POST-SESSIONAL SPEECHES

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4247, 30 October 1874, Page 3

POST-SESSIONAL SPEECHES

ME. JOSEPH SHEPHAED AT WAIMEA. Mr. J. Shephard, M.H.K., addressed his constituents of tho Waimea at the schoolhouse, Lower Wakefield (Province of Nelson), on Thursday evening, the 22nd instant. Only about twenty-five were present. Prom the lengthy report published by the Colonist we make the following extracts :—After a few preliminary observations, Mr. Shephard spoke of the SUCCESS OF THE POLICY OF IMMIGRATION AND PUBLIC WOICKS which had been initiated by Mr. "Vogel four years ago. Previous to the initiation of the policy the revenue wa3 falling year by year. They had seen that with an increasing population the produce from the customs duties was actually falling ; the natural inference being that while the people were increasing in numbers they had less means of indulging themselves with those indulgences which persons who worked with their heads or their hands were fairly entitled to. But during the last year the revenue from all sources suddenly sprang up to £1,420,000, and there was an actual increase in that one year of over £300,000. As a justification for his action in 1873 he would mention one point. Probably several tens of thousands of this increase arose from the alteration of the measurement into ad valorem duties, and those who attended his (Mr. Shephard's) meeting last year would remember that he then said he felt that the duty of 7A per cent., instead of 10 per cent, as proposed by the Government, would be quite large enough to keep up the revenue. This proved to be the case, and there was an increase of 25 per cent, on the whole revenue. It was perfectly clear that the population, although it had increased to some extent by immigration and the usual natural increase, yet had not increased in that proportion, and it indicated (whatever our condition might be here) that through the whole of New Zealand there was a general advance in the welfare of the people, and that advance had begun and gone on steadily with the progress of the policy initiated by the head of the present Government.

PROSPECTS BEFORE THE COLONY. The prospects of the future were of the fairest and best. No doubt times of trial would come, but when there were more persons to bear the burdens of the State, those burdens would be so much lighter, and he thought that the pressure would never again be felt as it had in former days. There was a large surplus revenue from the year ending June 30, 1874, and the same was expected from the current year, and it was exceedingly satisfactory to know that it was to be disposed of in the following manner : —ln the first place interest on all loans would be paid out of the revenue, and there would be no longer the charge against the Government that they were not merely borrowing money, but borrowing it to pay the interest on loans. Half the cost of maintaining a sufficient force to keep the natives of the North Island in order, would also now be paid out of the current revenue, and in a short time it was believed that the whole would be paid out of the revenue. They had had a certain amount of help from the Road Boards up to to the present time, that had been paid out of loans, but it was proposed now to pay half of that out of the current revenue, and their means of usefulness would not be cut short so soon as was anticipated. ADVANCES TO PROVINCES. Nelson was an applicant for some borrowed money to carry on public works and other provinces were desirous of obtaining grants also. The great change of opinion that had taken place on that point since last year, was decided by the fact that the House of Representatives, who passed every bill last year, would not this year pass any one of them. But there was given to Nelson .£50,000 to complete the road to the West Coast, and a special gift of £SOOO. Tn addition they got about £II,OOO for immigration purposes, and about £7OOO would come to the province for expenditure on public works, from a fund of the same character as the Middle Island Railway Fund. Of course they got their £4OOO for the assistance of road boards. Therefore, it would be seen that Nelson fared pretty well at the hands of the General Government. The whole waa about £77,000, and he did not know of any year in the history of the province when such a sum was available for expenditure on public works. Wellington received £66,000 for immigration, and Auckland had assistance ; and he desired to draw their attention to the fact that none of this money would be out of loans. Advances would be made from the Consolidated Revenue to the provinces, and if they exceeded the surplus, Treasury bills would be given, but the general indebtedness of the colony would not be added to. After explaining how the Government proposed to deal with the West Coast railway, and speaking of other local subjects, Mr. Shephard proceeded to speak of THE STATE FORESTS. lie regarded the Act passed on that subject as one of the most important measures of the pa3t session. Forests, he said, had a good effect on climate, and prevented destruction by floods, &c. Where forests were removed, the cleared land did not carry an increased number of stock. Another point was, that it was necessary to stop the waste of timber in many parts of the country where valuable timber, fit for all purposes, had been cut down merely to get a few more acres of land for grass. Thi3 waste impoverished the colony and altered the climate for the worse. Nobody in the House objected to the Bill, as there was a unanimous opinion that forests should be preserved, and that planting ought to bo carried on; but it waa unfortunately proposed that three acres in each 100 should be taken to form a Forests Reserve. Then provincial representatives became indignant, and the whole thing was denounced as an attempt to break down the lands of the provinces. The opposition waa so bitter, that Mr. Vogel agreed to strike out the clause which provided that 3 per cent, of the land should be set apart. He (Mr. Shephard) regretted that Mr. Vogel had not insisted that the Bill should be passed without alteration. In a speech made by Mr. Curtis in Nelson a short time previously, that gentleman had said that if the 3 per cent, had been given, they would have lost 200,000 acres of the best land in the province. Mr. Curtis ought to have known that it was not intended to take the best land for planting forests. Ho had reason to know that Mr. Vogel's intention was to except altogether those lands proposed to be given as security in their Loan Rill, and simply to take 200,000 acres from somo other part of •the province. Tho General Government would take somo action to prevent tho waste of timber; and in a few years it would bo seen that the State Forests Bill would do great good to the country. After reviewing the other measures of the session, Mr. Shephard said that ho did not approve of tho measure introduced by tho Government to alter the Constitution of tho Council, As to

