PARLIAMENTARY.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 198, 21 August 1874, Page 2

PARLIAMENTARY.

IWkllixoton, August 20. ib Curtis, the Premier said illy deciding to run a fourtii lenbeim to Canterbury, tbt urttnent would try to secure a son to the Lyeli by way oi if iicouid be safely and permeted it would establish direct between Nelson and the West ieve the existing line consite being resumed last night _»t he was returned to th( rough provincialist, but had in oeforc he discovered the svinciaiism and its effect npon in the House, and .he became ed that whatever' might bf Middle Island, the province* rtainly ought to be abolished, etuhow tiie present proposal affect tne Middle Island, as, so merely asked to affirm thf nt becoming pledged to any oi he working out of a scheme t be placed in better haude e Premier. The question was itlie interest iu Canterbury, said that it appeared that thf power to strangle the pro re determined to do so. Hi tUsfavtion with the Governeping their word. They had a_fUiod Act after setting the koolojoyby the ©ara. They

had promised £60,000 for roads in the North Island ; they had promised that the session should be held in Dunedin ; they'had promised to define the limits of the powers of the provinces, but had failed to keep any of them. He objected to the abolition of the provinces because it would deprive the country of the services of many men of ability and local knowledge who were very useful in the Provincial Councils but could not afford to leave their business to attend the General Assembly. He commented at considerable length upon the loose way of legislation in the House and the absurd restrictions placed upon provincial legislation. The colony was largely indebted to the Provincial Councils for the best legislation in the colony. The essence of the whole thing appeared to be that they were poor and therefore deserved to be kicked. He spoke at considerable length to show the superior efficiency of the Provincial Governments as compared with the General \ Government. As remarkable instances, he quoted the obstinate disregard of his instructions by the Agent-General, and the failure of the Panama, and Webb and Hall, and Forbes contracts to show that the provinces could not have done worse but might have done better. The real cause of the poverty of the provinces was the w»y they were starved to death by the General Government. An instance : if an offender was brought up at the Resident Magistrate's Court and fined £5, that went into the Colonial Treasury, but if he was sentenced to a month's imprisonment, the province was compelled to board and lodge him. But for that House they would never have been burdened with a native war, and its subsequent legacy of debt and bad feeling between the two races, and the growth of an expensive Native Department, which need never have be<n required. The whole secret of the difficulty was the financial breakers ahead. Cash wonld be wanted soon, and the Government was desirous of getting hold of the land. He was quite certain the time would come when the much talked of compact would be sent up the chimney like smoke ; any way, he felt that on this matter public opinion would make itself heard and no mistake. (Applause.) Mr Bryce said that the last speaker appeared to think provincialism perfection. It had been urged by several members and practically admitted by Mr. Pheehan, that provinciaKsm-is-Vorst form of centralism. That was juaply^ demonstrated by the fact that all the ontdistricts were dissatisfied. It might well be a surprise to the House, and the country that what promised to be a calm session was disturbed by such a resolution, but he did not deem it a surprise in any light; no other question had so often come up, and there was no other upon which men's minds had bsen so loDg and so irrevocably made up. If there was need to discuss the question now, and the Government ought to be the best judges of that, they were perfectly justified in dealing with it at once. It was idle to sav that they had to deil with public works, and that alone. He maintained that the initiation of that policy was looked upon as the first step towards the abolition of provincialism and now, wnen they found that the provinces could not drag along without charitable aid, it was bixh time to introduce Some more efficient, and Itss humiliating system. The abolition of the Southern provinces must speedily follow the abolition of the North, but ihat would arise solely because the South would find that the Norih was being better governed. The Provincial Governm nts were doing nothing now which could not be done better by local bodies. A great portion of the legislation of the House was caused solely hy ths Provincial Councils, and with their abol-shment, legislation w ,uld be considerably lessened. He went on to argue from their experience of provincial manage- ' ment ihat they were forced to admit tb.it all such m-uters as Education, Police, and Waste Lands should be in the hands of tbe General Assembly alone. Mr White did not attach much importance to the reaomtion.as he lelt certain that nothing would come of it. If it were possible for an} thiupr to come of it the present parliament could not give effect to it. Many who were now voting for ihe resolution would oppose any measure based upon it. Although he would vote against the government upon this occasion,, no one desired more to see them in power, but he still felt bound to say that npon the bringing down of any important measure the government dealt too much in sops. He would impute no improper motives to the member* for Taranaki, who he noticed, invariably followed the Government like lambs, but fortunately three of them could not be made government agents. If a proposal were brought down to disfranchise Taranaki he would vote for it. He contended that thia was a blow at popular government, but would warn the Premier tbat whatever was substituted it mutt not be Government . nominees. He insisted that the root of the whole discussion was the Premier's auger the speech for member for the Hutt, who" absolutely disembowelled the Forests 'Bill. The great ieason why the Government should , J not take over the provinces of the Nortb Island was tbat they had work enough already. If members were desirous for the simplification of Government by abolishing the provinces, not push their arguments to their legitimate conclusion and abolish the General Assembly. He was much afraid that the House was encouraging the Government to use its <**rnmense power tyrannically. Hs believed / the Premier b*d made a great mistake, for which retribution would overtake bun. Mr Reeves wished to make a personal explanation, and said that the charge against him of being a Government contractor, and i thtt that influenced his actions, was utterly untrue. His firm had not contracted witb , the Provincial Government of Canterbury for printing for several years, and in consequence of these miserable charges he had instructed them that they should not tender for tbet Provincial work. * __" Mr T. Kelly defended tbe Taranaki memhers from the selfishness imputed by the member lor Rodney, whose ideas ot local Government appeared to be to extend the Province of Auckland to Cook's Strait. It was a remarkable fact that all the members from the outdistriets of the Wairarapa, Waikato, Bay of Islands, Tauranga, and L otber remote places, were in favor of the proi pcsal of the Premier. Ho quoted statistics to » show tbat Auckland had been largely receivi ing aid for the last seven years, and that, so * far from beiog willing to raise taxes for Iocj! - services, a howl was raised against doing so 6 on behalf of the sick and imbecile This was t a suffici. nt answer tithe assertion that the - General Government first starved and then desire! to kill it, ; Mr Harrison opposed the change as too | important to make in such a suddea an<l in--1 considerate a manner without having given i any intimation oi *uch intent, and without t the slightest public pressure. To use the i Premer's own words it was easy to pull ' down, but not so easy to build up. He " opposed it also hecauae ot the experience he ■ h*d bad of another legUJa ive experiment, l and which he, for one, b; sd endeavored to i make a success. He quo:el from the speech s < f the Premier when moving the s< coud rear"---1 ngbf the Westland Provinces Bill, to show * 'hat ho did uot think one xyster ii was cheaper 1 than the other. Ntlson and Westland were 1 practically iu the same state as Auckland and Taranaki. They had to come to the Treasurer; ' for a dole of money, but in ihe case of West* • land its poverty was solely due to the Assein--5 biy. by giving them a capitation allowance • instead of their share of the consolidated 1 revenue. Westland lost at one' swoop! £15/)ot)per ye_r, while Canterbury gained r I £35,080, Because the resolution was prema- j „".--■'--.--.. . " ''''<*.. ~

