OUR WELLINGTON LETTER

Evening Star, Issue 3590, 25 August 1874, Page 3

OUR WELLINGTON LETTER

August 19. _ The Hon. Captain Fraser carried his motion fer inquiry into the future proper management of the lunatic asylums of the Colony. He had no occasion to travel beyond our own limits for illustrations of his argument. Who can forget the instance mentioned by a Kelson paper not many months ago, er the revelations made in the Wellington Courts a little before But, according to the hon. gentleman, we have “ a skeleton ” in our own cupboard:— A gentleman of education, fortune, and birth came this Colony some years ago with his brother-in-law. Seven or eight years ago he Wps induced to make a settlement of all his proWJtypp.his bfpther-in-law’s children, putting • the* property In fbe hands o£ trustees. The gentleman who drew up the deed was a xhan of high honor, who, knowing Mr ———— was of weak intellect, refused to do anything until he got a medical certificate stating that • was perfectly able to deal with his property. The certificate was obtained, and the deed executed. Afterwards the medical man who had given the certificate stating that was perfectly capable of dealing with bis property gave another certificate stating that he was a dangerous lunatic; and he was, ttwrsffore, removed to the asylum, where he has pvngbighed Ipr thp la§t seven’ years. When he fewptioiied last year that>‘he was sorry he had not seen any member of the Government in the lunatic asylum hon, member* laughed. They did not see the drift of hlgv remarks, because anybody the asylum could see the inspectors’ books, in which the inspectors made an entry of what came under their notice. The first entry was as follows“ August, 1871. I have known Henry Harkness for several years, and, although 1 never at any period considered that he was of sufficient soundness of mind to be entrusted with the charge of his property or to deal with it in any manner, nevertheless, as Mr Harkness is of a very harmless disposition and is not laboring under any dangerous delusion, I am of opinion that he should be permitted to visit the different parts of the Colony under proper superintendence, and that ms inpome, instead of appumplating £or the njsneut’ 61 other* should be expended for the patieht’s Comfort and the Consequent prolonza-tion-of his life.” Captain Fraser went on to say that if a member of the Government had visited the Dunedin Asylum—and they had had many opportunities of doing so during the last three or four years—it would have been their duty, and not his, to bring the matter forward. He appealed to the Colonial Secretary (Dr Pollen), whom he knew to be a humane man, to act before it was too late. The unfortunate man had been in the asylum so lopg that partial paralysis had ta'cen felacjV-and |ie was afrafd little popld be done fo- 1 assist him ) but hp maintained he had been illegally confined, because he should have been adjudged insane by a jury before being allowed to languish in an dsylum. I bare r fer red to this matter because it is being used against us. The papers here have taken it up, and say, “ Can such things be in Otago, which boasts of the excellence of her institutions ? ” For our own credit inquiry is demanded, and at once. The Lords are becoming very obstructive this session. They have already thrown out the Qtago Land Bills and the Wei’ipjjtpii Reclamation Bill—the latter being a ineasure to tenable the City Council here to borrow J 100,000 on the security of land to be reclaimed for necessary City works, such as drainage, &c. Our Land Bill, as you know by telegraph, was rejected by the assistance of Wi Tako’s vpte. and Mr Reid has been obliged to he content this year with a skeleton of his Bill, The arguments of Mr Campbell, who moved the “happy despatch” of the Bill, have been telegraphed, and that information I may supplement by giving a digest of those made by the other speakers:— Mr Holmes referred fo a casfe of 4,000 acres purchased immediately afterj.the Validation

Act of laat session by three gentlemen, who afterwards purchased a thousand acres adjoining, certainly not of a better quality, for which they paid 27s 6d an acre. Thus thei e was a clear loss to the Province of L 1,500. The letter and spirit of the law had been violated by those who had the administration of the law. He was inclined to give the system a trial. If the system proved a good one, Victoria by this time would have been able to be self-support-ing and able to export; but was not. On the lands sold on this system Auckland had nothing but mud-hovels erected to comply with the regulations. The Land Bill before the House referred to a block of 200,000 acres, and he did not exaggerate when he said it was worth 50s an acre all round, while some was worth more. The land laws of Otago were in such a state of confusiAii, that the Land Boards did not understand them. _ Another phase of the question was the financial one. Last session the Provincial Council voted L 856,899 for public works, and the Province would have to go in for a loan, and if the Assembly refused it, the Province would be bankrupt. The man who paid L2 for his land now had quite as good a bargain as the person who purchased his twenty years ago, when there were no roads or bridges. Mr Pf terson failed to see why there should he so much opposition to the Bill, when it only amended objectionable clauses in the original one. Ho was «o admirer of the system of deferred payments, but the Provincial Council wished it to be tried, therefore he sank his own views. He began to think the system would eventually be advantageous to the Province now that the immigrants were being poured in In alarming numbers, as members might say. With the exception of the clauses extending the area, and referring to an increased amount to be thrown open under the system, the Bill would be beneficial to the Province.

Captain Fraser would like to see a Bill of two clauses—one repealing all the previous land laws, the other Adopting those of Canterbury, Mr Waterhouse did not think it right that the discussion should be confined to the Otago members, as the question affected the Colony. They should do all in their power to settle the immigrants, and could only do so by deferred payments. He held that the Council was resPoD®|ble for the complication and confusion of the Otago land laws, because of the amendments the Council introduced. He denied that the runholders had been injured in the least by the various alterations of the law. Dr Pollen wga ignorant whether the system, had bepn a success ip Otago, but in Auckland his experience of it was unfavorable to its general adoption. He was convinced that to the poor man it was most disastrous. Hp was opposed to the principle of givipg Igqd for the purpose of settlement. He should place his yqtp in the hands of the Provincial Government, to be guided by their wishes. The • 'olony might well adopt the land laws of Canterbury. Mr Stokes said the Council had been told the Apt of 1872 was a final settlement of disputes. He objected to the long period over which the payunents spread. The system tendered to create a class that would influence the elections. After spending so mqny nqllipns in roads and other public purposes, why thp price of lanq should remain the samp as it was twenty years ago. A greater kindness to the immigrant vyould be to give him twelve months’work, and sq enable him to buy land which he (?ould settle on with thp experience he had acquired. Mr Hart’s experience of the deferred system was that all the ]and was hppght up for sppoulatjvp purposes. Had the price in Wellirigton been kept at LI, the Province would have had a large papulation- Canterbury's position Was a proof ip point. Otago could not pay for the survey of their lands and the collection pf moneys if it was to have anything left for bridges and roads. The expenditure on railways only to he recouped from the increased price of land. The experiment should be fully tested by the quantity of land taken npwncifde for the purpose of cultivation. Mr Miller regarded the 1872 Act as a compromise. In addition to the fact of the land being taken up by those who hereafter became a political power in the country, there was the fact that the land became exhausted, and instead of becoming a source of wealth, was the reverse. Therefore he would oppose the extension of the area.

Dr Menzies said the objections to tbe Bill were the result of misconception. With respect to what had been said of Victoria, the average yield had fallen from fifteen bushels fifteen years ago to seven or eight, which accounted for no exports from that Colony. The Minister of Land’s reports, while apparently showing results unfavorable to the deferred system, proved exactly the reverse was the case on analysing them. If half-a-million loan was refused to the Province, the Provincial Council would have to be called together. No pressure would be put on the Provincial Government to compel them to sell large quantities of land.