New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) SATURDAY, AUGUST 28.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4505, 28 August 1875, Page 2

New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) SATURDAY, AUGUST 28.

The second reading of the of Provinces Bill was carried this morning on a division, in a House of 69 members, by a majority of 35 votes. The numbers were; For the second reading, 52; against, 17. The division list will be found in another column. This result was not unexpected. It had been anticipated from the outset, and after three weeks and one day of talk, not a single vote was cast differently from what it would have been if the division had been taken on the first day of the debate.' The Bill will be considered in Committee of Supply on Tuesday, in connection with his Excellency’s message. This course is necessary, inasmuch as clauses 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 21, and 23 are appropriation clauses. The Government likewise intimated that it was. their intention to press the Bill through all its stages, substantially in its present shape, before proceeding with any other public business, leaving Wednesdays for private business.

Our space is so fully occupied by parliamentary reports and telegraphic and local news, that we cannot refer at any length to the course of the debate during the last two days ; but we must mention the speeches of Messrs. Ormond, Johnston, and Swanson, as of special excellence. They differed from each other very widely, but as speeches, each one in its own way was exceedingly able. There remains another speech to be noticed, that of Mr. Stout, the newly-elected member for Caversham, whose maiden effort last evening fully sustained the deservedly high reputation he has earned for himself in Otago. Mr. Stout is a decided acquisition to the House, and a representative of whom Otago may well feel proud. The debate was closed by Major Atkinson, who reviewed, at some length, the arguments used against the Bill, pointing out the erroneous statements that had been made by Sir George Grey on the financial position of the colony. This part of the speech was the most telling, as he evidently endeavored to compress his general arguments into the narrowest possible limits to avoid protracting the sitting. However, the Colonial Treasurer managed to introduce a good deal of new matter, not the least important being a comparison between the sum available in each province for local public works under the existing system and that proposed in the Bill. As these figures will be of great general interest to our readers, we append them in tabular shape. Thus :

PRESENT SYSTEM. PROPOSED SYSTEM. Auckland, deficit .. £21,384 .. Available £06,062 Taranaki, available .. 2,888 .. do. 23,351 Wellington do. .. 09,203 .. do. 123,881 Hawke’s Bay do. .. 14,935 .. do. 19,004 Nelson do. .. 22,135 .. do. 47,807 Marlborough do. .. 712 .. do. 12,711 Canterbury do. .. 538,485 .. do. 576,023 Westland do. ~ 2,785 .. do. 34,443 Otago do. .. 163,804 .. do. 218,588 These figures are at once startling and suggestive. The several Appropriation Acts of the provinces furnish the figures for the results of the existing system, and the totals above quoted in the first column are the balances of revenue after deducting appropriations of expenditure. In the case of Auckland, it will be seen that there is a deficit of £21,384 on the revenue side ; in other words, the expenditure will exceed the revenue of the province by that amount during the current financial year. The proposals of the Government leave £66,062 for appropriation for local public works after providing for expenditure. It is proposed to issue £36,200 Treasury bills on account of land fund for Auckland during the present year. In the case of Nelson, Treasury bills to the extent of £7OOO will be issued ; Marlborough will have an issue of £4,400 Treasury bills, and Westland £ll,lOO. Altogether there will be an issue of £58,700 Treasury bills in anticipation of land revenue. We commend these figures to the careful consideration of our readers.