New Zealand Tablet. Fiat Justitia. FRIDAY, MARCH 24, 1876. THE PREMIER'S SPEECH AT WANGANUI.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume III, Issue 151, 24 March 1876, Page 10

New Zealand Tablet. Fiat Justitia. FRIDAY, MARCH 24, 1876. THE PREMIER'S SPEECH AT WANGANUI.

There are people blind enough not to see what Abolition really means. After all that has been said on the subject during the last twelve months, these are aa great innocents as they were in the beginning. Even the speech recently delivered at Wanganui is not for them an eye-opener. They are to be pitied, unless, indeed, they .are playing a part, pretending one thing whilst really working for auottier. From the moment the Abolition Bill made its first appearance, our estimate of it has been that it meant and means a crushing Centralism, and the absorption of the entire Land Fund by the Ceutral Government. The speech of the Head of the Government at Wanganui confirms us in this opinion. The Premier tells the Colony that Abolition is emphatically a financial question, and in answer to a question put after the speech had beeu concluded, he stated the Government had not decided to impose any additional taxation, and further, tha: he did not think any such taxation would be necessary. Where, then, is the money to come from which is to pufc •an end to tile financial question involved in Abolition, and to balance the debtor and credit sides of colonial finance ? Where ? From the land, and from no other source. But it will be said the Abolition Bill enacts the localisation of the Land Fund, and both the former and present

ministry have pledged themselves that this shall be the case. With all due deference, however, to the confiding colonists who say this, our answer is a very simple one, and it is that such is not the fact. Sir Julius Vogel was very careful in his Wanganui speech to be outspoken and clear on this point. He promises localities the residue of the Land Fund, and the Abolition Bill goes no further. The residue observe ! And what will the residue be 1 As much as it will suit the convenience and interest of the Minister of the day to allow. Some, however, will answer, is not the law clear upon the point, and does not this prevent the interference of the Minister. Not at all. Here is a case in point. At present the law on railways directs that each Province shall be liable for interest on the moneys expended on these roads within the Province, and that the revenue over and above working expenses, interest, and sinking fund, shall go the credit of the Province. But does this law stand in the least in the way of the Minister. Read the Wanganui speech, the reader will find the answer there. The Premier proposes that this arrangement shall be upset, and that, in effect, the solvent Provinces shall build and work railways for the insolvent. In a colonial point of view this may be wise and states manlike, and even necessary. We do not discuss this ques tion ; but here is a great fact at once startling and suggestive. The Premier also told his audience at Wanganui that main lines of railway should be completed, and with the aid of as little borrowed money as possible. In fact, he said equiv.tlei.tly that the Colony had reached the limits of its borrowing power at present. Well then, if the railways are to be finished so as to put all the Provinces in each island in communication with each other, where is the necessary money to come from 1 If there is to be no additional taxation, no more borrowing for a long-time, where, we ask again, is the money to come from 1 There are twelve million acres of Crown Lands and more in the two southern Provinces, besides a considerable annual income from land ; see here the source, and only source, from which the money can come. The proceeds of the southern lauds, in defiance of the compact of 1856, will he swept away to build railways in the North, — Abolition Acts and other Acts notwithstanding. These Acts may remain unrepealed for a session or so, but beyond that they are not worth a straw. Sir Julius Vogel is just the politician to -nanipulate the affair iv the most candid manner possible under the circumstances. The capitation grant, the proposed railway revenue legislation, and similar political and financial schemes prove his resources and capacity. In our mind nothing is clearer than that Otago and Canterbury, if they permit Abolition to become an accomplished fact, may bid adieu to their land fund, or even to any considerable share of it.