The Three Resolutions.

There was a sound of revelry by night,
And Belgium's capital had gathered then
Her beauty and her chivalry; and bright
The lamps shone o'er fair women and brave men.
A thousand hearts beat happily, and when
Music arose with its voluptuous swell
Soft eyes looked love to eyes, that spake again,
And all when merry as a marriage bell.
But hush! hark! a deep sound strikes like a rising knell.

—Byron.

It was at a period of perfect calm in the political world of New Zealand that the famous resolutions of Mr. Vogel were promised to the Assembly. On the 31st of July the Hon. Dr. Pollen in the Council, during a debate on the Constitution Bill, used the following words: "This is emphatically a quiet time. What an honorable friend of mine was wont to call the political atmosphere is absolutely serene at present, even upon the distant horizon; it is difficult to see the small cloud out of which any violent tempest or disturbance may possibly emerge. Whether it is that the policy of immigration and public works is eminently and page 20 entirely acceptable to the public, or whether this serenity arises from the confidence which the Assembly and people repose in his Excellency's present advisers, it is not for me to determine." But the small cloud was there, though Dr. Pollen could not see it. At the very moment that Dr. Pollen was giving utterance to the somewhat self-complacent and inflated words above quoted Mr. Fitzherbert was in the other House delivering that philippic against Mr. Vogel which brought down upon himself and the House, on August the 4th, the Premier's now historic sentences:—"It seems to me there can be but one reply—Abolish the provinces of the North Island."

In a week that which was at the time considered but an idle threat, made in retaliation, assumed shape and substance, and the three Resolutions were brought down. They are as follow :—"That this House is of opinion that taking the circumstances of the Colony into consideration the Provincial form of Government in the North Island should be abolished : and that in the measure giving effect to the same there should also be included a provision declaring Wellington to be the seat of government of the colony, and for continuing the localisation of the land revenue, in accordance with what is known as the compact of 1856."

It was evident, however, that Julius Vogel was not the only mover in these resolutions. It was also evident that he had gone outside the Ministry to seek inspiration, for Mr. O'Rorke, to his honor be it said, at once rose in the House and left the Ministry; because these resolutions, having been suddenly and without consideration brought down, struck at the Provincial system of Auckland, which he had always held sacred. Honesty is always refreshing in these days, especially in the Assembly. As we have seen, Mr. Thomas Russell was concerned in the preparation; and besides this the House could truly say, like the Patriarch when deceived by Jacob, "The voice is Vogel's voice, but the hands are the hands of Stafford" So far, however, as Mr. Vogel is concerned the Resolutions do not seem to be the result of honest conviction, but merely a fresh bid for popularity in anticipation of a general election—the first to secure the vote of the Centralists, the second the Wellington vote, and the third that of the two great Southern Provinces : Otago and Canterbury. Perhaps the second resolution may be altogether eliminated. It contains no principle, and can only be said to be a question of usefulness, of public convenience, and of expediency. It is also settled, so far as it can be settled, by the private and dishonest agreement that it should be left out of the Bill, but that a large vote should be taken for public buildings in Wellington, which, being expended, the question would be practically decided. Irrespective of the merits of the the question this proceeding was an outrage upon political decency. Representatives then said—"Oh! yes; do that. We get out of a difficulty with our constituents. Leave it out of the Bill, so that we can tell our people that it is so to be left out, and thus deceiving them we shall be safe from their displeasure, and the same end will be accomplished." It will be wise, therefore, simply to consider the two questions which remain.

Mr. Vogel's plan for governing the North Island.

