PUBLIC MEETING.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 4, Issue 173, 12 January 1860, Page 2

PUBLIC MEETING.

S E P A R A T 10 N.

The public meeting held at the Theatre on (Thursday last was numerously and respectably attended. Thos. Powell, Esq. wa3 unanimously called to the chair. The meeting was addressed by Mr. John Gibson, formerly one of the members in the Provincial Council for this district, who it will bo remembered, took the lead on a previous occasion some six months ago, when the Separation question was discussed. IThe Bub6tance of Mr. Gibson’s argument was; that the continuance'of the political struggle in Wellington, and the existence of the dead-lock between the legislative and executive Governments, rendered it expedient that Wanganui should look out for itself, and take steps' to avaid being sacrificed in the conflict of eon-

tending parties. The time was come foi Separation, and lie and the other parties acting with him had thought it desirable to call their fcllo\v-settler3 together to discuss the question, and, if desirable, to take steps to carry it out. It was, he said, a mere matter of pounds, shillings, and pence, and he came prepared tc show the meeting that Wanganui was quite able to go alone. Ha admitted that, on a previous occasion, he had come before the public quite unprepared; but on this he had taken care to arm himself, with authorities, and would smother his spponents with statistics. The actual revenue accruing in Wan ganui during the last year had been as follows :—Customs, £3786, of which the Province would be entitled to three-eighths, or £1420; Land sales, £2300; Rents, fees, pilotage, and other incidentals, about £450 ; making together a total of about £4164. This might seem small, but there should be added about £3OOO for duties paid in Wellington for goods consumed in JFanganui, and a probable increase of Land sales of £20,000 or £30,000 a year, This he calculated would arise from the Waitotara, where there were between 30,000 and 40,000 acres, aud other lands already purchased, about 1.50,000 acres altogether. Besides which, it was certain that if they accepted the boon of the New Provinces act, and got on friendly terms with the General Government, the latter woult soon buy for them all the Waste lands in tlu district now in the hands of the natives. The Genera! Government would not buy an acre for Wellington, for that would be putting mo ney in the coffers of an enemy ; but if Wan ganui separated from Wellington, she would be rewarded by the purchase of her Waste lands. W ell, then, with such a revenue, the} would soo-n restore general prosperity, monej would circulate, all would be well off, and every one contented. The expenses of Govemment need not be much. 7hey would find men at Wanganui who would work foi little. He proposed the following scale:— Superintendent, £2OO : Clerk and Treasurer, £l5O ; Lawyer, £2oo'; Payment to member? of Council, £100; Printing, £100; Ferries, £150; Surveys, £750; Pilot establishment, £280; Police, £330 ?. Gaol, £l2O ; Contingencies, £500; altogether amounting (as wc understood Mr. Gibson to say) to about £3OBO. which would leave a fine surplus of £20,000 or jC30,000 to spend .on public works ant other improvements. After sonic other genera! remarks, Mr: Gibson said he should reserve himself for. the reply, when he cautioned 3iis opponents he would show them no mercy Mr. Gibson concluded by moving the following resolution:—

“ That we, being electors of Wanganui and the adjoining districts, are of opinion that Separation from Wellington is essential to our interests; and we resolve that a petition shall be forwarded to his Excellency containing; the necessary allegations, and requesting that such Separation be forthwith granted, and" that a. committee be appointed for the purpose- of causing the same to be duly prepared.” Captain Trafford seconded the resolution. Mr. H. B. Roberts spoke in favour of the resolution; referring to the present state of political feeling at Wellington, he considered it was useless to expect auy assistance from the. Provincial Council as at present constituted, and that the election of these districts of *fangnnui and Rangitikei. into a separate Province was now inperatire to the interests of the Electors.

Mr. J. Broughton in rising to support the resolution, stated that, at the previous meeting he had supported the adjournment of this question for six months, considering it was possible that in the interim a. more favoura ble state of things might arise,, and, as a zealous supporter of the Featherstono administration, not wishing to abandon the cause as long as he could see the slightest probability of their being able to carry on affairs and to obtain justice for Wanganui; but that, as the refusal of the Governor to dissolve the Council had the effect of continuing the dead-lock, and as our friends had no longer the power to serve us, nor wc them, he should give his support to the movement in favour of separation.

