PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

Otago Witness, Issue 363, 13 November 1858, Page 2

PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

Thursday, November 4, 1858. [We last week briefly noticed the Provincial Solicitor's Financial Statement ; we now give more fully the hon. gentleman's speech upon that occasion.] All the members were present except Mr. Cutten.

FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

The Provincial Solicitor made' a statement as to our financial relations with the General Government. The hon. gentleman said —

It is important, I think, that before proceeding to vote the supplies for the current year, the committee should have a clear and distinct view of the financial changes that have been recently made by the General Assembly, and of the extent to which they affect the Provincial Revenue. And I respectfully request that the committee accord to me that indulgence which I stand in need of while I endeavour lo point out those changes, and some of their consequences. I begin with stating that the position in which this Province, in common with the other Provinces, is placed with relation to revenue is such that it is difficult to say what amount of revenue is at the disposal of the Provincial Council. Our Provincial ways and means are so much subject to the control of the General Government that we cannot rely with confidence upon the experience of former years for determining what they may amount to in this or in any future year, — a consideration which, I trust, will induce the committee to act with more than usual caution. The revenue of the colony is distinguished by three titles — Ordinary Revenue, Surplus Revenue, Land Revenue. Of the land revenue, and the reason why it is distinguished from ordinary and surplus revenue, I shall speak afterwards. I proceed to explain what is meant by ordinary revenue and surplus revenue, and to what these revenues are appropriated. By the Ordinary Revenue Act of last session, it is enacted that all the revenue derived from the several departments named is ordinary revenue, and fiom the Ist July last, when this Act came into operation, is subject to be appropriated by the General Assembly for public purposes: which purposes I shall now explain. From the ordinary revenue are defrayed the sums constituting the civil list. By an Act passed last session, but reserved for the signification of her Majesty's pleasure, these sums are augmented. The distinction between the civil list and other appropriations is, that the latter are voted yearly or periodically, whereas the sums in the civil list are not voted yearly, but form a permauent yeaily charge until altered by a new Act. Over and above the civil list there are various annual or periodical appropriations of the General Government, and to the appropriation of last session I now claim your attention. These are classed under the heads — Executive, Legislative, Judicial, Customs, Postal, Military, Miscellaneous. It is unnecessary for my present purpose to make any remark upon the appropriations under the two fiist heads, viz., executive and legislative, but I ask your attention to the third head—judicial. By the Ordinary Revenue Act all fees, fines, penalties, and forfeitures form part of the ordinary general revenue ; and by other Acts of last session — viz., the Petty Sessions Act, the Coroners' Act, the Resident Magistrates' Act, and the District Courts Act— it i* expressly provided that all such fees, fines, &c, shall be paid to the Colonial Tieasurer; and in the Geneial Government's Appropriation Act provision is made for the maintenance of these courts. The policy of the Government in regard to the inferior courts has been hitherto somewhat vacillating. At one time the Government kept them under its own wing — then it placed them under the wing of the j Provincidl Government — and now it has resumed the power of fixing and paying the salaries of the functionaries of these courts; which, however — as I shall show immediately — will form charges against the Provinces respectively in which such courts aie established. The next head in the Geneial Government's Appiopiiation Act is customs; for the establishment of which £17,312 is appropiiated. The next head is postal establishments; for which £19,360 is appropuated. I shall have occasion to call the attention of the committee to this head again, immediately. The remaining items are military and miscellaneous. The total amount under ail those heads is £72,6"16; to which fall to be added the sums in the Civil List Act, and other Acts, making a giand total of £119,606 of expenditure as estimated by the Colonial Treasurer. The ordinary revenue of the colony being estimated by the hon. gentleman at £180,800, and the expenditure as I have said at £]]9,SDH, there would remain a balance of £61.194. This balance he stated to be the sin plus revenue of this year. The committee will now at once see what is meant by surplus revenue. It is the balance of the ordinary revenue of the colony after deducting the sums which the General Government is entitled to expend under the Civil Lists Act, its Appropriation Acts, and o'her Acts, Now, how is the surplus reyenue in any \ear distributed among the Province* ? This inatier is regulated by the "Surplus Revenue Act, 1858:" to which I am now lo diieot your attention. This Act repeals a provision of the Constitution Aft which was unjust. It operated in this way. The larger Provinces ivere able to command large appiopriations for their own provincial purposes, by their greater influence. These formed deductions from the gioss revenue, and then the same Piovince CHive in for a lion's share of the surplus revenue, as that was divided in the like proportion in which the revenue had arisen in the respective Piovinces. To put an end to the injustice to which the weaker Piovinees were thus exposed, the Surplus Revenue Act of last session was passed. It enacts that the Colonial Treasurer shall keep a debtor and creditor account with every Province. You see then that on the oneTiandihe Province is to be eiedited with all i the ordinary revenue received within the Province, and..on the other hand is to be debited wilb all the charges of all the provincial establishments and provincial services disbursed by the General Government. These charges will be either strictly local, or general. To explain this distinction — the expenditure on account of the inferior courts will be strictly local, they are paid within, the Province ; the entire expendiuue on their account will, therefore, foiro. a charge against the Piovinc'.al Government. But there will be services of a general nature, that is, .^erviees by which not any one particular Pio-

