COLONIALISATION OF THE LAND REVENUE.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5449, 13 September 1878, Page 2

COLONIALISATION OF THE LAND REVENUE.

When the Parliament had, with great applause and much glorification, effected the operation which was called the colouialisation 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 be regarded as the property of the whole people of the colony, and that tho revenue derivable from tho land throughout New Zealand was to go into the Colonial Treasury as into tho common purse, and bo 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 Exchange would be thereby secured, and that future loan operations would be greatly facilitated. This is one of the many subjects, perhaps, which aye open question's in the Cabinet; it is certain that the views of the Minister of Public Works as to the meaning of “ colonialisation of tho Land Fund” differ very greatly from those which we have described as being popular at tho time, last year, when the compact of 1856 was triumphantly torn up. Mr. Mauaxdhew appears now to conjure with those words, and as wo watch the process tho 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 ho had just put in hand, the Minister says : —' As regards the branch lino. Walpahl to Ileriot Bum, it will be recollected tint last session the House decided that this branch should be constructed as far as Tapanui. It voted no money for the work, but resolved that it should bo paid for out of the land to bo set aside for tho purpose, I am pleased to say that this bnnch is now under way. and that no money will be reunited until aftercompletlon ; the terms of the contract being that payment is to be made in cash, in three ecpial instalments, at two, four, and six mouths after the line is completed. Too amount is £(>1,500, and tho 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 acrcs of land reserved. The probability is that this land, owing to the construction of the railway, will realise from £2 to £3. and upwards, an acre, and will thus yield double tho amount of the contract. I may add that there were five tenders for the work on the above terms, and tho oao accepted, being the lowest, was £2OOO under tho engineer’s estimate. This fact is worth any number of arguments to show how we might, to a great extern, 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 be very largely increased, and one of the most productive districts in the colony fully developed. I have heard it objected that now, when tho Land Fund has been colonialised, 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—if I may bo permitted so to say-dimply absurd. We arc not alienating landed estate : wo aro changing the form of parts of it, and thereby greatly increasing tho value of the whole. If portions of land go, so far as. the colony is concerned, the railways constructed out of the p ocecds remain ; and if wo manage our affairs wisely, wo shall derive a much larger income from those railwaj'S than we ever did. or ever could, derive from those portions of land. We do not propose to deal exceptionally with the proceeds of land set apart for tho construction of railways. Those proceeds will be dealt with as ordinary revenue, while from the enhanced value of the land to bo affected by the lines so constructed, we may fairly assume it as a fact that the ordinary revenue will year by year be greatly increased.

The railway line in question—Wapahi to Heriot Burn —is, wc need hardly say, in the Provincial District of Otago, and is a branch from the main lino between Dunedin and Invercargill. No authority for tho construction of this branch lino has been given by the General Assembly. And yet we see that tho Government have let a contract for the work, and have undertaken to pay to Mr. Proudpoot, of Dunedin, the sum of £61,500 in cash by equal instalments in two, four, and six months after the line has been completed. The history of the case, as wo gather it from “ Hansard,” is this. On tho 19th of September last: —

On the motion of Mr. Bastings it was ordered, That this House will, this flay week, resolve itself into a committee of the whole House to consider of an address to his Excellency the Governor praying that a sum of £50,000 be placed on the Supplementary Estimates for the construction of a railway from Tapanui to AVaipahi. »

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 the 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 tho work, and moved as an amendment, —To strike out the words “a sum of

“ £50,000 be placed on the Supple- “ meutary Estimates,” with a view to inserting tho following—“public lands “of tho value of £50,000 shall bo set “ apart in suitable blocksand at the end of tho resolution to add tho 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, ho said, “contiguous;” all had been sold at low prices, and were in tho hands of large holders. It was a case for the operation of tho District Railways Act, and steps had already been taken to have the lino made under that Act. Mr. Macandrew strongly supported the motion. Ho. said it was evident that the money mast be found, and that therefore the two operations, tho sale of the land and tho construction of tho 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 ho presented to hit Excellency tho Governor, praying that public lands of the value of £50,000 ho set apart in suitable blocks for tho construction of a railway from Tapanni to Waipahl, pitch lands to be as contiguous as possible to tho side of tho railway, and shall not bo 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. Proud-' foot, involving the payment of a sum of £01,5030f the public money. Without the authority of Parliament it was not lawful to enter into such an engagement ; the resolution wo have quoted above does not givq, and door, not pretend to give, the authority of Parliament in any sense. A committee of the whole in the House of Representatives is not the General Assembly of New Zealand, and neither the money of the people nor the lands of the Crown can bo lawfully appropriated without the express sanction of the Legislature. The more act of ordering land to bo reserved, as in this case, docs not authorise or empower any one to take that land and use it.

It is noteworthy that this contract with Mr. Proudfoot has been made quite re-

contly, and even since the commencement of the session. The advertisement for tenders, which appeared in the “Otago “Daily Times” of the 28th Juno, 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 the Tapanui Branch Railway, involving the payment of £ol,ooo'of the public money.. Wo content ourselves for the present with slating the facts, and reserve further comment upon them for another occasion.