MR. HAYHURST AND HIS CONSTITUENTS.

Timaru Herald, Volume IV, Issue 94, 2 March 1866, Page 2

MR. HAYHURST AND HIS CONSTITUENTS.

On Tuesday evening a public meeting; was held m the new Assembly Room, at the Royal Hotel, at the request of Mr. Hayhurst, to hear that gentleman give an explanation of his conduct during the late session of the Provincial Council.

There were only about forty persons present, owing no doubt to the short notice given. Mr. DOyly was voted to the chair and briefly introduced Mr. Hayhurst to the meeting.

Mr. Hayhurst, who was well received, said he appeared before the electors to give some short account of the business of the last session of the Provincial Council. No doubt they knew something of what had taken place through the public press, but that only gave them a very faint idea of the actual business done; and he thought it was necessary for a member to explain, at the end of each session, the line of policy he had adopted. He (Mr. Hayhurst) came before them as a retiring member. He would take a short glance at the business affecting them which had been gone through m the Council. He had opposed the reserve which had been made on the beach, and which gave the lessee of the landing service a monopoly, and enabled him, if he thought proper, to levy enormous tolls upon any boat landing within eight chains of the new boat shed — whether such boat lauded for pleasure or through distress. The next matter was the lauding service, which the Government had taken into thiir own hands. He opposed this measure because he could not see that it would be any advantage to the general public that it should be managed by the Government ; as .they invariably mismanaged such matters. The Government, after the late Mr. Beswick's lease had fallen through, thought they would take the service into their own hands instead of letting it to private individuals. If the Government intended the service as a benefit to the community, why should they wish to take it isto their own hands. It was not likely that the gentlemen who had the service previously, if they worked it now for the Government, would by working it cheaper, prove to the public that they had been receiving such great benefit from it. A motion was brought forward by one member m reference to subsidising a steamer to trade between Lyttelton and Timaru only — and that steam bonus was not to exceed ■'"aOO. He (Mr. Hayhurst) strtj^iy opposed tliat motion for one or two reasons, which iie would explain. He thought it would be very unjust to pay a steamer to trade between Timaru and Lyttelton alone, because it would to a certain extent prevent other steamers, which were receiving no bonus, from trading to Timaru from Dunedin and other places. It was an attempt to confine the whole trade to Lyttelton. It would be bettea not to subsidise a steamer at all than to pay it to trade to one place. The merchants and others interested m. the matter agreed m the Council that they were paying a steamer to take their trade from them ; but he held that if they could not supply goods at the market price, it was not the duty of the Government to legislate to make one part of the province buy from another. [Hear.] The motion was brought m twice, but he was glad to say that it was, through the opposition offered, withdrawn on each occasion. Another matter m which they no doubt took considerable interest was the amendment of the lloads Ordinance. He had the honour to be a member of the Select Committee which was formed to amend the existing ordinance ; but it was a most difficult task to dovetail m clauses to make the ordinance work to the satisfaction of all districts. He had no doubt but that the ordinance was framed by residents m Chnstchurch and the neighborhood ; for he could see that it would work admirably m a settled district, where the roads were.made. [The speaker was here interrupted by a man m the body of the Hall, who had to be called to order by the Chairman] Mr. Hayhurst resumed : He thought there were many objectionable clauses m the present Road Ordinance, one of which was that it made it compulsory on the part of the ratepayers to rate themselves to make their roads before they could obtain any assistance from Government. This part of the Ordinance, he believed, might be considered as specially intended for the Timaru district. When a district had rated itself, it was then entitled to two-thirds more than the amount of such rate, from the Government. This clause, like the one he had already referred to, was very apjilicable to a settled district ; for it put it m the way of the ratepayers m such districts to obtain money m that manner, which they could not hope to get otherwise ; for they were sensible that from £2 to £6 per acre of the land sold had been expended m their districts, and that they had got very fine roads, which only required to be kept m repair. In settled districts they accepted the clause which granted them the two-thirds m excess of their rates, aud looked upon it as one of the very best m the whole ordinance. It was actually a privilege to rate themselves for the purpose of getting the two-thirds more out of the Government. But such an ordinance was a great injustice to the inhabitants of, what he might call, unsettled districts. In this district, where the roads wera not made, we should have to levy a rate of not less than one shilling m the pound, and then the Government would supplement that sum by a grant of two-thirds more, which was all we could get for the purpose of making our roads and ..keeping them iv repair. If any person would take the trouble to go into the matter they would see that the sum raised m this district would do very little towards keeping the roads m repair without ever making them. This system of two-thirds-more grant was very fine for the district where good roads had been made ; for such districts had no right to any grants on account of their roads, because such large sums had been expended upon them : but it was offering them a bonus to put a small rate upon themselves, for the purpose of getting money from the Government. Another clause provided that a special rate should also be levied for the maintenance of main roads. A stranger taking up the Ordinance, would, from such a clause, naturally infer that the roads had been made, and that if he purchased land he would be taxed to keep them m repair. Another question which came before the Council was that of granting twenty -five per cent, of the proceeds of land sales, for expenditure m the district from which it had been derived. He (Mr. Hayhurst) strongly opposed the measure, as it was stated by the Secretary of Public Works when he brought forward the motion, that it was to '• satisfy the just claims of the owuers and occupiers of land m the district south of the Rangitata." He (Mr. Hayhurst) was not going to argue whether it was 25 or 50 per cent, that we were entitled to, but the matter should be gone into, and calculations made, to ascertain the amount which the district was entitled to. A per ceatage of the pasturage rents should also be included, for m some respects it was a superior source of revenue to the land sales. The rates at present were so objectionable to land purchasers that he believed a quarter of the amount received for the rent of runs m this district would amount to almost as much as a quarter of the proceeds of hind sales for another year. Mr. Hayhurst then went on to argue that the reads and other improvements m Canterbury ought not to be compared with those m other parts of the colony ; because freeholders here paid about four times as much for their land and had a right to have four times more returned to them, by expending it upon the roads, than any other province. He believed the present legislation would stop almost all land sales, and that purchasers, on reading over the present Ordinance, would take their money e's where. He then referred to the report of Mr. Balfour,

