Colonial.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 523, 7 November 1857, Page 5

Colonial.

OTAGO

The Kate Kearney brings us Otago papers to the 31st ult, from which we take some items of interest.

With all the material prosperity which the Province of Otago evidently enjoys, and which

increases in the same ratio with that of her neighbours, we can discover no improvement in the 3tyle of conducting or interfering with affairs of state. The late change of ministry h/w altered the state of parties with respect to the Government, and seems to have thoroughly upset the Superintendent. His Honor's position appears pitiable in the extreme; without confidence in his advisers, without ability to maintain even.the attitude of a statesman and governor, and receiving no mercy from his late friends and present opponents, he shows himself in the opening of the last session of the Council; to be in an advanced stage of imbecility.

We take the following narrative of the event referred to from the columns of the ' Witness' of October 31.

The Provincial Council, which stood prorogued from the 11th December, met on Wednesday, the 28th inst., at 12 o'clock. Present—■ The Speaker, Messrs. Young, Car<rill, Purdie, Williams, Itennie, Kiljrour, Mansford, Burns] Stephenson, Hepburn, M'Glashan, and Cutfen. Members absent—Mr. Harris, from indisposition; Mr. Reynolds, in England; Messrs. Shaw, Anderson, and Martin.

His Honor the Superintendent, having entered the hall, proceeded to deliver the following

ADDRESS

Gentlemen, —It seems fitting on the present occasion that I should express to you, at the outset, my deep sense of loss to the public, and to this House, by the decease of Mr. Proudfoot. His bodily strength had been visibly wasting away, but his mind was entire and active to the last, so that when chiefly confined to his room, and his voice all but gone, his personal duties, and the close supervision of his assistants and clerks, were fully and effectively maintained, and it has been well said he literally died in harness. The loss of a public man, so remarkable for integrity and singular truthfulness of character, is no ordinary case, and when it is considered that his unremitting assiduity must no doubt have hastened his decease, there is a further call for expressions of sympathy with his bereaved family; nor is it to" be omitted, as cause of thankfulness and encouragement to all who knew him, that he departed from us in the full peace and love of the Saviour.

Since the last meeting of this Council, a reconstruction of the Executive became necessary, owing to the absence of Mr. Reynolds and the resignation of Mr. Proudfoot. The difficulties of completing this arrangement, as stated in my Circular Memorandum of the 24th August, had become great; but, nevertheless, as time pressed, and although the new Executive was not altogether in accordance with what I conceived of the' majority of this House, in the deference due to that majority I did the best, or rather, the only thing that"was open to me, and expressed my conviction of. the gentlemen appointed being competent, on the whole, to prepare the businessfor the Session, when the House, being mfet,! cottJd judge and decide itself. Their measures -milfcaecOTdingly be laid before you. They ar?; entirely their 'own, and lean therefore only recommend, the whole matters referred to in my Memorandum to your candid consideration.

