PUBLIC MEETING.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 279, 11 July 1874, Page 2

PUBLIC MEETING.

:f ; ;M"r. de Lautqur addressed his ,constitu> erits in the evening last, i about ?00 being present. , On account of the Mayor's unavoidable absence Mr. G-lenn was called tb the chair'. The Chaibman saidhe felt grateful 7 for the; honorable position:he filled, but regretted that the Mayor was away. He was afraid the meeting would suffer in consequence! The gentleman before them was well known and had been well watched —even by the Provincial Secretary himself. -. The Hon. member for "Mount Ida could not shake; his head .but the Provincial Secretary, commented on it. Mr. de Lautour had placed hjmself there to be criticised, and it was for them to give an .expression of opinion upon what he had done—whethertheimotionshe had brought forward would be beneficial to the district or not. it was for thein to say 56. ; cHe (Mr. de Lautour) had referred in another place to healthful : agitation"-being' good for a-district. ; Other districts, by agitating," had' got r -more ; than 1 We :: had. Naseby should not be behind. He would - '■'■'■''-r.-tu: s .vjo'V^v;^;,

Mr. db Laptops, who said ":' Mr. Chairman of the Chairman might lead , the meeting to expect something great. : He was afraid his remarks, would riot com.e;up to-their, expectations. The'-'rea?., son of his calling a meeting so early was that-a few "friends had: met him in a/most kind manner on his arrival from town, on which occasion- he excused himself irom. a political speech, promising to ■give the electors as a Whole .an.early opportunity of signifying their approval or otherwise of the? position he had taken up ■in Dunedin. It was generally supposed "that the Council this session had not done much more than fight. But, iri reality, the Council had done a large amount of important work, .whether abortive/or not. ■ it-was impossible atpresentto say.. More had. been done in the Council this last, session affecting this district than in any other. ■ He- wished- particularly to direct their• attehtion-tb the 2,ooo,ooo;acres reserve for railway purposes.which included ?the whole of this district. First, he %ould refer to the position of parties in Dunedin. He was aware that he was naturally fightable; and he was sorry to say that, since he came up, 'he had- got a-' riot of praise for., things in which he had perhaps Only played-second or. third fiddle, while possibly such men as lii's colleague and/Mr; Clarke, of the Arrow, were not'properly valued, because less obtrusive. It had been The greatest pleasure,he had experienced since he came to New Zealand, to receive the kind advice, support, and co-operation of his : colleague, Mr. Oliver, who had rendered \the district the greatest services. When he went to Dunedin there was a rumor that the Executive were not work-; "ihg well—that they could not pull together —that /Mb Bastings : and Mr. Turnbull could not hit.it. Mr. Turnbull called a meeting of the members supporting the ; \Government, and informed them he did ' .foot intend to meet the Council; that a great press of private business rendered : f!iti impossiblefor him to, attend to his duties as he/wisKed; The (Government accordingly resigned, and the position of affairs was very awkward..- The Superin- . tendent, after having paid due courtesy to the side of the House who were supporting an undefeated Government last year, by entrusting the formation of a Government to their leaders, then sent for Mr. Heid. This resulted, in the celebrated Coalition Government/ "There seemed to him to be something like an unexpressed bargain about that ; Coalition Government • —Mr./Reid appearing inordinately desirous of forwarding the Dunedin Harbor Works. The Goldfields were not repre- . sented, as the meeting,was aware. Mr. Turnbull was a member of this Government; If-he could not pay attention.to , the work before, how could he nowP For .these reasons the Goldfields members were bcSund to bpposelj :* There wasjgreat dissatisfaction evmced on all sides of the Council. Those who followed Mr. Eeid •last-year; satisfied, believing they ; iad been thrown over. /'The other side, again, were' not' satisfied with Messrs. Turnbull and Webster.. The consequence was, a strong opposition was formed; but „the drawback was—it had no head. The : Opposition had'ameetihg, whereat it was decided _that .it:.was, desirable to' : test the feeling' of." the ' Council, ' and , ; see jwhat majority the. Government really had! ,- moti6n on the land -.question—Mr. 