OPENING OF PARLIAMENT.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXVII, Issue 4372, 19 August 1871, Page 3

OPENING OF PARLIAMENT.

MR. DILLON BELL APPOINTED SPEAKER.

THE GOVERNOR'S SPEECH. (by our special reporter.) Wellington, Tuesday, August 15. The first session of the fifth Parliament of of New Zealand was opened yesterday, at two o'clock. As it was done by commission very little interest waa displayed in the proceedings by the public, who will doubtless be present in large numbers to-day, at two o'clock, when his Excellency will deliver his opening speech, and when there will be a greater display of "pomp and ceremony." The majority of the members of both Houses were present. The Commissioners appointed by the Governor were the Hon. Dr. Richardson (Speaker), Hon. Mr. Sewell, Hon. Mr. Domett, and the Hon. Colonel Richmond, C.B. Both Houses having met, the Commissioners summoned the members of the House of Representatives to attend the Legislative Council, where the Commission was read, and the Parliament formally opened. This being done, the members of both Houses took the usual oath of allegiance, which was administered in the Legislative Council by the Hon. the Speaker, and in the House of Assembly by Judge Johnson. The Legislative Council then adjourned, and the members of the House of Representatives proceeded to elect a Speaker. Sir D. Monro, addressing himself to the Clerk (who, standing up, pointed to liim, aud then sat down), said : Major Campbsll and gentlemen of the House of Representatives, 1 now rise for the purpose of inviting you to take that step the necessity for which you have been reminded of by his Excellency's Commissioners in the other Chamber. It is a proceeding imposed upon ns as a necessity not only by tbe terms of the Constitution Act, but which 'as evidently consistent with common sense and the necessities of every deliberative body. But before, sir, I proceed further with my self-imposed duty, I think it is but right I should explain how it id that I occupy this position of some prominence and responsibility. The members of this House are no doubb aware that the [election of a Speaker id commonly 3 party matter, which I understand to mean that the Speaker is a person who is approved of by the Ministry of the day. In that respect the gentleuian whom I am about to propose to this House for election to the chair will, no doubt, fulfil the conditions to which I have adverted. I also understand it to be the ordinary practice of Parliament that not only i 3 the Speaker who is elected a person who is virtually selected by the Ministry of the dd,y, but that the member who propose-, him for election by the House is one of the piincipal supporters of the Ministry. Now my position in the Ho. se is this : Having had the honour to occupy that chair for the last ten years, of course I abstained from party politico, and haviug, therefore, not taken any tiction in the IIou&o in respect to parties, I cannot be considered to adhere to any of tho political sections into which this House m-iy be divided. Tdo not thin't it necessary that I should say more upon this subject ; I merely wish to clear my position of any ambiguity that may bu supposed to attach to it. While I cannot be considered the supporter of the present Minibtry, having, although not in tho House, on various legitimate occasions outside the House expressed my opimon upon public que&tionsof theday in a direction different from that held by his Excellency's political advisers, I trust, however, upan the other haud, I shall not be regarded as a blind and indiscriminate opponent. The circumstances of the country appear to me too serious and too grave for the mere game of party strife. This House has before it much more serious and earnest work than anything of that sort. We are hero to devise measures which may bo calculated to extricate the colony from considerable difficulty, and I trust that I shall always be found to give an impartial and honourable consideration to any measures calculated to have this operation, from whatever quarter they may proceed. And now, sir, having explained this anomaly of my position — for it is undoubtedly a political anomaly — I shall now proceed to inform the House who it i 3 that I propose as Speakei*, how it is that I come to propose him, and why I propose him. When the last Parliament came to a close by the efiiuxion of time, I had occupied the chair of this House for ten years. Latterly my health has somewhat given way, and before the House broke up I announced th \t I should not sock re-election to the Speaker's chair. During the recess I received a letter from my friend, Mr. Dillon Bell, asking me if I still adhered to my intention in that respect : and upon my informing him that I did so, he told me that he had the intention of seeking to be elected to the chair, and our correspondence ended by his doing me the honour of asking me to propose him for the office. It did not require much deliberation on my part to weigh this proposition of his, aud to accede to it. It was not for me to forget that upon two several occasions Mr. Bell had done me the honour to propose me as Speaker, and I had been elected. I i could not forget, either, that I had known Mr. Bell for nearly thirty years— all the time that we have been together in this colony, — and that 1 had always found him \ an honourable, genial, talented, and accomplished gentleman, and a kind aud constant friend, I owe an apology to Mr. Hell for saying these thinas in his presence. I should rather have avoided saying them, for I know that these things cannot j be particularly agreeable when said in his presence ; but I attach considerable importance to the possession of these qualities—qualities upon which long-enduriug friendships are founded, and which I think are valuable in every relation of life. I feel certain that they will confer considerable proficiency upon the gentleman, whoever he may be, that occupies the chair of this House. I think therefore that it i 3 my duty to refer to those circumstances. I had also to weigh, on being requested to propose Mr. Bell, his fitness for the position of Speaker of this House from a larger and j more public point of vievr. With regard to lhat, I think that anyone who knows anything of the history of the colony must know something of the career of Mr, Dillon Bell ; for I should say for nearly the last thirty years the history of the colony aud the public service of the colony have been more or less identified with his action as a public seivant, I think there i-* hardly anyone in this House who will not admit that when we look at the services that Mr. Bell has rendered to this colony— services ! ranging over a variety of departments, and including services given in the very highest offices in the colony, -when we consider the j ability and the zeal with which he has | always discharged the public duties entrusted to him, — when we consider the assiduity with which he has done his work— an assiduity almost bordering on a fault by the excess to which it was carried — an excess which, I fear, upon one occasion went so far as even to inflict an injury upon my friend in the shape of more or less loss of his eyesight, the most serious injury which any man could sustain : I say, when we consider all these things, there can be but one conclusion, that there are very few persons iv the colony to whom this House owes more, or whom _it should better seek to honour by placing him I in its chair. I feel certain that those qualitieswhioh he has exhibited in the public service will, in that chair, exhibit themselves with equal ability— that they will redound to the credit of Mr. Bell and to the manifest advantage of this House. I accordingly intend to conclude my remarks by proposing that Mr. Dillon Bell take the chair of the House as Speaker. I am satisfied that, if you do Mr. Bell the honour to elect him, you will have a gentleman well acquainted with parliamentary forms and usages, who will be the interpreter of your rules, an interpreter clear-sighted, of great judgment, patient, considerate, and courteous ; and I take it upon myself, as one acquainted with tho different duties ol

