The Clutha Leader. THURSDAY, AUGUST 19, 1875.

Clutha Leader, Volume II, Issue 58, 19 August 1875, Page 4

The Clutha Leader. THURSDAY, AUGUST 19, 1875.

Nothing in the shape of legislation by* tfhe New Zealand Parliament has apV proached in daring to the mam,}er in which it is proposed to legislate for the abolition of ; the provinces. That abolition is a virtual abrogation of the of this colony, and that abrogation is contemplated wi thout asking the people's wish in the matter. This deserves to be characterised as high-handed tyranny, and can be- regarded only as revolutionary. In thecause followed by the Government and ; their supporters in Parliament in thp matter of the abolition of tbe provinces' by their.. proposed bill, they manifestly forget tbeir true- position. Instead of recognising themselves as stewards or trustees, empowered to carry out theconstitution by adopting such means as will fulfil the ends of tbat. constitution, they assume to themselves power to I alter the constitution in one of its vital elements, and that, without having obtained the consent of the people, in whose room and on whose behalf it has been committed to them, at once to maintain and give practical effect to the constitution. The const|^i'tioh is the . people's heritage ; it is tneir property, and none but the people have right to say where ' and how far the constitution may be altered or remodelled. We question whelher thb British Parliament can in any way interfere with the cojJ^itution granted to this or any other coflliy without the concurrence of those who have settled in the colony and made its constitution their own. To them it belongs as much as the British constitution of Queen, Lords, and Commons belongs to the inhabitants of Britain. Now, fancy, an expiring House of Commons, under the inspiration of Her Majesty's Ministers, agreeing to a bill, receiving the concurrence of the House of Lords, but without waiting to ask tbe consent of the different constituencies of Britain, to the effect that the Government of Britain be henceforth a Republic, and no longer a Limited Monarchy, Such a stretch of power would be felt to be a monstrous usurpation of power, and an unwarrantable interference with the rights of the people, with whom it must ever rest to determine under what form of Government they shall live. No British statesman would «ver dream of leading his majority in Parliament to make any such change without going to the ccuntry, and giving it the opportunity of saying through thie members elected by it, with the proposed change before them as the specified - tf election cry," T^fkher it was in favor or not of the proposed change. But what no British Premier and no British House of Commons would haye the hardihood to do, the puny states:men and parliamentary representatives of New Zealand, with a nominee House I of Peers at their back, have resolved to do, and that in the face of the most urgent. appeal to take the mind of the country .on a violation of the constitutional government of New Zealand — a •thing as great as the abolition of Royalty and the introduction of Republicanism in Great Britain. ,We maintain that the course followed by the present Government and their followers is wholly ultra vires, and inconsistent with therights of the citizens; Had the question pf abolition been before the country at last election, then it would have been competent for tbe General Assembly to have dealt with the question of retaining or abolishing the provinces according to the votes ot the representatives sent to parliament tp deal with the question. Such nop having^ been: the case, and no opportunity having been afforded in thp constitutional way to the public to givfr their consent to abolition,- it is . hot competent for the present .representatives to 'determine uthat: provinces shall cease to exist, — .Their ..existence is a* much.an, element, of, r tHe^nstitutiqn as the existence of the Gfeheral Assembly jitsplf, _and pan 7*<v more have thejr e^istence teraumPSl by a vote of th»

