THE PREMIER’S REPLY TO MR MACANDREW.

Evening Star, Issue 4118, 9 May 1876, Page 2

THE PREMIER’S REPLY TO MR MACANDREW.

[By Tklbobaph.]

The following is Sir J. Vogel’s reply to Mr Macaudrew’s last letter 1. I Lave the honor to acknowledge the reoeint of yonr letter of the 22nd April, in reply to miLe of the IBth. ' j

2. There are a few points which !■ think l it desirable to reply to; others Ido not refer to, because I coupler that I have answered them by what 1 have already written to your Honor, or because they seem to me of a tu quoque nature, and out of plafce ip this correspondence. " 3. lam not aware that in my letter to you I assumed that Parliament would render the Governmeut moi e support than Governments usually anticipate. There, would be no strong! hj in sot 1 Government if fear of a minority becomings majority were allowed to interfere with, the ordinary duties of administration. I desired to represent to your Honor that, as by law the Provinces cease to exist after next session, the General Goi vemment were performing only their duty m obtaining the.information necessary to provide fot tho charge which will then devolve on ■ 4. You refer to my action some years ago whea I had the honor to be a member of the Otago Provincial Executive. I acted then as now, in accotdl a»ce with what I believed to be my duty, and I do you the justice to believe that you are similarly actuated. As you have twice referred to me peri sonally, I may be allowed to say that I continued to aid the Provinces, and to believe they might be enabled to survive, long after that belief was dead in the minds of some of the most active men ip New Zealand. No Province has, in my opinion! contributed more to make: abolition necessity 'than has Otago, for it has refused to accept any limit to .its desire to expend money. That without the means at its command, it should Imre embarkel in 1 a variety of railway schemes, not conitent with the; lines. in ■ progress from the Waitaki to the Bluff, from Invercargill to Kingston, and from' Milton to Lawrence sufficiently proves the necessity for the chock the. Assembly have imposed j nor does this appear to have been done too soon, for, notwithstanding the largeness of yonr Honor's views as to Otago’s capabilities, the fact is, that in order to find means for meeting the expenses ef the next sii months, year Honor's Government hate had to attempt to make land sales of a most .objectionably nature. I refer to the sales proposed-to be mafle t6 ranholders without competition, in defiance, aslant

advised, of the intention of the law; and trhich I feel bound to inform your Honor, the Government would haye taken means to prevent but for the conviction that the Waste Lana Board would"do so. ; 5. Your Houor’s opinion of the . fanner in which tho Provincial Government carry out their pnblib works is entirely different; from that which we ore able to arrive at from the information at the command of the Government., That information is to the effect that the Provincial railways have been very imperfectly constructed. 6. I regret that your Honor should venture to make such an assertion as to the cost of the Clutha Railway. The Government have in their service several engineers of standing and long experience and there is no engineer in the employment of this Province whose opinions are entitled to equal weight. Persons may always be found ready to express opinions, but I should have thought Otagp had, from tho want of competent engineering ddu, suffered quite enough to make its Government captious ns to assailing the woik of men of experience. 7. You certainly do not rightly interpret my meaning in supposing that I said our political institutions were to be influenced by money lenders. 1 think the passage to which you refer clt »rly enough expressed my meaning that the Colony should not commit itself to the expenditure of borrowed money in excess of the amount which those from whom it looked for the money weie willing to supply. 8. Your Honor’s idea of making Otago an independent Colony is impossible of r- alisation, f jriumuely for the people of that ' rovince, who certainly would not gain by the proposal, which, as I have already pointed out, would mean centralised power in Dunedin and financial difficulties ofa grave character. The subsidy pr< posed’ to be given to Dunedin will not injure the country districts, and will be more than covered by tbe savings incidental to the doing away with the Provincial Government.

10. I cannot accept your Honor’s version of the meaning of Abolition, ami you will forgive me for saying nothing but very strong foregone conclusions could, I think, make you persist in the information which has been afforded to you. I should be most happy to circulate thb Bills which will embody the policy of the Government, but they are not fully prepared. Sufficient, however, has been decided to enable me to convey to your Honor a very idea of the measures the Govemim nt propose to introduce in connection with Abolition, Some of the details may be moditled, bnt I think the particulars lam able to give will convince you that nothing appr aching to such a thoroughly localised s. stem of Government has yet found nlaoe in t ie Colony. *

-11. Provincial Ccuucils and Superintendents we do not propose in any shax>e to perpetuate or to reproduce, and various departmental services, such na gaols, hospitals, the admit istration of harbors, &e., wo prop.se to carry ou os we do the post and telegraph departments. IS. We intend to introduce a Bill regulating the

