POST-SESSIONAL UTTERANCES

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 831, 21 February 1877, Page 2

POST-SESSIONAL UTTERANCES

MR. E. 0. J. STEV SNS AT CHRISTCHURCH.

Mr B. 0. J. Stevens, M.H.R, for the City, addressed his constituents at the Oddfellows’ Hall, last evening. The hall was not very well filled at the commencement of the proceedings, but the attendance increased as the meeting progressed. His Worship the Mayor occupied the chair. The Mayor said that this was a meeting called by Mr Stevens, in compliance with bis usual and annual custom. He (the Mayor), individually, was sorry to see so small an attendance, but it seemed to him also that it was a proof the public were well satisfied with what Mr Stevens had done for them. [Cheers.J There was no need for h m to make a long speech in introducing Mr Stevens, as that gentleman was so well known and respected amongst his constituents. [Cheers.] He would now call on Mr Stevens to address them. [Loud cheers.J Mr Stevens, who on rising was received with applause, said—Mr Mayor and Gentlemen : Considering the very important business which took place during last session, and considering also its extremely tedious duration, perhaps I shall best consult your convenience if, instead of giving you an exhaustive narrative in detail of what took place. I con fine myself to speaking of the results of what was done. Gentlemen, when you did me the great honor of electing me as your representative for this important constituency, you expressed yourselves on one or two ooints in a very clear and unmistakeable manner. One of those points —and one pf the most important—was the subject of the system under which the primary education of the country should be conducted, and the other one was the question of the abolition of the Provincial Governments of .flow Zealand, And now, gentlemen, with your pemißeioQi I wiU tafcs

the education question first. You were dis satisfied in an extreme degree with the then system upon which the primary education in this province was conducted, and you wished, as far as I understood, the ro establishment of the Board of Education which existed prior to the establishment of a Minister of Education. Well, gentlemen, I will toll you what was done last session. We simply reestablished the system of having a Board similar to that which had been previously in existence. We also abolished the household rate. I am exceedingly sorry I could not do as I wished to have done, and which many of those who took a great interest in educational matters in this province wished to be done—that was that the whole of the expenses of primary education should be placed upon the consolidated fund. But, sir, there was not enough money in the consolidated fund to do it, and we thought that the best thing we could do under the existing circumstances was to get rid of the oppressive household rate. The present system is to be brought to an end at the close of the current year, 1877. We expect next session to have a general Bill introducing a system of education all over the colony upon a basis which I hope will have some degree of permanency, and also be more successful than any Bill of the same character hitherto introduced into the House of Representatives. And now, gentlemen, let us pass on to speak of the subject of provincial abolition. Upon that point this coustituency expressed itself, if not more strongly, at least quite as strongly as any other constituency in the colony, and declared in the most unmistakeable terms its wish to see the provincial system cease absolutely. [Hear, hear.] Let us now see why you came to that conclusion I presume you did so upon a clear conviction, founded upon long experience of the evils of the system, and having made up your minds that it was time to sweep away the incubus of provincialism. Otherwise I cannot imagine it would have been overturned by weighty, almost universal, consent. It is sufficient to say that I should not have thought of standing before you as your representative if you bad taken any other view in the matter. I went up to the Assembly as a supporter of the abolition of the provincial system —a creed I have followed and have advocated many times before, and I felt that sooner or later it would press itself firmly on the minds of the people of this colony ; and, gentlemen, we have succeeded in getting the Abolition Act carried, and the Provincial Governments of the colony put an end to. And now I wish to speak to you without the slightest reserve upon this question. I cannot believe, in spite of what I have heard in some quarters and read in some journals published in different parts of this colony, I cannot believe that the bulk of the people wish that system to be reestablished. They have given it up—at least the very great majority of them have—and I know no reason why they should wish to have it returned to them in any shape. But there is certainly in some quarters an opinion that a modified form of provincialism would have been the thing to adopt, ano it is said even that it was the duty of the representa'ives of this part of Now Zealand, and one or two other parts, to hare attempted to get a modified form of provincialism, or " a greatly modified form ’’—that is, I think, the expression used. Well, gentlemen, we will reverse the old position of things, and now tkatthe Abolitionists have ceased to be on the wrong side of the hedge, perhaps we may ask them what they used to ask us when we desired to abolish the provincial system of government—to show us why. I am disposed very much to ask, why ? When the action of public men is complained of, and where it is believed by any section of the community that some other form of Government should be brought into operation, they ought to tell us plainly what the form of Government is, and in what respects it would be better ; and then they