COUNCIL PAPERS.

Colonist, Issue 44, 23 March 1858, Page 2

COUNCIL PAPERS.

NEW ZEALAND COMPANY'S DEBT. [Laid before the Provincial Council by Dr. Monro, March IG, 1858.] Memorial to the House of Representatives, front the Provincial Council of Nelson, against the present Apportionment of the New Zealand Company's Debt. To the Honorable the House of Representatives of New Zealand, in Parliament assembled. The Memorial of the Provincial Counett of Nelson, respectfully sheweth— That by certain resolutions agreed to by the House of Representatives in the fourth session of the General Assembly, it was (among other ar-* rangements for disposing of the public burdens of the colony) provided that the New Zealand Company's debt should be borne by the three provinces of the Middle Island in equal proportions between, each. Against this division of the New Zealand Com-' pany's debt your memorialists desire to appeal to your honorable house. 'They maintain "that it is extremely unfair, and Wost injurious to the ii> teres{s of the Province of Nelson; For while it can be shewn that under this arrangement Otago and Canterbury receive (especially, the former) a very valuable estate, it can be incontestibly shewn on tlie other hand that Nelson is required to pay an exorbitant price for' an estate original ly of insignificant value, and still further impaired; if net utterly destroyed, by the large grants of land which she has been obliged to iriake to fulfil the liabilities of the New Zealand Company. / Before proceeding to point out what they consider to ■be the true bearings and nature" of the question, your memorialists must be allowed ioprotest against what they believe to be an' utter fallacy, but one which has some currency to the prejudice of the Province of Nelson in the consideration of the question. They refer to the analogy supposed to exist between the three provinces, founded uponthe fact of the native title, with insignificant exceptions, haying been > extinguished within their ''limits.."^ Hence, it is argued by some people, that the > three provinces have received an equal amount of benefit from the -New Zealand Company, and should therefore pay ah. equal amount or the debt. But the two questions have really no connection whatever. The New Zealand Company's debt htft nothing whatever to do with the extinction of the native title in the Middle Island. , The Company never preferred a claim to a "single acre in consequence of that extinction; and, in point of fact, the funds by which it was accomplished were supplied, not from the subscribed capital of the Company's shareholders,,but by the British Parliament.

In order to place their views of the relation of the Nelson Province to this question clearly be* lore the House of Representatives, your memorialists feel it necessary to refer to the origin and true nature of the New Zealand Company's debt. They find the following fundamental proposition plainly' laid down in the Report of the Select Committee of the second session of the General Assembly on the New Zealand Compiany's debt, a report which was adopted by the House of Representatives without a dissentient voice. "The debt to the Company," it is there asserted, "can only reasonably be regarded as an equivalent in money at five shillings an acre for a certain number of acres assumed to be surrendered to the Crown for the service of the colony." Keeping this steadily in view, and your memorialists believe it to be a position incapable of refutation, there are three principal points to be enquired into, and these are, first, " what was this estate?'* secondly, "where was this estate ?" and thirdly, " who got it ?" To the solution of the three questions thus proposed your memorialists will now address themselves. In answer tothequestion, "What was this estate?'* your memorialists need not refer to any further facts than these—that tbe claim of the New Zealand Company to one million three hundred thousand acres was admitted by her Majesty's Government in October, 1845 ; and that in the year 1817, when the final arrangement between the Company and Lord Grey was made, by which the .amount ofthe debt was «fixed, and which eventuated in the surrender of its charter by the Company,, the estate was agreed to be taken as comprising one million seveuty-two; thousand acres. This- was the number of acres to which the Company was entitled, after deducting what it had sold to its settlers; and bad the Government not entered into an arrangement for the purchase of this land, the Company would have had the right of selecting it in any part of the Province of New Munstet, in Otago, Canterbury, Nelson, or Wellington; always provided that the land so to be selected was to be taken in rectangular blocks of not less than thirty thousand acres. It would.therefore clearly have been in the power of the Company to have selected some ofthe most valuable portions ofthe Middle Island, and to have offered them for sale on the best terms it could get. - From this process,, which might have most seriously crippled Otago and Canterbury, but not the Province of Nelson to nearly the same extent, because the choicest portions of that province had already been sold, the Middle Island has been delivered by the statesmanship of Lord Grey.

