THE ABOLITION BILL.

Globe, Volume IV, Issue 368, 17 August 1875, Page 3

THE ABOLITION BILL.

MEETING AT LINCOLN.

A public meeting, called to discuss the Abolition Bill, was held at the schoolroom, Lincoln, last night. There was a good attendance, the room being well filled. Mr W. Lawry occupied the chair, and introduced the business of the meeting, Mr O’Callaghan, as one who had signed the requisition for the meeting, came forward to move the first resolution, and in the course of an eloquent speech contended that the districts and provinces in general would be great gainers by the passing of the Bill, and that during the present session; as it would be far better to have their affairs administered by one central legislature than to have nine or ten Provincial Chambers patching and tinkering at laws which were utterly useless. Besides this, the grants to Eoad Boards would be considerably larger than now, and generally the Bill of the Government was one which he hoped they would join with him in approving of. He then moved the following resolution; —“ That this meeting desires to express its approval of the Abolition of Provinces Bill, and considers that there is no valid reason for postponing legislation on the subject.” Mr Wright seconded the motion. The chairman said the resolution was before the meeting, and they should now express themselves upon it. Mr Haydon spoke in favor of resolution. Mr A. C. Knight said he agreed with a great deal that he had heard from Mr O’Callaghan in moving the resolution before the meeting, but not with all of it. He was going to move an amendment as follows, viz:—“ That in the opinion of this meeting the Abolition Bill now before the General Assembly, is not in its present form satisfactory.” He had always been in favour of a change to simpler institutions, but he must say that he could not agree with the change from elected to nominee Superintendents. This was a reason why the Bill should not be passed by a moribund Parliament, and one too which, admittedly, did not fairly represent the colony. It would be far better to wait until the provinces of the colony were more fairly represented. He did most strongly object to nominated Superintendents and other officers. He further asked them seriously to consider whether any land fund in the colony would be sufficient to bear the charges imposed upon it. He said there was not,

ami beyond this were the Treasury Bills, which were to be raised to supplement impecunious provinces, and the end of it would be that the land fund of Canterbury and Otago would have to pay for the opening up of communication in those provinces which could not pay. Ho said that in these provinces, where land had been sold at 2s 6d per acre, a property tax should be imposed for necessary public works, and not ask the provinces of Otago and Canterbury to back bills for them to use in opening up their country. [Cheers. J He believed that the Colonial Government believed that the Bill could not be carried out in its integrity, because the 26th clause gave the Governor power to do what he liked until the next session. What would be the result of this? Why, that the Governor would find out that the Government could not carry on bankrupt provinces, and they would have an Order in Council coming out enacting that hait of the land revenue of Otago and Canterbury should be taken for Auckland, Nelson, or some other province [Cheers,and a Voice—“ That’s your opinion.”] Yes, that was his opinion, and one he believed that they would find come true. The proposal of the Government to take over the Canterbury railways, and reduce their debt by so much, was, in his mind, unsatisfactory, as he thought they should receive a quid pro quo, and thus enable them to carry out further their public works, and opening up of the country. His opinion on provincialism was tin's ; that the time had now arrived when Superintendents and Provincial Councils could be done away with. [Cheers ] They had done good work, but their time had now come. First, he thought that the legislative powers of Provincial Councils should cease, for their Ordinances, when passed after great pains and trouble, were either ultra vires or useless in themselves. Let the Councils give up their legislative powers, and simplify the matter by making the Provincial Council a chief or central Hoad Board having six or eight members elected from Road Board chairmen, with their own chairman acting as the Superintendent now did, and leave legislation alone altogether, directing their attention to the public works of the province. Mr Saunders suggested that the words “ and Local Government Bill ” be inserted after the words “ Abolition Bill,” and the words " its ” changed to “ their.” Mr Knight accepted the amendment proposed by Mr Saunders.

Mr J, Gamraack seconded the amendment with great pleasure. One reason he had for wishing for delay, was that the present Assembly did not represent the people. Let them look at Mr Reeves, who was elected for Selwyn by 101 electors, while now there were over 900 on the roll, and Sir J. C. Wilson only represented his proposer and seconder, and he hoped next year he would not represent Heathcote. [Cheers] He considered beyond this that the proposal of the Government to give £1 for £1 to each Road Board was absurd. How was it going to be done in Auckland, where the land fund was £BOO or £BBO, and where they had no less than ninety Road Boards ? It was monstrous and absurd in the extreme, and could not be. He cordially seconded the amendment proposed by Mr Knight, although he did not agree with him always, [Cheers.]

