CHAPTER IV. DRIFTING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2298, 17 March 1898, Page 25

CHAPTER IV. DRIFTING.

On Saturday, the 10th October, 18G3, Dr. Menzies, as Superintendent, opened the sth session of the Provincial Council with " The continued prosperity of this province is a source of much gratification to the Provincial Government." The Provincial Council, without hesitation, adopted a reply to the Superin tendental address, commencing with "This Coxmcil congratulates your Honor upon the great and continued prosperity of this province," etc. Southland waded in and launched a " Public Works Policy "in miniature. Mr. Pearson having resigned his seat as a member of the Provincial Council months before, the personnel of the Executive was altered. Mr. McCulloch had been appointed Auditor in January, 1862. The Executive consisted of Messrs. N. Chalmers as Treasurer, Cuthbert Cowan and William Stuart. The Oreti Railway Ordinance, authorising the Superintendent to construct a railway between Invercargill and Winton ; the Debentures Ordinance (No. 2), 1863, to aiithorise the raising of a loan for £110,000 by debentures for constructing the above railway ; the (Railway) Appropriation Ordinance (No. 2), 18G3 ; and Appropriation Ordinance (No. 3*, 1863, for £140,000, were passed on the 23rd of the same month. The Superintendent prorogued the Council with "I have to thank you for the zeal and assiduity which you have displayed in carrying through the business of this session." Just eleven working days to float a " Public "Works Policy ! " "All went merry as a marriage bell."

" How brief such moments last, But yet— they are already past ! Alas ! we must awake before We know such vision comes no more.'

Nemesis was at hand. On the 10th of February, 1804, or within four months of its last prorogation, the sixth session of the Provincial Council was opened by the Superintendent with "The disallowance by his Excellency the Governor of the Appropriation Ordinance passed in the last session of the Council has rendered a meeting of the Council at this time necessary." This was bad ; worse was to follow. He at the same time laid before the Council a note signed by nine out of eleven members, pledging themselves not to accept office unless the Superintendent pledged himself to act by the advice and content of his Executive. This Dr. Menzies refused to do, and the greater part of the session was occupied in an exchange of memoranda between the Council and his Honor on the subject of their relative positions in the conduct of public affairs. On the 26th of the month a scratch Executive, consisting of Messrs. Cowan, McNab and McKay, was formed. Mr. Cowan, as Provincial Treasurer, on a written understanding, laid on the table of the House, submitted that the Superintendent should act with the advice and consent of the Executive Council. On the Ist March, failing to carry a majority in the Council, it resigned. On 3rd of the same month another Executive, consisting of Messrs. Tarlton, Cowan and Beaven, was formed, the former as Treasurer. Amungst other ordinances, thiee Loan Bills were passed— one for £40,000 to enable the Government to complete the Bluff Harbour and Invercargill Railway ; one for £120,000 to cover liabilities on account of the general expenditure of the province ; and one for £'25,000 to cover advances bj the Government to the Town Board ; and the estimates totalling; £98,817. The lasc act of the Council was to adopt a petition to his Excellency the Governor praying he woul 1 dissolve the Council, for reasons mentioned, before the Ist October next. The two ordinances to which the attention of members during the session had been particularly devoted as expressive of their intention tor the future were the Provincial Government Ordinance, crystallising tlie relative duties of Superintendent, Executive and Provincial Council ; and the Representation Ordinance, which, while securing a fairer representation to meet the ad\ ance in population, would, on its bting assented to by the Governor, necessitate a dissolution of the Council before the coming October. The Council had blundered in passing the estimates and appropriation ordinances before they were out of the wood. On the afternoon of the 12th March his Honor Dr. Menzies, having entered the Chamber with the view of proroguing the Council, informed his faithful commons that while he concurred with eleven of the ordinances passed and would forward them for the assentof his Excellency the Governor, continued, " The following Bills which you have also passed, viz., the Provincial Government Ordinance and the Representation Ordinance, I do not concur in, and I have now to declare that I withhold from them the assent of'the Governor." Thus the effort of the session was subverted. The Deputy Speaker, who was also of the Hieland persuasion, on the departure of his chief from the Southland halls of wisdom, sprang into the chair, and, in the absence of the ancestral Claymo-or, shook his fist wildly in the pale faces of the recalcitrant Council, shouting in approved Doric, "Take that, yea cra-a-Icrs !" Curtain !