The first question, " What was. the estate ?" i 3 therefore answered categorically, by saying the New Zealand Company's estate consisted of one million 'seventy-two' thousand acres, which wa? purchased at five shillings an acre, constituting a debt of two hundred and. sixty-eight thousand pounds. The second question, " Where was this estate ?" is not so easily answered. For the fact is, that what the New Zealand Company chiefly held, was an unexercised right of selection, or as we may say, so much land scrip. But the New Zealand Company had actually localised a certain amount of its estate. It had expended a certain amount of its scrip, and had received Crown Grants for the land thus selected. From the evidence of Mr. Dillon Bell before the Select Committee ofthe House of Representatives in 1854, it appears that the Company had selected four hundred thousand acres at Otago; in Nelson, about one hundred thousand acres; in Wellington, about three hundred thousand acres; and in New Plymouth, about thirty thousand acres. From these ■figures, however,. must be deducted the land sold by the Company to private purchasers. Thus, from the three, hundred thousand selected at Wellington, must" be deducted one hundred and twenty-seven thousand nine hundred and fiftynine acres sold, leaving a balance of one hundred and seventy-three thousand forty-one acres to that province. In Nelson, the land selected and the land sold by the Company were almost exactly equal. At New Plymouth,' nearly one-half of the land selected was sold, or upwards of fourteen thousand acres. While, at Otago, of the four hundred thousand acres selected, only six thousand five hundred and sixty-seven acres were sold, leaving a balance to the credit.of that province of three hundred and ninety-three thousand four hundred and thirty-three acres. We can therefore put our finger only on about one-half of the New Zealand Company s estate, let us say in round numbers, on about six hundred thousand acres. The remainder, constituting a balance of four hundred and seventy-two thousand, was. in the nature of unexercised land-scrip running-over the whole of the Province of New Munster. Your memorialists now approach the consideration of the most important of the three questions they proposed to themselves for solution, namely, " Who got this estate '?''' It has been decided by tlie House of Representatives, and, we believe, with perfect justice, that Auckland did not get any, and Auckland has, in consequence, been relieved both prospectively and' retrospectively from all contribution* to the New Zealand Company's debt. The Province of Auckland may therefore be put out of tlie question. Of the land actually selected by the Company, we have seen that New Plymouth got about fifteen' thousand acres; Wellington about one hundred and seventy thousand acres; and Otago three hun-~ dred and ninety tliree thousand acres; But'as regarcls the unexercised right of selection^or the land-scrip as it may be called,>how is it- to'

bcrdccided in wl_at proportions-it is to be allotted between each ofime three provinces? Now your memorialists do not seek to pretend that this is a point which it is possible to settle with anything like certainty-or precision. A fair apportionment of an estate in posse thus surrendered must rest, after all, on surmise, founded upon considerations of the probable conduct of men in given circumstances. But with this concession, made to its fullest extent, it is still evident that something like a general rule may be recognised and acted on. Thus, if a right of selection has been surrendered running over the whole of this island, it isa fair presumption that those parts of it which possess the greatest natural advantages, whether of soil or harbour, have been most benefitted by the extinction of the right, because they are the portions which in all human probability would have been selected. If an individual possessed a right of selecting land in a town, and in any part of that town, it is all but a certainty that he would select his land -where commerce was most active and population densest; and if, with a view to purchasing from that individual his right, it was necessary to lay an assessment upon the town, it would clearly be fair and just that those wards or parishes which offered the greatest attraction to the holder of the right should pay more than those other wards in which the land was less valuable. By parity of reasoning it may fairly be held that Canterbury and Otago benefitted much more by the extinction of the Company's right than Nelson did. Because in Nelson the choice localities had already been disposed of, leaving little but intervening tracts of broken and comparatively worthless land; whereas the Provinces of Canterbury and Otago still offered to the Company's choice harbours destined to become centres of trade, and extensive and valuable tracts . of land admirably adapted for settlement, and certain, before many- years, to be eagerly purchased. But while your memorialists consider themselves entitled to use the argument just stated as one perfectly fair and hardly capable of being successfully controverted^ they are under ho necessity of relying upon this or any other partially hypothetical view of the case to prove the unfairness of the division of the New Zealand Company's debt. They will assume that the acres to which the Company was entitled were equally divided among the three Provinces of Otago, Canterbury, and Nelson. And upon this supposition they will proceed to work out the results.

