WANGANUI.

Wellington Independent, Volume XV, Issue 1398, 17 January 1860, Page 3

WANGANUI.

(From the Wdnganui Chronicle, \2th J~anwtxy'.s &EPABATrON..'.';'-.-"4"i The Public Meeting held at the "Theatre ott Thursday last was numerously and respefctebly 1 •attended. Th.os. Powell, Esq., was unanimoHislvl •called to the chair. ' • ' '■'• I ^ 1 • •'••• •-«'>■ The meeting wa^ addressed by 'Mr.' -Jo%# <sibson, formerly one of th't ftfeinbers' in ; tife Provincial Council for this dUtrict,' v whd U 4^' be remeraberetl took the- lead. bn aprevifeus-" : oc ' cassion son#six rS3hths ago-; ; wheri ; the Se'pl?T*r- ' tion queslliihwaMiicussed^ 'The'surAtkiW 1 of • of Mr. Gibsoif^afrgumejt was; that the cfiMtifiu-' ance of tbe political struggle in Wellington and the ' existeAtei 1 of tbe'id«adifeick.''4).e^eelP3't4VeLegislative, an*-' Executive GoverqineH^,a toii ? dered it expedieiiethaVvWangauui BhoiiKl«ttf6Kl out for itseMv.stfttfttak'e s'teps^d avolri beii^gißad^ ''■ rificed in the : confliet bf i: coi>teniaing ;: 'p'a'ftle3^ The time was come for Separation 7 , arid 1 b?e and the other parries, aetiugwitlrfeiitt- had' tfco'iight' it desirable, toicall their felloW Settlers ttitfettterto discuss .the questiou, audfif desira'ble.kto" take steps to- cany it out?-'- It was he-siiiU-a mere matter ol pounds^ Shillings and -peweej 1 and he came prepared to show the.meetipg : &baf > ! Wangauuiwas quite able to go alone. H -fe M^ milted that, -on a previbus oce'dsibfi; fee '«htf*' come befors the public 'quite unprepar«\l f ! btft ? ' on this he had ; taken cate to arm himself wjr-h---authoritiesjand would smother His opponeirts'wich ■ statistics. -,-Php actual revenue accruing4n'->#a-nganui duv'infe the last year had been as ftyHowi:' — Customsr£37B6, of which the Piovince-Wpttld ba entitled to three-eights; or £1420; Ldnd> Sales, £2300; Rents; fees, pilotage, and other ' incidentals, about £450; making together a total of about £4164. This might see.n small, but there should be added about £3COO for duties paid iv Wellington for goods consumed in Wan ; ganui, and a probable increase of Laud SalesW ! £20,000 or £30,000 a year. This he calculaied would arise from the Waitotara, where there were between 30,000 aud 40,000 acres, and other lands already purchased, about 150,000 acres altogether. Besides which,. it was certain that t hat if they accepted the boon of the New Pro

vinces Act, and got on friendly terms with the General Government, the latter. wouJd soon buy for them all the Waste Lands in the district now in the hands of the Nacives. Tho General Government would not buy an acre for Wullingtou,.for that would be putting" money in 'tho coffers of an enemy ; but if Wan -ran ui sepaiatjedj^on^Wellington, she would .be rewarded by "the purchase of her Waste L-iTrrisV" Well then -with such. a revenue, they - wou-ld-.-soon restore getteral prosperity^ money' would- civc«!a,te, all • watttd'Ue.well off, and every -one jco.i) tented. The expenses of Government need nat loemuch. ■'They would find men at W.ujganni who. would ■work .for little. .He proposed the following "scifciefrr-riSupevintendeut, ? '£.200--, Clerk and r Treasurer, £li>0;- Lawyers £2.66 ; .Pciyrnent to < M-emboi-s of QaunqH, ,£ \OQ ; Printing, ' £ 1 00 ; Fewies/ifii so i Surveys; £-700 \ Pilot establisli"oaent, £280j Police, £33P.;. Gaol, £126. Con'ttogejveie;** £5130.; altQgetkeivamounti.ng (as we AJuderslbodAJr.. Gibson- to^jxvj |cuibbVit .