MESSRS CURTIS AND SHARP'S MEETING.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 14, 16 January 1877, Page 2

MESSRS CURTIS AND SHARP'S MEETING.

In response to the 'invitation of Ythe City Representatives between 70 and 80' "peoDle 1 assembled a« the Provincial Hall last night. J. R. Dodson Esq. having been voted- to the chair, Mr Curtis said that he was sorry that other attractions prevented the attendance of so large an audience as Ac could have wished for various reasons, one of which" wa^ - that it was far more difficult to address-U ■ small than" a , large audience. Besides; : his < experience of small : meetings was not encouraging, for he remembered in the course of one of his electioneering tours he rather hurriedly invited the electors to meet him;' and only seven were present. However, .he* . gave them a speech which occupied .an hour and a half, and, whether in consequence of that or not, he could not say, but every one j of : them voted against him, so that the 'encouragement to address only a few was er^eeding small. Before commencing a sketch of the. proceedings 1 of Ihe lafeVses/ sion he would remind them that it was the\ first of a new Parliament, and. his. own impression was that the average ability "'displayed was above that of preceding Parliaments, that was, that- there -was *-' aYlargeamount of readiness and fluency of speech, but while there was . more of what he, copld-- best -, describe as "talk," ifc did not 'display more' oratorical or - argmentative powers --One of the features of the session was that the members did not appear to' be acting upon any specific principle, and i% was. difficult to tell from time to time what individual members or "what Ministry they would-support, which was.of c/rarse/ most disheartening :to < the leaders.lt was a Parliament specially elected to do away with provincial distinctions, and yet in nosessioh were local feelings-and sympathies brought more prominently forward, and the s consequence was! that' while"! the finances of the: .provinces :. were largely d'scussed, those of the colony were scarcely touched upon except , in a ; few, desultoryspeeches ' This 'was'' not* a satisfdbtOry 'fea-U ture, but it was probably owing to many of - the members being npw to -tbeir. work, and unaccustomed t to the habits and manners of, the General Assembly, and it wm quite 'pos-' sible in the next session the same Parliament might exhibit alnarkfed Jmproyemem>.i*jj;thts respect. "The business' had been greatly delayed, too, at various times by falking'ag^iost/ time which arose from the 1 , action of two or three leading c members who did not know when they were beaten, 'and failed to 're'meriiber that the Parliament had been elected- to - carry out the of> the -provinces 5 .' Wiih ho hope of winning they still continued ; to worry their antagonists in the hope that •■ something favorable tp .their own views might - turn up -without knowing how-it was to dofsoi But while he spoke of Sir G. „!&rey's geSooL as injudicious, the still -regarded, jhis- advent" to the House as' highly, advantageous', to ithe colony. Notwithstanding k his over-persist-ency and repeated groundless;? charges of corruption he had done a deal of good, and by his violent manner, had attracted public... a-tontion to. matters ; but"f prjbat "tyoiild . have escaped notice 'altogether!'' "lii" the l matter of the Piako^Swamp hie (Mr Ciirtis-^ had voted on. the. ;. first, .divi^ioiij ;.with-. Sir George Grey ;; in; order .thatjithere miglif 'i ..be a; : .delay ; . before finally disp^sing^ of, thje . matter.: but on enquiry it .was,' shp^n' that' the transaction had been a perfectly fai^-bne,'..' and conducive to, the^ .public interest, il'and ' although the^pfcrchaSers might make --large profits th^y j^ouldf jdeserve them for fihebp enterprise and in" draining' a large A tract of country, which' in its ■■ natural -state :: was useless. But good was done by thus attracting attention to a transaction that had been carried put according to no kno*,vn laws or regulations, but privately; between - Ministers and private individuals, and whichrrequired to bo rent' ered legal afterwards. It, was clear th&t at one time it was desirable "to give large powers to the Government in dealing with the confiscated .lands, ' Jjut ithe necessity for that had now passed away, and they should be treated as ordinary lands, and that they would be so for the future was due to Sir G. Grey's over violent charges. A greater economy, too, in the Mministra- ; tion had been the result of Sir George's attacks, and he therefore repeated.-ithat he'^ looked upon his advent to the House as a matterof congratulation. With regard to the general business, but few of the -Acts were of any general importance. Altogether 103 had been passed, and 80 more had been introduced, but were rejected or withdrawn. The Counties Act provided for the; election ; and defined the powers of, the GounOils^and \ he should have liked to see , one .important provision, which /vras cotitaihedyin the 'prif,