Mr. G. Roberts next addressed the meeting ; lie observed that being one of those who had. the temerity to sign, the requisition calling the meeting, he left it incumbent upon him to say a few words in support of it; he would have liked to have heard what the opposition had to say. as from all he had heard hitherto the conviction on, his mind was unshaken and there remained no alteration but that of separatiod; he begged to observe and be distinctly understood that he stood second to none in that meeting as regarded his esteem of Dr. Featherstone and his Government, hut we had stood by our. Captain and pumped the ship, whilst there was a chance of our keeping her afloat, she was now waterlogged, and he would ask what could we now do unless separate—the question had been forced upon us, and the only thing that threw a damp upon our ardour was, the knowledge that we wore playing into the hands of the Radical party. Something had been said about not turning our backs upon the Superintendent, but he asked, who had placed'and'kept him then but the Electors of Wanganui, and they had nothing to reproach themselves with—we were too far removed from the seat of war, and were in fact, the forlorn hope ; there were other reasons why we should separate, and not the least of them, was, —that we were entirely unknown in the commercial world. Wanganui had no more significant meaning than a Waikanae or Otaki. He had no doubt but that a great deal would be said about the the Loan and the part we had to pay, but that wrested with the. General Government, and theyknowingour resources and our revenue-'

would never tax us beyond our abilty to pay—he concluded by observing that if they did not avail themselves of the present opportunity, ■ ivhen the General Assembly met the door would he closed against them, U 3 it was already determined to rescind if. possible the New Provences Act.

> Mr. Fox, in reply, congratulated Mr. Gibson ■ on the pains he had taken in getting up his 1 case, and was glad to find that lie had on this ! occasion appreciated the responsibility he had taken upon himself in calling the public together, and had not come, as he did on a previous occasion, altogether unprepared to discuss the question. Now, however, he had brought forward an array of facts and figures based upen every reliable and every unreliable au- > thority, and undertook -to smother his oppo- ; nents with statistics —a result not unlikely to i accrue from the dust he endeavoured to throw in the eyes of his hearers. Hi 3 boasted statistics, as he would show, of two sorts —Ist, a few items resting on the undoubted autho- ' rity of official records, but which amounted to i so small a sum as would certainly not justify ! the attempt to create Hanganui % separate ' province; and 2nd, a good many items 1 ing on the vague authority of the guesses of 1 custom-house clerks, or on the enthusiastic ’ prophecies of Mr. Gibson hunseh. The first i class he found no fault with—the estimate of 1 actual customs revenue, actual land sales, actual 5 fines and fees. But what did they amount to ? > —not more than would cover the bare expenses ■ of a very economical government, providing ■ nothing for those public works and other do--1 ings which were to restore the prosperity of l Wanganui. The supplies for these purposes ' were to be obtained by tho guesses of a cus- ' tom-house officer, or from imaginary land sales r of districts in. which the native title was not I yet extinguished! Mr. Fox then went at ■ some length into the history of the General i Government purchases of native lands, show- • ing that the Government was merely trifling • with the matter, and that- the completion of i the purchase of even the Waitotara block > might yet be delayed for many months, while i Mr. McLean was hanging on to the Governor’s . skirts, and philandering after him in the middle island. If the revenue of the future province ! was to depend on purchases effected by the . General Government, or guesses of collectors 1 of customs, or prophetiovisions of Mr. Gibson, l we had better be careful how we built upon I such a foundation.

