GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

Press, Volume XIII, Issue 1729, 22 September 1868, Page 2

GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

'■■. [FEOM OUB OWN CORIiESPONDENy,] Wellington, Sept. 18. 1 On. Tuesday the sitting of bofU \ Houses was put oft , till seven o'clock, , in consequence of the entertaiument to i Sir George Grey, which turned out a > great euccess : it was intended iin- , mediately to precede the departure of Sir George by the Mataura. - Tho . steamer, however, did not come in to , her time, so that the arrangements wore slightly disconcerted. The dobate on the financial resolutions of tho '. Government was to come on early in the eveniDg; but before tho time carao I Mr Fox gave notice that on the niotiau • for going into committee for the debate; he would call attention to '-the " circumstances under " which tho Color ninl Treasurer had raised upwards of , £40,000 without authority of law." > Mr Stafford asked for leave to bring in 3 two Bills—one to enable Provincial Councils to alter in their own provinces the; system of government now \ existing, the other to alter the Logis* I lative powers of' Provincial. Councils. . The Speaker was proceeding to leave 1 the chair at twenty minutes to eight ' o'clock, when Mr Fox, attempted to stay hia doing so on the ground that > the Ministerial Resolutions were ' irregularly brought on in committee ' of, the whole House, and should have bqen brought on in committee of j sujpply. Mr Fox's object was evidently toi prevent the discussion of the Gk>y-

1 erntnent policy before his own Eesolutions, which are to be taken on Wednesday. This nice bit of, Parliamentary j strategy was unfortunately frustrated j by Mr Speaker taking an adverse view. Several members partook in the ' nght, sotne asserting that Mr Hall lia.d moved- liis others , that he had - not; and altogether quite a pretty squabble ensued. r Mr Fox objected itbat. ouq .of the resolutions proposed to make a payment to 1 Nelson and and must [. therefore at any rate be tal?en in com- . mittee of supply. To this Mr Hall answered that the first resolution in 1 any case did not provide for the payI mdnt of money, and this being unanswjerable, the little . " Bonny brook " came to an end. Mr Pox then opened the ball by moving that the chairman 1 "eta leave the chair"—which is of

course tantamount to a vote of wantof confidence—beginning the attack on the ground that the Colonial surer had raided more than £-10,000 without authority of law in excess of the powera of the "Public Debts Act." This proceeding, which is undoubtedly extremely improper, Mr Eox attacked, Mi? Hall replied in a eoinewhat acrimonious style, saying that the charges was againet the Crown Agents. Mr Travera then spoke againet Ministers, attacking'some portion of the financial statement, and Mr Stafford-replies , a a sneering manner that.theOpposi £}-,_. having made a mistake in their taeti.-/"' were endeavouring to remedy it by talking against time, and jeered at Mr Travers as one of the " small dogs whose yelp would not hurt Mr Pitzherbert;, and who would soon " -ehriro up . if -Mr were tiiere to answer them. The fact is, that MrStafford ie becoming too personal and violent in hie language either to please the members or advance any object. Mr Vogel then attacked the overissue, and entered t io,to a long and exhaustive siafcemeat of the manner m which .the accounts had been cooked, and "deceit, practised, in order to delude the House into the belief that certain expenditures had been less than they really had been. Mr Hepburn followed Mr Vogel, and treated the House to his usual ecceutricities in > speech and matter. Mr Campbell made some few remarks, and Mr Fox finished a discussion m which the members appeared to take but little.interest,, probably.on account of its technical nature, by denying tlmt the imputation of trying to gin time had any foundation, and said I bat n the Government'- would agree to it bo would arrange to take the.discussion next day upon the simple issue, of want of confidence in the whole policy. PJ the Government. It was supposed that the Government having acceded to this, no further fuss need hare been made about the matter ibr thtf wgW but a few of thesupporters ot tfto ■ government foolishly resolved to ban a divieion, and one of them having called out "aye," a division had,to oe taken, $lien the entire'Houte walked out into the same lobby in osdsF to