The original Company's estate, as bas been explained, was one million seventy two thousand acres. Of this, as already shewn, Wellington has received one hundred and seventy three thousand forty one acres actually selected, and New Plymouth upwards of fifteen thousand acres. These two amounts must clearly be subtracted before arriving at the balance to be carried to the credit of the Middle Island; and this being done, it • will be found that there remains to be divided eight hundred and eighty-four thousand acres : a result arrived at upon the supposition that no portion of the Company's scrip would have been selected within the Provinces of Wellington or New Plymouth. Ofthe eight hundred and eightyfour thousand acres thus accruing to the Middle Island, Otago received three hundred and ninetythree thousand four hundred actually selected, Canterbury none, and Nelson none. There remain accordingly of unselected land, equally divisible between the three provinces aforesaid, four hundred and ninety thousand acres, which in three equal portions gives to each one hundred and sixty-three thousand five hundred and thirtythree acres. Upon this basis of, division it appears that Otago gets of selected land three hundred and ninety-three thousand four 'hundred, and of unselected one hundred and sixtythree thousand five hundred and thirty-three or altogether five hundred and fifty-sixty thousand nine hundred and thirty-three acres; Canterburyone hundred and sixty-three thousand five hundred and thirty-three acres of unselected land; and Nelson one hundred and sixty-three thousand five hundred and thirty-three acres. And this is the answer to the question, Who got the estate ?

Now, if this were the ultimate result, the only conclusion could be, that Canterbury and Nelson had, equally with reference to Otago,"made a" very bad bargain in the matter of the New Zealaud Company's debt. But this is not yet the worst of the case as regards our province. For, from the one hundred and sixty-three thousand five hundred acres, which, upon the supposition least favorable to Nelson, we can be shewn to have received, must be deducted the the value of ninety thousand seven hundred and six pounds of scrip, which, by a return laid upon the table of this Council, it appears has been issued. AVith this scrip much of the best land in our province has been selected, and, assuming one pound of scrip to represent one acre of land, the number of acres coming to us after making the required deduction would be seventy-two thousand «3ght hundred and twenty-seven.

Your memorialists, with the most conviction ofthe truth and justice of their case, invite an inquiry into the accuracy of their figures and the results arrived at. As the representatives of the province in the Local Legislature, they desire to represent to your Honorable House the very serious injury, they had almost said the complete paralysis of their material interests, arising out of their being compelled to pay an enormous sum for such an inadequate consideration. It has been already their late to see their best lands absorbed In the payment of debts contracted by the New Zealand Company. And they now feel, unless justice be done to them and a re-appointment of the debt effected upon some equitable consideration of the value received by each province, that they are destined to lose the whole of their land, if not a portion of their customs revenue, and to sink into that state of stagnation which must exist in every colony where there are no funds for the construction of public works. Your memorialists cannot look forward to land sales to any large amount in this province. Their available districts are separated from one another by formidable physical barriers; and without money to open the country up, they may be considered &a practically beyond the reach of settlement. Your memorialists appeal with confidence to the sense of justice which they feel well assured resides within your Honorable House. They ask for a reconsideration of the question of the apportionment of the Company's debt between the three provinces of the Middle Island. ■ They ask for an inquiry into the value of the Company's estate received by each, and. that Nelson may have an .allowance made to her for the land which she has been obliged to pay away for liabilities contracted by others. They have shewn that Otago has received five hundred arid fifty-six thousand nine hundred and thirty-three acres, and Canterbury one hundred and sixty-three, thousand five hundred and thirty-three acres, in land out of which hone, or next to none, has been selected ; whereas Nelson has received no more than seventy-two thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven acres, and this consisting of the remaining portions of blocks, out of which all the best land has been selected.- If we were to estimate the land 'received by Otago and Canterbury at ten shillings an acre, it most undoubtedly would not be too low a value for that .whicli Nelson has received to assess it at five shillings. At this rate Otago would receive land of the value of two hundred and seventy-eight thousand pounds; Canterbury,- land of the value of eighty-one thousand pounds; and Nelson, land of not. more than the value of eighteen thousand pounds.

Your memorialists now leave this question in the- hands of your Honorable. House, assured that the same sense of justice which dictated the repayment to Auckland of her past contributions to the New Zealand Company's debt, will lead you to recognise the perfect fairness of the claim now preferred by the. Province of Nelson, earnestly trusting that the result may be the relief of the province from the pressure of a burden entirely disproportioned to her resources, and to the benefit received^ and evidently, inthe first instance, imposed, not according to any inquiry into the true merits of the case, but simply in accordance with an unjust and indiscriminatmg symmetry. And your memorialists, as in duty bound, will ever pray.'

