The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) SATURDAY, JULY 13, 1878.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5396, 13 July 1878, Page 2

The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) SATURDAY, JULY 13, 1878.

No exhibition could be more unfortunate or less creditable to the Government that invited or encouraged it than the scramble which took place in tire Committee of Supply, at the doss of the last session, for public money for local works. It seemed as if the opponents and unforgiving enemies'of abolition had seized the occasion to demonstrate,that the relegation of local interests to local administration and care, which was expected to result from the: great, constitutional change which had just been effected was, as they had prophesied, impossible. The scramble will of coarse continue as long as the Government find money and encourage a light for it. So member under such circumstances will feel himself at liberty to neglect tho interests of his .district, and incur the risk of loss of the confidence of his’constituents, by asqueamish disinclination to follow the 'general example. It was not : without..regret .and fear for the future that we found that in regard to the recent election at Hokitika it was frankly declared by the organ of what we must call by way'of distinction, the very liberal party, that the true virtue which they had discovered in their favorite candidate was his relationship to the Premier, and his consequently superior opportunies of pulling either his Uncle.’s apron strings, or the Colonial Treasurer’s purse strings,. in order to get money for roads and bridges in the electoral district. !A debate reported in 11 Hansard,” on oth December last, is instructive on this point. On the motion, in supply, to vote £D5,010 for miscellaneous public works— ■

Mr. Ee'd said there were many items under this heading for purely county wo ks, and, if they were going to begin a system of placing such items on the Supplementary Estimates, lie did not know whore it would end. If it were to bo the rule, ho would see the hon. member aud get a road put on the Estimates for the county he lived in. It was quitorlght lou rco to the old liabilities for winding up tho old state of things, but it was not desirable to introduce this now principle. The Assembly bad treated counties, it professed to give them subsidies, aud was now going to give them a certain proportion of the L md Fund ; and why not let them carry out those small works tlicmsclv s ?

Jlr. Sheehan said the question the lion, gentleman raised had been discussed on previous votes, which had been agreed to, although, according to the hon. member, they were open to the same objection that ho had now stated. , - Mr. iilchardson understood the hon.- gentleman to say that the other votes had not been considered by the present Government, who knew nothing about them,' but that they wore responsible for the Estimates now under consideration, Mr. Sheehan said he had not made any such statement. A number of the votes they passed on tho previous occasion were round and useful votes -, but ho stated that the Government wore not in a position to spend the whole of the money, and the same remark wonld apply to these Items. Jlr. I'itzroy asked tho hon, member for Akaroa why It was necessary, in respect to the items, “ Road, Purau to Port bevy," and " Koad, Port bevy to Pigeon Bay,” to make those Works a charge upon the land revenue of the colony? Mr. . Montgomery said the reason was, that'those roads, which were very necessary, hud boon neglected, for many years. Money had been voted out of loan for works all over the colony. They had passed items to the amount of ,£I9(J,OUO without a single word. If those roads wore not as necessary as thoso for which sums were passed in tho early part of the evening, the House need not vote them ; but, if money was to ho voted for making roads in one place, they were Just as much bound to make them in another. Xf the hon. member for Selwyn know anything of that part of the. country he would know that these roads wore necessary. He (Mr. Montgomery) would not object to the votes being struck out if tho House desired to adopt that course, but if they were struck out all tho others should bo struck out too. Mr. Held demurred to tho idea that the House should pass these items and leave a discretionary power lu the Government to regulate tho expenditure. . if tho House passed the vote It should he passed upon tho condition that tho money should be expended, unless there was iome obstacle in tho way, or some very good reason for departing from the vote of tho House. The hon. gentleman had thought that some of these might not he spent. Then, why ask the House to pass them? lie would move,—That the items ho strnok out, one by ope, ■ ’ (The items were not, however,. struck out, but tho whole vote was carried, and tho discretionarypower of spending, which Ministers assumed, gave rise to suspicions of favoritism for party purposes, which wo shall probably see justified by the results when ascertained. There is no rational excuse whatever for tho continuance of such a system. The scheme of local government by counties, by municipalilioß, ai;d by highway boards, is

complete. The Public Works Act and the District Railways Act confer upon the elected local bodies the power of providing all the necessary local works which the people of the districts require and will undertake..'the responsibility of paying for. The ColonialGovernmeut has undertaken to grant subsidies in money, by means of which, practically, it distributes locally all, the revenue remaining after the wants of the Central Government have been provided for, and there is, as we have said, no excuse for the attempted continuance of the log-rolling business. Nor, except upon the lowest ground of vote-catching, can any rational explanation of it be found. It may, not unfairly, bo attributed to a desire to damage the new institutions, the success of which would be felt to be a reproach by some of those who predicted, and would -still gladly bring about, their failure. There are so many Ministerial “Richmonds” in the field that it is difficult to discern which of them is the true King of the Cabinet ; but we may venture to hope that as the stump programme has been abandoned—until the next silly season at least—the parish business will - be left to the local bodies, and that the representatives of the people will be allowed to devote themselves to subjects which concern the general interest, or are beyond the competency of the local bodies. There is room in that sphere for very useful and honorable work, the record of which will be more creditable to statesmen than that furnished by the reports from which wo have quoted above.