PUBLIC MEETING.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XIV, Issue 61, 27 October 1855, Page 3

PUBLIC MEETING.

A public meeting of the inhabitants of Nelson was held on Monday evening last, to receive the Report of the* Committee appointed to draw up a Memorial to the Governor, to be presented on his Excellency's arrival iv Nelson, stating the grievances which this Province has sustained at the hands of the General Government. D. "Sinclair, Esq., j Speaker of the Provincial Council, was called to the chair.

Mr. Travers, on the part of the Committee, read the following Memorial : — TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR

OF NEW ZEALAND

The humble Memorial of the inhabitants of the Province of Nelson, in public meeting assembled, — Sheweth,

That your memorialists suffer under the following special grievances in their relations with the General Government of the colony : —

Retention of Land Fund.

The Constitution Act was brought into operation within this colony by a proclamation, issued on tho 17th January, 1853. Your memorialists are of opinion that it thereupon became the duty of the then Go-vcrnor-iu-Chief, Sir George Grey, forthwith to call together the General Assembly, in order that proper regulations might have been made for the appropriation, expenditure, and distribution of the public revenues. His Excellency, however, for reasons unknown to your memorialists, did not call together tho General Assembly, but made arrangements for the immediate establishment of the Provincial Councils within the several provinces created under the provisions of the Act. In order, as stated by Ins Excellency, "to enable the Provincial Governments efficiently to perform their duties, until such time as the General Assembly should have passed some enactment upon the subject," he issued certain financial regulations, which were couimuuicated to the Superintendents of Provinces in two several circulars, dated Bth August, 1853. The following is a copy of the circular relating to the appropriation and distribution of (lie Land Fund : —

" Civil Secretary's Office, " Wellington, August 8, 1853. "Sir — I am directed by Governor Sir George Grey to acquaint your Honor that, until further provision is made by the General Assombty, the Land Fund will be appropriated in the following manner : —

" One-fourth of the gross proceeds of land sold or let in the manner stated in the 7-lth clause of the New Zealand Constitution Act will be retained for the benefit of the New Zealand Company. "The remaining three-fourths of such gross proceeds, together with the proceeds arising from the rents of Crow v lauds, from the fees on Crown grants, &c, &c, &c, will be subject, in the first place, to deductions for the cost of the Land Department, surveys, &c., as also for such proportion of the Land Fund as the Commissioners may be directed to deduct for the payments to the aborigines for the purchase of their lands.

" After these deductions have been made, the balance remaining is to be divided into two equal parts, one of which is to be retained by the Commissioner for emigration purposes, while the other part will be paid over at tin- close of each month to the Provincial Treasurer, or to the provincial account at the Union Bank of Australia.