ESTIMATES. ■ Estimate ofthe Probable Income ofthe Province of Nelson, for the year commencing on the 1st January, and ending on the 31st December, 1858. £ s. a. Balance in Traesury at the commencement of Financial year ... 1,982 12 1 Customs ... ... 0,000 0 0 Land Department ...10,000 0 0 Proceeds'fi-om. Miners'Rights ... 400 0 0 Fees and Fines ... 550 0 0 Registrar of Deeds. ... 350 0 0 Government Wharf and Powder Magazine ... ... 100 0 0 Publicans'Licenses ... 1,200 0 0 Auctioneers'Licenses ' ... 200 0 0 Inter-Provincial Postage ... 80 0 0 Incidentals ... ... 150 0 0 Proceeds of Debentures for public purposes ... 3,350 0 0 Total estimated income ,£24,362 12 1 Estimate in Detail of the Proposed Expenditure ofthe Province of Nelson, for the year commencing on the 1st of January, and ending on the 31st December. superintendknt's establishment. £ s. d. The Superintendent ... Messenger .... * ... 50 0 0 Contingencies— Stationery ... ... 6 0 0 Postages* ... ... 4 0 0 Newspapers ... ... 6 0 0 Sundries ... ... 5 0 0 Secretary's department. Provincial Secretay (see Commissioner Crown Lands) ... Chief Clerk'< -»*'...<■* -.,. 190 0. 0 Assistant ditto .;.. ... 90 0 0 Contingencies--Stationery ... ' ... 8 0 0 Advertising ... ... 8 0 0 Postages ... ... 3 0 0 Fuel and light ... ... 12 0 0 solicitor's department. Provincial Solicitor . ... 250 0 0 treasurer's department. Provincial Treasurer ... 150 0 0 Contingencies— y Stationery ... ... 10 0 0 Advertising ... ... 10 0 0 AUDIT DEPARTMENT. Board, viz., three members at £10... 30 0 0 Sundries ... ... 3 0 0 CROWN LAND AND SURVEY DEPARTMENT. Crown Land. ■ ' Commissioner (also Provincial Secretary) ... ... 400 0 0 Chief Clerk ... ... 250 0 0 Assistant Clerk ... ... 175 0 0 Contingencies— '• Printing, Advertising, and Stationery ... ... 125 0 0 Office keeper ... ... 13 0 0 Firewood ... ... * 8 0 0 Postages, &c. ... ... 5 0 0 Survey. Chief Surveyor and Commissioner of Public Works ... 350 0 0 Draughtsman and "Surveyor ... 250 0 0 Assistant ' ... ... 150 0 0 Contingencies— ; Fuel ... ... 6 0 0 Stationery ... ... 40 0 0 HARBOUR DEPARTMENT. Harbour Master and Pilot (and fees) 150 0 0 Coxswain ... ... 110 0 0 Two Boatmen, at 5s. per diem ... 182 IA 0 Apprentice, G months, at £8') per annum, and as Boatman 6 months, at 5s. per diem ... ... - 85 15 0 Signalman, at 5s. 6d. per diem ... 100 7 6 .Contingencies'— Repairs to Boats ... ... 15 0 o Four new Oars ... ... : 5 0 0 Paint and Paint Oil for-Boat, Buoys,, j and Beacons .-...= . ... 2o o 0 Hire of Lighters for raising Mooring3 2o o 0 Oil and Wick for Port Lamps ... 4) 0 ° Stationery ... ... 2 0 0 Repairs, &c. ••• •■• 10 0 0 Deputy Harbour Master and Pilot, and occasional Boatmen ... 121-0 0 SHERIFF AND GAOL DEPARTMENT. Sheriff ... ... 50 0 0 Gaoler ... ... 15*1 0 0 Turnkey ... ... 110 0 0 Overseer ... ... 100 0 ° ContingenciesRations for poor Debtors ... 25 0 0 Fuel ... ... lo. 0 0 Rations for Prisoners ... 23 > 0 0 Clothing for ditto ... 50 0 0 Fuel and Light ... ... 50 0 0 Stationery ... ... 2 0 jj Sundries ... ... • lo o ° POLICE DEPARTMENT. Sergeant-Major ... 150 0 0 Seven Constables, at 6s. • 6d. per diem ... ... 830 7 6 District Constables ... 300 0 0 ContingenciesSpecial Constables ... 20 0 0 Travelling Expenses' ..- 12 0 0 Fuel and Light .... 20 o 0 Sundries ... ... 15 0 0 magistrates' department. Resident Magistrate (also Registrar of Deeds ... ... 300 0 0 Clerk to Magistrates, Nelson ... 200 0 0 Clerk to Magistrates, Richmond ... 25 0 0 Contingencies— Printing Jury and Militia Lists ... 35 0 0 Fuel and Light ... 15 0 0 Stationery ... ... 18 0 0 Advertising and Printing Forms ... 50 0 0 Postages ... ... 3 0 0 Sundries ... ... 5 0 0 Resident Magistrate, Aorere, (also Warden of Gold-Fieids ... 300 0 0 Four Constables, at 7s. per diem ... 511 0 0 Special Constables ' ... , 100 0 0 Stationery ...: ... 5 0 0 Postages * : "... ... 3 0 0 Boat Passage of Prisoners, &c. ... 30 0 0 Office Furniture ... 6 0 0 Fuel ... ... 10 0 0 Constables Travelling Expenses ... 15 0 0 Maintenance of Prisoners ... 10 0 0 Resident.Magistrate, Wairau ... 200 0 0 Three Constables, to act as Mail. Carriers, at 7s. per diem ... 383 5 0 Allowance for Two Horses ... 60 0 0 Stationery and Postages ... 5 0 0 Special Constables ... 20 0 0 Sundries ;.. ... 5 0 0 Fuel and Lights ...' . 6 0*0 Office Furniture ... 600 medical department. Provincial Surgeon ... 200 0 0 Attendants on Hospitals ... 110 0 0 Attendance onLunatics ... 65. 0 0 Contingencies—■ ' " Rations for Attendants ... 72 0 0 Ditto for Patients ... ■ 180 0 0. Ditto for Lunatics ... 80 0 0 Sundries for ditto ■'.,•"* ... 40 0 0 Medicines ... ... 40 0 0 Medical Comforts - ... 25 0 0 Fuel and Light r ... • 30 0 0 Sundries ... ... 30 0 .0 coroners' department. Coroner, Nelson, Inquest Fees ... 40 0 0 Ditto Wairau, ditto ... 10 10 0 Ditto Massacre Bay, ditto ... 10 10 0 Surgeons'Fees ... 30 0 0 Mileage ... ... 30 0 0 Stationery and Printing- ... 6 0 0"

