The Evening Star TUESDAY, APRIL 18. 1876.

Evening Star, Issue 4100, 18 April 1876, Page 2

The Evening Star TUESDAY, APRIL 18. 1876.

Had the * Daily Times ’ published an article with the express intention of holding Provincial institutions up to contempt, it could not have done it more effectually than on Saturday morning. Next to a strong argument against selling land in blocks, a ■yveak one in favor of it is an emphatic condemnation of the proposition, and never were weaker or sillier reasons penned than those by which our contemporary seeks to show that the Provincial Government has no alternative. There was a witty play produced in not long ago, which brought into strong rein'd what would happen Were every one compelled to tell the truth. In the course of the plot, monarch and subjects began by attempts at lying; but in spite of themselves the truth would come to the front. One would really imagine that the ‘ Time’s ’ article had been written with the writer’s body half in and half out of the Palace of Truth. First, the fact is blurted out “the Provincial overdraft is large.” Then the body is swayed without the vmth line, and down is jotted the false reason, “this impecuniosity has been produced by tu e foolish legislation of the last session of the* Assembly.” We need not trouble ourselves B^ow the absurdity of this alleged reason, because rolling unconsciously into the chared area of truth, the Assembly is exonerated, it is written in the ‘ Daily Times ’;—

Now, the Council has not mot, payments have to be mode, and the liabilities have grown considerably. Besides this, it may he freely conceded that the large and liberal way in ichich Provincial Councils authorised works, without troubling their minds about the method by which the money was to be found, partook of the character of the gambler rather than the legitimate trader. The lavish conduct of past Councils is extremely reprehensible, and is now producing its inevitable consequences- for the Provincial Executive find themselves in this difficulty. And further on—

It must be admitted by friend and foe that the Provincial party have largely themselves to blame for having voted money here anil there in times gone by with a free-handed liberality that took no thought for the future, and recked lit tie how the means were to be found for paying for their openness -of disposition. Tho districts that clamored for railways and roads are precluded from saying one word, though an estate as large as an English shire posses into the hand of one proprietor. The members who voted for these Western railways, which have proved a job, in the truest sense of the word, from first to last, must in common decency hold their shameless to^^ues.

Tiiie is far stronger language than wo should have thought it necessary to employ to demonstrate the recklessness and folly of which thd Provincial Council were guilty. The slightest capacity for business would have led the Jvxexcutive to avoid rushing into contracts whic'h they were not in a posi tion to fulfil. The Council had warning that a change was proposed in our administrative system, that in all probability the session of 1875 would be tbeir last, that as a conse quence the Executive would be practically absolute so long as they retained office, and, instead of scrambling for the expenditure of funds in order to perpetrate “a job,” as shown by the ‘ Daily Times,’ the appropriations should have been confined to those works that were fairly within the means of the Province to pay for. But if the recklessness of the Provincial Council led them into what the ‘ DaJJv Times’ pronounces to be “criminal mistakes,” what must be said of an Executive aiding aiffi abetting the crimes by carrying them intd execution ? A Ministry that valued its reputation would not have allowed the Province *■<> have become involved because its Conned appropriated money they had neither in possession nor in prospect. They would sooner have resigned office. As matters stood it was the height of madness to enter into contracts, the means of paying for which were not provided. If the Council was wrong, the Executive could not be right in giving effect to their measures, and Mr Reid and his colleagues would have only shown proper self-respect by declining to carry them into execution. If the Provincial Council know no better, the Executive were fully aware of the position. They knew also, for tho warning had been sufficiently given, that they would practically be irresponsible ministers until new administrative arrangements were made; and now, after recklessly and foolishly becoming parties to “ a job ” tho people of Otago are gravely asked by the * Daily Times ’ to consent to the sale of “ big blocks ” in order to cover the doings of an Executive that

—simply dare not put their accounts before tbe General Government with an enormous liability.

So says the ‘ Daily Timesand further on—

Bather than face the Assembly with their accounts in such a state as that, the Executive have, we understand, pretty well determined to sell a quantity of land in big blocks, wipe out the liability after this fashion, and clear the account.

And who are to be the tools to be mado use of for this benevolent intention ? The Waste Land Board—they are to become accessories to the completion of “ a job,” and to coveringj“ criminal mistakes !” Many times has it been complained of that, by the appointment of a non-political Waste Lands Board, the Provincial Government practically lost control of the land. We hope that the Waste Land Board, by their firm refusal to become parties to covering “ a job,” will prove that the Province has not trusted them in vain. To sanction the proposed sales would be equivalent to approval of what our contemporary calls “criminalmistakes ” and “jobbingand why should the servants of the Province be asked to sanction them merely to save a servile Executive from censure or personal difficulties ? But surely that district through which the Western Hallways pass—“ job ” though they be—should bear the expense of their construction. The value of all the property for a breadth of at least thirty miles along their length is enhanced by the lines, and those who reap the advantage ought to pay the cost. Moreover, the price of land in Southland is three pounds an acre, but it is proposed to pay for this “ job ” in rural or pastoral lands at £1 per acre, or perhaps less, and thus to part with at least three times the area that is necessary. Where will jobbing end ? If, however, the affair is “a job ” in the strict sense of the word, those who have abused the trust reposed in them by the Province, and have used their position and influence to enrich individuals at the expense of the Province, should themselves he compelled to pay the penalty. That is only fair and even-handed justice. The principle ha? been again and again affirmed in the House of Representatives that for branch railways the districts through they pass should pay their cost, and our Road Ordinances practically reaffirm it; but the Provincial Executive sepw

b®at on setting it at defiance, and Jttopoa*. t* apply money obtained, no matter where, in payment of improvements in districts ; iot even remotely connected with the land sold. In every move they propose, as a Province, to do the very acts they profess to feaj of the General Government. The ‘ Daily Times’ suggests that the whole affair may be a *' political game.” If so, the players on behalf of Provincialism are so unskilful that the sooner they throw up their cards the better for their reputations.