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DR. MENZIES AT THE THEATRE ROYAL.

His Honor the Superintendent having invited the electors of Invercargill to hear his opinions on the afi'aira of the Province, the meeting took place Sast night, (loth) in the Theatre Royal. Long before tho hour announced, (half-past seven) , groups were gathering at the corner of Tay and Deveron streets ; and as soon as the main doors were opened, a dense crowd rushed into the place. The stage was occupied by our leading townsmen, of every shade of opinion. A little after the apjsointed hour, His Honor stepped on the stage, accompanied by I. N. Watt, Esq., and other gentlemen. Mr. D. Mitchell then moved that Mi*. Watt take the chuir, which did not seem to meet with the upproval of those present, as the proposal wa3 greeted with loud cries of " No, no." Mr. Daleympls seconded the motion, and Mr. Wtitt accordingly took the chair. After giving liis opinion on the duties of chairman and audience, he read the notice calling tho meeting and introduced the candidate. Dr. Menzies spoke at first in a tone so low, that lie was nearly inaudible at the reporters' table while he uttered his fir3t sentences. Ho was understood to say that before going any further there were no politics he would decline to discuss if they affected the Province. After some remarks, which could not be heard, he referred to the prospects of the town at the time tho Waka- j tip goldliclds were opened up, and tho influence i that event had upon all classes. It became important, he said, to find a more direct route than through Dunedin ; improve otir roads, and find a more direct course to the Wakatip. The existing roads 'were improved so far iw' they could be, and the Government strained every nerve: to open up a more direct route which would put Dunedin out of the question. The. road was a difficult and expensive one. He believed ho spoke within limits when he said it cost £40,000. But the work grew upon their hands, and obliged them 'to carry it out in order to gain the traffic,' although it so happened, that owing to .various, causes— possibly the market in Dunedin offering a better choice, or prices not so high, or merchants . at the Wakatip having connections there and none in Invercargill — still traffic was carried on f in Dunedin now which he hoped soon to see in Invercargill. Tliis road involved the Province in a great deal, of expense, but other expenses were^ also incurred-— the proximity Of the Wafeatip made salaries rise,, wages rise. All this, in the course of a few; months, had tho disagreeable effect of bringing i thorn into debt. Still, that wsof.'comparatiyely, little importance, proyidod tho bonefits^had begun then, They did not do bo. After having beon some months engaged in carrying on this i work : in. the face of diißcultiosi it became clear that the road alone would not be sufficient to bind pur commercial connection yrith ; .tjwi IW^^P' < K twwnwjiy w^e then Ijrpivched} but, alter n , war cIW"

