South Canterbury Times. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1881.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2641, 7 September 1881, Page 2

South Canterbury Times. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1881.

SECOND EDITION

Thu Harbor Board Endowment Bill passed through Committee in the Legislative Council yesterday, and the third reading was fixed for Tuesday next. There is no word in the telegram as to the endowment clause having been struck out, so now there is a good prospect of it being carried. During the late debate in the Council whatever may have been the diversity of opinion as to the practicability of the harbor scheme, all the speakers, with the exception of the Hon. Mr Robinson, spoke in the highest terms of the resources and capabilities of South Canterbury. It was generally admitted that a harbor was a necessity here. The utmost that was alleged by mest speakers was that the settlers were over-sanguine as to its feasibility. But the Hon. Mr Robinson evinced an intense animus to this district. To put it mildly, he went very far outside the truth. He is reported to have said that although there was only a <l very small portion of the Breakwater constructed at present,” a large amount of shingle had accumulated. . His remarks showed a lamentable ignorance

of the present state -of the harbor works. So far as only a small portion being constructed, the Breakwater extends over 800 feet seawards, and it is only proposed to run it out 400 feet further. As a matter of fact, the Breakwater is at present constructed two-thirds of the proposed length. It is most certainly a hovel proposition that two-thirds is only a “ very small proportion of the whole.” We have pointed out over and over again that there is only n small accumulation of .shingle to the south of the Breakwater. The Hon. Captain Fraser, who opposed the Endowment Bill, admitted as much hut, he accounted for this circumstance through there having been no flood in the Waitaki 'rivei** for the past two years. The Hon. Mr . Robinson went on to say that he heard residents of Timaru say that the land reclaimed by the banking up of the shinglewould compensate for the cost of the work. That is another perversion of the truth. It has been argued by the opponents of the endowment that after the harbor works were completed a shingle bank would extend seawards, and in course of time would overlap the end of the Breakwater. The answer given to that was that the value of the land so reclaimed would in all probability recoup the cost of further protective works. It was never for a moment alleged that the value of the reclamation would be equivalent to the whole cost of the harbor works. • People here have not been so silly as' to hint at such a thing. But the Hon. Mr Robinson was not at all particular as to his statements. We had always labored under the impression that this district had received little Government expenditure. However, Mr Robinson states the contrary. Here is an extract from his speech : At the time that the public works Bill was brought down and became law, there was a clause inserted in that Bill —and a very proper one —to the effect that where railways were made through any district, and those railways did not pay interest, the district should Be taxed to make up the deficiency. But what was done? The whole of the borrowed money having been spent in a number of favored districts, they became a power, and they took advantage of their strength to strike out the clause which rendered them liable for the interest on the ’ money which had been obtained on the credit of the whole colony, What next did they do ? They* taxed other districts for t s e property which they had depreciated in value by increasing the value of their own through the expenditure of capital borrowed on the credit of the whole colony. Now those districts were beginning to speak about representation on the basis of population, after they had secured a very large population by means of public expenditure largely contri bided by other portions of the colony. What was the Council now asked to do by this Bill? They had already spent in the neighborhood of Timaru a large sum of money. That district had had the greatest share of public expenditure; and what had been the result ? An easy means had been supplied for all the labor of the country to travel in that direction ; consequently the settlers in that district had been able to procure labor at a cheaper rate than was possible in the other districts to which he had referred, and, that being so, they had been enabled to bring their land into cultivation, to produce largely from the soil, and to get that produce carried at the expense of the outlying districts, where not a shilling of public money had been spent. They sent this produce to the market, and w T ere able to sell it at a price at which the other districts could not afford to sell. Now the Legislature was about to put weapons into the hands of these populous districts in order to perpetuate an iniquity already committed.

Greater nonsense than the above was never uttered in the Council. The whole object of the Public Works policy was to increase settlement and production. That the expenditure of public money in many districts failed to secure those ends is to be regretted. That the carrying out of public works in South Canterbury increased population, production, and revenue is a matter for congratulation to every one but the Hon. W. Robinson. This is an agricultural district, and agriculture must be the mainstay of the colony. These are days of keen competition, and anything which tends to cheapen production must be for the benefit of the whole colony. If it came to pass that the farmers of Canterbury could not compete with those of America in the Home market, New Zealand would be reduced to a deplorable state. However, as regards South Canterbury the real position was not truly stated by Mr Robinson. It is quite true that the agriculturists here have been able to successfully compete with others in the colonial and Horae markets, but it has not been through the facilities afforded them by any Public Works expenditure. The railway charges for the carriage of grain arc almost prohibitive, and up to the present the outlet for the produce of the district has been an open roadstead. The only large Government expenditure here has been on railways, the net returns from which more than cover the interest on the cost of construction. Want of space prevents us dealing more fully in our present issue with the Hon, Mr Robinson’s remarks.