vince, but all or several of the Provinces will be benefitted. In that case the charges for those services will be borne rateably by all the Provinces so benefitted. Take for example the postal service. The expense of the post offices within each Province will be charged entirely against the particular Province in which they exist, but the cost of the carriage of foreign and inter-provincial mails will be charged rateably against all the Provinces. To give a practical illustration of the rule, I shall assume that Otago contributes to the ordinary revenue of the colony 1-lfith of its aggregate amount; (I don't profess to give the actual, but only a hypothetical proportion). Well, then, Otago, on that hypothesis, will bear l-16th of the general expenses, and consequently of the foreign and inter-provincial mail service ; and will receive 1-1 6 th of any surplus revenue there may be. All this is so far quite fair and satisfactory, but I must bring you back to the consideration of the difficulty which I mentioned in the outset, of being able to say what revenue is at the disposal of the Provincial Council. Prom the explanation I have given, the committee will have seen that no part of the ordinary revenue comos to the Piovinces, except what is left over by the General Government. We literally and tru'y get no more of the ordinary revenue than the leavings of the General Government. The poor Provincial Treasurer must be content with the fragments which come from the rich Colonial Treasurer's table ; and if the Colonial Treasurer be any way luxurious, anything aldermanic in his tastes and powers of digestion, he may gormandize the whole, or leave to the Provincial lieasurer nothing but the sorriest crumbs. The Colonial Treasurer says that the mode of charging will make no difference. I admit that will be the case, provided the General Government adhere to the scale of the departments and salaries as fixed by the Provincial Council, and consult and follow the advice of the Provincial Council when any change is proposed. But that, of course, will not be done; and the hon. gentleman has in a straightforward manner told us so. Now just let me give one little illustration of how things may be managed at head quarters. I have stated that the suiplu3 revenue of the current year was estimated at £6 1,1 34. The hon gentleman, the Colonial Treasurer, called this the bornie bouche of the evening, which Provincial Treasurers were to smack their lips at. But even that good thing his Excellency's ministers cannot refiain from nibbling at. It was proposed to give this surplus to the Provinces by allowing them 2 sths or 16-40ths of the Customs Revenue, which, estimating the aggregate amount of customs received fro'n all the Pjovinces at £14-9,000, the Colonial Tieasuier's own estimate, would be £59,600 given to the Piovinces, But his Honor the Superintendent has by last mail received a despatch intimating that from the necessity of providing for certain military services, no more than 3-Bths, that is 15-40ths, of the Customs can be allowed, thus reducing the suiplus from £61,134 to £65,875, being a reduction of £5259. In making these comments on the financial plans of the General Government I mean to indicate no opinion of them, or to ask the Committee to do so. They have become law, and therefore must have been approved of by a majority of the representatives of the several Provinces who were attending to their duty. They are therefore no longer the schemes of his Excellency's ministers alone, but of the General Assembly, and we are bound to obey them. My object in making these comments has been simply to convince the Committee of the precarious footing oh which we stand, and of the perplexity in which we are with refeience to the amount of the revenue that will be at our disposal ; to shew the Committee that these schemes beint; new, we are without experience to guide us; and to induce the Committee to act with caution in the voting of sums for this, that, «nd the other purpose, without knowing whether we will have adequate funds 3t our disposal. Subsidiary to this my main object, there is another. It was a remark of the late Sir R. Peel, after the passing of the Reform Bills, that the battle of the constitution would have to be fouf-ht thenceforth in the registration courts; and it may be truly said here, that after the passing of the financial measures of the late session of the General Assembly, the battle of economy must be fought on the floor of the House of Repiesentatives. It will therefore be incumbent on the electors to take more care than ever to elect representatives who will pledge themselves to attend all the sittings of that House, and who will discharge their duty with fidelity and firmness. 1 pass now to the consideration of the Land Revenue. As you are aware, the " Waste Lands Act, 1856," which empowered the Provincial Councils to make laws for regulating the sale, &c, of the Waste Lands, was disallowed by the Imperial Government. In last session another Waste Lands Act was therefoie passed. This last mentioned Act repeals the Waste Lands Act of 1854, which confirmed the land regulations then in force, and empowered the Superintendent and Provincial Council to recommend new regulations. It was in virtue of that Act that the existing land regulations of this Province were made and remain in force. But it was a mere temporary expedient. There was then an intention to give powers to the Provincial Councils to make laws regulating the disposal of the Waste Lands. Accordingly in the same year, 1854, the Provincial Waste Lands Act was passed, giving the Piovincial Councils those poweis; but this law also is new repealed by the Act of last session. By this Act of last session, certain Acts, Orders, and Regulations of the Provincial Councils aie declared valid, and those relating to this Piovince so declared valid are the present Land Regulations, the Land Sales and Leases Ordinance, 1856, and the Town Land Sales Oidinance, 1857. Its other enactments amount to this, that all the powers which belonged to the Superintendent are taken away, and vested in the Governor, with a power to his Excellency of delegating them to the Superintendent or some other peison, and of recalling any such delegation. The Governor may interpose as to the administration of the land — mind not as to '.he administration of the land fund— l wish to impress upon the Committee that distinction. What I say now is that the Govei nor' may interpose in the administration of the sale, &c, of the land when he or his friends think fit. Now I hope that this change in the law has not arisen from any desire on the part of his Excellency's ministers to curtail the lights and privileges of the Provincial Councils. But it may be asked on what ground or principle have the Provinces a right to the land, and the proceeds of the sale, &c, thereof. Before answeiing that question, !•