ginal Bill, hut afterwards struck out. retained, namely, the Chairman shbiild be elected by the .ratepayers.. He wouldj al§<j* havejpreferred to see larger powers $ven4o ; the Councils (Hear, hear from Mr Oliver), -such as the management b£ gaols, vjpblicei' Hospitals, and even of education, W this aye induced better men to. coke for%ard,;arid to 'take' klarger iriterest^in loca|*| affairs. He was afraid tha£ as it was,' if the County Councils brought the whole Act into operation an unfortunate conflict with the Road Boards would be the result, and that it would be found impossible for both bodies to outS their functions. „Thefe" were Jotheiy. Acs3 :i that were- to ba r put intiS operation together with the Counties Act, but the most important of them was ihe-Pubjic, Works Act,. which consolidated,and repealed 100 other Acts which were in .existence, 60 of which were Provincial and •40 General. Among other things it gave to Councils and Road Beards the power granted to the latter bodies by the Provincial 1 Coira--cils of dealing within drainage, stopping np ?and making roads, &£ -The Education 'Boards and Waste Lands Administration Were temporary measures for filling ul^S^P created by the abolition of Provinj.cMJn'stitutions.' The former, if passed in ';'^?;^ m in which it was introduced, would •have proved [.very injurious, especially to Nelson, and hjrwas glad to find the fGovernment willing to accept the amendments that i 352$ Proposed in it. The latter simply" 1 provided for the administration of the Waste lands by Boards.; The time,, howeve'r^wohld soon come when these ; questions riaust be , dealt with, and, in doing so, gte&t difficulties ;v v?ould,be experienced on 'account of the' coninterests ofj the various districts. ■iTtw^only other Acts' to which he need: refer jvere the r Loan Act, the Debtors and Creditors^ ajnd ithe Disqualification, so that but of *?PA4's ere * wer^ bP« eleven of anyJrealTgeneral dingortance. .The Loan Act provided for raising a million, three-quarters of !which were to be devoted toi completing .public works already cdmnienced, including the excluding the extensiop of our railwayYto the ?Porfr r and the other quarter towards! winding institutions. -.". The Debtors and : CSeditors Act was a greatimprovemle^tiipon '••i^-Predecessor, and the Disqualification Act -was ah exceedingly stringent one, providing thatmo member should take.office upder the forpne year after ceasing $o be ■Jf m^P!|her of the House, the ! object being to prevent a Ministry obtaining party support TiftT^nniing tojsiccount the power they had of pealing with the public funds. It was posaijbtei.that means might befound of evading the Act, but its passing was an evidence of the ..wishes, of . the.Houae„on this subject.. With regard to County Councils he was of opiriiori.' -that -a' deal of misunderstanding existed.-? They were compared to Provincial Councils., the fact being forgotten that they had not the leading powers of those bodies such as legislative, dealing with education and waste lands, and when he heard of County Councils being disposed tv take the place of ProvinciaUCouncils, he could not but feel .that, a: great mistake was being made. He had heard the forms, ceremonies, and state of the Provincial Councils complained of, but he never saw, in the Nelsou Council at ail events, more ceremony and parade than was absolutely essentialto a body entrusted with the making^ of laws. It was necessary that there should be a formal notice of their meeting, . that there should be a> chairman or Speaker to preserve order and decorum, and that : .notice should be given of motions and amend- , ments, and in fact that the forms of older legislative bodies generally should be observed. But all this would be utterly out of plafce with? County. Councils, which only had - the power to deal Svith roads, and pounds; and perhaps with charitable institutious, and were, in fact, like a Sub-Committee of a Provincial Council. Por these bodies to ape the fornis'of procedure of Provincial Councils ■*•; — ' y 1 " ' ■""■m-bhT (fror continuation, of Newt see fourth page) ■ .. , yiTT" WM^ M " M "' M " M " M ' MM ~ l