THE .SOUTH SEA TRADE, he admitted that it would be desirable to open up such a trade, but at the same time ho questioned whether it was the duty of a colony which had already such great works on hand, also to incur other liabilities ovitside its own boundaries. The measure, however, was not ripe, and he thought the Government had acted prudently in withdrawing it. If the Imperial Government chose to take possession of some of tho Pacific groups he believed great good would be done to the colony, but he doubted whether it would be wise to pledge our credit any further. THE QUESTION OF PROVINCES. In alluding to the question as to the abolition of tho North Island provinces, he said ho looked upon it as a question to be considered by the colony as a whole and not by the inhabitants of the North Island alone. He would not deny that the provinces had been very useful in the past, when communication with the various parts of the colony was so bad, and when the several poi-ts might almost be considered so many detached governments. In those years they had done much to promote the settlement of the country and executed many valuable works, and for all this they deserved the gratitude of the people, but it appeared to him that they had served their purpose. In his opinion the time had come when they should consider whether it was not possible that the inhabitants of the provinces could be brought together as one united people, and have one system of law through the whole colony. It had been shown clearly in the matter of trunk lines of railway that it would be impossible .to preserve distinctions, and it was evident that the whole thing must end with the opening of the trunk lines. But it had come sooner, and the Government in taking up the matter had not, he thought, entered upon it one hour too soon. The public works and immigration poiicy of 1870 was obviously the death blow of provincialism. The only reason that could previously be given for the permanent existence of the provinces was that they were promoting settlement by the execution of useful works and the introduction of new blood, but in 1870 the General Government took over that duty and relieved the provinces of it, and from that time their functions ceased. In most parts of the colony—at any rate in Nelson—there had since been very little to do except to manage certain departments which he believed would be just as well managed in Wellington as here. In 1872 the question was brought forward, and resolutions were proposed to transfer the management and execution of public works throughout the colony to the various provincial authorities. There was some show of reason in this, because it did away with the necessity of keeping up two sets of officers. But the House of Representatives would not listen to the proposal. Itwas clear tohim then that theprovinces were doomed, and that their extinction was certain, when they were refused work to do. Although Mr. "Vogel's proposals only referred to the North Island, still it would be better to consider them as they applied to the whole colony. It was quite clear that the provinces of the North Island could not get on unless it was by means of funds which they obtained from the colony as a whole. With the money so obtained they bolstered themselves up for a time. He could not conceive anything more absurd than the proposition that one party should have to raise money, and that another which was not responsible should have the disposal of it. The borrower and the spender should be one party. The money which the provinces boasted of having spent on works was not money raised by themselves but by the Colonial Government, and it rendered the Minister of Finance unsafe because he never knew what claims would be forced upon him when Parliament met. His great objection to the maintenance of provincial government in Nelson was its extreme poverty. Poverty was no disgrace, but when a province was too poor to do more than pay its own establishment charges—when it could do nothing for opening up the colony by useful works—the sooner it wound up its affairs and went out of existence the batter. (Applause.)

