PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2609, 28 June 1871, Page 2

PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

Yesterday. The Provincial Council yesterday affernoo. commenced business by some few question relating principally to local matters. The principal interest centred on a motion b\ Mr Sumpter, who wished to have an expression of opinion on a proposal to construe! a railway between Oamaru and Waireka, or a General Government guarantee of interesi of six per cent. Mr Reil expressed the opinion that every encouragement should b given to the construction of branch lines, which should be looked upon in the light of roads, and if they did not pay working expenses, power should be given to the Govern ment to levy an assessment on the distric for maintenance and interest. Mr Hutche son objected to the proposal professedly on principle, but we either failed to catch hu argument, or more probably there was m argument to catch. The Provincial Secre tary proposed an amendment, that the cos', of the railway on which a guarantee of six per cent should be guaranteed, should not exceed L 2,500 per mile, provided that power bo given to levy an assessment or assessments on tlu district for the purpose of payment of interest. Mr Thomson was not prepared tc support the motion until further information was given. He wished to know if it was a ham fde affair or merely a casual conversa tion Dr Webster objected to disclosing thi names of the contractors before obtainim leave to construct the branch Hues of railwa proposed. He supported the amendment oi the Provincial Secretary, with the exception of limiting the cost to L 2,500, instead ol L 3,000. On being asked if he objected ti the limited amount remaining, L 3,.000, instead of L 2,500, the Provincial Secretary did net object, and the motion passed on thi voices. Dr. Webster moved for a selec committee to inquire into necessary amendments in the Fencing Ordinance. The motion was carried. On the motion of Mi Lunisden, it was resolved that tbe Houst Committee take into consideration the altera tions necessary to render the members an dihle. We did not hear anyone sugges what might be fairly urged, that it mattered very little to the public, and was much bette. for the members themselves that all they uttered was not heard. This would have been a common-sense view, but the question wv> remitted to the Committee. Mr Shepherd, in proposing that a certain piece of land at Queenstown should not be sold, condemned the House for voting merely as the Government dictated. Against this he protested. On the House being moved into Committee ol Supply, Mr R. B. (Jargili said bo o nsidered before calling upon the Government to give pome further information as to the filling-up tbe vacancies in first page of the estimatesthe members of the Government without portfolios, and the Count il, had a right tp bi placed in possession of the Land Bill, on which so much of the future hinged. It was a long time since the Government carried their position by something like a rush. He could not toll why the Fimncia Statement had been so long delayed. He thought it might have been laid before the Council some time since. Ir view of the financial imbarrassments of tlu Province, he felt surprised at the haste dis played by the Government to get the votepassed so immediately after the estimatewere laid before the House, aud had it no; been for Mr Duneau, further progress would have been made last evening. He did noi doubt the estimates -represented preity nearly the true financial position. Ther were some items, such for instance LSO.OOp expected from the sale of land- -he did noi see how, in view of the policy of the Govern ment, it could be derived from that source, and on the other side ho considered the amount of inevitable disbursements was uud r tated. For instance there was L 15.000 compensation for lands. Unless something was bplpnd that he knew nothing of, th" amount would be double that sqm. Taking , off the sums that must bo paid for interest and fixed charges, there was only abom LGO,OOO which could be appropriated by tlu Council, and as the Province was already much more deeply indebted to its bankerthan is allowed by law, it was evident its financial position was by no means a com for table one, The speakers last night said little as to how tbe Province was to f be ex tricated, a 1 though there was some warning given lest the General Government should take our laud from us. There were als some not very graceful remarks relative t" the additional burdens of Southland. It was of some importance to know who was responsible for this ftate of .aff.drs. Probably thr Government, as it now stood, would svy they wgre qot ( but something had been said abftut Mr Reid's tail.; He did not know whether b& really had me or no but if so, it might extend to the side of the House on which he (Mr Cargill) sat. What really required to be known was how far thi present Executive endorsed the action by which the Province had been brought into its ffifficult position, or how far the head of the Government bad promised to alter his tactics to something more reasonable. It was said no other Government had a chance of being supported by the Council than tbe one hfvrtiioh Air Reid