THE HOWICK DODGE.

New Zealander, Volume 11, Issue 992, 17 October 1855, Page 3

THE HOWICK DODGE.

Editor of the Nkw Zealander. congratulate your Howick friends upon Ij »ce nf* eCt -” 0M ' °P enetl to them of getting their pier firm'd 6 ’ nio “progress” and something done to it;,, i 1 observed roeu ai»veutizvm».xtß retjij t[ ° l . E;ie little mutters in last weeks' Cross’ *„**"» °ne more in the paper of this morning, ieniy E , or^r ' Su Pcrintendent JJrowJi has become sudimi’ ,‘ Vy f° thn wants of that rls'ng settlement re ,!i hj ue when the votes of the Pensioners ttr. I:e u tor his political and commercial part--1)6 extremely tantalizing to the Howick %,t 1 phuperituendency elections were more fre- „ e "’ or hs in their neighbourhood would ,C( Ue i% Ut sa 'Jdenly the week before the jiolling, H l( i eet voices” had been secured. i ln ® hke diligence been uscil by the, flw** * lfc ®oney voted by the Provincial Connie i, n . 18 ft k°, would have been expended in making l , ll L°'^ , ? e ed 3 | d 3 required between the village and *nend t 1 , s *h.mor, however, thought fit to put m I,Vor " 8 h‘iig since, because Mr. Farmer 4 j “ 11111 “that the men engaged did not do hajf i-T, s , *°rk> and that the carts employed wi re . C : ‘' hese arc Mr. farmer’s own words. 1 ‘*i ttitlicr enquiry, upon the report of his

irresponsible young man, His Honor suspended tho woi ks, ami now, just as lie is going out of office, pro- _ v Hxe instigation of Mr. James George the pi ogress chairman, or some oilier irresponsible voium man, Mr. Brown is seized with an extremely v'iolent desire to do sum,’thing for Howick, and out come MVL ADVKfn iz kmicnth at 0 11 C 0 » r I hope the Howick people will be very' grateful to llis Honor lor Ins parting recollections of their interests and for having so kindly left the care of these interests as legacy to his successor, instead of having himself attended to them, as was his duty. 1 am, Sir, T ,. Tn e Cat out o’ the Bag. I’igeon Jree Hill, Octohcr 16.

