The Lyttelton Times.

Lyttelton Times, Volume X, Issue 625, 3 November 1858, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times.

Wednesday, November 3. The present financial position of Canterbury lias been clearly laid before us by the statement of the Provincial Secretary in the. Council on Thursday night. There also the ideas of the (Government are stated as to the way in which the funds at command may be 'best spent. The fact that our resources are large—even immense, compared with our population—is

one of the most striking character, brought conspicuously before us in the announcement that every endeavour must be made by adding strength to the departments and by introducing labor, to enable us to spend our revenue at all. We have utterly failed during the last six months to invest properly our accumulating cash and must take energetic measures to provide that next year does not end as the past has done with unusable thousands rotting in the chest.

The Provincial Secretary—to sum up the statement —says that, we have £33 700 of old revenue ; £10,000 of loan ' not yet spent; about £24,000 of calculable and regular income to receive; and the land revenue, which is fluctuating but which he puts down at £45,000. The total sum is £112,500. Out of this he must pay our fixed liabilities of about £10,000 • and our necessary expenditure on ourselves of about £21,000; while with the remainder we can do whatever we please This remainder, upwards of .£BO,OOO, will in the opinion of the Government be best invested by giving- £15,000 for the introduction of population : and by doing- all the public works which have in past years been rather hoped for than expected, for which purpose it will be possible to consume about £48,000. There remains a troublesome balance still; a matter of £18,000 of which no object hitherto contemplated is in want. What is to be done ?

The tunnel—the level road from our fertile land to the ship's side—the great expediter of our traffic with the world the connecting- passage between the seaport and the interior—the throat, as it were, of the province—this is an object worth spending- money on; this is what the Government think ought to be done and believe can be done, with the money we have*to spare. It is to cost £200,000 when complete, with all apparatus for working- the traffic between the two towns, and with certain accompanying' works of magnitude in the harbour. It is to be completed in seven years, even with the resources in labour and skill which we hare within ourselves. The money required will be forthcoming-, if present calculation is at all to be depended upon. In fact, there is no difficulty whatever. A highly interesting- work, not classed among the necessities of the province, is also recommended for investment. It is the completion of the Government Buildings into a handsome pile by the collection of the offices of all departments under one roof. The expense will be about £10,000 more than the sum already voted, allowinofor the receipts by disposing of the present offices.

The Council has not yet considered these proposals, unless, perhaps, in their sitting- last night the subject came on for discussion. The points for investigation will be, we apprehend, not whether the great works proposed would prove advantageous, to the province if finished, for that few will dare to deny ; nor whether the expense of constructing them has been correctly estimated, for that still fewer are capable of deciding upon ; but whether the resources of the country are ronlly such as have been described,' and whether those resources are equal to the expenditure demanded. *

We resume the analysis of the Acts of Assembly at the point where we last broke off.

No. 66. The Surplus Seventies Act ropeah the provisions in the 66th■ section of the Constitution Act for the division of Surplus Kevenue between the provinces, in proportion to the gross proceeds of revenue levied in each. It is enacted that from the Ist July, 1858, the following arrangement is to have effect. Every .province shall be credited With the amount of ordinary revenue collected within it; and shall be debited, first, with the expenses of maintenance of General Government Departments and offices within it, except judges of the Supreme Court; secondly with a sum bearing the same proportion to the expenses of tho General Government and the charges on tho revenue as the ordinary revenue of the province bears to that of the colony; and thirdly, with all sums which have been made a special clm'"ge against the ordinary revenue of such province. The balance.after deducting these am punts, shall be handed over to. the Provincial Treasurer, as the surplus ordinary revenue. Only such portions of tho loan of £500,000 as have not been made a. charge on particular province* shall bo deemed to bo a general charge on the revenue of the colony.

No. 67. The Zand Revenue Appropriation Act provides that revenue which has aririou from Waato Lands from Ist July, 1856, to 31st December, 1857, shall bo deemed to bavo been the revenue of tlio several provinces in which it h.w amen, nnd to hnvo been subjoct f.ccordin^iv,*" the appropriation of tho respective Province Oouneila thereof. After that dnto the I^»ltl

Fund shall be dealt with as follows. The Governor shall appoint a receiver of land revenue in every province, to whom alone all such revenue and receipts shall be payable, and no Crown grants of any land shall issue except upon the certificate of the receiver that such land has been disposed of according to law, and that all money due in respect of such land has been paid in cash. The receivers in the provinces of Auckland, New Plymouth, and Wellington, shall pay to the Colonial Treasurer one sixth of the land revenue of their respective provinces to go towards extinction of native titles, so long as there shall be necessity to extinguish native title therein ; with the exception of such payments the land revenue shall be paid over to provincial treasuries for appropriation by Provincial Councils.

