POLITICAL.

West Coast Times, Issue 579, 2 August 1867, Page 5

POLITICAL.

The General Assembly ,or Parliament of the colony, has been some weeks in session, but according to practice immemorial it has refrained thus far from dealing with measures of practical legislation, and consumed its time in long debates upon questions of general and party politics. In his opening speech on the '9th ult., his Excellency, Sir George Grey, commenced by expressing his satisfaction at the pleasure he had experienced on his late visit to the West Canterbury Goldfields in marking their rapid progress. He congratulated the Assembly on the establishment of peace in the North Island, and announced that the accounts between the General and the Colonial Governments would be enquired into, and correspondence connected with the subject laid on the table. His Excellency promised explanations with reference to the administration of the Goldfields in Otago, a subject to which we shall have to advert more at length in another place — and announced the following measures as those intended to be introduced, by his Government during the Session :—lst.: — Ist. A Bill to consolidate all provincial debentures into colonial stock, with the two-fold view of more effectually controlling the borrowing powers of the Provinces, and of giving a higher character and value to all New Zealand debentures. 2. A Bill for extending colonial credit to enterprises calculated to foster the important industries of the Goldfields. 3. A measure for the establishment of local self-government throughout the country ; and, 4th. A Bill to confer additional representation on the Goldfields. An announcement was also made by his Excellency that a commission would be appointed to report upon an important subject which has for a considerable time occupied public attention — the provision of a general penal establishment for the colony.

The nature of the Municipal Bill has since been disclosed, and it amounts in substance to a provision for the creation of counties or shires, and the aggregation of these in some cases ; the Shire Councils being entrusted with the funds raised by local rates and public granta subsidising them. The Bill to increase the representation, proposes to give two additional members to the West Coa9t, and as a counterpoise (sub■equently introduced to avert defeat) two e?tra members to the province of Auckland.

The reference made by his Excellency to the administration of the Goldfields of Otago, alluded to some important movements that have lately taken place in that part of the Colony. It may be necessary to premise, for the information of our more distant readers, that the Governor as the representative of the Queen exercises administrative control over the Goldfields — a power, the exercise of which, however, is regulated by an Act passed in the year 1866, amending previous Acts, and called the Goldfields Act. Under its provisions the Governor is authorised to delegate these powers, and as a matter of convenience, the practice has hitherto obtained of delegating them to the Superintendents of provinces. In the case of Otago, a Superintendent was lately elected by a very large majority, who had on a previous occasion held the same office, but had been removed by the General Government in the exercise of powers held by it in consequence of very serious financial irregularities. In the course of time this gentleman, Mr James Macandrew, emerged from his retirement, and again began to take part in the public 'affairs of the province. He was elected a member of the Provincial Council. Subsequently his name was inserted in a Bill that had been passed in blank by the House up to a certain stage, for the appointment of a provincial agent in England ; but the Speaker, the Hon. Major Richardson, declared that rather than consent to put the motion to the House he would resign. The objectionable name and the Bill itself were withdrawn. By this time Mr Macandrew had been returned as a member of the General Assembly, and shortly afterwards, a vacancy having' occurred in the Superintendence of the Province, he was, as we' have said, elected by an overwhelming majority. The Governor had the

power of vetoing the election, ' but refrained from exercising it, anticipating that the result of a fresh election would be the return of the same gentleman — probably in that case unopposed. His Excellency declined however to investthe new Superintendent with the delegated powers, and the Government sent down an " agent " to Otago to take the ad- - •' - "oldfields out of the ministration ot tuw - hands of the Provincial Government. Great excitement and discontent resulted. The local Executive at once took possession of the offices of the Goldfields Department, and in some inSteuces held them by force ; and the Council passed a short Bill authorising a plebiscitum to be taken by vote of the whole male population, the question submitted being, whether they wished the administration of the goldfields to be under the General or the Local Government. This was the first time that any step so savoring of revolution as a direct appeal to a popular vote through other channels fhan those provided by the Constitution, has been resorted to in any of the Australasian colonies. The issue of the vote was an all but unanimous declaration in favor of the Provincial Administration.