"Tho General Government will, for the present, apply tho proportion of the Land Fund applicable to emigration purposes in accordance with the terms of tho proclamation of tho 4th March, 1833 : but if the Provincial Council of the Prov ince of w ould prefer having any alteration made in this arrangement, the Governor will be prepared to consider any representations which you may, in behalf of that body, make to lus Excellency upon the subject. "It must, lion ever, be understood that, if any portion of the province is proclaimed a hundred, nothing contained in .the foregoing paragraphs will prevent the Govornor, under tho authority of tho Royal Instructions of the 12th August, 1850, from authorizing the application of any proportion not exceeding one-third of tho gross proceeds of the sales of Crown lauds within such hundred, to bitch purposes as shall be signified to him by the wardens of that hundred. " I have tho honour, &c., (Signed) "Alfkl'd DosiErr, " Civil Secretary. "His Honor the Superintendent, &c, &c, tic." Tho Provincial Council of this province having declared their desire that the management of the emigration service for the province should be left to the Local Government, his Excellency subsequently directed that tho proportion of the Laud Fund reserved for that purpose under the terms of the circular should, in addition to the other proportion of revenues mentioned therein, be paid over to the Provincial Treasurer. The Provincial Government, acting in the full and perfect faith that the system of appropriation and expenditure directed by the above-mentioned circulars vvoidd be " maintained until tho General Assembly should have passed some enactment upon (lie subject," made certain financial arrangements, involving, amongst other matters, the maintenance of emigration to, and of public works within, the province. The establishments for carrying on these particular services were, moreover, constructed upon a permanent basis, as the Provincial Government felt' satisfied that, in anyfinancial arrangements which might be made by the General Assembly, due regard would be paid to the maintenance of such establishments w ithin the various provinces. Your memorialists find, that the regulations contained in the above-mentioned circulars were acted upon by the General Government, and the specified proportion of the Land Fund duly paid over to the Provincial Treasurer until the month of June, 1854, but that from that time until Jthe present, no further sums have been paid over on that account, although the amount of revenue derived from tho sale and disposal of the Crow n lands within this province during that interval, after defraying all costs of collection nnd management, and the New Zealand Company's fourths, was not less than £12,874, the whole of which, under the provisions of the circular, should have been paid over to the Provincial Government. Your memorialists also find, from papers laid before the House of Representatives during their late session, that, in the month of January last, his Honor tho Superintendent of this Province received a letter from the Colonial Secretary, in which it was stated, " that as it appeared on examination of the accounts of the General Government for the nine months ended 30th June, 185 i, that the sum of £5,206 10s. sd. had been overpaid to the provincial chest at Nelson, the Commissioner of Crown Lands had been instructed to make no further payments to the Provincial Government until the whole of the above amount was recovered." His Honor the Superintendent was naturally much surprised that such an order should have been issued upon the simple dictum of the Auditor-General, in direct violation of tho tormß of his Excellency Sir George Grey's circular, and m the | absence of "any enactment of' the General Assembly upon the subject." Your memorialists also find that his Honor immediately addressed a letter to the Colonial Secretary, requesting to be made acquainted with the items which composed tho said sum of £5,206 10s. 5d., us lie was unable, from an examination of the published accounts of the General Government, to discover how that sum could be due from the province. To that part of his Honor's despatch con- | taming this reasonable request, no reply was given by the Colonial Secretary. Your memorialists, moreover, find that his Honor, in another letter, addressed to the Colonial Secretary in the month of June last, again urged that an account should be forwarded to him, showing how the alleged debt arose, but that the | Colonial Secretary did not reply to such letter until j the month of August last, and then stated, " that the i accounts in question would be laid before the House of Representatives (then in session), and that probably the General Assembly would make regulations for the appropriation of the surplus revenues of New Zealand, for the period ending 30th June, 185 1." Your memorialists have been led to understand that certain accountg, comprising amounts under which the alleged i debt was said by the Auditor- General to have been ■ found due, were laid before the House of Reprcsenta-

tivea, but that the House was of opinion that those accounts were inaccurate in themselves, and ba->ed upon fallacious principles. Your memorialists find that no regulations were made by the House in relation to the appropriation of the surplus revenues for the period ending June, 1831, but that a resolution was passed iv relation to the matter in question, which was duly transmitted to your Excellency, and of which the following is a copy : — " That, pending a final adjustment of the public accounts of the colony, it is just and expedient that the proportion of the Land Eund now in course of being retained by the General Government in repayment of alleged over-payment to tho Provinces of t Canterbury and Nelson, should again be paid over to the Provincial Treasurers of thoso provinces for the public uses thereof, according to the present system of advances to provinces, and that the question of the repayment, of such alleged over-payments should remain open until such final adjustment, and be subject to suuh arrangements for liquidation as may then be deemed necessary. That a respectful address be presented to his Excellency the Governor, praying that instructions may be issued to the proper officers to carry out the foregoing resolution." It cannot fail to strike your Excellency that the sudden departure, hereinbefore detailed, from the regulations contained in the circular of Bth August, 1653, without any authority from the General A&sem.bh, was calculated not only to produce serious confusion in the ordinary financial arrangements of this province, but also, by the stoppage of emigration and public works, greatly to injure and impede its welfare and progress. Your memorialists are of opinion that nothing can be more directly oppossd to the spirit, and subversive of the principles, of Representative Institutions, than arbitrary alterations in the financial arrangements of the Government, made upon the mere dictum of a subordinate officer. Your memorialists, therefore, trust that your Excellency will be pleased to give immediate efl'ect to the resolution of the House of Representatives, as upon tho maintenance of the financial arrangements contained in tho above-men-tioned circulars of 81b. August, 1853, until altered by authority of the General Assembly, depend not only the ordinary financial arrangements, but also the carrying out of emigration to, and of public w orks within, tliis province.

