THE Thames Advertiser THURSDAY, MARCH 30, 1876.

Thames Advertiser, Volume IX, Issue 2315, 30 March 1876, Page 2

THE Thames Advertiser THURSDAY, MARCH 30, 1876.

To-dAY we publish a further portion of tlie Bpeech of Sir Julius Vogel to his constituents at Wanganui, and as it refers to the Abolition question, it is deserving of the attention of our readers. We think that every one will readily admit that the dreadful hash made of the summary oi the speech which was forwarded by telegraph really gave us little idea of what the Premier said upon this question. It will be remembered that this speech was looked forward to with general interest, as it was understood that the great secrecy and mystery that had surrounded tho policy of the Government would be cleared away, and the fullest information given with respect to the provisions of the now Local Govorument Bill which is to be introduced into tho Assembly next session.

11l the first place, the Premier dealt with the history of the events that led up to the abolition of the provinces, and showed in tho most complete and satisfactory manner that) the Bill passed last session was an absolute necessity under the altered circumstances of the colony. Not only did Sir Julius show that there was very little work left for the provinces to do, and that there was therefore no possible excuse or plea for keeping them in existence, but lie'felt it incumbent upon him to warn the colony that "he looked upon our finance as demauding very serious consideration," On financial grounds alone abolition became a necessity, as the colony could not possibly stand the strain pub upon it by the "sturdy ibeggars" from the province?, 'the 1 Government could not, with safety to our finance, longer delay a settlement of the question. It was, no doubt, a very simple and easy matter to break down and destroy tho effete provincial system, but it will bo very difhcult for any Ministry to build up new machinery which will give entire satisfaction to tho varied and conflicting interests of different portions of the colony. _ The sketch'given by the lremier of the new Local Government Bill is not as full and complete as it might have

been. Of course, the measure is a mere skeleton at present, but when the details are all filled in, we doubt whether it will be more satisfactory than the Bill of last session, which could not have secured a majority had it been pressed in the House of Representatives. It seems to us that there are only three main points for consideration in the framing of a new Local Government Bill, namely (1), the formation and powers of the local bodies) (2), their endowments; (3), and the disposal of the "residue of the land fund " amongst them. Upon the first point, how much information do we derive from the speech of the Premier 1 ! It seems that we are to have a county system, but the Ministry have not the courage to declare that they will make the necessary divisions in the various provinces. No; the Premier could not say whether the Government would make the divisions, or invite the House to do it, or appoint a commission to do it, but he admitted that the " provincial boundaries are too large, and are not suitable for the future divisions of the country," But if a scramble is to take place in the House, it is quite possible that the old Provincial party will endeavour to retain the present boundaries, and bo bring back Provincialism in another form. Each county is to contain not more than seven divisions, or road or highway districts, and each division is to return at least one member, but the road boards are not to clash with the county boards. In cases where it is not necessary to have road boards, the county boards alone will carry on the local government, but in every case the boroughs are to be excluded. We have i strong objection to this.proposal. One great object, now that there is to be a change, should be to secure uniformity of system if possible, as well as uniformity of endowment for the local bodies. But under the proposal of the Premier this could not be obtained, and the system would not work at all unless the measure were made permissive in nature. We really require a strong, uniform system of local self-government, and not anything approaching a bastard constitution. In one part of the colony there would be.a double system of government — road boards and counties—and in another portion counties only. Under the double system there .could not beany great economy, and we certainly prefer the scheme in the Bill of last year, where the road boards ceased to exist on the formation of a county. Regarding the powers of the counties, Sir J. Vogel said very little, and we shall have to wait for the Bill itself before we are in a position to say much upon the point. He was particular in sketching out the mode of election, but only stated that when the counties were elected they would " have charge of main roads, and would construct other large works." This is very vague and indefinite, and may mean anything or nothing, as the Premier had previously stated that the General Government were to take over the railways, and would undertake other large works. Where the line is to be drawn between the two powers so as to prevent clashing we cannot say. Upon the second point the endowment of local bodies—we have very little information, except a repetition of what the Abolition Bill provides, namely, £2 for every £1 raised by local taxation not exceeding one shilling in the pound. In the case where road boards exist it seems that this endowment is to be equally divided between them and the counties. The final point we have to deal with is the disposal of the land funds after the local charges and costs of departments have been deducted from it, and this, we think, is one of the most important points in the whole speech. Upon this matter the Premier was emphatic in his statement that the land fund must be localised and not made colonial revenue. He said "The Government will consent to nothing which does not give the residue of the laud fund for expenditure by the local bodies, and no proposal will be accepted which would make the land fund lose its special character. 1 believe it is the general feeling of the colony that the land revenue should be specially applied." This of course means that the land fund of Otago and Canterbury will still be secured by those provinces. Instead, however, of being administered from Ohristchurch and Dunedin each county (and there may be half-a-dozen in each province) will have the right to expend the land revenue raised within its own borders, after certain charges for surveys, etc., have been deducted The scheme is very similar in principle to the Timaru and Gladstone Board of Works, but we 'doubt whether it will work satisfactorily with the road boards under the counties. from the whole tone of the speech by the Premier, we are led to believe that as much power and authority will be " taken over" by the General Government as possible. We have gained that impression, but wo hope that when the Bill is published it will show that we are mistaken. The Ministry will fall if they, attempt to steal away powers which should be given to the local bodies, and we are much mistaken if the Opposition do not make a virtue of necessity by accepting Abolition, and then put a programme before the country of a more liberal and suitable character than the one sketched out by Sir Julius Vogel

