SEAT OF GOVERNMENT IN WELLINGTON FOR 100 YEARS

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30760, 26 May 1965, Page 16

SEAT OF GOVERNMENT IN WELLINGTON FOR 100 YEARS

[Specially written for "The Prese" by R. C. LAMB.)

On Thursday the present Parliament wiP begin its second session. The occasion will mari the one hundredth anniversary of Wellington’s becoming the seat of Government. Before 186“ Auckland liad claimed that distinction, al though a parliamentary session had been held by way of experiment in Wellington in 1832.

In the latter year 372 Christchurch citizens signed a petition to Parliament, drawing attention to the “serious inconvenience” they had experienced because of their remoteness from Auckland, where —up till then— Parliament had always met. A similar inconvenience had already been experienced in other electorates. Thus, in 1858, although Parliament was ordered by proclamation to meet on March 31, its meeting had to be postponed until April 10, because the Nelson members refused to attend.

A ship was sent down to carry them to Auckland, but they sent back a manifesto “to the effect that no important business could possibly be done, that their private affairs were too urgent to allow them to attend and that the seat of Government ought to be removed to the south.” Wellington Absentees Then, in the following June, Mr C. W. Richmond, a Minister of the Crown, wrote as follows: “We are in the midst of session, with no opposition, Wellington having absented itself en masse.” (This absence of Wellington members was because their own Provincial Council, on which they held seats, was then in session.) The cost of removing the seat of Government to Wellington amounted in all to £64,000. This included the travelling expenses of departmental officers bound for their new headquarters in the capital city. The staffs thus involved were very small. For example the Government “Printing Establish-

ment.” with G. Didsbury i charge, numbered onh eleven officers —Mr Didsbury included; while the Governor, Sir George Grey, had a staff of only six officers. A new vice-regal residence and grounds, costing a little over £lO.OOO. were purchased at Lowry Bay; and a sum of £3,414 was spent on providing a furnished residence for the Premier, Frederick (later Sir Frederick) Weld.

Opening Marred The day of Parliament's opening—July 28—unfortunately turned out very wet, so that when the Governor arrived with members of his staff, all in full uniform, the effect—states a contemporary report—“was much marred by the sparkling uniforms being hid under horse cloaks worn in consequence of the rain.” The Wellington Rifle Volunteers paraded for the occasion to form a guard of honour for His Excellency Sir George Grey. While they* were awaiting his arrival someone in livery rushed out of the buildings in which Parliament was to assemble and commenced ringing a bell as a summons “to all laggard members to take their place.” Auckland was naturally loath to take second place to Wellington, and twelve years after the move had been made, its local paper—the “Southern Cross” —revived the question of Parliament being held “elsewhere than in the Empire town.” "We do not want it here particularly" —the paper added—“but it would be a distinct gain to get it away from the vicious air of Wellington into a freer atmosphere.”