1 Eeid having announced -his policy would be to-sell blocks of landwas the result; y There were three votes hanging in the balance, and Mr. Turnbull got up and made some rather strong statements about Mr. Bastings, and the three voters would not vote .against the Government until theimputa- . tions had been cleared away. These imputations were since- proved unfounded, out at the time they were made they had the effect of turning the scales,; and saving the Government. If it had not-been for. that, the Government would undoubtedly have been beaten. Mr. MacEellar. at Cromwell , lateiy said that if either Mr. Bastings or Mr. Fish/bad been asked,-they would have taken office. Mr.: M'jKellar knew perfectly well that that was"not the casei He' (Mr. MacEellar) was present at a meeting of Gold-fields-ruembers, at whiefrjMr". said that office had-been offered him. The Goldfields members ;there ! were unanimously of opiuioh'th'at'itiwas not advisable to accept the office- of Goldfields Secalone,' as* &■ fair' /representation: ofthe said that"

Mr. Bastings was a swiudler;th6tliehad' attempted ;to defraud the; revenues. If. such was the case, why hd he been pressed to take the office of Goldfields .Secretary? and Mr. MacKellar knew perfectly well that such' was the case. Mr. TurnbuU had been pertinently asked repeatedly, If these Charges against Mr. Bastings are true, why did you wish him to take office in Mr. Jtteid's Government ? If -Mr.LMac&eUarJiad. attended L _ip the Council, this repeated 39 often could not have escaped him. One thing Mr. MacKellar had not told them, which he should like to knowv v tHat-was, How £15',000-spent-on Eakanui Harbor would benefit the Goldfields? (Loud applause.) . However, he was not altogether ill:pleasjed with the; result of the session as far as.parties were concerned. After the strong expression of opinion the. Government did not .dare definitely to propose to "sell the pastoral lands in blocks. He Was Well pleased to see Mr. Rcid in office; for", hbWever he might differ from him politically, he was a man of his word, and couldbe thoroughly depended upon. Was not, however; sat- ; isfied with the precedent established of the Goldfields Secretary staying at home, and drawing an Executive" salary without Executive influence. A great evfPe'xisted in it being thought that the goldfields sidents were,a different class of', people-r-rr that they wanted a Special sprtof doctor," and that a Goldfields member must be Goldfields Secretary. It would have been 1 " infinitely better for the Goldfleldi if;M'. Eeid-himself had beeu, brpken in jjearsago to the office of Goldfields., Secretary —he would not now be so ignorant of their requirements, -.Last year a set of railway resolutions were carried affirming 7 the! desirability of constructing- /various lines of railway. Of course they cbuld ; not'be. constructed, out,.itf reVetiiie, arid they would have to borrow'.money or sell land.- -They accordingly had determined to borrow if they cquls| r . and a block of country had been set apart for security..' Mr. Reid had said'that the whole block did not ccwtaia 100 ft acres of agricultural land. But how could he tell? He lad' never been through the district but once, and that was on an electioneering trip. This district, the whole : pf which was included in the block- set-aside, was -to : receive scarcely any of the benefit which it was reserved. Tk& district had a hiember-iflrtae Assembly, and the Superintendent was always willing to do a good turn for this: district, and if they tated, he would almost guarantee that the bloek would not belaid aside in any Loan Bill by the. General Government until the opening. up of it had?been made a first charge. ' The' Government had spent' £60,000 on .MouajC Ida in; public works ; .and was it Ukely that tkey were: going to? fallow their plan of advancing this district tb be nullified by Provincial maladminis- - tration?, Would they allow the land \to ; be laid aside unless it w-as-,so provided for that the money spent would; not be-ren-dered useless ? It was not likely; and, if they agitated the question now while the Assembly was in session, he would almost guarantee that the reserve would not be, made, _. unless[with ; such..restrictiohsthat. the district would not suffer materially; thereby. He was nos_satisfied with the letting of some of those railway contracts. A week before the Council met, after the' financial year had closed, there was a sudden hurry on a holiday when there was no messenger to clear the letter-boxes, whereby the