Tuapeka Times. AND GOLDFIELDB REPORTER AND ADVERTISER. SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 1874. "MEASURES, NOT MEN."

Tuapeka Times, Volume VII, Issue 366, 20 June 1874, Page 2

Tuapeka Times. AND GOLDFIELDB REPORTER AND ADVERTISER. SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 1874. "MEASURES, NOT MEN."

Our last supplement contained the report of Special Commitee of the Provincial Council on the contracts for light railways and on unauthorised money expended on* the road Tokoraairiro tq Lawrence, from which it appears that the charges on the last head were groundless. We have on several occasions pointed ont that the up-country districts by no means get their just share of the public money for Public Works. The grounds for this judgment we have not put before our readers. We assert fearlessly that much of the money that ought to have been bestowed on the up-country roads has been expended mainly on Dunedin and its environs. There are public works about Dune din that, however much they may have adorned the city, have, in the infant state of the country, been comparatively useless. Thousands of pounds fop example were expended on a new post-office that never became a postoffice, and is now neither " fish, flesh, nor good red herring." Nearly £200,000 has been expended on a railway between Dunedin and Port Chalmers, and before it has been tested or breathing time given to the province, Dnnedin came forward again and demanded £250,000 for the deepening of the Dunedin Harbor, and for which Dunedin -would not consent to be rated in case of need, thereby shewing their' want of faith in the scheme, and creating another unjust claim on the landed estate of the province^ Now, these are only a tithe of what Dunedin has claimed and ■is still claiming at the expense of the rest of the country ; nay, we have no hesitation in saying it is being . done by robbing the country of what ought to be expended in the localities from which the moneys have been withdrawn, It was the original design of Sir 6. Grey, in devising a constitution for New Zealand, to divide the country into small Municipalities containing a Hundred each,

and large Municipalities containing several Hundreds, these Hundreds to be administered by officers or wardens chosen from the respective districts. It was provided that " one third of the gross proceeds realised from the sale of land in their

respective districts was to be placed under the control of these Municipal bodies, for the construction and maintenance of roads and bridges." (See " History of Local Government in New Zealand," p. 2.) Such was the proposal of Sir G. Grey, writing to the Home Secretary, 30th August, 1851 — a proposal highly approved by Earl Grey ; and had it remained in force, as it is only proper it should have done, it would not have been in the power of the provincial towns to rob the up-country districts ©f their fair share of revenue. Bu t now that our legislators having schemed this fair and equitable arrangement away for the advantage of the provincial towns, they wonld now, in the spirit of the present Treasurer, put their heel on our necks, and give us only such" sums as a robber would grant to those whom he has bereft, of their all, and do it too as if they were conferring a favor. No, no, Mr. Treasurer, we will not have it so without telling you our mind on the matter. The Treasurer interested himself in the Teviot road. Well, only a miserable pittance has been put on the Estimates for it, though last week the

coach ploughed up to the axle- trees in a pool of mud, and another fatal accident nearly occurred on the Crookston Hill this very week, and more accidents to life and limb have occurred on this road than on any other. Now, this certainly ought to have some attention paid to it. When the Treasury was empty and the bank account overdrawn, where did the country go to find the money? Why, to this very district. They took away £70,000 from Moa Flat and Cargill arid Anderson's runs, and now our Treasurer has not the grace to restore a just portion i of the money so appropriated. The Treasury robbed the district only three years ago to supply their need ; "v£hey are now prosperous. Can they or will they not do something for that £70,000, and the large land revenue from the district in addition ?