should ask us, and not befere, for an exposition of our particular views. Let us inquire why we should have it. Is there anything that renders it necessary for us to have a Provincial Government and an elected Superintendent ? If it is necessary for us, it may be presumably for all other parts of New Zealand, But, for my own part, I have not seen the slightest necessity for it, and I think there is no necessity for anything of the sort. Gentlercee, to pass on, the best and shortest way of coming to a conclusion on this point is to see what it is that requires to be done, and then we shall be able to see what departments there are which may in the intere.ts of the community be administered by the General Government, and what can be dealt with by local administration. Now with respect to the one great subject of education, I do not suppose that anybody will pretend to say that the system of education should bo centralised. 1 moan that the local administration of education should be taken away from us, and be centred in Wellington or any other place. We are clearly of opinion, I believe, every one of ue, that the administration of primary education should be of the most popular character, and I think that, so far as we have been able, wo have given it that character for the present. If it should hereafter ba the opinion of the country that the administration of the primary education of New Zealand shall be elective, there will not be the slightest difficulty in securing that state of things. We will now pass on to the other departments of importance, amongst others that of gaola and police. Now I really do not know why the gaola and police should be otherwise than most satisfactorily administered by a Minister of Justice in Wellington. I believe that will be found to answer every possible requirement of the public, and I believe that it will tend to a large amount of economy in many ways. I believe that instead of what has hitherto been so perceptible in the expenses of this department, there will be a great difference in the cost of the administration. Then comes the management of the railways. This, of course, is a most important department. Now what I wish lo say in this, that it appears to me that if the General Government were to be trusted, as you have trusted them, with the enormous power of construct ing railways from one end of New Z°alanri to the other, that when they have constructed them, they are also lit to be trusted with the working of them from year to year. If not, I utterly fail to see how they can rightly be trusted with so vast an expenditure, as well as so great a power and so onerous a duty, as you have devolved upon them by entrusting them withtho makiugof the railways. The same thing, in my opinion, will apply to the surveys. I know nothing more calculated to bring about a satisfactory state of the surveys of New Zealand than that the whole thing should ba placid under the control ol

some scientific, experienced, and competent person, who could thoroughly supervise the whole work. I care not whether he lives in Wellington or any other part, so long as he is fitted lor the position, [Applause.] And now', gentlemen, comes the question of harbors. Well, what we have done is this. Wo have established Harbor Boards, and in the case of Lyttelton, where there was an election a few weeks ago, there may be said to have been a very strong contest, and a great amount of interest was taken in the election, and it resulted in the election of a board of competent mercantile men who are able, in my opinion, to carry on the working of the harbor in a manner entirely satisfactory to the interests of the mercantile community and the com munity at large. We have also, so far as I understand, managed very well as regards the administration of other departments. But there is one department which, in my opinion, is not so well treated—at all events not permanently treated. It may be that for years we shall have to carry on the department I am referring to, under a system of inspecsion similar to that which I suggested to you last year at the general election, but which ultimately I do not think will secure the confidence of the public. I refer to the very important department of hospitals and charitable aid. Now, gentlemen, these have hitherto been under the administration of the Provincial Government, but last session Sir J. Vogel—who took what I may call the financial view of the question -in the course of his financial statement, said “ Here are these hospitals, a certain amount of expenditure is required on them, and we will, if you please, hand these over to local bodies, to be administered by committees.” Private benevolence was to be called upon, with the assistance of small sums from the Consolidated Fund. Well, gentlemen, I now venture to think that private benevolence is not the way in which poverty should receive relief. It appears to me that the proper direction which private benevolence should take is the relief of those cases of secret distress, which do not come out into the street to ask for aid. I think the people of this country will not require the invocation of Sir J. Vogel in asking them to come forward for such charitable purposes as these ; and therefore, sir, I objected altogether to handing it back to committees or municipalities, who I thought would be unjustly treated if they were charged with such onerous duties, for which they were not previously elected. I think it would be altogether an undue burden to cast on them and upon the localities. The County Councils and municipalities, I think, should not be hampered with the very unfavorable conditions that the expenditure of such funds will always entail. If there be a deficiency in the funds, there is no doubt this difficulty will have to be met. I do not wish to prejudge this question ; it is a very difficult one, and