HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. WEDNESDAY, JULY 17.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIII, Issue 3135, 3 August 1867, Page 4

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. WEDNESDAY, JULY 17.

The Speaker took the ohair at five o'olook. THE GOVIBKOE. Mr. Ball asked the Government whether or not i\ was their intention to advise his Excellency to visit Monepnui, and, if go, at what time his Excellency may probably be expected to arrive. The Colonial Secbetary ' replied that it was, originally his Excellency's intention to' visit Mongq< nui and the Say of Islands, but owing to circumstances, he was unable to carry /out. hfs intention," . His Excellenoy bad no. present intention' ta '▼|si^ ' Mongonui. EEPEKSINIiJTIOM. The, Colohjal Seobbtabt, in , moving for leare to bring .in V bill "An Act to amend the , Representation, Acts/ said the bill had partly been , prepared in pursuance of a promise given to the hon,. member for Westland at the close of last session. At the same time, while increasing the representation of Westland, the Government, in order to preserve the equilibrium of the representation of the whole colony, thought it would be only proper to give two additional members to the province of Auckland, and portions of the districts of Eaglan and Franklin would be cut' off for the purpose of forming new electoral districts: Although, perhaps if 'regard were -only paid to the European population and revenue, the North Island was 'as' well 'represented * as the South Island, yet the Government thought it only proper that these two additional members; L should be given to the North liland, as it also con- / taintd a large native population.— Leave was given!/' i COMMITTEE OF SWPtLY. ■ The House having gone into Committee of Supply 1 , ' I The Colonial Tbeasobkr read over an approximate statement of the sum that would be required, amounting altogether to £200,000., He. should propose, as a resolution, that' a sum not ' exceeding £200,000 be granted -to her Majesty for the c pußlic Service of New Zealand, as an advance to be after'wards accounted for, and chatged'in'she m'annek'; expressed in any Act or Acts passed' during- tKe' J present session for the 1 disposal of the reyehne'of the ■ cjolony. If this were passed he should -ait the 1 HbfisV 1 to go into Committee of "Ways and Means to1 morrow. r ! Mr. VocUL said that so Urge a vofo as this would Leave the' Government entirely independent ' of the 4lous«. It was an unprecedented thing for a Government, nhile a question involving their fall waa. -> under discussion, to come down andaak for tbret months' supplies. . > . After t gte»tde«l of discussion the ColqniAl, TitEASURER said the; Government would reduce* tfteT : amount to £100,000, and go, to a division upon it, if / necessary. ' ' > An amendment was then put and lost, *nd theT resolution carried nem. oon. I The House, (hen resumed, and the Chairman Reported the resolution, which, was received and triad a second time, and agreed to. KB. VOCOL'S MOTIOHi L 1 ' The adjourned debate on Mr. Vogel's motion wai 1 Mr. MAO'ANDR^tw/who had movea the,adjburki| ment, said ne hadt nob intended to take any part in, ; the debase, but he felt he could not pass jOver,,allusions which had, been made respecting' him jby' some previous speakers — allusions made apparently from ex parte statements , of cironmstances which occurred some years ago, and of which he was the victim. He had beenjbasely maligned. He could kot deny that irregularities had "occurred while he held office before, but he utterly denied the inference*! that had been drawn from those circumstances, an* denied that he had ever misappropriated the pubW funds. It had been asked why he did not apply 4^