Of course under these circumstances the meeting of the Assembly was looked forward to with great interest. Ministers had to justify the unusual course they had adopted of withholding the delegated powers from a Superintendent popularly elected ; the Provincial Government had to justify the defiant attitude they had assumed; and the circumstances lent a new interest to the question which just now holds a foremost place in the public attention, viz., that of Centralism and Provincialism.

The subject was opened in the House of Representatives on an early day of the session, by Mr Yogel, the Provincial Treasurer of Otago, who proposed the following resolution :—": — " That, in the opinion of this House, the authority under the Goldfields Act should be delegated to the Superintendents of the Provinces within which the goldfields are respectively situated." The resolution was met by an amendment by the Government to insert the words " excei^t under extraordinary circumstances." The character and tone of the debate which followed were thus clearly defined at the outset. The general principle contended for by the opposition was accepted by the Government, but the allusion to extraordinary circumstances made the whole question hinge upon the antecedents and personal character of Mr Macandrew. The discussi6n was of course animated and of necessity painful, as it raked up old scandals** which had better have been allowed to rest. The attack made upon the Superintendent of Otago was divested of all tenderness or desire to cloak over awkward facts. " Ministers based their whole case upon the impossibility of his Excellency's delegating powers he held on behalf of the Queen to a gentleman against whom facts of of such a nature stood established. Mr Macandrew' s own defence was exceedingly weak and spiritless. He appears from the reports of his speech, to nave felt that he had no substantial reply to the accusations, and contented himself with asserting that his errors were indiscretions, not crimes ; that they had been condoned by the people of Otago, as shown in the magnificent majority which had returned him: and that he was persecuted by men out of his own province. The division gave a majority to the Government of four votes, the numbers being 28 against 24. This result, we believe, was in great measure due to the promise by Mr Stafford, the Premier, to introduce a Bill authorising the delegation of powers for the future to be made to the Superintendents and Executive Councils of the provinces, instead of to the Superintendents only. This will effect an important alteration in the present system.

The struggle between the centralising tendencies of the present Government, backed by a large party in the Assembly, and that equally large party who see m strengthening provincial institutions the best guarantees of free local administration, threatens to be fought fiercely during the present session. Hitherto, except in the case of Mr Vogel's motion, which had special features in influencing individual votes on either side, the contending forces have only been skirmishing, but the preparations for a closer conflict are rapidly making. In our next summary we shall probably have an important chapter of the story to tell.

Of much more immediate practical interest to us than the more general politics that concern the Assembly, are those of a purely local character, connected with the administration of the affairs of the province. In our last summary, published on the Ist July, we were enabled to give a report of the opening proceedings of the Provincial Council, and the speech of his Honor the Superintendent on that occasion. The reply to the speech was moved by Mr Bright, one of the members for Hokitika, and seconded by Mr Hillyard, member for Seadown. A brief debate took place on the occasion, but the address as proposed was carried without opposition. One of the points to which attention was called' by the mover was the very scant reference made in the speech to the affairs of Westland, which he thought should have had much greater prominent given to them. He made allowances, however, for the fact that a Westland Commission and a Conference of Mining Delegates had been appointed during the recess, and assumed that his Honor felt precluded from entering at length into the subjects on ■which they were to report. Shortly following the presentation of the address, came the Financial State-

ment 3 of the Provincial Treasurer in submitting the Estimates of Receipts and Expenditure to the House. The explanations made on this occasion of the fiscal policy of thTe Government took every, section of *he Council by surprise, and none more so than the members for Westland, who were astounded by a deliberate proposal to violate all the engagements that had been entered into ""> Government Avith this district, b Vr "i »; j" T ' i: " ns that and to place it under concur — would have left it destitute of almost half of its natural resources, and a mere tributary to East Canterbury. To explain the position in which the representatives of this district suddenly found themselves when this plaD was unfolded, it will be necessary to state the nature of the arrangements that have hitherto subsisted*