I tattle Idiotic object, with the exI o f the supporters of the. Minis-, 1 .«f -J.Q demanded a division, and ' SsCTSCompeHedto vote againet his I ® v -j e A most funny incident 1 on the division. The Speaker 1 Reynolds and Parker. I '*? ire both members of the " Con- - 3l» party, to act as "tellers," I j the 1 " being very unwilling to vote, j f a & J to act. The division, there- | fjjecame imopssible, and Mr Carlej t jj e Chairman of Committees, ■ j the delinquents to the Speaker, I j*£ a ft er enquiring as to whether they 1 S mven their voices with the " ayes " 1 .P o «- administered a considerable 1 !L"eof -*o & em ! an(i made them act - * £ whole division was a most out- ) *£ piece of folly. j \fedaesday c proceedings were dekvßd untfl seven o'clock by the enter- \ Samenfc given to Sir George Grey i Ssicli a..-thorough- success, and \ terv largely attended. Mr ; T. x began *" 8 speech in sup- \ i. o f y 3 " No confidence" motion in I Stelopmont of the. policy which he I y goffer. The necessity of carryI Couttbefirstresolution of the GovernI lit ig practically affirmed as being as I such the new of Mr I ox as of the I Gofsrnmeot. The details have been no doubt communicated by telegraph. ' jfisPos, who is no great financier himi the larger portion of his I was to the purpose and 1 |J eiiilent language. Mr Stafford I then epoke in reply, and very well I Isftited the proposals of Mr Fox ; but 4 avoided letting out anything i the alterations in the proposed I jjftetoents. It is generally under--1 rfood that the Ministers are trying to I pike the adjustment pleasant all round, I this will be an extremely difficult '• tasknpon the method which they have - adopted of paying off the hungry claimants in . borrowed money. Mr Curtis followed, in which he announced thathe had made up his mind to throw )i over the Government, attacked their jfj prowsals as unfair to Nelson —in fact U fie 'talked rather too much Nelson. I He also expressed fear of the threatl enedintroduction of a County system, i ineSaacing its evil effects in the event '; of its leading to the separation from 1 kelson of its part of the West Coast : Hrßeynolds briefly opposed the Gov- ■ emment in his usual dogged style. Mr Campbell moved the adjournment of i the debate. The newe of the terrible disaster at Ngutu o te Manu depressed the House very much, and there was i s great disinclination to continue the debate that evening, so a few minor matters yrere disposed of during the rest of the night. . !Hie whole of Thursday afternoon ] ms expended in discussing a most I dreary question of land claims of I extreme antiquity in the Province of - Auckland, and at seven o'clock Mr i Campbell resumed the want of confidence debate. He spoke altogether : \ IB favor-of- the Ministry which is his "I present afly f and confined his remarks s? entirely to monetary/matters. His J ; principal object seemed to be to main--1 tain the mity of the colony, and to think by Borne odd reasoning that Mr :j Tox's resolutions led; to. separation. ~j