£'3oßo, :'whadh ,\Vi)uldi leave n.fius soirpl^of £26,000 or jaGSftjCfDO: to,- spend oil puhJic-vyov^s and ether -iHiprovefnents^ , After some : . oth'-qr.' ..general' re•.Ußarksi Miv Gibson. saitilve.sljauJdVeserve -him■- ■ self fjiritUe veply, >vbqi\ he- cautioned his lipp o- ' neatsi-h«iAvp\ifdj.ishow them .no . mc/ey." .'Mr. K3rHwim.ponciusd.ed-. by. moving: tlie~J!bl.fowing," vre-•.'fiohrtion-jrH.■.!■.... .. „,.'.'.'. '-.."<„ '.' 1 . '. ' n'Pj '*'TA»iit ,we, ijcin^ eleciot's pf. £$'■'" are .. thji^Se"'-'' /^airati-aB-frpinJ VVejliu gion Ui"e^e,nf|iiP (/ ()t|Vi ; n : s.tc*est3fjajiti,-w^ti;esoivc, thnt , a V^i^n'^'iillrbe 'fomyardcd'-lo) 'bis Excellency. cyJUaii)ii),g tl)o ' iVe^c^%u^f' altegivtiousy affd' ■ i'Bqtiesiitiw 1 |^a,t jsiifjh ?f S^pJtMi6rr"'bes Sbrthw.itU' g-*tntied,;if^nij s ijLi&t' a iibaifnhe'6 he oppointedfor the.pi*ipo.se.,of 'ihg^life-iiimeltoilie duly prepared.";. ••'.'!',- Tra-iford seconded the resolution.. ,,'.'.. ' ;' Mjv'H B. lloberts spoke m favour, o.^tjie^ j?esd}u6tbi>'f'refe;rriiig to the.presens.state^fipyliti- : "cai'fiSeH^g at|W-elUngton, h6cnnsiie;r.<.>a : .it».was, 'trsef|iss ia eXfjeat any. assktanoe ,itpiß |.h^ JPxi- ■, '■vih&aJ'Gouutltt-as at .pvesent;--«i>iwti,Ui i ted, .'anil '• ttfat/l'he election of these, districts '"of .W.auga.uui ' j|ti"dj. 'ilungitikei. into a. separate. •PVpyjnce %a^ ; W6AvimperaUve.-to the interestsa'fUhe'Blec'\6¥s? :■■'• ■•■■'•!-. ••. • './..'• '".". ! ' ' ' i; ••A^r. ''J.Bioughtan, in risjng.', -to^up.potr.t .the . -'t&y&hilion, stfUed that, at the prevunis meeting: ';he : h'.ld-', supported the adjouriimcir. of this queo''tido -'fd'^' six ;inonths, oo+}sideri«g' .thilt IVt .was thaL;iu the iiitfriiii :rmoi4 : tiiv'oiim!)lo. •slrfte'bf things might arise, and tts- u zealous supporter of the Featherston ati'iiumstiatiiuiij : n6i wishing to abandon U»e catise.tfeiyn^.as he, ■cbuTd'Sea the slightWstprobiibHrdyiyjftlieii- being•'ivWleW -carry; on- affairs'irflni'.'toiwbtQua: jmstfoe for ; Wttngahiui ;| but that, as the refusal' of the G.)-rmwo'i>>W-dissolvo'the.'t;ou'*ncT^had the ■effect of 'ctffatiii'iiingthe dead-lock, audits our friends had ••thv-ieiajrer. tlje.power toserve us, nor we them, lie ; sholuld give' -his support to tne movement ! 'in' favour of; separation. \\ '":'■' '■ -Mr; G. Roberts next addressed the meeting ; ■•be'olvserved> that being one of those, who had ■ttre : teraetity tosign-the requisition calling the meeting, hejfel£it inoumbentupoa him to say a few- words i)\ .support of it ;-he.wauld liave-liked td-liaSre;heajrd what the oppositian had to, say, asfraihall jie bad "beard hitherto, the conviction t»ii hi^miud was •u'nishak&n'iHHl: -there- remained- ' Hi)" alteration ='but (ha't; - af s'ispfti'artioii jb.e begged•'tt^observe And bo disttadlf:u lideratood that, he r sto«ftl- second" to nbn'e in that Jneethig as regar.'l . 'e^ hiiestefiii of-'OlVirfßift^erstoTa and his Go-vv-emritflnt; but we-' have- Stood: by:; our Quptain f UUd gtiij) whilst tlfere.was.a chance. - ofdutr .keeping her" tfftjat j she. owaa. now . wa ter -,. • tagg&d, and he would ask what could we now do^hless question had b.eenforc-'ed-uporr-ji^a^xhtt^/uffly -tiring -tWat threw a djim^uppii bur.arfdour was, tlje knowledge that :: We- Ot&fe pla^rrlg,irito ; ihe. hands;; of the Hiidical party;; ' Sadi'jSihiiijr h^jj . 