PUBLIC MEETING.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 336, 13 August 1875, Page 2

PUBLIC MEETING.

Mr. de Lautour, M.P.C., addressed the electors at the Town Hall, jSTaseby, on Monday evening last. The attendance was scanty at first, but at the conclusion of the address there were about 150 per-, sons present.

His Worship the Mayor took the chair. Mr. de Lautour said he had asked.the electors to meet him, principally on account of receiving sudden orders to set . his political house in order. He was willing to make them participators in his last will and testament. He did not wish to force his opinions; upon them, preferring rather that they should form an opinion for themselves. It was to be hoped that Mount Ida would not act the part of a floating log, to be dragged hither and thither at the fancy of any stray shark or dogfish that took hold of the line. He ■ first would briefly relate the action taken by himself and his colleague, Mr. Armstrong,.in urging the necessity of an increased vote for the district's public works. He was glad - to be able to state that the Minister for Public Works had recommended the House' to sanction a vote of £41,000 for Government races, £IO,OOO of which was for the channel and. head race. Mr. Mervyn, M.H.U., had kindly replied to a telegram he had forwarded, telling him that the sum recommended was £IO,OOO, and not £IOOO, as reported. There was a strong prejudice' in the minds of Ministers against these works, created by outside rumor, and what were considered to be authentic statements. The Government intended to complete all their present public works before attempting to inaugurate new ones. The Government races were*on the same footing as railways, and would be undoubtedly completed. : (Loud applause.) ABOLITION OF PROVINCES. Travelling next to the proposed abolition of the Provincial Governments, he would endeavor to sketch the principles of the Bills. After the Ist of November it was proposed that the Province of Otago should become the Provincial District of Otago. About then the Superintendents' power would cease, and the Councils would cease to exist—all powers vesting in the Colonial Ministry. It was proposed that the Superintendents should act as delegates of the Colonial Government, and be no longer political officers, responsible to the people. Bead Board Districts would be in receipt of subsidies of money —bribed over to keep the peace. A rate would be made by the Boards on all rateable property in the district, the expenditure of the proceeds and any subsidy received, at present calculated at £2 for £l, being in their hands. Shires could be created, consisting of two or more road districts, the qualification of voters and members being a graduated property one. All Municipalities were to receive license fees, as was now the case in O.ago, and in addition would receive £1 subsidy out of consolidated fund for every £1 collected on Is. rate. Broadly, this was the system of Local Government proposed. Of course, it was the custom to run down Provincial Councils. He was no admirer of Provincialism, but if Provincial Councils were bad, it should not be forgotten a representative body was but a reflection of those it represented. If Provincial Governments were to be condemned simply because they were unpopular, how would io fare with Municipal Councils ? At' Clyde lately th<y could scarcely persuade men to be nominated for office. A few months ago it was the same at JNnseby. Matters were little or no better at Queenslown aud Tuapuka. Provincial Councils were not the only unpopular forms of Government. (Laughter.) For all that, he did not advocate Provincial Governments. No doubt when larger powers were conferred on Municipalities and local Boards, the standard of representation would improve. Under the now spstcui those having (he distribution of mouey would bo men who, if they did foolishly, would burn their own pockets. It was • ery common to run down Provincial Couucils, as being individually corrupt. He couhl only say that, dunug