Captain Richards and the other gentlemen who have been in Auckland for the purpose of urging tho diversion o£ the balance of the £50,000 loan to driving from the present depth of the Bhaft towards the Bright Smile, returned to the Thames last evening. They waited on Dr Pollen, who, on behalf of tho General Government, offered no objection to the diversion of the money to the object sought. They also H aw tho Superintendent, and he said that on receiving tbo consent of the General Government he would also consent. Thus far, therefore, tho matter might be said to he satisfactorily arranged, although there are some details to attend to before the money can be absolutely used for tho purpose intended,

We are compelled to hold over our special report of the Tairua meeting until to morrow.

The regular Bitting of the. District Court will beheld to-day, Judge Fenton having arrived by the steamer last night.

We are requested to draw attention lo the fact that the salo by auction of stock at the Cash Palace has been postponed until Friday (to-morrow).

We have been shown some axe handles manufactured by Mr Daniel Mclean, better known as Pick Handle Dan. They are made of tea tree, and are of the usual pattern of American axe handles, being well and cleanly finished. They are being so'd cheaper than the imported article, to which in the opinion of many they are quite equal-in regard to strength and endurance,

The usual practice of the Thames Scottish brass band takes place this evening, commencing at 7 o'clock. These practices take place ia the company's hall, behind the Scotia Hotel, and are always open to the public. The following will be the principal seloctioisGalop (Beiter); glee, "Calm be thy slumberS;" march (Jager); troop (Lucretia Borgia); waltz (Perichole) j selections from "Messiah and possibly, in addition to above, some of the new music received by yesterday's mail will be tried.

Typhoid fever has again made its appearand) amongst the immigrants at Hamilton,

The steamer 'Hawea' sailed for the South on Tuesday with the following passengers: —B. H. Gubbins, Jones, Felton, Williams, Chapman, Mrs Hunt, Mrs Brasenham and three children, Mr and Miss Taylor, Rives, Mr and Mrs Hane, Mrs Hazlett, Higginson, Corlett, Caldwell, Craig, Mr and Mrs Luscombe, Magill, Davies, Ronayne, H. S. Meyers; Engel, Jackson, White, Smith, Conroy, Jones (2), Daffcer, Pair* clougli, Mrs Crump, Miss Crurap, and four children, Mrs Howard,

The Gross Bays:—'"The immigrants for the Thames were to the number of about 12 or 14, all forwarded to their relatives there by whom they were nominated. According. to rule, whether sent for as nominated immigrants'or not, all immigrants comiug'to the port of Auckland are entitle! to be sent to any part of the province where they find work, or where work is fouud for them. It would appear that is obtainable at the Thames even for new corners, as we learn that immigrants' relatives resident there are still sending home for their friends, as well as inviting those now arriving in Auckland to proceed there for employment."

The following is a list of the passengers by the' Colima' from Sau Francisco For Auckland : Steerage—Charles McGill, W. Longstaff, W. Boley, A. Nicholson, Cs Glendining, J. Holland, Robert Crozin, Georgo Henderson. For Wellington: Saloon—MontaguePym tind wife. For Diinediu: Saloon—Mr Daridson.— The same steamer sailed for the South on Tuesday with the following passengers:—Rev De Bert Hovell, Mrs Hovel), Messrs 9, 0. H, Turner, Barker, John Henderson, H. E Hussey, Yen. Archdeacon Clarke, Miss Brewer, Mrs and Miss Stuart, Miss Turner, Mr SJ Richard; sod, lev J. E.; Stuart, Rev Mr Borrows, Steerage: Thomas Bennett, 0. Haaney, J, Hewitt,

Referring to the Press Association till Timrn Herald says"The summary of the Premier's address received during Thursday nifht 'and Friday moning was at least fifty per cent, worse than anything that had gone before. So bad was it, that, after wasting a considerable amount of valuable time in vainly trying to decipher it, we either had to strike out sentences wholesalo or else print them just as they came, and leave it to our readers to make the best they could of them. Nor have our contemporaries fared any hotter. The Prm of Friday, referring to the speech, says it "cannot compliment the Press Agency on the manner in which they have done their work. The greatest portion of the message as received by us is very obscure, and we have been compelled to strike out many pas« sages altogether." While the Lyttelton Times of the same date remarks that "the message was so badly compiled that it was a matter of difficulty to make sense of many portions of it,' while others were so utterly nonsensical that they had to be excised." We wish we could put it in the mild way that our contemporaries do, but we can only characterise the conduct of the agency in sending us such a message as showing that they are totally incompetent to carry out the business which they have under* taken. They have.shown, ever since they started, an utter want ef ability or any sihgle qualification which is necessary for the work ; while on the other hand they have provtd themselves to be possessed of the most extra* ordinary powers of blundering and. mismanagement. If 'the present disgraceful state of affairs is not remedied at once, we shall, for the future, decline to publish any more of Sir Julius Vogel's or similar speeches telegraphed to us by the Press Agancy,"