Abstract:
Taranaki was one of the original six Provinces of 1852, yet it found itself in the same category as the three newcomers- Hawkes Bay, Marlborough and Westland- where "the provincial moiety of the consolidated revenue was insufficient to meet services provincially charged and interest and sinking fund on loans." W.P. Morrell, The Provincial System in New Zealand 1852-76, (Christchurch, Whitcombe & Tombs, 1964), p.204 These three had broken away under the provisions of the New Provinces Act of 1858, and although the confirming Act of 1862 was also ostensibly designed to extend local self-government, its framers did not conceal their hope that the provinces would find their powers diminished by it. By 1876 the Provinces had lost control of public works, railways and immigration; the Central Government had taken over their debts and forbidden them to raise loans. With the exception of Otago, Canterbury, and Nelson they had failed to provide a reasonable system of education.
