The Southland Times. PUBLISHED DAILY. Luceo Non Uro. SATURDAY, JANUARY 22, 1881.

Southland Times, Issue 3927, 22 January 1881, Page 2

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED DAILY. Luceo Non Uro. SATURDAY, JANUARY 22, 1881.

A short account appears in another column of the fortunes ofthfe Drainage Bill introduced; into Parliament by Mr Murray during 5 the last two sessions. In making a few, remarks thereon, itia i necessary; , tp" recapitulate the ; yariqus aitenip'ts at general :.and -.Southland drainage legislation made during the last nine or ten years. That period of >iime, 'we believe, has now elapsed since Mr' Murray, with considerable, ability, but also with the rashness and indiscretion not unusual ;n -young 1 and ambitious members', laid 'a scheme of his own before ;ttiejHquse' of Representatives. "While containing many excellent; and; statesmanlike; ideas k and proposals, it also included much that was crude and impracticable; <- It was therefore treated as an intellectual vagary and disposed of accordingly. In the measure as at first introduced there ; was ' a provision: for lending Governiherit money for drainage purposes, as in the Imperial Act. Wisely .dropping .its more; pretentious surroundings, Mr Murray (persevered for years in bringing a Drainage Bill before the House, framed somewhat on the .Imperial Act which has" been productive of so great benefits wherever it has- been brought into operation. This Act, we 1 understand, 'his brother (Mr Thomas "Murray, of the" Woolshed) had the credit, when- ,a- ; Berwickshire farmer, of originating and suggesting to the late Sir. Robert Peel,: under whose Premiership it became law. But the agricultural colony of New Zealand returns an assembly of representatives which includes exceedingly few well trained farmers; and there is thus a great want of practical and enlightened knowledge or- inteirst 'Iri 1 the well-being and progress of the most important class in the commonwealth. Plainer proof of this allegation could not be found than in the fact that throughout all these years, Mr Murray's Drainage 5 Bill has not been thought worthy of any qonsideration whatever — has been treated as "a bore," "one of Murray's fads, s _\and. ruthlessly- shelved time after time.; 'Tiring?' at length under this cavalier treatment^ Mr Murray suspended his efforts, and the running -was taken ' up by Southland. A. committee .was. ..formed nearly. .four years ago; a bill was grafted; petitipus to Parliament' were -got -upj-'the Yogel Government was vigorously plied with memorials, deputations,!, remonstrances, and explanations,' all ;in ifaypr of the^Brll^ and Dr Hodgkinson, <at that time memTber for Rivertouj'whO' took charge of -the Bill, was kept well coached in' lihe Subject. It may ,be well to. explain before going further, that this Bill, which provided fori giving power to combine to drain land, and to raise funds for the work, required nothing whatever from the Government, except legislation; and its operation was to be entirely confined to the Southland District. In the flush and hey day 'of the Public Works scheme, and when tlie' Ministry were besieged from all points of the compass by men anxious to share in the ( spoil, such truly touching moderation, it might be thought, would have melted die hearts of our legislators. Bur.---no! certain gentlemen from' Hawkcs'Bay, Malborough, &c, whp had dabbled^ iirßivers Acts* for their o,wn districts,constituted themselves it authorities to judge of our requirements, and 'peremp^ torily objected to the Southland' Bill becoming- law 7, unlesslthe rating, claus^ were made similar to those in their ownActs; which provided that there should 'be level rating at Bo~tauch per acre. However it might be in their cas^e, for ourselves this simply jneant^tha't\a certain, proportion of owners would"' pay 'a greater or lesser share of tho expense ofim proving the properties of a certain number of other oniiers, in addition to a' fair share for draining their own laud. Of our northern friends we do not pretend to judge; Wt so far as concerns tlie holders of land h\ this district, we * gVerftly fear .they have not yet attained" to that pitch of, disinterested Gladstonian philanthropy that would enable them 'to . acquiesce iv any such/a rrangement." s Terad venture, thosje wljo we benefited at thp expense

of their neighbors might be imbued 'with a highly philosophical spirit of resignation. This, ithas been shrewdly surmised, may bave been the position and frame "of.mind of these Northern members, and indeed it is difficult to „ account in* -any other way tor their active and persistent opposition to the fair and just system, origins ted. in Southland, of rating^according to " the ' amount of improvement effected on "each property. Appeals to 'them to consent to its' being tried in --Southland alone as an experiment were fruitless, and they continued ( to meet it in the same spirit to ! ihe end of last j session. . If the surmise we have thrown %h.i is at all a probable one", it would btj 1 ii high compliment to the system if there , is a dread of its being extended eventually northwards, and thus proving very objectionable to those who have gained advantages ander the acreage rating, and at the expense of others. However, let the cause that prompted the opposition, bewhatitmay,theresultwns the rejection of the Bill. But it is some consolation, after all the assurances tbat the principle could not be worked in practice, ta find the Government of the day quietly adopting it in the District Railways Act. - Mr Murray's Bill of the last two sessions -was almost a hopeless one; it demanded money, and included the new rating principle. After passing through. Committee, preparatory to being read a third time, and passed in the Lower House, all that remained of ib was a provision enabling an " owner " to cut an outfall through adjoining lands as in the Public 1 Work's Act, excepting that the •" adjoining owner " was required to pa}' for whatever benefit accrued to him fiom tlie work. Thus the expense would noli fall solely, on the " owner," as provided by the Public Works Act. It was so much pn the right side, and the measure 4 wouldhavo beeu applicable to certain circumstances, although there were no means of raising funds under it; but it met -with the sad fate of many other excellent Bills, iri the massacre of the- innocents at the close of the session. No lack of interest in the movement has been shovm by the 'Southland Members in general, either of late or previously. Mr Bain has, from the first, fostered the proposal by every means in his power, aud has lately been well backed by the other members. Mr Lumsden at one time induced Mr Donald Reid to prepare .a- Government. Drainage : Bill, which; however, fell through; and ; others besides ... those already referred to have: done good service in this, highly important matter. The unobtrusive but very valuable, assistance rendered by a gentleman connected with the legal profession, in drafting Bills and in many other ways, lias been one of the principal means of keeping the agitation in a state of heaithy vitality. ..