MR. LUCKIE'S MEETING.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 209, 3 September 1874, Page 2

MR. LUCKIE'S MEETING.

There was a large attendance at the Provincial Hall last night, when thech.ir was taken by Mr J. H. Levien, who caused some Amusement by his attempts, not always successful; to decipher a written speech which he had before him. Mr Luckie, he said, had been elected to support Mr Yogel and to advance the interests of Nelson, and if he had done this he had every right to exp.ct to meet with the approval of his constituents. Since his departure from Nelson his detractors had stigmatised him as a foreigner and one of Mr Vogel's tools, because he was commercially connected with him, but he did not regard him in that light, for Mr Yogel was far too noble and generous to be driven to seek the support cf any one individual in the policy he had introduced, and which was now recognised as the policy of New Zealand. He would now call upon Mr Luckie to address the meeting, smd trusted that he would be listened to witb that urbanity which so distinguished a " foreigner" merited.

Mr Luckie, who was received with loud cheers,Jjaid that he experienced great gratification in ome again seeing himself surrounded by so many friends. Mr Levien said that he had been spoken of as a foreigner, but he did not at all consider himself as such, ten of the best years of his life having been passed in Nelson, where he had formed many sincere friendships. As to his commercial connection with Mr Yogel it was confined to being a fellow-shareholder with him in a newspaper. He always had expressed his opinions frankly and fearlessly, and he trusted he should continue to do so to the end. The past session of the Assembly had been a most eventful one, wbich was the more marked hecause the general expectation had been that would be no political movement of any consequence. Mr Yogel had frequently expressed the opinion during the recess that it would be m rked by no vicissitudes, but would be a session of political peace. These anticipations were realised for a time, but towards the close it was found that the rest-and-be-thankful policy was to terminate, for the grand question of provincialism unexpectedly cropped up. For many years he had been an ardent supporter of provincial institutions, bnt for some time past his opinions bad been undergoing a change which he had shadowed forth in his address to the electors in 1872. Up to 1871 provincial institutions had proved of great service in carrying out the work of colonisation, although he had always thought ttat there was too much playing at Parliament, and a deal of useless paraphernalia that might well be dispensed witb. Prior to the lac session, any attack upon the provinces was warmly resented, and there was an immense amount of vitality called forth if any hostility was displayed towards them But all that had changed now, and a most successful onslaught had been suddenly made upon them. That the change had been brought about by the provincial authorities themselves there could be no doubt. Wellington was a most sturdy beggar that was always trying how much she could get from the General Government; she had ridden rampant through the Audit Act, and Mr Fiizherbert and his indefatigable and loudvoice i Provincial Secretary, Mr Bunny, lost no opportunity of devising schemes for getting money. The Premier was naturally annoyed at this, and when the Auditor brought up his rep rt, which showed that the Superintendent and Executive had been driving a four-in-hand through the Audit Act, and disclosed a thoroughly rotten system of finanoe,he said that if the General Government had the power to remove the Superintendent from office, they would be perfectly justified in doing so. Auckland, too, was suffering from the curse of the native war, and property there had deteriorated in value in consequence. Deprived of her Customs revenue, and nnable to get a land revenue, it was not to be won-dere-at if she was poveity stricken, and required to be kept alive by the General Government. Her system of finance too was perfectly rotten, and showed that she had become as a sheaf ripe for gathering in . The other two provinces of Taranaki and Hawke's Bay were of minor importance, and it was generally admitted that the condition of the four provinces of the North Island was such as to fully warrant the large majority by which Mr Vogel's resolutions were carried, Then what about the South Island? Was not their time, too, coming? What if Nelson, Marlborough, and Westland, were absorbed by the Gem rai Government? (Loud Cheers.) What was the position of their Superintendent? (A Voice— He is a dummy.) He actually bad the temerity to say that with his new Fxecutive he actually put his name to papers with which not only did he not agree, but actually felt convinced that they would be detrimental to the interests of the province. Had he (Mr Luckie) been in his place he would have seen the Executive far enough before he would sacrifice a maturely formed opinion. He would have said-.