It is a fortunate thing that before leaving Auckland Mr. Vogel announced himself more fully upon the proposed Government of the page 21 North Island when the Provinces are abolished. There is, it seems, to be local government, which will be a reality and not a sham, and abundant means are to be found for all the purposes of good government, both that which is now the work of the General Government, and that which is Provincial. This is upon its face clear nonsense. The sole reason urged for the destruction of the North Island Provinces is that they are bankrupt. Without local and provincial taxation they cannot live and work. Without entering here into the merits of the case, it is yet a fact that the General Government can afford to give but the most paltry assistance to the Provinces; and yet Mr. Vogel is about to localise the goldfields' revenue and the license fees—two of the largest sources of the Provincial chest—and with what remains he will carry on the work of a vigorous administration. No saving can be effected in the present administration. Take the Province of Auckland for example. The only offices abolished will be that of the Superintendent and his Executive; but all their salaries will be more than absorbed in the salary of the Resident Minister at Auckland, proposed by Mr. Vogel. Every Provincial servant must be continued by the General Government, for it is notorious that the Provincial officers do more work and get less pay than their brethren in the General Government employ. All the funds now sustaining the public institutions of the Province will be "localised," which means that Mr. Vogel is making a bid for the votes of Auckland, the Thames, Coromandel, Tauranga, Waikato, and other places where there would be any revenue to localise. It would be a good and wise thing if it could be accomplished, but Mr. Vogel well knows it cannot. Supposing, however, that this localization be carried into effect: where, then, is the money to come from for education, for hospitals, lunatic asylums, gaols, and all other public institutions. For the province of Auckland alone at least fifty thousand pounds a-year must at once be provided. From whence? Not certainly from the consolidated revenue. Our Southern friends will say—and, indeed, under those circumstances justly say—"Oh!—no—we pay for our institutions ourselves—let Auckland do the same. We are able to enrich our schools and colleges with princely endowments that in future years will give to our children an education equal to that of the public schools and universities of England. We sympathise with Auckland. We trust that she may be able to give to young Auckland a systematic and diligent training in those liberal arts which soften the manners of men, nor suffer them to be brutal; but they really cannot expect that we should do it for them. We support our schools in a very handsome way, and they must not touch the consolidated revenue—already too heavily drawn upon—but must educate their own children themselves. As for the Auckland gaols, they must sustain themselves. Criminals are a luxury, and if the people of Auckland will have criminals they must pay for them. So also in relation to hospitals and asylums. We really cannot be expected to provide these for Auckland; they must support these themselves. If a mysterious Providence will insist that there shall be old and infirm people in Auckland, and accidents and diseases to the poor, and that mental aberration shall afflict men there, really it is no affair of ours. We might just as well be asked to support the benevolent asylums of Madagascar or the hospitals of Japan." The only possible source from whence the necessary funds can be obtained is by levying a page 22 special local tax upon the people of the North Island for these purposes. Indeed if the South were willing that the cost should be borne by the consolidated revenue it would be found that that revenue could not bear it. After this year the general revenue of the country will not be sufficient to pay the yearly charges upon it. It would therefore be idle even to suggest that it should bear additional burdens. One source, as I have said, alone remains. But if such a tax were levied would the people pay it? As Mr. Vogel said in Auckland, "Endurance has its limits." If the people, already groaning beneath the yoke of an almost intolerable taxation, find that this change of Government means merely increased taxation; with the lavish wealth and expenditure of Otago and Canterbury flaunted in their faces, who will answer for their quiet submission to what they cannot but feel to be a crying and enormous injustice. The spirit of Hampden and Cromwell, of Milton and Washington, yet lives and breathes in every community of our countrymen. Supposing, however, that this difficulty were met, only half the task of the Government is accomplished. What is to become of Nelson, Westland, and Marlborough? How will they exist. Year by year their position must become more galling. The General Government will increase, as indeed they must, the taxation of the individual colonists living in those provinces. Can their Provincial Councils tax as well? They cannot. What then will they do? They may ask for assistance from the consolidated revenue. But how remote will be their chance of obtaining such assistance. The colonial exchequer will be drained. You cannot take the "breeks" of a Highlandman, nor squeeze water from a dry sponge, nor drain blood out of a stone. But if the colonial exchequer were full the three Southern Provinces would then be met by two opposite cries. Otago and Canterbury would say "Oh! they must help themselves. We support our institutions; let them support theirs." While from the North Island would come a still more bitter cry : "We cannot allow this. We not only pay as much as you to the general revenue, but we are ruinously burdened with local taxation also. You people of Nelson, Westland, and Marlborough have assisted through your members to lay these terrible burdens upon us, and you cannot in common justice ask us to pay towards those institutions in your provinces which you have compelled us to pay extra for in our own." Now, the people of those three provinces have a potential voice. Their members can turn the scale, and if they are true to the interests of their constituents and the Colony they will do it. They can cany the total abolition of all the provincial institutions of New Zealand, and thus equalise all burdens, and place all: North, South, East, and West upon a permanent equal footing. Leaving for a time the consideration of this first Resolution let us look at the third,

The Compact of 1856.

