DISALLOWANCE OF ORDINANCES.

Otago Witness, Issue 802, 13 April 1867, Page 5

DISALLOWANCE OF ORDINANCES.

PUBLIC MEETING IN THE PRINCESS

THEATRE.

A public meeting, convened by the Mayor, in compliance with a requisition bearing about 250 signatures, was held in the Princess Theatre, on Saturday aftersoon, "to consider the position in which the City ia placed by the action of the General Government relative to the City Reserves Ordinance; and also to take into consideration generally the relations of the Provincial and General Governments." The attendance was not large.

William Masox, E-q, Mayor, pre sided, aud briefly commenced the proceedings.

Mr J. Vogel, M.H.R. (Provincial Treasurer) moved —

That io the opinion of thw mee'ing, the action of the General Government, as comnmni^ted by last mail, is highly injurious to the interests of Otngo g^nc-wlly, aud to theCity of ',unedin 'in particular, and that U !•• quite opposed to the integrity of Provinci *l institutions. This first resolution very properly dealt ■with what he might call the technical portion of the general question; and his object in moving it would be to show that the action of the General Government had been unnecessary and vexatious — that the disallowance of these Ordinances was not called for ; and that in the way in wbich they had been disallowed, the General Government had gone cut of its course, with the view of injuring the Province. It would be altogether a mistake to suppose that the General Government had not the power to disallow Ordinances, or that that power was not somt times exercised upon sufficient grounds. What was now to be contended was, that the General Government had* taken advantage of legal points, in order to interpose difficulties in the way of the progress of the Province. There was a mode of disallowing Ordinances which was very familiar to those who were mixed up with public business : the General Government pointed out mistakes, suggested how they might be remedied, and said, in effect, " Bring in an amended Bill in the next session of the Council, and all will be right." That recognised mode amounted to giving assistance to Provinces in getting over unexpected difficulties : the mode in the present case amounted to studious offensiveness in the creation of difficulties. — (Hear, bear.) The disallowance of the Railway Ordinance was altogether an unnecessary proceeding ; and the reasons given for it were altogether frivolous. The principal alleged reason wai that the Ordinance conflicted with the previsions of the Southland Debt Act, which prohibited the contraction of loans by a Province, without the sanction of the Assembly. But it could not be rationally contended thit a guarantee, such as was proposed by the Ordinance, came in the category of loans. There was this broad distinction — Under a guarantee, the Province wes liable for the payment of a certain rate of interest for not more than a stipulated number of years, and was not in any way responsible for the repayment of the principal money ; while in the case of a loan, there was a liability to pay interest and to repay principal. The guarantee proposed in tbia case, amounted to nothing more than an extended appropriatisn —an appropriation of L 32,000 a-yearfor 15 years; and nobody could pretend th^t such a Province as Otago was not justified in making such an appropriation for an object which the community believed to be for the public good. Tbe Ordinance that hid been disallowed did not, of itself, entail any absolute liability ; for it was simply an amended Ordinance not increasing the liabilities of the Province beyond those authorised to be incurred by the Ordinance which it was sought to amend. That Ordinance provided for a guarantee of 8 per cent, on not more than L 400,000 for 15 years, the time within which the guarantee might be given to a Company being 18 months, from April, 1866. The amended Ordinance did not increase the amount, the rate, or the period of guarantee, but it extended tbe term within which the guarantee might be given, and for the giving of it in a way which would be more likely to induce investment. In the letter of disallowance, it was said of this amended Railway Ordinance, that "no adequate provision for the protection of the public interest is provided." But that was a consideration of public policy : to admit that the General Government was entitled to interfere on such a ground, was to admit that whatever was done in the Province was amenable to revision by the General Government ; while, as a matter of fact, tbe objection was altogether unfounded. There was in the Ordinance an express stipulation that tbe Superintendent should make such terms, conditions, and pro-, ■visions with the Company, as he deemed necessary to protect the public interests ; and, therefore, the obj -ction stated was no more than a gratuitous insinuation, "Though you have the power to protect tbe public interests, you will not make the necessary

