PUBLIC MEETING- AT MOTUEKA VALLEY.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XXIII, Issue XXIII, 30 April 1864, Page 3

PUBLIC MEETING- AT MOTUEKA VALLEY.

A public meeting was held at Mr. Loudon's Accommodation House, in the Motueka Valley, on Saturday evening, the 24th instant, for the purpose of taking into consideration the propriety of addressing the Superintendent, to sanction a sum of money being placed upon the Estimates for the formation of a good dray road into Motueka Valley from Fox-Mil. Major Cooke was voted into the chair, aud introduced the subject as follows : — Gentlemen, we are all, I believe, pretty well aware of the object which has brought us together this evening, viz., the urgent requirement of a good and safe dray road into the valley. For this purpose, a petition to the Superintendent should be submitted. His Honour, we all lcno"w% T}ro£cs&c& to \>c tl tlxo la-toiir-ing man s JVioticl, and as we are all farming and "labouring men" here, I confidently expect that we shall not be disappointed in obtaining such a road as is needed, for we are quite aa well entitled to receive the assistance of Government as those portions of the provinco which are already profiting by good roads. Tho round-about way which has to be traversed from Fox-hill to reach our homes, with the difficulty of the track, let alone the wear and tear of bullocks and drays, and the danger of the precipitous descent into Norris's Gully, are facts too patent to us all to need discussion. Horse tracks we require not ; they are but sops, and nothing more. Land in the valley is purchased, and freeholders are beginning to settle ; houses are appearing ; and, without doubt, when our absentees set up their staffs here, we shall form no mean or uninfluential community — tilling our lands, and adding to the revenue. But without the support of Government, we are powerless to help ourselves to the extent of our need. Our representatives in Council will, I trust, lend us a friendly word in support of our views, and on their best advocacy we may surely rely. It is not only their duty, let us hope that it will be their pleasure, for we know that " A fellow feeling makes us wondrous kind." We also know that yery large sums have been freely expended by Government in other parts of the province. Hitherto this valley has been quite neglected, passed over, ignored. Our interests should be attended to as well as others, and it is folly for us to rest content with nothing being done for our welfare out of the general treasury, which should as generously disburse to small as to large districts; so let our " small," though not " still voice " be heard, for our unquestionable right to equal consideration. I will not detain you longer. Having placed the subject before you, it will, I trust, be freely canvassed. Mr. Oliver now addrebsed the meeting : It is with much satisfaction that I observe bo many here this evening, at tin's the first public meeting ever held in our district, and which is the more surprising considering the scattered nature of our population, and in tho teeth of the great rush to the Pelorus goldfield, which has taken awuy many of our number. I think I ought to address a few words to you on the subject which has called us together, for I am fully persuaded that a road into Motueka Valley is of the most vital importance to the success and prosperity of the district in which we live. Everyone here must find that the difficulties attendant on early settlement in a new district, are aggravated in a tenfold degree from our being isolated from the rest of the province, and without a road. Twenty-two years ago, when the first settlers landed on the Nelson beach, it woxild have been almost as easy and as Eafe to have driven a dray over those ranges as at present. For what has been done to improve the track we use from a state of nature ? Why, some forty chains in length of bush cutting was made through the Birch Bush, at the outbreak of the Wangapeka diggings, which is all that has been done by our local Government lo open up this large and important portion of the province. I do not wish to drag in the Government, or to go into political questions, further than that I feel we are the victims of misrule and mismanagement. Last year the Provincial Council had a very large lurplus at thf diipoi *1 of hi votet, no mean portion