ask another. Why have the land funds of the , Provinces not been placed under the category of ordinaiy revenue? The only explanation these questions admit of is— that the Land Revenue is Provincial Revenue — that each Province is entitled exclusively to its own land fund for its own purposes. Now one ground of this title is that each of them is taken bound to pay for the land. Observe, the New Zealand Company had a debt of £200,000 when it surrendered its privileges to the Imperial Government. It was a statutory compact that the Imperial Government was to pay the New Zealand Company's debt, and take for its relief the New Zealand Company's propeuy. That property consisted of the lands acquiied by the Company. It was resolved to saddle the three provinces of the Middle Island with this debt, and give them the land within their respective boundaries in compensation. One of the resolutions of the House of Representatives passed in 1856 was, " that the administiation of the waste lands of each Province should be transferred to the Provincial Government of such Piovince, and the land revenue theieof made provincial revenue," subject to certain charges. These weie the equal apportionment of the debt of £200,000 among the three provinces, bearing interest at 4 per cent., and a sinking fund of 2 per cent. Thus this Province, being burdened with its share of the New Zealand Company's debt, became fairly entitled to a corresponding share of the New Zealand Company's land or assets. Upon no other intelligible principle, as far as I can perceive, could the recent readjustment of the burden of this debt at the instance of the province of Nelson have taken place. To this matter I think it necessaiy to call your attention. Nelson having complained of the apportionment among the three provinces of the £200,000, the members of the General Assembly from those provinces agreed to refer to arbitration the question whether general considerations of equity and fairness called for any, and if so what, alteration in that apportionment. The hinge upon which the question appears to have turned was that Nelson had obtained a smaller portion of land than either of the other two provinces — that its area is smaller than that of the other two, and therefore that she should be burdened with a less proportion of the debt. The conclusion to which the arbitrators came was that Nelson should be relieved from about one -third of the share of the £200,000 imposed upon her, and that the amount from which Nelson should be relieved should be placed in equal shares upon Canterbury and Otago. Now all this illustrates the principle upon which the three provinces have been burdened proportionably with the New Zealand Company's debt, viz., that they have got the New Zealand Company's property, the land forming the area of the respective provinces. Their respective shares of that debt is the price each pays for its own land. No doubt the price has not been paid. But the land has been sold to the provinces upon condition of the price being paid by instalments, and according to my view the General Government ought to act and be treated as mortgagees, merely having an interest in seeing that the land is property and legitimately administered, and that nothing is done unfairly to impair the security it aftbids for the liquidation of the debt. The provinces and the provinces alone are entitled to all the proceeds of the land, subject to payment of the yearly contributions towards extinction of the debt. Accordingly it is enacted by the Land Revenue Act that all the levenue arising from the disposal of the waste lands in the several provinces of the colony shall, in pursuance of warrants to be from time to time granted