provisions." There was another most frivolous objection, that the guarantee was to be paid for a purely private purpose, «nd was, therefore, opposed to that provision of the Constitution Act which said that moneys should be nnpropriated for public purposes only. What wa« always under stood as the nature of such a guarantee, but that it was a direct inducement to invest money in public works ? If that was not a " public purpose," then there was no understanding th« meaning of words. As to the Reserves Management Ordinance : Mr Reynolds had earned the thwoks of the Province for the mrmner in which he had fought the question of the Primes street Reserves.— (Applause.) Mr Stafford was one of those who aided Mr Reynolds, on the Select Committee in compliance with whose report the House of Representatives decided that the Crown Grant for that reserve should be i-sued to the Province. Last session, the General Government introduced a Bill, recognising the fact that the Grant had been given, and authorising the payment ot the back-rents of tbe reserve, to the Provincial Government. That Bill would undoubtedly have become an Act of the Assembly, but for the accidental absence of some members ot the Legislative Council who had promised to support it in that House. Yet tbe General Government now pave as a main reason for disallowing the Ordinance, that they intended to te-t, in the Supreme Court, the validity of the Grant which they had asreed in recommending, and ths existence of which they had formally recognised He was wholly at & loss to underhand this gratuitously hostile proceeding ; and be thought it would have been far more honorable to the General Government, had they rpsolved to resign, rather than to retreat from a position which they had taken up, and had po long defended The question of the Wakatipu runs was easily explained. The effect of what had been done by the General Government could be shortly stated: — The sale of the nuns had been stopped ; and the Provincial Government had been deprived of from LI 2,000 to L 15.000, which they would pro. bably have received ere this, but for that stoppage. Some three month 1 ' ago, it came to the knowledge of the Provincial Government, that, although very liberal provisions had been made by which depasturing licenses could be taken up in the Wakatipu district — the payment of 6d a j sheep a year — and although 350,000 acres were available for the purpose, the annual amount accruing to the Government was but Llls. Inquiries were made, and it was found that tbe revenue wa? being defrauded in a wholesale rmnner, by persons running sheep, and not paying anything for so doinsr. The Government consi iered that 350,000 acres was far too large an extent of country to be dealt with as commonage ; and that it would be far more to tbe interest of the miners that the country should be properly stocked, and food thus ensured to them at a low price, j It was also considered by the Government, that to leave so larae a tract without anything like control from legal ownership, was like'y to be a great inducement to cattle stealing. The Government thought that if ] 00,000 acres were left as commonace, the leasing of 250,000 acres as run? would be thoroujhly justified, so that the country might he fairly stocked, and a revenue for the Province secured. The Government made provision, under the Goldfields Act, absolutely to protect the mining community : every holder of a miner's right was to be allowed to ran a hor=e or a cow; there was to be no interference with prospecting, nor any with respect to mining leases, and the holders of agricultural leases were protected. The runs were announced for sale. Meanwhile, a great many applications were made to stop the fale, in the interest of ' those who had bsen running cattle with- ] out paying for them ; but the Government, he thought very properly, took no notice of them. Then some one was despatched to Wellington ; and the sale was stooped in the most offensive way. Intimalion to atop the sale was sent direct to the auctioneer, and the Government was simply advised of the stoppage. The General Government had no more right to stop that sale than had any person then | present. He thought the Government were quite right in not seeking to make political capital, by accepting the decision of the General Government for the present, I and fairly arguing the question. A fun* between the Province and the General Government should not be courted in any way : if it was forced on the Province, it could not be helped. It was impossible to deny that it was natural for the people to meet, and stronjjly to express their indignation, under the circumstances. He thought the meeting! would agree with him that, with respect to these runs, the interference of the General Government was purely gratuitous and I moat insu'ting ; and that there was strone grounds for complaining of such a procedure, which had deprived the Province of a large revenue which it had aright to ex- j pect to have received. He thought he had shown that the resolution he had proposed

was moderately worded, and might well have b-en much stronger in its language. If the General Government meant to fight the Province, let them say so in a bold and outspoken manner : there ought to be nothing but indignation with respect to any attempt to subvert the Province by indirectly injuring its institutions.—(Applar.se.) It the General Government were determined to insidiously try to ruin the Province, there was no course that could be pursued in opposing them which would be too strong. — (Applauss.)