— Well, gentleman, you may go- and would have appealed to the people without fear of tfie results of a dissolution. He might have sacrifice i his position, but his opinion, never. That was the sound principle of constitutional Government, and one on which he was.always prepared to act. The great outcry in Nelson was that no progress was being made. There certainly was not much vitality in her at present, hut they should remember that that was largely owing to the want of back country such as made Otago and Canterbury. With regard to Westland it was a crying injustice that she should be in her present position. Originally a part of C mterbury, she was burdened with a crushing debt contracted hy that province, and, like Nelson, required to he aid by the General Government, while Canterbury, on the other hand, was literally rolling in wealth. Was it just, was it fair, was it right that the lands of the Crown, the lands that fairly belonged to the people of the colony as a whole should be relegated to the hands of a few Provincial Councillors to deal with them? That was at the root ofthe present outcry for the exstinction of the provinces. Canterbury and Otago might howl at the idea, lbut the day was certainly coming when their and fund would be made colonial revenue. (A Voice — We have had our cake and eaten it, is it fair to take from others their share?) Mr Luckie, yes we have, find who was it that had reaped the beneflt? Some of the " Lords." There was Mr Robinson who had bought an enormous extent of country at 7s fid an acre when it was well worth £2, and it was against the continuation ot such a state of things tbat they had to fight now. If the land were taken care of and the revenue derived from it applied to..public works it would do good, but if it was to be swallowed up by the provinces, better that the public works and immigration policy had never been The number of land laws that existed in New Zealand was also most detrimental; they required consolidation, and one law to be made for the whole colony. The management of the gaols, police, and Lunatic Asylums, too, should be placed under one head, and this could only be successfully carried out by the abolition of the provinces. Out of the 16 who voted against Mr Vogel's resolution, three objected because they did not go far enough and deal with the whole of the provinces, apparently forgetting that they should be only too glad tb gee a first insta ment and to make one step in the right direction. He himself had, been burnt in effigy in Auckland for supporting them, but he cared little for that, and believed that when the people became clothed, and in their right mind, with regard to the Provincial question, they would admit

th:it those who voted for the resolutions were in the right. Taking the three members he had alluded to from the 16, but 13 were left, and out of tbat number-, eleven were Superintendents, Provincial Secretaries, and a Speaker of a Provincial Council. Of the Nelson members he must give Mr O'Conor the credit of having set an ex tmple on the other side, knowing as he did that th . passing of the rts llutions was the knell of the provinces in this Inland. He would a'so say that he cou'd not but respect Mr O'ltorke who had unquestionably sacrificed his position to his principles. In connection with the Provincial question was the Forests Bill, which was of great importance. In some p^rts of the North I.land the sand was gradually encroaching and making a desert o what was now fertile land, and it was necessary not only to conserve the forests, but to plant trees. It was well known too that a frightful waste ot valuable timber waa going on, and that shouli be stoppei. Mr Vogel's measure was a grand one, and to carry it out he Rsked for three per cent of the land, but the provinces with one accord refused to give up anything, so that clause had to be struck out of the Bill, whrh passed in a mutilated state, but he looked upon it as the forerunner of a system ot conserving our fori sts, which would earn for the present Government the thanks of future generations. The opposition to this clause sho wed tt c con i. tent antagonism .ot the provinces to anything that was for the g« od of the colony at large if it affected them detrimentally in the smallest degree He thought Mr Yogel had made a mistake in departing from a rue that he laid down in 1873, when he said that not another yard of railway should be constructed without provincial lands being given as security, but he wa . compelled