SIR JULIUS VOGEL AT DUNEDIN.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1322, 2 April 1885, Page 3

SIR JULIUS VOGEL AT DUNEDIN.

Sir Julius Vogol addressed a meeting in Dunedin last Monday evening. It was to Dunedin, he said, he owed his political advancement. He said there would be no war, but at the same time the GoTernment were preparing for it. They were taking steps to get a modern boat of war to guard our coasts, and a distinguished military officer would be appointed to the command of the volunteers. He referred to cheap money, and defended the scheme he had put forward in Christchurch. He deprecated a forced paper currency, but as regarded a State Bank there was not the same objection to it. The greatest objection to a State Bank was that it would limit the facilities for granting accommodation of the present Banks. After having answered objections to his proposals, he proceeded to deal with the question of local government. There were seventy boroughs and sixty counties in the colony, and in these counties were innumerable road districts. Two of the road districts had a revenue from rates of only £7 per year, and maximum revenue of such a district was £3640. Eleven of the boroughs had revenue from rates not exceeding £IOO a year, and eleven of them had a revenue of over £2OOO, one reaching £18,099. One county rate revenue was| «s low as £l5B, four of them exceeded £BOOO, and the maximum w«s £14,719. This showed the diyersity of their circumstances. He held that it was not practicable, even if desirable, to revive the provincial institutions, and there were only two plans to meet the case : one, which had been laid before him by a gentleman in Christchurnh, was to abolish counties and fall back on road districts, but that did not commend itself to the Government, for they recognised that it would be impossible to get the counties to consent to their abolition. The plan advocated by the Government was to work from the present basis, and to make the road districts units of the counties, gradually merging them in the counties, not by a forcing process, but by offering them inducements to come in in the course of time, so that eventually there would be only the two forms of local government —the county and town district systems. The Government proposed to induce the road districts to come in : first, by leavingto them independent powers ; second, by leaving to them the expenditure of subdivided revenue ; and third, by making it plain to them that they would have less power as separate bodies than as units of the counties. The question of hospitals and charitable aid was a difficulty in the problem, and in regard to it the Government proposed to leave it to large districts, such as the old provinces, or large subdivisions of these, and to manaere these institutions by revenue specially set apart for them, and supplemented by donations and contributions from the General Government. The Government recognised that the strictly local objects were objects relating to the formation and maintenance of roads and bridges, the construction of district railways, and sanitary matters. There were many other objects, bus it might not suit all parts of the colony to adopt them. Duties which might suit some local bodies might not suit others, so that an elastic system was required, and the Government proposed to meet the case by allowing the Governor to delegate powers for special duMes as was done in the case of the old provinces. The first requisite for a local government system was to give the bodies a definite finance, so that that they should cease to come up to the General Government for assistance. They proposed to meet that want by a system that had worked well in Victeria, and he thought also in Canada, namely, to grant a subsidy from year to year on the amount of their assessment, They proposed to adopt a sliding scale, giving the largest subsidy to the smaller boroughs, and to apply the same to counties. Some counties had their roads, #c., made, and did not so much assistance as the newer counties. Then they proposed to give these subsidies dependent on three conditions; first, that they should be liable to meet loan charges; second, that they should be expended on new works, or on tho renev7al of bridges or widening of roads, not on maintenance merely; and third, that they should be expended within subdivisions in proportion to the rates raised therein. After having gone through the various proposals at some length he summarised them as follows :—(a) To enable districts to act in unison if they desire, and as far as possible take the lead of sub-divisions ; (&) to give them an assured finance ; (c) to enable them to give the utmost attention to sanitary objects and local improvements ; (d) to,make it their interest to promote economy ; (e) to give them all the powers they can _ healthily exercise ; (/) without impairing the efficiency of the police force to extend its usefulness ; (g) to enable district railways to be made if really required, but to guard against railways for which districts are not ready to make sacrifices (h) to introduce real self-government and reliance on local revenues to the gold-mining ciun'ies ; (i) to make the whole system of roads and bridges in the country feeders of the railways, and, in fact, to harrnouise with concerted objects the system of railways, tramways, roads and bridges of the whole country. He held that the colony as a whole nas in a very prosperous condition. A vote of thanks was carried by acclamation.