Mr Millar, M.P.C., seconded the resolution. The previous speaker, he said, had referred to the past and the present; he would glance at the future. He admitted Mr Stafford's astuteness as a statesman, and, in reference to the disallowance of the Port Chalmers and Oamaru Ordinances, he believed that this astuteness was exercised in an attempt to throw the apple of discord among' the two municipal bodies — the original Town Boards and the Corporations — so as to cause discussion between them, and to divert their attention from those objects which they might otherwise, by unity, promote. That appeared to him to be the only object and gain to be derived from this attempt to crush the Municipalities. He was sorry that gentlemen of greater experience than he was, were not present to support the resolutions; he missed one gentleman in particular — a gallant Major, who had, on a previous occasion, thrown down the gage of baftle. particularly to one of the Executive, Mr Hall. The gallant Major would have done well to have defended his challenge,the gage had been taken up, and it was now for him and them to contend for it. Next to this attempted annihilation of Municipal institutions, he did not doubt that the design was to swsllow up the Provincial Governments which now existed. It could not be said that the Government had prepared them for deglutition, like the boaconstrictor : fair warning bad been given, and it was now for them to hoist, not the flag of discord, but the British ensign, and under it, fi^ht the battle as it should be fought. Let their aim and object be the one great necessity, Separation from the North, which already swallowed up so great a proportion of the revenue of the country, and whope ultimate object it was to have, with other revenue, the Land Revenue within its power.

The resolution was unanimously adopted

Mr W. H. RETNOLns, M.P C , M.H.R. said that he wag in Otago when the Constitution Act was passed. He thousht that it was evident to the Imperial Parliament, that New Zealand could not be properly legislated for by one central body ; and to the credit of the Imperial Parliament, the Constitution Act made provision for local self-government. By that Act, the Colony was divided into six Provinces, and very lar^e legislative powers were given to each. Prior to the Constitution Act, all the revenues raised in Otago were carried off to the North Island. When tbe first Provincial Government came into existeuce here, our revenues amounted to somewhere about LI, BOO per annum ; before Provincial institutions had existed a twelvemonth, our revenues were as many thousands as they had been hundreds ; and at present they reached to upwards of L 100,000 a-year. He thought that those who had been sufficiently long residents of the Province to be enabied fairly to judge, would biav testimony that nnder a Provincial Legislature and Government, a great number of public works had been carried out. No doubt there had been blunders ; but, with all its faults, it could not be denied that, in Otago and in ether Provinces, the Provincial system hal done wonders, Now, the General Government had indicated, by despatches and by acts, that it was intended, step by step, to encroach upon Provincial institutions. Gradually, but systematically, that Government was taking power from the Provinces. If they vould leave to the Provinces their own revenues, it would not be so bad; but, clearly, the chief object iv attacking Provincial powers was, to be enabled tbe more readily to appropriate Provincial revenues. — (Applause.) If the General Government was allowed to pursue its course unchecked, there could be no doubt but that local representative Government would soon be at an end in New Zealand. — (Applause.) As to the recent action of the General Government, with respect to Ofago, he might be allowed to refer more particularly to the Reserves Bill. — (Hear, hear ) With regard to the Princes -street reserve, the Colonial Secretary wrote —

Moreover, the Princes street Reserve is ■ncludcil in clause 5 of the first schedule; and your predecessor was informei in my letter N T o. 433, of the 16th (Vfc)ber, 1860, that it was the intention of the Government to have the validity of the Crown Grant conveying that Reserve to the Superiotendent tested before the Supreme Court. It wouU hwe been impossible, therefore, even if the objections above mentioned had not existed, for ministers to advise the Governor to asaeiit to this3ill.

