The Akaroa Mail. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 2, Issue 142, 27 November 1877, Page 2

The Akaroa Mail. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27.

The proceedings of Parliament during the past week hare been more than usually interesting. If we except one or two disorderly scenes, and a little episode, in which , Mr Ormond was again the delinquent, no great amount of time has been wasted, and, as a consequence, a large amount of business has been got through. The House is quietly settling down to work ; Ministers are apparently safe for the session. The Financial Statement was evidently their trump card, and it has been played with very considerable skill. The proposal to generalise the Land Fund, that is, to treat the Land Revenue as colonial revenue, is a bait which was most taking, and secured the votes of many waverers. The idea of the impecunious Provinces being able to rifle the rich hoard of Canterbury, which is powerless to resist, was a temptation too great to b& withstood, and, accordingly, a majority of the House saw "the justice of robbing the bee" and appropriating the honey. In this they were assisted by the treachery of one or two Canterbury members. " Honest Farmer Fisher " —we beg pardon, the Honorable Mr Fisher, Post-master-General—who a short time previous had emphatically declared that he would loudly raise his voice against any attempt to despoil Canterbury of her land fund, sat mute and motionless, nay, more, acted with those who planned the attack. There is now no doubt that the Land Fund of Canterbury is irretrievably gone. Henceforth, instead of being expended in the districts where it was raised, other parts of the colony will get the lion's share, whilst Canterbury will have to be content with the small portion awarded to her. Verily, the Mont-gomery-cum-Maude Provincial Government were wise in their generation when, instead of hoarding up the money in the Provincial client, they expended large sums in promoting education, in public buildings, and other useful public works, and, if their successors in office had been guided by the same far-seeing spirit, Canterbury would not now have had to regret the loss of some £300,000 or £400,000, which, in a few days, will be utterly gone from her, and, indeed, this system of drainage will be continued so long as a single acre of waste lr;nd within the Province will realise money.

Many who were aghast at this loss of the land fund, aye exclaiming " See the consequences of Abolition !" Those who thus act are accustomed only to skim over the surface of matters, or they would see that the real cause lies much deeper than Abolition ; in fact, that Abolition itself was only another eliect produced by the same cause. The moment it was determined to borrow millions in order to carry out the Public Works and Immigration policy, that moment the death-knell of the Provinces was sounded, and that seed sown which, in its growth, is now absorbing the land fund to sustain its vitality. How could it be otherwise? The demands of the public creditor must be met, his security is over the whole colony, and if parts of that colony are insolvent, the richer portions have not only to pay their own, but the money due by their poor brethren. There is only this or repudiation to adopt, and such a dishonorable course as. the latter never prevails amongst Englishmen. The truth is that the Public Works and Immigration policy, was no sooner proposed than it was rushed into headlong ; the money was easily borrowed, large sums were expended broadcast over the country, for a, time all went " merry as a marriage bell," no thought being given to the future. But the day of reckoning has arrived, those Provinces which have absolutely squandered away their estates, and have. not wherewithal to pay, are jubilant at the thought that Canterbury, careful and rich Canterbury, will have to " pay tiie piper." In other words, the Provinces we have alluded to have received ail the benefits of Public Works and Immigration at Canterbury's expense. Is conduct such as this just, equitable, and honourable ? We opine not. . ' '

Wβ understand that it is., the intention of the Akaroa and Wainui Road Board to expend a no inconsiderable share of the funds at their disposal in re-forming, and otherwise improving, such, portions of the various roads to the Bays' districts as lie within their road district, and it is to be hoped that the cither Road Boards will take up the work at the point where their boundary terminates, so as to make an uniform, and complete, alteration for the better in the communication with these outlying parts of the Peninsula. As we have previously, on more than one occasion, stated, these districts have of late years developed, from mere settlements, into places of rapidly increasing importance, both in the number of their inhabitants, and in a commercial point of view, and as such have now strong and reasonable claims on the expenditure of a large share of the public monies in assisting to open up a better mode of inland intercourse with the metropolis and the chief port of the Province, as well as with the port of the Peninsula, and in furthering their commercial transactions. It is true that in summer time when the roads are good, fair travelling can be made with a good horse, but, we think, it is time that increased facilities should be given to the inhabitants of the Bays for the transport of goods, material, &c, overland, than the somewhat precarious, and decidedly limited, means provided by pack-horses. If the work to be done on these roads is well done, and the money judiciously laid out, there exists no obstacle to dray traffic to the more important of the Bays. The results of such communication would be invaluable, not only to these districts themselves, but to the whole Peninsula, and even, perhaps, beyond it. That it could be made the means of an enlarged interchange of trade between Akaroa and the Bays cannot be doubted for an instant, as it would ensure a speedier, safer, and more certain delivery than the present fluctuating intercourse by water. That the Akaroa and Wainui Road Board will do their part of the work thoroughly, and in the best interests .of the ratepayers, we have every reason to believe, and we trust that the other Boards will take up their respective shares in the same spirit, so that their combined efforts may terminate in success, and bo productive of that benefit which we venture to predict must accrue from such works.