which suggested the erection of a small stone jetty, at a cost of about £4000. Mr. Balfour had m his report entered into calculations which, proved th«t m one year the whole of the expenditure would be repaid by the saving effected m landing charges. He had also, to fulfil about the only promise he had ever given, enquired into the appointment of pilot ana harbour master, at Timaru. These offices, he was told, were taken from the gentleman who had previously held them, because that gentleman had too many offices to attend to. Mr. Hayhurst then spoke at some length against tne evil of squandering public money, particularising the grants given as compensation to men who were not proficient m taking contracts ; the grant of £5000 to the Little River Tramway eta , The speaker resumed his seat amidst applause. Mr. Turn bull said it must be very satisfactory to Mr. Hayhurst that he had not been troubled with any cross questions, as it was a proof that those present were satisfied with his conduct. It was very clear from the speech just delivered that there was no hope of obtaining anythiug from the Christchurch Government, and it was for them to endeavour now to obtain their self-government as quickly as possible. [Hear, hear.] He had great pleasure m proposing a vote of confidence m Mr. Hayhurst. Mr. Taylor would like to ask, before the motion was put to the meeting, whether m the twenty-five per cent of the land sales any allowance was made for the land which was granted to persons as compensation. He believed that the Government, a few days since, took about five acres of land from a gentleman m Christchuch for railway purjioses ; aud then gave him an order for a thousand acres of rural land, which he had selected m this district. Was the district to receive any benefit from such a selection ? Mr. Hayhurst had himself asked a similar question m the Council, and he had been politely referred to the words of the motion, namely, "twenty-five per cent of the land sales. " Mr. Massey then seconded the vote of confidence, which was put to the meetiug and carried. Mr. Hayhurst returned thanks. He was about to leave tne colony for England ; but he hoped at some fnture day that he might be of some service m this country again. A vote of thanks to the chairman terminated the proceedings.