COMMENTS ON THE SESSION.

Evening Star, Issue 3599, 4 September 1874, Page 2

COMMENTS ON THE SESSION.

MR LUCKIE AT NESON. [By Telegraph.] . ELSON » Septembers. , O. M. Luckie, one of the representatives of JVels n City in the House of Representatives, addressed his constituents on Wednesday night. About 600 persons were present. Mr Luckie said, as regarded his commercial connection with Mr Vogel, they were shareholders in the ‘ Cross 1 Company, and, beyond their connection as old friends, and respecting each other as such, there was nothing else. The contemptible accusations of subservience were not worth a snap of the finger. In the House and throughout the Lolony there had been a very great diversity of opinion respecting the propriety of the abolition rf the Provinces of the North Island. For many years he had been a strong Provincialist. Eleven and a-half years ago, the question -ef abolishing Provincial institutions came prominently before him, and he, fresh from the old country—knowing only the grand Pariiament of England, and City and Borough Councils, and County Commissioners—saw the “playing” at Parliament, and was surprised, for it looked to him like a farce. No doubt Provincial institutions had done great service in the work of colonisation.—(Hear ) The peculiarity of the country, its isolation, and the distance between various populations, rendered Provincial institutions very valuable, but there is much useless paraphernalia, and people began to see the time must speedily come when changes must take place. He fancied he had been gradually changing his opinion, and seeing the necessity for restricting Provincial institutions. It was not expected this year when Parliament met that such an onslaught would be made on Provincial institutions. Wellington had been unquestionably for years the sturdy beggar of New Zealand; its system of finance had been, “ Get money by any means, but get it ;” and Mr Fitzherbert. the Superintendent of Wellington, and Mr Bunny, had taken care to get it on every possible occasion. 11 was gen. rally admitted that the condition of the four Provinces of the North Island would be such as to fully warrant the large majority that greeted the resolutions brought down by the Premier last month. Respecting the Provinces of .Nelson, Marlborough, and Westland, they were placed in such positions that the sooner they were embodied in an would them the better,—(Loud applause.) What was the position of the Fuperintendent of Nelson ut that moment? Mr Curtis had stated in the House that he had put his name to public documents from which he disagreed, as being, in his opinion, not only nob beneficial but detrimental to the Provmce.—(Applause.) Had he (Mr Luckie) been in the .Superintendents position, he would have adopted an entirely different cou.se—(applause)—before he would have sacrificed his opinion, especially when he beJieved his opinion to be right, and when to acquiesce m the opinion of his Executive would have been detrimental to the Provmce, he would have said, “ Gentlemen, you 8° > that would have been the true way. aud he would have been willing to have sacrificed his position rather than sacrifice the Province. - (Loud applause ) He would tell them at once that, as far as he was concerned, if his constituents were not satisfied with him, they had only to say so, aud he would retire from his position. Although his friend the chairman had termed him a distinguished foreigner, he believed he had served them as honestly as any man could, and he did not believe he had done anything to forfeit their good opinion,— (A Voice : No ; and applause ) For some time past, be was sorry to t ay, the progress of nelson had been backward, and there did notjeem to be veiy much vitality in the Province at that time. He must confees that a great drawback was the want of back country, similar to that which made Otago and Canterbury. With respect to Westland, he could only say that it was a crying injus ice that that Province should occupy the position she did. it was only a part and parcel of Canterbury a few years ago, and was now leaded with debt which Canterbury ought to have borne. It was now poor and, like Nelson, requiring additional aid from Government. Canterbury was rolling in riches, and her exchequer was overflowing. It was said that, during the current year, she would exnenrt U.25U,000, whilst Westland was starving. Was it right that the land which she held as the property of the people of the Provines should be applied to the benefit of the Colony? Canterbury might howl, and Otago might call out, but the day was coming when their revenues would be mads Colonial revenues If the laud were p£. P. r hr d w V elony at ] arge, the great Public Works scheme, of which Mr Vogel was the projector, would be the means of doing a great amount of good to the eountry it seemed to him that, considering the large amount of immigration which was now going on m the Colony, diversity of the land JawA where capital was seeking investment, was one of the worst things a country like New Zealand could labor under. He believed his colleague, Mr Curtis, had said the other day that it would be impossible to make one land law for the whole Colony, but he believed it was quite possible. They wanted also a proper Gaol Act, proper in, spection of Lunatic Asylums, aud a general Police Law which should run tKifftll • whole Colony. Jhese he considered could never succeed or be fully carried out ex(*nt by the abolition of the Provinces. It vL remarkable that out of the sixteen member who voted against the resolution of the Pre. No/rh OIT 0l T t i he ? b °l ition of tbe Provinces of the North Island, there were few totally disin. and W ; ll- Tk6BeWW e MeBBW GillU* May. and Williamson, all Auckland men, aid Sd y °w w fS ong *Bti*Provinoialwtl He belfoVed thfey vofefl against thv

