THE ADDRESS IN REPLY.

Otago Witness, Issue 1032, 9 September 1871, Page 2

THE ADDRESS IN REPLY.

{ Ihnibartl.)

The Hon. Mr Holmes had carefully read over His Excellency's speech, and had listened to the remarks of the mover and seconder of the Address in reply, but hehad heard nothing, or very little, which should cause them to be so jubilant in their congratulations on the present state of the country. So far as his own observation went, the state of the country was at the present moment not at all satisfactory. He believed there was not an important enterprise that could be engaged in, which would leave an aclecjuate return for the capital and labour employed in it. He would make a few remarks on the subjects mentioned in the Address. The ballot, although, a great improvement upon open voting, was by no means a perfect measure. It was reported that personation had taken place in many instances. Before the ballot could become a realty valuable measure, it should secure secret voting, and that could only be done when the different constituencies were divided into districts, and every elector obliged to vote in his own district. The next subject referred to in the speech is the San Francisco mail service. The unfortunate circumstance connected with that, was the error committed by the Colonial Treasurer in imagining that a colony such as New Zealand could coerce a larger and more important colony like Ausj tralia, in the arrangement he thought fit to make. They knew that the very rirst consideration with merchants in the colonies was, that if they paid largely for the conveyance of mails, their port should be the first of arrival and last of departure ; and the result of the controversy between Australia and New Zealand, which was entered into at the time the contract was made, was an exemplification of that principle. They had now a rival line from Sydney to San Francisco via the Fijis and Honolulu, which took the great bulk of the passengers. Certainty, the British Government forwarded the mails via New Zealand. But what advantage was that to New Zealand ? The business of the Australian Colonies could not receive any great acquisition in consequence of the steamers calling at New Zealand and then proceeding on to Australia ; and therefore the Australians did not value the service at the same rate as was done in New Zealand. Now what was really the position of the matter ? The large subsidy that was expected from the United States was not given, nor was there any probability of its being given, so long as San Francisco could be brought into communication with the Australian Colonies without the aid of the subsidy at all ; and that had been done, as he had already observed, through the line via Fiji, It was very evident to him that the lines now subsidized by the G oveniment could not succeed, simply because £50,000 or £60,000 a year was not sufficient to pay for running such large steamers on a line where there was so little traffic. The number of passengers that the steamers generally carried was not a proper complement for vessels that were prowled with accommodation for six or eight hundred. The contractors would therefore reconsider their position and abandon the line at no distant period. Under the present circumstances of the colony, it would be unreasonable to suppose that the line could continue, because the colony was not able, single-lutudeil, to pay such a large subsidy as £00,000 a year for the purpotje, when, if the line were withdrawn, they could get the same service done fov £]0,000 or £15,000 a year, and in a satisfac tory manner, with a subsidiary steamer joining the main line at the Fijis to receive the mail, or send it via Suez, as they did for many years previously. If the present line were withdrawn, it would be no dieadvan-

tage to the country, but, on the contrary, they -would be better without it. Another matter which they ivere asked to rejoico at was the negotiation of the loan. The price at which it was negotiated was something like 95 i per cent. When the credit of the colony stood in a much worse position than it did when the Colonial Treasurer went to England, they knew that the then Colonial Treasurer, Mr Fitzhcrbert, negotiated the consolidated loans at an equivalent of H7. 1 , and at the present moment all the Australian loans ranged from 07 1 to par that was to say, an average difference of 3^ per cent. He could not see why Xcw Zealand loans should be negotiated at sa much less, for its security was equally good. If its security were not so good, and they wore not absolutely certain that the interest and sinking fund would be paid from year to year, as it had been paid, as well as by the Australian colonies, why should they have been negotiated at all? He held that the New Zealand loans were of equal value with thost of Australia, so long as they did not make default in paying the interest and sinking fund ; and he thought that the fact of their being so much below the rate at which Australinn securities were easily negotiated at home, was anything but satisfactory. On such a large amount of capital 2\ or 3\ per cent, amounted to a very largo sum of money. The next subject in the Address was immigration. That was really one of the most important subjects that they, as colonists, could entertain, because on the continual flow of immigration into the country depended in a large measure its progress and prosperity. In that respect the provinces generally had not fulfilled their mission. Canterbury and Otago had in a certain degree done so, but they had stopped short, and not carried o\it the original object for which they were created ; and therefore the time, he believed, had arrived when the General Government should take the matter into its own hands, and carry out immigration on a more extensive scale than had hitherto been attempted. One reason why that had not been done by the provinces Avas, that they had appropriated the land revenue, which was intended to bring out people to colonize the country, and to make roads and bridges, as ordinary revenue, and used it for their own purposes, such as_ paying salaries. There was ono feature in connection with immigration to which he would refer, and that was the fact that a large proportion of the working classes were adverse to the introduction of immigrants. They laboured under the delusion that if immigrants were introduced, the labour market must of necessity be affected to their disadvantage. ISow, according to his experience as an old colonist, the very contrary was the result. So long as immigrants arrived in sufficient numbers to be absorbed easily by the country, so long would thedemandincrease ; and the very fact of their arrival necessitated a certain amount of capital to arrive with them. Therefore the labouring classes themselves would get as much, if not more, benefit by the increased now of immigration than any other members of the community. They were absolutely dependent upon that class for the development of the country. They could not progress without people to till the soil and to engage in thoso other pursuits that were necessary for successful colonization. Therefore he would like, if he had the power, to disabuse the minds of the labouring classes in that particular, and to let them see that their interests and that of the colony were identical in the matter of immigration. The next subject of importance was that of railways. After the last session there was a section of the community that wished to make it appear that the railway scheme would eventually be detrimental to the country — that it would involve such a large outlay of money that the results would be most disastrous ; but when it came to the point, the very parties who were the most loud in their objections were those who were most agreeable to take advantage of the Bill. In Otago, where there was considerable excitement about it, one of the first acts of the Provincial Council at its recent session was to pass resolutions affirming the desirability of making live or six lines, at least 200 miles long, thereby stultifying the principal movers in the matter as respected their position before. But they stopped short in the measure. They were -well aware that one condition upon winch the railways would be made, was that land should be *set aside to pay for them ; or at any rate, that land should be set aside in the provinces in order to secure the payment of interest and principal. So far as he conld gather from vhafc had taken place in the different provinces, he believed not a single acre had been set aside for either purpose. The Hon. the Colonial Secretary had addressed a circular letter to the different provinces, drawing their attention to those circumstances, and requesting them to set aside land for immigration and railway purposes ; but this was never attempted. The letter was treated with something very like contempt ; especially in Otago. His Honour the Superintendent acted as was usual in such cases, and made it the subject of a message to the Council ; but although it got there, no action was taken in the matter, and no votewas arrived at on- the subject. He thought, therefore, that it behoved the Legislature to take the matter into its own hands, in order to initiate the railway system with effect, and to provide for the settlement of the immigrants when they arrived. It would be necessary for the Government not only to take land as security for the railway, but also to grant land on which to locate the people. If tho Government could, see its way to take pay five miles

