The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, JANUARY 29, 1877.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 25, 29 January 1877, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, JANUARY 29, 1877.

A dehatb possessing considerable general interest at the present time, and which was fully reported in the Christchurch papers, took place last Monday in the Selwyn County Council, one of the most important in the Canterbury Provincial District, on a resolution proposed by Mr Tancred to the effect that the permissive clauses of the Counties Act should not come into force within the County of Selwyu. Those who took part in the debate are men of high stauding in the colony, and their opinions consequently should carry some weight, and are deserving of mature consideration. Of the speeches delivered on the occasion we propose to give a brief summary, which ws have no doubt will be read with interest by those who devote their attention to the present political position of the colony, and the possible results of the measures passed in the last session of Parliament. Mr Taucred's views were similar to those expressed by some of the members of the Waiinea Council at its ifst meeting. He felt that they were not suflici^otly acquainted with the working of the Act, and Wished to see how it operated in other pacts' of the eouaty: was of opinion Jhat iii accordance with' tne various Acts that were to be worked together they^ Could nieet on the 3 1st March, and distribute the

subsidies allotted to them to the various Road Boards, and, if necessary, that they could adjourn the annual meeting provided for by the Counties Act from time to "time, as might s6em fit to them. If they adopted the Act in its entirety they would have to hamper themselves \with. an expensive staff, to employ ."a treasurer, clerk*.' surveyor, valuers, collectors, engineers, and so forth. They had within their district a Board of Conservators and a Drainage Board, and a variety of other bodies having the power of imposing rate», and if they brought the Act into operation they would be forming another body which would not only be empowered but would probably find it necessary to levy other rates. Taking all these matters into consideration ha would prefer to observe the practical result of the working of the Act in other parts of the colony before adopting it in his own district. Mr Mathias would vote for Mr Tancred's resolution, although he thought it very likely that within a year, or perhaps six months, they might be . called upon to bring the Act into force, but. if ever he voted for doing so it would be With the intention of throwing all the power possible into the hands of the Road Boards, which had hitherto done their best to spend the money at their disposal to the greatest, advantage. : " Mr Fitzroy, a member of the House of Representatives, thought that if they caraa under the Act it would result in considerable clashing between the Council and the Road Boards, which would be by no means desirable. . He thought that at present the ratepayers were satisfied with the working of the Road Boards, and he should, therefore, be sorry to take any step which would in any \f&y lessen the powers of those very efficient bodies "■..'. ' The lion J. Hall thought it would be very undesirable for the Council to take up the dealing with public works as the Road Boards had hitherto done their work so well, and thait it would be. unwise to appoint a large staff or to levy a rate, but did not think that they should suspend the Act altogether, but should hold ..meetings at' lengthened intervals to deal with such questions as were bound to come before them. There were difficulties, too, with' regard to elections which ought to be dealt with, but with which they ; would be unable 'to cope if they formally suspended the Act. In fact, if the resolution were passed they were absolutely precluded from meeting except for the distribution of funds among the Road Boards. He also thought, a3 an additional reason for not suspending the Act, that those bodies which were legally represented could make themselves heard by the Colonial Government, and would therefore be at a very considerable advantage compared with those which had decided to do nothing, and, consequently, were entirely unrepresented. They -would, too, by passing the resolution, render themselves powerless to act in the matter of boundary bridges between Road Board districts, and would deprive themselves of the power of closing road 3or exchanging where desirable. In concluding a lengthy speech, Mr Hall said:—" Although I agree with Mr Tancred that is is not desirable to appoint any but a nominal staff; although I agree with him that it is not desirable to levy rates; that it i 3 not advisable we should interfere with the working of the Road Boards; yet I do say, having this machinery put into our hands, it is our duty to make the best use we can of it. Let us leave our hands free to act; let us meet at distant intervals, once a month or every two months, and find ourselves free to deal with matters which will no doubt be presented to us. I agree with Mr Tancred that we should suspend our judgment, and I believe we shall do so more effectively if we adjourn the consideration of this question for some time." Dr Turnbull, another of the members of the Council was very pronounced in his view 3 which may be gathered from the following extract from his speech:— "lt is scarcely foe me to assert," he said, " that I dislike the Counties Act exceedingly, as a political movement or machinery for governing the people of this place. The clauses that bear chiefly upon the political aspect of the question seem to me to be included in section 6, part 2, where it is stated that the Road Boards may be merged into counties. Now, sir,; we have already had the merging of certain bodies into one already in this country, and here we have the provision broadly stated that the other bodies by which the inhabitants may rule in local matters, shall ,be wipadout, finally absorbed or abolished into a larger system, and the Act seems peculiarly suited to accomplish that object, because, although it is given to the inabitanta of one county to unite with another county, and one county to subdivide and make several counties, still when these two things are concerned, it is Necessary we shall go to the highest deliberative assembly of the colony, and not only ask their opinion, but get their sanction for any movement we make for dividing a county. But when Road Boards, most important bodies, are to be dealt with, we have a clause which states that any particular local movement may be taken advantage of by the county, and the Board may be merged without a single word spoken to the Parliament of the colony. Here we have ample provision why those bodies shall be wiped out and no more heard of them, aud I object exceedingly to it. It is a difficult matter, in ah Act like this, to pass from the administrative (which is essentially a matter of the present) to the matter political, which is a thing of the future. But in the recent discussions ou the constitutional changes the names of parties have so obscured the question at issue that I can scarcely realise what that question is; and if we were to re-arrange ourselves in different political parties, I fjuesfcjon very much whether any partyicquld adopt a fcepnj whjch would express the opinions it held, J don $ to leave any doubt as to my opinion of tjjis Apt, I wisb, to state distinctly what ray opinions on this question are, and I don't take any new name, but I go back to one which seem to express the first principles of the Government of the country. I am a thorough complete radical; that is to say, I advocatp entirely the interests of men as opposed to the interests of property. I have the greatest respect forifye privileges and rights of property, which are" considerable, but I have a higher respect for the rights' ox men, as men, than for any of the others. I make myseif quite plain upon this point, that this series of Acts are Acts for the mainteaanpe of the rule of properity as opposed to the rule of men jn this colony. Therefore I object to it in toto. tt seeing to me sir, that the aim of these Acts is that of 'ultimately dragging the control of local affairs from the inhabitants of the various localities. Let me 9P«ak as if we were in the position of having adopted this Act^, from which we cannot go back. Then we become not mereiyja Council to distribute monies among the Road Boards upon certain fixed rates, but we will possess the power to give much or little to each Board according to it 3 wants or necessities, and we will be the interpreters of these wants of theirs. Hence we will have the power to tempt, bribe, or coerce the rater payers into the surrender of their privileges as a road district. Again, waves of public opinion will pass over a district inimical to some special Board, and fronj internal pauses ratepayers will throw themselves into the hands of the County Council. From many causes it will come about that this Council will stand in the early fnture as the sole administrator of the county. It is contrary to human nature for men not take up power where it is given them, and this or future Councils will gradually become anxious to absorb the whole power, and there will be repeated the sanle Jptocesa of abolition, and the local in-

terest.of local men in. their own special affairs will be expunged. I warn Road Boards to be exceedingly chary of permitting this Council to assume the whole Act. We had intended to give .extracts from the speech of Mr Rollcston, the. chairman of the Council, but our space will not admit of it .tQ-day. ' ••, '•., : ..■<■.■•/■