OTAGO AND CANTERBURY. In. these discussions there had always been special exceptions made in favor of Otago and Canterbury. From some cause this had happened, and no notice had been taken of the desirability of abolishing these two important divisions of the colony. But if the matter were thoroughly investigated it would be seen that while the provinces of the North Island could not give a reason why they should be allowed to exist, simply because they were not able to discharge any useful functions, those two provinces (Otago and Canterbury) ought also to be aboli3hed for they were too great and powerful, when united, for the rest of the colony. These two provinces, which were continually boasting of their wealth, were actually getting from the general loans of the colony a larger amount in proportion than any other province. If they got this money simply for the purpose of forming trunk lines of railway, he (Mr. Shephard) would say very little about it, but when, in addition to that, they secured the assent of Parliament to a number of lines which could not be called trunk lines, he thought it showed that they were too strong and dangerous for the colony as a whole. Their population was considerably less than one-half the population of New Zealand, and yet they had secured to themselves out of the railway loan something like three-fifths of the whole amount, or in other words, a million more than their fair share. The grants made to Otago up to date for railways were £2,117,500, and to Canterbury £1,182,000, or only £SOO les3 than £3,300,000, while the total appropriation for railways was only a little more than £5,500,000. Look at the position of Nelson. These two provinces had a million over their proper share, which was not expended entirely on trunk lines, and that million would make the Nelson railway, but they could not get it, and the reason was that such a large proportion of the railway funds were given to these two provinces, which were continually boasting of their'wealth. PAST EXPERIENCE. The Government had in the past sacrificed a million and a half to purchaso support. Last year half a million was given for the purchase of a landed estate in the North Island, because Canterbury and Otago would not allow their lands to be taken as security for railways, and rather than that such should be done they forced on the Government a proposal to raise a loan at the expense of tho colony to buy land for the people of the North Island in order that they might be kept quiet. Nelson had never objected to give land for railway purposes, and it had always been part of the proposition that wo should give tho land necessary for the West Coast railway. He had been amused a few days before on reading tho speech of Mr. Reeves in Canterbury on the provincial question. That gentleman had opposed the Government strongly, and was in favor of maintaining tho provinces. Ha pleaded that if the provinces were abolished, Otago and Canterbury would not have tho power they had at present. This power was just what he (Mr. Shephard) complained of, and he thought it was time that it was diminished, for it was actually dangerous to the colony. It was his opinion that all the provinces, rich and poor, should bo abolished.

THE I'UTUIIE. If the provinces were abolished education would be taken up as a State department. With regard to the lengthening of the session of the Assembly, ho said that the first session after the abolition might bo a little longer than usual, because there would be a great many Provincial Acts to Bettle, but there were always a great many purely Provincial Acts brought forward. It had been said in the House that those 'who votod for Mr. Vogel's resolutions would be bound also to voto for the Abolition Bill, but he would say that if he did not agree with tho Bill ho would not support it. The Government did not intend to abolish tho provinces until they had some other syßtem of local government prepared. Still he believed that the colony would benefit by the abolition of tho provinces, and therefore ho supported the measure heartily. At the close of Mr. Shephard's address a resolution expressing high satisfaction with his action in Parliament, and with his lucid explanation of the political situation, was moved and agreed to unanimously.