Southland had achieved another record ! It is one thing to fight a Provincial Council, quite another to cross swords with Jupiter Tonans. A considerable interchange of correspondence bad taken place between Mr. William Fox (the then Colonial Secretary) ,uid the Superintendent during the recess in regard to

the Loan Bills passed at the last session of the Council, till on the 7th May, 18(54, Mr. Fox determined that of the Loan Bills only the one for £40,0(10 to complete the Bluff harbour and Invercargill railway should receive the assent of the Governor. In this emergency, and at the earnest recommendation of the Chief Surveyor, Mr. Heale. Dr. Menzies called the Provincial Council together by proclamation of 28th June, and on the 18th July he opened its seventh session by giving the above information, animadverting on the conduct of the Colonial Government in refusing assistance, suggesting that resolutions should be passed urging the Colonial Government to secure Provincial Loans by Act of the General Assembly, and provide means whereby the provinces might undertake large works ; intimating further that all the members of the Executive Council had resigned except the Treasurer, Mr. Tarlton. A vacancy by resignation having occurred in the Provincial Council during Ihe recess, Mr. W. H. Pearson had re-entered it in the hope of finding ''The Lost Chord " between his Honor and the Council. Shortly after its opening, having arranged for an Executive commanding the confidence of the Council, he waited by request on the Superintendent, trusting

... „, . . , that the crisis in the affairs of the province might induce Dr. Menzies to unbend sufficiently to meet the views of the House; but that gentleman demurred to the proposals made. The Provincial Council supported Mr. Pearson, and after further interviews, the position resolved itself into "as you were." The rift in the lute had by friction Decomc a gap, precluding the possibility of future concord. The remainder of the session was occupied in sparring with his Honor, until on the 9th of August the Council was prorogued by proclamation in the Provincial Government Gazette. Thus the Provincial Government of Southland, until the election of a fresh Provincial Council aiid Superintendent at the end of the year, was an autocracy pure and simple ! Mr. Tarlton, the last rose of summer left blooming alone on the branch of the Executive treelabelled " Provincial Treasurer," was the shadow of the shade of Responsible Government. If Tonald would not be hung to please ta Laird, ta Laird would see Tonald hung, drawn and quartered before he surrendered the fort.

AMONG THE ROCKS. The second Provincial Council of Southland, consisting of twenty members, of whom Dr. Menzies was one, met pursuant to the proclamation by Mr. Hy. McCulloch, principal Returning Officer, at the Masonic Hall, Invercargill, on the Ist of December, 1864, Mr. James Wilson being elected Speaker. Dr. Menzies was

proposed as Superintendent, and not elected, there being 7 ayes and 9 noes. Mr. Theophilus Heale was then proposed as Superintendent, with the result of ayes 9, noes 8. This Mr. Speaker ruled did not come within the true meaning and interpretation of "an absolute majority" under the new Provinces Act, so Mr. Heale was disqualified. After a good deal of skirmishing and several adjournments, on the 13th of January Mr. John Parkin Taylor was elected Superintendent by 11 ayes to 5 noes. Mr. Taylor was an educated gentleman of matured reason, fair business attainments—acquired in good firnis in the Home land and Germany — honourable in principle, polished and urbane in manner, an old colonist who had found his way down from Nelson in the fifties and anchored in South Rivertqn, with his family, to the advantage and social assistance of the district. The Executive, which was formed without difficulty, consisted of Messrs. Thos. Morrell McDonald (Provincial Solicitor), William Stuart (Provincial Treasurer), William Henderson Calder, Robert Fergusson Cuthbertson, and Samuel Hodgkinson. The opening speech of the Superintendent, Mr. Taylor, was sensible, temperate, and conciliatory. Thus favourably was the attempt to get the Southland ship off the financial rocks begun. To no purpose. It was not that the timbers were unsound, the rigging racked beyond repair, the ballast insufficient, the crew unworthy of the effort. The financial pump would not suck. The weather had changed, and was most inopportune. Danger signals were the feature of

the horizon, the bullion barometer was at zero. The Maori war taxed the very able Government of Mr. Weld to its utmost. The monetary strain was possibly greater than it had ever been during the history of the colony. Even colonial securities smelt high on the London Stock Exchange ; Provincial were nowhere The reaction from the gold fever was steadily increasing throughout the colony ; depression and insolvency were in the air. A select committee of the Provincial Council, consisting of Dr. Menzies, Messrs. Cuthbertson, Stuart and Calder, reported on the financial condition of the province, to the efFect that the total indebtedness was something like £450,000, while £155,000 was required to meet present engagements. It was a hopeless task for Southland to continue her autonomy. Dissensions arose between the governing bodies, and during the fifth session of the second Council, Mr. Thos. Dick, Superintendent of Otago, forwarded a resolution passed by the Otauo Provincial Council, pointing out the desirability of the reunion of the provinces, but this was rejected. During the seventh session the General Assembly passed the Southland Provincial Debts Act, and this afforded some relief. Various expedients were proposed, such as selling or leasing the

railways, but this was disallowed by the Governor. At subsequent sessions it was resolved to call for tenders for tinibhing the Ureti line with iron rails, and that a preliminary &urvey of a railway from Invercargill to the Aldtaura be made, and after that the Council requested a dissolution, which the Governor granted.