FIRST PARLIAMENT.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 71, 24 March 1928, Page 14

FIRST PARLIAMENT.

OUR POLITICAL BtRTH.

RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT.

SOME NOTABLE FIGURES.

(By Telegraph.—Special to "Star.")

WELLINGTON, this day.

The Parliament of New Zealand, like most established institutions of its kind, had a beginning. So much may be deduced from the available records. The Constitution Act, finally passed by the Imperial Parliament on Juno 30, 1852, granted the Crown Colony of New Zealand representative institutions and divided it, on the map, into six provinces: Auckland, Taranaki, Wellington, Nelson, Canterbury and Otago. Six months later the new Constitution was promulgated and Sir George Grey, who previously had been "Governor-in-Chief over the Islands of New Zealand, Governor of the Province of New Ulster and Governor of the Province of New Munster," became simply Governor of New Zealand, with the prospect of having at his elbow sooner or later a responsible government that woul drelieve him of one set of troubles and provide him with another. It subsequently transpired, however, that the Imperial Government wa-s not particularly well disposed toward Sir George nor he toward the Government's treatment of the young colony, and an exchange of dispatches between them was followed by Sir George's return to England. The position the Gov-ernor-in-Chief had occupied here was filled "temporarily" by the appointment of Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Henry VVynyard, as Administrator, and this courtly gentleman and gallant soldier did not see fit to summon the Parliament that had been duly elected until May 24, 1854. In the interval the provinces had chosen their superintendents and their provincial councillors and had appropriated all the privileges and most of the perquisities a generous interpretation of their new status would permit, with the ready approval, it would appear, of Sir George Grey, and, in turn, without any dissent from Colonel Wynyard. The Parliament that ultimately met in Auckland, then the seat of government, was the first in New Zealand, and though its other achievements were of no great consequence, its initiation of the first step toward responsible government forms a notaM;> milestone in the progress of linperiv' ' •'•>!>- inent. In the Beginning. The House of Representath c that assembled for the first time on May 24, 1854, the thirty-seventh birthday of the reigning sovereign, Queen Victoria, contained many pioneers whose names endure in the history of the Dominion. Sir Charles Clifford, elected by the unanimous vote of the House, was the first Speaker; Mr. J. E. Fitzgerald, nominated by the Administrator, was the first Premier; Mr. Edward Gibbon Wakefield, a great Imperialist, was practically the founder of the colony; Mr. John Cargill was a son of Mr. William Cargill, the leader of the Otago settlement, who Bat in the House himself between 1855 and I860; Mr. James Mac Andrew, thrice superintendent of Otago, was a member of the Grey Ministry, and for a day or two a member of the Stout-Vogel Ministry; Dr. Featherston was a member of the second and third Fox Ministries and the colony's representative in London from 1871 to 1876; Sir David Muriro was Speaker of the House from 1861 to 1866; Mr. William Sefton Moorhotise sat in six Parliaments between 1853 and 1881, and was a conspicuous figure in the settlement, of Canterbury, and Sir Frederick Weld was a member of the Stafford Ministry between 1856 and 1861 and Premier between 1864 and 1865. The Legislative Council, consisting of sixteen members, nominated by the Administrator, had on its roll such prominent figures as the Hon. Francis Dillon Bell, the Hon. Henry Petre, the Hon. John Charles Watts Russell, and the Hon Frederick Whitaker. The Fitzgerald Ministry, consisting of the Hon. J. E Fitzgerald, the Hon. H. SeweH, the Hon F. A. Weld, and the Hon. T. H. Bartley which had been appointed by the Ad niinistrator on June 14 for the purpost of facilitating the establishment of Re sponsible Government, at the end o: July advised His Excellency that th< time for this step had arrived, and oi the representative of the Crown declin ing to accept .its advice promptly rc signed, and was successded by a Ministry consisting of the Hon. T. 8# Forsaith the Hon. James Mac Andrew, the Hon W. T. L. Travers and the Hon. E. J Wakefield, which carried on till the dis solution of the first Parliament In .Sep ternber of the following year. The First Division.

