The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 10
I.—Want of Unity of Resources
I.—Want of Unity of Resources.
When the colony of Victoria determined to borrow nine millions sterling for the purpose of carrying out great reproductive works (railways and waterworks), it pledged the whole of its revenues, ordinary and territorial, for that purpose. There are some plain people who consider that when New Zealand came into the market to borrow moneys for war expenditure, whether with or without the aid of the British taxes, it ought to have followed this example. When a state or nation engages in war, the whole nation ought surely to assume the responsibility, and all the resources of the entire nation ought to be pledged for its support. The late Duke of Newcastle distinctly called the attention of the Colonial Treasurer to this plain duty so far back as the 26th May, 1862. "It does not appear to occur to him," he says, in his despatch to Sir George Grey, "that the portion of that revenue which is so applied as to relieve municipalities from the necessity of imposing local taxes, might be applied in whole or in part to the more pressing needs of the colony, and that the portion of that revenue which is devoted to public works and colonization may, in times of disaster, and particularly in time of civil war, which is disaster, be directed to the paramount object of averting absolute ruin." This kind of policy did not, however, suit the statesmen (?) of New Zealand, and accordingly page 7 the whole territorial revenue of the islands has been withheld from the security offered for their government loans, and this entirely in the interest and for the benefit of the settlers of the Southern Island, who have the uninterrupted use and enjoyment of forty-three millions of acres against the ten millions of acres which even now, after the war, form the only demesne lands of the Crown in the possession of the settlers of the Northern Island.*
There can be little doubt that it is owing mainly to this circumstance that New Zealand 8 per cent, debentures have been selling in the London market below par,† whilst Victorian 6 per cents, were readily saleable at l06.
The following table, in which the statistics of New Zealand are compared with those of Victoria, clearly proves that New Zealand, with only one-third of the population of Victoria, has already developed resources which, relatively to the amount of their respective actual debts, afford quite an equal security if the whole resources of the country were pledged for the purpose:—
* The special benefit to the province of Canterbury may be judged from the fact that the whole of the expenditure voted by the Provincial Council for that province, in 1854, was as follows:—
Ordinary Expenditure | £102,396 | 7 | 7 |
Lands and Works | 166,781 | 4 | 1 |
Railways and Harbors | 255,022 | 10 | 0 |
Total | £524,200 | 1 | 8 |
A very modest and moderate sum, it must be confessed, says the editor of the Canterbury Press, for a population of 30,000 persona in times of great financial depression. See Canterbury Press, October 1st, 1864.
† Crown Agent's Letter to Colonial Treasurer.
But it is not in the present depressed price of New Zealand Government securities that this selfish exceptional policy has worked a wrong to the settlers of New Zealand, both North and South.
When the late Treasurer of New Zealand negociated the loan of three millions in this country, for the Waikato wax, the British Govern ment offered to guarantee one million, at 4 per cent., if the lands of the colony were charged therewith; but the New Zealand Government refused to sanction this course, and consequently instead of one million sterling being raised, at 4 per cent., only £803,657 were realized by the issue of 5 per cent, debentures: the operation, in addition to the increased interest of 1 per cent., inflicting a positive loss of £196,343 on the colony. Again, the war has been carried on since November, 1864, by raising the necessary funds by short loans, at 8 per cent., and the whole three millions (including the payment of the imperial debt with half a million), less £602,623 has been thus raised and expended.
1st. | To raise the £602,623, balance of the three millions loan, to cover the expenses of the war since June last. |
2nd. | At different periods within the next two years, either to pay off the amount falling due on their short 8 per cent, securities, amounting to about £900,000, or struggle to renew them. |
3rd. | To provide the means of carrying on the native wax with their own unaided resources, after the above balance of the three million loan shall have been expended. The amount required for this purpose, as estimated by Sir George Grey, being simply one million sterling!* and lastly (concurrently with these operations) to induce the British Government to forego its claim for £40 per head for all British soldiers who, during the year 1865, shall have been in the colony in excess of 5,000
* See Letter to Mr, Cardwell, 8th April, 1865. |
Now in what way does the "Weld Ministry hope to carry out these operations? Simply (in the same breath that it affects to dispense with British aid) by asking the Home Government to cover with its guarantee a 4 per cent. loan for three millions, thus making with the one million loan at; per cent, and the £650,000 loan, a total general government debt of nearly five million!†
The question is—will the Home Government consent to give this guarantee—and if it does, will it not, and ought it not to require that the territorial revenue should form part of the security?‡
* See Sir Frederick Rogers' Despatch to Colonial Treasurer, 26th May, 1864.