Z. (Continued from 2ndpqge.) was an .utter absurdity;. Of the measures introduced but not legislated upon, the first to nail for. notice, was the propbsal to separate the tw ieUtids. In the debate on this question he took not the slightest interest, as he full/ aware that there was not the slightest chance of its being carried, and that it was , only; introduced to , cause delay. The motion was defeated, atfd 'properly so, for nothing could be more injurious to the colony than a division of- its interests. .. Another questibb was that of making cpionial revenue of the land fund. Every one would admit that if the colony were starting with a clean sheet this would be the proper thing to do^ but it was urged that a compact had been made in 1356 by which' the land .fund waa secured to each province, and that to mske it colonial revenue would be a broach of faith. He admitted that the compact was made, and that it was intende^lio last, bot he considered; that it had, been broken already three times ; a^st ? by the passing of the Native Lands Act, 1862,. which deprived the North Island provinces of the land revenue; second, by the Public Works; Aoi^of^ 18Yp, by which the proviDCes' were relieved of all expenditure on immigration and publio works which tha' land fund was intended to cover ; and thirdly. by the Abolition Act- which did away with those bodies to which t^gfftriu^ had been entrusted.; He* was-; convinced that within the next two sessions the fund would become colonial revenue, as an iojuatice would be done ; 4o the colony by allowing, those districts t where .land;, was scarce, .or poor to suffer froin 1 - the want of expenditure. One important event of the session was 'Sir* Julius Vogel's resignation/ and the consequent break up of the Government. The grounds were failing health and the 1 necessity of looking after his. fu'ivafe affairs.' 1 ' Though not 1 a- sup^* porter of the late Premier's he must say that he was disgusted al' the abuse heaped Upon him by bis former admirers as sooo as he retired and ceased to be io^ power. yEv&rybady knew that bis health was fast failing, and (hat to remitn.in : would endanger hia lite, and the other reason he gave was" 'equally good, namely that in tha. ..interest of . his family he was , compelled to bestow more attention on his private affairs than he could do if. ho' 1 remained in the Ministry. It was - well known that the salaries of Ministers,; with all the calls: made upon them, were not sufficient to enable them to make provisions for their families in the event of their death, and it was , not to be< expected that a man should sacrifice his wife and children to the public welfare. The odium, which he , incurred, too, on account of his travelling'expenses, was altogether unfair and uncalled for. He admitted- that . . they^ were exorbitant and extravagant, but what did the colony expect when 4hey T piaced their trust in him? They knew^that he was careless in money . matters and; extravagant, and they had no right' to tbrn round upon him for spending money upon ostentation when th^ r were .fulljr aware that he con-.; sidered it right in their interests to do so. True, the House had refused to sanction the amount, but he thought they should have done so, and' that the Government should have made a better fight . for. an . o|d. colleague. He believed that the colony ; v?ould have been quite as much justified in voting a sum of money for hint- during his life as in granting a sum to Dr ; Feat her s ton's; family after Sis death, and thought that the services of good men would be more easily received if tbey were assured that in ihe event of their deaths, their wives and families ,w^ld/j not; be-left destitute.] With regard: to -Sir Julius Vogel's appoint--ment a's Agient-Gerieral, he did not think that he was quite tbe man to wind up the establishment and introduce economy, but for managing Uhe colonial finances, prevailing on capitaliatatta'advance the loans, and generally/ promoting the interests of the colon/, he did not think a better appointment could have been made, theralore^he was y- _.' r^ajjr^, to support it; "nor could he - see why Sir Julius should not' have been the first to receive, .the offer of the appOintmint. ; He, did 3 not apeak as one of his supporters; he bejieyed; it would have been: better if Sir Julius had never ■' taken part in the management of the affairs of the colony,' and for this reason he could ap^eak dispaßßionately, and ;be repe Ued. that he was thoroughiy diegusted at the torrent of abuse poured upon him. As to the length^ of the sittings of the y House, be tbpu/jht-they were too. long. They averaged 10£ hours per day exclusive of Committee work, which was. fair too mugb. If they could reduce! tbetime devoted to useless talking the business would be done much better, and inbre quickly. He had introduced a resolution to tbe effect that no mem bet*; should speak more than 20 minutes except by leave of the House, not with the hope of carrying it, but in order to attract attention vo the great waste of time, To a speaker who really bad something tp cay the House would always be indulgent, but unless those who. talked merely for the sake of talking were checked the sessions would, grow to such a length that men; having; : regular business would be virtually excluded. A-"- -Mr-SfIABP said that his colleagues y had referred to the large amount of talk in the House} but he could assure them '- Xtov[ his own, part that if Jie had erred it- : . it'nad iiot been in that direction. He^ I ZiwA Mt OarMsbftdwofkiad welitogeihor.

