RIVERTON.

Southland Times, Issue 1022, 16 September 1868, Page 2

RIVERTON.

PtTßttO MATING IN FAVOR OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT. BY OTTR SPECIAL lEEPOETEH. A public meeting on the above question was held in the Oddfellows Hall, Riverton, on the evening of Monday last, the 14th inst. Shortly after the hour appointed (7 o'clock), upwards of a | hundred persons had assembled in the 1 spacious hall. Amongst those present were nearly all the leading commercial men of the town, and also a fair proportion of the agricultural and pastoral classes of the district. Business was introduced by Mr Instone, who proposed Capt. Howell as chairman, a proposition which waa carried unanimously. On assuming his seat the chairman said he was not often guilty of making long speeches, and he did not think he required to say much oil this occasion. The meeting had been called by an advertisement which very clearly indicated the nature of the business which would be brought before them, as follows : — j The inhabitants of Biverton and the western j district of the Province who are favorable to the cause of Local Self-Government, are requested to meet at the Oddfellow's Hall, Riverton, on Monday, 14th September, at 7 p.m., for the purpose of considering the propriety of memoralising the General Assembly on the subject. Theophiltjs Daniel. He was aware that there were several gentlemen in the room who were much better prepared, and much abler to speak on the subject than he was, and as the signature of Mr Daniel followed the advertisement he thought that gentlemen was the one he should first call upon. to address the meeting. Mr Daniel acenowledged that the fact of his name appearing to the advertisement might natually have lead them to expect he would be prepared with a lengthy speech, and some well elaborated scheme for their consideration. Such was not, however, the case, and he regretted that the duty of making the first speech on the subject of their meeting had not been entrusted to better hands. He confessed that he was not so well up in the matter as he could wish, and came there more for the purpose of hearing than speaking. He considered that, as one of the members of the Provincial Council for the district, it was his duty to take part in all questions affecting their interests, and to make himself thoroughly acquainted with the tone of public opinion. It was wrong in any man to jump hastily to a conclusion on any subject, but on important matters such as those they were met to discuss, it became still more necessary that consideration should be given to what might be said on both sides of the question. There was an old adage which said there were two classes of hearers who erred in opposite ways, yet both were equally wrong. One class heard one side of a question, and immediately jumped to a conclusion ; the other came with minds previously made up, and ears closed against all argument; between these extremes was the proper course, and he trusted the meeting would thus act touching the business before them. It had been asked what portion of country was meant by the Western District. His opinion was that all that part of the Province lying to the westward of the Oreti River should be included in the district. He was gratified to see such a large meeting, as it showed they were begining to take that active interest in political matters which it was their duty to do. He thought every man should study carefully the working of the Government under whichhelived,andif thepeople had manifested the same spirit in public matters in years past that they did now, he was certain it would, to a great extent, have prevented the waste of public money which had everywhere taken place. Had the constituencies given free expression to their ideas on public questions, their representatives thus instructed and supported would have gone into the Council Chamber and boldly withstood the system of reckless extravagance indulged in. He had always been in favor of separation, and believed that had separation been obtained the expenditure of the whole revenue of the province should never have been left to twenty men in Invercargill. A system approximating to shire councils would long ago have been in operation, and every district in possession of its fair share of the revenue. As it was the apathy of the outlying districts had allowed the pressure of public opinion in the chief town to influence the members for the district. He remembered one instance of this. Aftei the starting of the Bluff Eailway scheme, a great public meeting was held in Mueller and Greisow's store, at which public opinion regarding the railway question was very strongly expressed, and the consequence was that when the matter came before the Council immediately after, the town influence was powerfull enough to make several members, known to be opposed to the scheme, leave the House, honest Matthew Scott and auother, being all that remained. He would be quite satisfied with the provincial system in a modified form. Take away its legislative powers and .it would work well enough. He must say the Council had dealt very fairly with the district during the past twelve months, but in former years it had been very much wronged. There had been great neglect somewhere on the part of tlieir representatives, as he had | seen again and again large sums voted for the Eiverton district,* while in reality very little of that money had ever passed the Oreti. Large sums had !:.:on squandered on the various roan < near town. It had seemed as if so !:><.• people could never have enough tospt-nd iv such localities as the Bay Road, and the North Road, and he beleived that the names of those roads would be found written on some of their hearts after they were dead. (Great laughter.) An old friend of his from Victoria had once said to him that he could generally tell where councillors and such like lived from the