resolutions because they did not consider they went far enough Fie had had the honor of being burned in effi y at Auckland because he voted for the resolutioas. The Premi -r and Messrs " nod Creighton, a d Bncklaud, wer» a’s l burned at the same time for the s;me reasons. Jt struck him he was rather lucky in being 600 miles away, but he had no doubt the day would come wh< u the p n l c of Auckland would acknowledge tl at ' urn jng their efißgics.r dd-i hj aa it was , Vas „„ injustice. He had no doubt that these men whom he had previous y named would have voted for the resolutions had they been for the abolition of the whole of the Provinces Ut the thirteen members that remained, no Mwer than eleven were Superinterdcnts and Provincial Secretaries, or members of Provincial Executives, and were drawing considerable salaries. One was Speaker of the Provincial Council of Otago. One Nelson member (Mr O’Conor) was a marked exception among members of the Provincial Executives. He voted in favor of the abolition of Provinces, knowing it was the death-knell of the Provinces in this island. He w< uld also give credit to Mr O'Rorke for sacrificing his position for a principle in which he believed. v ith respect to the Forests Conservation Bill, be (Mr Luckie) said it was of the very greatest impor’ance to a Colony like this, and he believed it would be the forerunner of the conservation of timber, for which future generations would thank the Government of the present day Were they to allow their land fund to be squandered to the detriment of their ability to meet the interest and debt Of the future ? So long as that was allowed, so long would the Immigration and Public Works policy be precarious in its ultimate results, and he knew very well that the Provinces of the South Island, knowing that next year that the North Island would go, knew also that they must gather their mantles around them, and die with what dignity they, could assume. It was known hy most members who voted with the majority, that the time would soon come when all the Provinces would be abolished. The policy of 1870 necessitated the substitution of complete Colonial interests for those which were hitherto Provincial. _ The Public Works and immigra tion policy of the Colony had practically superseded, by one grand system of colonisation, the diversified methods previously pursued by different Provinces. That policy necessarily led to the absorption of the Provinces, and he should be glad to bear that that large and influential meeting expressed views similar to bis.—(Applause.) As he happened to be the first member _ who had addressed his conadtuents since the great question had arisen, he trusted that his action would be concurred with by the meeting, and he asked for evidence of that concurrence.—(Loud applause.) He condemned the vast amount of Provincial legislation, which, with the General Assembly Acts (which last session numbered 112 new -Act=o, made New Zealand the most Act-of- Parliament-ridden Colony on the face of the earth. He alluded to the Eoad Boards and their success, and said they could be made to supersede all the paraphernalia of Provincial Councils. Some of these undoubtedly required remodelling, and he instanced the condition of the Waimate Road Board in Otago, and which, without collecting any rates from the wealthy proprietors within its bounds, possessed a bank balance of L.90,000, while other Boards and Provinces were starving for lack of means. Referring to the Immigration Policy, its success he thought had been very remarkable, and the best instance of that success was the pleasing disappointment which the denizens of so-called sleepy Nelson experienced, when the first arrivals of some 450, for whom there was so much fear that work would not be found, had been Q n f c kly absorbed.—(Applause.) Instances of this kind had occurred South and North. With respect to addition to members’ honorarium, for which he voted, and about which •ome people professed to make an outcry, he said he had voted for it ou principle, payment of members being a wise proceeding in a democratic country. He knew the vote would be carried without his vote, but he preferred recording his vote (frankly according to his belief, to voting against it for the sake of making political capital among his constituents as one who voted against it wishing all the while that their side would lose.—(Laughter.) He contended that b»t for such payment the government ,aml legislature of the country would go into the hands of merely wealthy men, who would make laws, and especially land laws, to suit their Own ends and. interests, as had been done many a time before. Mr Luckie concluded by referring to various Acts passed during the session, and sat down amidst loud and prolonged cheers. A unanimous vote of confidence in Mr Luckie was passed