No. 68. The Public Debt Apportionment Act recites the objects to which by the Loan Act the £'500,000 raised is to be applied;—■ £200,000 to liquidate the New Zealand Company's debt ;—£120,000 to pay off the public debt of the colony ; and £180,000 to extinguish native title. Out of this latter sum. five-tenths is apportioned for extinguishing native title in Auckland, three-tenths in Wellington, and twotenths in New .Plymouth ; the annual charge in respect of the sums apportioned to he primarilycharged on the provincial revenue of the respective provinces. In consideration of the limited extent of land over which native title has been extinguished in New Plymouth, that province will be allowed £20,000 out of this fund without charge, and. until such sum is spent, New Plymouth receipts for land sales, &c, will be made up to £2,200 per annum, dating from Ist January, 1858. The Southern Island bears the charge of the £200,000 for the liquidation of the New Zealand Company's debt apportioned as follows-.—On Nelson' is charged £45,000. On Canterbury and Otago £77,500 each. Thus the annual charge on Canterbury and Otago (including interest and Kinking fund) will amount to £4650 each, while Nelson will only have to pay £2700. It is to be observed that this cjiarge on the southern provinces is to date from the Ist January, 1858, so that we have to take credit for £3,000 paid before that date on this account.

No. 69. The Auckland, Improvement Act is a local act to enable the Superintendent of Auckland to purchase certain lands (part of the site of the great fire) in the electoral district of the City of .'Auckland, for the purpose of improving the said city, and for that purpose to' borrow a sum not exceeding £40,000 on the security of certain lands in the said city. For the purposes of this act the Superintendent shall be deemed a corporation sole.

No. 70, The Neio Provinces Act provides that should three-fifths of the registered electors resident within any district, whereof the area shall, not be less than 500,000 acres, "petition that.such district should be made a separate province, the Governor in Council shall immediately establish such province by order published in the New Zealand Government Gazette, subject to the following conditions :—l. The petition must be signed by 150 registered electors, exclusive of persons of the native race. 2. There must be in the district, within an ai-ea of one million acres, a population of 1000 souls, exclusive of natives and troops. 3, There must be within the limits of the district a town •which shall be constituted the capital, and a portoPports through which the greater part of the exports and imports of the new province must pass. 4. No point in the boundary of such district shall be with.in 60 miles, measured in a right line, of the capital town of an existing province, except that of New Plymouth; nor within'3s miles of the town of New Plymouth ; this condition is not, however, to apply to any boundary line dividing territory drained by rivers falling into Blind' Bay from adjacent .territory-'to the eastward thereof—evidently a hint-to the Wairau. 5. The area of any such district shall not exceed 3,000,000 acres. The Governor may modify the limits proposed in the petition provided the above conditions are complied with. The laws of the original province shall, so far as applicable, be in force in the new_province until .repealed by the provincial legislature of the latter; provided always that any powers vested by such laws in the Superintendent, either solely or with the advice of his Executive Council, shall he deemed to be vested in the Superintendent of the new province^ The Provincial Coiuui! of any province established under this act -shall, in the first instance, consist of such number of members, not less than nine, as the Governor shall appoint. The Governor shall appoint electoral districts and apportion the members in such a way that the number of members assigned to any "one district shall bear the same proportion to the whole number of members of the Council, as the number of electors of the district bears to the number of electors within the province. The Superintendent shall be elected by the Provincial Council, as follows :—The Council shall meet at a time appointed by the Returning Officer within a -month after its election, and after electing their speaker shall proceed to elect the Superintendent by an absolute majority. Should a member of the" Council be elected, his seat shall be doomed vacant. Should the Superintendency become vacant, a new election shall take place on a clay fixed by the speaker, not being less than ten days nor more than fifteen after the vacancy has been notified by the Governor to the speaker. Tho Superintendent is eligible for a seat in tho Council, and may bo speaker thereof; so that should a moinbe'r of tho Council bo elected Snporintondont, ho may be rc-olectod to tho Council. Tho Suporintendent shall not assent to bills on behalf of tho Govornor, but, shall only docliiro, subject to such

instructions as he may receive, either that ho withhold* the Governor's assent, or that he reserves a bill for the signification of.the Governor's pleasure thereon. The Governor may return bills with amendments to be reconsidered by the Council. The Provincial Revenue of the original province levied within the new pi'ovince, shall be subject to the appropriation of the Provincial Council of the new province. Any new province shall bear its share of the special charge on the revenues of the original province, on account of the loan mired under the New Zealand Loan Act; and of payment of interest on any permanent debt of original province, according to the proportion which the receipts of the new province on account of ordinary revenue and waste lands bear to the receipts of the original province on like accounts. No provision appears to have been made for charging the new provinces with its proportion of the capital of a Provincial debt. This must bean accidental omission. Public reserves within a new province, granted to the Superintendent of original province, shall vest in the Superintendent of the former.

No. 71. The Civil List Act is reserved for the signification of her Majesty's pleasure, as required by the Constitution Act. The amounts granted in the schedule to tiie Constitution Act for civil and medical services are altered, and in the schedule to the present Act stand as follows: Governor's salary „., £3500 Governor's Private Secretary 300 Chief Justice. 1400

First Puisne Judge 1000 Second Puisne Judge.... 1000 Establishment of General Gov. 4800 Native purposes 7000

£19,000 The Governor's Salary Act of 1856 is repealed.

No. 72, The Customs Duties Act is reserved for the signification of her M.ijesty'a pleasure. The old tariff is superseded by the scale of duties already published. The usual drawback is allowed on wines for the consumption of military and naval officers. Duties can be levied under the provisions of the Customs Regulation Act of 1858.