state of the roarfs ; he (Mr JD.) had replied that he would not find it so in this district, as not one of their members I had derived the slightest direct benefit from their position. Before sitting down he would refer to some remarks made by a friend of his in the ' Southland News.' He had not, as there insinuated, got up the meeting himself alone, he had not taken even a great share in the movement, and he certainly never dreamt of aspiring to the dignity of Lord Mayor. (Laugther.) He was requested by Dr Hodgkinson .to express his regret that sickness prevented him from being present. The meeting would not, however, be altogether without the Doctor's views on the subject, as he had stated them in a letter, which would be read. Mr Daniel resumed his seat amidst hearty cheers. At the request of the chairman, Mr Surman read the letter alluded to, as follows :— - Deab Sib — In the Sotjthxaitd Times, of the 7th inst., I see an advertisement with your signature, calling a public meeting of the inhabitants of the Western District for the purpose of memorialising the General Assembly on the subject of local, self Government. As a strenuous supporter of local self-Government, in the best and widest sense, and to the utmost extent compatible with the existence of a strong Central Government for the whole colony, I should very much, lite to be present at this meeting, but the indifferent state of my health may prevent my leaving home, and in the event of my absence, I shall be glad if you will cause this letter to be read to the meeting, as I am reluctant to be altogether silent on so important a matter. lam anxious to impress upon the meeting the exercise of the greatest caution in the wording of any resolutions which may be passed, and to urge that the attainment of our wishes should be sought for in a constitutional way, and not through any such revolutions and destructive changes in the Government of the Colony as are unhappily sought to be accomplished by Mr Stafford and his colleagues. Unless the Colonial public are on their guard they will find out when it is too late, that which apparently obtained through the policy of the present New Zealand Ministry, concessions in the direction of Local self-Government, they have in reality lost the substance and obtained only the shadow, and that all that they have gained, or rather retained, is nothing more than what is possessed by the pettiest parish in England, viz., " the power to make rates for mendiiig their roads." Supposing that one of the objects the meeting will seek to secure, is the "endowment of districts with a certain acreage of the Waste Lands with- j in it, and the apportionment of a certain per centage of the proceeds of land sales to be spent for the benefit of the district, under the control of a Land Board, I wish to point out that this desirable object can, if attainable at all, be attained under the present constitution of the colony without the necessity of our parting with those much larger powers of self-Government which the various divisions of the colony now enjoy through their Provincial Governments. Admitting that in the various provinces there has been a disposition to lavish an undue share of money or patronage upon the centres, and to neglect the outlying districts, a vice which I fear j is owing to the inherent selfishness and evil of human nature, and one which will exist more or less in all political organisations, yet it is easy to shew that under the present constitution of the colony, a remedy may be found without the necessity of having recourse to organic changes in '^the form of Government. The 19th clause of the "Constitution Act" prohibits the provinces from legislating on the waste lands of the Crown, and reserves to the General Assembly the power of legislation. As a matter of convenience, the provinces have been aJo wed to frame land bills, but in the event of such acts being unjust to the outlying districts it is obvious that the General Assembly can provide a remedy ; besides which, according to the constitution, the General Assembly can" over-rule by its own legislation all or any legislation of the Provincial Councils. If the Provincial Council of Southland, or any other province, was willing to comply with the fair and reasonable demands of outlying districts, I must be allowed to point out that the policy of the present General Government must render it impossible for the Council to do so, inasmuch as the whole proceeds of land sales are in some cases required to meet the interest of €!ie public debt, and to provide for the cost of provincial departments. On reading the Constitution Act it will ba seen that its obvious intention