1 s:i id abo u.t n o t •tu-rnfiVg biijr'.bac^VMß'S&'yie'. Superint'entlent, but heaskeof; jvlij/p'^ Jjac'.ed £nd lcept him tliere but'lhg-ElficWilpt \Va\igaiiiii, and they had rrothirigtoj rep^oacb,-'tliein'selV'es'' with — we were" tod far removed fi-oih flic Seaj'bf Mfj and were ih;facti the ftffloW ftb-jie ; Uefe'>yere other rea- : ' sab's" why we sbouiit" separate,, and" not the least "of them was,-^that vye' were entirely u'ti'kiiowu in tb6 '-commercial ....World- .' Wiuiganui had no Ynore sig;nificunfineaniiig than aAVaikanae ur Otakii :J oe had no cWuibt but that 'a great de;il ■would 1 be said about the Loan "a ltd the part we h'ad-to pay, but that .rested; With the "General Governnient,and they knowing our" resources and our revenue would never tax us beyond our ■ability- tQ pay-^-he concluded by observing that .if they did uot'avaii the.nselves .of the present •^oppoituhity; when th-e General Assembly met sthfe-Sio&r- would be closed against them,' as it .was already; -determined to rescind if possible the-NeWrProviiiQes Act;' ' • : ■-■ ; Mp.Fox/inrepljj-'cdiigraful'ateti'AJrVGibsrtri'- 1 on" r tb« pains- he had 'taken iir getting up his case, aiid .was' glad' to Bnd that he' had giV tMs" oy.oasion appreciated the responsibility be had taken; ■upon hiins'elf in calfiijg tbo public f6ge•tb;ep;;and bad not come as be did, oh a previous •ofefeision, altogether unprepared to discus's the : Itfowy however, Ire lii'id Brbuglit for:' t\va"rd an array of fabts aud ligirres i'-'bU'sed" upoq : -^nd every liwreliable. alttharity, <affdundfertookto- smother 1 Ins opponents : with ' ■;staUsties-T-a res Hilt not unlikely to acefde'ftoni 'tbe dust he endeavoured fo- throw. in the eVes of brishearei-s: •Hisboasted'staittstics, as hevvdiild •show,'of two S<) : rts— l'st : a ; few items restirig' on .ih^uukloubted-aiUhority of -offiejal record^ b.iit -:w4ii«iUvaropunted to so. graall a sum as would iit>t - j usdfy the alteriipt ;to ■' crfeate yVlxhganuj. a separate province • aird2nd,ag6 > od irfiartyi-ltems festing'bti the vague authority bf -•tl^e'^uesseaof customr h/oiise clerks, ! br oil the ••sn#fttfi»s6ie prqpheci.es^bf Afrf- Gjbson himself. v«He^il-3t class-he found Wo fairlt iVith^the estji uasft'of aptital- : customs -veVeiiue, Actual iauct :sdie%:>acti|al fiiies aud fofes. J&Ut pMt 'did thej^ «moant-lo' ?^iiof nioi'gthk^ would -^covter the ibare.exipefases of-a very ecotidtnicalghverhme'rit,' vprjividin^uothing for those' public wltfks- ahd otheo.doings which ,w«re it> restore' the prosperity of Wanganui. •■ The supplies ■ for ; these purposes were to be obtained by the guises' 'of ,a:custom bouse officer, or from imrfgiriary land sales' of districts iti which' the nsVlive title' was ' aotjyet extinguished ! Mr. Fox then Vffbt f at j isonie length into the- history of the General : Government purchases of native lands; she-wing' ■that .the. Government, Was merely trifling with the matter, and that the completion of the^piir--chase of even the Wait'dtara block might-yet be fobxyed. for -many montbs, while Mr. McLean jaws hauging ou to the- Governor's skirts, and philandering after him in the middle island. M the revenue of tbefuture province was to dci ' pendou purchases elfected by the General Go- : verument, or guesses of collectors of cnstoms r or piophetic visions of Mr. Gibson, we Mcid" b&tter be careful how we built upon such a foiin •> dUtiou..: Then,- as^.to Mr. Gibson's estimate of expenditure, he (Mr. F.) was satisfied that it^ ,wa»' ridiculously low. He talked of a Superintendent at £200 a year. Why, at Auckland ■tueygu-ve £800; at Wellington, £600; at Ahuriri'£6oo; at Nelson £400 or £501); and we were to expect that at Wangatmi the work . would be done for £200 ! This was the cry Uiev: got up. at Alnmri when they weut for «epa-

