GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 4, Issue 207, 6 September 1860, Page 2

GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

" House "of Bepresenta'Eives..' The house resumed .on Tuesday, 7th Au{just. Present, .the’.Speaker and 38 members. Dr. elected' member for Auckjnnd'-■ subilrbsi' '.topic the oaths and his seat. ; ’ Two ;im.essages from his Excellency, regarding the Native Bights bill, which, the Home Government had nofassented to, and a repetition of. the Native Conference in 1861, werej. oil the ; motion of the hap. Mr, Richmond, ordered tp; : be considered along, with his motion on the Native Land question. The adjourned debate on the Native Offenders.' bill was; resumed by ;Mr. C. H. Brown (Christchurch), who vindicated Archdeacon charges brought against, him.. Tie believed no one, carefully consider ing the mattery would blame Mr. Had fie Id ; he bad declined;: to interfere, and had given tho whicti on &tl hands it was .con.siderißdjh'gcould give. • .• > *•. Mr. \yatdi. (Lyttelton) ,d$ ,noi thinfcfKingi a rebel pTie^ vVffts -a..patriot;, but he had no doubt as to the justice of the war, although lie thought ;jjts origin would not-be found until the whole ,Native policy,,, was before the house, n T.. •. r :.: ; ....

Mr. Domett; /(Nelson), thought King decidedly in the wi'dug, as lie had no right what ever to interfere. The government had shown want of euergy-in; not; curbing the King movement. . ;• ;.

.. Mr. Carleton Islands’) insisted on the necessity'ofTroseciiting the .war., . Mr, King? (Taranaki) trusted the, house would siippdit.fhe Governor in liis present coarse, the. ' necessity for , which had arisen from pfevions undue leniency. : .Dr. Featherston (Wellington) wished ministers liad beemmore as to their policy on native titles. He believed that if this- wTr 'policy- was persisted in, the Natives would?£Oasisei?xit a violation of the treaty of Waifangi. He thought the tribal right of the . natives .slmuld be respecfed by the,-Governor.;. Jt would- not. be difficult to' prove, that <JPi K-i-ngi - had both a chieftain’s iml a"tribal right in’ the very block in dispute. It was a. question whether Teira bad any right whatever .to. sell. Mr. McLean ought tpjiave?, lmulev himself ;su.re of bis position.*' hatßheieri , ' i 'sb'mv'n‘'"th'k- ;: Ki'h^“was one of tlje. largest owners in that very block , The" hoh. member, then read two letters , frqmtWa;kanae, one signed by several natives, to prove that Teira’s'claim'was unsound and new. In proof of this,he also referred to a plan of the land drawn by ablative seventy- years old, a resilient in the locality for twenty years, the correctness of ; which was, allowed by several chiefs. He : then denounced the proclamation of .what was called martial law as hasty and unwise. results from the war, and wished that some wise step could.be deviled rfor ending, it without compromising -.the;;,thonour and ,dignity |6f the Crown. -

The lion. Mi*. Stafford thought, that whatever; differen'cedjj.ere .might be oil this question, there could lie but one xopiiiioti as to the necessity- f<»vayl s ioii,>t He wdihed tjje/house fully to of ’ministers. Every member of £ .Uis Excellency’s, executive;had a right to give mdyice , on every occasion that required., it, . I.hey not only concurred in, but warmly supported the Governor’s proceedings in this case,.; They felt their responsible position. When the, ministry was formed, it was with a distinct and definite expression .of want of in the .preceding; native policy. It was not ..the disputed • possession of the land • which led to the war. The lion, member for Dunedin bad clearly shown that the whole,.question, was, whether Teira had or had not a right to sell. The hon. member then at some length contended that Teira had such, a right. Hg,stated that his .Excellency devoted a large portion of his time to the consideration of Native affairs, and that he had acted honestly rand'conscientiously in t.hi> case. For himself, he felt a consolation in having, as he believed, the support of .the country as welj as of the. h.ouse on this ques lion. S'- T; l i \

The hpn, Mr. Richmond condemned the making use,of,Tetters.-to. condemn the Government policy,’ without submitting them to the authorities,'who might have found them of great importance'.in determining their; procedure. The hon. member referred to various speeches -on the opposite side. He deprecated eqnal weight being given to the statements of Kingi and those of the Government. Ho concluded aToug speech by strongly con-[ detuning the attempts to impede the progress, of the Government: 1