West Canterbury being a proclaimed goldfield, and participating in no benefit derived from the large loans effected by the other side of the province ; its own separate revenues Have, under the regulations of the Goldfields Act, been devoted to its own local requirements On the occasion of the first official visit to the district of his Honor the Superintendent, he proclaimed it as the fixed polic}' of his Executive to let Westland enjoy all its own. Nothing could be more emphatic thau the declaration made by him, which was perfectly spontaneous, and unsolicited that not one farthing of Westland's proper revenues should be diverted from its own uses. It was this declaration that satisfied the people,and inspired that feeling of strong reliauce upon the Stewart administration, which, by the aid of our members, carried them during the Session preceding the last •through all the storms of opposition. It must be mentioned in connection with this subject that whilst no portion whatever of the large sums raised on loan by the Province, and on the security of the whole of the lauds of the Province, has been expended in the prosecution of public works on this side, a sum of money has been spent out of the Provincial chest in the construction of a costly and comparatively useless road, through Alpine passes, to connect Christchurch with the West Coast 3 . This road was made for the benefit of the sheep and cattle breeders of East Canterbury. It was never asked for ; it was throughout constantly protested against as a mere selfish piece of policy. Westland has never derived a scintilla of advantage from it beyond a somewhat cheaper and more regular meat supply than if she had depended entirely on imported stock. But the lion's share of the advantage of this road has belonged to the Eastlauders, who were saved in the midst of just some such crisis as has overtaken them now, from impending ruin by the market opened up for their meat by the discovery of the Westland Goldfields, and the consequent settlement in the district of a great population. Out of the cost of this road has arisen the question of " debt " as due from the West to the East side of the Province. The Government have been obliged to overdraw their account" at the bank to the extent of some ninety or a hundred thousand pounds, and it has served the purpose of the Eastland members to assume or affirm that this over- draft represents the amount due on the part of this district to the other side on account of- the road. Of the merits of this long disputed question of debt we need not say much. With the exception of cattle and sheep, no merchandise whatever — not even Mr Moorhouse's hypothetical "case of jewelry" — has ever been brought from Christchurch to supply our markets, which look to Victoria, New South Wales, and Tas mania, as their natural sources. The Westland members, however, were always ready to admit that there might be some advances to be recouped, and during three sessions of Council, they have never ceased from demanding an adjustment of acoounts on equitable grounds, and protesting in the name of their constituents, their readiness to assent to any fair proposition for the liquidation of the balance proved to be dve — if any.

After this statement, the Ministerial policy, as announced by Mr Stewart, the Secretary and Treasurer, may be intelligible. Mr Stewart began with a very promising opening. It was nonsense he said to go on perpetually talkof "a debt," due from one side of the Province to the other. The province was one, etc. He proposed, therefore, to wipe out the word debt from the financial vocabulary. But to do this, it was necessary to throw all the accounts into one ; to have no distinctions either of revenues or of liabilities; and to make the natural revenue of Westland and of Eastland, equally responsible for the whole loan liabilities of the province. Mr Stewart did not stop here. He said the Government had discovered that they had been guilty of a very grave malversation of funds in permitting the whole of the Wesiland Estimates to be locally expended. The Gold duties collected in Westland, were territorial revenue, as derived from royalties on Crown lands, and there was an Act requiring two-fifths of the territorial revenue to be taken and carried to account of the Railway and Harbor Fund, Avhich, in the case of Christchurch, means an Eastland fund exclusively. Thus, we propose, said Mr Stewart, to do a generous thing by Westland, " letting by-gones be bygones," and never mentioning the word " debt " again ; and then we intend to exact from the district some L 26,000 a year, which is about the amount of the two-fifths 'of the territorial revenue which we had hitherto forgotten that.it was our duty to lay hold of. Such was the substance of the financial statement as far as it related to this side of the province, and at its conclusion i»en