: ratiou. They were to begoverned for £ 1000 a year b / a Superintendent without a salary, who would not, for the life of him, touch a penny of public money; but he had scarcely got elected than he contrived to got his Council to give him £800 a year, an 1 a bonus uf £200 of back salary for some tin-lie mouths, (luring which his patriotism had made a parade of Vouking for nothing. j. Ahnostev.ery one of Mr. Gibson's items showed a similar false estimate. For instance, the Surrey .department/ s '' Mr: G. had omitted to obse.rvet'jhitt the iiew'J Province must have a' . Landloihce {& weUasV'SurVey office, and •» •Lind CiVnVnnssioneiV arid' a Receiver of Land Revenue, appointed by General Government, . but paid out'of the 'Land' 'fund of the Province. 1 So also,. he allowed no; 'increase of expense for' ' the survey of all those blocks of land by' the sale of which he was to raise his revenue, nor for the books, stationery, maps, and other necessaries of the new establishment. So also in the Police^lie had calculated as if it embraced only -the ¥ to\VH of Wang-aiuii',' allowing 1 nothing for Turakin'a,Waitotara, Itaugidki, or Manawatu, and altogether omitting tlve item ofprosecudous, the share of the Distf-iot -Judge's salary, the Resident Magistrate, clerks, and- interpreters. 'And one still move im'poffaht'item Mr. G. altogether slurred over— tlfat : was? the share of the loan, with which Wurig"#fffiP \wald undouhte.llv " : -be saddled. Tnjo';'h'e' ! had'ra'ad» some trivia! allusion to it, as : 'iPa -fed?' pounds- would discharge their sharp o'ftfite iiiEei'e.sl; but he forgot to observe,' "that f f Whig^.nuf^oyk .nearly all the ava.i)u>Uy;\Vaits_ Pints' rt^itfrrting, • that was at least one. third o"f,..th<£ s^yfifay .pledged to "the 'English creditor, ajuV.it wjs'p'rqlktbre that the Genera.l Assembly wouldja'ddlc.u?' with at least one third of the deb.t. This give us about £2500 a year interest .to 'pay, which Mr. Gibson carefully kept in the dark, & .which he would find to. be no. vague guess of a custom house officer, or visionary .dream of His' own, but a solid reality, to be paid by the. Pro'y.iiicc, or deducted hy ..the .General Government from our customs, tevenue every month. Mi . Mr. Fox then gave his estimate of the provable cost of governing ■ WfV^'l'J.i on the most economical scale, showing that it w.mld cost at once at least £1000 a .'year more' than. Mr.' 'Gibson's estimate, and as far as any actual prospect of revenue existed leave "little or "nothing to execute all those public works, and do' all those other things which were to rireale'sueh wonderful prosperity, -Mr. F. then argued at length the following -pjjrnts,.but which our li nited space prevents our *°P*>y!i9g move fully. Th -t while we sought to get.ryltffthe Walcejli'eld Itoivdyism, which had so damaged the 'Province of Wellington, we . wer,e. about to unite ourselves to that 'Gertdffy Government which'was the