was that the legislation and government of the colony should be done chiefly by the provinces. The act first provides for the establishment of provinces, and afterwards provides for a General Assembly and Government, reserving ohly thirteen subjects for its particular and exclusive attention, all other matters being left to the provinces. Consistently with the above, the 66th clause indicates the source from, whence she provinces were to derive funds to meet the expensejef legislation and administration, by providing that all surplus revenue accruing to the General Government should be distributed among the provinces. At the time the Constitution came into force, but fifteen years ago,' it was understood and expected that the expenses of the General or Colonial Government would be but small, and that the bulk of the Colonial Revenue would be distributed among the provinces. In all new countries it is very difficult to raise money by direct taxation, except in the way of local rates of a moderate amount, and the most convenient and eligible mode of raising money is by indirect taxation. The design of Mr Stafford and his supporters in depriving the provinces of the Customs Revenue, and urging them to have recourse to direct taxation, is simply to starve them iuto submission, and compel them to accept his centralising policy — under which the whole powers of legislation and administration would be collected icto one focus. They also bribe the outlying districts to conform, to their views by specious promises of local self-government, accompanied, it may be, for a few years, with the apportionment of a per centage of the Land revenue for the use of the district. This however, though a most desirable advantage, is obviously only a temporary one, and one, I repeat, which is equally attainable under the present constitution, which after a few years will cease — when the whole of the Waste Lands have been sold. And what, it may be asked, will then remain worthy of the name of local self-govern-ment. The Provincial Councils, according to Mr Stafford's policy, are to be deprived of legislative powers, and reduced to the state of mex*e administrative boards, under the control of a General Government officer I—a1 — a sort of French prefect, such as we see in Westland. The police, gaols, lunatic asylums, harbors, &c, are to be assumed by the General Government, so that if we look for the residium all that we shall find left to us wiU be, as I have before said, nothing more than is enjoyed by the smallest parish in England. In conclusion, I will again advise the meeting against being induced, either through want of caution, or from bad advice, to seek the attainment of its views by bartering away privileges of the greatest value, which we in this distant end of the colony now possess under the provincial sjstem, and to frame any resolutions in such a way as to make it apparent that the advantages sought for, are sought for in a constitutidnal way, and not through the destruction of the constitution. I am, &c, (Signed) S. Hodgktnson Mr Simpson said he had also come almost unprepared to speak, but he had collated a few facts, with regard to the revenue raised, and the manner in which it had been expended, since the establishment of the province, which he would

submittothetn. He would begittbyquottajg from a speech of the first Superiiit<j&(toii* at the opening of the first session of the first Provincial Council, in 1861. Dr Menzies then said s— " The proceeding! of this this first Provincial Counoil ojf Southland will stamp the character of thf% Province. If the measures of .tKi^ Council, and the manner in whioh they are subsequently; administered, are characterised by intelligence, integrity, and prudence, our province will prosper, and we shall gain the confidence and respect of our fellow-colonists elsewhere. These attributes are our main requisite^ for, with wisdom in its Councils, a pfd4 vince combining such a variety of natural advantages as Southland does in an eminent degree, must have a brilliant future." Mr Simpson continued. STour, gentlemen, you have seen that future, I and what is it? Instead of brilliancy* j clouds and darkness are round about us. He would now quote the figures to which 1 he had alluded. In 1861 the imports were £71,652 ; exports, £8,548 ; customs revenue, £5,433; ordinary revenue, £591 ; land revenue, £20,160. In 1862, they stood respectively thus : — £260,139, £20,097, £11,958, £2,992, and £54,691. In the following year the imports reached £866,726; here began the unhealthy state of things, the exports were £91,698 ; customs returns, £64,399 ; ordinary revenue, £16,432; and land revenue, £50,254 In 1864, imports, £505,757; exports, £101,362; customs, £46;644i j ordinary revenue, £10,247 ; land tfeventtej £69,488. In 1865, imports, £111,656; exports, £113,606; customs, £26,052 ; ordinary revenue, £5,201 ; land revenue, £2,271. For the first six months of 1866 the imports were £95,570 ; exports, £94,240 ; customs, £18,141 ; ordinary revenue, £6,244 ; land revenue, £142,9091 He had not got the figures for the last half of 1866 and for 1867, but wquld piit them down, at a fair estimate. Pdr 1868 the revenue appropriated was £71,869, how it was to be raised he did not know. The population of Eiverton was, in round