SOUTHERN TELEGRAMS.

Thames Advertiser, Volume VIII, Issue 2019, 14 April 1875, Page 3

SOUTHERN TELEGRAMS.

(PEB PEESS AGENCY.) -*— •' Blenheih, Tuesday, 7 p.m. A man named William Macdonald committed suicide on Sunday in the Blenheim lock-up by strangling himself with' a ; leather strap, which was fastened round his throat and tied to the toe of his left -foot. . He was in custody on'the charge •' of attempting to kill himself. An inquest | was held last evening, and a verdict returned of suicide while labouring under : 'mental aberration. ..•• : ; 1 Chbistohuboh; Tuesday, 5.5 p.m. ;■;, The land sales yesterday amounted to • 11,323 acres, realising £2,646.—A meeting : ;of the Board of Governors of Canterbury ■College' ; wbb held yesterday. Professor ] ißiokerton has been appointed local \ ianalyst,.under the Adulteration of Food iAct.-rTenders have been accepted to the ; ( amount of nearly £1,400 for additions to ;■ .Museum.—The general entries. for the ; ;Autumn Bace Meeting close to-morrow. • Dunedin; Tuesday, 7.40 p.m. ' Wright, a baker, attempted to commit i suicide to-day. : The doctor pronounced ; him,insane,' and he was taken to the j 'asylum.—One of the principal drapers ■ was summoned by his machinist for con- ! travention of Mr Bradshaw's Female ; Employment Act. Three .charges were : •laid. The police are taking rigid mea- . :sures to carry out the 'Act. .• > In veboabgim, Tuesday, 9.45. p.m.. - BiYFraribUßell.M.tfiß.'for Mataura,' ; addressed his constituents at the Theatre ; ltoyal to-night, His Worship the Mayor I

occupied the chair.. Sir F. Bell said ha was struck with the improvements which had taken place in Invercargill. They were more marked here than anywhere ■ else. He would confine his remarks, chiefly to a subject which was fraught wifh great consequence, namely, the abolition of the provinces, Every other queslion paled before this. Were they to have a fundamental change in the system of government ? The causes of Government taking up that question were not understood. It was not a party question. Mr Vogel was quite secure in his position. There wore many reasons why a strong Government should refrain from touching the question. One thing forced it on the attention of the House, namely, the question of finance. The course of the Government had been attributed, firstly, to the reception accorded to the State Forests Bill; secondly, to the quarrel with Mr Fitzherbert. No such paltry motive influenced Mr Stafford and Mr Vogel to decide on the question. For ten year* the Colonial Treasurer's difficulties had been growing. The unauthorised expenditure reached £400,000, and the Treasurer had to manage the finance of the colony and the finances of the provinces. The.finance could not be properly done and .provinces satisfied.'lt was the impossibility of inducing the Legislative . Assembly to allow provincial borrowing which precipitated the question. In Otago and Canterbury they could not realise the difficulties of the provinces which were in straits. The failure of the attempt to pass the Provincial Borrowing Acts of the' previous year : drove Mr Vogel to the end. Last session £500,000 had been granted to provincial .governments, and it was not - fair that the rich should pay for the poor provinces. The £8,000,000 borrowed for railways had been reduced to £,6,500,000, owing to the necessity of buying the sup- . port of the provinces. No-Government could last an hour without the support of the provinces. The proposal laid by Mr Vogel before the House was not new, for during the last few years a feeling of un. easiness at the greatness of the burdens and at the prospect of more had been growing. Mr Curtis had proposed to take away provincial powers of the Government, really meaning the abolition of the provinces. Mr Stafford pointed out ' that it had before 1870 been a question as to continuing provinces, but afterwards, the attempt to put the provinces on their • legs was hopeless. Sir Francis said he had not changed. When in-thePr.ovi.ri". . cial Council of Otago he had warned the . Council that its day wa3 done, and that only municipal powers and action would by and bye belong.; to it. But it was no use thinking of past opinions; they must look at the question as it stands now. Mr Vogel's proposal : took the House by surprise.' It was not . a revolutionary measure. When Mr Filzherbert wanted the .'opinion of the country, the answer was, that an appeal was unnecessary, as no one had any sentiment about the provinces. ; The'public was apathetic because prosperous. The popular verdict had been in favour of the the abolition. The Thames, Hawke's Bay,. Taranaki, and Canterbury were all in favour. _ In Wellington an opinion was expressed in strong terms that Wellington would return a candidate in favour of abolition. No attempt had been made in public in journals to treat the subject philosophically, except by the Canterbury press. He (Sir.F.Bell) would vindicate his strong opinion ;'in favour of Mr Vogel's plans. Few made themselves masters of finance.-.The whole consolidated revenue '. for the calendar year of 1874 was '- £1,518,000; OtagoV contribution was about £500,000, or 32 per cent. The Customs ; amounted- to £1,205,000, of which Otago contributed £407,000. The . total revenue for stampl .was £105 000, of. which otago contributed £36,000. Compare Otago's [contributions to the 1 whole revenue with that of the North . Island, and the. result was:—North Island — Customs,- £445,000; Otago, £407,000. Otago contributed to the Consolidated Fund within £52,000 of the whole North Island. Take Otago and Canterbury together: —The Customs revepue of Canterbury and Otago were £606,000. Of all sources: of the Consolidated revenue Otago and Canterbury contributed, upwards of. £200,000 more than the whole .North Island. It was not a political but a financial question. Ihe whole land revenue for 1874 was £1,051,000,- of which Otago contributed £278,000,' and '• Canterbury £593,000, leaving, as the contribution of the rest of the colony, £168,000. Even little Southland gave £116,000 , last year, or within £50,000 of what was contributed by the whole colony, outside of Otago and Canterbury.. : What - became of the money? . The projects brought forward ■ by the provinces were quite monstrous, and it was necessary to check such, as. was proposed by abolition. As to the land fund, the magnitude of the figures threatened danger to it. The proposal was made to put all into cblonial revenue, but Otago and Canterbury did not want any change, and will fight against SHch a proposal.. A threat had been made to burst ,up the Compact of 1856. Sir George Grey was of that opinion." Mr Vogel has given a distinct pledge that the Compact would be held sacred, and „ Mr Vogel was to be depended upon. H» (Sir F. Bell) would pledge his. word for him. The bill to abolish the,provinces: would contain a ratification of the arrangement securing the land for Otago and Canterbury. Unless Mr Vogel's position was altogether changed,' the land fund, would be held sacred. The subsidies called for by. the. provinces were causing the real difficulties. Some sub-, sidies could not : be refused. ' The greatest difficulties came from Auckland, which stood next to Otago in.contribu« tions to the consolidated revenue. They could not say to Auckland that its necessities should not be met; they must provide forher in Borne shape. • They were ■willing to give the money, but would not :give it to be scrambled for by the Provincial Council. Their first duty was to see ; to: the safety of colonial'finance. They Iliad come to an end; and could not go on ■"■ borrowing more. •■ "According, to Sir. Donald McLean's figures the total public debt to the 30th June last at £12,500,000. Fix the two islands under the public works scheme at £3,750,000,;-been spent ', or contracted for. It was well that Mr Vogel went home, and through Messrs 'Eothchilds arranged the , loan, ;£19,500,000 would now be the-total debt. The bucket.was full; and they could not igo any more into the money market, and must not spend any more. He (Bir % 'Bell) had tried : to restrain'_ expenditure. It would not do to hurry '.the public works. By hurry they could 'not have the work properly supervised. The colony was fortunate in having Mr Bichardson's services, but they must not , ihurry him. Another evil was, that the ■money might.be all spent and the immi-.» ; gVr'nts'not'settled,,and/they Imust take /U; ,;time, .to. settle alarmist, i The expenditure "would" Be reproductive*

