THE GREY ANNEXATION.

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 816, 23 May 1871, Page 3

THE GREY ANNEXATION.

The following is the report of the committee appointed to consider the desirability of annexing the Grey portion of Westland to this Province:— The Select Committee, appointed to enquire into and report upon the proposal to annex the Northern portion of the County of Westland to the Province of Nelson, beg to report as follows: Tour committee, have given their most attentive consideration to the report of the Commissioner, appointed by his Honour the Superintendent, on this subject (dated 23rd of July last), and]ha ve found thejfacts and figures thus supplied of the greatest assistance in their deliberations. In the report, Mr Hodgson attempts to separate the revenue of that portion of Westland, which it is proposed to annex, from that of the County as a who] e, and estimates the revenue, from all sources of the portion referred (or Northern portion), for the year ending June, 1870, at about £27,000. After deducting from this sum the necessary departmental and other expenditure and the share of the debt and sinking fund which, he deems fairly assignable to the territory in question, viz., one third, the Commissioner shows that about £9740 would remain for public works and for its share of the general expenses of the government of the province. These calculations were, of course, based upon the revenue accruing through the operation of the" Public Revenues Act, 1867," — an Act 'since partly repealed by the "Payment to Provinces Act, 1870." The probable result of the Act last named will be, as shown by the Colonial Treasurer in his financial statement, to reduce the revenue of the County of Westland, by £13,725, or (on the basis assumed by the Commissioner) to reduce the revenue of the northern portion by one third of that amount or £4 575, which thus leaves £5170 for the purposes just named. Further, according to the provisions of the " Payments to Provinces Act," there is a special allowance of £3375 to the County of Westland, which is included in the sum of £13,725 above given. As this allowance is to cease at the end of three years from the coming into operation of that Act (one of which has already passed) it may fairly be left out of present calculation, and the prospective revenue of the territory under consideration is thus again reduced by £1125, or to about £4050. This sum would then, supposing population and health to remain stationary, represent the whole balance available for public works within the annexed district, as well as for its share of the general expenses of the Provincial Government, i.e., its share of the cost of the Executive and Legislative departments, and of all other expenditure equally chargeable throughout the Province. These general charges may be put at from £SOOO to £6OOO, with, one sixth.of which (say £900) it may be fairly debited thus leaving £3150 for public works, education, maintenance of the poor, and other charges. Seeing that the capitation allowance under the " Payment to Provinces Act" is to be reduced by 2s per head each successive year for a period of five years, or, in the case now under consideration by about £SOO per annum, it would appear that on the supposition of this part of Westland remaining stationary its disposable revenue would be in rapid course of annihilation. Looking at the alluvial character of its Goldfields, at the almost total absence of agricultural land, and its general uselessness for pastoral purposes, your Committee see no reasonable ground for hoping that the population will increase either in number or in wealth. On the contrary, the experience of the last two years seems ' rather to point in both respects to the probability of a decrease. The comparative freedom from debt enjoyed by the Province, creates a natural shrinking on the part of its people from uniting with any part of a country which, with a small population of 13,000 or 14,000, is indebted to the amount of about £200,000; a burden of debt from which, under the provisions of the "Payment to Provinces Act," it will take twenty-seven years to free itself. Having regard to the want of permanence in all prosperity based chiefly on the possession of auriferous territory, the proposed annexation presents the possibility of bringing along with it a greater load of debt than the annexed territory would furnish the means of meeting. Looked at from a Colonial point of view, some benefit might accrue from this measure by the reduction of the number of officers, and some advantage to the population of the Grey by avoidance of that most inconvenient kind of boundary, a navigable river. These and other considerations have not escaped your Committee ; such as the greater weight and prestige attaching to a larger Province in the Colonial Parliament; the possible agitation for annexation in some other form still more unsuitable to the interest of this Province, and the possibility of the whole of the Provincial debts becoming, at a future day, the debts of the Colony at large. After duly weighing the foregoing

possibilities and probabilities, us well as otherp, your Committee have decided on recommending the following resolution to the Council for its adoption ; —" That this Council is willing to have the district between the Grey and the Teremakau annexed to the Province of Nelson, provided that financial arrangements can be made by which the existing Province is not prejudicially affected." J. W. Bajbnicoat, Chairman. Provincial Council Chambers, May 16th, 1871.

A man in Louisville advertises " trunks you can throw out of a fourth story window without injury." An Irish soldier, who had been abroad, being asked if he had met with much hospitality, replied, " Oh, yes, too much ; I was in the hospital all the time I was there." M r s Ingham, of lowa will live in history as the woman who delivered a thanksgiving sermon while her husband proudly sat at the back of the pulpit holding the baby.