PUBLIC MEETING.

Otago Witness, Issue 341, 12 June 1858, Page 4

PUBLIC MEETING.

A Public Meeting (called by placard) was held in the Mechanics' Institution on Monday evening to take steps to memorialize the General Assembly against any division of the Otago Province. The meeting was well attended.

Dr. Purdie having been calledTto the chair, he briefly stated the object for which the meeting had been convened.

Mr. Cutten said he believed the meeting would be unanimous on the subject they had met to consider, as he could scaicely suppose that anyone would be desiious of dividing the Province into two. He had been asked what reason there was for supposing that such an attempt would be made. He might state that from letters received, it appeaied that Dr. Menzies was about to present a petition to both the House of Representatives and the Legislative Council, praying for the erection of the Murihiku District into a separate Province. Captain Cargill was preparing a memorial requesting that the matter might be referred back to the people of Otago to express their opinion. Other gentlemen had received letters bearing out his statement as to Dr. Menzies' proceedings at Auckland. That such a proposition as the division of the Province would be entertained upon its own mci its, he did not suppose ; but the danger arose fiom its being the interest of other Provinces to make the land funds of Otago bear a larger share of the New Zealand Company's Debt. The folly of the proceeding, as far as Otago was concerned, was evident. Besides bearing a greater share of the public burden, they would have a' double Government ; and in the present state of matters it was not possible for the Southern Distiict to bear the burden of a complete Government. From the 1 small number of the inhabitants of the South, they could not find electors to fill the various oftices required. The system of dividing Provinces, if cairicd out, would be most injurious: it was bad enough to have six different legislatures, but it would be worse if they were to have a seventh ; besides creating local jealousy between those which were at present united — a jealousy which would prevent many pub'io benefits, such as posUl communication, as is the case of the Canteibury and Otago Provinces. If the South was to be made a separate Province, why should the inhabitants at the Molyneux or Waikouaiti not have the same privilege I The fact of the South being & part of the Piovince of Otago had been very beneficial to it. The country had been surveyed at an expense of £10,000, to pay which the Province had to incur a heavy debt, which it would have been impossible for the South, with no revenue which it could rely upon, to have borrowed ; for it was a mistake to suppose that the greater part of the land revenue had been drawn from sales at the South. The diffeiences at the South weie almost all adjusted; the runs were all let, and the occupiers had acquired vested interests, which any change in the Piovince might endanger,— and the whole subject would have dropped but for the circumstance of Dr. Menzies having been called to the Upper House. Mr. Cutten then read the following Memorial, which had been prepared by a number of gentlemen interested, and was framed with the object of avoiding any subject that might be objectionable to any one: —

_ " That your Memorialists understand that a Petition has been forwarded to your honorable House praying for a separation of the Southern or Murihiku portion of the Pro\ince of Otago from the Northern, and the erection of the Southern portion into an independent Province.

. lhlt . y°»r Memorialists -view such a proposal with feelings or i egret, as, a measure which would be productive of the woist consequences to the Muiihiku district ; the population of that district beinf so small, and the resources of the district bein" ai yet, so undeveloped as to require, in the meantime what they have already, to a lanje extent, received' the fosteunjr care and pecuniary assistance of the eailier settled portions of the Piovince. "That the small population, and consequently snia revenue of that district, are in the meantime wholly inadequate for the .support of the necessaiv expeuses of an independent Government, and th-uL the election of it into a separate Province would! therefore retard the pi ogress of that district itself ,s well as be injurious to the general interests of tl.e whole Pro\ nice of Otdgo. " Your Memorialists would therefore crave that the Province of Ouro be not divided and your Petitioners will ever pray." He concluded by moving " That the Memorial now read be adopted by the Meeting." '

