The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. THURSDAY, MAY 20, 1890.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 2789, 29 May 1890, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

THURSDAY, MAY 20, 1890.

Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or political.

« Ax admirable opportunity to study the art of political bamboozling- is to be fouud in the story of the Now Plymouth Harbour Board. Tho fortieth volume of Hansard contains debates, in September, 1881, which will repay careful perusal in the light of the default "just made by the Board iu the interest on its debentures ; a default in which the Gisborue Harbour Board openly threatens to follow suit, and which the Christchurch Drainage Board and others are ready to-join. The questions arising from the action of these Boards are two. How far is it just that the tax-payers of the whole colony should be made to relieve those of the..several districts by^hrowing r uponthem the burdens which the''local ratepayers undertook to -bear; ? Ho w far is the colony bound in justice, or called upon by expediency, to relieve the bond-holders who purchased these 6 . per cent, harbour . debentures below par, while colonial bonds of 4 per cent, were selling at considerable premiums? To answer either of these questious, or to follow the debates of 1881, the history of the wretched business must be first understood.

Tho story begiuaiu 187-I—fifteen years ago. The Superintendent of the Province of Taranaki was Mr F. A. Carington. The Executive included the present Colonial Premier, Sir Harry Atkinson. A project was put before the Provincial Council " to make a harbour for refuge and trade off the town of New Plymouth," at a cost of £350,000. The Superintendent reported to the Council, by formal message, that he had reason to boiieve the harbour could be constructed " without a farthing tax or charge upou the people of the province or tho colony." An Act of the General Assembly was, in consequence, sought and obtained in 1874, giving power to the Provincial Council to set apart a fourth of its Land Revenue to make this harbour. In the following year the Council accordingly passed an ordinance authorising the Harbour Board to borrow £350,000 for the purpose. In that year Mr Harry Atkinson joined the Ministry of Sir Julius Vogel as Colonial Treasurer. The construction of a central prison at Taranaki by the General Government was revived, and £10,000 voted to purchase a site and put up the neeessary buildings. The General Government then proposed to the Harbour Board to take over its endowments (including 25 per cent, of all land saks in the district), and build the breakwater with prison labour, relieving the district of liability for the rates thrown upon it by tho original project of the Provincial Council. On May 2Gtb, 1876, a large public meeting was held in New Plymouth, and the proposals of the General Government were approved almost unanimously. The site for the prison was purchased, and tenders were called for its erection. All'airs had advanced to this stage when the provinces were abolished. An active opposition to the building of a central prison was then organised in the General Assembly. The tenders sent in were not considered, and tho vote for the prison was allowed to lapse. The Harbour Board then sought to borrow .£,'550,000, The security for the loan was to be a district rate of 2s in the pound, and the 23 per ciint. of Land Eevenue. The land, it must be understood, was not provincial property, but confiscated land entirely ab the disposal of the General Government, and originally intended to recoup tho outlay from the war loan of 1803. The assembly refused to authorise a loan of more than £200,000; or a higher rate than one shilling. , Upon this basis the loan was raised, and the works were begun. in I§Bl Mr Wright, a Canterbury member, obtained a select committee to enquire into the condition of the Taranaki Harbour Works. On August 10th (Hansard vol. 40), he brought up the Committee's report which was, in effect, to stop the works, reserve the 25 per cent, of Land Revenue, and accept against it the past outlay then amounting, inclusive of plant, to some £GO,OOO. The recommendations of the committee were strenuously opposed by the Premier and the Colonial Treasurer. (Sir John Hall and Sir Harry Atkinson). Alarmist meetings were held in Taranaki, and telegrams announcing deep distress among the families of workmen suddenly thrown out. of employ, were freely circulated. The consequence was a new arrangement, whereby a Bill was to be brought in for the appointment of a commission to enquire during the recess. All expenditure was to be stopped meanwhile, except such as might be necessary for the preservation of work already done. This Hill was brought in on the 23rd August and camo up for the second reading on the 7th September. Mr Kelly, the member for Now Plymouth, opposed the Bill vigorously, and was supported outside the House by a deputation specially sent from Taranaki, Sir Harry Atkinson, as member for Egmont, joined in the active opposition. The debate must be carefully read by those who wish to understand the position, and it will well repay perusal. Sufficient now to say that Sir Harry Atkinson made many important statements. He held that the Bill,it'passed, meant "nothing less than the guarantee of the whole of the Local Loans throughout the colony," He said further i that if the districts weye polled

" nine-tenths of the settlers would desire that the work should go on. If the rating that is now imposed upon them is not sufficient to cover the liabilities, it should be increased sufficiently to cover them. That is the opinion of the ratepayers of the district." He flouted the Committee's opionion that £7,000 a year would be the outside that the district rate could be expected to produce eight years thereafter (in 18S9). " Any honorable gentleman," said Sir Harry Atkinson, " who knows anything of the district will, I think, agree with me that ten years hence the district will be far more likely to produce a rate of £20,000 than £7,000." ' We svere ready," said he, " to back our opinion as to the the utility of the work by submitting, if necessar} , , to have a rate imposed upon us." He pointed out that they were the only people iu the colony who backed up •their opinions iu this way, though •' he thought it only fair to tell the House that he did not believe a rate will now be required." The sequel to this Bill of 1881 was a melancholy one, By dint of Parliamentary manoeuvring on the part of Ministers, it was deferred from time to time. The session closed on the 2i September. The Bill dropped, and the work of the comniitte came to naught. None can read the story without feeling, how flimsy is the pretext under which it is sought to throw the burden on the colonial taxpayer, instead of on local rates. Still more unfounded is the claim of the bondholder to more interests than can be obtained from the local rate of one shilling in the pound and a fourth of the land revenue set aside for the purpose. To hold that the land laws could be altered without his consent is the heigh 1 ; of absurdity. They were always distinctly subject to such alteration, and had it not been made who can say that the land would have been sold at all ? If the New Plymouth liability is taken over, that of Gisborne and many other local boards of various kinds must follow. In the words of the Premier in 1881 it can mean " nothing less than the guarantee of the whole of the local loans throughout the colony." Are the people of New Zealand prepared to assume that guarantee, with the additional Customs duties, or heavier property tax, which must be inevitably carried in its train 1