Postal Communication.

Your memorialists find that in the year 1854 the sum of £200 was voted by the House of Representatives, for the purpose of carrying out a postal communication between Nelson, the Wairau, and Wellington, and (hat alike sum of £200 was voted during the !atc session for the same service. They also find that the sum of £200 was voted in 1854, and £20 additional in the last session, for the erection of a new post-office in the town of Nelson.

With regard to the sums voted for postal communication between Nelson, the Wairau, aiuj Wellington, your memorialists beg to call j our Excellency's attention to the fact, that the Provincial Council of this Proviice, conceiving the sum of £200 voted by the Housj of Representatives to be inadequate efficiently to carvy out tlw proposed somee, and sensible of the extreme importance of keeping up postal communication, not only between the two provinces referred to in the vote of the house, but ako between thosi outlying districts of this province through which the lne would pass, appropriated from tho provincial revemes a further sum of £200, in aid for the proposed service. Your memorialists find, that in order to satisfy the absolute and pressing wants of the largo population of the outlying districts above referred to, tho Provincial Government took immediate steps for tho organization of the necessary mail service, with the intention of placing tho name under the control of the (iencral Government, &o soon as it should give prac ical effect to the vote of the House of Representatives. Your mcmorialuta further find, that (he amoant voted by tho Provincial Council was duly expended in carrying out such mail service accordingly, but llut iio arrangements whatsoever have yet been inadt for giving practical effect to the vote of the Ho.i.j of Representatives. It cannot fail to bo apparei t to your Excellency that such a palpable disregarl of the wishes of the house, and of the interests of o\n of the most important districts of the colony — a ilis'J'ict producing exportable articles to an annual amount execjding £10,000 — must be productive of the itmost disgust and irritation, and must be calculated entirely to destroy all confidence in the Central Execilive. The inhabitants of the Wairau are loudly and constantly complaining on tliis subject, and your memorialists, therefore, pray that jour Excellency will le pleased at once to direct that the necessary steps should be taken to give practical effect to the votes of the Houso of Representatives.

In regard to the sum.s appropriated for the erection of a new po>-t-otliee in Nelson, your memorialists beg to caE your Excellence's special attention to the following facts :—: — Tlia room now used as a post-ofliee is part of a buiklng belonging to the trustees of the Nelson Grammar Schools, and measures only 12 feet by 9. It liui often been found insufficient to hold the mails from a single a e«el, and many of the bags have consequently lain exposed in another part of the same buiklng used as a public Court Ilou^e. It is at present occupied on sufferance only, the prese it Postmaster having already reeeiv ed notice to surrender it to the trustees.

Although upw ards of a year has elapsed sinco the House of Representatives provided the funds for the ereetbn of a new building, no sufficient steps have yet bten taken for carrying out the service, and your memorialists are compelled to suffer all the inconvenieacies arising from the want of sufficient space to sort and arrange the mails. Your memorialists feel that it is useless to expatiate upon this grievance, the nature and extent of which must, they conceive, be at once ipparent to your Excellency. They, therefore, confine themselves to expressing an earnest hope that your Excellency will be pleased to direct that the necessary steps may be at once taken to give practical effect to the votes of the Houso of Representatives in this matter also.

