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Petition of the Settlers at Raglan, Auckland.
The humble Petition of the undersigned Settlers of Raglan, in the Province of Auckland,
Sheweth,—
That your petitioners have for the last twelve years endeavoured to obtain a fair share of the Provincial Revenue for the purpose of opening up the district by means of roads, but find it so useless appealing to the Auckland Provincial Council for assistance that they have in despair abandoned the practice.
That your petitioners limit themselves to representing to your Honourable House the monetary injuries they have received at the hands of the Auckland Provincial Council; but the system of giving away a considerable portion of the land in the district to absentees, and many acts of hasty and unsuitable legislation, are also injuries inflicted on the country districts by the Auckland residents, who, almost without exception, form the Provincial Council, — the honorarium formerly paid to country members having been abolished, obviously with the view of preventing country residents being members of the Council.
Many thousands of pounds have been realized from the sale of town and country lands in this district within the last few years, of which, only a very small sum has been expended in opening up the country by means of roads; consequently, the land is inaccessible to purchasers, and the whole of the revenue derived from this district within the last three years, on account of Customs, Land Sales, and Publicans' Licenses, has been expended in the City of Auckland.
That your petitioners believe the present system of the legislation of the Auckland Provincial Council to be injurious to the interests of the Colony, expensive in its working, and its legislation limited to the City of Auckland or within a few miles of it. As an illustration, the following statement of the expenditure of the £500,000 loan to the Province of Auckland is submitted to your Honourable House:—
| £ | s | d | |
| Immigration | 45,000 | 0 | 0 |
| Surveys | 7,500 | 0 | 0 |
| Native Land Purchase | 20,000 | 0 | 0 |
| General Expenditure | 72,500 | 0 | 0 |
| Tamaki Bridge | 17,000 | 0 | 0 |
| Extinction of Provincial Debentures, Auckland | 45,000 | 0 | 0 |
| New Lunatic Asylum " | 25,000 | 0 | 0 |
| Improvement of Stockade " | 5,000 | 0 | 0 |
| Government House " | 25,000 | 0 | 0 |
| Old Supreme Court House site " | 25,000 | 0 | 0 |
| Post Office and Custom House " | 20,000 | 0 | 0 |
| City Lock-up " | 3,000 | 0 | 0 |
| Auckland Water Works " | 6,000 | 0 | 0 |
| Auckland and Drury Eailway " | 117,000 | 0 | 0 |
| Works contracted for " | 9,000 | 0 | 0 |
| Excess of Expenditure " | 8,100 | 0 | 0 |
| Contingencies " | 1,400 | 0 | 0 |
| Loan to Auckland Harbour Trust " | 73,000 | 0 | 0 |
| Loan to City of Auckland " | 28,000 | 0 | 0 |
| Expended in Auckland and Suburbs | £407,500 | 0 | 0 |
| Mangawai Harbour (loan) | £500 | 0 | 0 |
| Expended in Country Districts | £500 | 0 | 0 |
This expenditure shows that the country districts are unrepresented in the Auckland Provincial Council, and do not receive their share of the revenue raised in the Province.
That your petitioners see with dismay that the liabilities of the Auckland Province for the ensuing year are greatly in excess of its revenue, and they fear that such reckless expenditure must inevitably end in the bankruptey and disgrace of the Province.
That your petitioners would humbly submit that a practical illustration of the successful working of Municipalities 1 shown in the adjoining Colony of Victoria, where they have been in existence for the last twelve years, working economically and beneficially under the superintendence of one Central Government.
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Your petitioners therefore pray that your Honourable House will take into consideration whether the time has not yet arrived for the abolition of provincial institutions and the formation of Municipalities under the superintendence of the General Government. And your petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray.
[Here follow twenty-seven signatures.]