Kγ Borlase then exhibited his invarip aWe imbecility of mind, in a muddled 1 speech against; the Government; and ] MrTravers made an. excellent speech I against their general policy, advocating I Mr F.ox's proposed adjustment, on the i ground chiefly of its being equitable jn. j its working, and of a similar system I kving been recently adopted in :l Canada. He also; showed the incon--1 gistencies of the Government in their last year and this, arid wondered how Mr Fitzherbert had been If able to denounce the scheme of the ">A Public Debts Act, which he had eveny taally adopted, after saying that any -"• advocate of it be " a public -; aesny." Hβ then advocated a totally, ' Afferent treatment; of the natives to : tbat hitherto adppted, and epoke gainst Mr Oracroft Wilson's ideas of fte propriety of extermination. The Hiuisterß hung back very much, \j and could not be. got to speak, for ■& urbish Fox taunted them, perhaps I lather too much, and Mr Stafford C J entered into a sharp discussion as to i hw many members had spokea on one I side and the other, making fun of Mr -| Smaa&i, whose speech he declined to ;| count,.,aa.he said it had not borne on '4 fee question in the least. Mr Jollie at j 'jßtikiih© gap, and spoke generally I S agreement with the finance—deI lighted in the dissolution of the part- "| Berehip—wished to compensate Nelson y to fee amount of £150,000—an anaouncement which confirmed the lobby Ksorfc that Ministers had raised the j m for Nelson, and ended with his ; "watalhbpe that everything would.be -J right—that everybody would act in the Jttost praiseworthy. manner upon all { oecasumgjaad that peace;happiness, and ; pospinty would supervene. :' Major fleaphy performed his, customary evo- . Mobs—painful to behold—for a long < epsee; of couse against the Govern- | Bant. The hon. member's object in ,: epeafeißg" is not very apparent.: He ayeapthing generally, and is still not &y*By*Qieans a silent memberr,Oalriday, Mr iKerr, of Auckland, Jpok« in favour of Ministers; Mr J volliffis against them. A long in- | • JemHhen occurred, which lasted so wagthatMr Carleton put the quesi when Mr Bunny, in a stentorian j "wee, spoke for the " Tooral-ioorals ,, I are supporting the Government. J Jβ let '-'the eat out of the bag" to J «c extent that his.iriends-did: not ; ®fiau to have such an adjustment as J "afe proposed by thte financial stateI J e afc. This to a certain extent con- | «?mrthe rumors that the Ministers ! «c bidding all round where votes I to be secured, to an extent , Jfitcii-i*:frightful. I hear of £150,000 j « pacify Nelson, £50,000 to WelLingJ WD » s large sum to Auckland, and so 1 f- The Canterbury financial Ee--2 2? n^?- ,wai be rather astonished to "** their views carried out under y u an "adjustment" as this. J* -aolleaton then began one of his •"■eta ou the Ministers; bursting as ■Jμ with earnestness. The language are excellent and will repay perusal, from the philoso|«J£Blfiewß expresaed, and the evident aiiSe atyii l wMcli they are told. H