(Hear, hear, from Mr Curtis), and on all local matters had been perfectly unanimous. On the Piako Swamp question however he had taken a different view, for he felt Jthat at that 'early stage of the session, before they bad received any information on the finance of the colony, it would have been most injudicious to oust the Ministry. With regard to the debate on the Reparation of tbe two islands it was quite plain that there was no heart in :it, and the result was well known ull along. Afc' one time the; supporters of it appeared to be a little sanguine, and held put a bait which, however was not js wallowed.! They called a meeting t pf; the"' Nelson, West Coast, ancl " Marl-*" .borough members, -and threw oat the insinuation that if separation was carried they intended to have a capital in each island,; and! that ii the Middle Island Nelson should be (he favoured spot, : 1 With regard to the land fund lie :had always been of opinion that it should be local revenue. Of the Counties Act he oould not speak in terms of entire apptqval, but prafe^e.*! |th^;MiU (|ft;ias^ iyjSanvf J ft£^a>6> Lauaf AdmiDiadraiion Aot w^s. itierely;; bufiu'MlS&M !Committao upon it, a* great,, deal, of; information .had been, elicited which would prove very useful in framing a more jper manen t •' ActY"; yfhe ;: Debtors and Creditors Act as it passed through the Lower House he 4 ' did Wot' approve of, but in : ttie Legislative Council it received several improvements apd amendments wbicii' made it more" workable Srian %& Act of 1865; " ' Wlffi : •M ] Municipal Corporation's: Aot' She had taken^a great deal p£ ; trouble jjn getting^ i t into ,a , more useful shape. , rTo the , clause permitting borrowing tb thd estab t often years' rates be ban' sttenuouef-* ly objected, and had divided the pom;-! mittee, on it, when he succeeded in getting the amoun t reduced 'to "' five , jjrekr&'—nUesr,* In ttie H ''lTppiir-'H6&ae* greater! interest .appeared to be taken- ib; the matter, and as; it> was > ,ul.tim^ely j( passeq, r an overdraft. to the extent of one years revenaewaW allowed, and slab th'OY powefe to .borrow with'lihe" ; ' special sanction of the ratepayers. Onp, subject not alluded. tp by $Ir Curtis,. I and' which 5 was ntit getieraUy' under-" I stood, was the Sin Fraiiciaco mail service, for which a contract had been entered into ( epnjointly . by, the ( New South Wales and New Zealand' Governments for £90, 000, half to be paid py each. Owing to the. coastal service being dispensed with New Zealand's share was reduced to £37,000, and il was not generally known what the colony got back for this. Against it Was to be set tbe London postages amounting to £10,600, tho New Zealand postages amounting to £11,200, and that from other colonies £1,500, in all £23,000, so that all we had to pay was a little over £14.000. It should be remembered that for every letter received or despatched by this route the colony received revenue, but not so, : r-b.£~ihe ,.. Suez. Mail.- The Sau z Francisco, therefore, was the cheapest as well as tbe shortest. Witb reference to polonial : finance, as ;Mr Curtis; had it was difficult to get the Houae to attend to- ik An atteo&pt was made early in the session to make reductions, but' it had foiled. Towards the end He] had proposed' and carried a : resb|utioV to the effect that the Ministry sho.iild take the responsibility, during the recesß, ( pf n^a^ing.the nepess&r^.ceduo-. iione, and reason to belioyp^ that ihey were already. acting upon it. Me> Sbarpv concluded by- t saying;tha^ although he entertained feelings of regard and friendship for the 'honorable Mr 'Richardson, he thought iti was a goodfebiag r for Nelson pattiduhrly, that he was , no .longer Minister for Publio Works, as he always viewed all propositions through Canterbury spectacles j of Mr Donald Raid's appointment, he thoroughly; approved, considering ; him io be a man of large powaf s of applica- , and .,. great, practical knowledge! Ip; the present Premier' he ..thought there wasitat the head of affairs a man (o'bie thoroughly trusted; [ Mr Levest am' wished to know wjhai about the]; extension pr the railway to, which Mr.Sharphad espressed -himSel^very* strpngly. at 'the time i -'bf;"hi3\e;le'cti:oiD; i :': ':; -'-J X A 'l' V'A t Mr Sharp' said that ', upon. enquiring into: (the matter, he found it iv the present -state of ; the finances utterly) useless ■ to agitate ;' for a ; railway that would co3t ; l| millions in construction..' ! Mr. Qliveb would like to! ask Mr" Curtis whether he thought that in^the event of the- whoie of the;' Counties Act ooVbeiog' [brought into i operation,'*. Oentral or General Govfernensent Commissioner'would'be.necessary. V f . V jMr ouetiß did not thinks so' far as the Act was concerned, that it would matter in the least whether they did or not. He thought it would be a pity to dispense wiih Boad Boards, which' were : doing well, as wbuldJneviiably be the casj if jibe whole Act were adopted. j Mr Levestabi: Did you vote for tha: free railway. passes "?'""■ '' j 'Mr Curtis had not done so, and thpught„Buch a; privilege unnecessary." and absurd. . '>„ j Mr Sharp had opposed' it, had never l yet made use' of his ticket, and: bad no intention of doing so. V „-! ; ; j No more questions being i asked, a yote of- confidence in Messrs Curtis and> Sbarp ;*^as proposed, by .Mr ,' W&bv,, seconded by' Mir Wbight, and carried netn; con. i A vote of -thanks to. the. Chairman germinated' the proceediiigs. ['A