SIR J. RICHARDSON’S REPLY.

Evening Star, Issue 3993, 11 December 1875, Page 2

SIR J. RICHARDSON’S REPLY.

The rep'y of Sir J, 1,. C. Eichardson to the requisition urging him to allow himself to be nominated for the City, in published. It Is very full, and deals with all the great political questions now agitating the public mind. At tho outset v ir John i..tirades that ‘matured reflection has only more thoroughly convinced him that he should not t-e acting wisely in acceding to the request of the requisitionists.” • We make the following extracts from his ad- ; dress 1 INSULAR SEPARATION ADVOCATED. . While the Maori rebellion in the North ] Island, and it prevailed, though spasmodically, from • about 1860 to 1868, separation, in my opinion, was ! undesirable and wrongful, and, therefor© though I exposed to much obloquy, I steadily opposed it;

j but now the very embers of disaffection having exi pirod I th.nkitnot only justifiable, but desirable, j There would not arise the slightest difficulty in j securing the interests of the public creditor out o£ the consolidated Fund by 'em ral Legislation, in I confining all future liabilities to each island !on special securities or by special taxation ! within each, while local self-government of an efficient character —so dear to every British colonist—would become an accomplished fact. Th* alternative, so far as we know, is a remote power administering local affairs, and the result a multitude of disaffected outlying districts, combining together from time to lime, ns the Provinces have been said to have combined, to thwart the General Government and Legislature There may he at least one remedy, but that will not bo resorted to while we can continue to borrow with facility ; that is, the calling into operation a taxing power, aa in smaller municipalities, commensurate with the liabilities incurred. Among the many reasons which have induced me to desire Insular Separation, with a Pi ovince in each island, aa a substitute for the apparently doomed existing system, is a grave doubt as to the finality of any policy, even though hedged round by the clearest legal definition and authority. It is needless to refer to the changing and descending scales of capitation grants, even though partly modified by assumed duties, because the moneys connected immediately or remotely with the performance of these duties are derivable in a greater cr lesser degree from loans; but the last public declaration by one iu authority is sufficient to alarm the most confiding, for the basis on which the railway system, was chiefly fou -ded is, it would appear, likely to be swept away, and Provincial boundaries, or Provincial district boundaries, in the question of railway ; finance,are to be ignored; and thus Otago, after ; having i lavishly out of her Custom* ■ revenue for the necessities of the State, is to see i her surplus railway revenue, derived from the pocket* ; of the people, transferred to cover the liabilities of ' non-paying railways, passing over unpeopled mountain ranges in remote ports of the Colony. What . next? Can we expect that the endorsement of the' Laud Compact of 1856 by the Abolition Act of 1875 j will be held to be sacred ? Can we hope that the j legal sanction given to onr «■ : ucational reserves and ! other endowments will remain a sccuie possession P i Can we believe that the very foundations of land j endowments from the earliest Proviuelal history may not iu future be shaken, when we remember ; that a Bid passed the Legislature declaring that j none but railways likely to pay working expenses 1 should be made ; and when the Engineer roi ported that the Kaipara line would not do this, ■ another Bill was passed making this railway an I exception ? One is almost templed to ask, in the language of a New Znalnnd financier, now a candidate for a Canterbury constituency, " What is the use of the Go ■•eminent getting measures pass d if the next Act is to bring iu another measure to neutralise tin' action of the first ?” It is this

sbifring of foundation that alarms me, and induces me to wish that we might, in view of future loans, us certain as su accomplished fact, confine ourselves to Middle Island liability for Middle Island object s, and not embark in a sea of uncertainty. While, therefore, retaining our Central Legislature with its defined powers, superseding past Provincial Ordinances as may be deemed fitting, I think the Provinces might be consolidated into one, or, if politically expedient, into two, in each island, having large administrative powers, and sufficient legislative powers for the enactment of such bye-laws or ordinances as might be required, as in the case of large municipalities. These Provinces should have an elected Superintendent as Chairman of a small elected Board, both he and the members retiring at certain fixed periods. To this centre 1 Board in each of the Provinces, tae necessary si bdivisional authorities should be subordinated, and a vetoing power, if nocessary, in a few certain specified cases as at present, rest with the Governor. THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. Public attention has for some time been directed to the expediency of an alteration in the constitu- , ti--n of the Legislative Council, and, proud as I am of the ability, patience, an 1 disinterestedness evinced by the members of the Council on very many important occasions, and grateful ns I am for the un'- : varying kindness end indulgence with which, during ; the seven yeais I have presided over those dolibera- | lions, I have been treated, I feel it to be a duty : towards the Council itself and the Colony generally to express my conviction that the existense of

a nominee Upper Chamoer is not, in my opinion, in harmony with an elected House of Representatives, end that sooner or later the two Houses will come in collision, thus producing a deadlock, and. creating great confusion and many resulting evils. It is to avoid this calamity thar I desire that the whole question should bo calmly investigated. I am not singular in this apprenen ion—indeed it has been forced upon me by events going so far back as 1862, when the Council prayed the Crown to limit its numbers in order to prevent the sudden introduction of members which might seriously impair its independence. . . ...... I leave to others to devise the solution of this knotty question ; but I would venture to suggest that the life tenure of the members now constituting the Council should remain undisturbed—that at some not distant period the members composing the Council should be limited—that all vacancies after that by resignation, death, or absence, or to complete up to the limit, should be filled by representatives from large constituencies, os Shires or Provincial Districts, elected foi a shoit period, while the Governor should he empowered to call to the Chamber occasionally a relatively very small number, within the limit, of men of distinguished ability or signal service. Some such change as this, gradual in its introduction, would, when matured, offer frequent opportunities of aiding toward* a harmonious working of the two Chambers constituting Parliament. THE LAND. , There is yet one subject on which I desire to say a few words, and that a subject not second in im-

portance to any other. I refer to the disposal of the Crown lands within the Province, both as to legislation and administration. Hitherto the Provincial Councils, now silenced, made recommendations as to the nature of the legislation desired, which recommendations were more or less attended to by the General Assembly. But supposing that the Abolition Act comes into force, who will rough draft the wishes of the people ? Who will administer the law ? If a Board, by whom will it be appointed ? Will it be a nominated or elected rtoard ? It would, I think, be obviously unwise to legislate any more for the present; but who, when the existing pastoral leases fall in, will

have the power to subdivide them, if necessary, into smaller runs, leaving a portion of winter country to each subdivi don P Shall we continue to give long leases on a fired tenure; or sliall we give leases for seven years, with a right of re-entry for settlement at any period; or shall wo, as some influential people in Canterbury recommended, give the existing lessees, on the expiry of their leases, when the runs arc fairly assessed, the first oiler ? If so, how is it proposed to fix people on the land—the first and fundamental principle of all colonization ? These are important questions, aud on vhe solution of them much ef the future settlement of the Province and Colony depends.