The Southland Times. SATURDAY, JUNE 4, 1864.

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 2, 4 June 1864, Page 2

The Southland Times. SATURDAY, JUNE 4, 1864.

At last we are made aware that the Debentures' Ordinance No. 2, 1564, to raise a loan of £120,000, has been disallowed by the Governor ; — a fate predicted by all conversant with the subject. That Sir George Grey could have done otherwise than disallow it, was impossible. To blame him for doing so is simply absurd. The Province of Otago some time since obtained the sanction of the -G-eneral Government to a loan for £500,000 for general purposes. This assent was obtained from the Domett Ministry during the recess. That Ministry was notoriously weak, and possibly granted this boon with the hope of securing the support of the Ofcago members at the next session ofthe Assembly. That session proved the weakness of tiie Ministry and its disapprobation of this particular act ; — the former by ousting them, the latter by passing a resolution to the eflect that all Provincial loans should be for specific ancl reprodue- : tive purposes. Sir George, therefore, not I liaving trie powers of a Superintendent — I not being able to misappropriate public * money, act unconstitutionally, set at dej fiance the wishes of the Legislature, and j the advice of his Ministers, — had no other j course left but to disallow it. The abI surdity was in ever believing that it would j be assented to, and, blindly trusting to I this, continue the wasteful expenditure of | public money wliich has been the main I characteristic of our Provincial solons since ! the last meeting of the Council. Had Sir ! Guorge Grey given his assent to this ; Ordinance, " we should say that he was ; '' utterly unfit for the position of a colonial " Governor." His Excellency has nothing '. to do withit, further than act by the advice of } his Ministry, and tliat Ministry in accord- ! ance with the principle on this subject laid ! down by the General Assembly. The i blind fatuity of trusting to so useless an 1 expedient is inexplicable. Man}' members j of Council, to our knowledge, were warned j tliat it would be rejected. It was pretty I apparent that an Ordinance to raise a loan, extending over thirty-one years in payment of past liabilities, would not be ascented to. Tlie consent of the General Govern- j ment might possibly have been obtained to a loan of smaller amount, payable in six and twelve years, instalments to be paid yearly to the General Government out of the ordina?w revenue. Such a loan would have stood some chance of being assented to by the General Government. It would liave shown a desire on the part of our Government to retrench and pay off its liabilities as speedily as possible. But a loan extending over thirty-one years proclaimed with trumpet tongue the determination of the Government to p\it off ' paying as long as possible ; to continue expending as fast as it could get the money. His Honor obtaining a facile Treasurer, proposed, and the Council madly passed, the Ordinance. Had the General Government a. ented to this loan, a most vicious system would have been introduced. Ihe greater part of the money is first spent, and contracts entered into, swallowing up the balance before the assent of the Governor is obtained. The only argument that could be urged in favor of its being passed, in defiance of the resolution of the General Assembly, a resolution of which His Honor must have been cognisant, was that the money had been jipent, that we were in debt, and that nothing could relieve us but this Ordinance being assented to, which argument amounts to this, that all a Province had to do was to get into debt as speedidly as possible, to squander as much money as it could induce the banks to advance, and then go to the General Government for relief. A pretty financial state New Zealand would be placed in a few years hence; one which would doubtless ensure confidence in its credit, and induce lenders to buy up its securities eagerly. The General Government has in reality acted with justice and liberality towards us. Although we rhad barely -started on our separate existence, when we wanted our first loan' for the Bluff and Invercargili Railway of^i4Q,qo'o, it was granted, 7 withput hesitation,..without any additional security in the shape of land. This was in Aprils 1863. On the !. 17th of December, in; the same year, : the Governor assented- to a loan of £110,000. for the construction pf -the -Qreti Eailway, taking as additional security 68,400-aeres of land, in terms of a resolution on/Provincial loans, passed by the General Assembly.' ' ' '„-. ( ./ . On. the llth of March last, we again go ! to the General Government, requesting a further loan for railways of £40,000,

ottering as security some wenty-wo thousand < acres. Again the - G-eneral Government assent to this loan, although cognisant, of onr being "Yin" financial difficulties, for the sanie mail took, up $he dis.alioVed Lo^n' Ordinance -fo f r -.6120,000. Thus within little more than twelve,moiiths ; the Governor's assent has been given to loans foF specific i to the'extent of £290,000/ : ;^urel^Ms^i^ j liberal enough ; it is not; 'tn^faulvof the General Government^ il^i^areT^^ *tßy the misapprqpriatiori Yoi* the funds obtained from these loans,) the railway works are stopped. They could -hot have'anticipated that -the money would have been misused; (in defiance -of the resolution of the General -Assembly) in order; to defray our ordinary - expendithre, j which ought- ■to ; have been kept J within, and paid "out of, s the ordinary; revenue. So far from [[ ; our haying / ; a ; grievance againstthe General o-oyernment, ' we are inclined to think the General; Government Bas '■ a grievance' against us.j That Government is custodian of thes interests and welfare of : New Zealand: as j a whole. Each Province has a local Go- ; ! vernment to guard its ' own > if* it mismanages , and neglects these, that js; its own business.,.. If.Jiye are derive; a salutary lesson from our present dii-| fieulties, and a warning for' the future, it is necessary that the blame should, be. put on the proper shoulders,,. not shelved, "toJ shield those .who are responsible for it. \ There can. be ho doubt tMfc the Province of Southland pos"sesse_ Svithiir itself, ample resources for extrication, from its present difficulties, and will enjoy, with judicious management, a long continued course Jof prosperity. Had the Loan Ordinance in questionbeen assentedto, that course would have been soon run. Once establish the principle that you have to get into debt first and be got out of it by the aid of the General Government, and the future of every Province in New Zealand is at the mercy of every Government' of the day. In our last we showed how few months it took us to get £10_,000 odd in debt for ordinary expenditure ; a few months ipore and the Province of Southland woulcUbe in by no means a pleasant position.; ; -It is useless to possess large tracts of valuable land, if they are to 'be. hypothecated for an expenditure which ; has" iiot the faintest pretence, t.o be considered reproductive. Were it not that ; oiir railway works are stopped, owing to the shameless misappropriation of the funds obtained for their construction, we would be loth to see the present Government relieved too easily of its difficulties. We have no notion of the future of Southland being sacrificed to glut the vanit}-- of an incompetent Government, whose motto bat too evidently is, " After us, the deluge." Taking into consideration the future of the Province, we cannot but think it a matter of congratulation that the mad career pursued by His Honor the Superintendent during the last few months has been brought to a stand, ., by the disallowance of the Loan Ordinance. Tio His Honor's utter incapacity to keep us out of difficulties, or, once in, to extricate us, the Province is indebted for its present position. Let the blame be placed on the proper shoulders. ;