SHIFTING THE CAPITAL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 303, 22 December 1932, Page 6

SHIFTING THE CAPITAL.

AUSTRALIANS WERE THE UMPIRES

(By J.C.)

The etorv of the transference of the seat of Government from Auckland to Wellington sixtyeight years ago is told in Mr. W. P. Morrell's new book on the history of the provincial system in New Zealand. Perhaps it is not generally known that the colony called on Australia to decide the problem of the new site when the Legislature had decided to make a change of location. This may seem extraordinary until it is remem:bered that feeling on the subject ran so high in the various provinces that it was not possible to obtain an unbiased opinion in any of the New Zealand settlements, and only by turning the decision over to unprejudiced outsiders could a verdict be obtained that was at all likely to be accepted by the several communities concerned. In Auckland and Otago particularly there was very strong objection to the selection of Wellington or Nelson. In those days Otago, indeed, held such a good opinion of its own importance that there was a proposal to form the settlement into a separate colony; this optimism was especially marked after the rich gold discoveries in Otago in the early 'sixties. There was perhaps only one opinion in which there was agreement between the various Southern settlements, and that was that Auckland had been the capital long enough, in fact too long.

A highly uncomplimentary reference to Auckland by Henry Sewell, whose manuscript journal is in Canterbury College, Christchurcli, is quoted by the author. 'The great argument in favour of Auckland as the capital bad always been its advantages for the conduct of native policy. But these advantages were now being called in question by those who had once admitted them. "The whole place," wrote Sewell in January, 18G4, "is living upon the war, and like greedy beasts of prey° they are looking out for fat morsels of native land and commissariat pickings." Elsewhere in his journal Sewell declared that the political atmosphere in Auckland was of the very worst kind. "Panic fear, rapacity, political jobbery and intrigue, every vicious influence which can be brought to bear ... is in full force." He and many others whose interests were Southern demanded that the Government should be removed to some central place where* it could "exercise a tranquil judgment." Negotiations among the Southern members finally iSsued in the passage by the House of resolutions moved '.by Alfred Domett, of Nelson, and J. E. Fitzgerald, of Canterbury, that the seat of Government should be transferred to "some suitable locality in Cook Strait," and that the choice should be left to a commission of three appointed by the Governors of New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. The expenditure of not more than £50,000 in matters connected with the transfer was sanctioned by the House.

There was a storm of protest from both Auckland and Otago, and both provinces sent memorials to the Governors of the Australian colonies requesting them to decline to interfere in_ a purelydomestic question. Auckland even petitioned the Queen to intervene. This, of course, was useless; so, too, were the various arguments adduced, such as the fact that the majority of the colonial population lived in the two protesting provinces, and that there would be difficulties in dealing with the Maoris. The commissioners who decided upon the locality of the capital.site were Sir F. Murphy, Speaker of the Victorian Assembly, Mr. Docker, a member of the N.S.W. Assembly, and Mr. Gann, a magistrate. They examined the shores of Cook Strait, and, as was generally expected, came to the unanimous conclusion that Wellington was the i>ite which presented the greatest advantages. The Weld Ministry, formed at the beginning of the session of 1804, made the carrying out of this decision one of the main points of its policy. There was, naturally, lxot feeling in Auckland over the loss of the seat of Government, and there was even a suggestion—of which Sewell says Sir George Grey, the Governor, was the real author —to constitute Auckland a separate colony. But the change had been made, and tlie general effect was to knit the colony together more closcly than beforou..