To the Editor of the Nkw-Zkat.andeu, Smj,—l have been requested to send the uccompnuying letter to both the Auckland Journals. I aln Sir, • Yours. &c, Hutu Caulktox, Semi-oj/i did. Lyttelton, October 5, 1855. Dk.vr Sir,-—I tiust ye ir Excellency will pardon j mc * ur troubling you in this direct manner on a mat- | tor of public busine-s. Y our Excellency will remember the question taised during the late Session of the Assembly as to cermiu alleged Balances due from the Provinces of Canterbury and N. Ison. In making tip the accounts with these Provinces, the Auditor-General calculated that certain amounts had been overpaid to them, and on the strength of such calculations, tescinded (virtually ot his own aui hority) the rule which had been Laid down and acted ou by the Government, and assented to bv the General Assembly, viz., that th • Provinces should receive, by way of current advance, half the net amount of their Land I and. The enso made by the Auditor-General was this : He said, “ Y r ou, the Provinces of Canterbury afid Nelson, have received more than your pioper shares of revenue, and you must at once refund." Ihe principle involved in this proceeding appeared to me. and to everybody else interested iu maintaining the efficiency of the Provincial Governments, dangerous in the extreme. if, upon mere suggestions of this kind, the finances of the Provinces can thus be suddenly deranged, w.thout appeal, the sooner they put an cud to their operations the bettter. My principal aim in the last session of the Assembly was to counteract, as far as I could this mischievous principle, destructive, us 1 think, of all safety of action on the part of the Provincial Government. The objectionable character of this proceeding was aggravated in the present case by special circumstances. It has the aspect of a breach of faith. it is in direct contravention ol Sir G. Grey’s Regulations,on which all the financial arrangements of the Provinces were based up to the dOih June, 185 i. Looking at it in any point of view, the alleged overpayments were nude by the Government with it.' eyes open. *1 pointed out to tiie House of Representatives from official documents, which admit of no in sinterpretation, that the error, if error it was, was die deliberate error of the General Government, lind I urged the injustice, to say nodting of the impolicy of suddenly correcting such an error by the total suspension of all fu-ther payments to the Provinces from their Land Fund, the only source of local improvements. It was just as if a catvlcss guardian had erroneously paid to his ward more than he was entitled to. and then had suddenly brought him to a state of ruin by suspending his current income, to recover tie blunder. Looking to the Provincial Governments, as I do, as depart me tits of the General Government, there seems to me a kind of futility in such a proceeding. Suppose by mistake, too much m mey had been paid for tiie service of any particular department in any given year, would it he tolerated us an act of Government that the whole service of that depar mont should be suspended until the overpayment were corrected? I think not. If the fact be that Canterbury has been overpaid, 1 think,and the Mouse of Representatives thought, that the error should he adjusted by some plan of repayment not interfering with the current service of the Province. But the case does not rest here. In point of fact, the accounts on which a Debt is made to appear agnnst Canterbury and Nelson are, I am hold to say fallacious in the highest degree. The House of Representatives came to that conclusion. Your Excellency will see from the the report of the Finance Committee the views they entertain as to Dr. Knight’s accounts. If those accounts were truly made out, according to the provisions of the Constitution Act, it is my belief that nothing whatever will be found due from those Provinces. On the contrary, lam strongly inclined to think that money is due to them from the General Government. But the accounts have yet to he properly made up; and I may add my own conviction, that nothing will satisfy the Provinces hut a complet ly independent audit. Tiie Provinces will not he, as I believe, satisfied with Dr. Knight’s calculations. Without any imputation whatever upon Ids personal integrity, there is a general suspicion throughout the colony that there has been great improvidence, and a total disregard of all legal rule in the public expenditure : and l>r. Knight, as the Financier of tbc colony, is looked to as the responsible offiei r. The colony will not, I am sure, be contented to leave the adjustment of accounts in his hands. I anticipate that one of the lirst acts of a new Assembly and a Responsible Government will he to institute some new mode of administering the finances of the colony. Such were the views entertained, I know by a majority of the House of Representatives, in the late session. 1 may say that they have been confirmed and adopted by all the leading men with whom I have conversed in the Southern Provinces, since 1 left Auckland. In this state of things, forsceing the difficulties, on the one hand, likely to arise, if the land fund of Canterbury and Nelson were continued to be suspended : and on the other hand, seeing the necessity of providing means for the General Government at once discharging the claims of the other Provinces 1 proposed, in the House of Representatives a vote of credit to your Excellency; to the extent of £30,0.)0, which the House agreed to; Having thus aided the Government in meeting its claims, the House of Representatives is cnti'led, I think, to claim proper consideration for the resolution to which it came as regards the alleged balances due from Canterbury and Nelson. l«wili state plainly that I hold it to he a matter of good faith with the House that their resolution shall he respected. On the 13th of September, tlio House after full debate, and a division, 1 believe of 11 to 5, decided that, in its opinion, the embargo upon the land fund of Canterbury and Nelson should be tai-cn oil, pending its final adjustment of accounts. That resohiti >u was communicated to your Excellency by address in the usual way. Two Jays before I left Auckland I heard a rumour that it was the intention of the Government to disregard the resolution of the House. The House was prorogued anti no action could he taken. This step did appear to me in the nature of a defiance of the House. 1 called on the Colonial Secretary with Mr. Travers. We were shown the memorandum of rh ■ Auditor General, instructing the Commissioners of Crown Lands of Canterbury and Nelson, to send up instantly the whole of their land fund. Wo had a conference thereupon with the Colonial Secretary and the Acting Attorney-Gene-ral. We pointed out to them what we considered to P be the impropriety of such a step. After a full and amicable discussion, they' retired and took conned togclhtr. Ou returning, they assured us that the obnoxious instructions should he countermanded, and that they would, so far as they were personally concerned, recommend your Excellency to act on the icsolution'of the House. In full reliance on this virtual understanding come to, I forbore to make a personal appeal to your Excellency. At Nelson, 1 found that the instructions had been . countermanded. 1 took fur granted that the same rule had been followed as regards Canterbury. . Your Excellency may judge of my surprise at finding on my arrival here, that instructions iiavo been transmitted to the Commissioner of Crown Lauds of this Province, in disregard of the resolution ot the House peremptorily to transmit to Auck.and the whole land fund of the Province. May I pray your Excellency to give this matter your personal consideration, with the view of setting mattcis right ? and will you pardon mo for adopting this somewhat irregular method of address? lhcase is one in which the Province would look to your Excellency as an arbiter between it and the old Official Executive, 1 have the honour to remain, Your Excellency’s very faithful servant, Heniiy Skwki.li.