The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1878.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5442, 5 September 1878, Page 2

The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1878.

When the Parliament had, with great applause and much glorification, effected the operation which was called the colonialiaation of the land revenue, there was a vague belief amongst plain people that we had really made a revolution in our finance ; that the whole land of the colony was to he regarded as the property of the whole people of the colony, and that the revenue derivable from the land throughout New Zealand was to go into the Colonial Treasury as into the cQ'mmon purse, and be disbursed annually as other funds in accordance with law. ' It was said that the public credit would be greatly enhanced by this operation; that the confidence of the Stock Exchang e would be thereby secured, and that future loan operations would be greatly facilitated. This is one of the many subjects, perhaps, which are open questions in the Cabinet; it is certain that the views of the Minister of Public Works as to the meaning of “ colonialisation of the Land Eund” differ very greatly from those which we have described as being popular at the time, last year, when the compact of 1856 was triumphantly torn up. Mr. Macandbew appears now to conjure with these words, and as wo watch the process, the pea appears always to be under the “local” thimble. A quotation from the Public Works Statement lately delivered will illustrate our meaning. Speaking of a large railway work which ha had just put in hand, the Minister says : As' regards the branch line, Walpahi to Harlot Bum, It will be recollected that last session tho House decided that this branch should be constructed as far as Tapanui, It voted no money for tho work, but resolved that it should bo paid for out of the laud to be set aside for the purpose. 1 am pleased to say that this branch is now under way. and that no money will be required until after completion; the terms of the contract being that payment is to bo made In cash, in three equal instalments, at two. four, and six months after the line Is completed. The amount is £61.500, and the time for completion twenty-two months from date of contract, so that we shall have two years and upwards In which to realise upon the 40,000 acres of land reserved. The probability is that this land, owing to the construction of the railway, will realise from £2 to £2, and upwards, an acre, and will thus

| yield clouble the amount of the .contract. I , may add that there were five tenders for the work on the above terms, and the one accepted, being the lowest, was £2OOO under the engineer's estimate. This fact is worth any number of arguments to show how wo might, to a great extent, construct our railways without increasing the amount of.our. public debt, or adding to the annual burden in respect thereof. It is now proposed to extend the line 10 miles further; by so doing the growth of cereals will bo very largely increased, and one of the most productive districts in the colony fully developed. ‘ * .. T • I have heard it objected that now, when the Land Fund has been coloniallsed, it is unfair to the colony as a whole to alienate large portions of its landed estate for local purposes. To mo such an objection seems—lf I may be permitted so to say—simply absurd. We are not alienating landed estate : wo are changing the form of parts of it. and thereby greatly increasing the value of the whole. If portions of land go, so far as the colony is concerned, the railways constructed out of the proceeds remain ; and if we manage our affairs wisely, wo shall derive a much larger income from those railways than we over did. or over could, derive from those portions of land. Wo do not propose to deal exceptionally with the proceeds of land set apart for the construction of railways. Those proceeds will bo dealt with as ordinary revenue, while from the enhanced value of the land to be affected by the lines so constructed, we may fairly assume it as a fact that the ordinary revenue will year by year bo greatly increased. The railway lino in question—Wapalii to Heriot Burn—is, wo need hardly say, in the Provincial District of Otago, and is a branch from tho main lino between Dunedin and Invercargill. No authority for th© construction of this branch line has been given by the General Assembly. And yet we see that the Government have let a contract for the work, and have undertaken to pay to Mr. Prou ufoot, of Dunedin, the sum of £61,600 in cash by equal instalments in two, four, and six months after tho line has been completed. The history of the case, as wo gather it from “ Hansard,” is this. On the 19th of September last: — Oh the motion of Mr. Bastings it was ordered, That this House will, this day week, resolve itself Into a committee of the whole Home to consider of an address to his Excellency the Governor praying that a sum of £50,000 bo placed on the Supplementary Estimates for the construction of a railway from Tapanui to Waipahi. On the 4th October the House of Representatives went into committee of the whole to consider the resolution above quoted, and Mr. Bastings moved a resolution in terms of his notice, Mr. McLean objected to the resolution, and showed that as tho District Railways Act was then in force the inhabitants of the district interested could themselves construct the branch line if they deemed it desirable. Mr. Pyke expressed his sympathy with the work, and moved as an amendment, —To strike out the words “a sum of “ £50,000 be placed on the Supple- “ mentary Estimates,” with a view to inserting the following—“public lands “ of the value of £50,000 shall be set “ apart in suitable blocksand at the end of the resolution to add the following words :—“ Such lands shall be contiguous to such railway, and shall not be sold or otherwise disposed of until such railway is completed.” Mr. Reid, then Minister for Lands, objected. There were no Crown lands, he said, “contiguous;” all had been sold at low prices, and were in the hands of large holders. It was a case for the operation of the District Railways Act, and steps had already been taken to have the line made under that Acl. Mr. _ Mac Andrew strongly supported the motion. He said it was evident that the money must be found, and that therefore the two opera-, irons, the sale of the land and the construction of the railway must go on simultaneously. Other honorable gentlemen spoke, and the motion which, as amended, would run as follows, was adopted by the committee : That an address be presented to his Excellency the Governor, praying that public lands of the value of £50,000 be set apart in suitable blocks for tho construction of a railway from Tapanui to Waipahi, such lands to be as contiguous as possible to the side of the railway, and shall not be sold or otherwise disposed of until such railway is completed^

We do not find that anything more was done after the adoption of the resolution, yet it appears to have been accepted by the Government as sufficient authority to enter into a contract with Mr. ProudFOOT, involving the payment of a sum of £61,5000f the public money. Without the authority of Parliament it was not lawful to enter into such an engagement; the resolution we have quoted above does not give, and does not pretend to give, the' authority of Parliament in any sense. A committee of the whole in the House of Representatives is not tho General Assembly of New Zealand, and neither the money of the people nor the lands of the Crown can be lawfully appropriated without the express sanction of the Legislature. Tho mere act of ordering land to be reserved, as in this case, does not authorise or empower any one to take that land and use it.

It is noteworthy that this contract with Mr. Pkoudfoot has been made quite recently, and even since the commencement of the session. The advertisement for tenders, which appeared in the “Otago “Daily Times” of the 28th June, fixed the 29th of July as the limit of time for receiving them. The fact then remains that whilst the Parliament was in session the Government have entered into a contract, without the knowledge of the Houses, for the construction of tho Tapanui Branch Railway, involving the payment of £61,500 of the public money. We content ourselves for the present with stating the facts, and reserve further comment upon them for another occasion.