LYTTELTON COLONISTS' SOCIETY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume V, Issue 254, 7 April 1855, Page 4

LYTTELTON COLONISTS' SOCIETY.

We give below a more detailed account of the meeting of this society to consider the bill for the Incorporation of the Town of Lyttelton. The President opened the proceedings with a few introductory remarks, after which Dr. Donald rose to propose the following resolution— <;Tbat this meeting, though disapproving of many of the details of the Government plan for

a Municipal Corporation for Lyttelton, yet desire to express their dpinibii that the establishment of local Government is calculated to advance the interests of the town." He said that itwaslrom no affectation, nor, to use an accustomed exordium, that he began by statingthat it was with relhctinice he took part in the discussion that evening-, as he would ratherihave^eard iheopihions of others than expressed his own. question for that evening divides itself into two pavts-^—lst, is: a municipality desirable? 2nd, how far the Government measure would do f The Colonists': Society had three times decided on the advisability of municipal institutions in meetings numerically well attended, and he asked them to confirm that opinion to-night by a concurrent vote. He said that executive, not legislative functions were sought for to carry put existing enactments, and not to frame new ones, instancing the slaughter house bill, .weights and measures, fire prevention, and many others^ with which the iuterfe- . rence of Government in detail was impertinent! and uncalled for, and much better managed by a board elected by and from the inhabitants. He acknowledged many absurdities and errors in , the proposed that its transcendentalism ;vould render it inoperative, but urged that this was no argument against municipal institutions in the abstract. He ridiculed the leader of the Lyttelton Times, stating that the : powers conferred might be construed to extendto making peers and prelates, because such functions were possessed by certain corporations sole. He quoted Blackstone and others who had given the incidents of corporations, which, were confined to some very few powers, some 5' at most 7, and consisted [as far as we followed the speaker] in the power of perpetual succession, of having common seal, of pleading and being impleaded by corporate namej of framing byelaws, and possessing property when not prevented by statute of mortmain. He begged the meeting to remember that satire was not argument, and concluded by 'expressing an opinion that many necessary improvements to the tbwn could only be carried out by local management, and proposed the resolution above-mentioned. Mr. Fyfe seconded the resolution. -' Mr. Sewell asked whether it was intended to propose additional resolutions. He thought it desirable that the opinion of, the inhabitants should be elicited as to the exact points on which they differed from the government measure. Mr. Dampier looked upon this bill as apiece of cumbrous machinery uncalled for in its present shape, atthis ea,rly stage of the colony, the Government not having intimated any intention of assigning to the corporation any property for ."the improvement of the tbwn:: After drawing -attention to the main; objects of the measure, Mr. D. contended that it was in fact, no other than a bill to enable the inhabitants of Lyttelton to tax themselves in an agreeable form, to rid the General Government of appeals in aid from Lyttelton, to oust them } from that share of the monies which Lyttelton was entitled to expect and to have expended there, to fix upon Lyttelton the construction of its own public works for the future, not merely to niaintain them, but to construct them in the first place also. The only return Lyttelton was to obtain for such favour was to be the bauble of a corporation, the establishment of an imperium. in imperio, without '.property to maintain it. He (Mr. D.) did not yet believe in the potters o f the Provincial Council to establish such corporations. He believed municipal corporations could only be created by express exercise of the Royal prerogative or by act of Parliament, to which the Royal Assent had been givenVand that the Officer administering the Government in New Zealand was'not specially empowered to give the Crowu's assent to any charter or ordinance of Municipal {Incorporation passed by the ProvinciaHCouncil. Assuming, howevery for a moment, the power to exist, where was the corporate property which all this expensive machinery was to manage? He (Mr. D.) had once considered that a corporation for Lyttelton with a sufficient corporate property might be made greatly advantageous to the colony at large, and .would ultimately raise the port of Lyttelton to a high position, but it wasonHhe supposition that the corporation be invested with property such as reserves in and round the town that now were called the Association's property, and the Crown Lands lying between the public streets and high and low water mark, within'tale Town boundaries, which though' now compafa~ * lively of little value, are "yet capable of being "converted into very valuable property by judi-