The letter referred to there was dated after the rising of the Assembly : that should be remembered. Upon the question of this Princes- street reserve, there was, upon his motion, a Select Committee of the Assembly appointed. As the mover, of course, he had to be a member; but, he did not name any other Otago representative. He knew that there was a strong feeiing against Otago as to the right to the reserve; but he believed that the right wa3 really stronger than the feeling; and, therefore, he included in the Committee members from Auckland, Wellington, Nelson, Canterbury, and Southland. With himself, there were seven members of the Committee ; and there was a unanimous decision that the reserve belonged to the city. — (Applause.) Mr Stafford was a member of that Committee. In the House, Mr Stafford spoke in favor of the adoption of the Committee's report : he said that it was a matter with which he had been acquainted from the foundation of Otasro, and that he knew the city was entitled to the reserve. Yet, this was the same gentlemen who could now write that the question as to the reserve must necessarily be referred to the Supreme Court. — (Hear, hear.) Bit the Crown Grant waa in the hands of the Superintendent; and he (Mr Reynolds) felt perfectly sure that His Honor would never give ur> that Grant. — (Applause.) He did not believe it was possible that the Governor could bring an action against the Superintendent, to recover possession of a Grant which the Governor had himself issued. If the Governor had done it illegally it was his own fault. The reserve was, at present, vested in the Superintendent, in trust for the city. The Reserves Management Ordinance being disallowed, the Mayor and Corporation could not deal with the reserve ; but the Superintendent, hold.ing the Grant, could receive the rents, and hand them over to the Corporation. — (Applause.) As to the Railway Bill, one of the objections taken by the General Government was that the public revenues could only be appropriated for public purposes, and that the guarantee for the railway did not come within the definition of "public purposes." But was it not very strange, that the same Attorney- General who decided in favor of a guarantee in the case of the Water Works Bill, should decide against it ia the case of; the Railway Bill?— (Hear, hear.) The disallowance of the Port Chalmers and Oamaru Bills, he considered to be based upon nothing more nor less than a legal quibble. As he understood the matter, in each case, the intention of the Bill simply was to hand over to the Municipal Corporation, the property, &c, of the old Town Board. It was alleged, in the letter of disallowance, that the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court was interfered with. If it was co, he had failed to discover the fact, although he had most carefully read the Bill. He did discover that it was provided that there should be no disturbance of any action pending against the Town Board, in either case. He would not further detain the meeting ;

but he would move —

That the said action 19 as much opp^ed to the sririt of the Constitution Act, a? it is subsersive of tbe principles of local representative Government. That it indicates a course of policy which, it persisted in, must inevitably produce results *he very opposite of those which tbe General Government profjssss to aim at ia the despatches referred to.

Mr John Hat, in seconding the resolution, said there was no feature in the settlement of the Australasian Colonies so remarkable as the manner in wh'ch large numbers of men, pouring in from other Colonies and the Home Country, had subsided into habits of industry, order, and respect for the laws. We saw the same feature in Bri'ish Columbia, but not in the neighboring gold- producing state of California. And why? Ui' questionably we must attribute the difference to the influence exercised over men breathing the atmosphere, and working under the system of British Government To this we owed the large share of local self- Government which was provided for in the various Constitution Acts of the Colonies. Where the first institutions had been accorded, the most rapid progress had been made, and it had always been the distinguishing characteristic of a British colonist that he had maintained the spirit of the British Constitution, however he might be forced by circumstances to differ from the British Government in minor details. There was no fear that Britons would loosely throw | away those great constitutional principles I for which their forefathers had fought and bled, and the viohtion of which had unset dynasties and sent kings to the block. The Cons'itution Act of New Zealand was eminently founded on those principles. But if the action of the General Government was to continue as it had begun to be of late, then, farewell to representative Government on the model of the British Constitution — farewell to freedom and progress throughout the Colony. 10. sending up a Bill to the General Assembly, we "were exactly in the position of a county at Home sending up, through its repre*