country lost a sum of £3000.. On a public holiday Dr.; Webster came to, Town, and, with Mr. TurnbulL "went to Mr. Bastings, who -was just locking up. his office, and said, "We must not put off ithe letting of these contracts any longer;"; so a special carriage was despatched for the Superintendent, who was gone home. Oh his arrival the tenders were examined, and by mistake a letter-was left in the letter-box containing a tender for £3ooo* less than any of the others. j^Tow,the Council last year resolved that two of these lines, the Riverton and Orepuki line, and the Waireka Valley liheT should not~ be constructed unless payment were to be made in land—it being considsred that, as the revenue could.; hot possibly be made to cover such works, the least evil was to sell land in the-localities opened up. The conditions.were then that payment for the-Orepuknine should be made, in alternate sections .on ,each side of the proposed railway, it .heihg. thought that .the alternate sections remaining in the Crown would be. ma<jLe.,.of dojable.. value, and the expense os~-. the. line _would" be covered ; withput great loss) ..60;000 acres of land in the northern 4is.trict was to be the sacrifice for the Waireka railway. These were the conditions; yet the Government a week before the Council met deliberately overrodctbcm, and let these, works for cash. What was the use of sending forty-six men to the Council, at an expense of £BO or £9O a day, if the Executive were to do things in this manner. Of course the contractors would have to be paid, and it was impossible to pay them ; out of would nave to sell land. If such was to he JtheJ state of-affairs, and opposition to suchfactious, he should.hope always tobefacleast, as long as he was their/; representative. If the loan applied forto" pay -ftmthesefworks was not Mr. Reid would say, "It is not my Government, but the Government before: me, that did this. The contractors must be paid, and you'will have to.sell-the lands. You would not let me, seU the .lands .before, but you.will have to do it now." Dr. Webster and-Mr.-Turhbull will smile blandly, and/iay, "Ah! yesiyqu must do it.".. And-for opposing this and -these men the Opposition were faetipus. (Applause.) Tliis large'block of land, estimated as being w-orth.only £500,000, was to belaid aside; and of this there.would.be taken —-.for Dunediu, a first £100,000; and then there was BLakanui, would take £15,000 or £20,000: Oamaru would not be adverse.to £100,000; Inve'rcargill would wan!/ another £IOO,OOO, and the sum Wouid be nearly swallowed ui>, for ; contracts already ' to the amount of £147,260 iad, heenUet, and to a further; amount of agreed to, irrespective lines. All the'di'striislr woifld get that wasjto be the sacrifice Was a railway from Paimerston to Wayne*' The Council had agreed to recommend this reserve, and he could do no more than oppose it as he did. He t would again repeat-what he had before said—that, if they agitated* he wonld al- ■■ most guarantee that the block would not be setasideiintii.it was first opened up; by a line of railway from J?alinerstori to Clyde; With regard lo a matter in which he .had taken*; a somewhat. prominent part; viz./ the reduction in the Gold : Duty : As late as'Aprii he had been: of opinion ,}that.\no remedy could be obtained ihrough the Provincial Council. -Ho yvever.onarr, Lying in Dunedin,.he'made;it his, especial business to ascertain, from the facilities the libraries true.sposition of the

question, and he fouud he had been en»" tirely wrorig'; that the Provincial Govern-" ments had the power most carefully" handed down to them through a succession of statutes - the spirit of the whole" beingthafc, as the Provinces were to beaif the expense of Goldfiel s administration they were to be protected to that extent by Goldfields revenues collected through/ the Customs, but not being a part of Customs revenue but a portion of Provincial land revenue, and especrally~"exceptid'l>J*"" r ~~ statute from tb,e control of ..the ; General Assembly. When in Dunedin he made an-endeavorJ;© .ob±ain;,.a,m.ee.ting pf^Gj>ld-— ; fields members, both of those in the Coun-" ciland : the Assembly, in order that the distinction between Provincial fill Assembly legislation might be clearly %~ laid dbwn r and responsibility thrown J upon the right shoulders—-Failing in that v'he had very freely consulted Mr. V. Pyke., and Mr. BraSshaw, wfrb'""had" given : him : " u the'gieatest assistance." Whatever credit attached to the reduction of the GoldDirty it should be clearly understood that* '" " Mr. Pyke deserved the credit. Mr. ; Bradshaw had handed him papers ; which had been of the greatest assistance to him. After a great deal of discussion the motion was carried the Government voting against it. Mr. MacKellacwas engaged and didjaot vqte»_ .It had been said, and thrown in the teeth of the miners, that the reduction. would only - benefit the banks. .The Executive of the Mining As- :T 'sociation had-sent circulars to; the! KanlCKiri .managers to enquire whether they would'?