Here we are at once met by two propositions, the first being that in 1856 a certain compact was made in relation to the Land Fund, and the second that it is desirable to recognise that compact and make it unalterable. It is necessary that this subject should be approached with extreme moderation. The calm and dispassionate attention, therefore, of the reader is invited to the consideration of a question of momentous importance Unless the third Resolution be thus considered, and in this spirit page 23 determined, it threatens to rend New Zealand into fragments. It is well that we as a people have nearly twelve months in which to weigh the whole matter, and to view it from every stand-point. What, then, is the "compact" which is alluded to? In the year 1856 there were, as there have ever been in New Zealand, two parties—one headed by Mr. Fox, and the other by Mr. Stafford. Each party had its separate and opposing principles. Mr. Fox contended that the Provinces should be assimilated to the United States of America; that the Land Fund should be Colonial, and the Customs Provincial revenue. Mr. Stafford held that Land Fund should be Provincial, and a small portion of Customs revenue should be used for the purposes of general government. Prior to this time the Laud Fund was by the Constitution liable to certain public liabilities. The question in 1856 was to pay off these liabilities, including a claim by the New Zealand Company. To a certain time Mr. Fox was in a majority, but only a majority of one. By-and-bye Mr. Travers came up from Nelson to Auckland, then the seat of Government, and being an adherent of Mr. Stafford, the votes became equal. Still, however, Mr. Fox was in a majority, for it was well known that the Speaker of the House was in his favour; when, to every one's surprise, Dr. Campbell suddenly turned on a division, and walked into the lobby with Mr. Stafford. In such trivial incidents do the larger events of history find their source! It may well be doubted whether if Dr. Campbell had not thus strangely voted with Mr. Stafford the Land Fund would not to this day have been Colonial revenue, and liable primarily to the whole burden of the public debt. And so little of actual interest upon the question itself was felt in its thus peculiar decision that when Mr. Robert Graham and Captain Daldy asked Dr. Campbell why he had thus acted, that gentlemen replied, "I thought I was bound in honor to vote with my party." It is not too much to say that out of that thoughtless vote has arisen the present state of things which bids fair to convulse New Zealand from end to end. Afterwards a series of resolutions was carried, but it was disallowed by the Imperial Government. Power, however, was given to the Colonial Parliament to alter the Constitution within certain limits. In 1858 was passed an Act called "The Land Revenues Appropriation Act," by which the land revenue of the different Provinces was to be paid to the credit of the respective Provinces in which it was raised. How grotesque is the position of political affairs. The country now beholds Mr. Fox and Mr. Stafford side by side, working in conjunction with Julius Vogel, who has cleverly pledged them both to pass these famous Resolutions! For the Resolutions go but half-way on either subject: only half the Provinces are to be expunged; only half the Land Revenue is to become the property of the General Government! Fox—Stafford—Fitzherbert sole survivors of an Assembly once famous—you who join the miserable present to the happy past—will it be too much to ask you to listen for a moment to the advice of a younger man than yourselves, of one who dreamed not of visiting the Britain of the South when you were lighting her standard to the morning winds, but still one who loves New Zealand as well perhaps as you, and who sees in her the infant who will expand and grow thro' storm and sunshine to a glorious queen? Will you not join together in this coming day of storm and tumult to lead the country into peace? Throw away all half measures. Realize the perils of the page 24 situation. Bury the hatchet, and together, side by side, determine these questions; and as you once led the people to the first enjoyment of Constitutional government, now guide them through the dangers of the straits which they have entered. These objects once achieved, all other reforms will follow. The Assembly, no longer the scene and theatre of contending Provinces, will set itself to the great task of governing an united Colony, and the wild chaos at present existing will rapidly subside into regularity and order. Thus then the Land Revenue Act was passed, and since that time the two questions, the Provincial and the Land Revenue, have stood like gloomy shades in the path of this Colony. Sooner or later they must be swept away, and at last the time seems to have arrived. It behoves the people of New Zealand in all places to see that the work is done once and for ever. We have seen the origin of the so-called compact of 1856. Supposing, however, that there ever was such a compact, we must not forget that the public safety is the supreme law. If such a state of circumstances ever arose as would make it necessary for the public welfare that the public lands should be resumed by the State he would be a traitor to the country who would oppose it. Nor must we forget that the