eenUtives to the House of Commons, tome measure for developing the resources of their shire, Uy the formation of some great road or important establishment, the expense of which, whether in principal or interest, was to be borne by themselves. The only thing that the British Government took care to s°cure was that the measure was not in itself illegal, ami that ample time was given all parties interested to offer objections, if their interests were in any way injuriously affected. This was not exactly a parallel case, for an pxact parallel case could not be found ; but it was sufficient fi r our purpose, for, where it failed, the advantage was on the side of the Colony. All that the General Government had to do, then, with our Pro vincial Bills, was to see whether they violated any existing law, and whether objections to their being made law could be sustained by the consideration that they injuriously affected other Provinces. The rectnt despatches tacitly a c sumed that these were the only ostensible grounds o which the present Executive had disallowed these Ordinances. In what respect, he would ask, had the Railway Ordinance contravened the law. In the words of the despatch, it was that the Ordinance wi? open to the legal objection, that the Superintendent is authorised by it to make an agreement to pay public money to a purely private purpose; and that it cannot be held that moneys appropriated to the payment of those dividends are appropriated to the public service. Was paying the Directors of a Company, which ■would open up new markets to our agricultural settlers, which would bring the produce of our stations and our Goldfields quickly and cheaply to the port, whence they were to be sent to the Home market*, which would develop new indu-tries wherever it operated— was that, he a c ked, paying for " purely private purposes" ? If so, what was the position of the Directors of the Waterworks Company ? He should like to ask the Directors if the important work on which they were engaged was likely to effect more good to the Province at large than the introduction of a railway Bystem? Suppose Dunedin were plentifully supplied with water, what great benefit would accrue to the Province as a ■whole — how was the great -work of colonisation assisted thereby? What mockery it would be to the Bettlers in the back country 'o repeat this Stafford logic, that they could not get their goodd to the market under 30s or 40a a ton, for the want of a railway, for that was a purely private purpose to which the revenue of the Province could not be applied; but that the people of Dunedin had an excellent supply of good water from a company, whose dividends were guaranteed by public money, because that was a " public service." Such logic was so peculiar, that he could only account for it from ita emanating from a place where earthquakes did abound, and one must have shot up between the premises and the conclusion. — (Laughter.) Yet this was the serious legal objection under whose inexorable necessity the Ordinance must be disallowed. As to the other reason for disallowing an Ordinance: Would that measure, if passed, injuriously affect any other Province ? How much would Wellington suffer if we had a railway to the Ciutha? Would Taranaki survive it? Would Hawkes Bay be annihilated? As well might they tell Mr Stafford that Cook's Straits was the cause of Fenianism, or what was, perhaps, more absurd, that his views of colonial legislation, place him in the foremost rank of political economists. — (Laughter ) In the same wa}' one might go through all the other bills, and explode the hollowness of the reasons alleged for their disallowance. The real reason was that our grandmama, the General Government, ,was very delicate in her sensibilities. She said to us — ''My dear Otago, you are getting too strong; your healthy devel"|/raent 13 to great ; you are going ahead of your poor brother Auckland, and fair sister Wellington. The liberty you take, and the noise you make, shock my nerves. I must really do something to reduce you — take this little dose of vinegar, made by a few old women, in a place called the Executive Council, and you will pood, be not so disgustingly robust, and show such dreadful symptoms of vulgar good health. You think you can take care of yourself, but it is all a mistake ; I must take a little more of your pocket money, and buy some nice little guns for your brother Auckland, and 'blankets for your half-brothers theMaories, and keep up the nice little game they have up in the North, that they call a Maori war. And then your old brother Wellington is learning to be a great statesman, and needs so much money for his education, that you must really do without your railway toy in the meantime, and fall back on your waterworks." — (Loud laughter.) Where was this to end ? Were we to sit contentedly, and see the very spirit of the Constitution Act violated by a few dilletanti statesmen, whose political acquirements we had heard so much of, but whose actual political action had done so little for the Colony as a whole? New Zealand was now the most expensively