of which was contributed by this district itself: indeed, I myself, paid £1,400 "into the treasury foi the purchase of land at Wangapeka. But, showing itself unfitted to exercise higher or more important functions than those commonly allotted to a small English parish, terrified at the magnitude of tht surplus with which it was called upon to deal, thif precious Council of ours, seemingly only intent on getting rid of the money as quickly us possible, was not content with voting seventeen thousand pouude in a lump, which they placed at the discretion of the Government for West Coast roads, and which was afterwards supplemented by votes of several thousand pounds more for the same object — yet not content with this summary mode of getting rid of public money, must needs tack on £8,000 more for bridges at Waimea-west and Motueka ; and this was done at the instigation of the Government, for it was those persons administering our local affairs, who placed those absurd projects on the estimates with a view, I suppose of raising political capital, and of getting votes at Motueka and Waimca-west. I tried hard to divert a little rill into this district, from that great river of gold which rushed on past us, bank high, to bury itself so suddenly and 60 completely in the almost unknown and inhospitable region which is on the other side of the great range of mountains, the western boundary of our district. I spoke to Messrs. Saundcrs and Baigent, and strongly impressed on them the evil plight in which their constituents have found themselves, in being completely cut off from the rest of the province ; in having, virtually, no road to connect them with the settled districts. But, although we have three members who, I suppose, fancy they represent us, was a whisper heard in the Council on our behalf? No ; our just claims were passed by with silent contempt. Unless a reform takes place in the principles which dictate the administration of our local affairs, I very much fear we may be subjected to a repetition of the same neglect. I consider it the height of injustice that the general funds of the province should be subjected to such charges as the Town Police rate, or the maintenance and keeping in repair of the Waimea roads. It is a beggarly system which permits the wealthy and long-settled districts to monopolize the revenue, to the exclusion of the outsettlers battling with the wilderness, struggling to reclaim and cultivate the waste lands of the country. You, in settling here, are conferring no email boon on the province at large; by your industry, by the sweat of your brows, you are opening up and adding to this province a district containing more agricultural land than the whole of the Waimeas, and that of a more fertile character. lam sure that anyone who goes about this district, must be surprised at the large amount of land fit for settlement and occupation, lying in its main and lateral valleys. My opinion of our Constitution, as far as local government is concerned, after an experience of more than four years of its working in Nelson, is that it has turned out a signal failure. The Provincial Council has degenerated into an arena devoted to an unseemly scramble over the revenue. The members seem to think that they go there, not to legislate for the public good, not to deviEo and pass measures for the welfare of the whole country, but to lay hold of the largest share of the public funds, to save the ratepayers of their own district ; and so perverted is the opinion of the people on this point, that he becomes the most popular who knows how to dip his hand for that purpose the deepest into the public purse. The very absence of the road which has called this meeting together to-night, placed in juxta-position with the wild, extravagance lavished on the West Coast, affords to my mind no bad commentaiy on a set of amateurs playing at Parliament, and playing at governing. It is a lame excuse, which is co often alleged, that they were driven into AVest Coast expenditure by public clamour. Why, if a few Nelson merchants and shopkeepers were importunate, can that be called a Government at all which knows not how to direct, to guide, to moderate, to restrain ? I cannot grant that the reports of their own surveyors and engineers are competent to hold before any Government, a shield impervious to censure. While no man has more respect than myself for the honesty and integrity of the public servants of this Province, yet I do not think that any man can, in fairness, be expected to report upon the efficiency of work of his own planning and constructing, or which has been planned and constructed by the Government to which he belongs. If any private individual were to put up a biu'lding or a fence, I don't think he would ask the man who put it up, to report to him if it were completed according to contract. I think he would take a very different course. The end is a splendid surplus lost, and the annihilation of the purchase money of an immense estate which has vanished, leaving scarce a trace of its ever having existed, beyond some bridle and walking tracks far away in the depths of the West Coast wilderness. The other side of this gloomy and disheartening picture, affords indeed a cheerful and striking contrast. Suppose that those persons administering our local government had been actuated by a sincere and earnest desire to open the country, to foster and encourage settlers and settlement; suppose that £3^ooo or £%OOO — a tentli of the £30,000 or £40,000 expended at the West Coast, had been laid out in making a road into this valley ; at any rate the nearest to Nelson of all the out-districts would have been opened up, a large amount of available land would have been brought into the market, and a useful and most necessary public work would have been completed by the local government, reflect-* ing a lasting credit, and affording some good standing ground to repel the storm of indignation justly incurred by reckless improvidence ending in disastrous failure. It is my firm opinion that the addition of this district, containingnearlyhalf-a-jnillion acres, of which at the least fifty thousand acres are fit for agriculture and settlement, to the insignificant portion of the area of the Province of Nelson which is beneficially occupied, would contribute not meanly to its prosperity, its wealth, and its resources. The local Governments of the North Island have expended large sums of money in buying native lands, and have opened them with roads, with the object of peopling the country and founding new settlements ; but here, large tracts of the waste lands — the people's estate — are suffered by the local Government to lie idle and neglected, for want of some nine miles of cart road. The argument of a settled population, added to tho fact of the large amount of available land in this district, would seem to any man of common sense unanswerable, but lest a deaf ear should be turned to those arguments by the persons to whom they must be submitted, I am glad to tell you we are not yet come to the end of our tether : it is a patent fact that the landowners of this district have paid upwards of ten thousand pounds into the Treasury in the purchase of their lands ; and surely we may with justice claim that a per centage at least should be expended on a road to enable us to gain access to those lands, by the local Government whom these large contributions have sustained. And what has been done for us, in repair of the miserable and almost impassable track, which, though endangering life and property, we are compelled to use at present ? Some ten pounds was spent many years ago, and I think forty pounds was the amount of Mr. Gaukroger's contract for cutting the trees on each side of the track through the Birch Bush, at the outbreak of the Wangapeka diggings. There are certainly the two bridle tracks by Pigeon Valley and Dove Dale ; to gratify whose whim or caprice they were formed, I do not know, but I know that I protested against them, and I baid they would be of no use to the district, and simply a waste of public money. What is the result ? Does anyone use those bridle tracks ? Why I am told that a fine young crop of bush is growing up over the roadways, which arc also fast becoming encumbered with logs and fallen timber; and iudeed I should suppose that as many travellers would never use those tracks as they have cost pounds sterling in their construction. I now come to the consideration of the three lines of access into Motueka Valley, namely the line by Bay's Gully, the old road by Norris's Gully, and the new line by Pretty Bridge. To consider the first of these, by Ray's Gully, would only be wasting the time of the meeting, for the circuit made by it so materially increases the distance, that it can be hardly said to come into competition with the other two lines, unless they be completely put out, of course, as being impraetieftbl* for * good caxfc road— l me»u such a

