MR. STAFFORD AT TIMARU.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 163, 12 July 1877, Page 2

MR. STAFFORD AT TIMARU.

; \sy Electric/Telegraph].; Timaru, Wednesday Night. ' A crowded meeting of. the electors of the Tin.aru district was held this evening in the Mechanics' Institute, for the " purpose of hearing the Hon. E. W: Stafford. His Worship the Mayor occupied the chair, and Mi. Rolleston, M.H.R, and Mr B. Wakfefieid/ M.H.R., were also present. .-; ... Mr .Stafford was received with applause, and expressed his gratification at being* so heartily received by his constituents. He referred to the marked progress the town bf Timaru had made during the past twelve months. Before he spoke of colonial .topics, he wished to refer to. the Timaru breakwater. When he last addressed them he said he thought that it could uot be obtained without considerable opposition;, partly, arisin" from ignorance of the case, as wellasscepti*. cism'and jealousy. The bill last year was specially placed unfortunately, there being quite a rush of Harbor Bills, nineteen in all. lhe one for Timaru was of a formidable nature as first presented, there was a demand mouey and also for an endowment; and the Legislature became alarmed. He was I glad to see Mr Rolleston present, as that gentleman had lent him the greatest assistance in getting the _c 100,000 for the work although he had never told Mr Rolleston what his opinions were regarding it; The Provincial Government had truly set apart that amount, but it was a difficult matter to get the Colonial Government to place the amount on the Estimates. When he went to the Government after the session, they told him matters would be greatly assisted if his Honor, Mr Rolleston, placed the sum on the estimates of ihe requirements of the Province. He eulogised the Hon. John Hall for his assistance iv the matter. Since he (Mr Stafford) had been in Timaru he had received a deputation regarding modifications in the Harbor Bill. There were no objections to the alterations, and he considered that the Chairman of the County Council should have a seat on the Board. He considered it unwise for the people to set their backs against the country members Regarding the 28th section, he thought it an exceptional clause, and people didn't know the result, as they had not asked the Government to assent to a commission. This clause was inserted for securing the votes of two members of the Legislative Council, and he thought his own discretion in allowing this clause to be inserted was not misplaced Every influence he might possess would be

eserpised during the^coming session in this letter. \ When he saw the opinio^ of an . engineer of so great a deputation in favor of it, be was disposed to. favor' it. There were sope of the Colonial engineers in opposition to the work, yet he considered ; that the ; opposition qf one especially should not be puUgainst itf-' Mr Stafford then- referred to the measures of last session, which he stigmatised as a very dry one. The result was that at the end of the session there was a large amount of work, aud large sums of money were unfairly disposed of. There were certain members of the Opposition who having fought in vain felt that they should not oppose the remaining work of the session, and the factious party was considerably thinned... .Regarding the work of the coming session he thought there would be very little opposition indeed. He referred to the Counties Act. Ifc was a pity that several Counties in Canterbury had not given it a trial, and also rather curious that recommendations for us alterations had been given by those Coun- [ oils who. had not given effect to the Act. L, He thought it \yasa matter of regret that the j. permissive 'clause was hot removed from it* Oe^therebea system not optional, and the ratepayers as a body should say whether the Act should be in force or not. In some irlprta of New Zealand there were" no Road 'Boards, in Otago in particular. He opposed the control by County Councils of the arterial works of the colony. The railways which are undertaken by the Government will extend from Bluff Harbor to some miles north of Christchurch, and several miles in the r North Island; and, with some exceptions, a large portion. of ihe colony ■ will he without ,the scheme, yet tbe people therein are con- , mmtmg. to/the railways, and, therefore, they .•-! hoJ j£j.?T? * 3im P le "-ode of communication ..for. themselves. They are isolated from receiving benefits they are entitled to He .;aiu ? _ta.ed the Hutt district in this respect. r He. would li.ke.to see a fair means of arterial .. communication from one part of New Zealand to the other. It might be asked, if the Government are to do this, how are they to find funds to do it? He could say that he would throw in a large portion of the land fund to assist the copsolidated fund. It was ra biatter of; regret wjieh he observed the consolidated fund of New Zealand contrasted with that of Australia. It was unfavorable „oe*-#^e?tsiI i and fund was not included in it. He would like to see in future borrowings the land fund placed with the consolidated fund. The land revenue is ingeniously d W.jwith by the Government in certain charges being laid against it, that to all intents and purposes it did not exist. The land revenue was being appropriated as fast as it accrued. Last year education was supported from' it. He was of opinion that the most equitable mode of providing for education was by charging it against the consolidated fund. They had now to send half a million as ..interest on borrowed money out of the consolidated revenue. This is r : veryiieayily -charged under, and education "would require more and more each year fo,r primary education only. All these considerations* pointed to him that where j. (.Continued on Fourth Page)