wide of land on each side of the provincial railways for that purpose, such a course would J)e followed with the best results. Witfe reference to the subject of education, li<y differed somewhat from the opinions expressed by the Hon. Colonel Brett. The honourable gentleman seemed to admire the denominational system, while he was an advocate for the national system, and he hoped they would not be retrograding by adopting the denominational system, even in a modified form. The Government, in dealing with this matter, hud certainly been very lax ; and he thought that a comprehensive measure, affecting the whole colony, should have been submitted to, and adopted by, the Legislature many years ago. The action first taken by the Government in appointing the Council of the University of New Zealand had the effect of depriving the first Chancellor of the Otago University of his position, on the ground that he was an ecclesiastic ; but on the second nomination, four or five ecclesiastics were nominated for the Council of the University, thus showing how little consistency there was in the Government. The result had been, in a measure, fatal to the intention of the Government as regarded the amalgamation of the Otago University with the University of New Zealand. He hoped, when the promised measure on education was brought forward, it would be on a broad basis— that it wo\ t "ld steer as free of priestcraft, in all its. forms, as possible— that they would be allowed to educate the youth of the _ colony U1 a liberal and enlightened spirit -, not submitting to the squandering °f money of the colony in teaching t\ie dogmas of any church, but in imparting a liberal education to the whole of tho people throughout the colony. He did not wish to exalt the position of Otago iv respect to the question of education above any other province, but he wished to make a remark to show the wisdom of those who had charge of the education of the youth of that province during the last twelve or fifteen years, by comparing the principle underlying the system with that which had been adopted by the Committee recently elected in London, at the head of which is Lord Lawrence. There were twenty-three members on the Committee, selected by a constituency representing three millions of people, and after careful deliberation, the system they agreed upon adopting was almost identical with that now in force in Otago. He thought a higher compliment could not be paid to those who had initiated the educational movement in Otago than the fact just stated. There was a subject which lie considered of more importance to the future well-being of the country than any he had touched upon, and which had been completely ignored in the Address, and that was the change that must necessarily soon take place in the constitution of the country. The uuinber of petty Governments into which the country was divided, and the great expense of carrying out those Governments, and the great expenditure on officialism, was eating out the very vitals of the country. He believed that all the officials who were living upon public money would in number form six good regiments of the line, and all to govern about 230,000 people. We must be a very refractory race indeed, when we required so many people to look after us. As an indication of the manner in which the money was spent, and the little that was obtained for it, he would just refer to the revenue and expenditure of Otago during the last year, and he dared to say that it would be a good indication of the result in most of the other provinces. During the last year the revenue amounted to £287, 950, while the departmental and incidental expenses, interest on the loan, &c, amounted to £1 Si), 115, leaving less than £100,000 to be expended on public works and improvements in the country. It w r as very evident from those figures that, with such a vast outlay for the mere payment of salaries, very little progress could be expected in the way of improvement, and he therefore thought the time had arrived when a remedy should be applied to this state of things. The country was overburdened : they had more officials than they could afford to pay, and a remedy should at once be applied to this great evil. He would suggest one remedy which he thought of all others would meet the case most effectually. Instead of having nine Provincial Governments as at present, he would suggest that the Superintendents should, for the remainder of their terms of office, be made agents for the General Government. The members of the General Assembly should form one Council for the government of each Island, and, in that way, the same parties having to carry out the views of the people, both in the superior and inferior Legislatures, he believed would facilitate business and lessen the expense. That would be a Government for each Island, and a central Government in Wellington. That system would do away with all opposition, because vested interests would be protected, and the colony would be in a position to lessen the great expenditure now going on, and bring it within reasonable limits. They had already made a step in that direction by passing a measure for the extension of Road Boards, and he thought a fitting adjunct to that would be to divide the two islands into counties, and give them self-government in as large a measure as would be consistent with safety. If such a scheme as that could find a person of sufficient ability to bring it before the Assembly and carry it through, he woultl be deserving of the thanks of the people throughout the country. Although there was not cause for congratulation, the state of the country was now such that if they were only true to themselves, and did all they could to remedy the existing evils, Ncw r Zealand might yet become a prosperous and successful country