not to have it. Some further time' elapsed, when; it was agreed tp , construct a railway, and in order to carry Out that a large loan became ' necessary-,' The Bluff railway was also commenced witli a large loan, and all this involved them . so '/ heavily in debt that it was necessary. to obtain still further; loans. These we're' very eorisiderable-^arid by" , and bye— pending the sanction of Jtliese. loans by the General. Government," the Province was under the necessity of obtaining advances : from .the banks. In the. course of 1863, "the banks' gave' then* accommodation very, fairly ; ; ; but towards' the end . of that year,, they' changed • their '_ tone—' and, to to use a common phrase— applied 1 the " screw;" The. advances vrere given with/very great reluctance, and only on special .tSasesl' 1 Inihe end of January last, tho : QrOVerilment ascer- ' tamed that the Bluff ra&vmd f required, a larger ( expenditure than was anticipated'; 'and 56,-Beeihg ; various , debts accumulating, "it : became necessary ■ in February and March to pass' bills/for borrowing large sums of .money. The position' of the ■Province was clearly understood' by ' the: members' •of tlio Government, in February, and the provisions^ they made,if sanctioned by the" General 1 Govern-' mentwpuld have been sufßcientto abate theenibarrassments, which occurred. If; these loans had; •been sanctioned by the ; (general Government; : h© had very little doubt but that the Provincial Government would have escaped the, serious' einbar-: rassments it had suffered. It might not have escaped all, but it would have escaped' considerably, _■ and certainly the humiliation the Province-had-suffered. The prosecution : of.' these ' : works' was stopped. Had it notbfeen.that the Government' were,able to raise and expend'a quarter -of a mil--lion, which.was expended in the: Province, serious rain might have occurred; The General' Government, in slighting the idea of giving fur ther loans? just at the time the pressure began to he felt here,: 'it was understood at once-' that the Province was perfectly paralysed. When the expenditure of a" Province exceeded the amount of revenue which it can command, the only manner it' could continue works necessary for its well-being, was by borrowing. But these loans after passing the Provincial Council, did not take effect till sanctioned by the General Government. In' this case the : General Government did not advise His Excellency to sanction these bills, and, what was unfair, it did not indicate any other course it would be willing to assent to. No doubt the General Government had made advances to assist the Provincial Government for a time, but it was clearly recognised by both. Governments that it was merely preliminary, pending other arrangements. Be did not think the General Government had acted fairly by the Provincial Government of Southland in not having as yet ? indicated any mode whereby a permanent solution of the difficulty could be made. There was another alternative opened. It was possible enough that other gentlemen may by this time, or, shortly after the meeting of the Assembly, will be in office and entertain different views, as to the course to be taken for the Province in the circumstances. However this might be, the only true mode open to the Province to get loans, was to obtain the sanction of His Excellency. He would remark here that he sincerely hoped that the new Council would take the first of its spare time to consider this subject in order that its expression of opinion might be sent to Auckland on the 2nd of December. Ho knew how members of Assembly felt before Christmas time. It was quite necessary that the expression of opinion from the Council should reach the Assembly, because that body would be reluctant to entertain the matter, unless some member could lay upon the table an expression from- the new Council. Otherwise the Council was powerless. He was afraid there would be a feeling in the Assembly against Provincial loans, because they might possibly militate against the selling value of their own large loans. The true course would be to consolidate all Provincial loans, and make a good case for this Province that would entitle it to such further sums it might require. He next referred to the Escort question, and defended the Government'in the steps it had taken before starting the gold escort from the Lake. He held it was only courtesy to