Provinces as such never paid for or acquired in any way these public lands. They are held by the Crown in trust for the people of New Zealand. But, says Mr Vogel, if there had been no compact of 1856 it would be wise now to settle the public lands of the South as Provincial property. And in his speech at Auckland he reproached those who had spoken in his absence upon this matter with not having told the people that the Assembly had agreed to spend £700,000 on a landed estate for the North. This, however, does not seem of much importance to the North, as if the Provinces be destroyed the lands will remain in the hands of the General Government, and directly they are wanted as security for a public loan they will be so given. It is not, however, for Julius Vogel, but for the people to determine this matter. Should the third Resolution become law it will of course keep the Provincial exchequers of Otago and Canterbury full for many years. It will ensure in those Provinces not only the vigorous administration of the ordinary duties of a Provincial Council and Executive, but also a complete system of roads and railways. The value of property in many places will be greatly enhanced—the price of labour will for a time be kept up, and the circulation of large sums of public money will give a temporary though powerful impetus to trade. Even, however, for benefits so material as these the people of Otago and Canterbury may pay too much. They are colonists of New Zealand although they happen to live in the favored Provinces of the South. And they must recollect that they must share equally as individuals and families, as consumers and tax-payers, with their brethren in Westland and Nelson, in Wellington and Auckland. There are portions of Otago and Canterbury, and it may be said very considerable portions, which will derive little or no benefit from the expenditure of Provincial treasures. There are other localities where but an unequal portion is distributed. To these and people who reside in them the increasing colonial taxation will come with aggravated bitterness when they remember that Otago and Canterbury are selfishly keeping from the public creditor those funds which would avert the necessity of such growing demands upon the people as a whole. In every Province, in page 25 every community, there are different classes of society. Of these the most numerous are the labouring and small trading classes. To them, although they treat it seemingly with no concern, the question is one of vital importance. To them the expenditure of large sums of public funds means a very small and evanescent increase in the price of daily labour, swiftly reduced by competition of incoming strangers from less prosperous Provinces, or immigration, or by the cessation of the extraordinary distribution of money. But a permanent increase in the Customs duties, or other taxation, means the taking away for good a certain number of shillings per week, which will not be replaced when employment becomes more scarce and wages fall to their natural level. If the taxation of the Colony be permanently increased it will be as much a burden upon the working men, the small settlers, and the tradesmen of Dunedin and Christchurch as those of Hokitika and Grahamstown, for naturally wages will gradually become equal, and prices also. No inconsiderable portion of the population is composed of those whose incomes are settled and subject to few fluctuations—ministers of the Gospel, Government officers, Bank clerks, other clerks and officials, schoolmasters, persons who have small annuities or live upon the interest of money invested. To these it is of the last importance that there should be no increase in the cost of living. To these, five pounds, or ten pounds, or twenty pounds in the year of additional taxation means the loss of some moderate pleasure. It means the robbery from some dear friend of a yearly present, and in every case the loss of some one of the many little sources of the happiness of life which they only know who are called upon to sutler. Already has this been recognised. The Government have made a gift of about ten per cent, to their more poorly paid servants last year because the cost of living has so much increased. Living will be as dear this year, but this cannot be repeated. What consolation will it be to the Government or Bank clerk when he finds that one or two of his children must go without proper clothing, or that an invalid mother or wife must lack her accustomed little comforts, or that his subscription to a pleasant Club or Friendly Society must cease, to know that the roads are in good condition, or that the Provincial exchequer is in a state of plethoric abundance, and that his Province has seen the so-called compact of 1856 adhered to. The classes enumerated, counting amongst them the goldminers and bushmen, are by far the largest portion of the population of Otago and Canterbury, and they possess the power of deciding this question in a manner consistent alike with the dictates of common sense, kindness, and honesty. And they must not forget that if one portion of the Colony suffers all must suffer, and if population decreases in the North Island they will have to pay for the deficiency. If by the retention to Otago or Canterbury or any other Province of the land funds arising within that Province the rest of the