SOUTHLAND ASSOCIATION.

Southland Times, Issue 674, 24 May 1867, Page 2

SOUTHLAND ASSOCIATION.

A meeting of the Southland Association was held on Tuesday at the. Bridge Lin, Waihopai. Notwithstanding the inclement weather there was a fair attendance of the farmers and settlers of the Eastern District. Mr Peter Dalrymple in the chairr v. Yy '" ''"" - The CHAißM^bfMed7the proceedings by reading thjpEules of - the- Association* .and went ohjpb-^say that four months had elapsed since their last meeting, since when retrenchment on a, small scale (tp^ the amount o| g a})out £3000) had been carried out by the Provincial Council. The saving was small to what it ~ plighthave besn — it was in fact " the mountain in labor " repeated. A much larger sum could be saved by a proper system of * retrenchment ; what they had got was in name only, they wanted genuine retrenchment. It would be remembered that at their last meetingvhe had made some remarks respecting the Crown Grants Office. Since then a petition had been drawn up and after its signature by a good number of settlers he (the Chairman) had caused it to be presented to His Excellency the Governor by whom it had been referred to Mr Stafford and thence to Mr Domett Those present at the meeting had no doubt seen the reply to the petition as published in the papers, •to the effect that Mr Pearson (the Commissioner of. Crown Lands) had been instructed to get the work done by contract. Since then a great number , of Crown Grants had come out, but still the work was in an unsatisfactory state. He (the Chairman) had seen his name in the papers as having Crown Grants to call for. He went to the office for them and stated his business to Mr Howard (the clerk) who took down a large book and told him to sign his name opposite certain numbers. Mr Howard then said, " come with me Mr Dalrymple to the Eegistrars Office." They went together, and when there Mr Howard laid down the Crown Grants saying "these are Mr Dalrym pie's." A young man took them up and said "the fees will be -£1 lis." He (Mr Dalrymple) said- that he . had paid for his land long ago, but was informed that he had to pay under some new act. Not having the money with him he had to go and get it to pay. The young man then laid down a piece of paper, wrote on it, carefully sanded, the wet ink, handed over the document, kept the Crown Grants and said, "if you come back in about two months you will get your Crown Grants." AM this showed the business to be in a most unsatisfactory state ; poking fun at people would not do, more especially it they wanted to raise money on their Crown Grants. This was a matter for the people to inquire into. At the last meeting, too, he had made a statement respecting the accounts of the province — that they were in downright confusion. The statement was not forgotten by members of the Provincial Council — indeed there were many things they remembered — and Dr Hodgkinson, the member for Eiverton, moved for a return of the debts of the province. It was stated in the newspaper reports — if they were wrong, he could not help it — that the Treasurer said it amoanted to .£335,777 6s 4eL Now to call things by their proper names, this was a downright ugly falsehood. The debt was more. In the same paper Mr Blacklock was reported to say, " according, to the auditor's report." If so, he (Mr Dalrymple) would repeat, it was an ugly falsehood, because it was only a part of the truth. - Mr Blacklock. had omitted £45*611 7s 5d due to the General Government;, he had also omitted the old debt p£ <£lß#oQ ( the province's proportion of liability on T separation from7otago) ; The ojnitted also to say anything about the interest at twelve per cent on the Yei73,777 17s -"8d flue to the Bank of New South Wales— interest running - from the Ist January; 1865, when the Bank gave notice to charge the province 12 per cent. It was charging 7 per cent before, but it then decided to treat the amount as an overdraft, and charge at the rate paid by private customers. This fact he found recorded in Dr Knight's (Auditor- General) report, in a Parliamentary bluebook. Now that interest, they might - readily calculate, amounted to .£20,800 per annum, and they were paying at that rate at the present moment. 20,800 acres of land were going annually to pay it. These statements he (the Chairman) stood by as he did at last meeting. He had since received private letters about it, but he took no notice of them. Now the Auditor (provincial) in<- his report said it was impossible to keep perfect accounts with the General Government. Impossible to keep them perfect. Such was the state of the accounts of the province. Now one word about the railways. Mr Stafford promised the Superintendent when, in an unfortunate moment, the latter pawned the province, when, honest man, he went to Wellington and mortgaged the province — that he would pay all the small debts of the province under <£500, and give them 25 per cent of the proceeds of land sales to carry on public works with, besitte-a the threeelghtb.s custom? mi mwmmik That

