A.—No. 11.

Your Committee, in considering the important questions submitted to them, have directed their attention in the first place to the administration of the revenue in the district south of the Eangitata. They have done so because they think that this district, as compared with other outlying districts, occupies an altogether exceptional position. All other outlying districts so called form geographically and socially part of the same community. All have Christchurch for their chief town, and Lyttelton for their chief port. The district south of the Eangitata, on the other hand, is geographically separated from the rest of the Province. The inhabitants form a distinct community ; at the same time they are in a minority in the Provincial Council, and are exposed to the danger of having their affairs mismanaged, and their revenues voted for objects which in no way concern them. This being the case, it cannot be a matter of surprise that the inhabitants of this district are discontented with the present system. With whatever liberality a community so situated may have been treated, it is inevitable that they will always strive to free themselves from the yoke, however light, of foreign rule, and obtain the uncontrolled management of their local affairs. This particular community, however, believe that they have been unfairly treated by the Provincial Government; and this belief, besides stimulating their natural desire for self-government, has caused a great want of harmony between themselves and the rest of the Province. Tour Committee feel it to be of the highest importance that all causes of disagreement between the two parts of the Province should, if possible, be brought to an end. Both have in reality the same interests ; both are exposed to the same dangers ; and it would be a fatal policy to protract internal quarrels. Having in view these considerations, and looking at the desp-rooted discontent with the present system that prevails in the district south of Eangitata, your Committee, after grave consideration, are of opinion that any attempt to remedy this discontent by trifling amendments in the present system would prove futile, and that it is for the interest of the whole Province that this question should be forthwith finally settled. Tour Committee, therefore, recommend that the fullest control should be given to the inhabitants of that district over the revenues that arise within the district, and over the local affairs of the district. Tour Committee further recommend that the Province should be divided into two parts, and that the district south of the Eangitata should be erected into a County entirely separate from, and independent of, the northern part of the Province of Canterbury. Taking into consideration, in the first place, the government of the County, your Committee recommend that the County should be governed by a Board consisting of fifteen members; three for each of the Eoad Board Districts, as at present existing, and three for the Municipality of Timaru. Tour Committee recommend that, in consideration of the large powers with which it is proposed that the Board should be invested, the members should be elected directly by the people, and not nominated by the Eoad Boards, as is the case in the existing Timaru and Gladstone Board of Works. As it is proposed that the Board should have extensive authority to levy rates, the Committee suggest that the ratepayers' rolls of the various Eoad Boards in the County should be the basis of the electoral rolls for the County Board, and that the right of voting for members of the Board should be confined to those who are liable to pay rates, either directly as occupiers, or indirectly as owners, and whose names appear on the ratepayers' rolls in either capacity. For the sake of convenience, the electoral districts for the County Board should be, in the first instance, coterminous with the present Eoad Board districts ; one-third of the members of the Board from each district should retire annually. The Board should have the power of electing a Chairman, who should hold office for one year, and should have an original as well as a easting vote. The Chairman should have such powers within the County as are now, by an Act of the General Assembly, vested in the Superintendent of the Province, or which, by Act of the Assembly, are vested in the Governor, and are usually delegated by him to Superintendents. No power of veto, however, should be given to the Chairman. It would be competent for the Board to give or to withhold from their Chairman further executive powers, and to define by bye-laws what his powers and duties should be, and also to provide for carrying on the County business when the Board was not in session, either by the Chairman alone or in conjunction with Committees, or by Committees without the Chairman, as the Board thought most advisable. The Board should have the administration of all revenues arising within the County which heretofore formed part of the Provincial revenues, after deducting therefrom charges on loans, and should maintain the various departments that are now maintained by the Provincial Government. The net revenue arising, however, from the sales of lands within the County, after deducting the expenses of survey and sale, should, in the opinion of your Committee, be permanently allocated by Act of the General Assembly for the following purposes, in the following proportions, viz.: — Immigration ... ... ... ... ... 50 per cent. Public Works and Buildings ... ... ... ... 20 „ Eoad Boards, in such proportions as the County Board may deem advisable 10 „ The balance of 20 per cent, to be distributed among the various Eoad Boards, in proportion to the amount of revenue to be derived from the sale of land in each road district during the financial

REPORT ON THE SYSTEM OF APPROPRIATING THE REVENUE, ETC., OF CANTERBURY.