ABOLITION OF PROVINCES, AND INCREASED REPRESNTATION.

Thames Star, Volume IIII, Issue 1759, 22 August 1874, Page 2

ABOLITION OF PROVINCES, AND INCREASED REPRESNTATION.

PUBLIC MEETING.

A public meeting, convened by HisWorship the Mayor^ to consider „the question of abolishing Provincialism: in the North Island, was held in the Academy of Music last evening, at halfpast six o'clock. There was a very large attendance, the Mayor in the chair. The Chairman read-, the advertisement; calling v the nieeting, and said that since the -requisition ha"d ;been published -circumstances had arisen which altered their course ;of action, in sp^far as the^ proposals of the? Hpn.|Juljus^Vbgel^fpr the abolition Pf Provincialism h&d been carried in the House of Assembly by a large, majority; and they might consider the measure in a mann»r disposed of. At the same timieHhero was np reasoii why? the meeting should not express; art opinion. All would hail the resolution of the House,, with satisfaction. A commenipement ■ hadjl been?) made in the direbtion of the North Island, and. the South Island would follow. The Chairman then called upon Mr. William»Row©.. to propose the first resolution. Mr. Rowe then came forward to place before the meeting his resolution, which ran as follows :-^Tbatjthis meeting cordially approves the resolution passed by the General Assembly for the abolition sf the Provinces in the Nor;th Island, ;and trusts; thiftf: the! same policy will be exten*ded to the South. Island, as it believes: that the time has arrived when Provin-., jialism should be superseded by a simple md inexpensive form of local self-govern-ment.'' Perhaps-—-he said—those present, would wonder at-;tiie< iriebnvenient hbur. Por which the meeting had been called. Die truth was that, in the first place, they had been compelled to call the,meetr, ing at an earlier period than usiiali in* jrder to effect their object; and secondly, the Hall had been previously engaged^ those who had .paid their money for its ase refusing to give it up unless the meetingiwas held af su^cfiifa^time is would notj interfere with! their interests. He thought it necessary to make this expla--nation, as, had ? the.meeting been hildatl i later hour, there w«uld no doubt nave been a much larger attendance. Circutustances had arisen, which in the opinion of many might %axe justified the doing away* with those 'proceedings'; but he coriSfidered that all should express an opinion, upon the subject; and so far as he was uoncemed thought their action was. (till desirable. Though the . proposals aad been passed, they were not completed, and it was their duty to. guide those resolutions in their own interests.' Ec had hp^ intention of finding fault' with Provincial Governments—either with regard to individuals or their conduct. ..: As.., i rule, those who had the administration rf Provincial affairs, "had performed, faithfully the duties entrusted to. them by their ijpristituents. While there.had been/many A.ct« which were far from being advantageous they had.on the w^ole.to congratulate themseives.' But the present crisis in the political world was of great importance LOrthe..cP'untry>, The .resolutions passed were certainly unexpected, and might be considered .premature'; although ..ajb, the < same time it hadlongboentiiep^mion. 6f <; the general, public that Provincialism; shptild be d^pneaway with,, THjeynadna idea however, that the proposals[^ wpuldi; be put before them so suddenly. \JMLv.Vogel's action was not altogether parlia-; mentaryi as he'should have laid bare his| ideas at the commencement of the session.; But the change. was necessary, .and was most stroDgly and peremptorily damanded by the conditibn, of the country—the 1 time had coins when Provincialism; mnit b» swept away as a' useless' burdeh^a time; when local affairs could be managed-.with.''' out the aid of Provincial ,Gdvirtimetits ; and, did he not think that the movement would ultimately have the-effect of .doing away with Provincialism 1 in I'the Sbutbjhs;: would have been no party to that meeting.; The great^ necessity for the change was made apparent by the fact of: th# large sums of money which had been borrowed to expend on Public Work»; in the various provinces^—the credit of the colony had to be kept up; and this could not be done unless the provinces were governed i-by,; one. central body, to hay,e solecpn-jtrplof the 'country's affairs. The Provincial Governmenii acted iiSia^kind of buffet between the Genefai' Govdrhmeht and the"districts : they had been promisedr >the ;fpreshore^ direcit as an endowinenti but the Prof incial Government; had cbine: in!- ;between; them and the General Government, and endeavored to get it first, in order to dis^ pose of it.as..they thought' fijfc, The present SuparintendentT^t^bUgh he. (Mr. Eowe) entertained gr#at respect for<that gentleman—had refused to let the Thames people rget the endowment-to:administer in theic own way; .and, ie would ask, were there not men on the Thames;with ability sufficient to deal i with; matters affecting their own interests to greater advantage than the Provincial Government ?;>-■■ But for. many .years, in, general legislation the intißresjts of the polony had been made subservient to those v pf the Provincial members in the Asiembly. The present Premier had been^obligedto*l shape his policy to suit these little knots - of politicians. . , i) r Mr.. Rpw:e ; then referred'-to the anomaly 'which existed in the 'present administration-^-' the Oeaeral Goveinment spending money thePneside rand|tb.ePfO!eihcial;bn the other —the land fund would bpr.ci.,.-^o be.a. general revenue, the expenditure to.cpme from one source. He remarked again that the matter was far from being settled —it would require to be well looked into. 'He did not intend to make a loiig speech —he would reserve his eloquence for the. 'proper time, and he intended to • hire something to v say in the Assembly, tob. /(Cheers.) - Ha thicnrefwred to the good

