POST-SESSIONAL UTTERANCES.

Evening Star, Issue 3462, 27 March 1874, Page 3

POST-SESSIONAL UTTERANCES.

We make the following; extracts from Sir F. JD. Bell’s speech at Invercargill PROVINCIAL BORROWING. Although Mr Vogel had bowed to public opinion m the matter of Provincial borrowing—which was with the Legislative Council -he had guardedly hinted that he should adhere to the action of last session. For hie own part he (Sir Francis) should next session support the action of the Council, believing tuat the Colony had gone far enough. They had fifteen millions of loans afloat, and must hold their hands. As ; he had stated last year, the Government had been paying interest on loans, and defended the course by reftning to the practice of British rail wax companies, which capitalised their interest until the completion of their works That system could not go on—it must come to an end some time—even if it was only when the last mile of the last railway was made the account would, have to be struck, and they would have to meet the interest out f."™* *■">* W <>“M fcava to face 1.700,000 pat amram, bat he did not think they had any reason to fear that indebtedness. Ho should never have supported the policy if he had seen any cause to fear the result. The producing power of the Colony was* so enormous, as compared with that of other Colonies and countries, as to render alarm on that score needless. But, while not disposed to sound an alarm, he held that they must begin to bar the way to further indebtedness, and look solely to the completion of the works in „ t* l6 Bame time it was patent to all that the revenue was growing as well as the liability - that it was increasing in an extraordinary manner, especially in Utago n’t Iw’nnn* ru & total . custom 3 revenue or Laid,ooo, Otago coutubuted L 260 000 while m 1873, out of a total of L 98.1 000 she contributed L 322.000.. Seeing the large proportion of taxation borne, it was not to be wondered at that members from that part ot the Islands were earefiil to limit the extent of ,the liability. The Customs revenue u nfnww ' V T I had l stimated at I ftrVnnn°? £ P y ear - had reached L6bl,Uoo .for the half-year ended in Decem ; her last, while the Provincial revenue for the n% e B'OU 8 ' 0U0 ’ or a toul of LI,-80,000, so that there was Ho need for

tear, but only for the exercise of caution. LAND FOR SETTLEMENT, ■There was' another subject oh which he should have liked to speak at length, if time permitted- the conservation of land for sottlemcment by famili-a coming out from dome. Under the .present system the land as fast as it was opened, was caught un bv large capitalists -legally, he must say, but still to the exclusion of the kind of settlement ho had indicated. These two subjects —immigration and the conservation of land —he intended to take up next session. He wished to be able to say to the farmer in Oxford or Cambridgeshire, “ Here are blocks of land from which you can choose with the certainty of getting them.” By this systeni families could be located ou the lines of railway—:across the Mataura for instance forming separate, distinct, eelf-suo-potting, and prosperous settlements. In reply to Mr daggers, who asked whether it would not have been better to have passed a Bill to reserve land for settlement before the arge sales took place, Sir Francis said that D {?,- ! eei ! on B inall y provided for in the Public Works Aot, but that the influence of the Provincial Government had been successfully exerted against it.; He did not think anything ever would he. done, until the General Government actually compelled the making of such reserves—not for the labormg people in the Colony, but for the farmers from.Home. He had no objection to the reserve of - agricultural land; for the settlement of those already in'the Colony, but the existing law appeared to let such lands go into wrong hanus. 'He thought the proper way would be to. raise revenue by selling the pastoral lands, and thus put it out of the power of the .North at some future date to seize the land revenue; 'He was not in favor of the denominational system of education. He did not think a land tax was likely to bo imposed, but rather thought, if necessary, it would be an income-tax. He thought the best of the pastoral lands might be worth lOs an acre. He had, no faffch in the deferred payment system, "and referred at length to the evils of duramyiam and the danger of political influence being brought to bear by selectors, injuriously to the public ' interest. r