*?: beprepared bo raisethe price of gold,and '"■?' it Was understood that, the' banks : would- ■ rais-e.the pri'je. r HbW'ever, the andVtheir replies .would' be received by fife -T " s Secretary of the Association, and published in,a few days/ [The in -thel v ~affii v niative, as "shown in bur leading ar-' • ticle,' was received the'day following these rremarks,—Ed.r .M.I.CJ tt was at firitO" ; that the. reduction ; 'be-'"-as soon;as" it Was passedrthafc —- - wals as soon as the Superintendent hadks-CI sehted to the BilF, ; which he had done. % Hel[Mr. de Lautour) however, had thought that it would be advisable not become law until the intention of the banks became publicljtl«i£>jir,H.- iAracerningV thereadiag- or the Bible in schools he -■'- 4new that some of his- constituents differed in opinion .with him.l He would,,,' ;briefly put before thero-one Or two of reasons Which had inducedhim.to vote a»i. : he had done. It would have been very: ; easy for lim 60 had an engagementirf or to have sh.qwn a friend of his Dunedin I \vhile this was being discussed and deci- *" ded if he had liked. He would "ask/if 4he reading of the Bible "were abolished,- wouldVr the Catholic objections to-the .^Provincial« Schools be done away with? He.thbug£t.^ ; "not. Certainly abolishing Bible;;reading;?.' -j -would not secularise the schools. It would -," "Be-necessary to overhaul and r ;iS "the school books, .which were al} written "' at the present time by Potestants,. : and naturally- were unconsciously impregnated with religious partisanship. : - Would this be satisfactory to Cafchblics? He thought not. ;He wished ;to know whatthe ; Catho^- slies required, and then it Would'be for hinr;|..' —r-as.their representative, to endeavor. to : *- obtain justice -for' iboth . Prbtestarit's 1 knd;- 1 .. Catholics; The very last nuniber.df.t^";:' 5 QathoHc organ denounced secularists. ;as!r r modern pagans.' He'atpreseht failed'"to see that the abolition_oilßible reading in " schools would much affeet the Catholics : if that Were their true feeling witliregaril " ' to secularism. He-sould not -pride.hiair -. i self on having done ,. well in the, Council, 7 ' however, insomuch that he had not so. far obtained any land for settlement imme- L ' ! /lately about Jtfaseby. He had On Mr. Reid four or five different times I and; he had always, been busy.'.s But at> ~ 5 last he (Mr. Reid) asked him to make" memorandum of what he.considered n&? cessary, which-he' acdbrdingly did, and' received.- a favorable assurance that the matter wbuKl -be at once seen to. - He naturally concluded it was all right. On the Friday before the Council was prorogued the Appropriation Bill wa»brpught'down and passed, which l meant -the end of the session. Urgent-? private affairs requiring his home, he had decided (knowing that the Council would only.ineet to; be 1 on Monday) to leave Town by the early 1 Monday . morning cpjach, Mr. on the Saturday cama him, and said,... "I have a from this reajly goes very-. inuch agaiust what you have been teilinjr. me about land for :^asebyr"i= and asked. -,£ "me to look it over, and see what I thougHt" "\ of it. He would read it:— -•- . ::-''•"' [copy.] e - Survey Office, Dunedin, . -■" '- : ■ :Vi; ' Bth Junev 1874":. ? t>' Memo for Proymbial: Secretary:. .. | ■ The ground on Ewebura and Eden Creek Runs referred tp by Mr. de Lautour is a" -uniform level slope of.thin, gravelly soil,' al-~ Ways in want of more water than the dry'-'? climate of Ifaseby supplies. The jelevati6a\f above sea.level is from 1,700 to 1,9"66 *'", .The successful growing of grain crops would; ?? be precaripus, . not from the altitude, but h r from the .natural, dry nature of the pprpus" ' soil. ;. In selected spots in and around Ifasei by oats and garden fruits grow well; but there the ground is- thrown into ridge and .gully, which, in drift material, favors the"'; - conpentration' of soil and moisture on the= s alopas and bottoms: -■' There are one or .two ' smallholdings close to-Naseby on the fcyeburn Run. The extension of settlement in this direction would keep the settlers near-to*" the township,,and it has ■frequently ■ to me that this would be a ; suitable place" for;trying—say to the extent of a thousand acres* s —if farming would do, one' year iher, in that locality./ One thiiig is certain 1 : it would never pay "to grow crops at Naseby : to sell out of the district.' " -■' --•- ' -"^