a sister Provipce to consult with the authorities of that Province first, before the Government here took any steps. A great deal of correspondence on the subject was the result ; and when Otago would give no assistance, j then the escort was established. The next point was the relations of the Superintendent with the Provincial Council and Executive. He defended I the course he had taken on various grounds, and read copious extracts from the motions, messages, memoranda, and replies which had passed between him and the late Council. The position of Superintendent he compared to that of an Upper House. The whole matter appeared to him to lio in » nut-shell. The Provincial Council desired to havo more power ,- it attacked the Superintendent ; and as both sides got warrs • 1 neither «ould 1)8 free from blame. The Education Orehmnce ho dilated upon at great length. That had apparently given great dissatisfaction to the community, but it should be remembered that in a young country its first efforts at legislation must be very crude. He read from a menvrandum lie had made, the results which had followed the efforts of other Provinces in New Zealand, and tlie Australian Colonies, in this direction. The question, he said, had received the iitmost consideration from the Education Board, but no definite plan of amending the present Ordinance had been agreod to. He was surprised that every candidate who had announced himself condemned the Education Ordinance, yet with one exception, no one was prepared to supply them' with a better. The exception was Mr. Tarlton, and with his system the speaker could not agree altogether. It was a matter the Provincial Council could decide. As* to the Roads Ordinance, it clearly could not be expected that Government should make all roads in the Province. He considered that Government should make the trunk roads, but this was also a subject for the Council to deal with. He exonerated himself and others from any share in the obnoxious measure of raising the price of land. In conjunction with the members for Wallace, the present Land Bill as it "stands was brought into the House, with the exception ; that the price : determined on was 20s. per acre. When the bill was introduced into the House of Representatives, the. members intimated their intention of - opposing the bill unless, the price was raised to £2 per acre. Meanwhile they still held on to theformer.price, but.at last the Otago members, came in and said " We .must not let you sell your lands at 205. . per acre and with a Crown grant, while, we have deferred. payments,, unless yon.raise the price t0. 405. per acre, we will oppose the bill." They found it simply impossible . to carry it, andtheonly chance was to submit to the increase or. have., it . negatived, ! that is, to have no bill, or .the, land ■at 40s. per acre. He (Dr. Menzies) still thought the. bill with land at: £2 per acre was preferable to that iof Otago with - its . intermnjable deferred , payments. He then said that one of tlie chief - plans for conducing to the. prosperity . o£ the Province would be that of largo immigration. Tho first shipload of immigrants which, arrived was in September 1862, and from , that ; time- ,. t0 ? this. the total number of arrivals were these :-— 937 assisted immigrants, and .410 ; non-assisted immigrants. The largo introduction of : this latter class will more than in any other way.tend: to r ,proinotp the. prosperity of the Province.; ; Many came well Bupplied.with money; in fact, he would: /mention that in the very last , ship, some halfcaidozen families .could muster as many thousands amongst them. With their money they had bought .farms ready r'made ■ These are the :men wo -want! here— nieri who wi^l settle on the lands of the Province— men with strong hands, and, stout hearts to /encounter difficulties at the •outset. Ifc has also been argued' that free .immigration, if it did occasion present expense, Tmuld eventually be beneficial inasmuch as an increase in the Customs revenue might be expected, from the increase ofrpoputotion. It may be judioioua to encourage fr^e jminigration into : tho North Is-: land.or.to giye grants of land there j Vrhere after the settler; ha« spe nt so jeral years in clewing his . 4aud, [ho only * arrived «$ ft point equivalent tp. tJiiit in ihe settler finds ; hunieli in this 3??<>yinpo at the outset, " & ftSensl 9? W *resng r f\ *■*■■ .. .- ■ .. ■ ■ i>

