The Globe. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1878.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1419, 2 September 1878, Page 2

The Globe. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1878.

The municipal body of the newly created borough of Rangiora is intensely disgusted at tho action of the Government in tho matter of the borough reserve. Relying in a childlike manner upon clause 350 of the Municipal Corporations Act, which permits the Government to reserve 2000 acres as an endowment for every borough, and upon the further fact that some civic bodies had obtained reserves to the full amount lawful, the fathers of Rangiora :isked for a reserve of the full area, and were simple enough to expect to get it. Their disappointment therefore is great, and their wrath at the Ministry bitter because the latter have awarded only a small portion of the demand. From northern papers we learn that a similar fato has befallen tho application of tho borough of Parnell, save that in that ease the Council applied for a choice slice of the Patutahi block, and obtainod a pieco in a desolate region far away from tho haunts of settlors. A like misfortune has also befallen the town o£ Gisborno. Of tho troubles of tho Sydenham municipal body on this same subject it is iieedless to dilate, as all our readers are doubtless acquainted with tho circumstances. It seems further that, undeterred and unenlightened fey the sad examples of blighted hopes referred ic, tho people of Ashburton cherish tho expectefcjon of obtaining the whole grant of •2000 mvefi as a municipal rosorvo, and at tho meeting of candidates last week ono of them went so tan a* to take into consideration the probaUw income to bo obtainod from cutting #p nad lotting tho reserves. Wo fear that Ashburton #)so will have to chew tho cud of in this matter. Other boroughs there are, uo doubt, which have selected or would wish ty to tho full area permitted by law, but the instances we have quoted should .be 1 sufficient to convince them of the vanity of municipal hopes, *nd load to some incredulity of their success Wo have no desire to do anything but sympathise with tho bad fortune which has attended the well-meant efforts of the several boroughs alluded to, and it may be admitted that at first sight they do appear to have suffered a hardship in comparison with their eldor brethren of the municipal family, who made their selections and obtained their reserves* at m earlier date.

But much though wo might wish to tako part with the boroughs against tho Government, wo really cannot sco that tho cas of tho former is a good one, or that tho Ministry have acted harshly in the mattor. Had there been a suspicion of favoritism, and boroughs in Ministers' pot districts boen better treated than those in parts of tho colony which are supposed to bo in disfavor with tho present Cabinet, there would have boon fair reason for a growl. But tho facts do not give tho slightest ground for any such imputation, while they clearly do indicato that tho Ministry aro acting upon a well-defined and, we think, reasonable principle. Tho words of tho Act aro that "it shall bo lawful for tho Govornor in Council upon tho request of tho Council of any borough from timo to time to reserve any of tho waste lands of tho Crown within tho provincial district in which the borough, is for tho purpose of granting tho same to tho Corporation of tho borough; but tho total quantity of laud so granted shall not exceed one hundred acres of land within tho borough, and two thousand acres of land in any other part of such district." Tho next clause provides that a description of all lauds so reserved is to bo laid before Parliament in the session following the reservation, and unless both Houses by resolution disapprove thereof, tho Governor may, after tho conclusion of the session, grant such land, "or so much thereof as ho thinks fit," to the Corporation. From which it appears that even aftor tho Government has once made a reserve, and the Houses have tacitly approved of it, there is no compulsion upon tho Ministry to grant it. And tho fact that such a discretionary power was given, shows that tho Legislature fully contemplated the possibility that thero might bo good reasons for not granting the largest possible area in every case. Wo may go further —and this is, wo believe, the principle upon which tho Government are acting—and affirm that it is unreasonable to suppose for a momout that the Legislature intended all civic bodies to be placed on the samo footing, and to make grants of equal amount alike to the largest and tho smallest borough, or (as perhaps it would bo moro correct to say), to the borough containing tho most, and that containing tho fewest inhabitants. Of course it may bo argued that many small towns of today will in a few years outrun thoso which are now considered largo, though in truth there is not a large town in New Zealand, and that in view of this future, the Ministry should deal with the allocation of reserves. On the other hand it must be urged that thero is equally good reason for supposing that many of the present country towns have beon unwisely created, and that as means of communication improve, they will dwindle to mere hamlets. The Ministry can but deal with the facts as they exist now, and on these facts it would clearly show their unwise administration of tho public estate if they gave as an endowment to evory little village that chose to assume municipal functions, the extreme area of land which they are permitted to give to the largest city. But apart from the argument of justice above advanced, it must be borne in mind that to dissipate the public estate now by indiscriminate grants of endowments, whether to boroughs or other local bodies, would be an infraction of tho main principle of that policy which the Government nave just laid before the country. That principle is that the State as a whole shall reap the benefit of the increased value put upon the Crown lands by the progress of the public works in the colony. It is reasonable to suppose that this policy was not matured in a day, and that in refusing recent applications for endowments, the Government have acted upon the policy which they announced in the Public Works Statement. The indirect benefit which tho towns of the colony will derive from the public works in question will be infinitely greater than the direct revenue which thoy would obtain from the reserves for many generations hence, supposing tho public works were not constructed. These benefits will not fall to the share only of thoso towns situated on the lines of new railways. A greatly increased population, production, and trade will have a material influencein developing and enriching eveiy town in the colony. The new comers will not necessarily settle down in the neighborhood of the new works. The supplies for thoso, and the contractors who undertake them will be drawn principally from towns now existing. Thus a large proportion of the money set afloat will go to promote the trade of those towns, and will, as we have said, be infinitely more influential upon their welfare than the incomo from a reserve. On this question, thorofore, we must say that it appears to us ths present Ministry have taken a wise stand, and it is matter for congratulation that it has been taken thus early. If the precedent of granting the full endowment to every borough that choso to select it and to prof er the request, had beon once established, there would soon have been a very material diminution in tho area of public lands available for sale, New boroughs aro being established day by day, and thero is no reason for doubting that the rate will increase instead of diminishing in the future.