PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 323, 7 May 1875, Page 2

PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

[Condensed.]

lie, thirty,-foipth session ,of the Provincial -Council of Otago way opened on Monday last," - ; ./." ...TJCE OPENING- ADDBESS.-, ; ;.;His .Hbxior tEe Superintendent theft read the.'opening Address as follows : "ME. SPEAKEE ADD &EStfEEMEM,—r ,' - Ot^go ; Ms/atkined its . idajority, "it being now ,favenits--'one years Since it. was. into existence. It then met in i # small building -which, stood upon-the spot on which the Cargill Monumenfrnow stands. I Ead the honor, Mr. Speaker, on that occasion to occupy i:the. position; which you at' present hold, It is worthy <of remark tEat, of tEose wEo then - composed the Provincial Council, only two have a seat in it now. Gentlemen, I; would now ? deliife to. allude" to some ofi'tEe leading "facts' winch serve to ! illustrate the posntioh of affairs ~ during the prist financial year. The consolidated revenue of the year has been £515,58# 165., as against £436,147, for the previous year. Of .this. amount the Province has'been as capitation allowance,,., ; tE© r ": whole <of which has; ; gone : to pay the interested charges on,.the consolidated/loans of the Province. The gold duty shows a considerable as compared with the previous'year,: the figures beitig £11,502, and : £17,504, respectivelyi -This deficiency, however, isf* not to be ! attributed'to any-exodus of from the Province, or. to. any perceptible diminution of its auriferous resources, but to the circumstance that many of the miners have been acquiring and turning their attention to agricultural leaseholds, and many more have been availing themselves of remunerative contracts on public works. The consent of the Governor to the Bill passed by youlast session for a partial reduction of the export duty on gold was withheld. I understand, however, that the Colonial Government has lately intimated to the Otago Miners' Association that it has now no. objection to the duty being reduced. I have written to the Colonial .Government to the effect that, if this be so, the Provincial Government is prepared to relinquish either a portion or the whole, if the former will indicate the particular operawrfi of accomplishing this, which will meet its concurrence.

" The area of land taken up during the past year under the Goldfields. Act as agrictiltural leaseholds has "been 17,405 acres, distributed among 186 individuals. -- ■ -The area of land acquired on f deferred payment has been 37,276 acres, by 219 individuals.

; "The area sold, for casli amounts to 164,157 acres, to 524 purchasers. " Xour. concurrence will be requested to the proclaination of several new Hundreds and of further blocks on deferred payments!; proposals for which will shortly be laid before you. " 12,311 Immigrants have arrived in the province dtmngthe'yfear'fioin- the XTnitfed of whom 1,156 were nominated by their friends. 1 - ! . ■ " The contracts on the Waireka: - and Western District. lines are. progressing favorably. ' -

"Last..year, you resolved upon the-con-struction _ of various ! railwaysrailways in many, respects.even more, important and necessary than the main lines, inasmuch as they would connect the ■ interior with the sea-board, thereby rendering the; country available for profitable settlement. Unfortunately, however* the Colonial Parliament declined to sanction the necessary loan, and, with the exception: of preliminary surveys, things remain as they were. " I propose : that another effort bei made, at the ensuing'session of Parliament, to enable the works in question to be proceeded' with.

" In. compliance with your resolutions of last year, preliminary surveys have been put in band, and estimates ordered to be prepared as to the probable cost of various lines.

" A flying survey has also been made of a line .ito the Dunstan, both by Waihemo and Tuaptka, with a view of ascercertaining the relative cost of two routes.

Full particulars of all these surveys, together with estimates, will be placed before you. w * v " Tho Colonial Legislature last session yetused to grant your application tor -a loan, and decided that the Province should not obtain tho means required for the construction of its branch railways, notwithstanding that advances for various purposes were made to other Provinces. I am jajlad tb bo able to state, however, that, before the close of tho session, tho Legislature, recognising the injury that would be ' dqfcie by refusing to enable the Province to undertake the important works for which tho loan was required, agreed to an Act authorising ah advance of £60,000 out of the Public Work 3 Loan for the construction of' branch railways in the Province. lam not without hope, therefore, that, on proper representation of tho matter, tho Colonial Legislature will sanction a temporary advance to the Province, sufficient to enable it to constnict the branch lines so. urgently required, and without which the trade of the main lines, and the benefits to bo derived from thoir construc- ■ tion, Will hot be fully realised. r " Last sossion you voted a .sum of money as the salary of a Mining Surveyor ; I accordingly placed myself in communication With, the Government of Victoria with tho VieW of obtaining an experienced man for the office. , "It was found, however, that the sum voted was insufficient to secure for one year the services of Mr. G. 11. P. Ulrich, Consulting Mining Geologist of Victoria, the gentloman who was recommended. : " Tinder tho circumstances, therefore, it was deemed advisable to employ Mr. TTI- - to tho extent to which the amount voted would go. " His report, from which, it is to be hoped, much benefit may result, will be placed before you. It would, I feel aissured, bo a great boon to the province could Mr. Ulrich be induced to settle here, in connection with a School of Mines, for. the establishment of which it is , intended to solicit your approval this Session. " In terms of tho provision of the Ordinance of last session, a Harbor Bo&rd has been constituted for the port of Dunedin, to which body, in accordance with what , was understood to bo your desire, hkye been delegated all the powers and function's held by mo m rospect of Dunedin . Harbor. The Government has likewise granted to the Board the use of all the