partisan and ally of the Wellington Rowdies. That we were plavinsr the game of the Rjwdy party, who were afraid of the influence (if Wanganui at the next elections, and .wished to get rid of it on that account.. That we were playing the gam.? of the General. Government, which wished to • weaken Wellington, to destroy the power of , the Provincial Governments, to jeduce them to, dependencies of its own, and on that account lately refused a dissolution, and insolently gi,ven .the He to 1590 .electors of the province. .Ttiat so far from ■becoming more independent of .distan,t government, we. should by -sepayaUon become the: servants o.f the remote General ,Gu>--vermnent^ just ys Hawke's IJay had/ The Su-, periiitendentran't his. Council .there, feeling- that, politically speaking, they owed their daily bread to the Stafford. Ministry;. wt;re-eating i.heir pie in the nust lyumblp man.uer, regardless of what its contents might be. Only the othei : ; day they .igoi ...qrdeVs :to discard the ' Wouga Wongi' steamer, ai.id give, three times the subsidy to the .^C'Jle'man line," to which the General Govern-"" ihent had granted a shameful monopoly ; and the Supeiintemdent of Hawke's Bay had' to doas he w.is told,, and his .Council. .. voted hint £1500 to do it with. He (Mr. F.) did not wish to see VVanganiri reduced -to^eat dirt, hi this way, or to sacrifice that character- for political: inde-> pendeTice which ,i.t ; had earned: for. itself, atiil well. deserved, iThat.if theyiaceepted of imagi- ; nary independence under the New Provinces' Act, Uiey sacrificed the brightest gem of the constitution— the right of electing, theit Own. Supeiiutendeut, which, no longer belonged to them, but to the Council. And it might happen to them, as had happened at Hawke's Bay, that a man who did not dare to -appear before the public as a. candidate for the office, might, by his own vote iv Council,: bring on a deadlock', between other candidates, and then, with mock humility, and pretences of self sacrifice, get the office for himself with protests "that he Would take no salaiy, that he could only hold tfie 5 Office for three months," and sq forth;' and then, when oncd snug iv the berth, he "might*get ft f confirmed, to him with. -a salary of £&00 i( k yJj'ifVahd a. bonus of a few hundreds more, ; witliUut even asking the consent of the people. Thai there are only two ways of goveruing;'Nq\v'Zealand.. One, by means of large, weak ' thy, and powerful provinces, endowed with orU giual powers of legislation, carrying out to the full the 'principle of local self government, and' acting in unison with afrieudly General Government, which should confine itself to federal 'functions.- The other, by means of municipal or v {)ar6cnial bodies, small in dimensions, limited .• in income, feeble in power, the creatures and dependents of' a remote General Government, Whiclr arrogates to itself; the. bulk of the re-, venues and all the powers of. original legisla-i tion— leaving the, count jes, townships, or parishes to their local rates and their byelaws. For. his part; if the former system .