MR. DICK. SUPERINTENDENT OF OTAGO, AND THE ELECTORS OF PORT CHALMERS.

Colonist, Volume X, Issue 951, 6 November 1866, Page 3

MR. DICK. SUPERINTENDENT OF OTAGO, AND THE ELECTORS OF PORT CHALMERS.

The folbwing is an extract from the speech of M.r. Dick to his constituents at Port Chalmers:—

" Taking a view of the whole, I think you will agree with mc, that Otago has not gained much by the past session of the Assembly. We find that we have a Tariff certainly not diminished—that we have Stamp Duties imposed ; and that the extra revenue to be thus derived is to a groat extent required for defensive purposes in the Northern Island, or for Northern Island matters. -There is a sum of £70,000 on the Estimates for defence purposes; and about £300,000 is to be devoted to settling people on the Waikato confiscated lands. Part of the £300,000 is to come from the Three Million Loan, which was intended fo'* the purpose at first; and it is proposed to borrow part of it on Treasury Bills, which will fall upon the revenue in the course of a year or two. Provincialism tried its strength during the session, and has been thrown back—at all events, it has not come out ol the contest with a majority —the position of its supporters has not been shown to be a strong one. About double the number of members have supported the policy of the General Government, as compared with the supporters of Provincialism. The Assembly is a new one ; and there are in it new and young members who seem to have prided themselves on talking against Provincial institutions. Older members who were our opponents, adopted a milder style; but those young men tried to plume their wings in the political field that they might soar aloft to this most anxious question, and they uttered the most free and full condemnations of all the efforts the provinces have been making from the time of their establishment. Those young men thought that, in so speaking, they were saying things of the utmost value, and that they were to be listened to with the greatest possible respect; but if they had calmly deliberated upon their utterances, they would have seen that they wore not displaying wisdom in any sense, but only blazoning their complete ignorance of the value of provincial institutions (applause), of what those institutions had accomplished, and how absolutely necessary their existence is for carrying out public works, and all that is included in the settlement of the colony at larger (Applause.) Some few of the young members, I must confess, took a consistent and judicious view of matters, and looked at the position in a fair, honest, upright way. But there were other young men, who got flattered by those who might consider themselves fathers of the Assembly—flattered until they thought that they might venture to say anything they pleased in reference to provincial institutions, and that, they would be "Hearhear'd" and cheered to the echo by their older patrons and backers. Those older members knew that the positions they had taken, and the acts they had done, in previous years, forbade their so attacking the provinces ; but they encouraged their juniors, by talking of " Brave, fine young fellows!" " Good promising speakers!" and "Ornaments to the new House!" until the juniors must have been lost in doubt as to what they might not venture to say in abuse of the provinces. (Hear, hear.) We have now come back after a session of three months' duration ; and I come before you to say that the session, in my judgment, has been a failure. (Hear, hear.) We have not succeeded in reducing the expenditure, nor have we succeeded in putting Otago in a better position than that in which the province was before the session commenced. The three measures in which I felt particularly interested have, certainly, all been carried ; but we have not succeeded in carrying anything specially for the benefit of Otago ; and the province, I take it, is worse off to-day than it was before the session was opened. We hare not managed to shake off, in the slightest degree, the incubus of the Northern difficulty; we have come back as completely answerable for the debt resulting from any future Maori war as we were before we went up. My propositions were to the effect that the provinces should hereafter take the responsibility of Native wars and difficulties that occurred within their borders, but those propositions were ignored : and Otago is at this moment answerable for any war in Auckland, and our revenues must go to pay for any fighting there, just as much as those of Auckland herself. (Hear, hear.) Is that state of things to be allowed to continue ? (No, no.) Is the Middle Island —is the Province of Otago —to be continually made responsible for Northern troubles, with which neither has anything to do ? (No, no.) The Northern Island, I believe, could settle its own difficulties. Wellington says, " Let us manage our Native difficulties, and they shall be really managed. We do not need support from you in the matter—we can keep peace within our own boundaries." Hawke's Bay has hitherto so kept the peace, and she can do it still. Auckland siys, " We can keep peace amongst our Natives, and we will undertake to do it; but ne cannot do it out of our Provincial revenues, and the General Government must give us a large subsidy." I very much fear that so long as the whole Colony is responsible for wars and rebellions in the North, there will be wars and rebellions arising. (Hear, hear.) A good paymaster for the consequences is a bud cause of Native commotions. (Laughter.) It is not difficult to create a disturbance —for those interested to get abroad a rumor that the Natives are much discontented in a certain district—or that they have shot at somebody; and then the Defence Force, at .the expense of the Colony, must be sent out to put down the disturbance. There is an Auckland member who looks at the question quite differently ; but he stands alone. He says, "Let the Maoris alone ; they are the most peaceable people we have. Instead of fighting the Maoris, you will soon have to fight the Waikato settlers —they will really give you trouble." Still, this member agrees with the other members for his province, that an organised force must be kept ready ; and so the result is the same— the Colony must pay for that force. The provinces, it has been resolved, must pay their contributions towards the expenses of Maori war, not only as to the past, but as to the fuutre. How are we to escape that ?