to give way by the pressure brought to bear upon him by the province.. But were we to continue to allow our lands to be squandered away instead ot applying them to the use of the colony, and to mee'.iag the interest and sinking fund of our colonial dfbts? So long as this was permitted, so long would the public works and immigration policy be in a precarious ondhior. But the time was last approaching when the provinces must wrap their mantles around th< m and prepare t . meet their fate with dignity. .The first blow was struck at them in 1.70, when the public works and immigration policy wa<initiated. thus depriving them of the work of colonisation. He should like an expression of opinion from those there present whether they did not believe that the time had arrived [ when the provinces should be swept away and lhe General Government reign supreme. j (Loud chesrs ) tie trusted that those cheers j meant the expression of an opinion that wou'd soon be participated in throughout the length and breadth of the colony. He need only point to the gas and waterworks here to show the mismanagement of affairs under provincial rule. They had cost lar more thin they should have done, ard he trusted that his Worship the Mayor would not agres to pay exorbitant prices for them, but insit t upon obtaining them for their real value, and not for what they had cost. The success cf the immigration policy was very remarkable, and h«d recently been exemplified here by the immediate absorption of the first shipload of immigr.mt. in sp : te of the fears and dout ts that had been expressed on the subject. The ready way in which the immigrants all found employ mer t in the other provinces too was a proof ot the vitality of the colony, one thiog he thought was a mistake, i amely, tl c building of (0 tig- s fur the immigrants, as it ttudtd to increase the spirit of loafing and dependence upon the Government. The question wai, what wss to follow on the Provincial system. The Road Board- had been tolerably tuccessiul, and if sufficiently endowed would go far towards rendering unnecessary the paraphernalia of Provincial CAuncila. Some required remodelling, a., for instance, where a few persona occupied large tra- ts of 1 .nd and formed Boar is tnat raised nothing by rates, but received funds from the Government. In VVaimate, in Otago he was told that the Koad Boatd bad £90,000 to their credit in the bink. Thi. certainly required alteration, and Borne pbtn must be devised of spreading the procee s of the land over the wnole co'ony instead of confining them to some few specially favored districts. Some feeling was expressed against tbe Upper Honse for throwing out some of tl.e Bills laid before Ihem, amongst others the Nelson Waterworks Bill, but the « Lords " looked upon tbat as simply adding to the debt of the colony, as the money to be paid to the Provinci-1 Government was to go into the revenue without liquidating the original debt. Consequently il was thrown out as the first step towards rejecting other I ills such as that for purchasing the Otago and Canterbury I railways. With regard to our railway he was | sorry that the efforts of the Nelson members had been unavailing in the mean time, at i least, but those who .aw the plans would be < inclined to think that tbe difficulties to be overcome would be very great and the cost of construction very large, and he could not wonder that another survey was wanted At the same time he looked upon the project of t .king the line through Tarnda!e as unwise and imprncticable. He was surprised to find . the hon Mr Edwards objecting to sign that paragraph of the letter ad iressel by the membei s to Mr Yogel which referred to Tarndale. He did not say that Mr Kdwards had any interest in Tarndale, but thought it was a great mistake for him to make such an exception. With reference to the honorarium question he would say that he had voted for the increase on the principle that payment of members in a democratic country should be supported, as. if not, the wealthy only, who had already made laws and administered our lauds for us, would be the only ones to legislate for the country. He felt that it might be more popular if he had voted against it, and many n embers did so who were all the time in trepidation lest thtir votes ehould be the means of negativing the proposal. It was those who were wealthy aud could afford to sacrifice their time who opposed it.