cious management, and with powers enabling the corporation "to borrow tnohey^ffor such improvements. But what was this -bill in reality ? it was but the shadow without the substance ; the substance was to come out of the -pockets of the Lyttelton people, who were to rate themselves f«»r the general advantajje of the colony. It seemed, too, as if the Government finding that law-making was rather more difficult than they had anticipated, it now proposed that the Town Council should do a little law-making for themselves ; a fine specimen of law-making was to be found at clause 61, by which a variety of useful Ordinances are professedly repealed, so far as they were contrary to or interfered with the operation of any byelaw of the Town Council (such byelaw by the bye not yet having come into existence). Repealed, or not repealed, that's the question. This clause when contrasted with section 34 would rather puzzle the learned Borough Magistrate, who would find on reading it, that the byelaws too are declared by the proposed bill to be without force if contrary,io ordinances existing ;so mutatis mutandis, would be of any force. This certainly appears very extraordinary legislation, and one would be inclined to say, very like an Irish bull; possibly, however, he (Mr. D.) might be mistaken in his construction of these knotty clauses. He certainly had not given them.very great study. He (Mr. D.) objected to the resolution before them, because it implied a desire to have corporation of. some kind, though without lands or property to maintain its expensive machinery. He thought in a new colony a corpoiation without a corporate property to improve, would be found an expensive plaything. He should be glad to hear the discussion proceed,, but his mind whs rather to oppose the motion than support it. -. - Mr) Hamilton could not agree with; a resolutionW vague and indefinite: it did not touch the ral question whether we would accept or reject lie Government bill. He would go straight to thaiquestion by a short and distinct resolution, aid at once take the opinion of the meeting. le would move, "Tlit the bill laid before the Province by the Pil'incial Government does not meet with the appval.-of this ineeting." He ha .the strongest possible objection to the bill. AMefone was that the question was now pendin in the Supreme Court of New Zealand whethe the Provincial Councils could create municii.l corporations. Till that question was decidedthe Government were wrong in bringing on ; here the risks of litigation. He was not a layer, but it was a point for lawyers to decide nether the granting of Municipal institutions 7as not a special prerogative of the crown, might it be doubted whether the Pro npial Councils could confer a charter, when it ;as found necessary in the Constitutiou Act by «press words to authorize Her Majesty to do so This Bill was to delegate nearly all the povrs the Provincial Government itself possesse He considered that the government was qu 2 equal to the fulfilling every one of those fustions it proposed to devolve upon the corporal hi. The population of Canterbury was about 4 )0. The government cost above £5000 a year. If that sum would not maintain a machinery equal to the wants of the Province, £20;00i would not suffice. It hud been suggested thai municipalcorporations were fine things to inter jse as"huffers" between thegovernment and th people. But the nearer the people could gjt to the government the better it would be for Sera. The government, in the person of its officrs, should be approachable by all without inqnveiiienee. It was so in Mr. Godley's time wjien lie w.-is administering our affairs. The tajation of the people was already heavy enousm: it /was already £2 per head. The male aailt population of Lyttelton might be taken atjthree hundred. Were we to tax them for mulicipal purposes at £l per head, the increase irould be excessive ; yet all wecould hope to raisj was£3oo a year. To expend that sum well aid judiciously we should require a professioml man with a salary of at least £300 a year vvien employed :so that.-of .the sum raised we shaild pay away at least £100, in applying the reriiiining 56200. What would £200 do for us ? Hie corporation would have no funds from the Piblic reserves if conveyed to them. They were jet on lease already for years to come : and. the Pfovinciul government would be far better employed in doing the work of a corporation than in drawing such bills as this for the Council tq waste its time upon. We did not'want so warij new laws : if the Council make but oue a