I am going to devote my most earnest attention to it. 1 believe the beat way in a short time would be for the Colonial Government to provide for the hospitals and charitable aid, keeping it within the proper limits. They must'not be allowed to be made a sort of hunting ground for persone who do not wish to earn their living, but at the same time they should be placed in such a position that there will be no danger of people being without proper assistance. [Loud cheers,] Possibly we shall have to consider this question from time to time, it may be from year to year. All I say is that I am not prepared to hand over to irresponsible persons the management of so difficult and so important a matter as that of providing for the sick and needy. [Hear, hear ] When I say irres poasible persons, I speak particularly of these committeetaof benevolence, who, in my opinion whatever their intentions, and they have always been of the best, have not been successful as administrators. If in the end it should bo found necessary to place this duly in the hands of municipalities and of County Councils, well and good. But, at present, everyone must view with great concern any attempt to thrust upon the municipalities and County Councils, who have hitherto had no experience in such matters, the difficult task of controlling and working the hospitals, and orphanage, and other institutionsof thatkind. Now, gentlemen, I want tosay a few words upon the subject of the county system. For some time before the policy of abolition was talked about everybody said that something would have to be put in its place, and it is assumed that what has been put into its place is the county system. I absolutely deny that the county system was intended to supply the place of the provinces. All I say is this, that it was intended to supply certain deficiencies and certain departments of local Government, I have gone through those particular departments seriatim, and 1 think you will say that wo have not left the County Councils a very great deal to do, and what is more, we do not intend to do so. We said these local bodies should be entrusted with the management of their own affairs in the way of local works, such as they are capable of administering to their satisfaction, and they should bo placed in possession of certain powers to receive revenue and administer it. Well, now we have given these counties within these limits a very considerable amount of power. They have charge of the county roads, and the power of raising ordinary rates, and also they have been allowed a very limited power of borrowing. That power is in my own judgment surrounded with the best safeguards you can have ; because should they wish to embark in any large expenditure such as would require the raising of a loan, they cannot do so without first taking the opinion of the |ratepayers. Well, that, I think, is a very great safeguard. It is one, it appears to me, that should lie at the root of self government. It is just simply this, that no special loan, as it is called, can be raised for any public works by the County Council without that Council has in the first instance called a public meeting of ratepayers, so that they cay express their opinion, either for or against, [Applause, j I may say that I should very much have liked to see the counties in this pro vince—l am only speaking of this province —rather fewer in number. We who represented constituencies in the Province ®f Canterbury consulted together on thesubject, ind my opinion was favorable to having three larger counties, and have more divi sion subsequently if necessary. But gentle men, in public life I have learnt this lesson that it is only a very small part of what you would like that you can get, and therefore ic the face of a general expression of opinion r -hat the counties ahonld be more numerous, I thought it my duty, as a public man. to give way. I must trouble you Jo listen to

me a minute or two]more upon this subject. The counties have endowments which, if in some oases they are but insignificant, in this province at all events are worth getting. I refer to the surplus land revenue, This revenue belongs entirely to the counties, who can use it in any way they please. Or if they prefer it, they may decline to bring tlv Act into force, and remain simply as distributing bodies for the purpose of dividing the revenue among the Road Boards. It is clear that they certainly have the power to do this, and to keep the Road Boards in existence under the Act as long as they please. I know that there is a sentiment favorable to keeping the Road Boards alive, and not merging them in the larger organisation of the county ; but whether it will continue or not remains to be seen. In other parts of the colony they have preferred to do otherwise in some instances. Gentlemen, before I pass on to another subject, let me say this: there are some people in this country who appear to think that there is a party of what they call Centralists. 1 believe I am supposed to be one of them. I think I have said enough to you to-night to show you I have no strong centralist tendencies. I am entirely favorable to the system of local self-government. I am entirely in favor of the local administration of education, and to the local management of harbors by elected Boards. [ Applause.] I ask you whether if we were really centralist, we should not rather have been anxious to centralise everything in Wellington, and whether we should have taken the course we have done with respect to the County Councils, who have got absolute power over the surplus land revenue’? I ask you whether we should have done that if we desired to leave the power in the hands of the General Parliament ? Certainly not. We should have striven to throw all revenue into one purse, and have left it to the General Legislature to make appropriations for every