looked at each other with amzement, as if some trick was attempted to be played on them which they could not at the moment understand. The Hon. John Hall (the Postmaster-General of the colony), was the first to hint a doubt as to the legality of the course which Ministers proposed to pursue in connection with the appropriation of two-fifths of the territorial revenue of the goldfields. Mr Bright proposed the adjournment of the debate, and on the folio win"- Tuesday opened the :ir ussion W the West land point of view. .He compia^ °* the House having been taken by surprise — no indication of the policy of the Government having been afforded by the Estimates laid on the table; enlarged upon the legal objections which had been suggested by Mr Hall, and clearly proved by- citation from Acts of the Assembly, that the goldfields revenue was to be applied in the first j instance to meet the full requirements ' of the district in point of administration and public works, the surplus, if any, alone constituting " territorial revenue.'' to be dealt with under the two-fifths clause. He protested against the farce | of the proposed remission of the debt upon terms that would involve a contribution by the district of three times the amount of the debt, if the whole of the sum were acknowledged, within less than ten years. He admitted that the amalgamation of the accounts and the establishment of a general provincial treasury chest might be convenient, but if the House adopted that view he dial- j lenged them to give logical effect to it by affording Westland a representation in the Council in proportion to its com- J parative population, wealth, and revenue returns. He admitted the partnership liability of Westland for its share of the provincial liabilities, but contended that that share should* 6e adjusted not on a basis of acre,^|R, but according to the amount of the public loans that had been expended on public works within the district. Mr Bright concluded by avowing his conviction that a separation of the Province was not necessary, if only the House would manifest a disposition to deal fairly with the interests of the Western portion of the Province ; but warned the Council and the Government that the financial arrangements proposed would cause a feeling of deep dissatisfaction and resentment on this side. Mr Barff, one of the members for the district, adopted the same tone. He asserted that no debt had been proved, and complained that the repeated challenges to hav.e the question adjusted had not been responded to. He endorsed the arguments that had been used to show the illegality of the course the Government propospd to pursue, and assuming that j the " territorial" revenue to be manipulated by the Provincial authorities, would consist only of the surplus left after the necessary goldfields expenses had been met, maintained that the actual revenue raised, large as it was, would not be more than might be legitimately expended in the district. Mr Barff complained that the Commission that had sat during the recess had not dealt with the question' of the adjustment of the debt, because they consisted chiefly of Westland men who could not be impartial ai'bitrers ; but the fulfilment of the promise so frequently made by the Government had been implicitly relied on, viz., that steps should be taken to secure a satisfactory settlement of accounts. He complained also of the failure of the Government to fulfil their promise of appointing a responsible Goldfields Secretary, for which office no provision had been made in the estimates. Mr Whall, the member for Greymouth, followed in the same strain. Resolutions proposed by Mr Ormsby, an Eastland member, in favor of keeping the accounts of the two sides separate, and of definitely ascertaining the amount of 'the liability resting on Westland — were adopted, ministers — who opposed them — not asking a division. The former resolution has been given effect to. The latter the Government declined to act upon, and the matter rests there — the fact, however, being assumed for the first time, that this district is indebted as we have said to the full extent of the Bank over- draft.

It was at the conclusion of this discussion, at a very late hour, that Mr Hoos, a Goldlields member, submitted a resolution to the effect that— "ln the opinion of this House the administration of the affairs of Westland be entrusted to a responsible officer, such officer being a member of the Executive Council." The consideration' of the motion was postponed, owing to its grave importance, until the following day, when it was expected to be adequately discussed. But, by what can scarcely be otherwise characterised than a discreditable political manoeuvre, the motion was hastily put from the chair, and declared lost. A division was called for, which resulted in the defeat of the Westhuid members by a large majority, the Government voting against them? It will hardly be credited that an incident so calculated to arouse n feeling of deep resentment and indignation on this side of the province, was in the course of a few days afterwards followed by the announcement that the Government had determined to appoint a Goldfields Secretary, and that the appointment had been conferred on Mr James Bonar, the present Mayor of Hokitika ! What, however, had been asked for was the appoiutment of a " responsible" Westland Minister — a gentleman who, as holding a political office should have a seat in the Provincial Council, and the member designated does not hold such a seat, nor is he likely according to present appearances to obtain one. We are thus placed in a most anomalous position. No one understands what the arrangement made

