A Political Turncoat.
TOUCHING HIS POCKET. HOW CIRCUMSTANCES MAY ALTEP. CASES. Is the face of the recent action of certain politicians we reprint the following from Hansard of October 21,1884:— The Hon. Sir G. S. Whitmore, in moving the second reading of this Bill, said it had been examined by the Local Bills Committee, and a number of machinery clauses had been drawn up to be introduced to the Committee of the Council. Although they were numerous, they were merely required to carry out the poll. There was no matter of principle in them, and they were nearly the same as those introduced into the Napier Bill, chiefly at the instance of the Council, and without them it would be impossible to take the poll in the manner exacted by the Council. The Bill enabled the Harbor Board of Gisborne to borrow money on certain rates and dues, and nn a certain endownment which was asked far. The Council had, and, he thought, justifiably, always shown a certain jealously of endowments; but he felt sure it would be prepared do strain a point here, as the Gisborne district had been so much neglected in the past, and it was felt that by means of this harbor its resources would be very greatly developed, and the settlers would be enabled to get their produce safely from the country The district was exceedingly heavily handij capped, because not only had it never ha u any public money spent there, but it was placed under very heavy insurance and freight charges from the badness of its harbor. There was a little entrance at the mouth of the Turanganui River, admitting vessels drawing five feet of water; but, for a pastoral district . in which four hundred and forty thousand ' sheep were to be found, it might easily be supposed that such a harbor as that was of very little use. Sir John Coode, after examining the harbor, came to the conclusion that, for an expenditure of £200,000, an excellent harbor could be made by constrncling a breakwater along a reef to the eastward of the mouth of the Turanganui River; and he (Sir G. 8. Whitmore) thought it was the unanimous opinion of all masters of sailing vessels that a work of that kind would be a pronounced success. There was no shingle to interfere with it, and no question of any engineering difficulty at all, and, provided that the funds could be obtained, the harbor would be a certain success. If Gisborne had been treated in the same way that other districts had been in the past, probably it would now have been able to depend on rates alone, and have come to the Council and simply asked permission to borrow money on that security. Bat they were not in a position to do so entirely without assistance, for they had had things to do for themselves which other districts bad had done for them. They had no Land Fund, or what Land Fund had accrued had been taken as public revenue. The Crown laud io the district was absolutely unsaleable, because it was inaccessible by roads, and would remain unsaleable unless a haibor was made. The forty thousand acres referred to was hilly fern country, and never conld be sold at anything like a satisfactory price by the Government. All it had cost the Government was a trifle under £ll,OOO, and he believed it bad been some ten or twelve years in hand ; and there was no prospect, unless the harbor was made, of people being able to construct roads to it, or of its being of any better value for the next ten years. He hoped the Council would agree to the Bill. The reserve was but a little one, but it would be of material assistance to the district as a security upon which to borrow the money needed to construct a harbor. There was nothing further in the Bill to explain. A joint Committee of both houses had sat to consider the claims and requirements of the East Coast District, and had reported very favorably ; and since then a number of members of the Cnmmitte and other members of both branches of the Legislature had waited upon the Premier, who expressed a great deal of sympathy with the district. The Premier stated that the Government was favorable to this endowment being granted, and thst, if that was not sufficient—if, after having tried, they found it unbearable to pay all these rates, and could not get on without some further assistance—next session the Government would give a further money grant. Therefore he had a right to say that the sympathy of the Government wa.- at all events in favor of the grant. He could assure honorable gentlemen who had not travelled in that part of the country that, unless the district did go ahead a little, the land comprising this proposed endowment and large areas of other Crown land there would be totally useless. There were six hundred thousand acres of Government land in the district unsaleable, and never likely to be used in any way until roads were made and a harbor constructed there. He hoped that consideration would weigh with honorable gentlemen who. as a matter of principle, had determined not to give landed endowments to Harbor Boards, except in special cases where the necessity was very plainly proved. In Committee of course some alteration might be required in those clauses that appeared on the Supplementary Order Paper, but he did not think that should embarrass the second reading of the Bill. Nor did he think that with these claus* the Bill would be at all perfect; and he mieht say, on the part of the promoter of the Bill, that he would be quite willing to accept any reasonable amendments that might be suggested. In the meantime he hoped honorable gentlemen would see their way to support the very modest grant of land which was asked for by this Bill, by acceding to its second reading.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/GSCCG18880818.2.20
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Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 184, 18 August 1888, Page 3
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1,009A Political Turncoat. Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 184, 18 August 1888, Page 3
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