FRIDAY, JULY 1, 1881. THE QUEEN'S WHARF SALE BILL.

Evening Post, Volume XXII, Issue 3, 1 July 1881, Page 2

FRIDAY, JULY 1, 1881. THE QUEEN'S WHARF SALE BILL.

It is difficult to see on what principle of consistency the House of Representatives, in committee yesterday, added to the Wellington Queen's Wharf Sale Bill the ridiculous proviso that the JJ25.000 in cash, which was to be paid over to the City Council by the Harbor Board, should be " applied to tho purpose of liquidating tho municipal debts of the Corporation, and for no other purpose." At the very time when the question of the day is how to afford to local bodies the means of carrying on necessary works, and when it is proposed largely to increase their borrowing powers, it is suddenly enacted that ono particular local body phall begin at once to pay off its public debt. This is a singularly inconsistent and absurd proceeding. By no sonnd process of reasoning can it. possibly be justified. A great deal of rank rnbbish was talked about the colony ! being morally, if not legally, responsible for the municipal liabilities ot this city, and it was gravely argued that if Parliament did not tie up this .£25,000, and through that not being done the City_ of Wellington when sold up by its creditors showed a deficit on its bankrupt estate to that amount, the Colony would havf to make it good. We are not concerned to discuss this highly imaginative and far-fetched theory. Whether the Colony would have to make up any deficiency in the City of Wellington estate if the latter were " sold up " by it 3 creditors is a matter of no practical interest to anybody. It is just as pertinent to enquire whether the City of Wellington would be liable to make up any deficiency in tho Colony of New Zealand's estate if the latter were sold up by its creditors. We say that these ingenious and whimsical speculations are of no real or practical interest, because the evoists to which they relate will never occur. Neither the Colouy of New Zealand nor the City of Wellington will ever stop payment or be sold up by its creditors. The idea of such an occurrence being probable or even possible is so exceedingly wild that we cannot believe it was sincerely entertained by any of those membors who exhibited such curiously sudden and violent anxiety to protect the colonial purse from a contingency too remote to be conceivable. Tho position of Wellington is a thoroughly sound and solvent one, notwithstanding all the bad financing, extravagance, and mis-management too often displayed by its civic rulera. Indeed, it must, in the

natural order «f things, if tho Colony itaelf makes any progress, become a wealthy city, by virtue of the valuable property it. possesses in the Lambt>n reclaimed land and the Te Aro reclamation grant. But it is idle to enlarge on facts which nobody can seriously question, an <i the cogency of who^e application to the present matter nobody can dispute. The only thing incumbent on the House was to protect the interests of the municipal creditor so far as these were affected by the particular measure under consideration. This would have been amply effected by the proviso suggested by the Premier, Mr. Hall, and accepted by Mr Levin, who wa3 in chargoof the bill, namely, that the whole transaction should be " subject to any security etiating over the wharf, &o." That met all possible difficulties, actual or contingent. But Mr. De Latj rouE, the mover of the hostile amendment, and tho3e who supported him, were too eager to have a chanco of doing Wellington an ill turn to listen to any reasonable suggestion, and bo the senseless resolution was passed that the .£25,000 should only be used in paying off the city debt— or in other word 3, that it Bhonld bo tied *up, so as to be incapable of being employed for any useful purpose at all. If this should lead to tho withdrawal of the Corporation from their arrangement with the Hp.rbor Board, the oft-expressed desire of Parliament to see all harbor and wharf management in the hands of the Harbor Board would be defeated through the House's own action yesterday. It would have been quite easy to guard against ducks and drakes" being played with the money, by providing that it should not be used as an ordinary revenue, but should be invited in reproductive works or otherwise The Premier's suggested proviso completely protected the public creditor. But tho decision that the sum should bo used in repaying the city creditors is one which can do nobody any good, and which these creditors, who have gladly lent their money to the city as a good investment, would assuredly not be at all grateful to have carried out. Seeing that it waa only arrived at by a narrow majority in a thin honse, we would suggest to Mr. Levin that he should move for the recommittal of the bill, for the purpose of striking out the objectionable proviso added sn Mr. De Lautour's motion. It is noteworthy that all the members of the Grey Ministry who were present — viz., Messrs. Macandeew, Ballance, Fisheb, and Thomson — voted against the interests of Wellington in this matter, as did also nearly every one of their, chief supporters, such as Messrs. De Lautour, j?inn, George, Haiilin, Harris, Montgomery, Shephard, Shrimski, Speight, TurnbuiiL, and Wallis. This is significant, and the Wellington electors should bear the fact in mind.