Hawke's Bay Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MONDAY AND THURSDAY. MONDAY, AUGUST 19, 1867. NEW ZEALAND PARLIAMENT.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume XII, Issue 501, 19 August 1867, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MONDAY AND THURSDAY.

MONDAY, AUGUST 19, 1867. NEW ZEALAND PARLIAMENT.

“ X/i/Ihis mldirius jurarc in venha ninjisiriX

local gover.\jii:>:t bill. ( Curdin ucd,) Me Cox hoped that the request for the second reading being postponed t< Tuesday would be assented to by the Government, so as to enable honourable members to study the Till. At present, the hon. gentleman who had just sat down seemed to have a great advantage over the rest of the House, As he seemed perfectly acquainted with the provisions of the Bill. Either the present Bill must to a great extent be based on the Bill of last session, with which the hon. gentleman was largely connected, or else the Government had taken him into its confidence in tinpreparation of the present Bill. He himself had a very distinct recollection of what took place last session in re gard to the Bill then introduced. It \vas first introduced as a measure to apply to Otago only, and the whole ol the Otago men seemed pretty generally agreed as to the principles of tin-

measure required. but he did not think that it had been formally agreed to lathe Superintemieut and Council ul Otago ; or that in respect to Otago it was specifically declared that it should be only brought into operation at the request of the Superintendent and the Provincial Council. He had asked the lion, member for the Gold Fields whe ther the measure might not be made to apply to other Provinces, which were equally anxious to have such a measure passed, aud the hou. meutber

agreed that it should be extended to Canterbury. Ho [Mr Cox] had requested to be allowed to be present at the discussion of the measure by the self-constituted Otago committee. The measure finally agreed on by the bon. member and his friends had, however, come to an untimely end. Some appeal from the Provincial Councils was necessary, or else the House would not have been troubled with a Bill of 400 clauses. He thought the Bill was not one calculated to interfere with the functions of Provincial Legislatures. Mr Yogel said that much larger powers were to be given by the present Bill to the General Government than had been proposed in the previous Bill.

Mr Dillon Bell only desired to make one observation in addition to urging the request for the postponment of the second reading. He desired to know, as power was given to districts to levy rates to carry on public works, and to receive a portion of the territorial revenue, whether any provision had been made fur districts where the land funds had already been expended at the bead-quarters of the Province. If nor, he would ask the Government and honorable members to give their attention to that point before they made up tbeir minds regarding the Bill. It

would be a great injustice to a district —say Oamaru, not that lie intended to say that that district was a case in point, but merely as au illustration, —but it would be most unfair to Oamaru if, now that most of its laud revenue bad been spent, some adjoining district was to obtain separation from it, and receive the whole of its own laud revenue. It might happen that a district would be seriously injured instead of being relieved, if no provision was made as to the past appropriation of the territorial revenue, lie desired to record his dissent from the statements with which the honoraide gentleman at the head of the Government had closed his speech. The form of Government under which we lived was based on certain fundamental compacts, which permeated the whole course of existence here, and they stood there as the representatives of the people who had grown up under those institutions. If it turned out to be the case that the Bill did fundamentally alter the balance of power be» tween the General and Provincial Governments as heretofore existing, and proposed to make an organic change in the Government under which rhey lived, then it would not be sufficient to refer the question to the votes of the small districts. An organic! change of that kind ought to be submitted to the whole constituency ol the Colony before the House should consent to its adoption. He Loped lion, gentlemen would accede to the request that hon. members should have a lew mere days to consider the Bih with that moderation which the Go vernment had a right to claim at their hands.

Mr Campbell asked the Government whether they were prepared to lay or. the table a return of all the rateable property which would be affected by the Bill. It was utterly impossible to decide whether there should be two pounds to one given for the first five years, and one pound for the next five

years, unless such returns were before the House. He must tell the hon. member for Timaru that the Bill differed very much, from that previously introduced by the boo. member for the Gold Fields. That was a retrospective measure. He [air Campbell] then said that he would only support a measure that would give to districts, when nearly all the land had been sold, a large endowment of land.

Mr Fitzherbsrt said he did not rise ! to provoke discussion upon the principle of the Bill, but to reply to an observation made by the hon. member for Mataura [Air Campbell.] He would ask whether it could be regarded as an objection to the principle of a Bill of that magnitude, that it did not approach every difficult point, and there

were many, and amongst them, perhaps, the most difficult point that could be raised was that of retrospective account. Was there any reason in that why hon. members should not lend their aid for the good of the country at large in dealing with so difficult a subject ? But that omission was not a justification for opposition to the measure ; it was rather for hon. members in such a case to come iu and lend their aid. The only other point on which he [Mr Fitzherber;] need to remark, was in reference to the observation of the hon. member for the Guld Fields who had proceeded to explain the Bill at length, and it was really wonderful that in a measure with so many clauses that by taking it up in bis hand and looking at it merely for the period during which j the honorable gentleman at thei head of the Government was address-; ing the House, he should have made himself acquainted with the provisions of the Bill. But it was not wonderful that the honorable gentleman should, under such circumstances, have committed a blunder, and passed the very highest panegyric on the Bill which he stood up to oppose, The honorable member said that if this measure were brought into operation in one or two districts, it would extend to others, and they would never abandon it. That if once the distrits are permitted the opportunity to bring this Bill into operation, although they may smart under the pains and penalties of taxation, yet that the remedy supplied by the contributions in aid to the extent of two to one, out of the revenue, will alleviate the pain, and the exercise of the power of local management will create a new pleasure which will Ibe indulged in throughout the Colony land so become a permanent institution. Surely it was a droll kind of argument for an opponent of a Bill to say that if the districts once took it up they would never abandon it. And so the bon. member for the Gold Fields [Air Vogel] proposes to interpose bis name and influence to checkmate a healthy popular movement. But I warn him that, if the inhabitants of country districts should really consider some such [measure as the one now presented to [the house to be essential to their interests, and should really wish for its introduction among them, the tide of popular opinion will overwhelm him iu his attempt to baulk the districts of their purpose. Air Vogel assured the house the purport of what lie said was very different from that which the honorable gentleman had attributed to him. The second reading cf the Bill was fixed for Tuesday night.