FINANCIAL SCHEME OF THE GOVERNMENT.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 712, 11 August 1870, Page 2

FINANCIAL SCHEME OF THE GOVERNMENT.

The following is the speech— extracted ) verbatim from Haiimrd— of Mi W. H^ | Harrison, the member for the Westland *" ; Boroughs, on the financial scheme of the Government: — „. MrW. H. Harrison had desired to postpone addressing the House until he had received a petition from his constituent?, which, as he had been advised by telegram, was now on its way from Hokitika, . „, protesting against the scheme, arid he was anxious to kaow the grounds upon which . that protest was based. However, to prevent the debate lapsing, he would at once say a few words. The impression made on his mind by listening to the financial statement as delivered, had not been in ,\;. the slightest degree altered either- by, a * f careful reading of the statement or by;* jj. what had -been said during; the debate. He thought at first, and he still thought, that, surrounding an excellent principle,' ■ - and measures from which, in the abstract, no person, could dissent, thereinss a fog resulting from absolute speculativeness and from an absence of consideredness. He had come to the conclusion that the ' f scheme had beenhastily drawn vp — thatthe ••* Government, during the recess, had been influenced by opinions expressed at public meetings, in .the press, and by leading men- ; ; of different parties, and had so been coin-' pelled to recognise the .necessity of bringing forward some scheme— -which ought ;not, in fact, to have been delayed until; " 3 this session for; developing the resources ■' * of the Colony, and promoting its future welfare. He had Heard it urged, M answer to honorable members, w^o hjd.

opposed the Government with regard to ~ *Tfie~§chejne i being' drawn up hastily, that as far back, as Dctober last, before the Commissioners left for London, the Government had, in some form or .Other, had an idea of proposing to the House some such measure as they had now brought forward. At the • first blush he thought that if chat had been the case— if the Oovernment, at that remote period, had an intention of bringing forward a scheme of such magnitude as that which they had submitted to the House — the extremely speculative character of the calculations, and the other evidences with which the Bills themselves bristled, were strong proofs that the Government had drawn them up hastily, and were grounds why he should oppose them ; but it occurred to him as a very reasonable explanation of that, that the Government, although they did in October last contemplate a scheme of very large magnitude for colonising the country, they did not at that time contemplate the borrowing of money. He did not think that idea had been given expression to by hon. members, but he had arrived at that opinion from inferences drawn after read- . ing carefully over the papers, and exercising his own judgment, lie was inclined to believe that the Government did consider that they might carry out the measures on some such system as that of j guaranteeing a certain rate of interest to contractors, instead of borrowing i money. He was not prepared to say that the former plan would have - been better. He was not surprised at the magnitude of the scheme, for he was not one of those who doubted the resources of the Colony. He had not travelled, perhaps, as much as many honorable members through the Colony, but he had resided in it for many years, and during that time he had seen sufficient to convince him that there were few* parts of the world which could compare with New Zealand- I—with1 — with its actual resources and capacity for maintaining a large industrial population. Within the last three or four years he had had an experience which he thought was worth more than experience gained in any other part of New Zealand. He went a few years ago to a part of the Colouy which, up to. that time, had fig\ired on the map of New Zealand simply as a blank; and which was only known as consisting of rocky mountains covered with snow, and dense forest, and in a short time he saw not only a large development of 'its mineral resources, but parts of the hitherto wild region converted into cultivated land, bringing large profit and emolument, to the occupiers. He could quote, if necessary, cases where persons had taken up land there which had cost them L2O or L3O an acre to clear, and which had produced crops in the first or second season to an, extent which would awaken the envy of the agriculturists, not only of Otago and Canterbury, but of Canada and the United States. He knew himself of tracts of country there, which two or three years ago were nothing but a dense swampy forest, very uninviting for agricultural purposes, to yield within a few months after the land had been cleared, crops of potatoes from sixteen to twenty tons to the acre, and other produce in proportion. Therefore, having seen what the climate and soil was capable of doing, he was not one of those who disbelieved in the resources of the Colony. Nor did he believe that a large scheme inviting the borrowing of ten millions was too much for the Colony to undertake, but he did think that the scheme had been brought forward somewhat hastily. It did not appear to him to bear those evidences of careful consideration which a scheme of its importance ought to have received from the Government, and he did not think that it was receiving that amount of consideration at the hands of the Committee which it called for. It seemed to him that, whether by intention or otherwise, the Government had been successful in placing the members of the House in a dilemma. They were compelled to admit the legitimacy of the proposals on principle ; that is to say, the Committee were agreed on the grand question that immigration and public works were necessary for the salvation of the Colony ; but two-thirds of the speakers, at auy rate, whilst, admitting that principle, had. altogether dissented from the proposals of the Government Now, his own impression was,- that the Parliament and the country should have time to reflect and carefully consider the measures before giving effect to them. As to the question of railways, he thought that of all the countries in the world where communication was necessary, none needed it more than New Zealand ; at the same time, he did not think that ordinary roads should be done away with. Of course honorable members were aware of the extraordinary cost of making ordinary macadamized roads. He knew that in the County of •Westland a road of not more than fourteen miles in length was constructed at a cost of about L 14,000, and in six months' time was unfit for traffic. When he left Westland two or three months ago, a contract for the maintenance of that same road up to the beginning of next year was let for nearly L2OOO. If that road was to be maintained at such an enormous cost, it might for all practical purposes be shut up, as it was beyond the power of the district to maintain it. The same might be said of that costly work undertaken under the auspices of the honorable member for Heathcote— that groat colonial work, for it was one of the few colonial work's, of a road from Christchurch to Hokitika. Sixty or seventy miles of that road cost annually from LSOOO to L7OOO for maintenance, arid it was impossible to tell, from the peculiarity of the rivers, whether at any moment a large portion of it might not be washed away. In fact, only three weeks ago a considerable portion was washed away. He had also seen in Westland tramways, which he lopked upon as something similar to railways, carried through the forests at an exceedingly cheap cost, and ' maintained at a very moderate expense. Therefore, lie was undoubtedly of opinion that, as a means of communication railways wero the most desirable to adopt. The proposal of the Government to abolish the partnership between the Provinces and the General Government, with respect to the share in the consolidated revenue, he approved of on principle, and he thought the House was one on that question ;' but he must say that the Scale of allowance proposed by the Colonial Treasurer, and even the principle upon which he proposed to make that allowance, , would be found to be, as was stated by an honorable member, the other night, very difficult to i yrurk. There was no provision made for

