MR.CURTIS AND THE ELECTORS OF THE CITY.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XXX, Issue 76, 20 January 1872, Page 9

MR. CURTIS AND THE ELECTORS OF THE CITY.

A meeting of the electors of Nelson, convened by Mr. Curtis, one of their representatives in the General Assembly, was held in the Provincial Hall, on Thursday evening. The meeting was exceedingly well attended. Dr. levine, on being called to the chair, spoke approvingly of the practice of members meeting their constituents at the close of the session of Parliament, and keeping them au courant with its proceedings. Mr. Curtis had always adhered to this, and he hoped other members would ae* similarly. Mr. Cuetis, on ascending the platform, was received with considerable applause, and commenced by saying that it was not necessary he should enter into on a discussion of the eighty measures which were paßßed during the session, and the forty-five which were rejected, but he would confine himself to a few special measures which were of importance to this province, and the colony generally. The first measure he should refer to was not one of a party character but the important measure of Education, which was brought forward by Government in consequence of a promise given in the previous session to Mr. James Richmond. The bill, as introduced, differed more or less from the education systems in existence in all the different provinces, so that no province was quiite satisfied with it. It differed from the Nelson scheme in several important particulars. It proposed to exact fees from the scholars, who m Nelson were free, with the exception of a five shilling rate per per annum, in addition to the rate of£l a-year on each householder. It proposed to make reading the Scriptures compulsory, and also to make attendance compulsory. It proposed also to levy a property rate. Theße differences were important. The fee of ss. per child was sufficient in Nelson to make parents do all they could, short of great sacrifices, to keep their children at school, and so get something for their money. It did appear at first sight to be scarcely fair that each householder should pay the same rate — that a householder paying £100 rent, and one occupying a small cottage, should be taxed alike. But, as a general rule, the wealthy class did not reap any advantage^from the school system, because they sent their children to be educated elsewhere, but they derived the indirect advantage which flowed to all the community from a general education. The poorer classes in Nelson were not anxious that their children should receive education at the cost of other people. They were able and willing to pay for it themselves, and would feel it a degradation if others paid for them. [Hear, hear.] The reading of the Scriptures in schoolß rested with the Local Committees, who consulted the feelings of the people. He considered that it would be a fatal mistake to make the reading of Scriptures in schools compulsory. Many per- j sons who were strongly prejudiced in favour of secular education, would rather not send their children to school than subject them to what they did not approve of. Compulsory attendance ' at schools couid not be carried out ; it might be done in towns, but not in the country, although he allowed that the State had a perfect right to see that all its members shall be compelled to give education to their children, when the means of doing so was provided them. After the second reading of the Government bill, he drew up a series of resolutions, so as to make its provisions 8s near as possible those of the Nelson system. It was, however, found in Committee that the discussion of its clauses was so tedious that it could not be passed that session ; and, when they came to clause 5, the Government reluctantly withdrew the bill, with the promise of bringing in another next session, embodying the resolutions which the Government had agreed to adopt. There would, he believed, be a strong fight on the part of the secularists, to strike out the clauses establishing aided schools. Under these clauses, the Roman Catholics could participate in the system, as they did in Nelson, where they managed their school by a committee chosen by the ratepayers, and placed under the inspection of the officer of the Central Board. The bill provided that a permanent Board should, if it saw fit, give separate aid to such schools ; but it did not provide that j such schools should, as in Nelson be entitled to the rates paid by the separate ratepayers, nor for supplemental aid from the Board of Education if that body thought proper. He hoped the House would be persuaded to alter the bill so as to include these provisions, and he also hoped that during the recess the whole matter would be agitated in the newspapers, and elsewhere throughout the colony, so as to set forth the opinion of the country on the subject, and thus aid in producing a system of education uniform in its character, and applicable to all parts of the colony. [Hear, hear.] In Nelson we Bhould not be much affected by the measure, because we were already in the possession of a good system ; but there were other parts of the colony destitude of a public system of education, and depending on private teachers who were not under inspection, were often insufficiently paid, and often inefficient. A continuance of such a state of things would be disastrous to the whole colony, and even if we have to consent to certain modifications of our system, it would be advisable to submit to this rather than not have one efficient Bchenie of education for the colony. [Cheers]. He would now proceed to other questions, which Avere more or less of a party character, the chief of which was the Government scheme of Public Works and Immigration, including the borrowing of large sums of money, and incurring heavy liabilities. He would here go back to the session before last, when the Government first brought down their scheme for borrowing money and incurring liabilities to the extent of some £12,000,000. In the eyes of many, including