Mr J. N. Tosswill said that as their member it was perhaps as well that he should give them his views on the question of provincial institutions. He was of opinion that in the early history of the colony provincial institutions were of immense benefit to them, and that the colonists owed a great deal of gratitude to them. Their railways, their tunnel, and their roads all showed how it had worked in the province. It seemed to him that the feeling against provincial institutions was mainly due to the municipalities, Christchurch, for instance, on the ground of the harsh manner in which they had been treated. 1 Hear, bear.] He must confess that he went into the Provincial Council a strong provincialist, but the last session convinc' d him that the sooner they were done away with and a simpler form of Government substituted the better. [Loud cheers.] It seemed to him that there was a great difference of opinion between people, and also the papers, as to what the effect of the Bill was. Therefore he said that, though in favour of the abolition of the provinces, it behoved them to see what they were going to put in their place, and therefore he asked them to consider the Bill carefully, and a delay would enable them to do this. While agreeing that the abolition of provinces should come, he might say that he did not agree with all that appeared in the Government Bills. As regarded the tabulated statement appearing in the Lyttelton Times, be had tested the figures, and he found them come out correct. Indeed he publicly said that the compiler of that table was entitled to the thanks of the public for the table he had compiled—[Cheers] —which had enabled people to see their way as to what the position of Road Boards would be. The PRESS had disputed the figures or the principle of them, but he found from a return of the income of the Lincoln Road Board for the last eleven years, that they had received £1875 during good times and bad, while under the Abolition Bdl they received £1044 with a 6d rate, so that there was nothing to be gained by the change. Then again [he would point out that the local Government Bill contained a provision for rating 2s 6d in the £ general rate, and 2s 6d in the £ for special rate, whereas the rate under the present system could not exceed Is in the £l. [Cheeis.] He contended that in many of the provinces it was a matter of impossibility for them to meet their engagements, and then they would have to be floated along on Treasury bills, which ultimately would have to be paid by the land fund of Canterbury and Otago. He said that as the population of Otago and Canterbury was half the population of the colony, they had a decided right to better terms than was offered to them by the Abolition Bill. It was for this reason that he said they should delay the Bill till next session so as to get those terms. [Cheers.] The present Parliament was a moribund one ; it was elected when the population was far less than it was now, many men not having had an opportunity of voting for it, and when they were about to initiate a new system, which they hoped would last for all time—[hear, hear] —obey should leave it over to be considered by all. He considered that the time of the provinces had come — [cheers] —but he hoped they would take time to consider the Bill. [Loud cheers.] He would, therefore, support the amendment. [Cheers.] Mr Saunders, who was loudly cheered on rising, said he was glad to see the meetings held throughout the province on this question. He rose on this occasion to support the amendment pioposed by Mr Knight,

because he trusted they would not commit themselves to Bills about which they knew very little, and that liHle was to take away their privileges as Ktiglishnun. They had superintendents, provincial secretaries, and others to pay, but they had no voice in their election, and therefore he said they gained nothing by the change, but on the contrary. [Cheers.] By losing their power to elect superintendents, they lost one of their greatest privileges—[hear, hear] —and lost that control over their affairs which they should have. He did not rise to advocate delay, because he believed the abolition of the provinces was accomplished, but when he came to contrast the two Houses he found the Provincial Council as bad as it could be, and the General Assembly worse, [Mr Saunders then proceeded to urge upon the meeting the necessity of carefully watching the next elections, and agitating for an increase of representatives for Canterbury in the General Assembly.] The chairman then proceeded to put the amendment, with the following result :

For the amendment ... ... 25 Against the amendment ... 6 Majority for the amendment ... 19 The amendment was, therefore, declared to be carried amid loud cheers. Mr J. Gammack moved—“ That the chairman forward the result of the meeting by telegram to Sir J. C, Wilson, M.H.R.” Mr F. Murray seconded the motion, which was agreed to.

A vote of thanks to the chairman, proposed by Mr A, P, O’Callaghan, and seconded by Mr Knight, closed the meeting.