THE COUNCIL’S DUTY.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 14, 29 April 1871, Page 11

THE COUNCIL’S DUTY.

The' Provincial Council will shortly re-open for the dispatch of business ; but, we question whether the members have a full sense of the duties they will have to perform. We have all, in fact, a keener perception of our dues than of our obligations. Nobody likes to be dunned; there are but few persons who care to be reminded of their short-comings; and even legislators are better acquainted with the duties of others than with their own. There are very few members of the Provincial Council, whatever may be the extent of their knowledge relative to the obligations of the General Assembly, who know what is expected from themselves with regard to the construction of railways in this province. There is scarcely one of them who is not in his own mind firmly persuaded that their construction depends altogether upon the action of the General Assembly. Many of them would open their sleepy eyes in astonishment if told that they had any. power in the matter ; and they would be still more startled if informed that the early commencement of these works altogether depended upon the action taken by themselves in this present session of the Council, They may know what

are the duties of the General Government and of Southern members with reference to these “ colonial” undertakings ; but they are not so well acquainted with those which are demanded from them. In the last session of the General Assembly certain acts were passed to give effect to the immigration and public works policy of the Ministry. These acts imposed certain duties on the General Government and Assembly on the one hand, and on the Provincial Government and Council on the other. One of the duties imposed on the General Government by the legislation of last session was to make a reconnaissance survey sufficiently accurate to indicate the main lines of railway through the colony, including the one from Wellington to Napier and New Plymouth. The General Government has shown every disposition to discharge this duty in the most faithful and satisfactory manner. The Government is authorised by the 12th clause of the Railways Act 1870 “ to cause such inquiries, reports, and surveys to be made, and such acts and proceedings to be done and taken for enabling him to submit to the General Assembly during the next session proposals for the construction of certain railways, including the one from Wellington to the Seventy-mile Bush, and thence to Napier and New Plymouth. This has been done by the General Government so far as it could be done without the aid and co-operation of the Provincial Government and Council. But, as we have intimated, there are certain preliminary steps to be taken, and duties to be performed by the Superintendent and Provincial Council, before the General Assembly will be in a position to determine that the above railway shall he undertaken, and these obviously demand immediate attention. The Superintendent in writing, and the Provincial Council by resolution, are required to indicate to the Governor their opinion as to the time and the mode such railway shall be constructed; whose duty it will then be to lay the same before the General Assembly, accompanied by a statement showing whether or not, or to what extent, he concurs in such opinions and recommendations. We have had an election for the Superintendency, and two sittings of the Provincial Council, since the above acts were passed, and yet neither candidates nor Council have given the public an inkling as to their views on these points.

The time and the mode relative to the construction of our railway is not so important a matter as any one, from the above extraordinary circumstance, might suppose. It will eventually run through the whole province from Wellington to Patea; but at what point is it to be commenced ? If from several points, then at which of them ? Wellington, Hutt, Wairarapa, Kangitikei, Wanganui, and Patea representatives may hold very decided views with regard to the matter, and it is quite probable that they will be as conflicting as they are decided. They will, however have to come to some common conclusion relative to it, and that, too, in the present session. Under the Immigration and Public Works Act the Superintendent and Provincial Council, in an act which will be required to be passed for that purpose, may recommend a specified and defined portion of the Waste Lands of the province to be set aside for the construction of the railway; and the lands thus indicated by act may be accepted by the Governor in lieu of moneys charged against the province. The Governor is empowered to grant such land to contractors to be subject, nevertheless, to the conditions and limitations prescribed in the act of the Provincial Council. Here, surely, are matters demanding close thought and prompt action; not by the Ministry, or the General Assembly when it meets, but by our local legislators in their present session. There has, indeed, never been a session in which more important duties were required at their hands. The Governor, on the recommendation, be it remembered, of the Superintendent and Provincial Council, may contract to pay in money, by grants of land, by lease of line and guarantee of interest, or by subsidies, subject to certain conditions and re-

strictions ; which of these modes will they recommend ?

But it is a waste of time to make any recommendations at all; it is worse than useless to expatiate on the merits of our projected rrilvvay, whether as regards the defence and native question, or when considered in the light of a great colonial undertaking ; while any appeals for aid from the South will only be to subject themselves to a noedless humiliation, if the members of the Council are not prepared to satisfy two conditions which the General Government, in the interests of the colony, very propealy imposes. These conditions are, first, that the Council satisfies the Governor that the work is one which it would be prudent to undertake; and, second, that the province will be able t© meet the liability incurred. These conditions are not unreasonable, and could be easily satisfied, if tbe Provincial Executive by its leaches on the one hand, and the Provincial Council by acting the part of a stupid waggoner on the other, had not cried so loudly to Jupiter for help, instead of putting their own shoulders to the wheel; so that if they do not alter their conduct, and that speedily, instead of its being an easy, it will be a difficult task to convince the General Assembly that a Provincial Government that has shown no disposition to meet its present engagements would be able to meet this railway liability when incurred. In what way does the Superintendent and Council propose to satisfy the General Assembly on this most important point? It will have to be done. A member of the Ministry emphatically declared at Dunedin that the Government will not allow railways to be made in and“by the province that cannot show how they mean to pay for them. We, may have no doubt whatever as to the paying character of our railway ; but the Government backed, by Southern members, might significantly reply, “ If you are so convinced of the fact you can have no objection to hand over something to us that we can hold as a collateral security.” The Colonial Treasurer has, himself, indicated that there are several forms which this security might take. In some cases, he observed, the Government might take as a satisfaction of the liability a fair equivalent in landed estate ; and in others, the result of a special tax, a mortgage on .railways in progress, or over the rents and tolls; Is the Superintendent—is the Council prepared to give the General Government any of these forms of security, and if so which of them ? Whether one' or the other an act will have to be passed for the purpose. This is a duty which cannot be shirked ; it is the one to which we referred at the commencement of this article; and it is the one to which neither the public nor the Council has yet had its attention directed.