governed Colony in the world, anil yet its shores were protected by no navy, and by no fortifications. It could not keep law and order in its own bounds, agamst a handiul of savages; it had no great military, civil, educational, or religious establishments, nupported at the expense of the Colony as a whole. Were we to expect emigrants from Great Britain, when we must tell them, if we t >ld the truth, that every grown up man had to pay LlO a year for being governed ? When he asks what he paid the LlO for, what were we to do, but hang down our heads for very shame With what an awkward argument must we send home an Immigration agent, when we said to the overtaxed population of Great Britain :—": — " You know nothing at all about it, come over with me, and y v wi'l know what taxing means." Why, if the population in Great Britain had to pay as many taxes as we had, they would clear off the national debt in eight years. The time had come when we must make a sand. We had too long submitted to be governed by Ministers who did not and could not appreciateourwants. — (Applause ) If this course of action were persevered in, then we must in our turn petition Her Majesty, through the Colonial Office, to disallow the doings of an Executive so hostile to the interests of a Province ; and to ask her to erect the Middle Islam] into a separate Colony, in which the inhabitants would pee their revenue spent among them selves, and their local self-government made a fact instead of a fiction. This we would do if we were true to ourselves, true to our public men, and true to the destiny of our noble Province. — (Applause.) Mr Kii>ston proposed the third resolution :—: —

That the only constitutional remedy ngiinst the evils complained of is Separation between the Northern and Middle Islands of New Zealand; and that, pending the accomplishment of such Separation, this meeting looks with confidence to the Superintendent and Provincial Council just elected (representing as they do the mind and will of tha people) .o take sued step 3 as may protect the interests of tho Province and uphold its imlepen<ienci\ He felt that, in speaking to the audience assembled, he was addressing fellowcitizens whose experience of the General Government during the last few days or months must suffice to convince them that the time had arrived when Separation from the North Island had become an absolute necessity. (Hear, hear.) It was the duty of every Government which represented the real views and wishes of the people, to see that the money derived from different parts of j the country should be expended in proportion to the amount, for the benefit of each particular part, and ef" the various classes from whom such revenues were derived. Was this what the General Government of New Zealand had doae, were doing, or contemplated doing ? No ; the very opposite was the case. That Government had systematically been drawing from the strength and resources of the Middle Island, and expending what they drew in pampering the interest* ol a few to the detriment, not only of this island, but of the whole of New Z aland. Many were the ramifications which the question had taken, but it came back to this— Thatit was a money question between us and the General Government. Had they treattd thi* island and the Provinces with the consideration which they deserved, the probability was, that we should not have arrived at the conc'u-ion that Separation was a necessity, but they had adopted a course which inevitably led to this result. Not only had the money been taken and squandered in a fruitless and unnecessary war— (No, no) — a war which would soon have ceased had the North had to pay the expense out of their own pockets — but they had lately endeavored to rob us of our means, and to insult and jeer us withal. The result of modern Government had shown that it was a most difficult and almost impossible thing for one Government to legislate justly for a territory of large extent. What could be expected of a Government which had shown such hostility, but that we should meet with the utmost injustice, and be defrauded and robbed in every possible way. While it was a duty to be submissive, it was so only to a certain extent ; and when that limit was overreached, it was our bounden duty to rise up and to resist oppression. The General Government, encouraged by previous successful encroachments, was now seeking to stifle us; it was time to be aroused, to tear asunder those chains by which we had been so long bound, and, by every constitutional means, demand until we obtained our entire liberty. Let our aim be expressed in *he single word, Separation. It was not a question whether we should obtain it ; it was a matter of certainty; we should and must have it. No Home Government would resist an earnest entreaty on our part for Separation. Already in one form and another there was being contributed by, or rather robbed from, the Middle Island, an annual amount of L 630.000, or about two-thirds of a million sterling. This was a crying evil which must be remedied.