Admixistkatiox of Jvbticu.

Your memorialists conceive it to be unnecessary to enter into arguments to prove to your Excellency that respect and obedienco to the laws of the colony can cmly be constitutionally cusured by the regular, impartial, and certain administration of justice ; and that irregularity, partiality, and uncertainty in such administration imv>t consequently produce the most inconvenient and injurious results. For many years past jour memoriali.-ts, through their grand juries, at public meetings, and through the medium of the press, have addressed complamt3 to the General Government against the irregular and uncertain manner inwhieh the sessions of the Supreme Court are held for this province. Those sessions have been usually advertized to take place on the Ist of April and the Ist or October in each year. Persons charged with crime have been committed to gaol on the supposition that the sessions would only take place at these periods. J uries have been summoned, and prosecutors and witnesses in criminal cases, and parties to civil suits have been required to he in attendance at j the advertised times ; but, as a general rule, the Judge has not, in consequence of default on the part of the General Government in providing for him the necessary means of conveyance, arrived in Nelson for upwards of a mouth, and in most iustances for upwards of two months after the appointed time. In one case nearly twenty witnesses, some of whom came from a distance of 200 miles, vtere detained for nearly ten weeks, and had to be supported by the Local Government. In many cases persons subsequently acquitted have been unnecessarily detained in gaol for months. As the most recent example of this grievance, your memorialists would call your Excellency's attention to the fact that a sitting of the Supreme Court for the despatch of criminal and civil business was advertized for the 4th of this present iuonch. The Judge, however, did not arrive until eight o'clock in the evening of the 9th, and the jurors, &c, were only made aware of his arrival by the discharge of guns fired by the steamer at nine o'clock on the same night. They, however, fortunately attended in town on the following day, and his Honor w s thus enabled to get through the criminal business, but being compelled (as your memorialists understood by orders from the General Government) to pi'oceed to Auckland on the following day, he directed tho civil casen, of which there were several for trial, to stand over for an indefinite period. Your Excellency canuot fail to see how injuriously the interests of all classes of the community

must be affected by .such irregularity, delay, uncertainty, and partiality in the administration of justice, and how essential it is that such a grievance should be immediately remedied. Your memorialists, therefore, pray that your Excellency 'will be pleased to take this matter into your early consideration, with a % lew of removing the grievance. Your memorialists refrain from bringing under your Excellency's special, notice a large number of other grievances of a less important character than thoso above detailed, in the hope and expectation that under jour Excellency's- administration of tho Government of the colony — looking particularly to the declared intention of your Excellency to govern the colony under the advice of an Executive posses&hig the confidence of the Legislature — they will be remedied ; but they felt it due to themselves, and to your Excellency, in consequence of the previous utter disregard of their complaints by the General Government, to call your Excellency's direct attention to tho subjects referred to in tliis their memorial. i

Trusting that tliis, their memorial, will receive your Excellency's early attention and favourable consideration, your memorialists, as in duty bound, will ever pray, &c. Nelson, 22nd October, ISJ3S. Proposed by Mr. T ravers, seconded by Mr. Wastney, and carried unanimously —

That the memorial of grievances presented by the committee be adopted, and that a copy thereof bopresented to his Excellency the Governor on lus arrival in Nelson.

Proposed by Dr. Renwick, seconded by Mr. David Burns, and carried unanimously —

That the following gentlemen be requested to form a deputation to present the memorial to his Excellency, namely, Messrs. Trovers, Elliott, Mackay, Adams, Renwick, Muller, Sinclair, Curtis, John Ward, D. Moore, Wastne}-, Wells, Dr. Monro., Uarnicoat, M'Douald, Ridings'.

Proposed by Mr. Mtjller, seconded by Mr. Hume, and carried unanimously —

That the thanks of the meeting are due to the committee for the preparation of tho memorial.