by the Governor, be paid over by the receivers of land revenue to the respective tieasuries of such provinces lor the public uses thereof, subject to the appropriation of the respective Piovincial Councils; and by the Waste Lands Act it is enacted that all the costs, &c, shall be regulated by the Provincial Councils. I have to apologise for dwelling so long on this topic, but I have found a mistake existing in some minds by the jumbling of the administration of the land with the administration of the proceeds of the land, two very distinct things, which I hope I have made clear to your apprehension. His Excellency's ministers may interfere as to the administration of the land, by regulating the waj of selling, letting, and disposing of it, but they haye no right to dictate to the Provincial Council in the appropriation of the proceeds of the land, or to keep back any part of them except such part as may be required for the payment of any of the charges they are authorised by Acts of the General Assembly to make ugainst the Province. I think it the more necessary to adveit to this point because it appears to me that the anti-provincial tendencies of his Excellency's ministers are so strong, that they are disposed to embrace every occasion of enlarging their own powers, and curtailing those of the Provincial Councils. One woid more on the enactments of the General Assembly. By the Public Debt Appoitionmenl Act, effect has been given to the award in the case with Nelson. The £'200,000 has been apportioned thus, —to Nelson. £45,000; Canterbury, £77,600; Otago, £77,500. This Piovince is in consequence burdened with a per- | manent yearly payment of £4650 instead of as | before £4000. In addition to this £650, there will be from 31st December next another newly created annual charge— l allude to the salaries of the District Judge and the subordinate function- j aries of his court, which, though provided for in the General Governmeut estimates, will nevertheless form a charge against the Province. These new chaiges cannot be estimated at less than about £I*2oo a year. I ha\e now finished my explanation { of the financial position in which this Piovince is ! placed by the measures of the Geneial Assembly, and I shall now pass on to the Piovincial Govern- j ment Estimates. I shall not, however, occupy your time by dwelling on these. The items will of com Be be gone over seriatim, and it will then be more convenient to enter into the necessary explanations. I shall therefore restiict myself to one I or two remarks. The revenue from the waste lands I has been estimated liberally at £25,000. It | amounted to only £19,050 last year, including the j £6000 for the laige purchase in the south. The customs revenue also has been libeially estimated. Last year the three-eighths allowed as surplus ' revenue amounted to £3971, — we estimate them j for this year at £5000. Passing over for the present all the items of proposed expenditure, I ' conclude with noticing steam navigation, and a very dangerous navigation it is said to be to the Government. The coasting steam navigation and the intercolonial steam navigation may be our Scylla and Charybdis, but we are keeping a sharp look out, and having on board that tiusty pilot the

Provincial Council, we hope to be able so to steer as to give a wide berth to Scylla without running foul of Charybdis. To drop metaphor, we rely upon the Provincial Council taking a comprehensive view of all the interests of the Province, and distributing what revenue may be at its disposal to the best advantage for all those interests. The Council then resumed, the Chairman reported progress and obtained leave to sit again, and the House adjourned till Friday.