THE Marlborough Express. SATURDAY, JANUARY 23, 1869.

Marlborough Express, Volume IV, Issue 154, 23 January 1869, Page 3

THE Marlborough Express.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 23, 1869.

<• Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according- to conscience, above all other liberties.” —MII/roN.

1 In our article of last week we endeavored j briefly to summarise our position as a | Province in the past; we pointed out the 1 incontrovertible fact, that Provincialism as a principle had never been fairly tried in r , this Province. At the same time we coni' tended that certain reforms being effected in the existing machinery, it was possible V that Provincial Government might yet prove itself sufficient for the purposes required of it. That we shall ever get any compensation for the wrongs we have endured, we are not so sanguine as to even dream. But we do believe that if the electors of Marlborough do their duty, and not neglect their political privileges, (an instance of which occurred but a few days since,) we can obtain such a measure of Justice from .the General Assembly as will enable us to hold our own, and retain those powers of real Local Self-Government which form the bulwark both of freedom and prosperity. Driven into a state of poverty and stagnation, as we have been, by circumstances beyond our control, we cannot expect the present state of things to remain much lon’ger. The present is therefore the right

time for us to consider, and decide on a safer policy for the future. We fully concur in the advanced opinions held by many of our subscribers, and while discharging our duty as the exponents of public opinion, we shrink not from the responsibility of sometimes seeking to direct it. It is not however without a deep sense of the magnitude of that responsibility that we attempt the task. In the first place then we shall once more briefly recur to the plans propounded by the Ministry, and by Mr. Fox, in the last Session of the Assembly. Mr. Stafford, on behalf of the Ministry, proposed to consolidate the Debts of all the Provinces, and to place them in the hands of the General Government. In order to pay the Interest and Sinking Fund of this National Debt, he would appropriate what is termed the Consolidated Revenue, which Aieans the Customs Duties, Stamps, Court Fees, &c,, and to each Province, give a capitation allowance, based on annual estimates of population, for the purpose of keeping up the gaols, police, etc., or in other words, paying the General Government Officials ! —and this too under the supervision of an Officer “ approved" ( only another word for Nominated,) by the Colonial Government. The Provinces in this case to retain their Land Funds, and all Revenue strictly local, raised under Provincial enactments. We have before, at considerable length, pointed out the injustice of this plan. Those Provinces most deeply indebted, are also in possession of the largest Land Fund , while Marlborough having no Debt really her own—and with a Land Fund insufficient to pay her own Official expences ! —would be compelled to pay an equal share per head on debts, from which she has never received one penny’s worth of benefit. We need only to refer to the principal feature in Mr. Fox’s scheme, which was that each Province should individually pay the Interest and Sinking Fund of its own Debt. Neither need we at present discuss the practicability of Mr. Fox’s policy in all its details, or as applicable to the whole Colony—but endeavor to propound such a modification of the plans before us, as will be suitable to the wants of our own Province, to preserve our rights, to develope our social and political progress, and to render justice to ourselves without doing injustice to anyone else. As a general policy, we would propose that the Colony should take up, in addition ro the Debts, all Land Revenue, and reproductive works originated by such Loans, and after paying all charges on Provincial or Colonial account, to return on a pro rata scale, according to population , all that remains from this Consolidated Fund. This appears to us the only just plan of equalising the debts of the various Provinces, since anything else would only be perpetuating the base robbery, as practised in the past, towards Marlborough. The sums accruing as above should be divided among the various Road Ditsricts in the Province for the purpose of supplementing the funds, locally provided, lor the maintenance ot roads and bridges. We say the Road Districts, because it is inevitable that some general measure for this object will be propounded and carried at the next meeting of the Assembly, and we trust it will be not only a comprehensive, but a compidsory measure, not like the abortion passed by our Provincial Council in 1867, which has not yet been brought into operation in any one district. There is another question remains to be considered. In the altered and impoverished circumstances of the Province, are we to attempt to maintain the present staff of officials, General and Provincial ? The Council, whenever it does meet, will hardly be likely to vote salaries for the next financial year, since there will be little or no Revenue ! Should any scheme, such as we have endeavored to give in outline, be adopted by the Assembly—and we trust there are honest men enough among our Representatives to support such a one—the Land Fund, already small, will be absorbed ; while the Mayor and Corporation of Blenheim, will, under the Municipal Corporations Act, claim and be entitled to the whole of the Revenue raised in their Borough, as publicans’, hawkers’ and other licenses, fees, fines, tolls, dog and other taxes, &c. The revenue remaining will be small enough, especially when Picton sees it advisable to follow the example of Blenheim. Even should a majority of the Council have the hardihood to vote the official salaries, a time is fast when a remedy can be directly applied b f the people. In October next, the Provincial Council will lapse, its terra of life expire, and it is extremely improbable that the Ministry—which has neglected no means of promoting its demise and ruin,

—will advise the Governor to again call it

into being. We have no space left to pursue the subject farther this week, but we purpose taking an early opportunity of examining how far it is possible to conduct the necessary business of the Province with a less number of officials, and consequent decrease of Expenditure.