THE Grey River Argus PUBLISHED DAILY TUESDAY, JULY 21, 1874

Grey River Argus, Volume XV, Issue 1859, 21 July 1874, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus PUBLISHED DAILY TUESDAY, JULY 21, 1874

The fate of the Nelson Provincial Loan Bill introduced into the House of Kepre■antatives by the Superintendent of Nelson is of the greatest interest to the residents on the Nelson South-west Goldfields, and especially to the inhabitants of the Grey and Inangahua divisions of the adjoining Province. On the success or failure of the application the immediate future progress of the Grey and Inangahua gold-fields will in a great measure depend, and it therefore becomes importaut that the promoters and supporters of the Loan Bill should be afforded every assistance from the outside, to enable them to present as good a case as possible when the Bill comes on for consideration in Committee. Among the many public works so urgently required in the Grey district, but which cannot be gone on with unless the current revenue of the Province is supplemented in some such manner as that proposed by means of this loan ; there are two undertakings, which it is imperatively necebs ■ v .should be taken in hand at once, atxi » i • icli will scarcely admit of further delay. The first is the completion of the main Grey Valley road, between the Little Grey Junction and Squaretown, and the next is the procuring a supply of water for the district of No Town. With respect to the former, it is stated on reliable authority that the condition of the present so-called road is becoming daily more deplorable, and that traffic is seriously impeded, with the conquent results of a rise in the rate of freight and enhanced prices of articles of consumption. One day last week the mail coach was two hours behind time in reaching Reefton, and it has frequently happened this season that the passengers had to alight to admit of the coach being dragged out of the pitfalls which delay the traffic at every turn. The finishing of this portion of the main line of communication between the Inangahua and the seaboard, in this direction, depends directly on the success of the application for money made by Mr Curtis on behalf of the Province, for it has been settled that the Province will have to complete the road ; aud unless the money can be borrowed the work cannot be done, for there are no funds available from the current revenue for the purpose. The necessity of completing the road was forcibly put before Mr O'Conor by the deputation he received at Ahaura during his late visit, and he admitted the necessity of having the work done ; but said that, unless the money could be raised by loan, there would be very little chance of its being completed, or even commenced. The Provincial Secretary further said that one of the 6rst good results from the loan, if successful, would be to release some ,£25;000 of the current revenue, and make that sum which now goes to keep up the departments, available for expenditure on public works—among which water-races are included. With respect to a supply of water for the No Town distric, the Superintendent, on his last visit, made a distinct promise that an outlay of some £10,000 for the purpose would be among the first items expended out of the loan money, if it could be obtained, and the Provincial Council has since affirmed the necesity of this outlay. From the great extent of the alluvial gold workings about No Town, and from the peculiar nature of them, that district has been the mainstay of the Grey Valley for several years, but now owing to the scarcity, or rather the absence of water in sufficient quantity, at high elevation on the ranges, the district is languishing and in a manner dying a lingering death. Seeing that the getting of this money is of such vital importance to our goldfields residents, it becomes interesting to speculate upon the manner in which the Parliament will dispose of the Loan Bill, and to consider the chances in favor of its meeting with a favorable reception. The nature of the security is the first thing looked to by lenders, no matter whether the borrowers be private individuals, or whether it be a Province or a Colony that requires monetary accommodation. In the early part of the last session, the Government held the doctrine that if any Province wanted to borrow it could only be allowed to negotiate a loan on the security of its current revenue, as in the case of a Municipality obtaining a loan on the security of its rates. But later oh in the session, when the discussions on Provincial borrow

ing in general became warm, the Government thought it prudent to yield to the pressure brought to bear by the ultraProvincialists in the Assembly," and the principle was assented to that the Provinces might borrow upon the security of parcels of the waste lands of each. This is the sort of security now offered by the Nelson Government for the money it is sought to obtain, with the intention of expending it in developing the resources of the whole Province. It is on the good faith of this promise that the money will be distributed impartially throughout the Province that the Council consented to give the Superintendent power to borrow at all, and it will depend upon the integrity with which this promised plan of apportionment in making the expenditure is carried out, whether the loan, if successful, is of any benefit to the Province. When the proposal to raise this money was first made public, a good deal of unfavorable comment took place at the'great discrepency between the amount of the security required from the Grey Valley, and the relatively small sum it was proposed to spend in this district, and it was argued that the land to be taken from the Grey district was out of all proportion to the benefit to be derived from the loan. But, on closer examination, it will be seen that this objection is more apparent than real. The land is only nominally given as security, for it does not pass out of the control of the people of the Province, whose representative the Superintendent is. The security is in reality valueless, and merely one on paper, for if it should happen that the Province could not meet its engagements, the public creditor could not touch an acre of the land, and not only this, but settlement cau go on as if the land were not nominally hypothecated. Agricultural leases can be issued as usual, and rent can be collected for occupation, while the money so collected is not paid to the public mortgagee, but into the public treasury ; so that the security is at best but a very shadowy guarantee. The real guarantee lies i n the good faith of the people, and the reproductiveness of the public estate — not in the land given over, for a great deal of it is totally valueless, and not a rood of it is alienated in such such a manner that it can be taken from the people absolutely. This being so, it would matter little if all the unoccupied land remaining in the Province were disposed of in a similar manner, a s long as the money so badly required could be raised on it. So that as far as security is concerned the Province cau afford to give an ample guarantee, and one sufficient to satisfy the most cautious and exacting lender, but it is not here the difficulty in raising the money lies. The Government will not be likely to make any very strenuous opposition, and the Lower House has tacitly, if not formally, affirmed the principle of Provincial borrowing, but the danger of failure i 3 in getting the measure through the Legislative Council. If Nelson was the only Province seeking a loan the matter would be simplified, for in that case the Superintendent has the implied promise of Mr Yogel, marie publicly at Nelson some months ago, that a Province which has not before been is the money market as a borrower, need not fear opposition to an application to be empowered to raise a loan. But instead of Nelson being alone in her trouble there are eight other Provincial Loan Bills to come on, each with a proposal to borrow sums ranging from £50,000 up to half a million. The Ministry may not oppose any of those Bills, because similar measures received the support of the Government last year, and the Provincial element is too strong in the Lower House to make any opposition in that quarter dangerous, but the large majority in the Upper House who so decidedly objected to the principle of Provincial borrowing last session is, it is feared, still unchanged in opinion on the subject. The real hope of getting permission to raise the Nelson loan is in the tact for which the Superintendent is famous when he is thoroughly in earnest in his desire to carry his point, but it will require the free exercise of all the diplomatic ability Mr Curtis possesses, to bring all parties to his views on this occasion. Very little assistance can now be given to the Superintendent from without, but he has the best wishes for his success with respect to the loan, of every one whose interest is identical with the general welfare of the Province.