MR MOSS AT NEWMARKET.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 4419, 12 July 1884, Page 2

MR MOSS AT NEWMARKET.

LastnightMrMoss addressed tho electors in tho Nowmarkot Hall, which was crowded on tho occasion. Mr Suiter, Chairman of tho Road Board, was called upon to proside, and amid some interruption from tho "larrikin" element in tho audienco, bospoke for tho candidate a fair hearing.

Mr Mo.-s said: Gontlemon,— Whon I had tho pleasure of addressing you in this hall on tho 28th of April last, you will remember that I askod you tor reasons thon stated to leavo mo with hands freo in the critical timo which I felt was coming. You left mo freo and wore pleased to accord a renewed vote of confidence. The crisis came even moro quickly than I anticipated. Scarooly had tho session begun whon a few over active members, availing thomsolves of the passing discontent of several supporters of tho Government, forced tho Opposition into an ill-timed and ill-considered amendment to the Address-in-reply. Briefly described, the process was tins : Members wero individually attacked in tho lobbies and whereever they could be mpt. They wero told, "You, have been for 4 years trying to turn out tho Government;. The chance has come. A majority is certain, and who will bo weak enough to flinch or show tho white feather now? The excitement grew, but it soon became clearthat tho only ground on which a majority could b.Q united was that of farcing an immediate dissolution. On no other ground would the Canterbury members and other new allies co-operate with tho old Opposition. Any one reading the spoeches of Mr Steward, Sir George Groy, and others during tho debate will sco that dissolution —immediate dissolution—\yas then the only cry. Mr Montgomery also, in his Christchurch speech just boforo tho session, had avowed tho same policy, nnd had declared that thoy would not turn out the Ministry, but, if I remember the words aright, " would sond them, with all their sins on their heads, to the country." It has sinco been publicly stated at a great Auckland meeting, that, but for this dissolution, a very powerful Ministry would havo been formed under Sir Geprge Groy. I pray you dismiss any such idea from your consideration. It is a mere delusion. Had it been possible, why did wo hear nothing of it in Wellington ? Why, too, was Mr O'Callaghan deliberately selected to move the second useless vote of censure a week after Mr Steward's had been carried ? The truth is that by that timo the Opposition majority had already melted away, and Mr O'Callaghan'a speech on moving the second censure showed that tho motion was only

made because tho Opposition Jind discerned the difficulty in which they had landed themselves, and wished to throw upon the- Govornmcntthe blame of a premature dissolution due to themselves. Urieily the whole Htory i.s this : The Opposition had its blood up, was full of light and eagor for attack. It ran wild, and its leaders instead of attending the caucus meetings and guiding their followers, were all the time fully occupied in watching with the deepest mistrust, the movements of each other. Gentlemen, I protested from the first against tho course proposed. When I found my arguments of no avail and my protests disregarded I t.aok the only course open to mo by formally announcing that if others allowed themselves to be carried away by new and temporary allies, I would be no party to the proceedings, and then I left tho room in which the caucus was being held. I refrained, however, on this occasion from voting wifcii the (Government, as I did not wish to leave the party with which I had so long cordially worked. Rut Mr O'Callughan's motion a weolc afterwards opened up questions two great to justify me in refraining any longer, and I voted with the Government against him. For doing this, tor not worse than rjlindly walking into the HJimo lobby with Sir Geo. Grey in support of Mr O'Callaghan, for using with perfect openness and frankness, and to tho best of my judgment, the trust you had placed in mo, I lately received, as you are aware, very noisy and very pronounced marks of disapprobation from a portion of the constituency of City East assembled at the Theatre Royal to hear Sir Geo. Grey. Gentlemen, it is you and noMhe electors of City East who are my judges, and I owe it to you to explain that I was present at that meeting only as a mark of respect to Sir Geo. Grey, that 1 went at the special invitation of liis committee, and that I only camo forward to Bjpcak after repeated calls for me in common witli other members then present. As, amid the groat uproar, I stood upon that platform so near to one in whose honour I had come, and whom I had faithfully followed for too many years, there paused through my mind a story I had heard in the days of my early youth, how a hoy ran to his father telling him that he had just seen the cat laughing in the garden. The father went !to look, and what do you think the cat was laughing at? It had put its foot into a rattrap by mistake. This, gentlemen, was what I had dono in going upon tho plat- ' form of the Theatre Royal on that occasion. It will be a warning to mo for tho future, and I should not Jiavo taken up your time in referring to the matter now were it not that the insult then offered was to ono who had boon for somo years proud to be your member, uncl who hopes, despite tho senseless bellnv.ing at tho Theatre Royal, to have the honour of being your member again. Let j mo now pass on to the prospects of