himself, this appeared to be a scheme of a dangerous and doubtful character. Although it was possible that if the proposed expenditure were carried out, and population introduced, the colony might be benefited, yet there was the risk of failure, and of not finding suitable persons as immigrants, and that those who came, instead of adding to our prosperity, might become burdens to the colony. A sudden change in the English money market might also arise, so that it would be difficult to find money wherewith to complete the works, and the whole be suspended while in an incomplete state, with heavy interest to pay on the loans that had been obtained. A large portion of the House entertained these fears, but, at the same time, they were decidedly in favour of the principle of railways and public works being undertaken by Government. The Opposition therefore agreed, so far as possible, to get the large scheme of the Government modified and reduced to more moderate dimensions. At the elections which followed the session of 1870, a large amount of support was given to the Government measure in its entirety, and when Parliament met it was found that Ministers had the support of a large majority of the members. In these circumstances opposition was useless, and all the Opposition could do was to restrain, as far as possible, the borrowing propensities of the Colonial Treasurer, Bee to the economical management of the expenditure, and keep, as far as possible, the ordinary expenditure within the ordinary revenue. [Hear, hear.] There were many ways by which it was easy to make current expenditure appear to be within current income, by placing what waß really ordinary expenditure against public works, and this was what had to be watched. In the new House the Opposition did not number more than twenty out of seventy-eight members. The Opposition (of which he, Mr. Curtis,' formed one) had no idea of upsetting or turning out the Government, for they were quite aware that their numbers precluded that ; all they attempted was to look after the finance of the country. [Hear, bear.] The Government of Provinces Bill was the next measure he would advert to. Its intention was to reduce the members of the Provincial Councils in accordance with the number of members the respective provinces sent to the House of Eepresentatives, except the smaller provinces, which were to be left untouched. Thu?, it was proposed to reduce the Provincial Council of Nelson to eight, that of Wellington to nine, that of Otago, with a population of 70,000, to nineteen, while Marlborough, for instance, with a population of about 5,000, would have had a. Council of twenty members. [Hear, hear]. The measure was of a most preposterous character, and quite erroneous in principle. Its object was to abolish the legislative powers of Provincial Councils, but preliminary to this it should be shewn that the General Assembly could supply all the legislation that was required by the provinces. If the provinces were destroyed, it should be done openly and avowedly, but it would only be right to first let us know what was to be put in their place. [Hear, hear]. When the Stafford Government (who could not be called friends of the provincial system) attempted to change it, they at least proposed something in its stead ; they had a system of Counties and Road Boards, which wero to do the worh But the present Government proposed the covert destruction of the provinces, partly by reducing the number of councillors, and partly by taking away the funds which had hitherto been under their control. His own opinion on this subject he had stated long ago. He had seen the day would come when Provincial Governments would cease. But lie was for no sudden and violent change, but for their gradual extinction when no longer useful. He would certainly rather see the provinces receive their death blow, if such were to be given, from avowed opponents, than from the treacherous hands of pretended friends. [Applause]. The proposal as to the money part of the scheme, was to divert the funds of the provinces to the Road Boards, and as there were about 300 of these in the colony (there were only ten in Nelson, but 92 in Otago, and about the same number in Auckland), it followed that if this were done, the money so given to the Road Boards would be divided into such small sums, that practically its application would be of no value whatever. He maintained that so long as Provincial Councils existed, the public money to be expended should be placed at their disposal, to be applied ro 6ome works of mportance, and should not bo frittered away by Road Boards, doing linlf-a-nrile of road here and half-a-mile there, winch could do no permanent good. [Applause.] He would next notice the Public Works bill, by which it was proposed that the control of all works undertaken by Government would be vested in a Board. It was seen at once that this would be a powerful engine of corruption, and the opposition to it was so great that it was struck out. The number of railways agreed to by the House was fifteen, the cost ol' construction of which was estimated at about £2,000,000. There were, in addition, three or four railways to coal-fields, to cost about £125,000, but the round sum of £2,000,000 was the amount of cost set down. Amongst the lines resolved on were the Nelson and Fox-hill Railway and the Brunner coal line. The latter was in the County of Westlund, but the mine from which the coal was to be taken was in the Province of Nelson. Another line, provisionally agreed to, was a local line from Mount Rochfort to Westport:, but this was to be delnyed until the proposed line, and tho coal and the point of starting, were examined and reported on. Dr. Hector, at his (Mr. Curtis's) request, had been sent by the Government to examine and report on these subjects, but he did not think the line would be proceeded with until tho House again met. The Brunner line would be commenced without delay, and the Nelson and Foxhill line would, he believed, be begun before long. The Government had given him a distinct pledge to proceed with the latter work, and he did not suppose that that pledge would be broken. While speaking of the latter railway, he would remark that when its construction was proposed

in the previous session, after being carried through the Lower House it was nearly thrown out in the Upper House through the opposition of the Hon. $Lr. Robinson, and was ultimately passed in Buch a shape as to be totally inoperative. In the last session they succeeded in getting a bill for constructing this railway passed, but with some difficulty ; for although it passed by a large majority, only some three or four voting against it in a House of about forty members, a good deal of work had to be done outside the House among members to get it carried, the fact being that efforts were made in the lobbies, and elsewhere, to prejudice people against the line. Since the session closed, in fact within the last few days, one of the members for thia City had written a letter [cries of " Name."] — he referred to Mr. Lightband, his colleague for the City — to one of the papers, condemning the line. Mr. Lightband supported, and spoke in the House in favour of the Nelson and Fox-hill Railway, and voted for it when it came under discussion ; and this rendered the tone of the letter the more extraordinary. Before that time, he (Mr. Curtis) knew that Mr. Lightband was opposed to it, and had made statements to that effect outside of the House. Before the question came on, he had a telegram from Nelson on the subject, and to that telegram he had replied. He would read both the telegrams, which were as follows : —