road as would enable a team of four bullocks to draw a ton at any time. The line by Pretty Bridge appears to me the best, as it shortens the distance irom Nelson by six miles to all the settlers on the other side of the Motueka river, Biggs's Valley, tinwhole of the Tadnior Valley, and all the Wangapeka district, making a difference also of two or three miles in favour of the Motupipi settlers on this side ; but the strongest argument in favour of Pretty -bridge, should that line turn out as good and easy for a cart road as I hope, is the fact, that it is inevitable for the great south road to Wairau, Canterbury, and the West Coast to go by Pretty Bridge, and thence ascend the valley of the Motupiko. The track to the Wairau used at present, after leaving Foxhill, opens no country whatever available for settlement, going over and amongst blocks of the poorest and most worthless fern hills. On the contrary, the road by Pretty Bridge would be probably easier and less expensive to make, would open this fine district already partially occupied with a settled population, and would traverse strips and blocks of good agricultural land fit for settlement, along nearly its whole length from Foxhill to the Nine Mile Bush. During the last year and more past, I have had interview after interview with, I have written letter on letter to, the Superintendent ; I have done all in my power to impress upon his Honour the necessity and justice of forming a cart-road into this valley. At least a bridleroad by Pretty Bridge has been commenced, which, however, will not cost the Government more than £65, as the contractors take half-payment in land. It is high time for this district lo assert its weight in the political scale, and I earnestly hope that the settlers here will sink minor differences, and go together on great public questions which affect us all alike, if our members persist in continuing unconscious of our existence ; indeed, Mr. Baigent is the only one of them who takes any interest in our affairs, or who even, perhaps, is aware that there is such a place in the world. If our just claims for a road, in return for our large contribution to the land revenue, are systematically ignored, I say plainly the time has arrived to put forth our strength, and as soon as opportunity oilers, to use our best endeavours to return for Wahnea-south such members as may more duly estimate the duties of representatives of the people. I propose this resolution :—: — " That this meeting is of opinion, that the absence of a cart-road into Motueka Valley from Fox Hill, retards the progress of this settlement, seriously impedes the beneficial occupation of the country, discourages the settlers, and inflicts great injury ou the prospects of the whole of this large and important portion of the province. This meeting therefore resolves, that a memorial be presented to the Superintendent, in order to call his attention to this matter, and to enforce on his notice that the landowners and inhabitants of Motueka Valley, Tadmor, and Wangapeka districts, having contributed largely to the land-revenue for many years past, now demand from the Local Government the formation of a cartroad to connect them with the settled districts and the Port of Nelson, and request his Honour to place on the Estimates, to be laid beforo the Council at its approaching session, a sum adequate to that purpose." Mr. Alexander Deioimond seconded the resolution, which was carried unanimously. Proposed by Mr. Louden, seconded by Mr. G. Biggs, and carried unanimously — " That the Chairman be requested to communicate the foregoing resolution to the representatives of this district in the Provincial Council, in order that they may give the matter their support and advocacy." Some conversation now took place, when Mr. J. Knyvett asked, " What was the distance from Foxhill into the valley by the Pretty -Bridge route ?" To which Mr. Biggs replied, " That he had passed several times by it, had chained it, and that the distance was, as near as possible, nine miles, and that, with engineering skill, that distance could be much shortened." The meeting then separated.

Postponement ok Meeting of Peovincial Council. — The meeting of the Council, which was to have taken place on Monday next, is postponed until the Ist of June. This postponement is caused by the ill-health of the Superintendent, his Honour, we are sorry to hear, not being yet sufficiently recovered from his late indisposition to be able to attend to business. Coroner's Inquest. — An inquest was held yesterday, betore the Coroner, Thomas Connell, Esq., on the body of Janet Mathieson, aged eight months, who, on the previous day, accidentally overturned a kettle of boiling water, and died from the effects of the scalds. The jury returned a verdict of " Accidental death."