† See Financial Statement of Colonial Treasurer, and Sir George Grey's letter,
‡ The Home Government has refused.—See Postscript.
§ No. 36, Statistics of New Zealand for 1863.
∥ See Weld's Memorandum of March 20th, 1865.
It is easy for Mr. Weld, the colonial premier, to talk of fulfilling engagements entered into between the provinces. These arrangements were made for times of peace and not for times of war, and if Mr. Weld's ministry insist upon the withdrawal of all the troops, simply in order to obtain the absolute control of a substituted colonial force, and further insist, "as a fixed condition of their proposals, that the unity of the colony should be preserved, with its seat of government established in a central position, viz. at Wellington,"* it follows, as a logical consequenoe, that unity of all colonial resources must be likewise established, and the South made to bear a real share of the burthen of the war, of which, as will presently be shown, the Southern members were the actual authors, and promoters.
The following table, showing the present resources of the North and South islands of New Zealand in detail, will further show what a one* sided game this native war must be when carried on as proposed by the Weld ministry, by the unaided resources of the colony, without recourse to any part of the territorial revenue, by way of security or otherwise;—
* See Weld's Memorandum, 20th March, 1865.
The character of the vast territory of the Southern Island may be judged from the results exhibited by the last table, which (to say nothing of its export of gold, amounting now to nearly eight millions) have been developed during the short period of fifteen years. The lands of this island, with the exception of the mountain ranges of the west coast, consist for the most part of extensive grassy plains and rolling downs, which have been let to the settlers of Canterbury, Otago, and Nelson at almost nominal rents, so that they may be said to have literally grown fat on Maori grass, purchased from the natives at a fraction of a farthing per acre; whilst the poor settlers of the North Island, to which the war has been altogether confined, and especially those of Auckland and Taranaki, have been experiencing all the miseries of the native war in their own persons, and at their very doors. To them the war has been domestic dissension or civil war, whilst to the South it has been simply a foreign war; and Sir James Mackintosh has clearly pointed out what little effect the latter has on the feelings, habits, and condition of the majority of a nation, to most of whom the worst particulars of the war may be unknown. Indeed, excepting a few military settlers, consisting for the most part of new arrivals from Australia, it may be doubted whether any of the Southern provinces have contributed even a score of original settlers as volunteers, for the aid of their fellow colonists in the North.
As regards contributions in money, the case stands no better—until the amended tariff came into operation about twelve months since, the expenses of the war were scarcely directly felt by the Southern settlers. The Comissariat Chest and the Bank of New Zealand kindly kept the Colonial Treasurer in funds whilst the borrowing process was going on here. When this proved unsuccessful, and the scheme of confiscation failed to repay the expenditure, the Southern members resolved, if possible, to stop the war, and dispense altogether with the assistance of the British forces, provided they could centralize the Government page 14 in their own hands at Wellington. "Unity of the colony," and "Reliance on our own resources," are favorite party cries of the Weld ministry.* By the former they clearly mean simple centralization, whilst the latter phrase, despite their protestations to the contrary, means nothing more than reliance on substantial assistance from the Home Government.
The Weld ministry are in truth afraid to touch the territorial revenue lest they lose the support of the Southern members, who boldly avow that the lands of the South are their own inheritance, available solely for the improvement by means of roads, railways, and other local works, of the lands already purchased by themselves and the other settlers in the Southern provinces; and the South, instead of assenting to the idea of an united colony, are prepared to vote, as will presently be seen, for an entire separation of the two islands, if any further taxation for native war is to be resorted to.
The great object of the South, "centralization," has already been carried cut. Although possessing from their pastoral occupations more wealth and leisure than any other class of colonists, the Southern settlers complained of the voyage to and from Auckland (the seat of Government) as an insupportable grievance, and, at last, by a majority of one, the rights of the Auckland settlers, like those of the original settlers at Taranaki, were confiscated, and the seat of Government has now been actually removed from Auckland to Wellington. In consequence, Auckland, on the one land, is insisting on entire separation from the South, whilst Otago, in the extreme South, for its own special reasons, is also insisting on separation from the North.
This brings us to our second point—
* See Weld's Memorandum and Fitzherbert's Financial Statement, August, 1865.