SUPERINTENDENT'S DISSENT TO THE PUBLIC WORKS RESOLUTION.

Southland Times, Issue 1342, 2 December 1870, Page 2

SUPERINTENDENT'S DISSENT TO THE PUBLIC WORKS RESOLUTION.

«• His Honor the Superintendent has expressed the following dissent to the resolution adopted by the Provincial Council on the Public "Works and Immigration Act. A copy of the dissent is to accompany the reply to the-recommenda-tion forwarded by the General Government : — The Superintendent desires to express his deep disappointment at the action which the Provincial Council has deemed it right to adopt with respect to the financial policy of the General Assembly —action which, in his opinion, if adhered to, will prove highly detrimental to the interests of the province. Although, j in as far as this province is concerned, it ! 'is no doubt to be regretted that the administration of the proposed loan has not been formally placed by statute under the control of the Provincial Council, at the same time it must be borne in mind that there are other provinces, the administrative machinery of which is not so complete as ours, and that there _ could not well be exceptional leaislation in this matter. Practically, however, the Superintendent believes that -whatever public works and immigration this province may avail itself of under the loan, will be very much, if not entirely, subject to the control of the Provincial Council. If there were the slightest prospect of the Public Debts Act, 1867, being so far repealed as to enable this province to go into the money market on its own account, there might be some good ground for its refusing to avail itself of the Colonial Loan, and the Superintendent would, in that case, be very much at pne t with^the Provincial Council in the action it has taken ; as it is, however, there is not the most remote probability of any sach repeal. "What the colony proposes to do instead, j is to borrow money on behalf; of such provinces as can show satisfactory security, and to insist upon retaining in its own hands the control of the expen-diture.-As there seems to be ah impression that the financial policy of the Assembly involves immigration and public works in the North Island at ;the expense of the South, the Superintendent would observe that this is altogether a misapprehension, and that, with the exception of £800,000, which is to be colonially charged, and the expenditure divided equally between the Islands, the rest of the Public "Works Loan will be charged against the particular province within which the works are, constructed., Should any attempt be made to break , through this arrangement for the benefit of the North at the expense of the South, it is evident that with 45 representatives as against 33, it will be the fault of the South should such an attempt succeed. The fact seems to have been lost sight of, that the proceeds of tbe proposed loan (with the exception of the amounts already voted towards water supply on - -the goldfields, : Southern Trunk Railway, and survey), have to be appropriated from year to year by the representatives of the people in the General Assembly. Seeing the objects which are to be attained by means of the proposed loan, and knowing that under the existing political constitution of the colony these objects cannot possibly be obtained otherwise than through the action of the Colonial Legislature ; seeing," moreover, that the neighboring province of Canterbury, as well as other provinces, are striving to obtain as much of the loan as they possibly can, the Superintendent con- / fesses himself utterly amazed that the Provincial Council of Otago should for 1 one single day forego the advantages which must be conferred upon the pro vince by means of railways, immigration, and water supply on the goldfields ; and this, apparently, for no other reason than that the proposal to provide foi* these has emanated from a particular individual, and that the administration and control have not been by law vested primarily in the Council itself. Probably there is no man who bas endeavored more to resent Colonial interference with the affairs of the province, or who has striven more earnestly on behalf of what might be termed provincial independence, than the Superintendent,, and_rnuch a3.he desires to see complete Financial Separation beween the two Islands, yet knowing the difficulties and the delays which must intervene, he is not prepared to sacrifice to this desire the immediate progress of the province, and the advantages to which he has alluded. If Provincial Government is fo stand in the way of peopling the province, developing its mineral resources, and intersecting it with railways, then perish Provincial Government ! The Superintendent does hot, however, believe that the people of the province are prepared for, or desire either the one or the other of those alternatives. One word, in conclusion, with -respect to the Southern Trunk Bailway— a work which, but for the action of the Provincial Council iti the special session of 1869, would in all probability have been considerably advanced ere now, and have afforded employment to an extent which would have greatly mitigated the depression of the past year — much as the Superintendent desires to see this work gone on with under the provincial guarantee, he feels that it is now hoping against hope to expect any such thing, and that unless the province is prepared to avail itself of the guarantee of the colony, the enterprise may be held as abandoned. - -