'» r^' ■■"■ - L - '^ wgg^ l g =g!= r tleneral Assembly, without that : termination being submitted to pnblic opinion, than could the General AsBembly be thus brought to an end, and made to cease to exist - It is no reply to this to say that the question of the abolition of the provinces has ■ been before the public, and they have had the opportunity of saying nay by petition. Constitutionally the question has not been before them ; nay, the question bas not been before them at aU. For the proposal that was made was not the abolition of all the provinces, as is now contemplated, but only the abolition of those of the North Island. But even had the Governoaent limited their bill to this their original proposal, the change in the constitution would have been so great that they were bound to take the mind of the public by the only constitutional way that can be ascertained — viz., by a new election of a House of Representatives specially to deal with such an alteration in the existing constitution of the country. We regard view of the matter as of great importance. . This abolition legislation is an inroad upon the rights trad liberties, of the people, and if Go- ! vernment, aided by a moribund House of Representatives, backed by a nominee Upper House, the majority of •whose members have no sympathy with the body of colonists, be permitted to exercise such a lordship over us, it will 'become the precedent of acts of tyranny and of usurped power in other directions, that may as materially affect pnblic rights and liberties. We protest against a Parliament on its last legs undertaking to say what the Constitution of New Zealand shall in future be. We -claim it as a righ trior the people, j that the proposed change in that Constitution be relegated to the electors, I «nd that they have the right untaken irom them to say by the representatives chosen by them, to deal with this question, and to say, as speaking the wishes of the constituencies, whether or not provinces shall be abolished. If the people approve of abolition, let it take place; if they disapprove, their representatives will be in a position to say so, and so maintain them in accordance with the Constitution. Obsla principio is an adage v«ry applicable at present to the people of New Zealand. Let them allow a parliament, chosen not to •deal with so important a matter assume tp itself the power to deal with and •settle whether the provincial system, provided for by the Constitution shall end, and whereunto shall this grow. Parliament, instead of being what it ought to be, representative of the pjople, will become the people's lord and master — collating the people unworthy to be consulted, and claiming to do with their rights and liberties as may serve the «nds of their own ambitious tyranny. If Parliament shall pass the Abolition Bill, then must an appeal be made to Her Majesty to withhold her consent from it as illegal and •unconstitutional. We are of opinion that Sir George Grey and the members of the Opposition should table a protest against the Bill being allowed to go beyond a second reading, against it •going into Committee, and should intimate their intention not to appear in the House if it be attempted to prosecute the Bill further than its second reading, and to do so on the ground that to pass it without having constitutionally obtained the concurrence of the electors, is a breach of that constitutional government under which we .are placed, and which recognises the people as the source of all power and authority. We fear there is something behind the scenes, something that has not come to light, for which, or because of which, the Government shew such shameful haste in getting the Abolition Bill passed. Delay may lead to its disclosure, and to secure that delay let the House of Representative be virtually disrupted, and the residuum will not dare to proceed with their tyrannical denial to the people of their right to say whether they agree or not to the proposed alteration in the Constitution of New Zealand.

We publish in another column an interesting and valuable letter addressed to our Wellington contemporary, the ** New Zealand Times/ dealing with the financial condition of the colony, and proposing remedies to meet that condition. To a large degree we concur in the suggestions of the writer. With his views on provincial, abolition we entirely disagree, believing as we do, despite the apparent liberality of the Abolition Bill, that the proposal to abolish the provinces, proceeds solely from the wish of the General Government to have in their own hands the manipulation of provincial revenues, to Increase their influence, and to further general governmeut purposes. Thus the General Government find they cannot carry on to the extent to which the line of publiG works they have entered upon requires them, with the revenue at their present disposal. They do not want to incur the opprobrium of initiating a sjstem of direct taxation, either by a land and house tax, or by an income tax. and to add to the indirect taxation at present imposed they l^now to be impossible. To help themselves, they annex the provinces to themselves, and bring their revenue under their own control. This is the real object of the abolition of the provinces. The bill to secure tbis makes a show of expending the land fund of the provinces

within the provinces and for piovincial purposes. But we know how soon the original liberal capitation grant in lieu of the three eighths of the customs revenue formerly apportioned to the provinces, dwindled down in the very second year of the capitation grant system to the miserable dole given since the first year of the system. It will be found that exigencies have suddenly arisen that will require the General Government to change the two £ for one £, which the Bill proposes, when it will be necessary that the Road Boards and Shires, having lost the money assured to them by the abolition of provinces, must have recourse to taxation to thefull extentof raising what the two to one system would have given them, and which the necessities of districts demand. General Government requirements are ever becoming greater. How great they are at present may be learned from the fact of the four million loan being required at present in full, clearly indicating that its expenditure has been forestalled by present undertakings^ — undertakings incomplete in themselves, and demanding for their proving beneficial to the public to be linked on toothers yet in nubibus. Funds for this must be had. What more easy than to bring the land fund and other sources of provincial revenue under the regulation and management and disposal of the General Government. For a year we can conceive ! the wily Yogel saying, " we can please the outlying districts with the hope of getting L 2 for Ll, and that hope we shall gratify for the first year; after that | we can take another tack, diminish the j scale of grant, and by-an-i-by withdraw ' all grants together, leaving those to help themselves as best they can. It is ticklish ground for us to take to impose a land tax or an income tax. To do so would endanger our place and power. We could not carry with us the biff-wigs of the Council in this direction. We can abolish the provinces, appropriate their revenues, and let the people tax themselves." This we believe will be the upshot of provincial abolition,- and abolition will stand in the way of most of the suggestions being followed, which the letter of our correspondent makes. If the provinces had been left untouched to do the works for which they were originated, we would have seen no difficulty in the way of many of those suggestions, especially the re-construction of the Upper House, and the imposition of a land tax, the only way whereby your Clarkes and Logans of large land properties can be made to share the burdens of the state equally with the smaller land owners. In fact as it appears to us, the abolition of provinces, giving funds at the command of the General Government, relieves that Government of the necessity to have recourse to such a tax ; but in doing so increases tbe burdens that must fall upon the settled agricultural districts of the colony.