The existence of distress in different Provinces was constantly heard of, and under the circumstances the wonder was that we were in so prosperous a state, and that poverty and distress did not prevail throughout the length and breadth of the Middle Wand. Were we in a position to form a separate Colony ? Most certainly we were; not only fbe Middle Ishnd but even this Province alone, with it* resources and its products, could form a very respectable separate Colony. In Victoria, when its independence wa« achieved, the trade of that Colony must have been infinitely inferior to that of the Middle Inland. The trade, from all sources, represented, annually, only two millions sterling, and one item of export from the Province of Otajjo alone — its sold — amounted to fight millions in the last six years, or nearly a million and a half per year. We could, therefore, easily presume that the trade of the Middle Is'and of New Zeaknd wa«, by °ix or eight times, in *xc^s« of the trade of Victoria when to it wa« granted Separation. It was surely time, under these circumstances, to get rid of the incubus by which our progress was impeded. Otigo, as a young giant, had done va«t things, more than any other Province and would do more yet; ard the General Government should consider well before imposing upon it further indignities. — (Applause.)

Mr Barr (Craigielee) said that, if men of wealth and position would not take their place in the ranks, and fight the people's c<suse, the people mu<*t fight for themselves, and that was bis excuse for being there. He seconded the resolution, becauss it was such a one, as under the circumstances, we required ; the two first were too weak and milk-and-watery for his taste; there was no use in trying v to kill cats with dish-clouts " — (Laughter.) Otago was like a strong man struggling with one of those ugly "suckers" which gradually encircled its victim until he was powerless to escape, and if the vampire were not shaken off, it wonld not quit its hold until it bad drawn from him the last drop of his hearth blood. What was. the use of talking about the elements of wealth of which the Province was possessed, if we were to be robbed of those resources to support a Government which only existed to show how well it could abuse its nowers. The blood-sucker was the Gre leral Government — one of the most disgraceful systems of Government that, in ancient or modern history, had ever existed. He held it to be morally impossible for any community under the sun to stand the strain which had been put upon the energies of Otago; and he saw no way of putting an end to this system of spoliation except by a thorough Separation. If the General Go-vernment-were determined to crush out the S^uth Island, a^d. Otago especially, they find their mistake; let them send down, as soou as they liked, a regiment or two of infantry, and a flying column of cavalry, and then we should not be crushed. — (Loud cheers.) They would feel that it was not with Maoris they had to contend, but with true sons of Britain, and subjects of Her Britannic Majesty, who would, as the song said, teach them the art of war, " Right early in the morning." — (Laughter and applause.) Who were they who would crush this glorious settlement ? If they were not men who very glad to come out, they were men whom their friends were very glad to be quit of, at anvrate. — (Laughter.) He sine-rely wished that the people of Otago would form themsalves into one grand j political union, and cease their agitation, neither by night nor clay, until their object was achieved ; and they would achieve it if they were only true to themselves. — i (Loud applause )

The motion was unanimously adopted

Mr W. M'Leixand, addressing the Chairman and the meeting, as " Fellow victims," proposed the fourth resolution :—: —

That while deprecating to ths fullest e-<c-tenS anyrhiag like an empty threat, this meeting deems it due to the exigency of the occasion, ns well a 9to the General Government itself, to declare that there is a limit beyond which the people of t'-is Province will not submit to have i's resources alienate i, its progress retarded, and its best interests set aside as they have hithprto bi»n by an Executive in which the mind of thf Province is not represented, and which to all intt-nts and purposes is hostile to the advancement of the Middle Island. It was the expectation of those «ho came here as settlers, that the commerce which they should originate, and the agriculture they should introduce, would prove of benefit to themselves and others ; but it was a very small modicum of that benefit which they received. The General Government took all, grudgingly handing back a small pittance, and that small amount they were told they ought to be thankful for. It had been said that what they at present complained of was due to the recent election ; but, for years past, the Province of Otago had been snubbed, and a blow was especially struck at Otago during the last session at Wellington, when it was seen that the representatives of the

Province did not present an unbroken front to the systematic opposition by which the interests of the Province were assailed. Had their members presented a bold and united front, no Ministry would have dmen to hive treated the Province as it had b.-en treated ; and it now became the people theii)«-cl^ s to put an end to such treatment, by exhibting tbos n qualities in which their representatives bad failed.