which ; ; -was considered c< flneit-rrliad' iirritfeti = . ; , .him|to the effect; that he woulaf prefer Vland^'in^hr;; Southland at' £2/ per ; acre to lahdthere on a granfc, ; , >iHe tKen expressed his great confidence inithe futura ; ; ,-. Of; Southland from iteagKcalfaral prospects, a^id;-^/* its geographical position generally. HiHe dwelt on,- 3 , : ■ theimpbrtance of our connection -with'theJgoldfieldLi; 1s: * K • of the neighboring Province; and ttb^importancer : ■,i jr 'to bje attached to our chief 'port, x Thislattejwouldb© = ; . ia -eiihaiicedin afew weeka/through itß connection, by^,;.* ' theT electric ■ telegraph '"with other Provinces <; andy ;:« r . ;he ihad : reason to belieTe'that-vbj: the entd of :tha : aJH; present summer' telegraphic communication.would; -,j^, r t)'e i established between ' the Bluffi and cthe ■. jwliole K :^ r Middle"." ■'■island,' ■■y.as far 1 as* Oook?a -< .Straits. ;'.'j., e He ;.,."•; ? -thought -it scarcely; possible > to attach;? too . „_• ; -^ I much : importance to this r .undertating^andtp jtii*. >» ; effect generally it would have onthe .prosper'ty^of ? j the Province. ''He then referredrto tho; country ! s r- r ; districts; and rremarked -that ;-while: others haTe lV >^ be'en suffering from a severe depression, the rural, L .\ -settlements of the Provinceihas beeniprogressingj,^ most satisfactorily.- He' said anyone who /had-. 1/ ridden lately, or within the pastyyear, over, : the, F^ various districts of ;the iPrbvince, -cannot.<jhave - , r failed to observe _ this. * I With.- reference to the, ± r action of the General; Assembly; as'" to ourilandr. : > /revenue, lie by xio meansfelt. confident. that.,pury T territorial revenues would not be appropriated by :.x the /Assembly, should .'.they Krequife .^them^to meet- heir ' own andrheiwould;jS3lt-— --nj Does it not appear wise ; to anticipate jour Terri- ;-, -tbrial Beveriues to such an exfent,by : borrowinglN, money on them, so that : it wouldvbel but of ithe ; ; power of the G-eneral -Grovernnient to ;lay ; _hand»: ; : on it: He thought no :provmce ;pf ; thej.colpnj a could boast of reproductive works • ; of a character 3 like ours (a laugh.) That :ia when- they: will , bo ; co"mpleted. : He thought it would boa great miirv.take to hand over the railways tol the General ■- GoTernment. As tarustees of the province; and JtaV* fiirids they would greatly err,ahd the evil would fall f pri our children's children;,; He was prepared. to r say that these-railway s would ye'fc'be ■?reproductive > to.an ettent whicll we • dreamt not of, andrevenC with the. present traffic over the; route . traveraed, ,- calculations had been made which were veryf , gratifying. He then read over in detail - the annual' cost and revenue of bothiHnea:of;>railway., as furnished to him oncafeful calculationß. K | The annual cbst of workingthe Bluff Hue was estimated at £6,000 ; interest and; sinking fund pn£lßo,ooQ7 £14,400; in all, £20,400— as annual .cos|;; ;' The estimated revenue calculated , on the^traffic; now carried on betvreen the BluiE - and./ inyercargiil by water carriage and otherwise, is •■ £20,8.00, As to the Oreti Kailway, the cost of^workmgriiad been estimated at £3700 per annum, and the interest on debt £8000 (?)— in all, £12,500.1 ;Nojrr, ho had received two estimates )of the ; -revenue '.vhich might be expected from the'; line, ;and, the lowest was £10,000 a-year, while the highest was as much as £20.000. ,He considered ;j that we should be great gainers if the.actual revenue, even approached those estimates.. He ; "might; be considered disiingenuous if, in talking of -j these, railways, he omitted to say what it would r "cpatto complete them.> The Muff Hne*, would; require £30,000, and the outstanding liabilities on that lino amounted to £18,900. i ■•: The Oreti hne w-ould retiiiire £31,000 to. complete it, and he; thought would be finished for the sum of the/loan. ,{ Tho Bluff Eziilway would exceed in cost; of construction the sum of the loan. There had already been a considerable excess, but there would yet be a sum of £50,000 required. Still we must not ieave the Hnes as they now- are,..; and ;; they must be completed. He suggested a loan ' for this purpose, which would be. met .by ihe revenue accruing from ., these In the course of Ms address, Dr. ;Menzies, said the General Government, now claimed^ ,5-Bfch». of the Customs' Revenue, but they= had the t power to give us only l-Bth if they found their necessities required it. In the North; Island, -where w» can fix no reasonable time for an end of the ww, which has been so miserably .conducted for some months past, depend upon it we may look at any moment for the whole- of our Customs'. Revenue being appropriated by them if they considered they required it. But out of all this it was pleasant to reflect that we could : discover .a. silver lining to the • dark cloud.' We hai.e a. large extent of excellent land, although our^ roads are not yot of a iirst-class kind, and then we have Kail ways (laughter) which ho fairly believed at no distant date would be largely productive. , He would hope that those who went to.the Council to conduct the