(which;, was that which" the Constitution intended) could aot be. carried out, he \yould ,prefer t .:the latter, rather, than th,at}bastard and nondescript middle course. which' 1 tliis Proyincfs Act ljad created,, •Eatftly^There waif every h .chanpe that.the next 'Session of the General' Asseihbjy would seethj§ "act repealed, '6'r at "least, greatly modified. : -Whethey the Piovirices already, created would, be restored to tlibse from \vlii^h .they we're. •tak«n of course hecould not prophecy; but it was -certain that in the case of any one. like Watiganui, just in the actof 'Separation hs it would.be, there woiilil be' n'q' scruple .'about re-annexing it. They would then. lose nothing by' waiting." If the' act were repealed, they were better as' they, were— if it were, no^, .they : Could 'then 'demand. Separation, and wotiid be better prepared to undertake its responsibilities. ' ■'- Mr. Watt followed' Mr. Fox by stating, thaji •from the able manner in which the previous speakers had gone' into the mafter he did not expect to be able to throw much additional light \ipim it ; byt as none pf theni had attended to; 1 theac't itself, he' would venture to detain tuem :-a little bj explaining his views of it ; he held'a -<jopy;of the Act iv his hand, and he did not ' ? thi r nk' that anything could have been more cunh singly devised to thiovv dust in people's eyes, ; ; and denude them of their political' liberly;, 'ii'\ •■ the meeting was prepared to accept such asham 1 — a mere shadow for the substance, he could not. be. a party to it; for in supporting Dr. Feaiherston's Government he had done so from the vyidh to secure to the Electors the largest possible amount of political liberty, and the .management of their own affairs ; but were he

now to support this proposition and adopt an Act which destroyed the people's rights to elect their chief executive officer, by handing it over to a Council, he should be stultifying himself and repudiating all his former professions of independence; lie had heard of nothing fro;n llie promoters of this question to induce him to support M$ X*-<bsqn's resolution.; He would, move the ; ~follo\vi.'ig Amendment: — '

■ " R»3Qj,ved ; -tl^t . the advocates for Separation hay^MLe^.^ liijik.e put their case to the satisfao-.tlOjO-pf iftis nieiting- that, the calculations of tlie probable iTsyeJmie art? altogether too' vague to be relied uppiiVkad'ibhe estimate of the Expenditure is altbgether'tbo low. That until the Wajte. Lands, which arc .to constitute the wealth of the. Jiew-Provtrfcey wad-, actually purchased by the General (Sdvevjimeut, any such step as Separation is altogst&r • premature, and its consideration hereby, pos&u&jfisd." .Tlie- AjuiHHfrn put was seconded by Mr. J. Richards. iv .a 'brief speech which was however, not audibtavn, the. gallery. ■ ; iVl.r.W.ifS. in speaking in favour of the original -..resolution, drew attention to the cbnstiUitipn.of tlie Provincial Council, shewing that whejdoas I''^ members were returned for the town- of- Wellington, 5 for the Halt, and 5 for the <Couutry.. districts, making a total of 22 in a-U j; 4,_ f .tm!y .w.ive sent frnni Wauganui, and. • thjij, the. requirements of all those ■ dis"-trietS;,-fight. u;> lo ' Mahaw.itii would bo attendgf|;>,o. before Wanganni , and' tliii't co;)-^ sidere4iWjnmere'iiilly', we "might aS well' form part (»f^h i g.,P.iv'viij.ce"of Nelson. ;iis Welli'ngio'iY..' 1 ; . Ati\ :tl.ien .replied on the general] a rgif- 1 ri'lentr— after .whuili the amendment', was ..put Vo thc"i'fieiliiV^'HH.»l declared to be duly' Ciii;i;i'eir.', Mr. (iid.si)iKs resolution was supseq lently flegartived. "'"•"■• i- ..