Till! NKXT NKSSION',

respecting whicli there in ono remarkable fuct. The candidates in the South are repudiating one after the other any other leader than Sir Julius Vogel. People who know the feeling that has been growing for Koine years in Otago and Canterbury, and which lias been brought to fever heat by the late dispute over the railway tariff, will appreciate the full significance of this unanimity. They will infer that it iB not accidental, and that thoso who direct it are determined to take full advantage of tho preponderance given to them by the Representation Act of 1831. The condition of the present Representation is this: Otago has 24 members; Canterbury 20 ; Nelson, 5 ; Marl borough, 3; and Westland, ,1 ; making in all 55 for the South Island. Tho North has SO1, namely, Auckland, 19; Wellington, U ; Hawkes Bay, 3; and Taranaki 3. For tho last fow years Mr Macandrow and other prominent Southern men have appeared to mo to keep the one purposo of union between Otago and Canterbury constantly in view. I have always attributed to that purpose tin pertinacity with whicli Mr Macandrew kept Mr Montgomery, a Canterbury man, as leader of tho Otago section of the Opposition, willingly taking a back scat himself. Moro than thin, 1 have ventured repeatedly to call to it the attention of Sir George Grey and others a." a jwliey sure, sooner or later, to affect seriously tho balanco of parties, and to give tho South an undue control over the colony. Judging by the Southern newxpaperg and the speeches of candidates, it seems likely that a coalition between the two great. Southern provinces will now to a largo extent be accomplished. 1 beg of you to understand (hat I do not agree in tho least with those who see in that coalition any enmity or design to injure tho North. But we all know that there is great depression in the South, and that there arc thousands led to believe, howevjr wrongly, that thoy Ill'O sutlering through their revenue being drained to the North, and through their not Laving tho control of their railways and .other local affairs. A movement in that direction will probably be one of tho first effects of tho coalition, and I believe that it is because Sir Julius Vogel is for tho moment frco from all existing parties that so many are selecting him as tho most suitable leader. Mr Macandrew, whom I havcyhad the pleasure of knowing for more thaf» 20 years, is a man of great tenacity, holding strongly to his political convictions, and of the most unselfish character, but over ready to do the best he can for Otago and to take advantage of every opportunity that offers. lie is Malicious, as wo all know, but he is slow of speech, and in Sir Julius Vcgel he lias always found a clever and adaptable mouthpiece during the greater part of the latter'e career. Sir Julius himself has fow convictions. I have known him over twenty years ago actively forming a Separation League in Duncdin, which I, as a Provincialist, hating dismemberment of the colony, had the pleasure of as actively opposing. I have known him a few years later the champion of tho provinces, and put into ofiice in that character. Within a few years moro we all knew him striving to abolish tho North Island provinces, and practically to make the North subservient to and governed by the South. In tho following year we knew him as the chief destroyer of provincial institutions, and with them of the only existing form of real local self-govern-ment throughout the colony. It was then that he and Mr Macandrew broke with each other and Sir Julius went to the wall. Now, gentlemen, you may take ono thing for granted. If Sir Julius can so easily c'lange, Mr Macandrew cannot, and that his object in aiding another strong man, Mr Stout, to place Sir Julius at the head of a Southern party, will be to carry out his own and Mr Stout's ideas, and not any peculiar views of Sir Julius Vogol'a own. Mr Macandrew's ideas have very rocently been placed on record. His plan is simplo and clear, Ho would pass an Act at once creating the North and South Islands into two provinces, leaving to each tho entire control of internal affairs, and to tlio General Government the payment of interest on tho public debt, and tho control of tho Custom House, Post office, and general affairs of the colony. He would constitute the 55 members of tho South Island its first Council and tho HO Northern members a similar Council for tho North. Ho would leavo to each Council the framing of a suitablo Constitution and tho division of each island into two or moro districts as might bo found expedient. When Mr Macandrew brought forward this plan I took some pains to analyso the finance of the colony, and showed him how unfairly it would operate upon tho North (Continued on Fourth Pat/c J.