the moving of population from one Province to another, which very often occurred. The proposals, if carried out, would be very unfair to the County of Westland. Although the Colonial Treasurer proposed an extra capitation allowance to that County of 5s a head, it would suffer a loss of L 13,000 a-year by the arrangement, while the neighboring Province of Canterbury would receive a benefit of close upon double that amount. He did hot say that Canterbury was not entitled to more than it received at present ; but he did say that there was no reason why Westland should lose L 13,000. He made a rough calculation, and found that the compulsory charges upon that district of the Colony would eat up the whole capitation allowance with the exception of some L3OO or L4OO. There was the large amount of interest they had to pay on their debt, the maintenance of their General Government departments, and their share in the maintenance of the road to Christchurch, all of which had to " be kept up. He hoped the Government would carefully consider this matter, and that in doing so they would bear it in mind the very enormous influence which the gold fields of the Colony had over its prosperity. It needed no argument from him to convince any member of the Committee or any member of the community that, bat far the &old discoveries whichhad taken place in INew Zealand, the Colony would have been in a powerless state ; and, indeed, he did think it was the duty of the GoA'ernment to pay more attention to those gold fields. He did not go so far as some honorable members, and say that they were the most important interest of the Colony, but he thought the Government ought to consider the enormous assistance they had given to the revenue, and not by an arbitrary mea- | sure, such as that proposed by the Colonial Treasurer, deprive a very important district such as Westland of the power to perform its proper functions with regird to opening up and developing the resources of the country. With regard to the question of the proposed alterations in the tariff, he did not intend to enter into any disquisitious on the subject of protection. He believed, from the general tone of the speeches of honorable members on this subject, that those alterations would at any rate be modified to a considerable extent. He could only say he was opposed to protection on principle — utterly opposed to it, as unnecessary. Industries proposed to be protected by the tariff enjoyed special advantages which of themselves ought to constitute the greatest protection against importations from other countries. With regard to the vote he would give, he recognised the danger which would exist in allowing the country to at once decide upon the proposals while, as had been said by the honorable member for Heathcotej the golden bait -was dazzling them *, but he vf ovild vote for the consideration of the measures, and ai the same time assure the Government that when the various Bills came on he would assist in so framing and moulding them so as to overcome the obstacles which had presented themselves to his mind. With regard to the expenditure, as proposed by. the Government, of L 200,000 on works in connection with water supply, he might state that the amount was ridiculously small. In the County of Westland alone, if the Government were to undertake works, which would supersede those at present in existence, or which could be supplied by the miners and local capitatalists, they should expend at least L20U,000 in. order to meet the requirements of the case. In" a report which had been furnished by a surveyor officially appointed for the purpose, it was stated that, for the requirements of Otago alone, L 200,000 would be required. The same might be said of Westland. Railways might be undertaken, and no doubt would prove highly beneficial to the Colony, but no works would be found so remunerative, and contribute more to the revenue of the Colony, than the construction of waterworks for the development of the auriferous resources of the Colony.