The Lyttelton Times. Saturday, Oct. 6.

Lyttelton Times, Volume V, Issue 306, 6 October 1855, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times. Saturday, Oct. 6.

Saturday The following letter from Mr. Sewelii to His Excellency Col. Gore Browne has been forwarded to Auckland by the " Zingari." We feel confident that on an investigation of the real state of the case, His Excellency will see fit to rescind the orders transmitted by the General Government with respect to the distribution of the Land fund. We trust that so gross a breach of faith on the part of the old Executive as has just been perpetrated, will induce the Representatives who may he sent up from this Province to the General Assembly to examine the history of the present Executive; with a view to discovering which they deserve most at the hands of the colony —pensions or punishment. Dear Sir,—l trust your Excellency will pardon me for troubling you in this direct manner on a matter of public business. Your Excellency will remember the question raised during the late Session of the Assembly as to ceitain alleged balances due from the Provinces of Canterbury and Nelson. In making up the accounts with those Provinces, the Auditor-General calculated that certain amounts (had been overpaid to them, and, on the strength of suc^ calculations, rescinded virtually (of his own" authority) the rule which had been paid down and acted on by the Government, and assented to by the General Assembly, viz., that the Provinces should receive by way of current advance half the net amount of their Land fund. The case made by the Audi-tor-General was this. He said, *' You, the Provinces of Canterbury and Nelson, have received more than your proper shares of Revenue, and you must at once refund." The principle involved in this proceeding appeared to me—l may say to everybody else interested in maintaining the efficiency of the Provincial Governments—dangerous in the extreme. If, upon mere suggestions of this kind, the finances of the Provinces

can be suddenly deranged, without appeal, the sooner they put an end to their operations the better ; and my principal aim in the last Session of the Assembly was to counteract as far as I could this mischievous principle, one destructive, as I think, of all safety of action on the part of the Provincial Governments. The objectionable character of these proceedings was aggravated in the present case by special circumstances. It has the aspect of a breach of faith. It is in direct contravention of Sir George Grey's regulations, on which all the financial arrangements of the Provinces were based, up to the 30th June, 1854. Looking at it in any point of view, the alleged overpayments were made by the Government with its eyes open. I pointed out to the House of Representa- *" fives from official documents, which admit of no misinterpretation, that the error, if error it was, was the deliberate error of the General Government, and I urged the injustice, to say nothing of the impolicy, of suddenly correcting such an error by the total suspension of all further payments to the Provinces from their Land fund, the only source of local improvements. It was just as if a careless guardian had erroneously paid to his ward more than he was entitled to, and then suddenly brought him to a state of ruin, by suspending his current income to recoup the blunder. Looking to the Provincial Governments, as I do, as departments of the General Government, there seems to me a kind of fatuity in such a proceeding. Suppose, by mistake, too much money had been paid for the service of any particular department in any given year. Would it be tolerated as an act of Government that the whole service of that department should be suspended until the overpayment were corrected ? I think not. If the fact,he, that Canterbury has bten overpaid, I think, and .the house of Representatives thought, that the error should be adjusted by some plan of repayment not interfering with the current service of the Province. But the case does not rest there. In point of fact, the accounts on which a debt is made to appear against Canterbury and Nelson are, I am bound to say, fallacious in the highest degree. The House of Representatives came to that conclusion. Your Excellency will see from the Report of the Finance Committee the views they entertained asj to Dr. Knight's accounts. If those accounts were truly made out according to the Provisions of the Constitution Act, it is my belief that nothing whatever will be found due from these Provinces. On the contrary, I am strongly inclined to think that money is due to them from the General Government. But the accounts have yet to be properly made up, and I may add, my own conviction that nothing will satisfy the Provinces but a completely independent audit. The Provinces will not be, as I believe, satisfied with Dr. Knight's calculations. Without any imputation whatever upon his personal integrity, there is a general suspicion throughout the Colony, that there has been great improvidence and a total disregard of all legal rule in the public expenditure, and Dr. Knight, as the financier of the Colony, is looked to as the responsible officer. The colony will not, lam sure, be contented to leave the adjustment of accounts in his hands. I anticipate that one of the first acts of the New Assembly, and of a Responsible Government will be to constitute some new mode administering the finances of the colony. %,"' Such were the views entertained I know by a majority of the House of Representatives in the last Session. I may say that they have been confirmed and adopted by all the leading men with whom £ have conversed in the Southern Provinces since I left Auckland. In this state of things, foreseeing the difficulties on the one hand likely to arise if the Land Fund of Canterbury and Nelson were continued to be suspended, and, on the other hand, seeing the necessity of providing means for the General Government at once discharging the claims of the other Provinces, I proposed in the House of Representatives a vote of credit to Your Excellency to the extent of £30,000, which the House agreed to. Having thus aided the Government in meeting its claims, the House of Representatives is, I think, entitled to claim at the hands of the Government a proper consideration of the reso-

lution to which it came, as regards the alleged balances from Canterbury and Nelson, I will state plainly, that I hold it to be matter of good faith with the House that this resolution shall be respected. On the 13th of September, the House, after a full debate, and a division (I believe) of 11 to s—decided5 —decided that, in its opinion, the embargo laid oh the Land Fund of Canterbury and Nelson should be taken off, pending the final adjustment of accounts. That resolution was communicated to Your Excellency by address in the usual way. Two days before I left Auckland, I heard a rumour that it was the intention of the Government to disregard the resolution of the House. The House was prorogued, and no action could be taken. This step did appear to me in the nature of a defiance of the House. I called on the Colonial Secretary with Mr. Travers. We were shown the memorandum of the Auditor General, instructing the Commissioners of Crown Lands of Canterbury and Nelson to send up instantly the whole of their Land Fund. We had a conference thereupon with the Colonial Secretary, aud the acting Attorney-General. We pointed out to them what we considered to be the impropriety of such a step. After a full and amicable discussion, they retired and took counsel together. On returning, they assured us that the obnoxious instructions should be countermanded, and that they would, so far as thej were personally concerned, recommend your Excellency to act upon the Resolution of the House. In full reliance on this, I forbore to make a personal appeal to your Excellency. At Nelson, I found that the instructions had been countermanded; I took itfor granted that the same rule had been followed as regards Canterbury. Your Excellency may judge of my surprise at finding, on my arrival here, that instructions have been transmitted to the Commissioner of Crown Lands of this Province, in disregard of the Resolution of the House, peremptorily to transmit to Auckland the whole Land Fund of the Province. May I pray your Excellency to give this matter your personal consideration, with the view of setting matters right ; and will you pardon me for adopting this somewhat irregular method of address ? IThe case is one in which the Province would look to your Excellency as an arbiter between it and the old official Executive. I have the honor to be, &c. Henry Seweli.. Lyttelton, Oct. 5, 1855.

We are. requested by the Government to state that the Land Regulations and the Census Ordinance having been disallowed by his Excellency, will again be proposed to the Provincial Council in the course of the ensuing Session Tor amendment in conformity with the views of the General Government.