three years' experience of Otago's Council, lie had never seen any one instance in which any member had done anything for his own especial benefit. (Applause.) Of course members would vote for works in their own districts without any verj fine scruples as to whether such works were good for the Province as a whole, and in some cases such works could not help benefitting themselves.as residents in the. districts. Very often in hot debate insinuations would be thrown out that personal interest was being considered at the expense of the public. So long as a member was only acceptable to a district',' in accordance with the amount of plunder he could bring home, this evil would continue in any representative. House, Council, or Board. How'would the change affect miners ? The Abolition Bill provided for the local distribution of the land revenue, and professedly the return of the gold revenue to Gold fields. The land revenue was to be set aside as a source of supply for local Boards, after it had borne certain changes. The Bill plainly stated that gold revenue was to be expended in Goldfields administration. As the matter was left rather vaguely, we had to turn to the Government statements for an explanation... The Colonial Treasurer, in the Financial Statement, had supplemented the Bill in this way, with a flourish of praise that must be very grateful to miners : "I may state that the Government has no intention at present of abolishing or even of reducing that imposition. The goldmining community are the pioneers of the district to which their pursuit leads them, and their demands for the means of intercommunication are necessarily large and imperative. The Government recognises the necessity of meeting these demands, and-it proposes to apply the whole of the gold revenue, including the export duty, to the maintenance of the roads and public works upon the Goldfields." This must be very grateful to them, indeed he felt it running all over him when he read it. The Treasurer had forgotten his text, and the administration spoken of in the Bill as the sole charge upon gold revenue. For the present year the cost of special administration in Otago was £5775, and the estimated revenue £20,000. What was to become of the surplus. The Treasurer told us it was to be spent on roads and public works upon the Goldfields. Now, what were the Goldfields ? A district embracing nearly the whole of Otago, andreachingdowntoDunedin, where there was a Warden. Such expenditure might be equitable if Goldfields were an isolated central whole, as at the Thames ; but, as they were mixed throughout the Province hi small scattered townships, surrounded by a large, population engaged in other pursuits, miners would be specially taxed for the benefit of farmers, pastoral tenants, and others, while being also'liable to be rated in exactly similar proportion for Road Boards, unless in Municipalities, in which case they would be caught, but in another way. Where then would the miners benefit by this much-flourished proposal to give them back their own monies, when really their special taxation would be swamped in'the roads and works of the Provincial district as heretofore. There would be this difference that, after the inauguration of the new era, reduction of taxation must not be so much as mooted. At present miners had to pay £5 per head in special taxation, which was calculated on the assumption that each miner was taking, out about twenty-five ounces of gold, or earning about £lO3 a year. Besides this, they were average contributors to the consolidated revenue of £4 ss. per head; if married, of £8 10s. Besides this, they would be liable to be rated in districts on all .their property —at least, there was ho exemption in the bill. £l3 10s. or more was-rather a heavy deduction on an income of £IOO. ■ Why should not those larger owners of land, who for the most part lived at home, be taxed ? Why should one class, and that a working class, be taxed to relieve them from their fair share of making roads to and through their own lands? We hear a great deal about the boldness of Ministers at the present time. There did not appear to be much courage in binding on the unfair burdens of the miners, while not daring to impose a land tax. Perhaps, that would be too much for-the Upper House. Perhaps Ministers prefer to do good by stealth—by instalments. There was a great deal said about the land fund of Otago. The land fund was in reality alimited fund. At the commencement of this financial year, the Province owed £1,263,973. Prom this was to be deducted £270,000, the value of Provincial main railways, leaving a permanent charge upon our land fund of about £1,000,000 sterling. The reduction would however be fully made up when the railways in hand were paid for. In all, there would be an annual charge upon the land fund in the Provincial District of Otago of nearly £75,000. Otago proper was estimated to contain about 9i millions of acres of land, but 6| millions of this were leased out to the pastoral tenants, and brought in less than the annual charge for interest on debt, being only about £60,000. One million and a half acres in Otago were sold, and one million and a quarter remained settled on lease and partly unsold land in Hundreds. Besides this, there were some barren lands, wastes, and forests. It was all clear but what very shortly Auckland ■ could turn on us and boast of her sixteen millions of rateable land. Under the present system of Provincial Government, all our available land would soon be sold, and an end be put to that strange anomaly of sacrificing capital, and calling the proceeds land revenue. In any Provincial district any land sold or leased during the year would go to a separate account on behalf of that district, and be chargeable—first, for a share of the debt; secondly, to charges for land administration, and to payment of subsidy of £1 for £1 to rates collected in the district. If there was no balance, such subsidy was to be paid by means of Treasury bills, chargeable against the land fund of the district. Advancing on a diminishing security could not last. The country was no richer to-day than it was yesterday. It had certainly borrowed mnrc? mojiey. The siars were not going to Kiin gooseberries, or the moon green cheese. Where, then, was all this money for endowments and subsidies to come from. Iu ten years Boad Boards would do very well if they got 2s. 6d. in the £ as subsidy. Mr. Haughton had shewn the Government clearly that the majority of miners were not paying their waywhile, he said, as a public servant he could not introduce the political element, in which direction the cure lay, yet, if the . industry was to be encouraged, if it wns bincficial to the Colony, some of the special burdens with which it was weighted should be removed. There was a'reduction of 2000 miners the last year, although, •55.000 immigrants had been introduced

into the Colony. Gradually men were leaving mining, so soon as they could get something better to do. Yet, with these facts before them, it was deliberately preferred to continue a system of taxation that was crushing out the industry. There could be no doubt that it was intended to swallow up the surplus revenue in roads through settled districts, 50 to 100 miles down country, as heretofore, the benefit of which the miners would only share coequaly with others. This was the real question for a mining community to con-, sider. If the deductions he had drawn, were not correct, they were warranted by the facts as before the country. Better terms might be had afterwards, but, if so, such terms would be on sufferance only, and not as a matter of right. It should be the object of the country to pit goldmining, which could not be crushed out, on a self-svipporting footing. He did'hofr wish to keep Provincial Governments alive for a day, but before such sweeping measures, which promised to be permanent, were made law, they should be deliberately considered by the people who would be affected by them. There was no reason for depriving the constituencies of their right of enquiry on the hustings. Mr. Shannon and Mr. Dillon asked a few questions as to whether the Colonial Ministers had mentioned on what authority they had reason to believe the Mount Ida works would be a failure ? Mr. de Lir/TOTTE said that the names of informants were not mentioned to himself or to his colleague. Mr. Shannon and Mr. Dillon both, expressed a very strong opinion that it was very strange that the Ministers should allow themselves to be influenced by unaccredited, opinions. -Mr. de Lautoue pointed out that whatever impressions they might have had were now happily removed. Votes of thanks to Mr. de Lautour and the Chairman concluded the meeting, which had lasted for about an hour. A public meeting is to be held, we understand, to consider the questions brought before the meeting.