The Lyttelton Times. Wednesday, July 16.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VI, Issue 386, 16 July 1856, Page 6

The Lyttelton Times. Wednesday, July 16.

The main features of the financial policy of the Stafford Ministry,*as expounded by Mr. Sewell on the 10th June, are : the adjustment of the public burdens of the Colony; the provision of means to meet present liabilities; and the creation of a capital fund for the extinction of native title over the Waste Lands. These are all objects of primary and vital importance to New Zealand. They were all left unprovided for by Mr.fFos. Without an equitable adjustment of the public burdens, it would be impossible to fix the amount payable by each Province lo the (.General Government. At any rate, any arrangement made without such adjustment would be merely temporary, and, therefore, under -existing circumstances, mischievous. It is only of late that we have learned to what an extent our present liabilities have swelled; it is evident that, when called upon to meet them, any hesitation or delay on our part would be fatal. Where our incumbrances are large in proportion to our revenue, our credit is doubly valuable. The emergencies of New Zealand are only temporary, but we must raise m-mey to prevent their immediate pressure from crushing us. With respect to the Waste Lands in the North which are yet in the bauds of the Natives, we have a second edition of the Sibylline leaves; each year that we delay the Natives will learn more and'more to value ihem ; each year, some lands formerly offered will be reserved from sale, aud the price of the remainder will be incalculably increased. The progress of the Northern Settlements depends upon some

immediate means of obtaining money for the purchase of these lands, and unless an amicable compromise be immediately made, the revenues of the South will be absorbed to meet the necessities of the North. Taking all these circumstances into consideration, and assuming'it to be just that the whole weight of the expence of making the Colony prosperous and habitable should not fall entirely upon the shoulders of the first colonists, Mr. Sewell proposes that we should endeavour to consolidate our liabilities, and to provide a capital fund for Native land purchase, by means of a loan of £500,000, to be raised", if possible, upon Imperial guarantee. It will be remembered that the Imperial Government promised their guarantee for a loan of £200,000, provided that we acceded to the proposal made by the New Zealand Company. According to one of the resolutions proposed by Mr. Sewell, it is conceived that we are entitled to an extension of that guarantee, on the ground that burthens have been imposed upon the Colony greatly disproportioned to its revenue. If an Imperial guarantee be obtained, we shall probably not have to pay more than 4 per cent, for the money. But, before this amount or any portion of it can be raised in England, money will be required for immediate liabilities, and for purchases of native land, which cannot be postponed. It is therefore proposed to raise a provisional loan of £100,000 in this or the neighbouring colonies, I by means of Debentures bearing no ! higher interest than 10 per cent.; this i amount to be paid off* by means of one of the English loans. The manner in which i it is proposed to raise the money in England ! is as follows : The first loan will amount I to £200,000 to pay off the New Zealand I Go's. debt. The second, of £180,000, will be appropriated to the extinction of Native title ; any amount of the provisional loan expended in the purchase of Native land will be repaid out of this loan with interest. The third loan is not to exceed £120,000 ; it is to be expended in the liquidation of all outstanding debts and liabilities, including the provisional loan and the old Debentures. The resolutions proposed by the present Executive proceed to apportion the burthen of these loans to the several Provinces. It. is proposed that the Middle Island, in which] the New Zealand Company has extinguish-\ ed the native claim, should bear the burthen* of the loan raised for psying off the debt to the New Zealand Company ; and in return, this Island is to be exempted from any charge for the extinction of native title in the North. The Provinces of the Northern Island are to be charged with the expense of the|loan for thatjpurpose, in proportion to the expenditure for purchases of native lands in each Province respectively. In pursuance of a former resolution of the House of Representatives, Auckland is to berelieved retrospectively as well as prospectively from any share of the New Zealand Company's debt, so that the amount of £-15,000, already paid by Auckland to the ' Company, is to be refunded. New Plymouth is to receive £20,000 before it is brought under the operation of the rule applied to the Northern Provinces, owing to the exceptional .and difficult circumstances in which she has been placed. This is only just and right. This consideration for the weakest and least influential of the Provinces is an earnest of that feeling which prompts the most enlightened of our legislators to consider the position of the whole Colony, irrespective of local jealousies. The Land Revenue of the Provinces will be handed over to them, subject to the charges as before mentioned; the Northern Provinces tp a charge, as we have said; in proportion to the lands purchased in each respectively ; The Southern Provinces to the charge of a loan of £200,000, for the payment of the

New Zealand Company's debt. That is to say, the Land Revenue of Nelson, Canterbury, and Otago will each respectively be subject to a charge of £66,666 13s. 4d., to bear interest at the rate of 4 per cent, per annum, with a sinking fund of 2 per cent. This will give us a burthen on our Land Revenue of £4,000 a-year. The remainder we shall have entirely at our own disposal. By the last mail we had not heard of the Estimates being laid before the House. Of course, until they were considered, it was impossible to state positively what proportion of Customs Revenue it would be possible to leave to the Provinces. The Government, it^ appears, hoped that they would be,able to leave to the Provinces two-thirds of that revenue. * If this financial scheme of Mr. SeweH's is carried out, it is very obvious that the Provinces will be left in a far better position than Mr. Fox would have put them in; although, in order to catch Provincial votes, he proposed no means for the final adjustment of the revenues, or for the safety of our credit. The plan proposed at present has the merit of offering a comprehensive and permanent means of resolving all (hosijquestions which were raising endless jealousies between . the Provinces, and which have hitherto made it difficult to construct any Government which could work in harmony with a majority of the Representatives of New Zealand. We anxiously await accounts of the proposed details, and of the manner in which this policy has been accepted. We have eveiy confidence that the House has been sickened by the futile efforts at legislation attempted by the Ultra-Provincialists ; and that it will be prepared to merge individual differences in order to support a Government which has larger views, aud which appears to aim at consulting the interests of the whole Colony.

We beg to draw especial attention to the letter from certain members of the Association which we publish to-day. The close of the connection between them and this. Colony is one which all parties may look back upon.with satisfaction. As we always advocated, while the question was pending, the course which the Provincial Council adopted, in opposition to the views|of those carpers and cavillers who are to be found in this as well as in every community; we may congratulate our readers, upon the excellent spirit in which the parting < has been effected between the Canterbury Settlement and its founders.