Mr. T. B. Gillies, in seconding the motion, said, —There were some proposals which were important from their own nature and reasonable character ; there were others which acquired importance only from their audacity, and the pertinacity with which they were urged. Of the latter description was the proposal to divide the Province— a proposal so absurd in itself, that were it not urged by a person of Dr. Menzies' standing and ability, no notice might be taken of it. There were two pointa of

view in which this proposal might be considered : first, supposing that in future the principle of local Provincial Governments was to be carried out throughout the colony — in that case Murihiku might at some future day be elevated to be a separate Province ; it had a fine tract of available countV?~, and some advantages beyond even this part of the Province. But at present there was not a population to form a Province — not adults sufficient to fill the various offices of Government, if the machinery of Government, Boards, &c, such as existed in Dunedin, (which he supposed must be the best way) was to be carried out there. Then as to levenue : take the population at 600, and say £3 per head — a fair amount — what would that do, or three times that amount do, towards roads, surveys, &c., after deducting the Government salaries. But in the other point of view he objected to this division, not only for the present, but in any circumstances. He would like to see rather a consolidation of Provinces into one solid General Government, which must be, if ever New Zealand was to become a great nation ; that a division of this Province would be a retrograde instead of an advancing movement, and should therefore be strenuously opposed. He trusted that, by a numerously signed Memorial, the people of this Province would show that they were strongly opposed to the proposed division.

Mr. Grant objected to the tone of the remarks of Mr. Gillies. The course which he would recommend the electors to pursue was to send up a gentleman of education and talent to advocate their cause in the Assembly ; and the gentleman who was already elected, but had not proceeded to Auckland, ought to at once take his place in the Assembly. He condemned the tone of the remarks which appeared in the local journals generally. He considered that no notice should be taken of the veiy absurd petition of Dr. Menzies, as the contrary course was giving importance to what was a trifling matter.

Mr. Shaw regretted that there sho^d have been any necessity for the present meeting, but hoped that the memorial wouid be generally signed, so as if possible to prevent any division.

Mr. Langlands said they had met to consider a subject of vast impoitance. He quite agreed with the seconder of the motion, that they requiied one strong General Government for the southern Provinces, rather than any further sub division. No advantage could be derived from such a proposition as that urged by Dr, Menzies, and he trusted the settleis would strengthen the hands of their representatives by an extensively signed memorial against the division of this Province.

Mr. Miller said he would not support the memorial unless the law creating the 2000-acre blocks was repealed, he thought it a gieat evil that the settlers could not purchase land beyond twelve miles fiom Invercargill.

Mr. Cutten, in replying to the objections which had been raised, said that about 45,000 acres had during the past year been laid out in sections in the South ; that £500 had been spent in making roads — a greater amount of public money than had been expended in Otago for many years after its settlement. Mr. Giant's suggestion to send up a gentleman of education to support their views, was correct enough, but there was great difficulty in finding one who could go ; and if that were so great a difficulty in Otago, with a population of 5000, where were the Southern people to find repiesentatives ? It would be unwise to neglect the common precaution of expressing their opinion by petition, as their motive might be misunderstood. As to the objection to the 2000-acre blocks, he (Mr. Cutten) had always thought it an unwise measure, and had oppos.'d it. If the public thought so too, they could repeal the law in their own Piovincial Council ; and the Murihiku settlers should come forward and take a share in the legislation of the Province when they could express their opinion upon the matter.

Mr. Shaw moved the second resolution —

"That a Committee consisting of Messrs. Reynolds, Sibbald, T. B. Gillies, W. C. Young, A. J. Burns, Mosely, Pillans, Jas. Smith, W. Jones, and H. Clarke, with power to add to their number, be appointed to obtain signatures to the Memorial ; the lists to be handed in on Saturday, the 19th instant."

Mr. Young seconded the motion, which was agreed to.

Mr. Macandrew did not consider it advisable for a representative to take any prominent part in the present proceedings, but he might suggest that as many signatures as possible should be got to the memorial ; and also to get as many names from the Mu'rihiku district as could be got. Special messengers should be sent for that purpose, and he hoped that if the thing was done at all, it would be well done.

