THE Marlborough Express. SATURDAY, JULY 24, 1869.

Marlborough Express, Volume IV, Issue 185, 24 July 1869, Page 3

THE Marlborough Express.

SATURDAY, JULY 24, 1869.

“ Givb me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue fieely according to conscience, above all other liberties.’ —Milton.

“ Marlborough is a pensioner on the Colonial (government!” At least so said Mr. Stevens in his recent speech in the House of Representatives. When statesmen, as that gentleman has shown himself to be, make such fallacious statements, how can we wonder at the ignorance of the public throughout the Colony, with reference to this unfortunate Province 1 ? Ours is an exceptional case; unlike any other Province, we have had to pay our share of Colonial expenditure, and support the various departments of Government, gaol, police, harbours, hospital, &c., as the others, but have not received the same proportion of Revenue. Consequently the funds that ought to have been spent in making and maintaining roads, and in other ways promoting the cause of civilization, have appeared to many who were unaware of the cause, to be misapplied. We are not pensioners in any sense of the word, having paid our way with the General Government to the uttermost shilling hitherto, and satisfying every claim against us, even including interest on our paltry loan, up to the 30th June—with the solitary exception of the temporary advance of £3,000 made last Session, and, although that has been doled out bit by bit, its loan could not bring us under the denomination alluded to ; whilst the last remnant of the money, together with our Land Fund, just as it was appropriated for the roads, was seized by the Bank. We are surprised to find that the Mem- * ber for the Wairau allowed such a statement, and, opportunity for explaining the true state of the case, to pass unchallenged. We have looked in vain for any sign of life from Mr. Eyes, but beyond asking the Premier what his intentions were with regard to this Province, we do not find him taking any steps to obtain redress for the wrongs it has been for years, and still is suffering under.

"We are frequently urged to represent tlie dreadful condition of the roads in this Province, and those running southward in particular, and we should refer to them oftener, if any amount of talking or writing could have any effect, but the impecuniosity of the Government is so very patent to everyone, that we feel it is useless. For the satisfaction of some of our Southern

friends we may state that it came to out* knowledge this week that the Government fully intended to commence operations on the Taylor Pass....,road immediately, but upon consulting the Superintendent, the Executive were informed that they must not only not commence the very necessary work in qu: stion, but that they must discontinue c.j works in operation. The reason, we presume, is the view taken by the Government with respect to the recent seizure of the Provincial funds by the Bank of New Zealand. We understand from what has reached us, that considering the Pi . zincial Government was acting in contravention of the law when it obtained an overdraft from the Bank j it is thought this should cover the undoubted illegality of the Bank’s seizure, that in short we could not go into Court with clean hands. But as no number of wrongs can make one x’ight, we submit that this is but a lame excuse. Those who would know more must study the intricacies of political life. “ The power behind the throne ” will no doubt assert itself, and we fear that the advice given to his Honor Mr. Eyes by his legal adviser's may induce him to discontinue the action, consequently we may abandon hope in that direction. The only chance for the improvement of our roads and bridges is the introduction by Mr. Fox in his Financial scheme, of some general and equitable scheme upon a population basis, as that indicated by him last year when in opposition, which would give us a proportionate share of the revenue as the other Provinces, and enable us to live on. In the meantime, our settlers must be content to pick their steps through quagmire and morass in the best way they can—or, mend the roads themselves.