But there are one or two points of a somewhat special character which I should wish to submit to your consideration. The first relates to the vacant Commissionership, and which, in ordinary circumstances, ought to.be filled up by advice of the Executive Council. But, from what I have said of the unavoidably hafcty, and rather unsatisfactory filling tip of that body, I have thought it better to refer this uoint to your whole House. I had myself formed the opinion, but merely the opinion, that, as in the case of Mr. Thomson, it would be desirable to have a previously trained man put at the head of the Land Board. Not that it can be at all necessary as in the case of a profession, but I had entertained the thought, and stated it to a gentleman of experience, who in the event of a vacancy, and the Otago Government being of the same mind, would be willing to accept the appointment; and the question submitted to you, therefore, is, whether it be your opinion that that gentleman should be called in or. no. Such practice would, indeed, be a novelty, and has not been adopted in any other province. But, on the other hand, if you think that a gentleman selected in the province—one of your own colonists—would be sufficient, then I am constrained to offer you an opinion,.though unasked, as to the most suitable man to look to, and to submit that that man is Mr. Cutten. His general abilities are known and appreciated, and, whatever may be thought of his political strifes, I .affirm that there is no one in our community in whose ability and righteous discharge of the duties in question the public could have greater, if indeed, the same degree of confidence. And this I say because of the untruthful ribaldries that are on this occasion being circulated. • Nepotism' and ' family clique' are words which must indeed be a farce in the face of the Otago public, whose Superintendent and sons-in-law have been so openly opposed to each other in politics, and that with perfect independence on either side. Truly there never has been, and on my part never shall be, a vestige of favour or affection in any such matters. But neither am I to be scared from a public duty by any such missiles as I have referred to; and I would say it for the instruction of Mr. Cutten also, because of his having written me on the 19th October thus: "If you think that my relationship to you precludes my receiving the appointment, I shall be happy to resign all claim to it." Now, I would have Mr. Cutten and all others to know, that I am in no degree to be swayed! from doing what I have a right to do—to put the right man into the right place, whether that^ man might happen to be my son-in-law or anyone else. But then I am accused of being old, and this, at least, is the truth. There can be no doubt of the fact; and to the curious in such matters I shall give a gauge not easily forgotten. Your Superintendent is just fifty days older than Lord Palmerston, and can- look back upon half a century, when, as a humble sub, he had occasion to correspond with his Lordship, then

Secretary at War. Subsequent experience must have taught him something of public matters; but he will only notice that the last fourteen years have been exclusively devoted to the planting and progression o"f this Colony, in whose advancing prosperity he greatly rejoices; and I should therefore lament its passing under the slashing regime of a young aspirant—young, at least, in experience—and whose first vaunted step would be a breach of the law. I do not wholly approve of the Executive Councils Act; but, like all other laws, it must, until amended, have effect as it is.

In conclusion I have to state, that a resolution of the Executive Council has this morning been put into my hands, and to which I shall be too happy to give immediate effect. The resolution is as follows:—"That the Superintendent be recommended to appoint W. H. Cutten Esq.. Chief Commissioner of the Waste Land Board of the Province of Otago." The next point to which I would allude may be referred to as a principle which ought to have its bearings upon the general mass of local legislation, and to which principle the attention of the General Government is being directed— that, namely, of placing some control upon the borrowing of money by Provincial Governments; because a blunder in that direction, by auy one Province, would not only be hurtful to itself, but bring discredit upon the whole colony. There may be a tendency, for instance, on the part of Provincial Councils, and especially whose revenues are comparatively small, to vote large sums upon the estimates, but with little or no reference to the ways and means, saving by the sales of debentures. Now, it is held, and properly so, that every public debenture ought to have a fixed and reliable provision for its interest and ultimate extinction. Should a sum, for instance, be voted for assisted passages, and for the repayment of which the Government has proper security, or for certain improvements against which a real estate is patently held by the Government, there could be no hindrance by the Governor to the creation of such debentures; but if ether sums be wanted, against which there are no such securities, nor the backing of any local tax or assessment, then ought the ordinary revenues to be strictly scanned, and the debentures kept within the limit of a sure provision for principal and interest. Apply this to the votes of your own session, 1856, when £20,000 was declared for immigration, with bills to be taken as usual in security, and £1000 for amendment of public traffic roads in Dunedin, against which there stands an estate (now virtually burdened to that amount), and both these sums were forthwith given effect to. But there was a further sum of £5000 for main country roads, but of which only £1000 was ventured upon and made availableby the Executive, until the 'Land Sales Ordinance, 1856,' had been passed by the Governor. So far, then, the principle in question has already been recognised and acted on in Otago; and I do hope, that the right feeling of this House, and its constituency, upon this all-im-portant subject, will be such as shall avert any check on the part of the Governor. At the same time, however, there are indications of what may be called a pressure from without; such, for instance, as will be found in the report of the Education Board, which seems to treat the Education Ordinance (financially at least) as a dead letter, and to regard the" ways and means of the Provincial Treasury (no doubt inadvertently) as an unknown and unlimited quantity. But having specially requested the attention of the Executive to this point, and aiso the desirableness of larger powers being given to the Committees of Educational District?, the subject will no doubt be brought regularly before you.