- He irould like to see how many of those who were very indignant over it would hand the money back or give it to charitable institutions. During the session no less than 119 Acts were parsed very many of which were purely local, Wellington apparently being as gree.ly for laws as ehe was for money. There should be a consolidation of the laws which w.re hecoming so exceedingly numerous The Telegraph Act for preventing the disclosure of tbe contents of telegrams was a useful measure, and provided that, if information leaked out, those who bad it were bound by law to state whence they derived it, so that it might be traced b.ick. The excise duties were the most mistaken idea of protection that ever was, as manufacturers of fiery whisky were enabled to make cent, per csnt profit over those who imported the good article, the Government at the same time losing a large amount of revenue. Th .re had been lost in this way £60,000, and, in addition to this, compensation to the amount of £25,0U0 had to be given to the distillers of dubious spirits in Auckland and Otigo. (Mr Luckie then referred in passing to the Imprisonment for Debt Abolition Bill and the Licensing Act Amendment Bill ) The Provincial Public Works Advances Bill was almost lost in the Upper House, but was eventually passed, and by it Nelson would get £30.000, which would no doubt be of great assistance in oppning up the country. The Nelson Public Works Loan Bill for borrowing a quarter of a million had been dropped, as everyone knew would be the. case. From the very first it was a mistake and a mere sham.- The Postoffice Savings Bank Amendmentßiil was thrown out by the Upper House. He thought the Premier was going too far in thi* matter, and that the proposal to allow

dt posits to the amount of £1000 was a niistake, as interfering with the banking intere P t. generally. He was sorry that the Government did not go on with the Qualification of Electors' Bill, which was to abolish the enomalous system oi voting on miners rights, and to make something like manhood s ffrage with twelve months' residence. Not being pas*ed this session it would not be available at the next general elect*on. The Californiin mail service had dropped, but efforts were to be made to resuscitate it. It would bave been better from the first to wait for the new boats instead of commencing with makeshifts. He was afraid that public confi.ence would be shaken in the service after having broken down three times. The Pacific Hands Trade Bill was one of lhe grandest of Mr Vogel's measures, and was calculated to do immense good to New Z aland. All who knew the Islands and the immense wealth they possessed had full laith in the scheme, and he hoped th*'. ere long New Zealand would be the head quarters of a vast Company trading with these Islands. Mr Luckie then cordially thanked his audience lor the hearing they bad given to him, and said that however far away he might be, his heart would always b. in Nelson, where he had so many friends, with whose assistance be had fought snd won many a Iv-rd battle. Having expressed his readiness to reply to any questions, he sat down amid great cheering. Mr Akersten: Do you think it likely that the General <i overnment will assist to develope the hidden wealth of the Golden Bay districi ? Mr Luckie thought that had the samples of quartz he had seen from the Collingwood district been founl as neir to Auckland as they were to Nelson, they would have created a perfect furore. With regard to Para P.ra he thought the Government were disposed to re**der assistance, bat they could not see their way to doing so.

Mr Levestam had a resolution to propose. When Mr Luckie was elected he asked the electors never to condemn him unheard. Since then he had left N.Uo 1. which was much to be regretted as they could not afford to 10-e an able m -n. His detrusors hnd objected to his continuing to hold his seat, and had expressed much dissatisfaction at beiag represented by one who lived away from the place. He(,VirL.v._tam) mast plea 1 guilty to the charge of having joined in ihe cry. but n >w he wished to make the only reparation in hi. p . wer by proposing th.t alter the full and lucid explanation of his proceedings he had given that evening, Mr Luckie was fully entitled to the confidence of hia constituents. Mr Algardb seconded the resolution. He always objected to absenteeism, and had written two letter, to the paprra some time ago, suggesting that Mr Luckie should be called upon to resign, but alter th. addres. they had heard that eveiiiog, he did not think they had lost anything by hiving Mr Luckie as their member, and if he continued to represent them as well as he had hitherto done, he thought they had every reason to be satisfied The resolution was then put from the chair and carried unanimously. Mr LncKfß was greatly gratified at such an expression of their confidence in him. He th . ught it very unlikely that he might be called upon to resi.n, but if ever he were by a, re.pectable majority he certainly should do so, for he never would be the repreientative of an unwilling people. A vote of thank, to the Chairman terminated the proceedings.

