to derive the greatest advantage from this trade, and had consequently to depend upon this trade, and upon those districts in the North, more than was the case with' the chief cities and out-districts in other provinces ; and although road communication had been made with a few settlements in the North, nething had been done in the way of roads worthy of being called a substantial effort in the direction of opening up the trado and settlement of the country. The kauri gam trade a!»ne last year amounted; to/ £170,000, and that was derived exclusively from the- North of Auckland; in fa.pt, the deposits are not to found ia any other part of the province.

' Then there was the timber business —not by any means an insignificant trade — that, too, came from the North of Auckland. At one time that trade was so large that it was considered the colonial staple. For himself he could say that he had helped to produce and export a thousand cargoes of kauri timber. Besides all that they contributed to the colony out of the kauri and gum, trades, those districts had always been large consumers of Customs goods, as had been remarked by the hon. member for the Northern Maori pivision, who had spoken to tha resolution. ' Yet, after all this, they had received practically nothing in the shape of a return, nothing like a recompense, nothing that could be said to assist in preparing the country for the future. Nor could he learn, from anything the Colonial Secretary had said, nor from anything the Ministry had been pleased to lay before the House, that it was the intention of the Government to do anything of a substantial character for those long-neglected districts, with their population of about 25,000. Bailways they did not want ; but, if the Government; desired to give them railways, they would accept them with thanks— they would gladly retain the roads, and would hand back the rails to the Government. From the configuration of the district, which is full of bays and inlets, they wduld be at no lobs to mako the sea their high road ; but still it was absolutely necessary that they Bhould have roads from the high lands to those rivers, bays, and promontories. Therefore, if the people were not to be allowed a portion of the large loan as an aid to develop the resources of the country and provide for the wants of future generations, a gross injustice would be perpetrated ; and he would appeal to that House to step in and prevent the tyranny and centralising polioy of the province of Auckland— to prevent what he might, in truth, call the "grabbing system." Although the motion now before the House had been stigmatised as a step in that very direction, he felt perfectly satisfied that it wa3 never made with any such intention. The only object in vitw was, that those districts referred to should get a portion of the million loan expended amongst them, with a view to pacific purposes and keeping the natives quiet. To have neglected them 60 long, and then to refuse them this moat reasonable request, would be a sorry way of rewarding the actions of these natives during the past. He doubted, indeed, whether the Government had taken a thoroughly comprehensive view of all the circumstances of the case. Were the Government to reserve their favours as propitiatory offerings to doubtful and turbulent natives alone, and to pass by the very large claims whioh the Ngapuhi had upon them ? And might not snch treatment be almost looked upon as an inducement to them to become turbulent ? It had been suggested to the House by the hon. member for the Northern Maori Division that the Customs duties derived from those districts should bo expended upon roads ; and although the hon. member who had made the suggestion put the matter very lightly and mildly, he (Mr. McLeod) could assure hon. members that the matter had not been discussed in such a mild manner by all the constituents of the hon. member representing the Northern Maori Division. It had been remarked in that House that the land in the North of Auckland was sterile — in fact, one member of the Auckland Provincial Council had gone so far as to say that there was no good land there at all ; but any one who had seen and travelled over the country would not say that, for although the kauri land was not considered good it by no means followed that it was all kauri land, or that no good laud existed there. There was a fine expanse of table land there, commonly known as tufa I or volcanic land, and he believed there was no better soil in the whole colony, or in any country. There was also, in many places, good volcanic soil, amongst which he would more particularly mention Wairoa, Wairua, Kaihu, Wainui, Victoria, Mangakahia, and the Hokianga Valleys, without specially naming many minor streams, and plains of excellent land throughout the country, composed of calcareous, volcanic, and alluvial formations; but, taking the whole area in the aggregate, ! it presented as good a field for f ature settlement a3 could be shown in any part of the colony. But of what use would it be to send settlers or immigrants to those places if there were no roads prepared for them, and to give them employment on ? If the present occupauts were to be kept in their present state of communication with the rest of the province, by means of their little craft— small vessels -settlement could not but go on slowly ; but if the Government kept faif.h with them— the good faith of the promise made by them last session, that every commmiity would receive its fair proportion of the assiatauce in works to be conferred on the whole colony— nothing could prevent them from soon placing a large population m those districts. There was room for thousands of families. This, too, could be done at onehalf the expense which it would entail in any other part of New Zealand which he had visited. He might say, in conclusion, that the member for Rodney remarked yesterday, on a statement made by the Colonial Treasurer hat year, to the effect that every individual settlement in New Zealand would obtain the benefit of those works, improvements, &c, at the same time that that loan was being discussed in that House, thua including tlio Bay of Islands. He (Mr. McLeod) had at this time last year addressed the Defence Minister upon the subject, in order to learn how far this loan, if got, would be distributed amongst those districts, or how far the population might expect to receive an equivalent proportiou ; and in due time he received a reply to this effect : that ovcry portion of the country would get a share of tbe loan in proportion totheirnnmbers. He rested on that reply with confidence, and he reposed an equally implicit confidence in the statement made by the Colonial Treasurer last year ; and, although sorry to press the Government to bring this matter to an. issue before the bringing down the financial statement, he still insisted that the Northern constituencies— of which he was one of the representatives— had a perfect right to make the claim and to expect that justice should bo done them. He might add, it was no more than they deserved, as they were good subjects, good settlers, good revenue-payers, and not mere clamourers; and he therefore trusted the House would consider the matter in a proper spirit of fairness.