property connected with the Harbor. Department, poliding your decision as to -v' whether the province is to make a charge for the same, or whether it is to be handed over free. > "It. will bo necessary to amend the Harbor Board Ordinance so as to afford tho Board greater facility than it now possesses towards the speedy and successfill carrying out of the work with the accomplishment of which it has been . charged. " Geailcmon,—ln conclusion, it is proposed, as you aro aware, forthwith to abolish the Worth Island provinces* ' ' " Gentlemen, —If this be so—which I deny—the cause is not far to seek. The present condition of the Provinces might be very. aptly illustrated by comparing them to a man who has been bound hand and foot by one stronger than himself, and then told that, because ho cannot walk, he is a cumberer ot the ground. Of one thing I am certain, > and that is, that there can be no partial abolition ; but that, so long as New Zealand is one Colony, the provinces, both North and South, must stand or fall together, unless in so far as they may' mutually agree to a voluntary fusion as in the case of Otago and Southland. It is useless to disguise from ourselves the fact that abolition of the Provinces implies that the whole revenue of the Colony is to be appropriated by the Colonial Legislature, and that Canterbury and/Otago, . which now contribute the lion's sharo of the consolidated revenue, are to bo called upon to supply still more. It implies that the resources which will be derived from our railways—railways the whole of which are being constructed at the cost of the Province—shall

become> Colonial revenue, to be appropriated by the General Assembly. It will not be long before this item figures very largely in the annual balance-sheet. " It implies, moreover, that the administration of the waste lands and the settlement of the country will be under the control of a power much less directly responsible to, and under tho eye of, the people than at present. Although no J aoubt this might suit the interests of I some, it is doubtful whether, in this Province at least, it would be conducive to the public interest. In the course of two or three years, tho existing leases of extensive aroas of country, now held as grazing runs, will begin to terminate. If properly dealt with, these runs will yield a considerable permanent revenue, which will be increasing annually for the next ten years, and which will go far towards keeping down taxation; they will also carry a largo agricultural and pastoral population. "No doubt wo are told, and sincerely, that the Compact of 1856 is to become as the laws of the Medbs and Persians. I confess, however, that I have no such faith in a Legislature composed of such conflicting elements as that of New Zealand. " Why should the people of Otago submit to their resources being still further swallowed up in tho maelstrom of colonial finance P Why should they quietly take it for granted that they must needs be the victims of the inevitable, when, if they would only pull together and rise superior to local jealousies, they have the destinies of the province in their own hands P " It is humiliating to reflect.that, while this province has been materially the backbond of tho colony, contributing as it does about one-third of the Consolidated [Revenue, it has been, politically, a rope . of Band, allowing itself to bo kept in leadingstrings by a political system which has had little knowledge of and less sympathy with its interests and requirements —-a political system the relationship with which has been to repress the progress of the province and to swallow up its sources"Gentlemen, —There can be no doubt that a radical change iii required in the political framework of the colony as it now exists, and, if this change would only take the right direction, happy woiild it be for all concerned. "It was a disastrous day for New Zealand when the policy which dictated the New Provinces Act, 1858, presided over its destinies, and I am persuaded oven HOW, difficult although it may appear to be, that the wisest thing that could be done would be to fall back upon the Constitution and allow the respective Provinces to rely upon themselves ; lin.it the central Government to purely federal ac.

tion; let each Province have the uncontrolled disposal of its public revenue, from whaluver'source derived, contributing its share pro rata towards the maintenance of the central power, and towards the payment of the debt for which the Colony as a whole is now liable.

" Were this policy adopted, the Provinces in each Island would gradually and spontaneously merge into each other, and the apparently irreconcilable idea of a great and united Colony, and ac the same time practical financial separation between the two islands, would be realised. We should, moreover, be relieved to a largo extent of that enormous departmental expenditure which is yearly assuming more and more gigantic proportions, and swallowing up resources which might be more beneficially applied expenditure which, in a great measure, is at present practically beyond the control of the representatives of the people. "You may depend upon it that the real question with which the colony ought to grapple is not abolition of provinces, but the question of finance—a more equable appropriation of the public revenue among those by whom it is contributed—the reduction of the cost of administration without impairing its efficiency. I am well assured that, under the peculiar circumstances of New Zealand, colonial administration will give us neither.

" The great problem which we in the South have to solve is how best to hold our own, which we certainly shall not do by renouncing the local self-government which we now possess. From first to last the Central Government has abstracted from Otago alone two millions of money, not one farthing of which has been expended within the province, and it is because the abolition of the North Island provinces must, in my opinion, stereotype the continuance of and render worse this state of things, that I express myself so strongly upon the subject. "No doubt I shall be jibed with the ' Great-is-the-Diana-of-the-Ephesians' argument, by those who cannot conceive it possible for men to be prompted by principles of political action different from their own.

" I can assure you, however, that were thisthelast day of my official existence, the opinions now expressed are those which would be honestly held by me. " Gentlemen, —Hoping that your deliberations will conduce towards the best interests of the province, I now declare this Council open for the despatch of business.

" J. Macandbew, " Superintendent of Otago." I The Council, after a few other formal matters had been disposed of, adjourned until next day, at 2 p.m.