The Star. FRIDAY, JUNE 18, 1869.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 342, 18 June 1869, Page 2

The Star. FRIDAY, JUNE 18, 1869.

By the arriral of our files from the North this morning, we are placed in possession of what we may consider a fair outline of Mr Stafford's speech in reply to Mr !Fox. It is not necessary that we should review the whole of it, more especially as we find, in one portion, a declaration which throws all the rest of the speech into the shade. Mr Stafford is speaking about the South refusing to agree to a further loan for war purposes, and he makes use of the following words : — " He had read assertions in the Sou- " thorn papers that the South Island " would not pay one shilling more for " the North Island. Tke South Island " would hare to pay it, whether they " liked it or not ; or they would have " to take over the whole of the liabili- " ties of the colony. If this native " difficulty were settled, in a few years " the North Island would be the " richest part of the colony ; and this " Bbould be considered by the South " Island. Moreover, aa a matter of "justice, the South Island w*s bound "to stand by the North ; sine? the " magnificent landed estate of the " South Island, which had already " produced as much as the whole of the " debt now hanging over the country, " had been freely presented to the " South by the North Island. The " South Island could not button its " pockets so long as any of that estate " remained, and say it would not pay " anything towards repressing out- " breaks in the North Island. They " must either have a common obliga- " tion or a revision of the arrangement "of 1856." These are Mr Stafford's words, and we ask the public to think well over them. It is clear, we think, that the Government, in accordance with views always held and several times expressed by Mr Fitzherbert, consider the Middle Island land fund liable for expenditure which it may be necessary to incur in the prosecution of war. They know well enough what we have all along pointed out — that there is nothing else left on which to " raise the wind," and now they come boldly forward and say so. Mr Stafford lays.in the words which we have italicised above, that our land fund was " freely presented " to us by the North. This is simply untrue. We hold our \ land fund by what is known as the compact of 1856. That compact was entered into with the full consent of the North Island representatives in the General Assembly, on tJie condition that the Middle Island undertook all liability on certain loans, amounting to £200,000. "We are' paying now a certain sum annually on that account. It follows, therefore^ that our landed estate was not " freely, presented " to us by the North. It may be said that we made a very good bargain, that we got the landed estate we now possess at a ridiculously small price. That may be very true, and it may also be true that the North Island has found this out. But, if A purchases an article for £100, and it afterwards turns out to be worth an immense deal more, is that a sufficient reason for B, who was a consenting party to the bargain, insisting on a revision of the terms ? The case of the Middle Island land fund is precisely the same. When. the Southern members of Assembly, in 1856, undertook all the responsibility of a debt on condition that the land was handed over positively to the Middle Island provinces, it is probable that they knew well enough what they were about. But the North cannot turn round and say — We were forced into the bargain. They had a majority in the Assembly in those days, and it is clear, therefore, that the bargain was a voluntary one. The fact is, the North' Island people had been so accustomed to make ducks and drakes of their own land, had squandered it so terribly, that they vastly undervalued the waste lands of the Middle. lsland. . But they entered into the compact with their eyes open ; they ratified it by a solemn Act of the General Assembly; and now, when the last push has to be made, when there is nothing else on which to '• fly kites," they cry out for a revision of the bargain.

Mr Stafford forgets, apparently, or conveniently ignores, the fact that of the whole sum spent by the colony on war, the Middle Island has contributed, or made itself liable for, seven-tenths. That is, we pay £7 out of every £10 spent on war in the North Island, The North Island, on the other hand, is called on to pay only £3 out of the £10, and all the money is spent there, which is a very important matter indeed, as those men know who have waxed fat on the spoils made out of the commissariat, and in other ways. The money we contribute is as much lost to us as if we pitched it into the sea. The money contributed by the North Island, less than half what we pay, is kept in the North Island and spent there. It is exactly as if the Legislature said — Now then, you North Island people, keep the ball rolling ; the game you are playing is a splendid one for you ; you pay £3 into the Treasury, and the Treasury gives you bach £10, which is all spent among you for your own benefit. That is the exact state of affairs. It does Beem extraordinary that the paople of the Middle Island should have stood this so long and so patiently. Will they continue to do so? ■