by the Government means or of what effect it is. In this particular the political position is one of perfcpt chaos. From the turn things took during the later period of the session, however, this matter of the appointment of a Goldfields Secretary to replace the Commissioner has ceased to possess the importance which was once attached to it. The majority in the Provincial Council have lost no opportunity of showing theirresentment at what appeared to be a concession to the political demands of Westland ; and the attitude of hostility they onV? assuraed is so pronounced and unmistakeabie at P ublic opinion has rapidly arrived at the conclusion that it is not a political secretary we want now, but a much more radical change in the situation. A very few illustrations of the hostility to which we refer will suffice to show its intensity. The revenue of the West Coast having been ascertained to be equal to a certain proposed expenditure, the House, nevertheless, without argument, cut down the Estimates, ruthlessly reducing the item of L 30,000 set down for roads and tracks by one-half, and other items of the same class in proportion. The instant prosecution of these works is of thd most imperative importance to the development and advancement of the district, as a country whose i-esourccs have to be made accessible before they can be realised. So fixed was the determination not to alloAv an adequate sum to bfe expended on these works that the House refused even to restore the amount on the Supplementary Estimates, with the condition attached " provided the revenue prove sufficient to cover such expenditure." They thus cut from beneath,! their own feet the ground on which the original opposition to the vote was based — viz., the apprehension that the estimated revenue was excessive. The real cause of these systematic reductions was the determination, if possible, to create a surplus of revenue over expenditure, out of which two-fifths might be appropriated to Eastland purposes. The- charge upon the Westland Estimates of the whole of the interest on the overdraft, is another sign of the temper of the House. And an indication not less significant was afforded by the resolution arrived at, in spite of the earnest remonstrances of • the members for the district, to disallow to the miner and the mining prospect or all right of entry upon purchased lands, without previous | bargain made with the holder. The Government proposal was, to reserve the right of entry for a fixed term of years, on conditions that should indemnify the holder for damaae. So fntal was the vote of the House on this question to our staple industry felt" to be, that on the adverse motion being carried, the whole of the Westland members felt it thpir duty to retire in a body from the Council Chamber.

It is needless to recapitulate the whole story, On the conclusion of the session, the Superintendent, in his speech proroguing the Council said : — " Some particulars of policy pursued by the Council towards the western side of the Province have been a source of discontent, resulting in a demand on the part of a considerable section of its inhabitants for separation.

" I have intimated to you my personal dissent from the policy of the resolutions on the sale of lands upon the Westland goldfields."

It will not be a matter of surprise that under the whole of the circumstances we have recited, the feeling of dissatisfaction existing here has at length culminated in a strong and determined cry for SEPARATION, and the erection of the district of Westland into an independent Province. A Separation League has been formed, and at a meeting held on Monday evening last the four members of Council at present in town — Messrs Bright and Cassius (Hokitika), and Messrs Barff and Hoos (Westland district), were present by invitation to I express their views on the crisis. The result was the adoption of a resolution to proceed at once with energetic measures to procure a severance of the political tie that at present renders Westland a mere appendage to East Canterbury, although in truth the most populous, wealthy, and prosperous half of it. The officers of the League are Mr S. M. South, barrister, president ; Mr William Shaw, , vice-president , Mr T. Munro, treasurer ; and the following committee : — Messrs Barff, Bright, Cassius, Hoos, and Whall, M.P.C.s; R. Reeves, J. R. Anderson, T. Robinson, E. Prosser, Shep^ard, Ord, and M'Beath. A petition is in course of preparation by a sub-committee, which is intended to present the case of the district, with a view of inducing the General Assembly to pass an Act. This movement originated in a great meeting held some time ago at the Prince of Wales Opera House, at which the League was formed, including amongst its members our most influential citizens. But the adoption ot more active measures was suspended until the session had closed and its full results were known, and until the return of the representatives of the district from Christchurch. These gentlemen, on meeting the League, told effectively the story of the treatment the district had received at the hands of the Council, and united in warning the people against indulging in any vain hope of redress so long as the present political arrangements remain unchanged. Wo trust that by the date of publication of our noxt summary we shall be abl^ to state that a petition, signed by many thousands of citizens, has been forwarded to Wellington for presentation.

The Provincial Council stands adjourned until the 19th September next.