that would ariae in the destruction of provincial institutions: party interests would be cast asido, and the representatives of th« North would go to the Ifbustf united as one man, and thus be able to withstand' any injustice attempted to be done them by the South. As to the Worth being lowered by being the first portion,in which the change was contemplated, he said, allegorically, that Mr. Vogcl was putting in an undercut, in order to bring down the upper portion of the (political) rock more easily. Mr. Vogel couldnot attemptthefgj^atwork, at one blow. He had -plit'ip. a shot, which had * partial effect— thVrest was'to follow. tDr. Kilgour seconded the motion. He said^they might well leave the burden of proof ,to those who supported PrOvinciaiisni. ■ He was not aware that suchi institutions existed in any other of the! British Dominions. There was at one? time, no doubt, good .rjeaaon for the' existence of: Provincialisjm—now they were a united people—they were connected by telegraph, steam, and hoped soon to be connected by railway. In fefeiring to 'Mi# Vogel's- proposal; he said Jit; was no doubt made with a view of threatening the Superintendents.especially Mr. Fitzherbert, should,they not conform to his wishes. But having Price Raised the question, it had been found impossible to stem the current of popular feeling. With regard to reasons — which he thought it necessary to give—Dr. Kilgour said in the first place it had been found impossible that - any good measure; could be passed for the'ProvincialGpvernraent. Any measure being brought forward in the (general Assembly was looked at through the different Superintendents' particular spectacles: thus there was a kind of logrolling existent,; which was degrading in' * itself and derogatory to the colony. He then referred to the question of Education and the manner in ; which; Jlhe Provincial Government of ■ Auckland had endeavored to crush the present Act. Another reason was that Provincialism was simply a smaller form of Centralism. They found that the champions of Provincialism were those who were at head, quarters—there: was more money spent in the centres and less in the out districts.. He referred to the persons composing/ the minority in the division—those whose very existence was ' found in Provincial Institutions. In conclusion he,said they must stand together andsbe ready fqjf the occasion; J \* ;. Mr. Otto moved an amendment, to the effect that no reference be mada to the South Island. He wished to see Provincialism dead and buried—not to wait [ for ji hearse; but he would make no re- ; Ference to-the South, or they might again! meet with opposition from that quarter. I He attributed Auckland's present position' to the policyfpf they Provincial fGovern-; bent. He referred to the bachelor tax in. the Education Act, which was dis- • graceful,,as,also were most Pi the actions' :>f the Provincial Government—they had builtup Queen-street, and -had. starved the^set^lers.oif the put districts to.do that;, they' were not'capable :of'managinghalf-a-i Ipzen, bobbies,;, and f tb.e-. ipp_ner they were: swept away the soone*' should we obtain justice, and get rid of a useles incumbrance.!; In .regard to ; anything th-at| might have been said about the resolutions/passed, he. maintained that> Mr. Vogel was a good general: .he had got Prqyincialiim by the wool and would pull it doWh. . f •*' ' "•■' ;■,■..:;■.■; ■.;,'.". :.;■;■/» i. Mr. Charles Rcwl,ey,ejcpressed a<,'do.ubt i as to the j genuineness of Mt% ■) Vpgel's • resolutions. He (Mr. Kow^.ey) had known i Julius' Vogel (laughter) years aga when that gentleman was an ardent supporter of Provincialism. ;.? f ;■;'',s? r/f '':.l':\'::: i Mr. Speight here•'.mo,ved ..that this meeting ' agrees, with the l principle of abolishing Provinciaiisriiji but deprecates that aboliti6rtapjplying to thfe North Island; only. Mr. .Speight spoke in support of his motion^ and expressed doubt of Mr.: Vogel's honesty of purpose. The pro-, ppsalswere rib't'brought' forward from conscientious mbtives, but because, Mr.; Vogel having inaugurated the / Public; !Works scheme, which waf likely to prove a failure, thoughttbpatcb-up his work with; the Auckland land fund, seeing the pros- ■ pect of the native difficulty, being settled-. He agreed with the principle of abolition. Of. Provincialism, but tfould strike at the; root of thei matter,' and make its application general,. V/In 1870 Mr. Vogel's idea appeared t.d?havevbeen that Provincialism; was the very acme of perfection as a form of Governnient-fhpw had fie/«hanged his opinion so suddenly. It struck him; that Mr{ Kqwe hadchangedi his: Opinion no less suddenly; but they all knew Mr. Übwe, and -could• ißelieVe Mm ; they did; not know Mr. Vogel, however. He' designated the supportors of Mr. Vogel'sj resolution ; -as? - consistent Government; hacks—Mr. O'Neill" was one, who had 1 stuck to the Government through thick and thin, though God only knew why he, had done so; ■ S:y •-■;;"• *\ ■ ' :MrV; Adam Porter seconded Mr. Speight'smotion in a brief address. \ *v ; Mr. (Rb#e>JJhen made some further re-^ marks in reply to what Mr. Speight ha* said. Mr. Vogel was undoubtedly a pro-; vincialist at pije tim| '$ "but Ihe sawvthaf; thettime"had. arrived whW such a form of Government was no longer necessary— that i|fc would in fact be an expensive incumbrancc; and he deserved credit for his efforts; in endeavoring to do away with them. There was not, at tlie time ,pf Provincial Governmeptsi being formed, a cPmmu'nity^like the Thames in the colony. Mr. Speight had' Remarked: that he (Mr. Eowe) bad bettn" a provincialisf. So he had; but he had not held those views fo* three years past, and, had announced the alteration in, his .sentiment in the Mecharifls' Jnstitiita j^^Auckland. The present epndjition of the ppupjtry presented strpiig- 'reasons i#r '-Gonsohaationj and the^'-hat! no right' .tp blame. Mr, Vogel because (price a Proymclstlist); he now was impressed with thei^imiperatri-e Hecesity of chtßge/'iis^o tha lv«xisd ; queition of