•y;-The;nnitioii,;for .leave to bring; in the bill was then Tarried, and. the second’reading ap-j pointed; for Friday .the 10th .August. :• Qiri-husuiess-'beingc resumed at; half-paat,j .seven; b’clobkAaiid isome £>tber-*inotion§? having bebn .iriadeiWi?: ‘Carlethn"' frose to' move-—thej appointment of a’committee of inquiry' into the circumstances which led 1 to the rTaranaki war: s committee to:.; consist oflit.-Colo riel Haultain... diiedioii.- TTr. Rfoh'mon'dE Mr v Fitzgerald* DE FeatlieKston, Dr. Monro, the. hon. Mr. .Weld, Mi. -Brown,. Mr. BelJ, ‘and Mr. O’itzherbcrt to be .brought, up 21 st August.

pro firmi^ ini.l iv-iongXlebate einiwd t ‘%hich after various amendments hail been made ended O'i L luirs(lav- in a ■ motion -proposed by Mr. Sewell being carried by a majority , of 18 to 12, to the. effect"that Uio Vjen/Aph deacon Hadfield be-ilquetted &: attend it! the bar of ,tVie house, to : give evidence as to the cause of the Tafanhfci war, ‘arid to' the same; and. ?that -the.. Chief ,Lavid i Corami.ssioner,.Mr. McLean,shall also be summoned, as a witness, and examined on the I same subject” ant of : space prevents us rprhfgiying, the ,fle.irj* the course of which yjy. Fost made an ab.le speech, which we have jeen obliged ,to reserve Jfbr : next issued in order ;o give jt asiftlllyis pdasibileC I On Wednesday, August‘Bth, .present,, the Speaker and 37 members, "Mr. Daldy (Aiick land) asked the ’Colonial Treasurer from what fund the expences of the. war were to be met. .jV/r. Stafford, in the absence of the; Colonial .Treasurer from indisposition, said, that so far the Commissariat Chest had furnished all the money require!! for the purposes bf tlie wai; at Taranaki, Auckland and' Wellington, including the payment of tha 'Taranaki militia and.volunteers; but these payments had been made on the understanding that they were liable to future adjustment between the Colonial and Imperial Governments. It was, however, understood that the, Colony was to provide Tor barrack accommodation and permanent works,'such as stockades, but not for lines and earthworks. He trusted his hpii. colleague would soon be able to. give; the house a fiilL account of the' manner in which it was,proposed to meet the unavoidable expenses of the war. ... Mr. Sewell (Christchurch) then moved 'for the, production of the Report of .the Committee of the House .of Commons on the New Zealand Loan Bill of 1857. -The object of the irtotion was to clear himself from the charge of having misled.the Select,Committee of the House of Commons in his evidence concerning the half million guarantee. His explanations satisfied the house that, he bad no ititenfcioirto mislead * and f Mr. .Fpx : , for the Wellington members, said, .tliat if any expression in a letter to the Secretary of State signed by them was calculated to convey such.an imputation, they regretted having used that expression, and desired at .once, and in the frankest, manner, to withdraw, it. On which a resolution to the effect, that in the opinion of the house Mr., »S'ewell was wholly c : eared from any imputation on his character in .relation to lm evidence regar ling the <£500,000 loan, was' moved' by. Mr. Dillon Bell, seconded by Dr. Featberstpn,Vand unanimously carried.: : , On Thursday,.9th'August,. Mr., Richmond made a statement, regarding certain propositions to be submitted to the house on-the subject of the civil government of the natives. The principle recognized was the government of the natives' through themselves ; and the principal proposal was a division of the whole colony into districts-tinder the Native districts Regulation act, ‘and the appointment in each of One'chief as the medium of communication with the government. On the 16th August- a vote of thanks was passed to the Governor of Victoria Tor the prompt assistance rendered. «£2500 was voted for the expence of next year’s Native conference. Mr. Sewejl moved the resolutions; respecting the :Native, question .standing in his name, an enumeration of which must be deferred till hVxt issue.

On Tuesday, Aug.. 14th, the examination of Archdeacon Hail field and Mr. McLean was proceeded with,: but ive liave as* yet received no account of it.

On Wednesday, Aug. 15th, the debate on Mr. Sewell’s resolutions was. resumed, which ended in their being negatived, and the first, of a series of resolutions on the same subject by the Government being passed. On the T6thAug.-Mr. Stafford proposed a resolution committing ; the 5 house to an approval of the Governor’s proceedings and to a vigorous prosecution of the war. A long debate ensued, and next, day, the 'resolution being modified, the ministry, were only saved from defeat on 'it by threatening to resign. The discussion of the Native policy contiuui-d till 23rd August, when it was postponed till the arrival of the despatches from the Home Government by the June mail.