I had further wished to have called your attention to the Executive Council Ordinance, which I think requires to be amended; but I shall defer the matter for such message as the Executive may advise.

Having made these observations, as called for, in my opinion, by the memorandum of 24th August, I shall now read iim address as advised and regularly prepared for you by the Executive, which is as follows:—

Gentlemen,

I have great satisfaction in again seeing you assembled in Council, ani in recurriug to your advice and assistance.

In pursuance of the resolutions passed in last session, I lost no time in taking such measures as seemed to be most suitable for obtaining from Great Britain, as early as practicable, an amount of immigration of labour commensurate to our immediate wants, and to the means you provided. The first arrival may shortly be expected.

I regret that, notwithstanding the resolutions then passed relative to stated communication with Australia and with the sister provinces of New Zealand by means of steam vessels, and the steps consequently taken by me, that object lias not yet been accomplished, but I am hopeful that it will be effected at a very early period. In a matter so deeply affecting the interests of this Province, and of the whole colony, and in which the General Government is bound, at whatever cost, to do justice equally to this as to the other Provinces, no efforts will be spared on my part.

I congratulate you on the probable success of the negotiations between the General Government of New Zealand and the Imperial Government for carrying out the financial scheme adopted by the General Assembly. In that event the whole proceeds arising from the disposal of public lands within the Province will be available for provincial purposes, subject to a payment to the General Government of £4000 a year for thirty years.

Gentlemen, Bills will be submitted to your consideration for various important purposes; to. which I doubt not that you will give your earnest attention.

A. considerable proportion of the large amount placed at my disposal for the service of the past year has not been expended. The estimates for the current year will be laid before you. They have been prepared with a due regard to the efficient but economical performance of the public service.

I have to recommend to your consideration what provision should be made for the salaries of the teachers of our public schools. If a well-

conditioned must be a well-educated people, it becomes of importance to lay a sure foundation for the means of education being gradually estab-. lished and enlarged throughout the province, with the growth and progress of its population. I think it right to call your attention to the circumstance, that a number of individuals located in the southern parts of the province have forwarded memorials to the Governor and the General Assembly of New Zealand, praying for a disjunction of those parts from the remainder of the province, and their erection into a separate province. The professed grounds of this movement are in my opinion exceedingly unreasonable; its success conld not fail to prove more disastrous to the memorialists themselves than to the other inhabitants of the province. I have no apprehension of a measure so unwise and calamitous being successful; but it is my earnest desire to remove as far as possible all cause of discontent or misunderstanding entertained by any of the settlers in the south, and some of the measures to be submitted to you have been prepared for that purpose. The advancement and happiness of the whole inhabitants of the province being the object of my deepest solicitude, it is my fervent prayer that Almighty God may prosper your deliberations for the attainment of these ends.

His Honor, after concluding his address retired. The Speaker then took the chair, and opened the proceedings with prayer. The Provincial Secretary moved that a committee be appointed to consider his Honor's address, and in doing so he called the attention of the House to the first part of the address of his Honor, which was drawn up without the knowledge of the Executive, which placed the Government in a very difficult position. Were the system of Responsible government fully and entirely carriedout.suchathingcouldnot occur. He was of opinion that the committee should reply to" that part of the address only for which the Executive were responsible. He therefore moved that a committee be appointed to prepare a reply to the address, the committee to consist of Messrs. Williams, Purdie, and the mover.

Messrs. Williams andPurdie having declined to act on the committee, Messrs. Stevenson, Mansford, and Kilgour, were suggested, and the motion, having been seconded by Mr. Young, was carried unanimously.