numbers, 2000, and its customs returns for the six and. a half years ending in June last was £26,788, three eighths of which would be £10,045, 10s. It had been said that England was the heaviest taxed country in Europe, and nobody disputed it, but it was far outstripped by New Zealand, which bore heavier bite dens than any other country in the world. The interest on the National debt of G-reat . Britain amounted to eighteen shillings per head of the population. The interest on the debt of Southland was £3 3s 3d per head of the population. How had this enormous debt been incurred ? In April, 1863, when Mr Tarlton left offi.ee, he told me himself that there was no money in the provincial chest, but that everything wasi paid up j he resumed office again in May -18&fc, and in one week from that time accounts came in against the Government to the amount of £400,000, and during that same year, 1863-4, Dr Menzies himself had stated that £100,000 over the estimates had been expended. With such defalcations on the part of the Q-overn-ment, amounting ultimately to upwards of £600,000, was it any wonder that the Province was depressed, that it was not progressing at the rate its resources would warrant us to expect. The total revenue for the first five and a half years was, deducting the five-eighths of the cus toms for the General Government* £450,215 2s 6d. The debt was £422,000* and by adding the average income fojt 1866-7 and 1857-8, we have the sum of one million of money. Now, what is a million of money ? It is very easy said, but our powers of calculation almost fail to comprehend its amount. It would take two accountants, paying away each thirty sovereigns per minute, during the usual Bank hours, eleven and a-half weeks to pay it all out. If they could imagine ten powerful teams toiling along the road, each laden with a solid ton of gold, that would be a million of money, that would represent the amount of money spent by the Grovernment in Southland, and if the meeting could further imagine two men with a wheelbarrow-load toiling, along after the ten drays, it would have an exact representation of the proportion that had fallen to the share of Biverton. Now the object of this meeting was to get a more equitable share of what money there might yet be to come in. He would advise them to nail their colors to the mast, to insist on having their just rights, to ask no more and take no less. He would now propose the first resolution, viz. : — That considering the public funds expended in the Province since its formation have amounted to upwards of one million sterling, the amount expended on Riverton and the Western Districts of the Province has been utterly disproportionate to its fair share, whether estimated by it* righti, its contributions, or local wants. During the delivery of his address, Mr Simpson had frequently to pause until the cheers had subsided. Mr Cuthbertson had great pleasure in seconding the resolution just read. It was one which commended itself 'to- every individual in the room. His imagination had been fearfully excited by the illustration of the drays and the barrow,; loads, given by Mr Simpson, and he felt that nothing he could say could put the -. question in a stronger light than that, nothing need be added to it. He would relate a circumstance, of which he should probably feel a little ashamed, in illustration of the manner in which country members were generally treated in the Provincial . Council. When he came to; the province oats were very scarce, he had only something like half a bushel on his station, and consequently had to be very sparing of them. His practice therefore was, when he wished to catch his horse, to put a few oats in his hat and hold it out to the animal, which accordingly came lip to him and was caught, but no sooner was thebridle safely on its head than the oats were withdrawn. In other words, the bats were voted for a purpose, and that purpose secured, they were never expended. But what was the consequence? why, the horse became so knowing that

he Would not be caught at any price, and he was obliged to get a paddock fenced ill that he might be able to secure^ the animal when -wanted. It was precisely similar in the Councils. Both here and in Otago money had been voted again and again for particulardistricts,andthe representatives of those districts had thereby been caught, but no sooner had their sup- . port been secu»*edto the passing of somepet .scheme for the benefit of the towns, than the vote was quietly ignored and the • money never spent, at least in the district for which it was originally voted. In their own case only some £25,000 altogether had been expended in the Jfcivertbn district. The Invercargill ' people, ne doubt, would regard this move- ;; znent with great disfavor, because it - would deprive them of a considerable 1 sum which they would like laid' out in " their own neighborhood. They (the "townspeople) were in the habit of counting all the money spent in their suburbs as. spent in the Eiverton district. He (Mr C.) could'ntsee it. The greater ; portion had been spent on the other side .of the Oreti, and they had to pay a toll, , at the bridge, to get to where the money ■•■'. was said to have been expended for their benefit. He did not feel it necessary to .make an elaborate