ture and did not go far enough, he would vote for the previous question. Mr Jackson voted for the resolution a* the best for the colony, and the North Island in particular. Speaking of his own district (Waikato) the resolution would not affect it either one way or the other. His district had been solely under the control of the General Government for a long time, and he must siy to the general satisfaction, much more so than would be tho case in the bands of the province. He had heard that provincialism purified tbe atmosphere of the House, but his experience had been that it was practically— "You vote for my Land Bill, and I will vote for yonr railway " Mr Richardson referred to tbe difficulty occasioned to the General Government by the Superintendents, and quoted the words of the Superintendent of Otago, in which he said if the Public Works policy failed it would be (solely duo to the obstruction of such men as the Superintendents of Canterbury, Nelson, and Auckland. The short time the hon. Seiwyn (Mr Reeves) ~_s in office must have made him perfectly awaro of the nature of this obstruction, in fact the/ Government could not move withont firs/ carefully considering bow it would affect this or that Superintendent. Referring to the figures adduced by the member for Waikounite (Mr J L. Gillies) he assured the House that they were utterly unreliable, and he only wondered where the hon. member got them. Up to the 30th June, 1874, the cost of supervision and office work upon the expenditure of two millions of money, excepting £40,000, had not quite come up to 2 _ per cent. As to the money squandered in the north of Auckland he would say that for £25,000 actually Bpent by the Government there had been constructed 36 bridges with spans of 30 feet, and averaging 100 feet in length. There were 20 smaller bridges, and though the works were somewhat of a patchwork nature, they extended over 400 miles of road. The General Government was quite abie to make a pound go as far as the Provincial Governments. When members talked of retiuc'ng the capitation tax from £'l to 15?, he understood Government bad over services sufficient to equalise the difference. Aa to tbe premature'ness of the resolution, short as his political career had been, he could not but .notice that there was a growing feeling tha\ provincialism' ought to be done away with. He knew that was the opinion in Canterbury, and in every province of the colony he found that it was the general opinion among persons in the best position to judge. No matter what Government was in power, the question would have to be dealt with regarding the North Island at least. As long as the South could' take care of itself, it was not likely to have its institutions changed. The House adjourned at 12.5 a.m. On the House resuming this afternoon, Sir Cracroft Wilson waived his right to speak, and a division was called for, the result being; for the resolution, 41; against, 16. Pairs: for the resolution— Messrs Parana, Ingles, C, W. Parker, T. L Shephard, and Carrington. Against : Messrs Takamarna, J. L. Gillies, Brandon, Murray, and Thompson. For the leeolution: Sir D. M'Lean, Messrs Vogel, Brartshaw, Gibbs, Jackson, J. E. Brown, Tolmie, Luckie, Steward, Munro, Mervyn, Seymour, Fox, Cuthbertson, Tribe, O'Conor, Andrew, Stafford, Studholme, Katene, Shephard, M'Gillivray, Rlchmond^Kenny, O'Neill, Tairoa, Webb, Buckland, Bryce, Bluett, W. Kelly, Reynolds, Creighton, Wco_, G. B. P«rker, Ormond, M'Glashau, Wilson, T. Kelly, Atkinson, and Richardson. Against : Messrs J. Brown, Curtis, Fitzherhert, Hunter, Macandrew, May, Reeves, Reid, Sheehan, Rolleston, Swanson, Williams, Williamson, Bunny, T. B. Gillies, and Montgomery. The members in the precincts of the House who did not vote were: Messsrs O'Rorke, Pearce, Harrison, Johnston, Wakefield, Wales, White, and Von der Heyde, August 21. The Nelson Public Works Loan Bill.f for authorising a loan of £250,000, is discharged from the Order Paper. The Select Committee declares Mr Von der Hejde'a election'void.