: vfllrf?« ?* Paßßage from De Tocqae- ] -<J*L * in America" with great effect. He concluded by declarr?, 1S conviction that the Ministry were quite mcompetent to deal with the present native troubles. Another tK«A If'l PaUBeB Which have marl «" ! this debate ensued, and Mr Vogel, with his usual mischievousness, rose woulfll ** at , the House would hke to hear a Minister speak—. I suppose, by way of a change. Mr Stafford rose in somo Wat, and said that a fair proportion of Ministers had already spoken, and that nc other would speak until Mr Stevens " had explained his abandonment of his tmancial principles." Mr Vogel had ? %l tbe House t0 another essay, and Mr Dillon Bell had spoken as usual on both eidea of the question. Ifaese amenities brought up Mr Bell who chaffed the Government about their supposed interviews with members who did not like the adjustment arrangements, and wished for a larger share of the "good things " than the Government adjustment contemplated. Mr Stevens told the Premier that before the debate closed, but at such time as he thought fit, he would show how far he had deserted his principles, and whether Mr Stafford or himself were prepared to make the most sacrifice for their principles. A general row then began, arising out of the answer given by Mr Stafford to Mr Bell, that he should ask all his questions about the bargainings supposed to be going on for votes. Mr Stafford's answer was that he would give no answer to the questions—a bit of trickery which brought out a storm of indignant oh J oh's ! in which the voice of the member for Lyttelton was prominently discernable. Mr Stafford at this point presented-the singular appearance of a Prime Minister on his legs, ohohing against those of about twenty members opposite, and after this had gone on for some time, he gave in, exclaiming, with much passion, that "he could not hope to* compete in shouting with bull-calves who only opened their mouths to bellow," iv special allusion to Messrs Gγ. Macfarlan and one or two of his neighhours. Mr Macfarlan arose white with rage, and gave as his opinion that " it was better to be silent than not speak truth." After this interesting scene had gone on for some time peace was restored, and Mr Ludlaw inflicted upon the unfortunate members who had the fortitude to remain one of his usual agonising performances in favor of the Government and general attack upon Dr Featherston, who appears to be his bete noir. Many skits are to be seen in the newspapers and " Punch;" some of them are clever, and all of them on both sides have some point, and are generally good natured. The newspaper articles on both sides are about as unfair and one-sided as possible. " Punch" is migrating to the Thames Goldfields, so its weekly pleasantries will be lost to us for the rest of the session. I should mention that the announcement was made by Mr Stafford during the fracas of Friday that the Ministers belonged to the " Truly Kural " or " Tooral-looral" party. We hare not yet ascertained what the guiding principles of thatparty are, but it is generally believed that they wish to pull down the provincial governments, and to shut their eyes to anything beyond that interesting point. On Sunday the £Tapier Armed Constabulary (Major Fraser's), arrived, and on Monday Mr Fox, accompanied, by Mr M'Lean, Mr Ormond, and some others, waited as a deputation upon the : Governor, and begged that he would .use his authority to prevent these forces from going on to Patea, and to have them returned to Napier, because of the unprotected state in which Hawkes Bay would be left His Excellency is understood to have said that he would not be able to act in the matter without the advice of his Responsible Advisers. The step, which was an extreme one, was, of course, not taken by any members of the deputation who happened to be in the Opposition as Opposition members, but in order to prevent the danger which, delay might entail, as tbe. Sturt was to leave with the troops at eleven o'clock on Monday. ■ I On Tuesday, Mr M'Lean failing any i means of stopping the men who did I leave for "Wanganui on Monday niprnr ing, gave notice on Tuesday that on Wednesday he would move = "Tliat this House views with alarm.; the position in which the colony is being placed by the action of the G-overnment in relation to defence and native affairs." Mr Vogel resumed the debate on the walit of confidence motion, and spoke much less powerfully than usual on the question of finance, but still clearly and to the point, and, contrary to his WPnt, went in. for discussing native and defence, matters, in which he did not succeed very : well. He then finished a long speech by commenting upon, the position of the Provincial Governments to the colony., Mr Eichmond followed, and made a long discursive ,~. speech on all the questions involved in the motion. The most remarkable portion of his address was a rather more clear definition of the ideas of the Government in reference to the ultimate position and destiny of the counties or outlying districts. They appear to be that the care of police, education, gaols, and in fact everything so far as I could understand him. He then enlarged upon the treatment of the native matters by the present Government, spoke rather sharply of Mr Eolleston's attack, using the term "his contemptuous arrogance." Mr Stevens followed in a soeech of moderate length, but full ot matter, the subjects being the finance of last year, of this year, the prpposed adjustments, and the. constitutional question. On the former he was not so clear as usual, but he: opened out very strongly upon tbe apparent intentions of the Ministers in regard to destroying the present territorial boundaries, in short counties. He was loudly applauded at several points, and a regular burst of cheers greeted his denunciation of any attempt to alter the existing system of government in the provinces without previously consulting the opinion

