WELLINGTON.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 14, Issue 1147, 26 April 1870, Page 3

WELLINGTON.

: . * Monday, April 25. Mb. Gpllie,; to-day; received a deputation, consisting of Messrs. Pharazy n, Rhodes, Hunter, Duncan,. Bannatyne, and; Gillon, who: were introduced by Mr; Mclntyre, the U; S. corisul. ■ Mr rx Cqllie expressed himself strongly in favor af ; Wellington as the port of call in New Zealand of the American line of Sfeainers j ; and the deputation pledged itself to use all its influence with the Government and the Assembly, to obtain support and a subsidy to his line. The mail is not expected here till tomorrow. Nothing has transpired respecting the Commissioners. A public dinner has been given in Dunedin the' Hon. . the Premier. It .was a great success. . ;. Mr. Driver, the member for Roslyn, has addressed hid constituents and received a vote/df confidence, 'He expressed himself as opposed to Auckland, arid in favor of WelHngton, as the port of call for the American line; and declared himself* an anti-p'roymcialiat. v>. - -•' ■}■'•■''"''}.■ Specimens of stone from Baksr's. Hill claim, Karon, have yielded from three to eleven ounces per ton. i -.. Oh Thursday, Mr. Stafford addressed his constituents at Tiruaru. The attendance was .Jairge,;- the Hon. gentleman spoke about an hour;, and his .speech was well, received, > \ .••;•• ;': ..■ ••.-.. : ... . ....-,.. Hte spoke first of the pleasure of meeting his cdiisti'tuehts^ Whom he had not known before", and who, although he was personally ft stranger to' them, chose him as their ; representative. He deeply sympathised with his constituents in wishing for a change , in' ■•the " present system ofgovernment. .He had carefully studied the wants of oiitlying districts, and. felt that nis constituents were justified ia what they 'wished 1 - fbr,< when they expressed a desire 'to^be I .' made a separate' district. Timaru had a larger revenue than the original province, apd ten times the value of exports, and it was unreasonable oh the part of the older provinces to have refused the request made by its settlers. He hadgreat' pleasure in bringing forward,, last session, a Bill to secure separation for Timaru; and, although, that Bill was not carried, it was a strong protest against the. existing order of things. No reform was ever got without continued agitation, and constant pressure being brought to bear. No reform was ever spontaneously granted. Many people depended entirely on the extension of Provincialism, •so much so that, even if three-fourths of the people of New Zealand desired a change, the chances were that there would be a bitter-f truggle before it was granted, owing to opposition on the part of Superintendents and other interested parties. Having, as, he said before,' failed- in carrying the County of Gladstone Acfe, '"he-" tried to effect an arrangement with the Superintendent of Canterbury to carry 4 r biit the Rangitata arid W^i T tangi "bridges. The Superintendent and Executive promised to supplement any balance which might be over from the Rangitata bridge up to £,500, for the purpose of building the Waitangi bridge ; and as far as he could learn, that promise had been faithfully kept. He was not fond of Superintendents in their official capacity, and not many of them were his private friends. The development of llie country, and the means of securing a safe and rapid mode of communication, should not depend on the caprice of One or two individuals. He should like to see established as part of the policy of the colony such a system as would ensure that every dangerous river between' Southland and Auckland should be bridged, and that every road required for traffic should be made across wet ground or any ground that impeded transit. The colonists of NewT Zealand nad' too much isolated themselves. Intended by nature 1 , and in every way fit, to carry 25 millions of people in health, .wealth, and a contented state v of life, New Zealand had at present no larger population than a quarter million/ The colonists seemed determined to live in a small petty isolated manner, with the petty objects and aims of a number of petty states. The policy of New Zealand should be to open and people all parts of the "country ' simultaneously ;' but he never would be a party to pbo veiling people, within its borders and there abandon themj or vote, sums of money by way of loan, to be expended for those purposes by the provinces. He would employ the bulk of immigrants on the great arterial works of the country, arid most part of them would afterwards settle down in the neighborhood. Another objection to allowing provinces to borrow, would be that this would be a perpetuation of the vicious system of finance involved in one party levying taxes on the peopley and another, and irresponsible, body spending the same. He saw no prospect of reducing taxation consistently with existing liabilities. Superintendents went to the Assembly demanding money to spend/and, so long as there were two treasurieSj that system would increase, till it strangled the colony. Mr. Rolicston had said that the North was trading on war, but it was a most unjust calumny. The present Government were doing their best to arrive at a state of peace. He had never doubted .that they wished to do so, but they had laid themselves open to animadversion by the difference between their professions arid their practice. The three cardinal points of their policy were— to act on the? defensive*, to obtain Imperial troops, and to raise a local force in England. If he thought the Governmeut were as likely to change their opinions in provincial matters, 1 as "they had shewn themselves in native affairs, he would be one of their strongest supporters, but he believed they dare not. Reverting to the Gladstone County Act, he did not tiirik it was the best that could be initiated, and wished that a. much larger and niore general system could be introduced; but if the provincial system was to be maintained, lie would be found again raising his; voice ]n support of the wishes of the pewpl6 of* Timaru? '- '- , ? - In rejply to a question, Mr, Stafford said that Afe prriceeds of land sales should be devot^dstto* the- districts where the money wasTajagdj ajqd%e, arterial works referred to shbuid^bVoarried out by loan. At iti&Aslos&ps the meeting the follow?

ing resolution was passed unanimously :— ' " That this meeting begs to thank the Hon. Mr.. Stafford for his address to-night and for his past services on behalf of the district and colony, and pledges itself to support him at the next general election. And it further desires to record its opinion that the present depression of the colony will not be wholly removed until some change is made in the present system of provincial government, and especially in the financial relations between the provinces and the colony, the present system tending to keep up taxation."