The Provincial Solicitor laid on the table the following bills:—

1. A Bill to Appropriate the Provincial Revenue for 1856-7.

2. A Bill to Amend the Sheep Ordinance 1856. 3. A Bill to Amend the Law on Liquor Traffic. 4. Municipal Estates Bill.

5. Local Waste Land Board Office Bill. 6. A Bill to Enlarge the Provincial Council.

7. The Education Board's Report.

The Provincial Secretary gave notice that he would move the first reading of the Appropriation Bill to-morrow.

Mr. J. Cargill wished to make a few remarks, which he stated were not calculated to lead to discussion, as they merely referred to his own connexion with the Executive. He was not aware of his appointment as a member of the Executive till he saw it in print, a fortnight after the appointment took place. ' On two occasions he wrote to the Superintendent, disapproving of the arrangement, as in consequence of the distance at which he resided from Dunedin, he could be of no practical use in the Executive; he would only look upon himself as an ornamental appendage. He afterwards had an interview with the Superintendent on the subject, who requested him (Mr. Cargill) to allow his name to remain, ou.the. Executive in case any great strait occurred. He had never been summoned to attend any Executive meeting, and had only been present at one such meeting; nor would he take credit to himself for any work which he did not perform; yet at the sanis time he would take upon himself all responsibility for the measures prepared by the Executive, and would not shrink from any blame which may be attached to that body. And now that the Council had met, and no great strait having occurred, he (Mr. Cargiil), in terms of his agreement with the Superintendent, would hold himself absolved from the appointment. He made these remarks, a3 he could not, as a member of the Executive, propose adverse motions; he then gave notice that he would move that a letter from the Executive to the Town Board on the subject of money for roads, be laid on the table.

The bills above enumerated were ordered to be printed, and the Provincial Secretary gave notice that he wouldmove that they be read a first thna to-morrow.

The speaker directed the attention of the House to the appointment of a permanent chair.-; man of committee.

The Provincial Secretary observed, that in, consequence of the absence of some of the counrtry members, he thought it ad visable to allow the vacancy to remain open for the- present, there being no pressing motion before the House, and would, if no member had any notice or motion to give, propose an adjournment of theHouse; which was accordingly adjourned till next day at 1 o'clock.

At the next sitting of the Provincial Council yesterday, the proceedings of which we hare not space to report in full, the Provincial Secretary moved that the address prepared by a Committee in answer to His Honor's opening speech be adopted. Dr. Williams proposed an amendment which would, if carried, have thrown out the Executive. A smart debate ensued, and upon a division the motion was carried by a majority of I. The answer referred only to the speech prepared by the Executive.— Witness, Oct. SI. Death of Mr. §Proudfoot. —We have the melancholy duty to perform of recording the demise of P. Proudfoot, Esq., Chief Commissioner and Treasurer of the Waste Land Board, which took place at his residence In Dunedin at halfpasfc ten o'clock on Wednesday evening ~last. Mr. Proudfoot's state of health for a long time pa it has been such as to afford his friends no hope of his ultimate recovery; but the dosing scene was more rapid than-was anticipated, and his death has taken the public almost by surprise. We understand that Mr. Proudfootf up to a few hours before his .death, was engaged-in the duties of his office, the close attention to which, it is believed,, tended to accelerate his en&.—lbid, Oct. 17th.

Cold.—The question of the existence of a reammeratire gold-field in this province is graduTtially assuming an importance which renders ■a prompt decision either in the negative or affirmative Imperatively necessary. We have carefully abstained from giving undue prominence to rumours -which we had reason to believe were circulated from time to time by interested, parties, but having no foundation in truth. The matter, however, has now taken a turn which, as we think, calls for immediate action -on the part of the Government, in order not only >to place beyond doubt the question as to a work--able gold-field in Otago, but also to prepare for the effect which the discovery in a neighbouring province must have upon our present and future population. That the material prosperity of the -whole of 'New Zealand will be advanced by the production of the precious metal in •any part of the islands can scarcely be doubted; but £20,000 spent in immigration, together with the drain of our scantily-supplied labour market, is rather too large a bonus to 'jgive for any prospective advantage which may lac expected to accrue from the discovery of gold an Nelson.— -Colonist, Oct. 2.