A Voice : Get up a war in the South. (Laughter. Mr. Dick : That would be a strange application of the homoeopathic principle. The Voice : But we should supply the troops with beef: that would be some profit. (Laughter.) Mr. Dick : In honest truth, I believe that that supply-of-beef question has been an important one in the consideration of many gentlemen in the North Island. (Hear, hear.) But, again, "What is to be done by us ?" I may now have to trench on dangerous ground ; but I feel strongly and I must speak plainly. (Applause.) When I met you at the time of my election, I was not a believer in the remedy that some hoped from a simple strengthening of the provinces. I took it only as a modification of what I considered to be a better plan But now, after what I have seen and,heard in the Assembly—after I have seen the whole of the Northern Island representatives, with the exception of one man, vote that Stamp Duties should be imposed on the colony—l come to the conclusion that the only solution of our great difficulty is, Separation between the two islands. (Loud applause.) It seems to mc that we shall never get what we want, except by that one complete and effectual cure. (Applause.) We have during the session attempted the remedy of strengthening the provinces ; but we have failed to get it applied, although we were supported by Auckland, whose interests, to a very great extent, are dissimilar and distinct from ours. On two measures which were most important to Otago, the Auckland members, to a man, united against us—the Stamp Duties and the Municipal Corporations Empowering Act Amendment Bill, I mean. Therefore, to rely upon Auckland to assist us in giving strength to the provinces, seems to mc to be a fallacy, and, so far, has proved a failure. Let us, then, abandon altogether the idea of action with the Northern Island. (Applause.) Let us say, "You must now, 'in your own way, and with your own resources, deal with rebellion or any other difficulty that arises in the Northern Island; we can go no further with you." (Applause.) I believe that if, as one man, the Middle Island would so speak, there would not be another Maori rebellion to the end of time. (Laughter.) I believe it is just because there

is known to be a fine long purse down in the Scuth, that there are so ncany of these rebellions. If the work of suppressing rebellious was left to the North, there would soon be a fine, native population. Then let us part company. But how is that to bo done ? That raises, truly, a very difficult -question ; but is ifc a more difficult one than that raised by the proposal to give to the provinces additional powers—all the powers which, according to the Constitution Act, as originally framed, they should have ? I think not. I think that as long as we have one Assembly for both islands—as long as men are sent to that Assembly, who, like, Mr. Jollie, think that neither Superintendents nor members of Provincial Councils should be there —as long ai the Assembly has the power of overriding the legislation of the provinces—so long will the provinces, instead of gaining strength, only show constantly increasing weakness. Every session, we find some fresh encroachment upon the provinces made—some power taken away, something which they have looked upon as a right, filched from them. The Audit Act, passed five years ago, was, to some extent, an infringement upon the rights of the provinces; but it gave power to the Councils to appoint Provincial Auditors. This session, the Assembly has passed a new act—it was determinedly passed by the members of the House, for I believe that the Government would have yielded the point readily if the House would have done so—by which the power of the provinces is completely ignored, and the appointment of auditors of the provincial accounts, instead of being left to the respective Councils, is given to the Governor. The power of appointing auditors should, according to the Constitution Act, have been left to the provinces. Every session, the Assembly is asserting that the power of the provinces must decrease — that the provinces must yield to the Assembly, by whi«h, before long, the whole power of the colony must be absorbed. Power is sweet; and while the Assembly, as it is, exists, and has the law on its side, we must expect to see it laboring to acquire power; and we must expect to see the revenues of the Middle Island provinces wasted upon Northern Island affairs and difficulties. The remedy is, to abolish the present Assembly; and to have two separate Parliaments, one for the North, and the other for the Middle Island. (Applause.) The interests of the Middle Island provinces are to a very great extent the same ; those of the Northern Island are to a very great extent dissimilar. The difficulty in our way is, that the northern part of the Middle Island will not join us in the cry for Separation at present—it iB not united upon the point. In Canterbury, we have strength to a certain extent. We have on our side, the Superintendent (Mr. Moorhouse), and a leading member of the Assembly, Mr. CrosbieWard, whose speech on the question of Provincial powers and Separation wis a master-piece. We have their support, as a basis. There was formed in Canterbury, about a year ago, a Middle Island Association. How it is going on, I don't know; but I hope that it still exists, and is flourishing. If Otago could only be thoroughly united upon Separation, I believe that its force would soon be felt; and that it could quickly carry its strength into Canterbury, and have influence there to a great extent. When the people of Canterbury are fully awake to their own interests—when they see fully,as we see here, and as they see partly, that the imposition of Stamp Duties is a very serious thing for the province —that the increase of the Customs Eevenue is another most serious thing—and that both are results of Northern, difficulties—then, I believe, Canterbury will unite heartily with us, in demanding Separation of the two islands. What we want here, is union. (Hear, hear.) If there can be got a very decided expression of opinion that an effort should be made to strengthen the provinces, then I will yield to the view of the majority—not because I believe that the movement would be successful, but because, above ail things, I desire union. (Hear, hear.) But if the majority declare for Separation, as the one thing needed, then, I think, those who now advocate the strengthening of the provinces should yield their point, and should join us, heart and hand. (Applause.) Perhaps, the two things might be worked together. Those who hold with mc might agree to say to the Provincialists " Try your utmost to gain your pom', and we will back you with all our strength : but on this condition—when you have failed, you shall support us in a strong and determined effort to separate the two islands." (Applause.) It has been suggested that it might be desirable to call together delegates from all parts of the Middle Island, to consult as to what shall be done in this emergency. I should be very glad to see the thing done, and to assist in organising such a conference. (Applause.) I should like to see the delegates elected by the people ; and the majority of the delegates should decide in what direction we should labor, in order to put as end to our present position of yielding our revenues for the benefit of the Northern Island. But again, I say, we must be united. (Hear, hear.)

