THE NELSON SUPERINTENDENCY,

Grey River Argus, Volume XIII, Issue 1655, 24 November 1873, Page 2

THE NELSON SUPERINTENDENCY,

MR CURTIS AT NO TOWN.

Mr Oswald Curds, one of the candidates for the Superintendency of Nelson, addressed a numerously attended meeting of the electors of the No Town and R^-d Jack' 3 districts at Haisty's Hotel, No Town, on the evening of Friday, 21st November. The building was filled in ev°sry part, and it was estimated that there could not have been less than two hundred persona present. Mr John Corbdtfc, one of the newly-elected members of the Provincial Council of Nelson for the Grey Valley, was in the chair. Mr Curtis addressed the meeting at considerable length, touching on most of the subjects alluded to in our report 'of his speech at Cobden, and promising distinctly that, out of the new loan which he proposed to raise, should he be elected, he would endeavor to have a sum set aside for procuring a water supply for the No Town district. At the conclusion 'of his address Mr Curtis was subjected to very severe cross- examination at the hands of several of the electors. ] Mr William Breslane asked the candidate how he con Id expect to gain the confidence of that constituency, seeing that he had been in office nea/iy seven years and had never visited the district before? Mr Curtis, while admitting that he might be guilty of remissness in not visiting the important district of No Town during his previous visits to the West Coast, denied that it .?as the duty of the Superintendent to be continually travelling about. The business of the Provincial Council took fully three months of the year, and attending the General Assembly occupied the same ti:ne. The supervision of the working of the Government would fully occupy the whole of the rest of the time if it could be spared for that purpose. Mr Breslane aaked for an explanation of tbe expenditure in getting up the AntiSeparation Petition. hlr Curtis said he was jr,st ; fied in using every effort to prevent the dismemberment of the Province in the manner proposed. An attempt was made to annex a portion of the Province of Nelson to the County of Westland, which was then and is n ( >w in an insolvent condition. This meant thap a part of a Province which was free from dent should be sacrificed to help to clear off the liabilities of another Province or County whose finances were in a hopelessly bankrupt state. He believed, moreover, that the majority of thoae who signed the petition for separation did so under a misapprei hension that the portion of the Province of Nelson taken away would b« erected into a separate County, and npt annexed to Westland. For these reasons he enir ployed the funds of the Province to prevent what he considered would be a t/rievous injury and mischief to tbe wtyole Province. Mr Breslane asked Mr Gnrtis to justify his attack on Mr Foe, the late 1 Premier, after that gentleman had visited i WesUand, and also if Isv Curtis did not ! attack Mi* Fox's Government for making the only road ever made in the Grey Valley. I He also enquired if Mr 'Curtis was aware i I how many lives were lost on the West Coast through the negligence of th.c Nelson Government «in not "providing proper facilities for travelling and crossing riverß. Were the roads around Nelson Gity in the same deplorable condition ? Mr Curtis said he did accuse •Mr Fox of attempting to create dissension on the South- West Gold fields hecau.se qf political differences between himself and Mr Fox. He had to repeat that hia Government did