Then, as to Mr. Gibson’s estimate of expenditme, he (Mr. F.) was satisfied that it was ridiculously low. He talked of a Superintendent at £.200 a year. Why, at Auckland they gave £800; at Wellington £600; at Ahuriri £600; at Nelson, £4OO or £500; and we were to expect that at Wanganui the work would be done for £200! This was the cry they got up at Ahuriri when they went for Separation. They were to be governed for £IOOO a year, by a Superintendent without, a salary,, who wouldn’t, for the life of him, touch a penny of public money ; but he had scarcely got elected than he contrived to get his Council to give him £6OO a year, and a bonus of £2OO of back salary for some three months, during which his patriotism had made a parade of working for nothing. Almost every one of Mr. Gibson’s items showed a similar false estimate. For instance, the Sur vey department. Mr. G. had omitted to observe, thatjthe new Province must have a Land office as well as a Survey office, and a Land Commissioner, and a Receiver of Land Revenue, appointed by General Government, but paid out of the Land fund of the province. So, also, he allowed no increase of expense for the survey of all those blocks of land by the sale of which he was to raise his revenue, nor for the books, stationery, maps, and other necessaries of the new establishment. So also in. the Police, he had calculated as if it embraced only the town of Wanganui, allowing nothing for Turakiua, Waitotara, Rangitiki, or Manawatu, and altogether omitting the item of prosecutions, the share of the District Judge’s salary, the Resident Magistrate, clerks, and interpreters. And one still more important item Mr. G. altogether slurred over—that was* the share of the loan, with which Wanganui would undoubtedly be saddled.. 1 rue, he had made some trivial allusion to it, as if a few pounds would discharge their share of the interest; bat be forgot to observe, that if JFanganui took nearly all the available Waste Lands remaining, that was at least one-third of the security pledged to the English creditor, and it was probable that the General Assembly would saddle us with at least one-third of the debt. This would give us about £2500 a year interest to pay, which Mr. Gibson carefully kept in the dark, and which he would fiud to be no vague guess of a custom-house officer, or visionary dream of his own, but a solid reality, to be paid by the Province, or deducted by the General Government from our customs revenue every month. Mr. Fox then gave his estimate of the probable cost of governing Wanganui on the most economical scale, showing that it would cost at once at least £IOOO a year more than Mr. Gibson’s estimate, and as far as any actual prospect of revenue existed leave little or nothing to execute all those public works, and do all those other things which were to create such won derful prosperity. ■ . Mr. F. then argued at length the following points, but which our limited space prevents our reporting more fully. That while we sought to get rid of the Wakefield Rowdyism, which had so damaged the: Province of. Wellington, we were about to unite ourselves to that General Government which was the-partisan and ally of the Wellington Rowdies.. That wc were playing tho game of the Rowdy party, who were - afraid of the influ.

ence of Wanganui at the .next elections, and wished to get rid of it on that account. That wc were playing the game of the General Government, which wished to weaken JFellington, to destroy the power of the Provincial Governments, to reduce them to.dependencies of its own, and had on that account lately refused a dissolution, and insolently given the lie to 1590 electors of the province. That so far from becoming more independent of distant government, we should by Separation become the servants of the remote General Government, just as Hawke’s Bay had. The Superintendent and his Council there, feeling that, politically speaking, they owed their daily bread to the Stafford ministry, were eating their pie in the most humble manner, regardless of-what its contents might be. Only the other day they got orders to discard the /Tonga Wonga steamer, and give three times the subsidy to the “ Coleman, line,” to which the General Government had granted a shameful monopoly; and the Superintendent of Hawke’s Bay had to do as he was told, and his Council voted him £ISOO to do it with. Tie (Mr. F.) did not wish to see Wanganui reduced to eal dirt in this way, or to sacrifice that character for political independence which it had earned for it3olf, and well deserved. That if they accepted of imaginary independence under the New Provinces Act, they sacrificed the brightest gem of the constitution—the right of electing their own Superintendent, which no longer belonged to them, but. to.the Council. And it might 'happen to them, as had happened at Hawke’s Bay, that a man who did not dare to appear before the public as a candidate for the office, might, by his own vote in Council, bring on a dead-lock between other candidates, and then, with mock humility and pretences of self-sacrifice, get the office for himself, with protests, “ that lie would take no salary, that he could only hold the office for three months,” and so forth; and then, when once 6nug in the berth, he might get it confirmed to him with a salary of £6OO a year, and a bonus of a few hundreds more, without even asking the consent of tho people. That there are only two ways of governing New Zealand. One, by means of large, wealthy, and powerful provinces, endowed with original .powers of legislation, carrying out to the full the principle of local self-government, and acting in unison with a friendly General Government, which should confine itself to federal functions. The other, by means of municipal or parochial bodies, small in dimensions, limited in income, feeble in power, the creatures and dependents of a remote General Government, which arrogates to itself the bulk of tho revenues and all the powers of original legislation—leaving the counties, townships, or parishes to their local rates and their bye laws. For his part, if the former system (which was that which the Constitution intended) could not be carried out, he would prefethe latter, rather than that bastard and nondescript middle course which this New Pror vincas Act had created.