Colony suffers, then the suffering will soon extend to that Province so causing it. Soon the General Revenue of the country will be utterly too small to meet the demands upon it. When the time arrives in which the Public Works and Government expenditure cease, the Consolidated Revenue will suddenly go down to a very large extent. The demands on it will not decrease, but steadily grow, until the interest and sinking fund, with the vote say for defence purposes, will absorb it all. The Colony will then be in nearly the same position that the seven page 26 bankrupt Provinces now occupy. To what sources will our statesmen then turn for funds? What unknown mines of wealth can they hope to discover that they may satisfy the hungry craving of the public creditor, and carry on the ordinary government of the Colony? Mr. Vogel—for he cannot avert the advent of that disastrous day—will perhaps exclaim like Glendower, "I can call moneys from the vasty deep"; and the people, like Hotspur, may answer, Ay, so can we, or so can any men. But will they come when you do call for them?" Let the people of this Colony remember that no more provision is being made for colonial future wants than has been made for the wants of the Provinces. When Mr. Vogel began his political alchemy the Provinces were rich, strong, and prosperous. So was the Colony. The Provinces have fallen; and, under the same guidance and conditions, the Colony will fall also. They were the outposts. They have been carried by the foe, and now the Colony stands face to face with difficulties and dangers, which it will not recognise nor prepare to meet. Nor are the wealthier classes in Otago and Canterbury altogether beyond the reach of argument. If they withhold the land fund a heavy property tax and a tax on wool will form the best source in lieu of the proceeds of land. At present gold is taxed; why should not wool be taxed also? All the argument is in favor of the exemption of gold. That is produced at enormous cost, and toil, and danger. None of these conditions attach to wool. All taxation is at present taken equally from the people. And yet not altogether; for the gold-miners are specially taxed. In 1871 they paid £120,000 to the revenue in the shape of special taxation more than any other class. This is absolutely unfair and impolitic. Why should not property bear its share of the common load? Is it just that the labourer should pay as much as the man of property? Taxation should fall equally upon men in proportion to their power to pay. After our time of plenty there will come a time of want, but Julius is not Joseph, nor is he making any preparation for the approach of the years of famine. If however the Land Fund become Colonial Revenue, and is made available to pay interest and various charges, then we may hope without serious enlargement of taxation in any way to hold on till population increases, and our northern and western lands can aid to replenish the Colonial chest. The course of a young country like this is onward. It must go forward. No barriers can stay its course. The finger of destiny points it to a brilliant future. But to its immediate future the third Resolution would be as disastrous as the first. That would tend to destroy the oneness of the people, and split them into local and angry factions. This would unfairly and unevenly place the public debt upon the shoulders of colonists, unduly increase taxation, clog the development of those truly vast resources, which must, when opened, increase the revenue of the colony and the wealth of the people, and produce a spirit of discontent among large sections of the community. No sane man can believe that seven of the Provinces will bear an undue share of the taxation, while to please a few and only a few of the little great men of the other two, the land fund of those two is expended in order to improve the property of the rich and to add to the wealth of the wealthy. The end of that would in the nature of things soon come. The seven Provinces would not endure the tyranny of the small although wealthy minority which forms the governing class in Canterbury and Otago. page 27 To the true-hearted men of the South there are higher grounds on which to stand in these matters. For these are but the arguments of expediency and what is prudent. To them the first question arising will be—Is it honest that the land funds should be spent by these Provincial Governments when the people want them? What right have these Provinces to them over the people of the other Provinces? And to such—who recognise the laws of justice and uprightness, who understand that the foundations of a nation should be honesty and truth, who are prepared to suffer if need be on behalf of their adopted land, who look to the future with hope, because they resolve to act so as to deserve success—to these the question will be one easy of solution. And to them the very sacrifice—if sacrifice it can be called—will make this land more dear and its best interests more cherished. Too long have we permitted provincial and local jealousies to keep the different members of this national family apart. At length a noble opportunity is offered of perpetual union. And upon the altar of our common country may now be offered that provincial selfishness and greed which alone can impede our speedy steps in the colonial race to greatness.