FIFTY YEARS AGO

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 35, 9 August 1930, Page 17

FIFTY YEARS AGO

ITEMS FEO3I" THE POST "

NEGLECTED WELLINGTON

The acute financial crisis which the colony of New Zealand passed through in 1880, fifty years ago, resulted (just as the present crisis does) in loud outcry at the sins of omission and of commission attributed to the Government. Under the heading of "Poverty and Public Works," a leader in "The Post* of 9th August, 1880, champions the cause of Wellington and its railways. "It seems the great end and aim of mankind in the present day to make toast without bread, and nowhere is this more notably the case than in New Zealand. We have been living for years in a Pool's Paradise of borrowed money, treating it as actual capital, and spending it with prodigal rapidity. We are only juSt now awakening to the fact ■ that the money is nearly all spent, that we shall have to send out of the colony a million and a half annually to pay the interest, arid that the railways, which' form almost the sole practical results on vast expenditure, do riot as yet pay quite half the. interest on their own actual, cost—and little'more than an eighth of the interest on our colonial debt. We are/ fast sinking, figuratively, into the position of the Prodigal of the Scripture parable, who, after revelling for a time in every luxury, was reduced to. such straits that he regarded a meal of pigs-wash as quite a Christi mas" dinner. A year ago nothing less than a complete trunk railway—north and south, east and west —through this island and a second trunk lino through the South Island, would content what we then deemed our modest aspirations. Now, we: all wait with hungry and trembling anxiety for the distribution of the 'husk's that the swine dia eat' —for little driblets of railway here and there only in continuation of lines already begun, and think ourselves lucky if .we get anything at all. So far as,, poor Wellington is concerned it really lpoks very much as if her condition was. to. be. that to which the Scripture Prodigal afterwardr fell—'And no man gave unto him.' He could not then get even the pigs '-wash for his dinner., Weir lirigtpn, accepting the inevitable, mournfijlly t resigns her hoped-for complete railways to Napier and Foxton until. a.- fresh tide of borrowed money shall set towards these shores; but it was thought that at least she might surely. look; for the completion to: Johnsonville or Pbrirua of. the line on which had air . ready been, expended some £30,0,00, •Which would otherwise be utterly wasted. . . ;. We do contend that as a matter of- common justice the few, remaining crumbs of our last loaf should be fairly and equitably shared. The population of the Wellington Provincial District is just about one-eighth of that of the whole colony. If, therefore, the. distribution, of expenditure is to be in proportion to population.: Welling? ton's share, of; the £674,238 voted for public works during the current year, other things being, equal, would be about £84,000. But other things are not equal. The South Island lias al-ready-enjoyed a railway expenditure of . £6,898,589 (including the sum paid by tne '■ colony: for the acquisition of the Canterbury and Otago Provincial Eail- ■. ways), and has a mile of railway to every 330 of population. In the North Island only. £3,60.8,936 has been spent on# railway construction, and there is ■but a mile of railway to about every. _li4o. of. population. The South Island 7lhas,vb,eeii jnonstro.usly favoured in the past, and has got all its main, trunk .lines already. It is preposterous to contend that expenditure in railway construction, is to go on at the same rate;in a district, whether really seeded or not, merely because a like amount is to be spent in another district which ' has hitherto not received its due' share. We do expect, and have the right to expect,' that Wellington shall receive at least"something like a., reasonable share of the funds now to be appropriated for public works. The completion of the WcllSngton-Foxton line as far as Porirua is the smallest modicum of justice that can with decency be granted, and to secure this all the Wellington re-presentativ/^-for city, suburbs, town, and country alike—ought to unite in devoting their utmost energies." • GOVERNOR'S "KITTEN PARTIES."

Protesting against the payment of. £7500 a year to the Governor of the colony-of-New Zealand, "The Post^' says that. £5000 wouia be enough, or even £3500. "The climate is universally admitted to be almost as near perfection as we can expect"to enjoy in this sinful world; the political duties are extremely light, rarely rising above •the level of routine work, while if it cannot be said that there are no social demands of any consequence upon the occupants of Government House, it may safely be asserted, if we take past experience as a guide, that there is no danger of a New Zealand Governor being ruined either by the profuseness of his hospitality or the necessity of keeping up an elaborate amount of State. A weekly reception to give the ladies of "Wellington an opportunity of talking over the last new thing in bonnets and criticise each other's toilettes; an occasional ball or kitten party to put the younger members of the fair sex in good temper, and afford facilities for the operation of prudent mamas; with a solemn dinner to official magnates once in a while, constitute really all that is required, or, at any rate, all that is obtained, in the way of social entertainment from the distinguished personages who are sent to watch over our political destinies. Taking all these circumstances, wo certainly think that the salaries paid to Governors of the neighbouring colonies of Queensland »nd South Australia—namely £5000 a year and all allowances—is an ample sum to pay the new Governor of this colony. It is indeed questionable in our minds whether £3500, the amount paid in Tasmania, would not be ample, but certainly it ought not to exceed £5000." . ,

The above was written during an interregnum -after the retirement as Govnor of Sir Hercules George Kobert Bobinson, G.C.M.G., and before the appointment of the Hon. Sir Arthur Hamilton Gordon, G.C.M.G., so there was no one at Government House to take exception to any of the above remarks. THEN AS NOW. It is customary at the present time in some quarters to deplore the lack of home life and parental restraint and to their absence to attribute many of tne current evils. That this is nothing new will be realised by a glance at the correspondence columns in "The Post" fifty years ago. We read in one letter: "The seeds of larrikinism are not to be found in the schools, but in the homes of the lads. Visit the homes of these boys, either respectable or otherwise, and you will find the almost utter absence of all parental restraint. It is the ago of submissive and obedient parents. This, sir, and running the streets after dark, are the main causes of' larrikinism; and I challenge proof to' the contrary. I would urge upon all parents who really have the wellbeing', of their lads at heart to keep them under their own eye after dark. It is a pain and grief to me to see, not only ;the lower class of boys, but many of the sons of respectable citizens thus tiring their freedom of 'an evening. What can come of ii' butlarrikinismf"