PUBLIC OPINION

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume VIII, Issue 691, 13 February 1879, Page 3

PUBLIC OPINION

CAPTAIN MORRIS, M.H.It., AT

GISBORNE,

(from the " New Zealander.")

A deep debt of gratitude is due to the Poverty Bay Standard for the care it has taken, and expense it has incurred in reporting the speech of Captain Morris to liis constituents. A telegram received frofai (Sisßorne, and pai'tiaity published in our columns, failed to give anything like a clear outline even of the result of the meeting ; and the result being almost as curious as the oration, we will narrate the sequence before dealing with the subject matter of the speech.. There .were about four hundred people present,^ liis Worship' the Mayor was elected Chairman ; three motions;- were placed; before jthe meeting, and only 67 pel-sons recorded) their votes or indicated -their opinion ,in the usual manner.; The Standard '(says,; of the Chairman, " inbre partiality we have never seen at a public meeting."' After Captain Morris had his speech, Mr H. E. Webb' moved — " That the electors comprising this meeting have no confidence in Captain Morris as their representative , in the House. of. Assembly." After some heated discussion, Mr Ward proposed the j amendment, " That Captain Morris is a fit and "proper person to represent this district," and this was supplemented by j the following .novel motion, , which is certainly a new invention, by Mr Walker, " That this meeting passes neither censure j nor "want of confidence in Captain Morris. " ]?or the original motion, twenty-three voted, for Mr Ward's amendment sixteen, and for the harmless and fruitless amendment, twenty-eight. This is the mostinteresting manner of getting out of a political difficulty that has come under our notice for a long time.

It will be : remertib'ered that Captain Morris came into Ohe House of Representatives by what billiard-players call "a fliuke." Captain Read lost his seat on petition, and Captain Morris was the petitioner. Captain Read'was.th'e nominee of Sir Donald McLean, and Captain Morris the : B^wed ;^pt?ekentatiyo !! 6f'the;Liberal p>ss' I.'^%*.; ,- *§,$&. } .«*;tifie; ;.ayosß ; d " ijeptreswitative, ; . wo . have .-; . chosen I -words carefully,' 1 'plainly demftnstra^tt was ..'his 6ym< representative,'! and) .came, forward wii&ihe hbp6-6f-' << 'gi^dirt^ihib-o'wn axe." The, -people, ,sf ;/ T^ran^tlistrict had, put a lot of natives on the roll with the, hope and intention of returning another candidate to this marine captain, but the Maoris, as is often the case, took, the matter of voting into their own hands, and to the great disgust of many Tauranga people, voted for the candidate they were told and believed would best look after tWr interests — the present representative. This incident /affords a good lesson as to the tractability -of Maori voters, and explains why Captain Morris owned to the meeting that he was "the rejected of Poverty Bay:." Thus when Captain Morris took his seat he was expected to vote with the ; Liberal party ; but the Ministry in power lchew that he had an axe to grind, and by placingthe-State. grindstone at his service > secured j his allegiance. The foregoing hißtQric..d.etaHs.,.aye necessary to understand the position the honorable gentl«m l en ; holdß^ arid the. manner in which .fjte^'^o^titt^Vs^jytinisiiy;. 'obtained support;!' > •'•■■,\\. :'.■-.?■ ■■'■■] ! '■ ' ' I Coming to the , sp'eech: 'itself ,, it : affords' cai^se. aiijmsejngnt., The gallant captain; had an audience that may be considered not' c[uite aiilfait jwith all the intricacies of Our political life, land from fchis faot ; the -hardihood and; recklessness of assertion •rtrith.' l^hiiiii'. }he speech is .be accounted for. It reads muchrfta^pcfliiical novel hy the editor qf ifo&'tyqip >%eal/tyd Times would ; and it isjTurfuU Of Mun'chausfeh-like staite 7 . ments. This is -rather an unfortunate affair,' as Captain Morrisj according °to his ov^h; statements, represents "the largest electorate . in ,the.. Colony." ■ This is an evident indication that the time for the re-distribution, of seats has come, a "tjiird part;!. of the. Province .of Auckland" is certainly hot 1 sufficiently or adequately repi|esented by daptain Morris. Two illustrations! of this, fertility of invention' tb which we have alluded will suffice to iiialce' our moaning clear. The honorable, and/truthful representative of the East Coast informed his hearers that " The Eleclioral, Bill, so .eloquently announced by ihe Premier,' was not permitted to become law. It -was strongly attacked in th'e' Upper 1 HoiisV on 3 account of its pro-' vision with reference to the Maori franchiso., Jt, was, found, that the Electoral. Roll could bo flooded by Maoris ; and, as in the caße at Mongonui, where four hundred natives, were placed on the roll, and a noniinee of tho Premier's returned. Sir George Groy wrote to the natives? informing them that he required a person whom he termed a 'hoanoku' elected, and the feat was accomplished." There is one unfortunate omission in the statement, and that is that Captain Morris neglected to inform us who "the nominee " was or how he was named. The othor - item of amusing intelligence to which we wish to draw attention is the following: — "Now wo come to the telegraph job. That was a contract that would cost the Government £5000. Two newspapers supporting the Government were to have the use of a special wire. By a strange coincidence those two papers had the monopoly of the Government adveitising. If the late Ministry had entered into any such arrangement they would bo characterised as most nefarious transactions. But because the present Ministry do it, it is said to be done in the causo of enlightenment of the human race, and in view of the educative effect i0 will have upon the people of the Colony." It is needless to point out the falsehoods contained in the quotation, as

they are too manifest to require contradiction ; but wo can tell our readers, for their information, that tho new wiro system wo have adopted is more costly than the old, and that in round numbsrs some thirty papers belong to the new Association instead of two. It is idle to go further into the consideration of the speech, as the portions quoted will afford a fair indication of its character and truthfulness, affording at the same time convincing proof, if further proof were needed, of the character of the men who largely compose the present Opposition, and the nature of the charges they would endeavour to foist upon the public as truthful against the Grey Administration.

• TKefeUs one oijlier subject freely dealt with in the'speeclvarid tliat is the present mode of: the administration of native lands. This new. Solon gives his opinion in the following words :— " I believe that there should be free trade in native land. Ido not believe"' in the Government jobbing in land. The duty of the Government is to govern the country. It should not mix itself up with land purchasing and life insurance. If it does so it may just as well embark in a co-opera-tive store. So long as tho Government is connected with the acquisition of native lands, it will be always laid open to charges of partiality." Without attempting to discuss this question on its merits at the present time, we would ask our readers this plain question, and let them answer it according to their own convictions : is it most expedient for the welfare of the colony that the native landed estate should pass into the hands of the Government, and then be cut up and sold in suitable areas for homesteads, and for the furtherance of settlement, or is it preferable that it should pass into the hands of " rings " andspeculators, after the manner of the Piako aud other blocks, and then be cut up into farms and rented ah its full annual value? The Grey Government want to adopt the former line of conduct. Captain , Morris and his friends want the latter plan to bo adopted. Let the peoplo choose between . them, the issue is plain 'and easy to be understood.