MR. CURTI'S MEETING.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IV, Issue 222, 21 September 1869, Page 2

MR. CURTI'S MEETING.

Mr. Curtis having invited the electors of the City of Nelson to meet him last night, there was a very large attendance at the Provincial Hall. The chair having been taken by Mr. Hunter Brown, Mr. Coetis said : Gentlemen, before commencing to comment upon tiie proceeding* of the session, I will ask you to call to mind the state of affairs when the Assembly met. Atrocities had been committed on the East and West Coasts of the North Island which had struck horror throughout all parts of the colony and the efforts of the Government to punish the murderers had not met with murh success except at one place — Ngatapa. ,The colony was feeling the large expenditure which had already been incurred for defence purposes and which was likely to be increased. Commercial affairs were also anyt! ing but prosperous, and it was not surprising that the Government should be beset by great difficulties. It was understood that battle was to be done at once, and consequently, shortly after Parliament met Mr. Fox brought forward his motion of want of confidence which was carried by a decisive majority. Considering, as I do, that nothing affects our position with the natives so much as these constant changes of policy. I thought it unadvisable to support the Opposition, but a large number of the Southern members had gone up pledged to vote against Mr. Stafford and the consequence was that Mr. Fox got in, and shortly after came down with his policy which consisted, in the first place of assuming a non-aggressive attitude towards the natives and a consequent reduction in the expenditure, and also of adopting a conciliatory policy towards the Home Government. Another point was that the provinces were not to beallowed to increase their liabilities. The financial statement was shortly after produced, by which it was attempted to be shown that the late Government had incurred an expenditure of £43i>,000 in excess of that provided for by the Appropriation Act. This assertion, however, proved incorrect and in order to show this I may state that a clause was introduced into the Appropriation Act for the current year to provide for £16,000 only of unauthorised expenditure. Another prominent feature in the new policy was that the cost of defence for the year was to amount to only £150,000, but what were the facts ? Instead of £150,000 the Government asked for 400,000. Contrast this with Mr Stafford's expenditure which amounted to £335,000 and there will be found a balance in favor of his Government of over 60,00, k So much for professions of a great reduction. Now for the Provincial loans which were not to be allowed. In the first place £120,000 were to be hauded over to those of the Provinces which were not able to meet their liabilities and in the second place a Bill was introduced allowing the different provinces to overdraw their accounts to the amount of one-fifth of their annual revenue, which is equal to at least £200,000 more. The effect will be that the provinces will come to look upon this power of overdraft as so much added to their revenue and thus additions will be made to our liabilities. Such a course is especially dangerous to Nelson as we, who have but a trifling debt, shall one day be called upon to pay a share of what has been borrowed by the other provinces. The Stafford Government had not hitherto authorised provincial loans and did not propose to do so in the session just past; this was one reason why they were turned out of office. I will now refer to other measures more particularly affecting this province. The Miners' Representation Bill, by which it was proposed to give to miners the same right to vote as householders, I strongly opposed as the effect would have been to throw the whole power of electing a Superintendent into their hands. I therefore moved, that the Bill be read a second time that day six months which was carried by a majority of 49 to 14. The Ballot Bill passed both Houses by large majorities, but it was gradually found that there was something conflicting in the amendments that had been introduced into it which made it quite unworkable. The real fact was that the Government did not wish to see it passed, as pressure was put upon them by the Auckland and Otago members, who possessed sufficient influence to induce them to smother the bill. An attempt to levy a duty upon grain was, I am happy to say, defeated; I opposed it because I consider that the necessaries of life are already heavily taxed, and if it were necessary to raise more revenue it should be done by taxing other articles. A petition from the South-west Goldfields praying for separation fell to pieces of itself, as a large number of the signatures were in the same handwriting. lam almost sorry this was the case, as I should like to have had the opportunity of proving to the House that many of the statements were totally unfounded. No doubt this matter will come up again, as there are always a certain number of persons who hope to reap advantage from an increased number of governments. The question of re-annexing Marlborough to Nelson was brought up, but as it was not desired by either of the provinces it was uot pressed by the Government. With Otago and Southland the case was different, but I should have been sorry to see it carried out, because the power thus given to Otago in the Assembly, by the iucreased number of members, would have been too great, as she would then be enabled to do whatever she liked in the House. The Provincial Powers Bill, -which was rendered necessary by some decisions in the Courts of Law with reference to Road Boards, was introduced by. me, and passed the Lower House, but was thrown out in the Council? the matter was however arranged by introducing a clause into', another BiD. The Nelson and Cobden Railway Act Amendment Apt, /was only important with regard to its immediate bearing upon what was

going on in London. It merely extends the boundaries within which land might be selected and also enables the Superintendent to grant 5000 acres to meet preliminary expenses. This was done to meet the wishes of the body of gentlemen who had taken up the matter at home in the warmest manner. Owing to a change in the money market the subject had dropped for a time, but I hope soon to hear something satisfactory, as those who have interested themselves in it are men of great influence. One or two questions have been put to me in the newspapers, to which I am anxious to reply. First, with regard to the vote of £3,000 to Mr. Fitzherbert, which I will explain. If the Government had employed an agent to transact this business it would have cost a far larger sum. Mr. Pitzherbert was an old man, and was compelled to take his family with him, which cost a large sum of money ; he was also obliged to live on the same scale as those with whom he had to associate. He not only succeeded in the negotiation of the loans so as to effect a large saving to the colony, but he also negotiated the old sore of the claims of the Home Government upon us for the expenses of the war, which had been left open, and thus affected our credit at home. The general feeling of the House was shown by the fact that only three voted "against the motion. A very fair and temperate letter, evidently written with a desire to obtain information, lately appeared in the Colonist, in which the question "was asked, what is done with the Customs and Stamp Duties? The total revenue thus raised is one million, of which one-half is paid to the Provinces, leaving the other to the General Government; the half of this goes to meet the interest on the debts, the remain'der is devoted to the cost of government, such as the Governor, Parliament, Judges, Mail Services, Defence, &c. The provincial half goes to meet the cost of Custom Houses, Post-offices, Resident Magistrates's Courts, interests on provincial loans, Provincial Governments, Hospitals and Lunatic Asylums, Police, Public Works, and a large sum towards education. With reference to the Major Brown question; "it has always appeared to me that so long as a man is elected by any constituency, he should be free to act according to his consaience. If it be held that a man who has a commission in the Militia should not have a seat in the House, well and good, but it should be understood that so long as he is returned by a constituency he should be free to act as he considers proper, and, looking to the fact that although the whole strength of the Government was brought to bear against my motion, it was only defeated by a majority of one, I may say that this seems to be the opinion of the House. With regard to finance, I hope that things may look better next year than at present we have grounds for anticipating I believe that a very large expenditure will be necessary. The natives have had breathing time, an d been able to get in their crops. Already we hear of Te Kooti being active, and of Titoko Waru being not far from Wanganui. I very much fear that instead of foreboding a permanent peace, the present lull is only the prelude to disasters greater than we have yet to encounter. Mr. Curtis then eat down amid loud cheering. Several questions were asked, which were all answered satisfactorily, and a vote of thanks to Mr. Curtis having been carried by acclamation, the meeting broke up.