Lastly—There was every chance that the nest Session of the General Assembly would see this Act repealed, or at least greatly modified. Whether the Provinces already created would be restored to those from which they were taken of course he could not prophecy; but it was certain that in the case of any one like Wanganui, just in the act of Separation as it would be, there would bo no scruple about re-annexing it. They would then lose nothing by waiting. If the act were repealed, they were better a? they were—if it were not, they could then demand" Reparation, and would be better prepared to undertake its responsibilities.

Mr. JFatt followed Mr. Fox by stating, that from the able manner in which the previous speakers had gone into the matter he did not expeet to be able to throw much additional light upon it; but as none of them had attended to the act itself, he would venture to detain them a little by explaining his views of it; he held a copy of the Act in his hand, and he did not think that anything could have been more cunningly devised to throw dust in people’3 eyes, and denude them of their political liberty; if the meeting was prepared to accept such a sham-—a mere shadow for the substance, he could not bo a party to it; for in supporting Dr. Featherstone’s Government lie had done so from the wish to secure to the Electors the largest possible amount of political liberty, aud the management of their own aftairs; hut were he now to support this proposition and adopt an act which destroyed the people’s rights to elect their chief executive officer, by banding it over to a .Council, he should he stultifying himself and repudiating all his former professions of independence; he had heard of nothing from the promoters of this question to induce him to support Mr. Gibson’s resolution. He would move the following Amendment:—

“ Resolved, that the advocates for Separation have failed to make out their case to the satisfaction of this meeting; that the calculations of the probable Revenue are altogether too vague to be relied upon, and the estimate of the Expenditure is altogether too low. That until the Waste Lands, which are to constitute the wealth of the new are actually purchased by the . General Government, any such stop as Separation is altogether premature, and its consideration hereby postponed.” The Amendment was seconded by Mr. J. Richards in a brief speech which was however not audible in the gallery. Mr. W. S. Russell in. speaking in favour of the original resolution, drew attention to the' cousitution of the Provincial Council, shewing j that whereas 12 members were returned for] the town of Wellington; 5 for the Hut!', and!

5 for the Country districts, making a total of 22 in all; 4 only were sent from Wanganui, and that the requirements of all those cl.'is tricts right up to Manawatu would be attended: to before Wanganui, and that considered commercially, we might as well form part of the Province of Nelson as Wellington. Mr. Gibson then replied on the general' argument —after which the amendment was put to the meeting and declared to .he duly carried. Mr. Gibson’s resolution wa3 subsequently negatived;

Correspondence

To the Editor of the Wanganui Chronicle. Sir, —In reference to the mode of obtaining signatures to the Memorial now being carried i about in favour of Separation, I beg to state, that on Friday last, having occasion to in Wanganui, I was applied to to sign it by Wm. Kelis, and on hesitating to do so, he told me, as an inducement, that the meeting of the day before was unanimous in declaring for it, and that in fact the only person against it here to speak of urns Mr. William Watt, one of our representatives. I request the favour of your giving publicity hereto, as my character for veracity has been called in question, and it has been stated, that I went spontaneously to Mr. and offered my signature, which I publicly deny. I am, sir, your obdt. servant, Patrick Byrne. January 10, 1860.

