Hawke's Bay Herald. SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 1861. THE WELLINGTON DEBT.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 4, Issue 187, 20 April 1861, Page 4

Hawke's Bay Herald. SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 1861. THE WELLINGTON DEBT.

We regret to find that the gentleman lately elected to represent the' Napier District, in the ■General Assembly, has given repeated expression to views on the question of the Wellington Debt — : the question of all others vitally affecting the interests of the .Province, and requiring the firm and united advocacy of its members, — widely differing from those held by the electors generally and expressed by the Provincial Council ; and which, had they been promulgated, or even hinted at, on the hustings, would, we hesitate not to say, have proved an effectual bar to his election.

Mr. Stark' s manifesto will be found in another column. Its gist, if we read it rightly, is that the Province is legally liable for a share of the Wellington debt ; and that how shamefully soever it has been treated, the die is cast and remonstrance and protest are henceforth unavailing.

But we cannot for a moment admit that the Province is legally liable in such a sense as to preclude the whole question from being entertained by the Greneral Assembly as one of equity. Were the point at issue simply one of law, the Supreme Orart would, ere this, have been called upon to give judgment upon it. Without question we are legally liable, jointly with Wellington, for such portion of the permanent debt of that province as may be shewn to have been in existence at the date of separation, but only so far as the public creditor is concerned ; who is very properly protected by the 15th clause of the Act, in regard both to Provincial and General Government burdens. But that the financial question between Wellington and Hawke's Bay is thereby set at rest — that the account between the two "provinces is thereby closed, is a doctrine we might reasonably expect from the lips of a Wellington man, but one that we never dreamt of hearing from the mouth of one of the representatives of the province.

Lord Carnarvon's despatch conveying the Queen's assent to the New Provinces Act, contains the following expression : — " Now, whatever may be the equitable rights, inter se, of the old^and new province (a^ question which appears : £}gpend greatly on the mode in which the loan was expen^

dedj it is" &c. Now, had these equitable cla ire, inter se, been already adjust^l" would his!||||a |i|p be likely to allude to them in such terxui|!faao§i less so broadly to indicate the basis uponVwfcnlgn - -such adjustment should take place ? Unquestionably not. We have a just claim — in which the Undersecretary of State would appear fully to have coincided— either to be relieved from all share of the liability if we got no share of the money borrowed .5 or, if Adjudged to be liable, to have our claim recognised upon Wellington for the principal -which has been -withheld. It has been said (and a hackneyed saying it has become) that we were in partnership at that time with Wellington, and therefore jointly liable ; true 5 but if one partner

appropriates the joint property to his own use, his co-partner, although liable to the creditors of the firm, yet, in a settlement of accounts between the partners themselves, can surely claim a restitution of his proper share, after the creditors are paid.

v We feel — despite the conclusion arrived at by Mr. Stark — that we have a strong claim in equity, and that tjiat claim must be urged to the utmost • — if not by our present member, by some one else. It is quite possible that the question will ultimately be decided on the well known principle, that " the •weakest goes to the wall " — although at the same time, we have great faith in the principles of justice by which the G-eneral Assembly has Bhewn itself to be actuated. But if so — if a great wrong is thus to be done, surely we might be spared the spectacle of one of our representatives being art and part with the perpetrators, instead of being in his place to denounce the flagrant iniquity about to be committed.

We make these remarks with pain ; but w e could say no less under the critical circumstances in which the province rinds itself jplaced. We commend the 6ubject to the immediate consideration of the electors.