affairs of the Province would be men who would not take a gloomy -riew of matters. </ Tliey fc should be men who have the utmost confidence . in the future, and » sincere faith in the wisdom and orderings of a higher providence.; He thought they might safely leave the- results.. of their endeavors to that ruKng Power. ; . ...... " That shapes our ends, . ' : Bough hew them how we will." (loud cheering.) He would now be happy- to answer any questions which might be put to him. A disturbance now occurred in the upper ' part of the house, occasioned by one or two persons uuder the influence of liquor. Peace was, 5 however, after a short time restored, and ■ ■ • ■{ A variety of questions were then ? put to Dr. Mcnzies, which we have been compelled to?condense as much as possible for want of space."' He said if elected to the Council, he would certainly stand for the Superinteudoney. If not chofiea Superintendent he could not say how long he would sit in Council. However, if re-elected Superintendent, he should be reluctant to leave hie posfc till he found the Province in a mucht more prosperous condition thau it has been forisome time past. He acknowledged the fact of a? writ being served oh the Governmehfc at the instance of M'Kenzie and Co.. contracitors, and ; that th« Proviace was in their power, to the extent the law allowed. Sundry questioriswere put to:Dr."Menzies on the subject of the attempted change of name of Inyercargill to ; that of' Clinton? It was he who introduced the ' ■ Bill^ into the Legislative Assembly. In the:propo3ed change (which received tlie concurrence 1 of tho Council) no disrespect had been meant to ihe Oargill faniiiy ; but it was out of respeefcto the Duke of Newcastle, who had done such a great deal for the whole colony.; He had not 'asked the^feeh'ng of the people on the changie> and" the bill was thrown out, inasmuch as* there had been-no evidence before the Assembly of the expresaion of public opinion on the subject. ; : "■^■S'-kui , A series of. questions and ;repliesnow.(enßued bet weehDr: Menzies and r Mr._ Stuart, on the subject of his acl^on in Auckland- respecting relief to the Province. In reply to anofcher question, he (Dr. Mcnzies) said it was the rule -for heads of dejiartnients to sign vouchers 7 for money previous to payment. There was one occasion, 'however, on which this had been departed from/ but the voucher in question was now under consideration. Several questions were' asked>; On th&- ";Price-of-Land" , question. When in Aucklahß,,he had not thought it necessary to first 'consult, the'peopla Of Southland before agreeing to the raisingvrof tho price to £2 per acre. He would endeavor to qbfein a reduction, if the people (. took steps towards it, and were supported by the Council in the' matter. Stte^QJr.rMjenziea) was present when the tender... of x£22,ojQo. odd fou the Mokomoko : Jetty" ,- was ,. acceptedi^but Mr. Ohahners was also then;a;memberf;pf--the,YJExecu-"tive. He said Mr. ; Tarlton's^Btatemeni^gi that morning's paper was incorrect, as te v Mr. Chalmer's deahrigs; in this raatter^-jHe-mu^Jb have been by tile -dates ; in ihe Gazette.^ '-• ' In^roply vr'to a questiom as :to .whetier Mr. Wilson's statement on the hustings that,!iiiorning was correct: (hi reference to the memprui^to Her Majesty 1 and the. Governor pn the Waste Lands Act), Dr. Menzies said ho was not conscious that itwasso;- ; : -': y; ..■■' .•.;.-. .:';'■;,.■ ,'..■ . /;";-=, :t^ : ■■'•■ ■■ Mr. Wiisoif, from the front of the gallery, now begged tc|putthe meeting right on the question! and he reiterated .what he had -formerly stated on the hustings^ and; remarked .tliatthe.lr^ectioa cast by the Southlarid jPews^qn the ; aetioaj of the Provincial Council as to delay in not forwarding the memorial in time "was a gratuitous slander, Dr. Menzies again stated that he.wM»w«M of n,q: intentional neglect or intentional withholding of the memorial on the part of his department. ,( in reply to the following . question '• Wm it not ypur intention finally to diinpso pi $hq ityKnym* ;tatioj\ prdin&p« w]b^ yoAjj .; w -^|^tti|Lw?|*i

an insinuation! is a.^ base ?slander. > '", r He/ said the question^ . pj ab^auig^Tjy^^ *tbe~' majority of his Executi^Vas^n^^^cMuHtry^ ."."., ;V ; ~.y '*'."■■ "~j r Seie&s other questions' of niinor importancewere asked and duly, anpwered, on which ' Mr.' KixffSEAjrpr,'ino'ved, "and Mr. Gbisow eecondedf aresolutipn to the^^ jeffect' that JDr Menaies was a v anil 'proper -person to represent Invercargill in the Provincial -Council. .There.being nojamendment, the motion was put B&^'pasß^'-aimd'lipud'a^erlrig.'''^ ;^4:'vote t 6f tHariks : ! t6 -the chair terminated the'

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Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 74, 18 November 1864, Page 6

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3,506

DR. MENZIES AT THE THEATRE ROYAL. Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 74, 18 November 1864, Page 6

DR. MENZIES AT THE THEATRE ROYAL. Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 74, 18 November 1864, Page 6

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