road or bridge, or any kind of public work whatever. That would be Centralism if you like. In saying this, I do not wish for one moment to spread the idea that I look to the county system as a great organism, or anything of that kind. It never was intended to be so. But it was to provide a certain amount of local government, and an absolutely independent body to determine what direction the expenditure of the land revenue should take. And, speaking from a local point of view, I ask you, where there is land revenue would it not have been exceedingly dangerous for us to have left it, in the case of this province as well as of Otago, to lie on the table of the House of Representatives, from whence we may be perfectly sure it would never have found its way back again. This point was always in our xnmd, : from the first day of the session to the last. [Cheers,] Of course, gentlemen, I am not inexperienced in these matters, and I am not going to travel over the ground that has been taken by previous speakers. In the last session of the General Assembly it was not sufficiently decided what should be done with the land revenue. I never said that the land fund was not the property of the province. In fact, I maintained that it was, and that any endeavour to divert it would accrue in a loss that Canterbury could not sustain. (Hear, hear, and cheers.) I have maintained that, and I ever shall, because it is according to the bargain of 1856. It is not with a desire to acquire popularity that I make this statement ; it is because I have always maintained that the land revenue should not travel out of the province in which it has accrued, according to tha compact of 1856. (Hear and cheers.) Now, gentlemen, I have come to a very troublesome question, and that is one which under ordinary circumstances I should not have cared to refer to. I mean the question of separation, that is, Sir George Grey’s proposal for financial separation. I will give you what I think of this proposition. It was proposed in the motion of air George Grey that the islands should bo federated, and that the South Island should bo called upon to pay £625,000 a year interest and sinking fund, while the North Island should only have to pay about £190,000. The proposition was not one which would commend itself to the sympathy of any one having anything to lose. [Hear, hear, and cheers.] I have looked about to discover what were the reasons for this proposal, and I come to the conclusion that the object was to alter the balance of political power, and to throw the chief power into the hands of Auckland and Otago. It happens that from their greater population and other circumstances, tho two extremes of tha colony possess superior power, and there can bo no doubt that, if those resolutions had been carried, Auckland would have become dominant in the one island and Otago in the other. This was not an agreeable prospect to tho representatives of Canterbury, We knew that a strong community of opinion existed | amongst us on the subject; but it was evident j that the question involved was financial j separation or provincialism, Provincialism, ! gentlemen, was not what you sent mo up to support ; therefore I could not, as your representative, do what perhaps was expected of me. As your representative, gentlemen, 1 was not going to put your neck under the heel of a tyrannical majority, [Hear, hoar, and cheers.] It was proposed by the leader of the Opposition that the sear of Government for the Middle Island should be in Christchurch, and tha fact of Christchurch having the necessary local expenditure was of course thought to be very tempting ; but I feel sure that, if the offer had been accepted, on the very first occasion when the Legislature of the Middle Island met, the members from Otago would have moved the seat of Government away to Dunedin, and then have turned round and laughed at us. By adopting Sir G. Grey’s proposals this island would have taken on itself a most egregious burthen out of all proportion to our means or our just demands. Of course, we should have had a certain amount of local revenue, but I found that the position of ourselves and our neighbors was widely different. I found that, considering all the charges imposed on tho land revenue, even the great province of Otago had a very little surplus, that Westland wan left with considerably less than nothing, and that the position of Nelson and Marlborough was nearly the same ; con scquently I concluded that if financial separation was effected, Canterbury would have everything to lose and nothing to gain. [Hear, hear, and cheers. | Seeing this, gentlemen, I opposed Sir George Grey’s proposals. In speaking of the doings of the late Assembly, 1 used the term " tyrannical majority” advisedly, and 1 did eu because 1 was the witness of one of the most humiliating states of affairs that it is possible for a public man to become witness of. Mr W»Bon, the boo ipember for Coleridge, iuire*

duced a Bill making provision as regards the future tenure of the pasturage leases. If you remember, we had the whole of tbn subject out at the elections in last Decembei twelve months, I took up the subject, anr gave it the best consideration I could. I said, “Do you want to throw these millions of sheep—the wealth of this province—on the market, and let them fetch what price they may ? Certainly not. What the people want is that the land shall not be locked up, but shall be always open for purchase to anyone who goes into the Land Office to buy. Meanwhile, until the land is sold, they wish that the best and most profitable use should be made of it, provided always that nothing is done which will at all nterfere with its being open for sale. All they require is that those who are allowed to occupy it temporarily, until it is wanted by purchasers, for pastoral purposes shall pay a sufficient price; and so