,i !f ßm * wSibt valuing property, throughout the oonhtgyfor and Counties. This also, whilhfe dnrniifvi.l is.l mens ores relating to those hodKifW I S^ uniform system, Yon? Honor may ohMwod dissimilar Bill has been*- submitted to the Imperial Parliament during toe present session.- * -•■ i*. We propose to submitaßill to'consolidate the existing municipal laws, simplified as already described, but which will contain provisionto enable Com'rat ions to borrow, not dissimilar from Wr Ballsnce'e Bill of last year,- with t.io cxc-piion that tbo purpose* for which borrowing is to bo permitted will be more clearly defined. The road districts we do not intend toask-Parliament to legislate abotHrthis its. slou, excepting to the talent already described. To provide for the local, charge of education we pro-

pose to introduce a. Bill to continue in existence the present Kducafcion Boards until February next. The entire control of primary education,- endof the lanclTeatfcktibh, we at in the Boards. It wiU.be the duty of the Boards to continue in each Province the system legalised by existing Provincial laws. There wiU be rence, for the Bill Will provide tbat the bisection of schools shall be Under the cintrol and'manogementof the Colonial’ Govenuncbt. We-oohtom-plate making provision for doing away with education rates, and also with fees in primary Uohools; whilst we propose that education shall be nude compulsory. ::t f 15. The leading features of the oountysystem we ?i? B L rB .v ve ■h»-dybeen explained.- we wfepose tuat tiie country, exclusive'-of towns, stall be dmded into counties governed by elective .bodies, endowed with verf considerable and ohaiyed with uanying out large public Works; The counties vnU bo distinct from the board districts, fi 0 tba , t 111 » few instances where the districts dV ® xte^ an option will perhaps be giren to them to beooihe counties, ohd thus to merge into one the revenues of the two -bodies. The, present Waste Land Board we propose to continue for a time, but we hope te provide at ?iL« iißlia ? t it r ft ®dition ■ *the elective element to, them. We do not raanosa to interfere with tbd land laws, excepting IStfwe may ask the Assembly to oonelior the expediency ? f th® upset price, aadenlto|?n g facilities for obtaining land on ?«“*• Asylum we yro^Z under the direct control of the Government, with the aid of local Boards, nominated by the GoA- inalifled Inspector of Lunacy Asylums has been selected at Home, and will. I mmeet. shorty arrive in the Colony. the cbsip of other charitable institutions upon the ®f *ke municipalities and the counties mthm which they are situated, giving to 1 boselocol Sf. Power of placiug the-institutionsift the hands of special committees or trustees. We (egret that in some parts of the country these institutions are now purely Government institutions, and we thiukjarger opportunities for the exevcisrofTolnntaiy benevolence should be affprdecU Theadiwayi. sa has been stated already, we propose s into the entire charge and control of the Cbltmial Id. I desire, for obvious reasons, not to antiifinata the financial statemeut.'but Twill not shrihlc&om giving your Honor some particulars. WeptOnosa to mtroduc s a. Bill providlngfor the dispos&ttftba and revenue. This disposal wiU be of local character, excepting that we shall submit, for the consiaera,tionof the Assembly, thealternative of a gradually diminishing contriWon from the land revenue to meet the interest on-(railways, ratiier than provide those payments from anfooome and k property tax, as we ate not wiUing tiuft interest on railways in comae, of oonstraotion would -2?* oI bo “°w«d money—the revenue must for such interest. Tram the first, the land revenue, which has benefits so largely from the railways, ahould have ridded this intciest. It "illhe for the.Assembly nbvt to bousider -whether the n&Sold lands or the x Sold lands and current revenue shall supply the amount Wtilst otherwiee W6 “propose roughly localise the land revenue, we also intend that road districts and counties Shall be guaranteed the consolidated - revenue the receipt of their appointed subsidies, irrespective of whether or not the land revenue of the particular Froviuolal distnct- supplies for--the time being the necessary amount. ...j - 17. Tour Honor wHI, T hope, eoniider that in the particulars I have_ given you, I have not displayed nadua reticence, -I should be glad to find that these UlaM support, thf poltewthey embody, and I feel sufficiently assured of your Honor’s generosity, to believe that you win not object to' being the, niadinm of! disseibiioaftjbg turougbout Otago informatibn which 1 confidently be icve will more tlian satisfy everyone in the Province who is.not prejudiced beyond the posaibUitv of exei owing freedom of judgment. At any,gate the information I have given you will undeceive those in the Province who ore opposing Abolition under a total misapprehension of its nature, aid of the consequences which will follow to the mhffiritv of the peopl •of Otago. What we now propose -wifi tnean the realisation of the aspirations Of many years. ' r >•■. < a 18.1 reciprocate your Honor’s kindly remarksi I hope 1 have not. said anything calculated -to cause you personal annoyance, and I fully recognise, even where I am unable to agree with you, your Honor's public-spmteddesire to promote the advancement of Otago and New Zealand. Were you a member of the Colonial Government for three months, I am convinced that you would cease to doubt-tiie neoesupholding the law which has decreed the Abolition of .tije Provinces, ;■■■■■——a ‘