of the country. He also said that the Ministers did not appear to be identified with any clear views as to the future of the colony. Mr Craoi'oft Wilson engaged the attention of the rominitt; L <:> vn- a considerably l.mc, lin which he did not enlighten anybody much, iar.de a Latin quotation, [praised his own scheme of subduing the natives by a native force, and made a horrible joke by inquiring whether it could be said that a bone of trooper Smith sticking in the teeth of the Maories who ate him could be considered as a disagreement with the native race. I think every member present was much disgusted". Mr Reynolds distinguished himself in this debate by constantly getting up after every speech to correct some alight and generally imaginary mistake in fact, which any member might have made in his speech.

"Wednesday's sitting began, by Mr Stafford laying upon the table "by command of his Excellency" a letter from Colonel McDonnell,, on behalf of his officers, containing charges against Mr Fox and Mr Travers of having made false statements in the House respecting the men under his command. As soon as the Clerk got to Messrs Fox and Travers' names in reading the letter, Mr Bell jumped up and asked the Speaker whether it was in order to read a that kind. Fortunately the Speaker refused to allow anything of the kind to be read. Mr Stafford showed some considerable anger, and was understood to say that whether it were read or not it should appear in "Hansard." Mr McLean began his speech on his motion about the Napier Constabulary ; and epoke in very good style of the dangers to which he thought the country was exposed, and the special dangers likely to ariae from this particular act of the Government. He gave his opinion generally about the state of the native districts, and seemed to say that he thought the Ministers unequal to; cope with the present state of thing?. Mr Stafford replied at length. I un-

derstood him to insinuate that Mr McLean had joined the Opposition because he could not get the Government to hand over native management on the East Coast to a commission, with a sum. of money greater than they thought justifiable. Both in Air Stafford's and Mr McLean's speeches some bitterness was noticeable. Mr Stafford spoke of bis weariness of office since the question of personal confidence had been raised; of the wish of two of his colleagues to leave him on private grounds, and of the vast difficulties of Government from the disunion of opinion in the country. His speech was marked by much feeling, and was concluded by an announcement that the Government would, not accept the motion of Mr McLean before the other more comprehensive motion of want of confidence had been disposed of. Much wrangling ensued therefore when, at eight o'clock, when the other debate became due, Mr Travers moved that Mr McLean's debate be continued. The end of the squabble was a division on the point, which the Government gained by a majority of seven. The first debate was therefore continued by the Superintendent of Otago, whose song was the same as it had been for some years—all for colonization) ; provincial self-reliance, and provincial absorption of all revenue, contributing to federal expenditure objections to.the Government adjustment, employment of colonial or any forces, &c. Mr Harrison, from Westland, then made a very clear speech, rather too close to Westland, its wrongs, its prospects; and its virtues, but still argumentative and well ex? pressed; He attacked Mr Curtis with, some sharpness for inconsistency during the present session. MrHeid followed, not very favourably to the Ministerial proposals or ; anybody else's >I think, but appeared to view direct taxation as desirable. Mr Cargill followed for the Opposition, not very strongly, and the debate closed at a late hour. Mr Brown, of Taranaki, spoke yesterday on Mr McLean's motion very briefly but effectively against the whole treatment of the native affairs in Taranaki for some time past.

On Thursday Mr Swan, the member from the Thames, opened the debate, but did not thrbw any light upon the subject , matter. He seemed to be rather speaking to his constituents than to the Houae, a practice which ia hardly instructive to the latter. Mr Main, of Otago, who has been recently nicknamed " the gushing main," gushed less freely than is his wont. Mr Ormond took up the cudgels on the House resuming, and delivered the most telling attack upon the Government which has yet been made during their tenure of office. Ke viewing their treatment 6f their supporters throughout, he attacked the.tn with. surprising vigour for their persistency in bringing forward nothing which might cause them risk of losing their seats. He said that he and those who thought with him, did not thank the Ministers for the financial resolution which the Government had brought down, when they knew everybody wanted it, and were determined to have it—that if anybody should be thanked it was the member for Selwyn and his coadjutors. Hβ then attacked Mr Fitzherbert as being thoroughly untrustworthy, and finished the rest of his two hours by explaining to the House the whole story of the manner in which the Government had treated the East Coast question and the native affairs, j declaring his entire want of confidence in the Ministers, and especially in the Defence Minister, and saying in very forcible language that if the members supported them the responsibility of a new war of immense extent might rest with them. Mr Ormond who was repeatedly cheered, finished a really eloquent and powerful speech amidst loud applause. Mete Kingi began to speak through the interpreter. He his usual account of his own exploits, especially at Wereroa, and gave his ideas as to what the rebels thought of us and bo forth. Baigent spoke briefij against the Government, and read with some effect a passage in ft book—same aaknowa—

against parliamentary despotism through a majority, pronouncing the word " despotism " with all t-'se emphasis on the " pot." Mr Ball gave a dreary narrative of tho miseries of Auckland, whieii ul> seemed to attribute to the evils of provincial government. Mr Bell will probably speak to-night, and a division may be taken late.