The Waikato Times. SATURDAY, JULY 14, 1877.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 792, 14 July 1877, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

SATURDAY, JULY 14, 1877.

Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political #■ ■ • # # / # Here shall the Press the People's right maintain, Unawed by influence and unbribed by gain

The address of the Hon. Mr Stafford to his constituents at limara has been long looked for, as certain to! indicate views which will'assuredly ! have an important bearing on the ' proceedings of the session of 1877. That speech is now before the Colony. In it Mr Stafford states clearly his opinpns on'many matters which will form_the battle-ground of party, or claim the dispassionate consideration of members in . the commasession. And first of all, Mr Stafford sets out by deprecating the waste of public time which in past sessions has led to the shelving altogether of useful questions, such as education and other matters of social interest, caused by the interminable talk of a " factious Opposition.,' But he bids us be of good faith. "As regards next session,": he says, "I do not think this waste of time will be repeated. There has been a very defection from the party" in the shape of those members who as I have already said disapproved of the very great waste of time in profitless discussion." That it may prove so is most devoutly to be wished if the work of the Golony is to receive the attention which it needs at the hands of the Legislature.

Mr Sbaftord; after dealing with the question of Separation,, which he dismisses as simply impracticable,-' passes on to the County question. He is clearly in favour of an amended County Act in preference to retaining the road boards as the sole ageut between the people and the Colonial Government in local matters, regrets that the Ac has not received a fairer trial at the hands of the counties, and suggests one amendment that must be made in any future Aot—the elimination of the permissive clause. It is utterly impossible that local government can work smoothly if it is not uniform throughout the Colony—here a county, there road boards, and again'in another part where n .. road boards exist, the pure centralism of a Government at Wellington. But, however some of our readers may difier in this respect, there will be no exception taken to the views propounded on the next subject touched upon, the providing means of speedy and safe locomotion. Ourunbtidged rivers, and the survey lines which as yet are the only approach to main trunk roads in some parts of the colony have an equal claim, says Mr Stafford, to the attention of the Government as the more fortunate districts which the railr ways, undertaken under the Public Works scheme, have opened up and improved. "There are districts, which," he says, "have not been included in this scheme, nor are they likely for years to receive the benefit of railways; but, gentlemen, the people residing in these localities have to contribute towards the cost of the construction and maintenance of railways which are of no use to them.' It would, I contend, be eminently .unfair to them that some provision should not be made by which improved means of locomotion should be secured to these people. If, gentlemen, we are to have a united people, which I look forward to being oue of the greatest objects we should have in view, we should not have so much disparity in this matter as is now existing. That is, we should not have existing in one part of the colony far greater advantages in the matter of locomotion «than in others, without making an attempt, -so far as possible, to equalise them., _£here«

fore, as a matter of equity; as wel* as policy, I say that the Genera 1 Government should take up the construction of arterial lines of communication in these districts which haver no railways. By this means you' secure a uniformity of action, i and more than that, you secure the work being done properly. If not, you.-will hare one county objecting j to do a work, such as making a road through its boundaries, which is a necessity to open up an adjoining district, and give an access to the seaboard." We, in Waikato, have not far to look for two such, the Piako and Upper Thames lands on tlra one hand, and the Raglan district on the other. These have in no way shared in the large ex-, penditure on public workup to which, nevertheless, they will be called upon to contribute for a generation yet to come. And this state of things, doubtless, obtains in - many parrs of both islands. " But, it may be asked," says Mr Stafford, "and certainly will be' asked it the General Government and General Legislature undertake the construction of the arterial roads and bridges, where are they to get the money to do it I—because the consolidated fund is quite as heavily burdened as it well can be," and thi9 brings us to another most important subject touched upon in the address. The.answer is one., that willfiudaready responsein the breast of every Jtforthlslan J mun"out of ithe Land Fund." And here, it would seem,' thai the reply of Mr Cox, the other day, as we indeed thought at the time, was the reply of the party who have hitherto assisted in maintaining the localisation ot the Land tfuud. Mr Cox, doubtless, when suggesting a compromise of 25 per ceut to be retained for local purposes and the remainder to be thrown into the general revenue was speaking the minds of Southern members who had discussed and resolved upon the position to betaken up when the spoliation of the Northagain became matter for Legislative action. "We find Mr S&afford foreshadowing the same course. "The wisest course would be, as 1 hsveindicated,, to place a certain amount of land revenue' on one side, and deal with all the rest in the consolidated revenue. (Cheers.) This would be productive ot good, results, and would, I feel, sure, be the cause of making us more national- in our feelings." And again, in reference to the basis of apportionment, we find him stating figures, which the other day, at Te Awamutu, Mr Cox pledged himself to support.- These two suggestions, coming as they do, are not mere coincidences of opinion, but, clearly the basis of compromise with which the South is prepared, if pushed, to meet the North. "As to the proportion to be paid into the consolidated account, in my opinion, says Mr Stafford, if the various localities got from 20 to 25 per cent they would bo infinitely better off than they are under the present hand to mouth system, by which they do not know what they-will get after the money is voted by the Assembly."