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The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1878.

Is our issue of tho sth instant wo called attention to a most unconstitutional and illegal exercise of authority on tho part of Sir George Guey's Government in entering into a contract with Mr. Pkouwoot, of Dunedin, for the construction of a branch line of railway known a 3 the Tapanui lino. The Government have undertaken to pay to Mr. Pkoudfoot, the contractor, a sum of £ol,soo—and probably tho usual percentage of extras—by instalments at two, four, and six months after tho completion of the work. The contract time is twenty months. , The whoio money must therefore bo found within two years aud two mouths from the time of commencement of the work. Tho most remarkable part of this very remarkable business is that this engagement has boon entored into by Sir Gbok«e Grey's Government since

the opening of the present session, whilst Parliament is actually sitting, aucl that the contract has been made .without the knowledge as without < the consent or authority of the General Assembly. We may look in vain in 'the records of our. Parliamentary history for a parallel- to such a proceeding, .and it is all the. more striking on the part . ofithbse whohubitftally vaunt themselves as being patterns of political purity, and who.were preaching constantly against the alleged olHcial delinquencies of their'Opponeuts; In the. House of Representatives in last session,' as vre have shown, a resolution was adopted in committee that at) address should be presented to the-Governor pr,lying that public lands of the value of £50,000 should be sot apart in suitable blocks for the construction of a railway from- Tapanui to Waipahi, as contiguous as possible to the* line; and that such laud should not bo sold or otherwise disposed of until such railway was completed. Not a member of the committee, we are sure, intended or supposed that in assenting to this resolution ho was authorising the Government to construct a railway; ancl we feel assured that the Ministry, who were then in office, would not fora moment have regarded it in that light. Indeed, the general sense was clearly expressed by Mr. Gisborne, who is reported in <( Hansard 11 to have said— :

He thought it was a pity the matter hat! not been coLsidered by a select committee before the House was called upon to deal with It. lie would vote for the amendment on the distinct understanding that he was in no way pledging the country to spend a shilling on this railway, and on the understanding that he was only reserving land in the neighborhood of the railway until that railway was constructed. Ho had hoped that the railway would bo constructed under the provisions of the District Railways Act.

On no other evidence than the admission of the Honorable Minister for Public Works would it have been credible that such a contract, wholly unauthorised, could have been made by any Government calling itself constitutional, and supposed to be acting in accordance with law. Last year the land revenue was colonialized,” This was held to be a great party triumph, and it was solemnly enacted in the Financial Arrangement* Act 1876 Amendment Act, 3877, that— : Notwithstanding anything contained in the Public Revenues Act, 1567, or anv Act amending the same, from and after the coming into operation of tins Act, all the land revenue, cxc pting that portion specially reserved under section 59 of the Land Act, 1877, accruing within each district shall beand he deemed to he part of the Consolidated Revenue ofthccolonu. But nothing herein contained shall be deemed to affect the operation of sections 11 and 12 of the said Act, and the said sections shall have and bo deemed to have the same force and effect for the purposes of this Act as if they had been her by re-enacted.

The portion of the receipts mentioned above as reserved*’ is the third partof the revenue from the deferred paymenMands. The clauses 11 and 12 of the Financial Arrangements Act, 1876, preserve the revenue derivable from land set apart for specific purposes by any Act or Ordinance previously passed, or under any agreement made with the Superintendent of a province, and save also the rights of the public creditor, in the usual form. The payments received for land, then, belong to the Consolidated Fund, and can bo lawfully disposed of only by Act .of the General Assembly. . The Constitution Act, clause 51, sa3 r s :

54. It shall not be lawful for the House of Representatives or Legislative Council to pass, or for the Governor to assent to, .any Bill appropriating to the public service any sum of money from or out of her Majesty’s revenue within New Zealand, unless the Governor, on her Majesty’s behalf, shall first have recommended to the House of Representatives to make provision for the Specific public service towards which such money is to be appropriated, and (save as herein otherwise provided) no part of her Majesty’s revenue within New Zealand shall he issued, except in pursuance of warrant? under the hand of the Governor directed to the public treasurer thereof.

We are thus minute in showing the exact state of this case because it is of very great constitutional importance. If Sir George Grey’s Government can, without the authorityof Parliament, place a charge of £61,500 on the Consolidated Fund to. to make a railway, then the control of the representatives of the people over the public purse is gone, and we shall got jack again to the old days of'personal government, when Governor Grey did what he pleased in this "colony. As we are not yet, however, “’educated ’’ sufficiently for that, wo arc not without hope that the New Zealand Parliament may refuse to allow ils power and functions to be usurped by its servants, and the money of the people of the colony to be taken for branch railways in Otago without the consent of Parliament. No such consent has bean obtained, eleven asked for, iii this instance.. The contract for £61,500 exceeds by £11,500 the value of the land which the committee of the House of Representatives recommended to be sot apart, and the , amount which Mr. Macandrew then named as the probable cost of the line. Sir George Grey’s Government lias not yet been one year in office. If they do this thing in the green tree, what may we not expect from them in the dry.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTIM18780910.2.8

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5446, 10 September 1878, Page 2

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,080

The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1878. New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5446, 10 September 1878, Page 2

The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1878. New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5446, 10 September 1878, Page 2

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