commencing with the North Island Provinces he would remark that Mr. Vogel could not attempt to accomplish the task at once. If Mr. Speight .was pulling down a house, he would not attempt to pull it down all at once, lest he became buried in the ruins ; no, he would first commence with some of the raftersMr. Vogel has struck a blow at one of the rafrers, and it had given way—the completion of the work would follow. The Chairman put the amendment and '-resolution, the original resolution Being carried by a large majority. Mr.Hollis moved:—"/Thatthis meeting is "of opinion that an equitable"and well-devised scheme for the re-adjust-ment of the representation- should be^ passed by the Assembly .before any^ appeal be made- to the constituencies x>a \ the question of abolishing the provinces."! He made some remarks in advance o£ in-i creased representation, and thought thepresent time a favorable opportunity. ; Mr., Bagnall seconded Mr. Hollis' re-; solution. Mr. 0 tto came forward with an amendment —" He would reduce the scale of, representation all over the colony." The amendment' was riot seconded, and'^the Mayor having put the proposal to the; meeting it was carried unanimously. , Mr. Macnab proposed'and Mr^Brodie seconded, ',' That copies of resplutipns one end two''be'forwarded tothe Premier and the Speakers of both Houses by the Chairman." The meeting was then brought to a close by a vote of thanks to the Chairman.