was the head; and that being the ease, the Council had a right to further disclosures than had been vouchsafed t» it so as to avoid breaking up of parties. Thehon. member at the head of the Government had conducted matters with much prudence, and there was reason to suppose the assertion he made to be true, that he had gftjqgd a good deal of information by his trip up the country, But there were three prominent questions before the country :—Public works in connection with the General Government, the alteration of the laud laws, and placing the finance of the Province in a satisfactory condition. Of the first, although it was made a great point at the electi -n, nothing more need be said. The honorable member had eaten the leek, and turned'over ft USW leaf with great- ad vantagi to himself. He had even gone to greater lengths than he (Mr Cargill) should have felt inclined to go without groat eonsidera-

bon. member bad shewn som„ .adroitpess|in shifting the burden on to thj! dand mgs,*and moving that no Govemmenj the confidence of the Counci unlesa they advocated the repeal of the Hundreds Regulation Act. The question of finance; closely followed the land policy, for if the Province was to be relieved from its 'present position, it must be through means ■ if its land revenue. Seeing, then, such to he the position of the Province, and that hree of the members of the Government would be absent in fulfilment of their duties ;n Wellington, the only remaining member was Mr Cutten. He had great confidence in that gentleman, but yet it was unsatisfactory to the Council to be kept in ignorance if the names of those who were, to he assorted with him, and therefore the names of the non-official members ought to be given. After Mr Cargill sat down, there appeared a disposition on the part of the Government to allow business to proceed without replying to him. Mr W. H. Reynolds then rose, and said he considered it the duty of the Government to reply po the question, although from the smilei on the fice of his colleague the member for Dun'edin.Mr Duncan,. He for one seemed to desire no information. He cautioned the Council -against going into the fistimates’ until the names of members of the Government were fdyen u and the Land Bill ought tivbe brought'down in order that Hon, members might leom whether they would be justified in voting for the Estimates or not, The Provincial' Secretary considered the louse had had the fullest information given m every subject put to the Government. The Provincial Treasurer had put the position of the Province as fully before the House as he could. . His position was not ■ u be coveted. He deprecated any Government carrying on its work by any other in aus than perfect candour. The Government, having the utmost confidence in the House, fully explained its intentions in regard to any matter in which the House was interested, and therefore he might at once say they had not decided with regard to the ,'entlemen who were to occupy : those seats. (Mr Reynolds : You have a right to do.) He (Mr Reid) recognised the night, and before the business of the session was concluded, it would be the duty of the Government to name them. It w as not the inteutii n of the Government to-fill up.- the vacancies until it was seen whether or not the Council approved of their views. Thehon. .member had been rather sarcastic bn the delay of bringing down the Estimates. He (Mr Reid) was not aware they had been delated, tnd he considered th absence of novelties a recommendation, and a conservative course preferable. The Provincial Treasurer’s statement might haye been by, but he considered it quite intelligible and business like. Kp matter whether the mm available wns large or small, it would ■ot be diverted from the purposes voted by be Council. It was insinuated that he (Mr Reid) was responsible for the unsatisfactory mancial position of the Province. He most nphatically repudiated such a statement, aid challenged him to show in what degree t was attributable to his action. He could trace its condition to the action taken by thers. It was the. action of another legislaion—the action of the representatives of he people, contrary to the wishes of the .reat bulk of the people, and after the Act vas amended he challenged hon. members to -ay whether there was any delay on his part m trying to give effect to the measure. It vas the bungling of the General Government m not appointing commissio ers. At Toko•nairiro they were appointed only 48houis before they were required to report, Such statements ought not to be made without tbe fullest inquiry being first made. Tjjeq is to bringing laud into the market, th(j quarters said : If you give us tbe maximum ompensation we will allow you to sell lands j out they did not feel justified in doing so, vnd thus, setting a precedent for all future cases, Mr Cargill said the hbir. gentleman vas not stating the case correctly. If he vould refer to the correspondence ho Would sec the compensation was to be left to arbiration. There were two arbitrators who had previously examined the country, and, oy consent of all parties, it was left to their decision. Mr Reid Wished to say that the hutting up the laud from sale was not his loing. The General Assembly pass d an Act which