Post-Office Statistics foe 1865.—The following figures show r the total number of letters and newspapers received and despatched at and from the various post-offices in New Zealand in 1864 and 1865. The word " Foreign " means all places without the colony, and "Inland" means all places within the colony:— LETTERS. 1864. 1865. Foreign Letters received 615,783 545,407 Inland Letters received 1,496,988 1,690,251 2,112,771 2,235,658 Foreign Letters despatched 639,809 593,429 Inland Letters despatched 1,481,040 1,649,412 2,120,849 2,242,841 NEWSPAPERS. Foreign Newspapers reed. 1,065,092 1,080,875 Inland Newspapers reed. 766,390 731,374 1,831,482 1,812,249 Foreign Newspapers des. 661,506 Inland Newspapers des. 1,742,522

2,546,932 2,403,028 It will be observed that although, during 1865, as compared with 1864, foreign correspondence 'had decreased nearly ten per cent, in both the receipts and despatches of letters, yet, the internal correspondence of the colony had increased about 14 per cent, giving an increase on the total number of letters transmitted by post. The reduction in the number of newspapers despatched, inland and foreign, is clue in a great degree to the imposition during a part of 1865 of a penny postage, which is again to be imposed on all newspapers passing through the post. The Postal Revenue in 1865 was £46,475 9s. 5cL, against £39,198 19s. lOd. in 1864, being an increase or £7276 9s. 5d.. or fully 18£ per cent. This is exclusive of fees for Money Orders, £1463 18s. Bd., and receipts for telegraphic messages, £1633 4s. The following figures show the numbers and amounts of the money orders issued and paid at the various post-offices in New Zealand during 1864 and 1865, omitting shillings and pence:— 1864. 1865. No. Amount. No. Amount. Issued 17,236 £78,576 16,591 £78,556 Paid 7,639 36,409 5,619 26,467 The increase in the issued, although 645 in number, is only £20 in amount in 1865, while on the number paid the increase is 2020 orders, and nearly £10,000 in amount. Population of New Zealand.—The estimated population of New Zealand as at 31st December, 1865, was—males 117,376, females 73,231, total, 190,607; being an increase on the year of 16,989, of which 10,075 were males, and 6914 females. There was during that year an excess of births over deaths numbering 2174 males and 2506 females—an excess of immigration over emigration, comprising 7901 males and 4408 females, and these figures make up the increase of population in 1865. Deaths by Drowning.—The tables" of the vital statistics given by the Registrar-General of New Zealand, Mr. Bennet, show that during a period of eight years, out of a total of 12,379 deaths, there were no fewer than 601 deaths by drowning, or very nearly 5 per cent.