year that will be quite as much as they would make well. The Lyttelton people had better be careful of accepting the power to tax themselves. They were entitled to a share of the public funds as much as any other place: but they would never get any when their demand could always be met, as it would be, by a recommendation to tax themselves. He felt certain his amendment would readily find a seconder. Mr. Scott seconded the amendment. Mr. At.poßT opposed the amendment. He regretted to find that some persons objected to the people of Lyttelton having the administration of their local affairs: yet how little benefit does Lyttelton derive from the enormous sum of money expended in the government of the province? The streets of Lyttelton were a disgrace to the province, particularly London and Oxford streets. The Executive Council would not pay attention to these small matters; it must be done by a,local board. Mr. Alport tlren referred to the duties the corporation would have to perform, and concluded by reminding the people of Lytteltou that the jetty was in a state of decay, and although 40Z had been voted by the Provincial Council for its repair, yet no steps had been taken by the Executive to carry out the vote. Mr. Seweix objected to Mr. Hamilton's amendment on the ground that it did not raise the real question at issue. His resolution merely expressed disapproval of the government measure, but the tendency of the speech was against any measure for establishing a local management of their affairs. He himself did not approve of a great deal of the proposed bill, but he thought it necessary to have some local management at least of such matters as the making of footway's, repairs of roads, removal of nuisances, &c; things which did not in his ■•opinion' -concern- the Provincial Council, and which the Superintendent and Provincial Government could not and would not attend to. ' Mr. Dampier supported the amendment, as it put the question in a more proper shape than the original resolution. An expression of opinion upon the measure before us was the business of the meeting, and that was unmistakeably the purpose of the amendment. The original resolution partially negatived the measure, and went out of the way to declare what was simply an hypothesis, that every one admitted that local self-government was desirable. The real question then is, Does this bill before us entitle it so far to our approval ? does it contain the elements we require, so that we may reasonably hope to amend it ? does it propose to confer upon the corporation any propei'ty to manage, or is there any intimation that they will ? He. saw none. There is within the limits which the Bill is intended to describe, property which ought to be handed over to the corporation for the improvement of the town, and for the benefit of the whole colony ; this might be rendered productive, so that it-would maintain the corporation anJ provide for the extension of the "trade of the whole colony. The bill provides ample machinery to manage lands, but there are given to it no lands to manage. Until a corporate property is assigned to the town, there can be no need of a corporation to manage it. Rating and taxing yourselves, if you are prepared to do it, may be effected by more equable means than by a corporation. Let a. corporation be once established, and upon the first application for a vote in aid of any public works, you will be told, "Gentlemen, you have the means in your own hands, tax yourselves." Mr. D. concluded by stating that he should vote for the amendment. Dr. Donated rose to reply. He said that Mr. Darapier had raised two windmills for the pleasure of running a tilt at them afterwards. The first was byelaws, the other .expense. He surely "need not remind him as a lawyer that bye-laws necessarily were confined to the sub-, jects on which corporations had special powers conferred, and were limited in operation unless otherwise specially provided for to the members of the Corporation themselves. As regarded expense the argument was an entire fallacy, as all or nearly all the proposed functionaries were unpaid officers. He complained of the ad captandum argument of an appeal to the breeches' pockets. Tf certain improvements were desirable, they should be carried out, and if carried out they must be puid for, and it remaiued in every special case to decide whether from the general revenues, or local assessment, and even when drawn from the general revenue he preferred local supervision of the disbursement. The chairman having called for a show of

hands, the amendment was adopted almost unanimously. ■ Mr. SEWEiiL then proposed very briefly the following resolution, which was seconded by Mr. White. , " That in the opinion of this meeting it is expedient that some measure should be adopted; for establishing a simple and inexpensive machinery to provide for the local wants of the town." ■ Mr. Dampiee spoke against the resolution, again urging that until they had a corporate property to manage they needed no corporation. Upon a show of hands, the resolution was adopted by a large majority. After a vote of thanks to the chairman, the meeting separated.

To the Editor of the Lyttelton Times. Sib,— A few of the cattle owners in and near the town of Christchurcb, have been complaining in the Standard of the[Catile Trespass Ordinance, and urging our Provincial Council for au alteration in it, that will allow their cattle to eat their neighbours' cabbages. One correspondent signing himself an "Arbitrator under the Ordinance "was so fully and truthfully answered, by "Anti-Humbug" and as I am myself also aware who Mr. "Arbitrator " is, and knowing his case, I think it would be mere waste of time to notice his letter. Another cowkeeper signing himself" Hawthorn" has also complained in. the last number of the Standard, but his letter like the Arbitrator's is not worth notice. I think it is a pity that correspondents ate not obliged to sign their proper names to their productions, then if that was the case, they would be obliged to keep a little within the bounds of the truth, and not write at random such false assertions! The gentleman who framed that Ordinance is proud of it; and he has good reason to be prorid, for it indeed has been a boon: and I feel convinced he would resist to the utmost any endea. your of a particular class from setting it aside. It may and will be tried to be altered in the next session of the Provincial Council, for two or- three of the newly elected members are galled with the 6th clause of that Ordinance ; "and wilM am certain set that clause aside if they can ; but let me assure them the eyes of their constituency will be open. Their principal argument is, that the present law encourages bad farming, or in other words farming without feueing, but that is all humbug ; for no matt in his senses would delay his fencing longer than obliged for his own sake, not merely for saving his crops from his.neighbours' cattle, but for the proper drainage of his land, which is of the utmost imporiance to him. The question is, Does the present Cattle Trespass Ordinance gall any class? Yes, I answer, it does. It galls a hungry few, who crop every inch of their land —extract every drop of sweat out of their cattle by day, aud then they are galled because their neighbours' cabbages are protected at night. In conclusion, I would add that it is my opinion the present Ordinance is sound, and I think 1 am justified in that opinion by the very letter brought against it. I am, Sir, yours &c, ••: ■ ■ ■ ■ .'-. - M. :. '