speech, but he might .Bay that he found feeling in this matter very strong in his neighborhood, even more 'so than in Eiverton. This district ; had contributed to the land revenue - within two years, no less than £80,000, put of which they had got really nothing. This had been stated by his brother at the last session of the Council as a prelude to asking a grant of £500 for a bridge at the Otautau. The money was: granted, but no sooner were the Council doors shut than, like his oats, it was withdrawn. If Eiverton got its proper share he need not stretch .his imagination very far to see a dredge a|; work in the harbor, a steamboat dischsrging or loading at the jetty, and ships at their moorings in the roadstead. They might even have a railway, for he felt certain their money would be judiciously expended. They would make it go. as far as possible, and not do as they " did in Invercargill, squander it on swind- . ling engineers and idle government . clerks. Even taking the lowest and • worst view of the case, suppose they were 'a set of asses who could not lay it out to advantage, suppose they could turn it to no better account than producing something like the Mokomoko Jetty, they would always have the benefit of its being spent in the district ; a collateral advantage which appeared to be about all the Invercargill people cared for. He felt that the present system could not go on longer, people had borne it until they were tired, and now that an open door was presented to them, that an Opportunity of bettering themselves was afforded* they would be great fools if they did not avail themselves of it. (Oheers.) The Provincial system stood like a wall between them and their just rights ; and a fair share of public monies would never be obtained while it existed in its present form. The pressure of public opinion in the town had a most i njurious effect on the country districts. It certainly did not deter hita from doing what he conceived to be his duty while in the Council, but it might frequently deter more timid men. There was no doubt that the Eailway measures were to a great extent carried by this town pressure, that members who were in reality opposed to the scheme were so 'Wrought upon by this kind of influence that they gave their support to those jobs. The Eailway wa*s not made for the benefit of the Province, it was made simply to spend money in Invercargill, that some of the golden stream might be caught in passing, and there were men candid enough to admit that such Was the fact. The tribe of needy adventurers who infested the place in 1865 and 1866 had brought such a pressure to bear on the Council that even such men as Dr Menzies had been led astray. Who had ever heard of anything to equal the extreme folly of the manner in which such immense sums of money had been expended — these ten cart loads ? How completely had the prospects of as fair and promising a province as could be' found on the face of the earth been ruined ? What a wreck had been made of her career. What was there to show for all this million of money? A Mokomoko jetty and a few miles of unfinished railway. There was another matter he would mention to show how loosely the most important affairs had been conducted. Mr Marchant had made the Bluff railway, and a precious mess it was too, and then he was requested to make the Oreti railway. He did so, so far, and then, to his intense astonishment, gent in a claim for the work, and, on its being objected to, quietly stated that he was simply engaged as engineer for the Bluff railway, and not for both, or for any lines the Provincial G-overnment might wish to undertake. The Grovernment of the day insteid of saying, wtll, anything you get out of ub you must get through a court of law, as we look upon you as our servant— consented to a comfortable arrangement in the shape of arbitration. When in office shortly afterwards, he (Mr C.) had enquired for Mr Marchants engagement, and found there was actually none ; thus was money thrown away. Another case occured to him. Some railway plant supplied was reported as of an interior description, and to satisfy himself he wished the contract to be turned up, but in this case also he found no contract forthcoming, he was informed that probably there had been a contract drawn out, but that most likely the contractor had it in his possession, and that they were too busy to look after those trifling things. He 4 could go on multiplying such cases till he would weary them. (Cheers.) He would now quote a few extracts from an article in a recent number of the 'Southland News,' in which- the sapient writer tried covertly lo^throw ridicule upon the action they werevtakmg, this was only what they

