THE Marlborough Express. SATURDAY, JANUARY 18, 1868.

Marlborough Express, Volume III, Issue 97, 18 January 1868, Page 3

THE Marlborough Express.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 18, 1868.

“ Givh me the liberty to know, to utter, anJ toirgue freely according to conscience, above all other liberties.” —Milton.

Some few months ago, we entered into a consideration of the consequences to this Province which must inevitably follow upon the “ new arrangement,” especially if we did not largely reduce our Expenditure. As another epoch may be said to have occurred, we again take up the subject.

As we have several times before drawn the attention of our readers to the question, it will doubtless be fresh on the memory how, notwithstanding the provisions of clause 5 of the Surplus Revenues Act 1858, the various Ministries of the day have invariably neglected to do their duty, in making the “ equitable apportionment” of the public revenues as therein provided, and how through their remissness, this Province has been robbed of its fair and equitable share of the Surplus Revenue. It is further patent to everyone, how—upon the case being plainly shown to the present Ministry ; explained in the House of Representatives by the petitions sent up by the Council, and the people at large; and debated at length on the 11th September last, when the Surplus Revenues Adjustment Act was under consideration—a small ooncession to justice was then made, and a sum of £12,000 appearing on the debit side.of the account current between Marlborough and the Colony, it was “ sponged off the slate” and cancelled, by being saddled on Nelson and Wellington, which Provinces were supposed to have reaped the benefit of the remissness of the Government in former years. But we doubt very much if many of our readers, after all, fully appreciate the provisions of the Pub lie Revenues Act, which has replaced the Surplus Revenues Act 1858, or would credit, that a body of statesmen, having had so prominently brought before them the unsatisfactory, nay, the unfair working of that Act, and seeing—as they at least ought to have seen—-that the impossibillity of that Act working fairly, arose from the false basis on which the revenue of each Province was calculated, should, while framing the new Act of 1867, again introduce the same objectionable feature, perpetuating the same gross fraud upon the smaller Provinces—and then, as if to add insult to injury—to lay violent hands upon the Land receipts to make up the sum of which the Province is robbed by their" unstatesmknliko legialatipn ! ft-waa by the Nelson mumpers—who, on the occasion

referred to r opposed the saddling of Nelson and Wellington with the Marlborough debit account —that the claim of Marlborough, or of any other Province on the same grounds, was a just and legitimate one, but the difficulty of arriving at the “ equitable adjustment,” laid down as we have stated, was too great for them. Here then, was the opportunity of rectifying the evil, and of introducing into the Public Revenues Act, the only correct basis—that of Population ! This ought to have been the standard for fixing the Customs Revenue of each Province ; and had this been done, neither this, nor any other Province, could have complained at the provision made for defraying out of the Land Fund, the General Government expenses in the Province, together with its share of Interest on Loans, in any case where the one-half of the Ordinary Revenue of the Province did not suffice to cover these charges. But this would have been too simple and straightforward a course, so the old evil is perpetuated, and the onehalf of the Ordinary Revenue actually and absolutely paid in the Province , is made chargeable with all the General Government Expenditure, (over which, by the way, we have no control,) with the Interest on Loans, and then, if anything remains, it is handed over to the Province—but if, on the other hand, there is a deficiency—it is taken out of our Land Fund !

So, after till the sympathy of certain influential members who were so streperous at the injustice done to Marlborough, the same thing is enacted over again, with this little difference, that—while formerly we were only debited on paper with the yearly deficiency—now every month’s deficiency will be taken from our Land Fund, and so all chance of bringing our claim forward is destroyed, and our income remains only a tithe of what it ought to be.

Nor is this the worst. When the debt of £12,000 was lifted from our shoulders by the Assembly in October last, we supposed that a sponge was drawn over our account prior to that date, nor was it until Christmas that we had any reason to think differently, when the Government sent in a little bill for £1,601, being Interest due on Half-Million Loan for the two years ending June last! On making some enquiries at the office, we were shown the veritable document, dated 3rd December, showing that it had not been previously rendered. Again on what is termed the “ Separate Account of the Province of Marlborough” to the end of October, £227 more is demanded—in all £1,828 —from this, the least, as well as the worst-treated of the Provinces. Nor is this all, for since the monthly statement of account has not been rendered to the Province since October, we have no means of judging whether even this sum is not yet increasing daily.

A reference to the Public Revenues Act fails to convince us that it was the intention of the Legislature to allow arrears to be taken thereunder, eyen if we grant that the debt is a just one; it is absolute cruelty to stamp us out, and with the threat of bankruptcy to insist on its instant and immediate payment—nay, to put in an execution before judgment is given! Why not divide it into instalments over a series of years, as provided for in the caSQ/ of Hawke’s Bay, Auckland, Wellington, and Taranaki, under the Loan Allocation Act Repeal Act, which not only released them from the payment of interest and sinking fund charged upon them, but suspended the payment of the principal for shree years I—Because the Stafford Mintstry have determined to crush Marlborough as a Province, by the extraordinary powers conferred under the series of important Acts which were forced upon the colony at the end of the last session. We are not aware to what extent the members for this Province supported these measures, and should like to find that their influence was opposed to them; but, if otherwise, then whatever view we take of the Government, should fairly attach to them also. Had a fair basis been adopted for estimating our share of the Customs Duties, and the Ordinary Revenue, there is good reason to believe that our Expenditure, by reason of the recent reductions, would have been brought within our Income, and we should have been as a Province, in a fair and prosperous condition, but now—with an unexpected series of debts, and our estate sequestrated !—we tremble for the consequences. Who shall say what these* will be ?