They had only to look to Victoria and New South Wales, where the railway system was prospering. ■ The saving in New South Wales was estimated at £200,000 per annum. Our railways were costing less than the Victorian, while ours would have been mado to pay working expenses, interest, and a large sum oyer. The railways heremighfc cover their cost and interest and might yield something to the revenue. Be took a very cheering view of the future of the railways in New Zealand. They must have an economical substitute for the Provincial Governments. Mr Vogel'a first proposal was simply the abolishing of the provinces of the North Island, but he (Mr Vogel) hinted that the change might extend beyond the North Island. Mr Stafford said plainly that he did not believe the proposal was final. It would not be confined to the North Island. Mr Stafford was always against provinces. He (Sir F. Bell) thought it impossible to abolish the provinces of the North Island and not those in the South. The change in the North would be useless unless it was extended to the South. What Mr Vogel means, to do,, and what will certainly be done whether we like it or not, is to abolish the provinces North and South, If a new theory of the constitution was to be set up instead of provincialismhe (Sir F. Bell) would have nothing to do with it. Barring Messrs Macandrew and Eolleston, there were not six men in the House who would set up a different political system from that which we- have already. The general legislation had been so taken up by the colonial Government that the Provincial Councils .were municipal only. The whole feeling of the House was represented by Mr Eeader Wood, who said, "Nobody wants to put anything in the place of Proviacial Councils." Mr Vogel said there would be no new style of Government. Mr Vogel would only supplement the • organisation at present-existing. It would be good if the Provincial Governments themselves performed'_'the happy despatch," instead of waiting to be abolished. What would happen if Otago were abolished ? Take the test of money. Last quarter the Provincial revenue was £151312; real revenue, £113,000. What would become of the money if: there were bo Provincial Government P Under the new scheme, everything would come 'to the Boad Boards; under Mr Vogel's plan, there would be one Treasury, but the money would find its way in the right direction. The Eoad Boards properly organised, were quite able for all. duties. .The Timaru and Gladstone Eoad Board undertook large operations and .did the. work well. A system of road boards was established in Victoria, tie railways only being.excluded from their .jurisdiction. . The,. Canadian dominions are about to abolish the provincial institutions, and in England the Chancellor of the Exchequer proposed > to organise local authorities, and to give them'large powers and-largo means, just as Hew Zealand was going to do. The •essence of self-government was to give the people the real management of their own affairs, and the means of doing it. They did not want a revolution —a violent end to the present system. Powers should be distioetly defineJ, and the revenue secured to local bodies. The work of change in that matter will be done sharply. It wHI be begun, but not completed next session. There must come first a new system of representation, and they must devise and extend the districts. The Thames miners and others must be represented. The colonists, if united, will complete the work that has been begun, and when the day of completion comes the country would be found rich and prosperous, and the abode of a happy and contented people.—Several questions having been put and answered, a vote of thanks and unabated confidence to Sir F. D. Bell was passed unanimously.