might expect from that miartef, and from their Invercargill friends generally, but what they were now agitating for was something very different to what the 1 News ' pretended it to be. They were not particularly anxious to tax themselves, but they were certainly so to secure their share of the Innch-evenueyet to accrue before it all found its way into the capacious pockets of Invercargill. If it was necessary to levy taxes it was surely better they should have the power of imposing them themselves, and expending them when raised, than that someone else should do it for them, and the money be spent elsewhere. They were not there to petition for the creation of a county similar to Westland, which was a defective experiment, but rather for the creation of a Board of Works similar to that of Timaru and Q-ladstone, which enjoyed the benefits of its own revenue and yet remained an integral portion of the province of Canterbury. He was glad to find that the movement was much deeper seated than he was previously aware of, as it gave him hopes that they not now be easily disheartened, or turned from the course on which they had entered. He wished them to dispel "the idea that it was not worth while to press the matter now, that it was too^ late, that there was little more territorial revenue likely to come in. Such was not in reality the case. He had already said that within a short period Eiverton had contributed £80,000 to the land revenue, and where had it gone ? Certainly very little of it found its way. back to the district ; but he could tell them that chere was rejoicing in Invercargill the night that these large sales were made. Champagne had been drunk that night in more than one house over the head of it. (Laughter.) He did not know what had become of all that money, but he supposed they paid their clerks with part of it, and probably sent the balance home for more railway plant. It was generally understood that squatters were not much in favor of the land being sold, or of publishing where good land was to be found, but he would make a clean breast of it and tellthem there was yet plenty of good land in the district unsold. There were still over 200,000 acres available, and no one knew how soon some of that might be disposed of, and unless they were then in a different position to what they were in now; nineteen and elevenpence of every pound received for it would go to Invercargill, and they might possibly, if the Invercargill people had a generous fit at the time, get the odd penny. (Laughter). The alarming figures brought forward by Mr Simpson, were absolutely correct, and his comparisons truthfull. They must not be driven from their course by ridicule or anything else. They would be told it was too late, but they must not listen to that ; that they were inviting the tax gatherer, but they must not believe it ; that there would be no land revenue, but that was untrue ; the land would yet sell, and there would be a golden stream flowing past their doors to Invercargill. They must try and stop the stream ; retain it amongst themselves ; in Bhort, they should stick to their object in spite of either ridicule or argument, and take such steps as were necessary to move the G-eneral Assembly in the matter. Mr Cuthbertson was loudly cheered at the conclusion of his address. Mr J. L. M'Donald proposed the next resolution as follows : That this meeting feeling satisfied that the system of Provincial G-overnnient as hitherto administered in Southland is not conducive to the interests of this district — resolves that a system of Borough, or Shire Councils, with territorial endowments resembling those now in operation in Victoria, would suit the requirements of the Biverton and Western District of this Province, and that a Committee be formed at this meeting for the purpose of drawing up a petition to be presented to the General Assembly through our representatives . — !Ihis motion was seconded by Mr Lyon, andTboth resolutions on being put from the |chair were declared carried unanimously. "mint of space compels us to hold over the jbalanee of the report until next issue!

Abbxval op the Son op the Late King Theodobe. — Plymouth, July 14. — The Urgent, from Malta on July 5, arrived here to-day, with Prince Dejatch Alainayou [I have seen the world], the son of King Theodore by Queen Terruwork, in charge of Captain Speedy, and attended by an Abyssinian man servant, Shellaka Kassa. The prince and Captain Speedy landed and breakfasted with the port-admiral, Sir W. 3?. Martin, visited General Spencer, the military com-mander-in-chief, and then went over the dockyard ; thence they proceeded up the Tamar in the steam-tug Caron to view the Eoyal Albert bridge, returned to the dockyard, lunching with Admiral Superintendent Drummond. They dined with the port admiralin the evening. The Urgent has received orders to go into harbor to-mor-row and discharge. No directions had been received up to a late hour as to the prince's immediate movements. He is an interesting little lad, tall for his age — seven years last April — and already much delighted with England, exclaiming, " Oh, this beautiful country! I shall never go back !" The servant; who is a very intelligent man, on going over the arsenal, observed, with regret, " Theodore should have seen it." A little Abyssinian slave girl, a portege of Sir E. Napier, was also brought by the Urgent.—" The Times." A Radical Eotten-Egged. — "William Hunter, in Cairo, Illinois, made a speech glorifying the negro, and placing him far ahead of the white man. He had get thus far in his tirade of insult to the men of his own race and generation, when some man hit him square in the face with an egg. Others soon followed, and it was not long until the elongated, unwieldy nondescript was flying from a bombard-, ment of spoiled chickens, which, had they been but half fledged, could easily have overtaken him.