was agreed with Mr Stafford, and they might have expected it carried out in .good faith. They would some of them, however, remember that when a deputation had since waited on His Honor he " had said that Mr. Stafford had riot kept faith — that he had forgotten some of his y promises. More than that a law had 7 beeriYpassed according to which thejrY^ might at 'any time be deprived of the three-eighths customs. This was surprising enough, but he had not done yet. "7 Mr Wood, together with Mr Bell and the Hon. Dr Menzies, when last up at •the* General Assembly had urgently .*„ asked for the allocation of 150,000 acred .of. land_.for_ the_purpQse of forming a railway to the Mataura.- Theywere res 7, fused, and so was Mr" Wood when he appealed for 10,000, acres of land to be V : devoted to general purposes. Then there :was the withholding of the rents of the -v runs"; . they could iri fact get nothing, not . one shilling. It seemed hard, but such was the state of things at that time. •Since then Mr Macandrew of Duriedin had been elected Superintendent of Otago. To the. surprise ,of everybody Mr Stafford immediately turned round vV and said— "l will give you an allocation i * of 200,000 acres," of our own property,' however. '- He had v also A handed over a part pf the , pastoral rents. These were great changes to take place, in such a short time. His memory appeared to have been refreshed, whether; by Mr Macandrew's election or what he (Mr Dalrymple) did riot know. When . he (Mr TD.) heard all this he was re- " minded of a saying of Lord Brougham "that he was suspicious of sudden, conversions,"- and he thought it was more to get them to help to fight the Otago people than, anything else. Now they had no need to quarrel with their neighbors, who were bridging, the Mataura— better to ke|p friends and each fight its own battle. He would say no ' more . on that subject. The debt of the province X ' appeared to be its greatest trouble.. .He. __• Mr D:) could not help thinking that if/ when the Superintendent went to Wei- 7 lirigton, they had advertised lands of the province as for sale iri the coldnial papers— capitalists would have come ih ; and land instead of selling at 20s per acre would have fetched from 25s to 35s V per acre. They .could then with credit renewed haye held up their heads. _ Mj Bell when he was here had* said that he had no weight in the Assembly as a representative. It was said to him 7" you Southlanders are bankrupt." He (Mr D.) thought it was not too late even now^ to adopt theplan of selling the land' arid thereby improve their position. Look at Otago which, "had recently arranged to sell about iOO,OOO acres of land that had been lying useless for years— swamps and poor spots that nobody had thought it worth while to bny at the . upset price. It fetched, however, at auc ; tion an average of, he believed, 16s 6d per acre — men who had bought were tempted to buy more when they saw others in. the • market. But the 25,000 acres of our best picked land given to Messrs Smyth and Co. for the completion of the Bluff - Eailway, was sold by them for 14s 6'd or 15s 6d. By this it was clearly shown that such a plan of bringing land into the market was not the one to get the best price for it, but was simply a means whereby to squander their property. Let them look into that day's paper for an ; illustration of how they 'had- been plundered; He' now came to the more im- — mediate business of the meeting— an extension' of -the- road- already foriried. It would be for. them to discuss how it was to 1 be ,made, where material was to be ob| t^n^d, 3 \&c. 'At' their last nieetirig, -A some gentlemen said the road could not be made for less than .£4OOO per mile. Now he was told that it could- be done -for .£6OO per mile. There was said to be good gravel, about, and he thought they should, try to get the road made as far as" Woodlands ; lie thought the government _y could find money enough for the purpose. The present was the time to stir in the matter ; the Council met next week, and ; he thought they should try to have the money voted, so as to be able to go on with the work early next spring. The meeting then proceeded to consider and discuss the following form of petition :— - -.■»,.:; To His Honor the Superintendent of the Province of Southland : The Petition of the undersigned Settlers and others residing in the Eastern District Humbly Sheweth, — That we have long suffered great loss and in- ; convenience from the want of any road to enable us to reach the town with our produce during winter. That although we have contributed large sums both to the Land fund and to the ordinary revenue, yet no equivalent amount has yet been expended on pubhc works in the district. That we have already derived considerable, and expect to derive still greater benefit from the small portion of road which has just been made. ' For those reasons and others so evident that it ' .. is unnecessary to state them, we respectfully re-, '•" quest your Honor to cause a sum to be placed on the estimates for the purpose of having the Eastroad made in a permanent manner, so far aa the revenue at the disposal of the Government will allow, so that the. work may be commenced as early m possible inthe ensuing spring. A»d your petitioners will ever pray, Xt Kcraoss said- that previous' to Rating* fceW felt $W &§ wi9mm% .