During next Parliament the leases of the pastoral lands of the province will expire. Should the abolition measures now before Parliament pass into law, the future arrangements regarding these lands will fall to be made by the General Government. The Provincial Government has all along* done battle to secure liberal land laws, and the opening up of the waste lands of the Crown for occupation by bona fide settlers. The General Government and the General Legislature have uniformly throw every possible obstacle in the way to prevent these objects being* accomplished, and to favor the pastoral leases and speculators. If they have the uncontrolled sway with our lands, they will speedily be handed over to speculators in large blocks, at nominal prices. Tho value of such land will be immensely enhanced by the railways and other public works now in progress, the cost of which will be borne by the public at large, and not by the purchasers of the land. Should any afterwards desire land for settlement, they will have to procure it at second hand, and at any figure the caprice of the speculator may dictaie. The liberal reserves made by the proprovinciai authorities for education, athenaeums, public trusts, municipalities. &c, will also all become subject to the manipulation of the squatters' friends in Wellington, and those interested, in these matters will have an idea of what they may expect — the reserves will be sold for what they will fetch to provide revenue for the General Government At present the pastoral tenants and speculators have the control of the Upper House, and it is said they have already entered into a combination to secure the return of their nominees at next general election. They are thus early in the field, and it is said the sinews of war have been liberally subscribed. It is therefore time the champions of the people and progress were coming to the front.

Notwithstanding the great amount of time and money that was last year expended over the subject of the colonisation of Polynesia, and the establishment of State Forests, the Government have taken no steps whatever regarding those since the Assembly was prorogued. The sum of L 7500 was set aside for the purpose of establishing State Forests, but notwithstanding the extraordinary importance Sir Julius and his colleagues attached to the subject, ministers have not thought it worth while even to bring the Act into operation. 'Regarding the subject of pro-

moting commercial intercourse witb or acquiring dominion of Polynesia, which Sir Julius considered even of greater importance to the country than the great public works and immigration schemes, ministers have not only done nothing, but according to the frank confession of the Minister of Native affairs, they have given no further consideration to the matter. This is honest speaking and we trust Sir Donald will see the propriety of inculcating the exercise of the same virtue upon his colleagues and followers. Both Maori and Pakeha would then have more confidence in them. Last year the assertion was often made, that Yogel was the Government and the Government Yogel. This was of course denied, but the present candid confession of Sir Donald now places the matter beyond doubt.

It is gratifying to know that notwithstanding the great constitutional questions now occupying attention in the Assembly, some of the members are not forgetful of the comparatively small want? of local districts. Mr Thomson is working hard to get the matter of the Waitepeka railway deviation settled .according to the wishes of the Waitepeka and Puerua settlers. He has got the question referred to the Public Works Committee, and will no doubt see that the matter is fully explained to the members of that Committee. He will also nave an opportunity of addressing the House upon the subject when the report is brought up. Mr Donald Reid is pushing forward the Kaitangata Railway and Coal Company Bill. Should he succeed, the Company should invite him to a dinner at Murphy's hotel, and make him a present of the first truck load of coals conveyed over the line. Mr Murray is moving for a general measure to facilitate the construction of railways by local or private enterprise. This is what is required, and it may prove beneficial to his Tokomairiro constituents, should they ever be able to agree amongst themselves as to the best route for that gigantic enterprise — <- " The down-the-river railway!"