MR. DE LAUTOUR ON THE COUNTY SYSTEM.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 392, 15 September 1876, Page 3

MR. DE LAUTOUR ON THE COUNTY SYSTEM.

(From ' Hansard.') Mr. be likwiova. —T rise to Bay that I think it jb almost a pity that the honorable member for Avon and the honorable member for Taieri should have given up all hope of obtaining any tangible result through striving to carry out their desiro to have a modified form of provincial institutions. Mr. Kollbstok.—l have not. Mr. de Lautoue.—l am very glad to find the honorable gentleman has not given up hope of that result, and I o jly wish that he would show that he has uot given up hope ; that he would at once take action in such a way as to bring something before tho House, to give ua an opportunity of seeing whether a modification of l'roviucial institutions iuighfc not be made, which would be acceptable to a majority of this House. I was a little astonished that the honorable member for Avon's attachment to the party which I may say was individually proud of his support, rested on no firtiior basis than—l was going to sav pique. I understood the honorable gontlemanfo apologise for voting with certain members iu favor of this Bill, because he could no longer support the party with which he ha:l acted I always imagined that if an honorable mem uer supported a party, it was on the principles advocated by party, and not on personal grouuds. I cannot agree with the honorable member for Taieri in the reasons he gave for supporting this Bill. That honorable gentleman showed admirably the other nigh!, that on all tho principles on which this .Bill hinges it was monstrously defective, and I cannot see how an honoruble meouer can vote for a Bill to the principles of which he is opposed. The principles of this measure are the permissive principle, introduced within the last few minutes, the raising of frauchise, and tho principle, to a certain extent of comraunising the lands of tbe country. As farasiOtago is concerned I canuot understaudrany member from that Province voting for a Bill which, even though it only be in operation for a year, will cooi'pel the people there to raise £IOO,OOO to make up for tho deficiency in revenue of which it will be robbed by this Bill. I do not think that will commend itself to our constituents. There is ono poiut.that occurs to me very forcibly in regard to this Bill, and that is tbe assumption that we shall get rid of the borrowing evils at present existent in theProvincea—thatis tosay, calling borrowing "county borrowing" must place our colonial securities on a much higher footing. We have been told a good deal today about the results of local government in England. How far the figures given to us were pertinent to the subject, I cannot at present see; but I think that, if we are to follow English pustoms and habits in local government as? in other matters, there is one thing we should stick to, and that is freedom and independence. Beyond that, 1 do not think we have much to gain from following the customs which, to its sorrow, have placed that country in its present position. The whole tone of tho Hon. the Premier when giving us those particulars, seemed to be poor rates, poor laws, Poor Law Boards. That is not what T should like to see established in this country. We rind that the local bodies at Home, so far from being ablo to exist up on the rules, have been cousin filly bringing pressure to bear every rear in order to get advances of money in what may bo called an irregular wny. I find that duringjthe eighty-two years ending on tho 31st March, 1874, £66,261,526, or an average of £BOO,OOO ayeur, has been advanced to'these local bodies by tho Chancellor of the Exchequer, this local pres*re being brought to bear upon him. The are-

rage amount has been very much exceeded .of late years. In 1870-71 £947,636 was advanced, and in 1874-75 the amount rose to £2,821,000, and for three quarters of last year these irregular advances to local bodies was £2,700,000. And -we shall have the same thing here. To aay that merely excluding these Chairmen of local bodies from the House will prevent the County influence being felt here is absurd. The advances made at Home are made under the Public Loans Act and the Public Loans Advances Act; arid the first thin'* we shall have after these Counties have tested their sinews of war—their revenues- -will be pressure on the Government to pass a Public Loans Advances Act. Under that "system, l wc shall have constant pressure, in this House, from outside, for local supplies, and what will be the effect upon honorable members elected for those districts? What E ledges will they have to give upon ;the ustings ? What will be the cardinal demand made upon them? It will be "money in the place " —the same evil we are suffering under now, only that it will.be increased tenfold, because there will be organised centres, and honorable members-will have to sacrifice their independence in order to obtain a seat in the House at all. There is one principle in this Bill which has not been alluded to, but in which it is most defective! It is that we are asked to give tiie people all over the country the residue of the Land Fund, in order to make up deficiencies in revenue. There is no question whatever that'these counties will be very-deficient in vevenue if they do not tax' themselves, and that is an operation they a:e not likely to perform, if there is an alternative. So long as thft alternative is the residue of the Land Fund, every sort of prcssura will be brought upon the Government and upon the. Laud Boards to swell that-Land Fund, instead of preserving the land, wh ch ought to bo done. Thiß is a point which the honorable members from Canterbury ought to consider very carofully. The price of laud in ( that Province is now £2 an acre; but ho-w long will it continue at that.price under Ibis system ? Every member of the local bodies will be bringing pressure- to bear in order, to get the price reduced, and they will want it sold at 10s., or even 55., an acre, so that they may get a little saoreof wba.t is called the residue of the Land Fund. That is a principle which, to hiy mind, is moat objectionable. I see no reason why, if these counties are established, they should <iot receive a direcb percentage on the Land Fund in the same way a*; but to a smaller extent than, it was given to the ; Timaru and Gladstone county. lam free to state that, in my opiuiou, no single county will be established under any Eill that goes through the House this year. Tho permissive principle will, certainly prevent any county being established in Otpgo. Then what position wil! Otago be ia? It will have to get cm as best it c;in at the hands of the gentlemen sitting on those benches. Does this, House think that Otago will put un with this sup of pap? 'There is no use blinding our eyes tO;the, fact.that we have to deal with a powerful and determined province in Otago, all the more determined because quiet. • An. Hon. Member.—lt will arrive at chaos: Mi", de LatjtotjU.—Chaos? It may come to colonial chaos. Otago can protect herself, not, perhaps, to bo great an extent as if she hung on to the real of the colony ; but she can take care of herself, aud will not contribute £IOO,OOO merely to please this House. It is no use honorable members blinding themselves to plain facts. Ido not refer to the state of effaivs in Auckland, because I have nob sufficient knowledge on that point j but I say wo are risking the whole unity of the colony, so far, at ail events, as Otago is concerned, if we force this Hill through.