long as this sufficient price is paid, the present holders of the licenses ate the best men to have the occupation of the land.” I expressed this opinion repeatedly during the election, at a large meeting in this hall and at meetings in every suburb of Christchurch, and never once heard a dissentient voice. Well, when Mr Wsson’s Bill was introduced, nearly all the representatives of Canterbury were against it, But the Opposition were seized with an extraordinary amount of interest in the state of the Canterbury land. Their speeches on the subject, and the emotion they displayed, were really quite affecting. They accused us of locking up all the land (though people were buying it as fast as ever they could) and of wishing to give the present holders of pasturage licenses a twentyone years’ lease—a thing which I need not tell you no one had ever dreamt of proposing, and they were particularly anxious that Mr Wason’s Bill should be postponed till the separation resolutions had been debated. Why they insisted on this delay has been explained by Mr Donald Reid. This, gentlemen, is the part of Mr Donald Reid’s address to his constituents to which I desire to call your attention. I will read you only a few lines of hia speech. He says—“ I wish to tell you here, in regard to these licenses, that the matter came up while the question of abolition was under consideration. When the separation resolutions —as they were called—came up—but they were not separation resolutions at all—they were federation resolutions, the party with which I have been acting interrupted business in order to get delay, and when 1 asked why there should be delay I was told that this was made a lever with which to move votes.” Gentlemen, I wish to call your attention specially to these words—“ a lever with which to move votes” Mr Beid continues :—“ I scorn such an argument as that, I am glad to say that the Canterbury members, though I differed from them upon many political questions, were actuated by far higher motives than that, and they, in their turn, declined to have the rate of assessment to be paid on their licenses extended to them upon such terms.” Very well; now, gentlemen, this is exactly what I meant just now when I used the term “ tyrannical majority.” It shows very plainly what we had to expect if we had placed ourselves in their power. It simply meant this, that they would use our land revenue in other parts of the colony in order to get votes, Railways would be made here and there, and used as a lever to move votes. Gentlemen, you may rest assured of this, that while your interests remain in my hands, so far as I can help it you will receive no injury, [Cheers. J I would like now to say a few words on the present state of our finances, I will not detain you longer [than I can help, but it is my duty I conceive as your representative to speak to you on this subject. Ido not intend to deluge you with figures, nor to refer to them any more than is absolutely necessary to make perfectly clear to you what I want to convey. I say this because if any one of you requires information you need not fear troubling me to give it to you at any time, as I look upon it as being the duty of a representative of the public in this country to be troubled. [Laughter and cheers.] The state of the Consolidated Fund of the colony, gentlemen, at the present, is such as to give rise to considerable anxiety ; not that I believe for one moment that the resources of the colony are in any danger of financial collapse, but still when you have heard the facts I purpose to put before you, 1 think you will agree with me that the time has coma when it is necessary that wo should draw in our horns somewhat. [Hear, hear.] 1 have all the particulars here, having taken considerable time to trace the matter out, but I will only trouble you with the results. The past proceedings of the colony in respect to loans and everything else connected with its expenditure Ims been such as I feel certain would have brought any less favored country to its knees. 1 said some time ago that in regard to our expenditure, we were going on in a similar manner to the prodigal son, and that ere long we should have to subsist on the husks ; and the statement I then made was not contradicted. So far from this being able to bo done, the public records now prove, beyond doubt, that we have carried on in a headlong manner, and that because—more particularly in this province —wo have kept up the outward semblance of prosperity we have allowed things to go on in almost any way. We have borrowed money at a ra"o dearer than any other colony, and though the rate of interest paid upon our loans may not perhaps seem to be ruinous compared with that of other countries, our credit is not as good as theirs. The sooner the public is made aware of this fact the better. The state of the consolidated revenue in regard, to our expenditure, I would desire to point out is not good, in that there is no balance in it. I expect when we go up to Wellington next year to find that there is no balance left at all, but on the contrary a, considerable deficit. I think the Treasurer, careful as he is—and I give him every credit for stating no more than he believes, to bo the fact--has overstated the customs’ revenue by I think cot Ices than Bol'.OOO, The reason of the want of balance is that we have gone iu at such a pace to make railways in all directions, that when the statement was made by Major Atkinson last ses sion we had railways on which an expenditure of three millions had to be incurred in course of construction which were not returning us a single shilling. And hero lei mo say a word or two with regard to the using of the land fund for these works, bir Julius Vogel proposed that the land fund should be made to support bis scheme, and I disagreed with him. But this is by the way. ( o be continued. )