3i_o

„ ( ContinuedJ rom Second Page.), . j tweAty-five per cent is given to localities j the remainder should* he considered as consolidated revenue.' A fictitious land j reveatie-Kasi-been givfeh inthfr sh&pe of ; treasury bills/ An issue to i be temporary I and. fpr^eighteen months or so to, assist \ the consolidated revenue. Major At- | kinson admitted that it was not a sound ! system of finance* and hoped ifc would \ close last June; He had only seen tlft ■ ptißlishfed accounts whidli l wereT so : complicated that ieiy few^ertscould ■ understand them. He believe that the grnall balances and the savings in the departments would make up deficiencies iti -the revenue. Last 'year certain resolutions were brought forward by the member for Geraldine regarding the land fund, the principles of* which he cordially agreed with. l [Mx -Staf*** ford h^re road them.] The only ob; jeetioitto- urging them was that they" would not financially work. The principles were unobjectionable, and ; it is ndw a question as to the amount to be apportioned to the "coilisdlioiated revenues and to -the localities. The latter, receiving 25 u .ggr cg#i jwjere infinitely better off than the present h'andi to- mo«th subsidies' by" v fchW Government. Mr Stafford spoke regarding the disparity- of the charges for land, and illustrated Canterbury- --and Auckland. 2,128^125 acres had been •Jjaposgd. .pf in . Auckland sinceUthe foundatioeiiof the Colony, and in fjaiterbury nearly the same since the formation, of the settlement, to ;, Deceoaber,. 1875. He also stated the .. amount giveri^back ta t^se Trovince_f iii ~cash. sa-i ; wdul:#* ! aay 4f -^her land r§?*3RHe .were. *fco~. be^ alienated in various parts of New. J3ealani_L for nest to nothing, interest should be paid to Canterbury, andviother places where they have been very- pru-* dent. There should be a better system^ regarding thoilr adihinistration. liegarding etfttchtion, he must say that Ke Was disappointed during daafc_ session that a separate ■„ Board was not given south: of Bangitata, ibut he was assiured byithe L Ministeir for Justice that during nbit^e-ision chere Would be provision for such, a but he was not sure whether the members were to be elec-ted*or--nob. J3ie objected to the system of fees- on the Other haiid, if i^ere w^a L fax many persona would say, "rW©*l,aa,lJiav0 paid such a sum, l'll have.my moneys worth 1 ." The ttiatter wili require the gre^afest attention of t^e Assembly. Eegardipg..hjgber education, f#est£te.con{_iders it has nothingtq.da with it, as assisting -6he rich man, ' but he thought this wrong, as it was th» .poor man L who required it.. " la Scotland many farmers liad 1 risen through education in Colleges, etc., though the; State system provided in Eos^laid nothing bf ihe 'kind /was pro-^ viSteii, ( wiiilst Yictqria demotes ipne*. third of its revenue to State education. He deprecated the apathy of England in thia.resge^.[ The Proyinces.of.C^nteiv ; bury, kelson, and Otago . have shown from the first that the people should ha^e the. means of a good system: 'of-/, education, and be hoped they would acfll act up to it. Eegarding hospitals, owing to the Counties Act, undue charges^had been made on the Iliuniciparities which the Legislature had not intended, but this would be rectified dtiripg the next session. He nowicarae fco o^.. e * Q d of the means providedunder the t new system of things, "and it, was not an unnatural time to review what has- be&n done as the result 1 of the Pdfalic W^drka scheme. In the earlier years of the policy works bad been most inconsiderately hurried on, and he instanced the railway betweeu Titiiaru audjChristiihurch. ®ii this line there had been an amount of repairs done which showed how badly it had. been • constructed, and this on a most favorable c portion- x)f the country, and also iusla^ced.a section of railway iii Marlbocoogh whioh hitd been altkost entirely reconstructed. There was about 1100 miles of railway now open,' and the construction >had cost about seveir ! millions In many cases the -land for railways was. not bought before the railways we're actually laid down. If the Government had gone more cautiously to- work he thought, the land"! MigfcP. have; been bougKC cheaper than - it had. been. - He considered . they. 1 vad . got-half their moneys worth' for ,seii*Y mo'rieyr "He never knew a mojs.lUxu- < rious people than those in New Zealand. They were all a=u.oirey-speudiug people from first to last. Eegarding immigration, he had not seen any return, of its cost, but thought more th_tb a million bad been spent. He~Ead always been disappointed in the public works policy, that it had not provided better means for settling people on the laud. He bad r spoken in favor of this in 1870 before his constituents in Timaru. The. present Premier had spoken most emphatically on the matter in its favor, but whatever moderation was now enunciated it could not work as well as in 1870, but he was glad it was being taken up at the eleventh hour. Eegarding the increase of the railway tariff, he might say that yesterday afternoon he received a telegram from the Hon. the Minister for Public Work-i---on the subject, which he then read, and his bearers could see that the Government had made a mistake and were prepared to admit it. Eegarding the separation question he was a determined opponent, especially on" the basis as proposed last session. He did not believe in it as beingjagainst the spirit of the age. All the elements of greatness in the present age were in unity and brotherly feeling.

He concluded by thanking his bearers for their careful attention to him, and sad down amidst loud applause.