With regard to the proposal of selecting 5,000 acre 3 m Eweburri and Eden Greeks runs, as suggested by Mr. de Lautour, it must be clearly brought out that it would injure the profitable working of these runs \ very much, by running a halt across them and cutting them in halves. Further, these runs .are really already in possession of tho Naseby people, being held by them; under a joint stock company, The land referred to on Preston a Run is perhaps the best within the compass of the Upper Taieri Plain. It lies, however, out of the line of either of th& main roads via Pigroot or Hyde. To open a : . block of 2,500 or 5,300 acres on the agricdlTV tural leasing system in such an isolated locality would, I fear, he more a reproach to the Government than a success. A Hundred could be selected here when wantei • Settlers in the Upper Taieri Plain will require to be more graziers than cultivators, and this part of the country will never' be successfully settled.under any system that does not permit of areas being taken up of sufficient size for to carry that out—say from- - 600 acres and upwards. All that is wanted in th*. way of cultivation is to grow sufficient oats fo* local aucl roadside wants. In 1871 the Government had a block of 2,50 a acres surveyed in fifty-acre sections at Hill's Creek, and a similar block at Beck's crossing, Manuherikia River. , In the first,; although, good ..grounl, level*- and fronting to maui coach road,.. acres is yet taken up.

At Beck's about 800 acre* Save been taken up j but the cultivations at both places are Carried on principally in connection with the accommodation houses.

James MiKkrrow, Chief Surveyor. Mr. Chapman's T£den Creek run- now balled the Maniototo—was the one referred to in his application to Mr. Keid. It would be seen that there was socalled information in this report which he had no hesitation in saying did not from the Dunedin survey office, and he thought not from the district survey Office, but which must have been supplied directly or indirectly by the friends of the Pastoral Company. Mr. MacEellar had stated at Cromwell.that the negotiating of a Commonage for Cromwell was in his hands at the present time. Now, if Mr. MacKelldr obtained a' Gommbtoage for Cromwell, the claim of Naseby for the same could not be overlooked. If. then, this opposition to agricultural settlement which he himself thought preferable to a Commonage, was continued, the district would be driven to urge what could not be refused—a Commonage for Naseby. It had been said that the action he had "been taking was merely out of spite to the Pastoral Company. What had the Pastoral Company done that he should be spiteful about? The idea was absurd. As the people's representative he must try and get them land for their reasonable requirements. Other places could get land, and why should hot they ? However, he was their servant. If they wanted land, he should do his best to get it for them. If they did not, he was their, servant still, and he would not trouble, more" about it. In concluding, he would draw their attention to the motion by Mr. M'Lean to test the feeling of the Council anent the selling of auriferous lands. " The Superintendent seemed to have recognised a speedy alteration in the Goldfields, for, in his opening address he had made some original remarks about the auriferous lands. There could be no doubo that it was generally thought that the Goldfields were on the wane. He woul.i admit that they were not as progressive as other interests. Now was not the time that the miners could, as they once used to think, do without population. They must have settlement on the lands to secure prosperity, and a voice in their preservation. After thanking the meeting for their attendance from all parts of the district in *uch roads, Mr. de Lautour sat down. The Chaieman then intimated that Mr. de Lautour would, no doubt, answer any questions ; and, on none being put, Mr. Bbookes proposed, and Mr. M. Coopeb seconded, a vote of confidence iji Mr, de.Lautour,,which was carried una,nimously, amid loud applause. A vote of thanks to the Chair brought tho meeting to a close. Our report is necessarily only a summary of. what, said. ,