had been indifferent to their wants and requisite works had not been undertaken. He was glad to see the interest that had j been aroused because it was plain that if the people did not bestir themselves nothing would be done. It was observable that under the present form of government the business of the. province fell -mostly into the hands of gentlemen reBiding in town, it was therefore all the more necessary for the country people whose representatives had their own affairs to attend to, should look after their own interests and assert their own rights. He had tried his best to get something done for the roads. They might remember that when the first deputation waited on the government it was told "there was no money." If they had rested content with that nothing would have been done, bnt dome of them went into the matter and by remarks in public, and letters in the press induced the Government and Councd to find money to do something to the East-road. Eor his own part he bad been somewhat abused and, so to speak, fun " taken off " him, but when successful he did not mind that although he should be glad to see' more settlers come "forward, because when the work was left always to the same persons, people at a distance must think the general population was careless of its own interests. When the first meetings took place, some people said they would be of no use, but they had done something, they had obtained an instalment of what was due. He had been informed that before he came to the district, *810,000 was voted for the East-road, but owing to the indifference of the settlers, the Executive spent it in other ways!. At one time the Executive could spend money as they pleased — there was nothing but the blame of the Council, which they cared little for, to check them. Now; by the new Audit Act they were personally responsible, and the representatives baa in consequence more power than before in directing the expenditure. They should see that moneys were properly voted. The people, too, should tako soine trouble themselves, and by meetings strengthen the hands of their representatives. Some said they had no time, but if they wished to do their duty they would find time as he had done. With reference to the extension of the road it had been thought best to petition His Honor the Superintendent directly, and indirectly the Council, to continue the work of which the Government admitted the necessity, but urged that they had no funds. But money had been found for a portion, and as v the province was t9 get part of the pastoral rents, and had already obtained £3800 for the steamer Southland (which sum he supposed they held), they should be able to make a good piece of road in a substantial manner.- There was, he believed, a good quantity of metal at the Greenhills yet available. Mr Kinross concluded his remarks by expressing a wish that other settlers present would state their views. Mr Dawson thought the petition spoke for itself. He quite agreed with Mr I Kinross' remarks, but thought that with respect to the petition there oiily remained to get it signed for presentation. He believed that the ,£IO,OOO spoken of never came into the hands ofthe government to expend. It was voted, but the crisis came and there an end of it. Other ,■£lo,ooo had been spent on the road, but by mismanagement to little use. Mr Kineoss understood Mr Beaven (at a previous meeting) to have said that ,£IO,OOO was voted for the East-road, but that it was spent on the Bluff-road. Mr Swale thought it was voted for the East and spent on the North-road. The petition as given above was then adopted unanimously, and signed by those present. The Chairman was authorised to take steps to obtain the signatures of other settlers of the district. The Chairman called attention to the j subject of closing the tracks in use before roads were surveyed and formed. He pointed out that at present any person might pass over land occupied by settlers and break down fences, &c. This was the case with many, and he thought the time had come to close them. They purchased their land believing it would be done. The matter was brought before the Council last session by Mr Swale, but not carried. Dr Menzies had said that if a railway were to be made, the land comprised in those tracks might be given to parties as an equivalent for that required for the purposes of the railway. That might be all very well, but if a company wanted to make a direct line, and said " you must let us have the land we require or we will smash your fences," the bargain would be all on one side. The government might keep the land if it liked, but they had a right to be relieved from the possibility of having their fences broken. Mr Swale explained what he had done towards getting the old tracks closed. He went to some trouble and expense to get a large plan of the district showing the sections, acreage, tracks, &0., hut Rome settlers said the tracks were, the ■pi? tfaMta twk to. take m\k

along in the winter time. Dr Menzies spoke truly, of the advantage to be gained if railways were made, but as the chairman had said, " when they purchased their land they were given to understand the tracks would be closed." He (Mr Swale) had gone to Mr Pearson and asked him if when the tracks were closed the land would be sold ? and he had replied that if not purchased by the settlers whose land skirted the tracks it would be sold to anyone who would buy it. He (Mr Swale) would do his best to get them closed. There were many parties who did not fence for fear it would be broken through. [Mr Macintosh, "We should get the land for 10s 'ari acre." The suggestion was not favorably received, a majority of those present expressing their willingness to pay the current price.] Mr Swale said he might add that the government promised last session to bring in an ordinance on the subject. If they did not do so he would bring it forward again. Mr Dawson thought the Government should hold the land, because if railways were formed so much compensation would be saved. Settlers bought their land subject to the existence of the tracks, and he thought it would be better to keep them than have to pay perhaps .£5 per acre for the land required. Besides many of the old tracks could not well be closed without causing great inconvenience and injury. It would be therefore necessary to exercise great care in determining what tracks should be closed. Those parallel with the Eastroad, or those superseded by surveyed and passable roads might be closed, but he thought the Government should keep the land. Mr Kinross agreed with the remarks of the last speaker, especially' with reference to those tracks only being closed where roads were formed to supersede them, and supported this view by citing cases in point: Mr Swale said that settlers suffered a great injustice by the existence of the old tracks. As they were not fenced carters diverged, and cut up the ground all round, so that it would be years before it would be good for anything. The following resolution was then moved by Mr Coupland, seconded bysMr Macintosh, and carried : — That great annoyance has been experienced by settlers in this (East) district, owing to the existence of certain old tracks now superseded by regularly surveyed and formed roads. The members for the district are therefore hereby requested to take the necessary steps during the next session of the Provincial Council to obtain the closing of the said tracks. Some new members having been enrolled and routine business disposed of, the meeting broke up.