Mr James M'lndoe, M.P C, seconded the motion. The res >lution very properly that we should not indulge in empty threats : but we might be allowed to give Mr Stafford a few hints — to nudge him, and tell him one or two things. We might tell bitn that the war oi American Independence emanated from a very small matter—that it was caused by the hot-headed-ne>s of a Government, the representative of the oni of which Mr Stafford was now a member; and we might add, that, although, we could not aspire to doing such actions or achieving such eminence as were done anr] achieved by American?, "They're far behind, who cannot follow." — (Applause.) We had in Otago a number of Volunteers, ready to deftnd iheir country from a foreign foe ; but who, as he believed, possessed sufficient sense to send in their resignations to the General Government, under certain, circumstauces, and yet to stick to their arms. — (Applause.) A. limit of forbearance was referred to in the resolution. He thought a point had been reached at which forbearance should cease. The disallowance of the Railway Bill, upon very trifling objections, had deprived Otago of that to which the people of the Province looked as the principal agency for giving their prosperity a turn ahead. He believed that the General Government wanted to take the management of our affairs altogether into their own bands. They had completely spoiled Northern affairs; and now that they we getting out of our adversity, and were believing that we could step into something like prosperity, they wanted to interfere and to spoil us also. But we would not have it— (heir, hear): this meddling must cease; it could not bs tolerated any longer. — • (Applause.) It was a famous saying, " Property has its duties as well as its rights." Let the General Government recollect that it &feJ duties; and let it learn that one of those duties was the duty ofabstinenee from the pleasure of depriving us of what we believed to be necessary to our prosperity. — (Applause.) To take from us the power of borrowing fairly for the construction of a railway, was not a thing to be done in the exercise of a right which the General Government had any claim that we should concede : but it wa3 a duty of that Government to give to Otago every assistance in the formation of so important a public work. — (Applause.) If we stood- together upon the point, and supported the Superintendent in endeavoring to secure the consent ot the General Government to what we believed to be essentially for the advancement of the Province, we should succeed ; for the General Government would be bound to yield. While animated by the highc st patriotism and loyalty, it was our duty to look to our prosperity and our position as part of the Colony of New Zealand ; and to do all that was in our power to promote that prosperity and maintain that position. — (Applause.) The motion was adopted unanimously.

Mr A. R. Uke moved —

That a copy of the foregoing resolutions be forwarded by the Chairman of this meeting to the General Government. If we did not get what we wanted, the best plan would be to endeavor to keep our revenues here altogether. — (Applause.)

Mr J. Hat seconded the motion, which wa<! adopted. The proceedings were clo;ed by thanks to the Mayor, for presiding.

A suit of a singular sort has just been heard before the Civil Tribunal of Seine. M. Belval, bass singer at the Grand Opera, applied to be released from accepting the part of the Grand Inquisitor, which M. Perrio, the director, had attributed to him in M. Verdi's new opera of Don Carlos, on the ground that it is only a secondary one. The defendant's reply is that although the part is short, it is important, and in every respect, save length, a first-class one, and one which could not be confided to a second-rate artist. The Court, before •riving judgment, charged M. Ambroise Thomas, of the Institute, to examine as expert the score of the opera to determine whether the part of the Grand Inquisitor constituted that of a first bass or not.

A very excellent mode of causing fish to perfectly retain its freshness for a considerable time, during the hottest weather and v<r/ long carriage, consists in making with bie.d-crumb and a sufficient amount of strong spirits of wine, a paste of moderate consistence, filling the mouth and eills of the fish with it, then wrapping the whole in fresh nettles, and placing outside an envelope of straw. Fish treated in this way have been carried very great distances during the hottest part of summer, i France. — Scientific- Review.