he considered- nothing short of pollution of the revenues of tbe Province. There had been no serious distress although predictions were made that there would be. But, if prompt action had been taken by the ,'olouial Government the financialprospect of ohepast yearwouldnot havebeenwhatitwas. VI? . Reid denied he bad ever opposel tbe ’ublic Works Scheme. All he had wished was additional ?eguritv, that t]ie poorer Provinces should pftt railw4y» ,ti? e exicnse of the richer. After explaining the platform on which he was returned by his constituents, bo blamed the* Provincial Council for the financial difficulties o! the rovince, by passing appropriations beyond he ability of tbe revenue to meet, The Land Bill was based on the resolutions of the Council. It might not give satisfaction to all, but that was not to bo expected. The L 1.0.000.0.000 found fault with, he considered, a arge sum for compensation and sufficient, f the Council thought it not enough, tbe Government would not esteem a larger vote m expression of want of confidence. Following Mr Reid’was Mr Shepherd, who'made some strong attacks upon the Government, and the way in which it had been formed. This brought Mr Rpifi on lps logs agaig, anc| vlr Reynolds thereupon rose '{ft order, ‘ 4 scene as undignified if was sbqrt, i# which Mr Reid occupied an Uflenviably prominent position, was the result; and it was out short by the Speaker ordering both gentlemen to resume their seats. Dr Webster was Hie first speaker at the evening sitting, and lie objected tp any new volps, He said that seeing there was a faffing revenue and a large iverdraft, the expenditure should be confined to what was strictly departmental (in which direction he admitted reductions might be made), and to the'maintenance of existing works. He condemned the action ot the Government in obtaining such a large overdraft as unfair to the country and the fiber banks; and thought the proceeding should be condemned by the Council. Mr Bhand thought the estimates wore overestimated, especially the item of Crown lauds, which, instead of yielding ISQ,QOO, would probably yield snort of L4O,OQQ; Neither did he agree with the Provincial Secretary that the sale of the land would induce settlement. The position of the Province was such that the majority of the Council would swallow any proposal* by the Government, in order to get rid of the enormous overdraft. The Government should have done something in the way of retrench} ment; it was thejr duty, ana not thaf of the Council, to point out what offices should bo amalgamated and what abolished. Hft

-moved, “That this Council is of opinion that the estimates prepared by the Government in regard to departmental expenses are excessive, and not warranted by the position of the Province. It therefore resolves that the estimates be sent back to the Government for reconstruction ; and that estimates be brought down carrying out retrenchment to the utmost possible limit,” which was seconded by Mr Mollison and negatived, the voting being—ayes, 11: Basstian, Blacklock, Cargill (teller), Daniel, Galbraith, Haughton, Holme', Mollison, M‘Glashau, M‘Lean, Reynolds (teller), Robertson, Seaton, Shaud, Shepherd, Turnbull, Webster, Noes, 26 : Allan, Armstrong, Barr, Barton, Bastings, Bathgate, Bradshaw (teller), Brown, J. C. ; Brown, G. F. C. ; Cantrell, Clark, Cutten, Duncan, Green, Henderson, Hickey, Hutcheson, Lumsden, Menzhs, Mervyn, M*Arthur, M'Kenzie, Keid (teller), Smith, Sumpter, Thomson. Mr Haughton condemned the Government for over estimating the revenue likely to be obtained from Crown lands, and for not going in for retrenchment. From the knowledge he had had of the Government business 1 , he could affirm it could be carried on for half what it now cost. The Government were simply misleading the public.' Departmental expenditure bad increased and not decreased. Take education for example. In 1865 the cost of the system was L 6,300, this year it amounted to over L 28,000, and it would progress annually. There should be some limit to that kind of things, or the revenue would be wholly absorbed. The Government jiad lived beyond its income, and was to be censured for so doing. The burden of the Speech of Mr Cutten, who followed, was an attack on Mr Shepherd, which, after all, was very lame. Mr Bastings explained that his party was in favor of retrenchment, and at a proper time would move in that direction. Then followed a series of ad inisercordiam appeals from country members who complained that their districts had been shabbily treated by the Government. Mr Mervyn, on behalf of the ‘‘party” already alluded to, gave notice of his intention to move at a subsequent sitting, “ that the con* sideratiou of the departm* ntal expenditure be postponed, with a view of giving the Government an opportunity of reducing the samcat least2s per cent.” He pointed out that L 2,000 a-year could be saved in goldfields expenditure alone ; but the goldfields naturally objected to any reductions unless the other departments were similarly dealt with. Dr Meuzies, Mr Bastings, and Mr Thomson urged the necessity for retrenchment, and expressed their dissatisfaction with the estimates os they stood. After some remarks by Messrs Keid, Duncan, and Bathgate the house adjourned.