all it could, with the means at command, in road-making. If there ware better roads in other parts of the Province, it should be remembered that residents of those places by rating their properties paid for those roads. He would again state that there was not any money raised from the reven ne of the gold-fields spent on public works away from the gold-fields. Mr Breslane would like to be informed, if this be the case, what became of the revenue of the gold-fields ? Mr Curtis said the expenditure in maintaining what were described as the departments absorbed the greater part of the revenue. There were the Wardens, police, gaols, lunatic asylum, hospitals, the engineer's department, and the subBidies towards education and charitable aid. The balance went to % keep and maintain existing roads and tracks, and' an amount was spent in this manner which was very considerable, and greater than was generally supposed. Mr Wm. Jones enquired if his Honor was in favor of a reduction in official salaries, his own included, in accordance i with the altered a'ate of the times ? Mr Curtis : Certainly not. Mr Clement Parpitt asked if Mr Curtis would be in favor of promptly having the townships on the goldfields surveyed and sold as soon as the occupants of the sections desired, to become freeholders. Ho instanced the case of the town at No Town, where section-holders were promised long ago that the land would be surveyed and sold. Mr Curtis said the land in tbe towns of Charleston, Reefton, aud Ahaura had already been dealt with in the manner suggested, and he would not make any objection to selling the land in the other towns, as soon as the surveys were completed. Mr Parpitt asked Mr Curtis if he would object to a reduction in the fee for miners' rights. It was well known that rhe tax was to a great extent avoided, and if the fee were reduced one-half, double the number of rights would be taken out. Mr Curtis said this was a question of interference with the revenue, and he was not prepared to accept a responsibility in that direction. The new Road Boards would have to depend in a great measure for a revenues u,x>n their allotted share iif the proceeds of mineis' rights, business licenses, and rents for leases, and already complaints were made that the revenue r'rom these sources would be inadequate. If it could be shown that the revenue vould not materially decrease in consequence of a' reduction of ' the fees for niners' rights ard other privileges, he -vould not object to such reduction. In reply to a question from Mr Alfred Bliss, Mr Curtts made a similar statement •vith respect to fees in the WardenV Court and Warden's Office. He promisee fit other places that he would make enquiries with a view to reducing tht fees, and he intended to do ao, * Mr Curtis gave satisfactory replies t questions about timber licenses, weighu and measures on the gold-fields, the ex tension of the telegraph to No Town, thi cemetery at No Town, and the dog tax. With respect to the latter, Mr Curtis sai^ the tax was originally imposed to preven the increase in the breed of n Dxious cunwhich infested the farming districts 'anci destroyed the stock. (A miner namei' Sharkey here suggested that Mr Cartis would confer an inestimable favor on tht miners if he would devise some plan c suppressing " the breed of noxious whisky dealers that infested the gold-fields an<. poisoned the diggers." (Hear, hear). Mr Donovan asked if Mr Curtis hai anything to do with delaying the enforcement of the Miners' Franchise Extension Act ? . He asked the question, because h»understood the delay was caused through the inaction of the Chairman of the j County of Westland and the Superintendent of Nelson. | Mr Curtis said he was not in any way responsible for any delay in giving effect to the measure. In reply to a quesion from the same gentleman as to the source of the revenue which maintained the Wardens' Courts, Mr Curtis said he was 1 positive the fees of those Courts did not I maintain them. { Mr Donovan-, after defending Mr Fox ) from the charge made by Mr Curtis about , his conduct; while on the West Coast, said ' he rejoiced to hear that Mr Curtis intended to reform his Executive Council, or rather that he proposed re-modelling that body, for he was of opinion that a reformation with snch materials to work upon was entirely ouc of the question. A change was necessary if for no other reason than to do away with the tardiness which had ever been a characteristic of the Nelson»Government When the great snow storm occurred in the winter of 1872, the old Saddle track was blocked up with fallen trees and other obstructions. The new one was in course of construction, and not fit for traffic. The people on the Inangahna were cut off from dll supplies ; they were living on boiled oats and other delicacies, and a message was 3/^nt to that the old track should be re-opened. There was such a delay in doing this that there was danger of actual starvation before a reply was received from Nelson, but for the vigorous measures taken, be believed, without the consent of the Government and at the risk of those who so acted. The explanations given that evening by Mr Curtis were so far satisfactory that he (the speaker) exonerated the Superintendent fn>m a number of the charges made against him. If he carried out his promise of remodelling his Executive, and did his best to prot-ure a water supply for the Grey Valley, he would aton« for a good deal of the damage already inflicted. The assurance of his Honor that he could not borrpw money since he nad been in power must be taken to be correct, and if so, a great cause of the antagonism of the residents of the. gold-fields to the Nehou Government was done away with. Mr Breslane : Hoiv is it that the I Superintendents of Canterbury and Wellington borrowed money ? to make a railway in the case of Canterbury. Mr Curtis explained that the Canterbury Provincial Government effected the railway loan before Ihe Act was passed by the General Assembly forbidclinsr the Provinces te borrow money and tjiis Acfc was in force befpre he (Mr Curtis) came into office. Jn the case of Wellington that Province had been, by its. "good Superintendent," as Mr Breslane described him, plunged so hopelessly and disgracefully into debt that the credit of the whole l Colony was inyolyed, and sp endangered that it wap necessary the General Government Bhould step in to extricate Welling-

t'>n from its difficulties. Money was raised by every means ; from the Savings Bank ; borrowing from Building Societies, &c, and when all sources became exhausted the General Government, to save the good name of the Culony, had to come to the rescue. In reply to other questions, Mr Curtis said he had already promised to have an examination and survey of the country made, with a view of procuring a water supply for the No Town district, and he was ready to undertake to forward any work the Provincial Council raisjht recommend for the furtherance of that object. The Road Board? would not have. any revenue to speak of to expend before the 31st March, next year, unless other arrangements could be made. It it waa found the Road Baard system worked well and gave satisfaction, the question of increasing the subsidies to them would be % considered. Dr Robb said that after hearing the candid and satisfactory statement his Honor the Superintendent had made to the meeting of hia actions since hS had control of the Province, and of his intentions for the future should he -be'reelected, there could be very little doubt but he deserved a renewal of the confidence and support of the electors of No Town. The strict bona fida ordeal Mr Curtis had undergone at the hands of his several examiners, had in his (the speaker's) mind, at all events, removed a deal of the misapprehensions existing respecting the Superintendent.- He had shown that the constant and continual charges made in the Press and iv other quarters were without: foundation, and mere vaporings. It was a matter of regret that during his long term of office Mr Curtis had not visited the district ; had he done so before, most of the blame which had been laid to his door would be explained away. He would conclude by moving that " Oswald Curtis, Esq., is a fit and proper person to fill the office of Superintendent of Nelson." Mr John Jamieson seconded the proposition.. . : ; Mr William Breslane moved asan. amendment — " That Mi* Curtis was not a fit and proper person to be Superintendent of Nelson." He held .it to be an insult to the miners that Mr Curtis should seek re-electiou at their hands, after the manner in which his Government had treated the gold-fields for the last seven years. What had now become of all the grievances the miners had labored under, md the complaints of the- iniquitous •xactions and extortions they had been •subjected to ? Was there a man present *ho could conscientiously say that Mr Curtis had acted honestly by the goldfields ? He thought not, and for that teason he was prepared t > give a new man in opportunity of remedying the injuries nflicted on the gold-fields by Mr Curtis. Vlr Breslane here referred to political iccurrences in Victoria, and to certain Victorian legislators, whom he pointed •tic as. models for Mr Curtia when ! ettHng with miners and the goldfields of tbe Province. He concluded \y calling on his fellow-miners not to ■ilace Mr Curtis again in a position so hat he could go back to Wellington and inform the Government and the Assembly -hat the miners had not any grievances to omplain of, but that the discontent on the gold-fields was instigated andfoniebted oy shopkeepers, publicans, and - profes- v uonal agitators. ' The amendment was seconded by Mr James O'Connor. The Chairman" put the amendment to. the meeting, and declared it lost, twelve lands being held up in favor of it. The resolution of Dr Robb was then read to the meeting, and the Chairman leclared it carried by a large majority. Mr Curtis proposed a vote of thanks to the Chairman, and the proceedings erminated. . •