MR. CLARKE'S RESIGNATION.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 294, 16 October 1874, Page 3

MR. CLARKE'S RESIGNATION.

Mr. Clarke met his late constituents on Saturday evening last. "We extract from his address, as" published in the 'Observer : —" I ask you to recall the purpose for which you elected ine to be your member.» Was it-not to' do,.the best I could for the district-?. And I ask you to remember and not doubt that other mem-bers~of-the.-Ppxrincial. Council have each and all gone" into that} body with a like purpose, and with the same, determination. Well then, I tcalf your attention to the fact that there'are forty-six members of the Council, thirty "t "whom are bound by one common interest —the developmentof Dunedin and the eastern coast line from Port Molyneux to Uamaru; and the remainiug sixteen members are more narked by their want of a common, interest in each other's good than any--thing else. Taking Cromwell and Clyde, for instance ; the only attention which I have been able to thank their representatives for has been their determination not to have sny tracks made between the respective districts —for fear, I suppose, our storekeepers would run off with their trade. This is what.is'meant by the " position of parties,"—a majority of thirty members whose interests centre on Dunedin and Oamaru, composed of squatters, settlers, and-Dunedin merchants, —backed by ths Dunedin Press, —who have been returned " to do the best they can" for the interests they represent; and • a mi-. nority of sixteen members, composed of the class known as Goldfields representatives, which means, if it means; anything, representatives whose interests are not the same as the other thirty, and whose only common cause "seems to be their disinterestedness in each other's affairs. As for the character ofthe men who compose the majority, you will find it amply written in -the transactions of the Waste Lauds Board, and in the 1 returns of the" pastoral leases. There you "may see that ab'out 200 men own over six millions acres of a possible nine millions which Otago possesses ;and that their insatiable thirst is .not quenched even at that, is shown by the Maerewhenua and similar cases, and the unrelenting prosecution of their interests al the Waste Lands Board. These-prove beyond the shadow of .doubt the extent of their mercy iu the Council, where with their- agents, the Dunedin merchants or "business men, they, have literally made the.la.vs to suit themselves. And I ask, can any sane man expect men to give back money when they get it in their power ? I, at least, am thoroughly convinced that such a hope would be vain. I wish here to remark that if the Premier of JS'ew Zealand was not trying to right such grievances, by the abolition of provincialism in the North Jsland, I should not have thought that my resignation would weigh a straw with the authorities ; but as the Premier is about "to adjust, the grievous mismanagement, of the North Island,, and it is said that the Soutli does not need it, it simply becomes our duty to show whether we do need it or not, and. the conclusions that I have arrived at will show that* if anything like justice is to be done to this district, the present mode of government must be changed in some' Salutary manner. The revenue" raised in OtagoY: 187,3-4, 'was £-87, 672 [Colonial and Provincial.—Ei>. M.I.C ], which, taking the population at 70,000, amounts'to £l2 13s. 7d. par head. If this is the average of Otago's taxation, how much greater must-be the average of this district, where special taxation is a heavy and constant fact; where there is necessarily so much dutiable goods consumed, and where the gold duty amounts to £2BOO per anuum ? I do not think that the average taxation of the Wakatip district is one penny under £l7 per head; but, taking it at £ls, and setting down_ the population at 5000 souls, we have then a revenue of £75,000 per annum. The Treasury receipts were £519,904 for 1873-4 [Mr. Clarke has included £73,496 14s. "l'Od: received from the General Government, which makes his deduction wrong. The Wakatip did uot contribute £7 10s. per head, but were undoubtedly entitled to receive it.—En. M.I.C], or £7 10s. .per. head, which credits, or should credit, the Wakatip.with £37,000. " This, shows- as nearly as-need _be .the average' contributions of any 5000 souls"in bm the exceptional or special taxation to which this district is submitted makes it certain that it has; contributed a much larger sum—and what has the district go,t iu rtturn.for such a contribution? Oh looking at the Voles and Proceedings, f[ find that the district has been creditejd wiili votes for work* to the extent of about £7s' 0; and allowing £4500 for every other 'beiiifit which.it obtaius, we have a total return to the district of the 7nodest siioi of £12,000 out of a total taxation of. at k-tul £76,000, leaving a balance oi'£o3,ooo

as the cost of governing 50' !l t souls, ilnProvincial authorities holding a ba ani-.-of £25,000, or £5 per head for taking can* of the men, women, and children, and Chinamen of the Lakes district P or how can they show that it is not taken against our will; and appropriated to the benefit ■M ms-ii who have no righi U- ii ? And I again ask, What right has", the Government, any more than an individual, to take any man's money without giving some value or equivalent lor iu ? If lam in error, T challenge any one in Otago to point it out, so that I may be corrected. ' [claim to have endeavored to obtain thebest data which I could procure ; and the Government having withheld this information, I have worked to the best of advantage on such means as are to hand. I cannot do more. But not only do I complain that the Council will hot do us justice in the matter of works, but also' that what has been voted by the Council has been left in many notorious cases unspent by the Executive," or spent on other works not authorised. As an instance, I need not go further than the Arrow "township. This township contains 170' acres, or more, and as sold by the Go r vernment it must have realised some £BOOO or £10,000; and in the course of its existence there has been voted by the Provincial Council,for ho streets £SOO, and out of Lhis paltry sum £3OO has been spent, and £2OO lapsed. Nor is this case by any means an exception. Wen* I at leisure in the nr.tter of time, I could en.tertuin you long and loud on this subject, but.E will content myself with a few remarks. One of the most notorious cases ' of direct neglect that I know of at present in the district is in existence between A thur s Point and Ljng Gully, a distance of eight or ten miles at most along "the richest part of one of the richest rivers in .New Zealand, where gold has , been got by hundreds-weight, and which : up-to the prcseiit time Las supported a | considerable population, and where every pound of goods consumed has to be ] lacked at the risk of life—and where life itself has been frequently sacrificed in the •work. Some tim«> back the residents prayed the Government for some sort of track, and «ei e answered by that ready "answer, " JS r o funds." In Council, I moved early in their behalf, but was refused, although there was ample funds.; and so these poor men must toil in danger, and have their hard .earnings taken away at the rate of £ls per head.per annum, and then bo told they must not have a paltry track, or indeed any other "return for their money., This'.is tinhardest case of the kind that I know of iu the Wakatip district,- and one that I cannot forget, aDd it is a tablet of disgrace to the Provincial authorities. -I might, allude to the case of your own Arrow lliver so rich that its fame rang to the streets of London—ai-d yet it was but the other day that the first bit. of a bridle track was made up it. I have helped to carry down the dead and sick, by clambering along the precipitous banks of the river and repeated by t'ordiug its stream at short intervals, and in my heart I blamed the negligence and injustice which forced such a state of things. I cannot forget the old friends who had lei! this country because of the difficulties and uncomfortable necessities and risks attending residence in such a country without roads and bridges ; nor can 1 forget the numbers ot speculations which have iailed for want of means of communication, nor the deaths which have'occurred on account of the same'want. ~All , these things lie at the door of the Provincial Government, and the apathetic citizens. But I have shown that I am convinced that the present form of Government never will give us what is our undoubted right, and I have shown that it never has been given yet; and in ."order to show that lam in earnest in the matter I have resigned my trust iu the hands of those that gave it.