MR MACANDREW'S OPENING ADDRESS TO THE OTAGO COUNCIL.

Southland Times, Issue 1248, 10 May 1870, Page 3

MR MACANDREW'S OPENING ADDRESS TO THE OTAGO COUNCIL.

j (From the Otago Daily Times, April 27.) Why it was considered expedient that the Address on the opening of the Council should be written by the Superintendent instead of beim* written by the Executive, is a matter that has not been explained by any of our constitutional authorities. The only recommendation of that document is, that it is usually a concise statement of the business to be laid before the representatives of the people. As the framing of , measures for their consideration is the j work of the Executive, it ia properly 1 left to the Executive to draw up the Address in which these measures are summarised. The plan we have adopted is not an improvement on the original. The Address with which the Council » is opened from year to year has very • little appearance of business about it. j A rambling essay on the unlimited re- ! sources of the province, setting forth a variety of impossible schemes for their development, may possibly possess more interest for the general reader than a bare list of forthcoming measures. But the public interests are not advanced when public matters are made ridiculous. It may be difficult to avoid absurdities in carrying out provincial government ; but we certainly appear to put up with more than one absurdity which might be easily dispensed with. There is nothing more absurd in its way than an Address from the present Superintendent. It was recently said by a member of the Council, when addressing his constituents, that the best form of government we could have would be a few men at the back of his Honor, for the purpose of carrying his ideas into execution. Judging from the Address we publish to-day, the thought of such a mode of government is alarming. The first impression suggested by the Address is that, had the Provincial Treasurer been consulted by his Honor before he penned it, he would have found himself under the necessity of curbing his imagination. The guardian of the public purse would have pointed out to him that, with a revenue not more than sufficient to meet the ordinary demands upon it, it is utterly impossible for the Provincial Government to enter upon gigantic undertakings on its own account. The Superintendent appears to know nothing about revenue and expenditure. His first proposal to the Council is, that the Government should take the construction of railways into its own hands. With that view, the Council is recommended to pass a resolution at once, enabling the Superintendent to apply to the Assembly for power to borrow the necessary funds. Seeing that half-a-million of money would be required for the purpose, it is amusing to observe that his Honor evidently anticipates no objection on the part of the Assembly to the proposed loan. The blunt refusal of the Assembly last session to sanction a loan of ,£50,000 appears to have been forgotten. He is prepared to ask for loans for any purpose and to any extent. For water "supply on the goldfields he suggests another loan of £200,000. The result of these financial operations would be to double the public debt of the province at one stroke. But railways and reservoirs are not the only matters that engage his Honor's attention. A direct line of steamers is to be established for the purpose of convey* ing emigrants to Otago. This, it seems, can be done by appropriating £25,000 a year. Recollecting the demands upon the revenue for public works of various kinds, including the harbor works at Oamaru and elsewhere, doubts will naturally present themselves as to the means by which his Honor's suggestions are to be carried out. The difficulty of course would be got over at once if his views were adopted by the Council in the first instance, and afterwards endorsed by the Assembly. Nothing more is required than to borrow. If this is to be the financial policy of the day, it may be asked why his Honor ■ did not suggest a loan of a million or two at once on account of public works. The Assembly is just as likely to consent to such a loan, as it is to consent to a number of small loans amounting to very little less in the aggregate. If the Executive have no better proposals to make on the railway question than those submitted in the Address, the public will be not a little disgusted. The construction of railways is evidently becoming one of the most pressing as well as most important subjects of the day. There is no reason why it should continue to remain in its present unsatisfactory condition. A series of more or less objectionable schemes has surrounded the question with unnecessary difficulties, and occasioned no little distrust in the public mind. Perhaps the very worst policy that could be devised is that 'which his Honor has put forward. In face of the evidence we have recently had as to the ability of the Government to conduct our railway business, his Honor's remarks on this subject are ludicrous. As an abstract principle, it might be granted that the making of railways is not less within the functions of Government than the making of roads. But before the present Government of this province can venture to assume any responsibility of the kind, we submit that public confidence in its capacity is indispensable. Eecent experience has unfortunately given rise to extreme distrust instead of confidence. At one time we have seen the public revenue on the point of being pledged to a sham Company, without any security for the performance \ of the contract, or any safeguard for the public interests ; at another we have seen a Bimilar spirit of recklessness and incapacity displayed in a matter of almost equal moment. The present Govern, ment is palpably incompetent to deal with any matters of the kind ; and we can imagine nothing more disastrous than such a system of management as that ' proposed by his Honor. In this branch,

of the public business, at least, the Council must lead the Government, instead of waiting to be led.