This necessarily bare outline of the institution of the first New Zealand Parliament can be regarded only as an indication of the whereabouts of a wide field of reading that will well repay exploration. The recorded speeches of Mr. .7. E. Fitzgerald, Mr. Edward Gibbon Wakefield and Dr. Featherston, in the House, and of the Hon. Francis Dillon 801 l and the Hon. Frederick Whitaker in the Council, each in its own way, are masterpieces of concise expression and reasoned argument which the politicians of to-day might study with much advantage to themselves, and, if they happen to be members of Parliament, with profit to their constituents and the public. In passing it may be of Interest to mention that the first serious debate in the elected chamber and the first division. had to do with prayers, now an impressive observance in both branches of the Legislature. On the second day. of the session, the cereiyony of electing the Speaker and other formalities having b.ori observed, Mr. James Mac Andrew, ihe member for Dunedin and a staunch Presbyterian, suggested that before proceeding to any further business members should acknowledge their dependence upon the Divine Being and seek His blessing upon their labours. If the House was in agreement with his suffgestion, Mr. Mac Andrew said, he Would sully forth and bring in the nearest clergyman, whom he believed to be the minister of the parish, to perform the function. The member for Dunedin having tabled a motion in harmony with his suggestion a dissenting tnember promptly moved an amendment to the effect that the House should not convert itself into a "Conventicle." A spirited I discussion followed, the Opponents of Mr. MiieAndrew's motion objecting not to the prnyers, but to the introduction of any form of sectarianism into Parlia merit. The member for Dunedin, however, had the majority with him, and his motion was ultimately carried by twenty to ten. whereupon the Rev. JS. .1. Lloyd, who had been waiting within the precincts, 'was admitted and reWd'pray. T' I for - he wM thankwl t>y the I -

An Inspiration. From a volume containing between 500 and 600 closely-printed pages to choose from it is difficult to select half a dozen sentences which may adequately depict the magnitude of the task that lay before the 40 members of that first New Zealand Parliament. With some hesitation a passage from the Administrator's speech at the opening of the first session of the General Assembly is selected:—

"Looking to the physical aspect of these islands, to the irregular and isolated manner in which they have been colonised, and to the existence of a numerous and intelligent native race, advancing in the scale of civilisation, but not yet accustomed to the exercise of political power, it must be admitted to be no easy task," his Excellency said, "to devise a Constitution for New Zealand which shall be adapted to the condition and circumstances of the country, and which shall confer upon its inhabitants, as one people, and without distinction of race, a liberal measure of representative Belf-government. . . .

Seeing that the colony is composed of a number of detached settlements, each from another more than 100 miles apart, with no facilities of intercommunication, planted by various founders, on different systems, and each independent of the other, with little intercourse between them either social or commercial, with no common sympathy, and heretofore without the slightest bond of union; seeing, too, that each of its several provinces has been invested with large powers of local legislation, it will rest with the General Assembly of these islands whether New Zealand shall become one great nation, exercising a commanding influence in the Southern Seas, or a collection of insignificant, divided and powerless petty States."

Appropriately enough, this eloquent oration is followed in the records by a table showing the populations of the six provinces, with some particulars of their progress and prospects. Auckland in 1853 had a population of 11,000, Taranaki 2000, Wellington 7400, Nelson 5148, Canterbury 3895, and Otago 1800, a total of 31,243. Between them they had exported £286,422 in produce and had managed to live. Oi what stuff the hearts of this handful of people must have been made. The Fruition.

The election which followed upon the dissolution of the first Parliament brought a number of new members of consequence to the House of Representatives and the return of Sir Thomas Gore Browne to Government House somewhat changed the complexion of the Legislative Council. Mr. Francis Dillon Bell moved across from the Council to the House, where he was Colonial Treasurer in Mr. Henry Sewell's short lived Ministry, and among the other new members in the elected chamber were Mr. William Fox, Mr. John Hall, Mr. C. W. Richmond, and Mr. E. W. Stafford, all destined to fill Ministerial rank and play important parts in shaping the legislature development of the country. The way having been cleared by the first Parliament for the introduction of a responsible government. public interest in politics was greatly quickened, and on the assembly of the second Parliament a new spirit of enterprise was abroad. The nominated Executive Council remained in existence until May 7, three weeks after the opening of Parliament, and then, the Hon. Andrew Sinclair, the Hon. Alexander Shepherd and the Hon. William Swainson having been its last legatees, it disappeared into oblivion and the way was open to the country for selfgovernment. The Sewell Ministry survived for thirty days, the Fox Government for twelve days, and then the Stafford Government established itself and, remaining in office for five years, consolidated the work of a decade. In the popular story of the achievement of responsible government by the coloney so soon after it foundation, both Colonel Wynyard and Sir George Grey are denied some of the credit that is their due; but the years have passed and when New Zealand finds its historian he will not give these two military autocrats less than their need of praise.