court of law for redrew against his slanderers, but he had not don* so because the temple of justice in this country required » golden key which he did not possess. (Oh, oh.) He had had the honour of sitting in that Home as member for two constituencies—constituencies as immaculate as the hon. member for Coleridge himself. That hon. member might be looked upon as a type of that humanity which looks upon poverty as a crime, and misfortune as synonymous with misconduct. Notwithstanding what he had said, the name of the hon. member for Clutha would sunrire in the grateful recollection of thousands of persons — would go down to posterity »a one who had done the State some service, when the name of the hon. member for Coleridge had gone down to its native oblivion. He was the eleuted head of a fourth of the population of the colony— that office had been thrust upen him nolens volens, and Lis election had been accepted even by those who had opposed him. He should devote himself heart and soul to the public weal. In assuming the office, he wished to place the province in a higher position than it had ever before occupied ; but thanks to the action of hit Excellenoj's advisers, he had not yet been able to effect that object. Under auch an administration, it was difficult to decide where the power of the Provincial Government began and where it ended ; and if this was the case under one administration, how would it be under two ? The wisest plan would be to repeal the Goldfields Act, and place the goldfields under the Waste Lands Act of the province. Even the miners themselves saw the absurdity of treating the goldfields as a distinct entity from the rest of the province. Notwithstanding what had been said by the Commissioner of Customs, the miners were the most determined proyinoialists the province had. He had risen to protest against the question being treated as a personal one, and begged the House to treat it on constitutional grounds. The blow was not aimed against the Superintendent alone, bnt against the Provincial Council alto, as the Superintendent could not use the delegated powers without the consent of his Executive Council. If the House approved of the action of the Ministry, they would be adopting principles quite subversive of free government There was but one feeling among all classes in Ofcago, that deep injury and injustice nad been inflicted upon them, and they would not tamely submit to it. So strong was the feeling, that had it not been for his own exertions and those of others the people of Ot»go would have taken the remedy in their own hands. (No, no ; hear, hear.) Instead of coming there as suppliants to the House, the Constitution would have sustained » violent shock. He had assisted to stem a revolt tion, and was glad to say that the people of Otago had adopted wiser counsels and depended upon the House for redress, and he hoped results would show that they had not depended in vain . (Cheers. ) Mr. Brandon did not know on what authority some speakers had asserted that the hon. member for the goldfields was the leader of the opposition. The subject which had given rise to the dispute might be . • good one or a bad one ; but they must put aside all consideration of the subject, and merely look at the ■ ' prinoiple. It could, not be allowed that a Provincial } Government ruling a province should be interfered , with by a second government ; and the House must declare thst it should not be mo. The amend- . ment was a sham, because, by delegating the J powers to the Executive, they were actually ' delegated to the Superintendent. If the * Superintendent wished to do a thing, and * his Executive opposed it; the Executive resigned, and he appointed another Executive. In whom, then, j did the power rest ? Dr. F«itfHBBSTON, who was received with load cheers, after a few remarks, said in taking the course he did he was not actuated by any personal motives, or any feelings of hostility to the Ministry, to whom his services had always been freely given when required for the public good. But, after a full consideration of the circumstances, he could come to no other conclusion than that the course which had been taken by the General Government was untenable and unjustifiable j and the Government, by their amendment, admitted thfo. They ought to have appointed a commission to inquire into the charges against Mr. Macandrew; but, .instead of doing that, they bad sent down a man brought up in the principles of despotism to try him. He, however, repudiated the idea that the removal of a Superintendent at the request of a majority of the Provincial Council attached any stigma to his character. They knew also that Mr. Macandrew had been allowed to take his seat in that House several years ago without a sign of disapprobation ; that he had been elected £ SuperintendentofOtagobyanoverwhelmingmajority; that he was supported by a large majority of his _ Council ; and that the province of Otago wished the Governor's powers to be delegated. He preferred to accept the verdict of the whole province of Otago in preference to the verdict of the hon. gentlemen on the Treasury benches, however much he might admire those gentlemen. He could not admit that any sufficient answer had been given to the argument that if the Government were justified in refusing the delegation of those powers they were bound to advise the Governor to disallow his election; If it were expedient to refuse the delegation of the Governor's power*, it was still more expedient to refuse those higher powers conferred upon Superintendents by the Constitution Act, The Government had, however, exercised a wise discretion in allowing the election. Had they acted otherwise they would, as had been stated, have plunged the province of Otago into a Q state of the most deplorable anarchy. It was always an unwise thing for any Government to run counter j to the wishes of the mass of the people. The Government had expressed their reluctance to give their delegated powers to Mr. Macandrew, and, having failed to gain ever the people of Otago to their side, they could now gracefully retire r and grant the almost unanimous wish of the - people of Otago; There were times when 8 a Government coitfd gracefully retrace their steps, n and without any imputation upon their honour ; and ■ this was one of those occurrences. He implored them * to make one step more, and heal the breach before • it became too wide. He very much regretted that 1 such harsh expressions had been used during the " debate. The Commissioner of Customs had argued c that the object of the provincialisfcs was to render 8 the General Government impossible ; but he forgot c to mention that the General Government w«re doing * their best to sap and destroy provincial institutions. * Whatever might be the mismanagement of Provincial ' Governments, it was infinitely" exceeded by that of * the General Government. The prediction that he " had hazarded last session was verified, and they had f now a provincial party strong enough to maintain * the rights of the provinces. (Loud cheers.) * The Hon. J . HjjjT said that, although the last x speaker had intimated his intention of voting against t the Government, yet he should have mach regretted c had the debate closed without any remarks being c made by the hon. member. He had npt shirked the fact, as some speakers had done, that this was a "i 7 personal questlonr- a question. whether Mr. Macandrew was the proper - person to be entrusted with 1 the delegated powers or not; and bad argued that l Mr. Macandrew had not had a fair trial, and that t his offences had been condoned. Mr. Hall then { defended the action of the Government in sending x Dr. Knight to inquire into the charges against Mr. f Macandrew. He was sorry to hear from the 1 hon. gentleman's' lips- that a popular yote could t condone a crime, for he could not look upon Mr. Macandrew's offences in any other light ; and ,he maintained that the question as to whether the ( Governor's powers should be delegated to Mr. 1 Macandrew was not one affecting the province of t Otago alone, but the whole colony. (Hear, hear.) q Mr. Vogil entered upon his reply, and concluded; a by saying that he hoped the utter inexpediency of, r tiie course which the Government proposed to adopt; would induce hon. members to vote for the resolu-, ' tion.' (Cheers,) ' ' / The House then divided on the amendment, with the following result ;— ' , w ' ' ' ; ATM.— Messrs. 1 A ;S. Atkinson, H. A. Atkinson,! Baigent, Bradshaw, Bunny, Cargill, Carleton, Cox, Eyes, Farmer, Fifcztierbert, Hall (teller), Hankinsion, Haughton, ' Haultain, Ludlam, McLean, McNeill, Ormond, Parker, Reeves, A. J. Richmond, J. C. Richmond, Stafford (teller), Taylor, Wells, Wilson, and Wood— 2B. Nob.— Messrs. Ball, Borlase, Brandon, Burns, Campbell, Clark, Peatherston, G. Graham, Heapby, J Hepburn, Hull, Macandrew, Macfarlan, Main, •Mervyn, C. O'Neffl, J. O'Neil, < O'Rorke (teller), Paterson, Reynolds, Vogel (teller), Williamson, | •Macfarlanei'and Dignani— 24. • ' ' "" The announcement of the result was received ' wiih cheer*. . ' j . ' I