THE New Zealand Herald. SPECTEMURt AGENDO. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1875.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XII, Issue 4395, 14 December 1875, Page 2

THE New Zealand Herald. SPECTEMURt AGENDO. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1875.

It would appear to bo certain that during the next session the wliolo question of the financial relations of the two Islands of Now Zealand lvill be brought up. Every settler in the North knows that we have been unjustly treated ; and it is this feeling that is at the bottom of all the discontent that it seems so difficult to find distinct expression for. It is this feeling that will send to the next Parliament from the province of Auckland a strong body of members determinedly opposed to the present Government. We suppose, indeed, that all the members who will be sent from Auckland, perhaps all that will •be sent from the North Island, whether they are pledged to vote for insular separation or not, are clearly of opinion that in the finance of the colony tho North Island has been very unjustly treated, while Otago and Canterbury have been permitted to aggrandise themselves, to keep their revenue for local advantages, and even to preserve it from contributing in any way to tho public burdens. Throughout Otago and Canterbury there are, as in the North, two parties, but these two parties are united upon one point, that the wealth which the two provinces have attained should be kept at all risks, and, as we have repeatedly pointed out, those who have adopted Separation .as their watchword, havo done so because they tliink that by such a course they will be enabled to cut us off from all chance of ever getting a farthing from the funds which the colony ought not to have allowed ever to go out of its possession. The Otago newspapers tell us that they are " Selnshists" (this word is their own) —they admit that it may be very selfish of them to keep the wholo of the land revenue, but they say that they would rather be selfish than be taxed. When the question to be discussed is the financial relation of the two Islands, we are not very sanguine that an alliance can be made with any of these men, who seem determined merely to look after their own interests. The contest of next session will in all probability assume the shape of the rest of the colony against Otago and Canterbury. In a question of finance, that is the natural division, and the question of finance must precede, though it is quito separate from, any course of action as to the form of Government.

It seems really marvellous when wo look back, to tind how the representatives of the North Island have allowed it to be plundered for the sake of enriching Otugo and Canterbury. First, there was the great and famous compact, when Otago and Canterbury got as their sources of wealth the wholu of their land revenues, as well as the five-eighths of their Customs revenue, while we in the- North had only the latter. Then gradually we were deprived of our one source of revenue in order to defray colonial charges. That process extended over a series of years, and left us idmost stripped. In. another way, too, we were injuriously affected. The General Assembly of New Zealand agreed to waive the Queen's right oi pre-emption over native lands, the eil'ect of which was that the chanco we had of acquiring a land revenue from which some benefit might have accrued to us was thrown away, for private parties instead of the Government purchased the land. If colonial funds had continued to be expended for the purchase of native land, the North Island provinces would probably by this time have been in the possession of a land revenue. But the Legislature saw fit to stop this, and so, as has been the case all through the transaction, those that had much received more, while those who had little had that taken from them. Everything seems to have contributed to the process" for when the groat borrowing scheme was inaugurated, the colony took charge of the immigration and public works, the cost of which, for Otago and Canterbury as well as for the rest of the colony, was defrayed out of loan, for which the whole colony was liable. Otago and Canterbury were thereupon, for the time at least, enabled to relieve their land fund from the cost of immigration and public works, and to indulge in luxuries quite beyond our reach, to enrich the settlers within their borders, and to oiler inducements which threw us into the shade. And those we have mentioned above are not the only ways in which these provinces have been favoured, for the very system of taxation adopted has let off almost scot free the wool-producing industry of the South whilst the small settlers of the North have been heavily taxed tlirough the Customs. The same system lias been pursued to the last, for Mr. Macandrew last session was enabled to defeat the few faint attempts which the Government made in the Abolition Bill to get under the control of the Assembly a portion of the land revenue of the South.

In looking over tho steps of this history, so melancholy for us, one cannot help wondering how it is that no combined attempt has hitherto been made on the part of the North Island to .get rid of the unfair burdens which have been thrown upon it, and we would fain hopo that now a stand will be taken, and that Otago and Canterbury will be made to account to the rest of the colony. The time is favourable. The financial condition of the colony must be investigated and settled. The public institutions of the province of Auckland must bo maintained, and we have no resources within the province to do it. It is quite certain that unless the land fund is to some extent made available for the wants of the colony, taxation will have to be materially increased. We hear of Road Districts in the South having £30,000 or £40,000 derived from land revenue in the Bank, vrhich they cannot use. It might be easy for the residents there to pay extra taxes, but the settlers of Auckland, who get no aid at all in the construction of roads, will not be very easily made to pay taxes to make up the interest on the loans. We believe that a party sufficiently strong could be mustered in the House of Representatives to enforce justice, for no member from this province, at all events,

would dare oppose a movemerit'to obtain what at best could be but a fraction of what we are entitled to.

The Statistical Kegister of . New South. Wales for 1574 has recently issued from the press, its publication this year being somewhat delayed by the difficulty of getting returns from various departments. ' The population of New South Wales, it appears, ia close on 000,000, aud the increase during the year is a little over 4 per cent, from births, and arrivals over sea. The number of immigrants who arrived from the fjnited Kingdom was only IGSS, of whom 605 came at their own expense—figures which seem ridiculously small compared with our own immigration statistics. Public charities have cost £132,831, of which the public subscribed over £30,000. In the matter of education it appears that the state schools are not injuring the private schools, or those under denominational control; the private schools have 10,829 pupils; public schools, 53,702; and denominational schools, 36,21S ; the increase of scholars in attendance, on the previous year, it may be remarked was over 8 per cent., or double the rate of increase of population. It is curious to note that, as in New Zealand, the marriage rate has steadily declined. The trade statistics are especially interesting: the imports were £11,293,739; exports, £12,345,603 ; being an average per head of £21 12s. for the latter, and £19 I2s. for the former. Gold received by escort was 243.51S ozs., less by one-third than the return of previous year ; while the yield of coal reveals a large increase, the output of thirty collieries being 1,304,567 tons, valued at £790,224. In reference to the settlement of the country, the returns shew that the freehold tenures have been increased by 2,000,000 acres. There was a slight decrease in the area under wheat, and a falling off of half a million bushels in the crop of maize; the total area under cultivation was close on half a million acres. During the past year over 400 miles of railway were open for traffic, the revenue from which was £520,575. For the use of 7449 miles of electric telegraph, £59,820 was received. The total land revenue for the year was £1,455,182. These figures indicate that New South Wales is holding her own in the race of Colonial progress, and that she has every reason to be satisfied with the steady, if quiet advancement, that she is making year by year.

We have received reports of addresses from Mr. Fitzherbert and Mr. Macandrew, but pressure upon our space compels us to hold over the speech of the latter. Mr. Fitzherbert seems to be in a pitiable stato of bewilderment, and not to know exactly what side ho is to take. Mr. Macandrew is distinct enough. Abolition of the provinces, he says, ought to be resisted, because the effect will be that the colony will get a portion of what Otago is enabled at present to keep to itself.