To the Electors of Wanganui, Turakina, and Rangitiki District. Gentlemen, —The fact that the agitation in favour of Separation originates with the party iu Wanganui that lias always been in favour of destroying the popular elements in our New Zealand Constitution, the party which has, to the utmost of its ability, aided Wakeheld and the Rowdies in their persecution of our tried friend the Superintendent; and that this movement is hailed with delight by the Rowdies at Wellington, and by all. who. are friendly to the old despotic mode of governing us from Auckland by means of officers deriving their power from thence, should, if no other consideration will, make us pause before committing ourselves finally to it. Why do these gentlemen at Wellington (a well known circumstance) take so much interest all at once in the proceedings of that district which they have hitherto described in their speeches and newspapers as “a rotten borough,” “a Government pocket borough,” “a corrupt.borough,” &e. ? Simply because they perceive, in the prospect of a further dismemberment of the Province, another aud heavy blow aimed at that provincialism, which, more than any other object aimed at, it has been their endeavour to destroy. So, while they hate provincialism, they seek the establishment or creation of a 3 many small provinces as possible, each of which being feeble to resist the action of a strong Central Government, must succumb to its influence, until the provinces and provincialism will become but a name.

This is the game of the adversaries which you are called upon, by signing the Memorial in favour of Separation, to play. Now a word to many who are beginning, in consequence of the agitation in its favour, and the depressed state of the times, to hope in its obtaining a better prospect for the future. Look well at the whole subject before you decide, as it is a step you will not be able easily to retrace. Will your Government be cheaper ? May you not have a Superintendent (elected, as lie must be by the Council, and not by the general body of electors of the new province, as has been the case hitherto with the Province of Wellington) whom many of you may disapprove of?—a3 well as ofiicers, public servants, &c. It is not improbable that three-eighths of the customs revenue may be scarcely equal to the expenditure to bo caused by the new machinery-necessary.; and with no lands (until the General ffovernment purchases) from which a revenue can be derived, L ask you all—Are there any cheering prospects to buoy us up in seeking so dangerous an experiment ? The promoters of Separation should* be able to demonstrate the great likelihood of a better condition of things than has existed; and each elector asked to sign the Memorial ought to be enlightened as to the great probability thereof, before putting his name to it. If the object sought by the Memorial is accomplished, an entire new state of things will most likely take place. As far as concerns any weight-we have hitherto had in the General Assembly, when represented by Dr. Featherston or Mr. Fox. The latter can hardly be expected to represent a constituency then, which at a large public meeting of its electors decided with him against Separation, and which immediately after ..commenced a strenuous agitation in its favour; and while we may get a representative to go there for us, the chances are that we shall not have improved our circumstances in this respect, and that our political weight there will be lessened. Besides, we must all feel that we are deficient in the talent, both business and states manlike, necessary to set us well going as an independent Province. ] Let us be careful, therefore, not to give our I signatures to this Memorial for Separation,! without giviug the subject more serious consideration than we sometimes bestow on documents carried about for signature by the getters)] up of them ; for if Separation does not answerp the sanguine expectations of some of its ad- i vocates, we could not, having obtained it, get again restored to our present position by any i attempts to do so which we flight feel anxious i to make. - i

There are many other evils which to my mind would probably result from our having at present the management of our own affairs.

but I hope again to bring the subject before iyou, and therefore will not now trespass further on youi"patience. I again ask you to give the matter your most serious consideration, and do, not be- led away by one-sided arguments, breathed into your ears by men who, when they had attained their object, would be the first to be perplexed with the working of the machinery which they had been so zealous in setting in motion'.

'Your obdt. servant

An If lector

To the Editor of the Wanganui ChronicleJanuary 9, 1860.