PROVINCIAL COUNCIL DEPARTMENT. Speaker '..-.'- ... Members residing niore than mile3 from Nelson at 20s. .-.. Ditto residing more than 10 miles from Nelson, Ios. ' .... Ditto residing more than 4 miles at 10s. ■■ ■ ; ■' -... . .'-'... Clerk to Council ... ; ... Assistant ditto at i|4 10s. per week Messenger at 12s. per diem - ... Contingencies—: '. ;. . Rent of Council Chamber : ... 75 0 < Removing Furniture.y ... 3 0 . I Lighting .... .- ... 10 0. I Stationery ... ••• 1.5 0 < Printing' ... ... 150 0 I Library — <" / .v. ... 20 0 I Newspapers ... ... 6 .0 < Furniture ... ... SO 0 < Postages ' ... ... 5 0 I REGISTRAR OF DEEDS'DEPARTMENT. Registrar of Deeds (also Resident Magistrate ... ... Clerk to Registrar ... ... 190 0 \ Assistant Ditto ... ... 140 0 ( ContingenciesFuel and Light ... , ... 10 0 1 Stationery ... ... ,10 0 I INTER-PROVINCIAL POSTAL DEPARTMENT . Deputy Postmasters, and Conveyance of Mails (the latter exclusive of Motueka, Massacre Bay, and Wairau) ... ... 200 0 < Stationery and Advertising ... 15 0 < Native Interpreter ... 100 0 < Contingencies ..... * ... 20 0 .1 miscellaneous. Printing Electoral Roll ... 60 0 < Printing Gazette .:. ... 150 0 i Expenses of Returning Officers ... 20 0 < Charitable Aid ... ... 200 0 < Supreme Court ... ... 450 0 ' < General Contingencies ... 300 0 < New Zealand Company's Debt... 4,000 0 < Interest on Nelson Debentures 1,275 0 < PUBLIC WORKS AND PURPOSES. Education ... ... 1,500 0 < Library Nelson Literary Institution ... ... 50 0 ( Libraries in Country Districts ... 170 0 < Bonus to Nelson Steam Company, for conveyance of Mails, &c. ... 750 0 < Museum and Mechanics' Institute 200 0 I Fire Engine ... ... 200 0 < Lesser Public Works ... 200 0 < Repairs of Roads ... ... 600 0 I Public Works not specified in Debenture Bill— New Roads, Bridges, and Femes 1,000 0 < Government Wharf ... 1,000 0 < Ferry over Wairau River ... 400 0 A Improving Road from Riwaka to Takaka ... ... 450 0 < Solitary Cell—Gaol, Nelson ... 100 0 i Buoys, Waimea River and Harbour 100 0 .' < Site'for Cemetery, Richmond ... 75 0 < Lockup at Richmond ... 80 0 • < Alteration to Boatmen's House, Nelson ... ... 20 0 < Boat for Aorere Harbour-master ... 25 0 < Pounds ... ■•• 100 0. <