Mr. Reynolds said lie had been absent from the Province for some time, and had but recently arrived. He did not expect to find any differences existing amongst them, and thought that they would have now been unanimous against any division of the Province. But he believed that if Dr. Menzies were now present to observe the affairs of the Province in operation, he would see the absurdij§> of the question which he had revived. It was unfair to call for a division of the Province after what had been expended at the south on surveys, &c. .Many of the settlers in the south, who ro.v possessed land, had been brought down from Melbourne at the expense of the Province, and 01 hers, when immigration from Melbourne was beng carried on, were induced to come down and settle at the south. It was therefore altogether unreasonable to talk of dividing the Province. He then moved the-thitd resolution :—: — "That the Hon. J. H. Harris be requested to present the Memorial, and to suppuit the prayer thereof, in the Legislative Council ; and that the Members for Otago be requested to present and snpport it in the House of Representatives."

Mr. Smith said he had.grept pleasure in seconding the resolution. He did not see that the people in the south were in a position to defiay the expense of the machinery connected with another Government, and saw no necessity whatever for the movement which Dr. Menzie3 had sot on foot.

He would therefore give the memorial his hearty support.

Dr. Williams said he was thoroughly aware of the grievances which the settlers in the South had to complain of some time since, and their complaints were then most reasonable ; but since their grievances had been now so far remedied, he did not think there was any desire on the part of the Southern settlers to have the Murihiku district separated.

Mr. Taylor said — Any one who knew the South would hold it unnecessary to canvas the opinions of the people on the subject. He had attended the last meeting called at Invercargill by Dr. Menzies. It was called for twelve o'clock, and up to five o'clock when he left, not half a dozen people had assembled ; so little interest did the people of Murihiku take in it. Not one man fiom the Jacob's River district attended the meeting besides himself and two of his men, who refused to sign the memorial, and he believed himself justified in sa} ing that, after they had had the true tendency of the memolial explained to them, not one man in that pait of the district could now be got to support it. He had gone ever the list of names attached to it. Many of the parties, — mere biids of passage — had already left the country ; a great number had at the time but just arrived in it, and of the rest he was persuaded that many even of those east of the New River would, if the memorial had to be signed now, refuse to sign it. Theie was, moreover, a mystery about those signatuies. Most of them weie in one handwriting. One of them he knew to be not genuine, and though he of course did not for a moment attribute intentional deceit to Dr. Menzies, yet he could not, from his knowledge of the present sentiments of many of the apparent subscribers, avoid the conviction that the names of many of them had been appended to the memorial by the subordinate agents, without the consent of the owners. At the time he attended the meeting he had in his pocket a memorial from the inhabitants of the western distiict of Murihiku embodying the same principal giounds of complaint, viz :—: — the delay of the survejs, and the want of a resident Commissioner. Their lemonstiances in both respects had been attended to ; the surve)s were now complete, and the Land Office at Invercargill was opened, and he believed there existed now very little disposition indeed in the Murihiku distiict to carry matters any further.

Mr. Leggat said he could peihaps explain why the signatures to the Murihiku petition wcie in one handwriting. He happened at that time to be Secretary to the Association ; and in a district like the South, where the settlers were widely scatteied, it was not easy to reach them all with the petition that they might personally sign it. The names of those, therefore, who could not be got at, were appended to the petition by mandates from them to that effect.

Mr. Harris expressed his entire concurrence in the prayer of the Memorial. Had he not known Dr. Menzies' determination of character, he should not have troubled himself about the matter. If the question were to be decided on its own merits, there would be but little to fear; but as it was the interest of the other Provinces to get this Province divided, it was necessary for him to proceed to Auckland and use his best endeavouus to prevent any division being made. He hoped at the same time that he would have the cordial co-operation of the other Otago members, and that they might act in unity for the benefit of the Province. The resolution was carried unanimously. A vote of thanks to the Chairman terminated the proceedings.