Sir, —1 was at the Separation meeting on- , Thursday, and listened with the utmost pain i to the arguments of the promoters ol thatmea- . 3\ire. If ad they told us—“ You have been , for years striving for Provinciali-sm and self* • government against Centralism ami Auckland-* l ism, and to maintain the checks devised by the.- > Constitution in opposition to- a-system which- ■ would place a province at the mercy of a chance • majority of its Council. At last election, whenr these principles were brought prominently fors ward, you almost to a man upheld them. But- . the Wakefield party is selling you. To main- ? tain ecur’principles you must cut yourselves adrifr. It will involve some,-perhaps great sacrifices. At first the new Province will not jpay its way, and you will have to tax yourselves to cover the deficit. But you mnst not mind that—it is a plain duty. Every man ! who voted for Dr. Eeatherston at last election is bound in honor to spend his last coin to t support the principles then asserted. Your ! reward, however, will be noble. Dr. F. will i become your Superintendent;.his Executive i yours.. The other Provinces will back you.. ; You will crush Wakefield, and dread down Tanered. You will carry your principles ; triumphant through the length and breadth of , New Zealand, and earn lor your new Province ! and yourselves the lasting respect and grati- ■ tiule of the rest of tlio colony.” Had they ; spoken thus, they had used the only language fit to be addressed to ns on such an occasion i by those who aspired to influence in the new ! Province. Their words would have echoed in ' the heart of every honorable man present, i and, had they made out their case, each one of ; us who supported Dr. Feathcrston must, in i common consistency, have held up our hands i for Separation, and voted three cheers aud the i meeting’s thanks to Messrs. Gibson & Co., for showing us our duty and nerving us to per form it.. But instead of this, they insulted its - with ■ calculations of the meanest, most sordid, and 1 grovelling self-interest. In place of urging u» ■ to fight to the death in defence of our -priori- ■ pies, and offering to stand foremost and fall • first, they called on us to abandon our principles—betray our Superintendent—to play , our enemy’s game—in effect, to crouch to i Wakefield and lick Tanored’s hand while he i thrashed us—to make Wanganui and ourselves a by-word and scorn to all the neighbouring colonies—and all this to save a few paltry pounds, and in the, as I believe, delusive hope that the Stafford ministry would <thrbw us a bone as a reward for our currish conduct. What sane man cam believe that that, or any ministry, would turn as : dc to serve or bribe those who uad showed themselves ready to lie down and be trampled on by any one who w< uld shake a fist at them. Our plain cue is to fight to the last, and either to conquer, or force the enemy to g’.vs us all we ask as the price of peace. The Separationist argument ;is rotteu at its jfoundation. The monetary ; pressure we feel arises mainly from want of a ■ market ‘for our produce. The stoppage of public works only aggravates slightly a preexisting evil, and it is most unfair to lay all our distress to it. Were it really the whole cause, Separation would not cure the evil, any more than cutting off a gouty foot would cure the gout. Such treatmentwould only make the disease appear in less curable form elsewhere. The absurdity of supposing the severed foot could maintain an independent existence, with the gout, or worse, in it, is self-evident; yet it is precisely analogous to the Separation project. If the dead-lock be so dreadful a c i order, let us ensure the attendance of our members in. the General Assembly. Jwith a view to its cure ; and keep steadily in mind, that by merely delaying tae new writs, those who are using tho dead-lock as a screw to crush us, will be able, if we separate, to keep us from being represented in the Asscmcly, and ths evil from being remedied. Knowing their tricks, and who represent us, can we doubt their doing so ? No, sir ! let us do i na thing at a time ! When the dead-lock evil is remedied, we shall be able to discuss the Separation question fairly on its own merits, and if desirable may ask it without dishonour. To do so now would ba a mad, cowardly, and worse than useless self-degra-dation ; and therefore, believing it to be the - duty of all who can think or express their thoughts, to do so for the general good at times like the present, I take this means of begging of my fellow-electors to be true to their principles, to refuse to sign the pciitim which I hear is still in circulation ;., and of auy who may thoughtlessly have signed it, to lose no dime in withdrawiiigT-heir names from so degrading a document. Above all, I would urge them ever to-keep in mind, that all public questions involve more or less principle; ami that any words which put money in,.comparison with principle cannot fail to be degrading to their speakers and insulting to his hoarersI hope some Scotchman will assure us, that the Separationist arguments were felt by him to be as deeply insulting , to his countrymen, us. they were to mine, by

Your obdt. servant.. Ax