TRbifoSATioi. Speech —The following is an extract from the Governor's B HBos ßrßragping t^e Parliament: — This session will be memorable for the decisive step whicluhas been taken in the direction of abolishing the form of rrovinciat Government ih the North Island. The opinion of the House of has been expressed by the large majority which voted in favor of the resolutions; whilst the debates in the Legislative Cdftncil have left no room to doubt that, that ; Chamber is also favorable to the proposed policy. For-sdme years there has grown op the belief. that the Provincial system io -b-jsrjalandj does, not really afford tbat amonnt of local government the people desire. The decision arrived at is memorable, also, for the desire which; the. Legislature manifests, that the land fund of the, colony abould be applied to suitable pnrposes, and, as far as possible, be localised. That decision mast effectuallydo away with apprehensions io any part of the country that change in the provincial I system would mean an absorption of the land fund in opposition to the opinions npon tbe subject which fiave been confirmed daring a long coarse of years. I hope that the Provincial Governments of the Np*th Island, loyally recognizing the decision of ? House of Representatives, will, ,*?ty.s* recess, exert themselves to the uttpost to so manage the affairs of the provinces as to enable the proj^dwdefiahge to be effected next year with the least possible inconvenience.

T___3 JfgLBOuaNB Cup. — The Austrahsian ot^August 22 says :— Tbe acceptances for tbe great event of the season, the Melbourne Cup, were ded&*ried J 6n Monday, tbe lOih inst., and are, 51 in number. As anticipated, nearly all 1 the best horses are left in, the' fhbat notable amongst the nqp« contents being Seas pray, The Prophet, Sunlight, Echo, Old Strop, and Stockbridge. The 51 contents will furnish, barring-.' accidents, an excellent field when Mr Watson musters them under the bhUi in -November next. Mr De Mestrofhas: Dagworth, Horatio, A.T., and Gladstone in bis n-tme, to sustain the reputation oC^.biack and all black." Mr Tait has three left in, and a good trio tbey are, to upheld the yellow and black — viz., Goldsborough, the Rose, and "the' Arrow. -The New Zealand mare Lurline is, of course, in, and if all that is reported of her is true, she will run a great mare, notwithstanding .that she has almost the same weight to carry as Horatio. Tbe St. Albans sfesble. haß;Protos, King of the Ring, . and Fugleman, and with luck is bound to have' a hot favorite on the even 1 ful The Williamatown stable rely on Blue Peter, King Tom, Ella, ani Cttampagoe, and the firßt-named, if fit ot^ihe :day, must be dangerous. Mr Fiigate-has the Derby winner, Lapidist, art*. J Gioom, and the former wilt no doubt giy^ a good account of himeelf. In Sir Hercules Robinson's name we find Fits- Yattendon, Speculation, Syren, and Neredab, and the 1 Vice-regal chance ofoswipniDgithe ricb stake is by no means a light-one. Mr Coldham has 33arlj.Morn, Bright Light, and Break of'day lefrin. ; In addition to shose ~hoft|<ja mentioned above as coming from New South Wales, may be named also Javelin, Wombo, Vivß, Lord Lyon, Paris, and Blama. Hard iog bas Rory O'Morein his care, whilst Tbe Diver is under tbat of Mr W. E. Dakin, and if judgment and care can bring a horse fiftQ; the post, tke backers of the son of- Maribyrnong and Gwendoline may /n%ke^ their minds quite easy, as the' hbVi9'" J (.od!d not be in better bands. The rest of the acceptors include Newbold, Papapa, Goshawk, Friendless, fomeo. Bepjiroo, Imperial, Kettledrum, ing 'Billy, Haricot, Cleolite, Jacky, and though last, not least, Prince, whom many fondly believe to be ' tbe Toryboy" of 1874. The field for the next Melbourne Cup promises, so far aa quality and numbers are concerned, tp'bVfirst-c.asa, and a great race may b^leji^joo. -A southern exchange says the reclamation of a very valuable tract of land npon. one of the Scotch rivers was made ioA M i simple < .manner quite recently.Stakes .were driven in the mud at the water's edge at regular ditsances parallels to the course of the riyer.. Between: these- stakes branches and boahMw'ere interlaced. This simple: contrivance resulted in the deposit at every high water of large quantities of silt and mad, until at last an embankment was,.. thrown, up without any farther expense, sufficient to keep out water except at high floods. The land thus reclaimed was sown with grasses, aod is now used for grazing cattle, and . is valued at £60 per acre for this purpose alone.