NEW SOUTH WALES AND VICTORIA.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4229, 9 October 1874, Page 2

NEW SOUTH WALES AND VICTORIA.

Mr. Parkes, the Premier 'of New South Wales, has lately been on a tour in Riverina. At Deniliquin he was entertained at dinner, and made a long speech, in which he recounted the story of his differences with Mr. Francis—the quarrels of New 'South Wales and Victoria. We make the following extracts—as matter of Colonial history—from his address ; PROGRESS OP NEW SOOTH WALES. Thirty years ago he could not have anticipated that in less than ten hours a man could travel from Melbourne to Deniliquin, but he must disclaim all idea, of any jealousy with regard to Victoria, and was glad to notice her enterprise and successes. At the same time, it was his duty as a Minister of New South Wales to keep his eye on what she was doing, and maintain the position of his own Colony to the best of his ability. (Cheers.) He had well considered the resources of his own Colony, and also those of the other Colonies, and if he could point to one as having greater resources than another it was Queensland, which was yet destined to become a great Colony. Notwithstanding this, he had great faith that the first Colony—that of New South Wales—was destined to take the lead of the others. This extensive portion of the country (Riverina), with which all of those present were identified, was in the first place almpst exclusively occupied by the pastoral tenants of the Crown. It was not very long since Mr. Wentworth described the squatters as shepherd kings, and the soil as only fitted for nomadic tribes. These words, however, had been fully refuted during the past few jears. It had been proved that the squatters would .not be shepherd kings, and instead of the so£||£)emg only fitted for nomadic tribes, it was fit for the highest pursuits of civilisation. There were nice pastoral lands, . rich agricultural lands, minerals such as gold and iron inprofusion, and interminable beds of coal more valuable than either. They had a fine and extensive seaboard, and many large rivers. The extensive plain which formed this portion of the Colony, extending, as it did, for over 200 miles from Echuca, as far as Forbes, was capable of raising stock innumerable. If he was one of the wealthy pastoral teuantr, owning an extensive run, and knowing the law, he would at once recognise the small squatters, for he thought that the man who" came with his household goods on his back was the true squatter. (Cheers.) If such a man came on his run, he would hold out ' to him the hand of fellowship. He could not help thinking that if scores of those men know* an free selectors were met in that generous manner, instead of being met ■with warfare and opposition, there-would have been more improvements on the runs, and there would have "been a mixed population in the district that must be conducive to .the benefit of all. He had no doubt that some of those present would not agree with him: He was : not identified with one class or another, and all he wanted was that New South .Wales should become a great and free nation, and that the people in it should preserve the. independence they had inherited from their ancestors. LIBERAL LAND LAWS. His vote had always been recorded in favor of popular. and liberal land laws ; but it was never intended that babies in the cradle should take up valuable land. As far as he could understand, there were three classes of. seletors—first, the bona fide selectors who had saved a little money, and were desirous of forming homes, for themselves and children. In his opinion there could be no colonist of higher value than the man who turned ;the land to the best account for the general purposes of society. ’ There was another class who exercised their right of selection under the law for the purpose of .annoyance and extortion. ■ There was also another class that selected land in the names of little' children. In many: cases the squatter, fearing the inroad of bona fide selectors, was , taking up land in the names of any children, he could beg, borrow, or steal, in the event of having none of his own, for the purpose of preserving the choicest portions of his run. Neither of these characters was ever contemplated by the Act. .. RAILWAYS IS NEW SOUTH WALES.. ’ This Colony, which was looked upon in some parts as a back Colony, had done more in the construction of railways than any other place iu the southern hemisphero. In the neighboring : Colony Of Victoria they, had made a railway from Melbourne to Echuca,. over; :a level country, where there were no engineering difficulties. In New South Wales, however, they had taken a railway to the western district over some of the most mountainous country in the world. They had gone over mountains 4000 ft, high, and the works were

looked upon as one of tho wonders of the world. "The railway had ; gone 50 miles over the Barrier Ranges, where there was no land that could be sold, and no settlement that could produce a revenue. This thing had been done alone in order to tap the rich country beyond. No'such engineering difficulties had been surmounted in the railway works of Victoria or South Australia, and only to a small extent in Queensland. Having done that, the fifty miles of railway from Deniliquin to Moama would have been child’s play in comparison. It was the only ■ lino in the Colony that was easy of construc- , tion, and held out a certain prospect of a good return. The inhabitants of Heniliquin had, however, petitioned for power to construct it themselves, and as ,he was in favor of such works being carried out by private enterprise, ■ he had agreed to their request, and had assisted in passing the Act which gave them the requisite powers. MELBOURNE OR SYDNEY ? , It was unreasonable to suppose that people would take their produce tho long and weary journey over the Barrier Ranges to Sydney, when they had such facilities for running over level country to the boundary of the Colony on the Murray, but he could not see why for that reason they .(the population of Riverina) should become any less a portion of New South Wales. Because they sent their produce to Victoria it did not make them any less a portion of New South Wales, and the Government of that Colony had not the slightest intention of surrendering a foot of the soil between the two rivers. What they intended to do was to connect that portion of the, country with Sydney as quickly as possible, so that the people could visit the capital if they liked, or go to the other capital if they liked.. They intended to give them rapid communication, and the same educational and other advantages as other parts of the Colony, at the .same time leaving them free to dispose of their* produce as they pleased, but never to surrender a foot of land. He was well aware that* their produce of wool and stock to the value of some £2,000,000 annually went to swell the yearly productions of Victoria and South Australia. In the national accounts as laid before the world, those Colonies were credited with that amount the more, and New South Wales so much the less ; hut he cared not for that. It was well mown that New'South Wales supplied Victorians with the greater quantity of their animal food ; with the coals to make their fires, with their oysters and their oranges. They (New South Wales) were aware of all this, but they were now waking up, and intended to give the great heart of the Colony space to beat strongly in. He hoped they would take action in a true paternal spirit, and yet before the world take the lead of Victoria. There was no jealousy between, the two Colonies, but a generous rivalry. New South Wales had immense resources, and though she had slept for a time, when she awakened, her waking would be tremendous. (Cheers.)