Speaker, to state these are amongst the prin- ' cipal qualifications which this House should seek for in its Speaker. As your chiof officer and mouthpiece and representative of this House, you will have a man of high position and attainments, well known to the public men not only in this colony, but in the neighbouring colonies, and I might say to many of the leading men in the mother country. I know of no one gentleman to whom the duties of the Chair can be more safely confided, and with Mr. Dilloa Bell as Speaker I feel assured that the order and honour of this House Trill be in safe and worthy hands. I move that Mr. Dillon Bell do take the chair of this House as Speaker. Mr. Brandok, on rising to second the proposition of the honourable member for Motueka, gsaid that he had been left little to add with respect to the gentleman proposed as Speaker of the House. He could vouch ftfr the accuracy of what had been said with respect to the qualities and qualifications of Mr. Dillon Bell, having had the pleasure of his acquaintance for upwards of thirty years. Mr. Dillon Bell : Gentlemen of the House of Representatives, M'itk every sentiment of respect and gratitude, I return to you my very sincere and humble thanks for the honour which you have pleased to confer on me in electing me to the chair of the House. I am much beholden to my friends, the honourable member for Motueka and the honourable member for Wellington Country District, for the manner in which they have proposed me for your acceptance ; and all the more, because I feel that, whatever may be the kindly feelings which they themselves have expressed towards me, it is impossible that I should adequately fulfil such high expectations as they have been pleased to lead the House to expect from me. But I I may venture to say, that in the long career which, commencing with the colonisation of the country, has now ranged over a period of 30 years, if not more, I having been one of those whose greatest pride was that they belonged to that band of persons who founded this colony— l may say one thing, that I can hardly look back to any public act in which I have been engaged, in which I have not felt a strong desire above every, thing to be guided by the same desire to facilitate public business and to conduct public affairs in an honourable way : it will bo with less fear that I shall take the high position and accept the honour which you have been pleased to confer upon me. I cannot forget, after what the hon. member for Motueka has said, one thing which make 3 me feel a very grave doubt as to the capacity 1 have to fulfil so high and important an office. There are a great many members here present who kuow how during a great number of years past it has Ijceu my fortune to take a somewhat promiuenfc part in the debates of the House. It is not possible, in the course of the party fighting which there lias been, and the severe contests on both sides of the IJouso in which it has been my lot to taVe a part, that I should have failed in some degree to give offence, or that 1 should not have been the subject of some censure on many occasions ; but T may say — and if I can say so truly it will be my greatest pride— that after all the severe contests that have taken place 1 sincerely believe there is not one member of the House of Representatives whom I can at all consider otherwise than as a personal friend. A.t any rate it has been my endeavour to conduct myself on the floor of the House with courtesy and goodwill to all, and I trust that, if I have in any way wounded the feelings of any member who hears me, he will believe that I shall take the chair of the House with an earnest hope that he will do me the favour and I kindness to forget any ill feeling that may have existed on his part. I may further venture to say that I take the chair of the House under feelings of very great doubt as to my capacity to fill it, because it is incontestable that the House has in ths last few years so advanced in the course it has taken in the conduct of public affairs, that its proceedings bear quite a different relation to the general affairs of the country from what they did at its first meeting, in 1855. Year by year this House has made steady progress in the field of legislation, and last year it assumed to itself, for the first time, the duty of colonisation and pushing forward public work which up to that time was almost exclusively left to the arrangement of other legislative bodies in the colony. I feel that the responsibilities which the House has taken upon itself are now greater than they were, and that my responsibility as the exponent of the will of the House must necessarily become very great. 1 cannot hope to fill the chair with that dignity, courtesy, and impartiality of manner which characterised the career of Sir David Monro in the position which he held so long as Speaker of the House. But I shall endeavour to do my duty, and to do it in the most courteous and impartial manner. I wish to say, in conclusion, that if any honourable member desires to consult mo at any time on the forms and proceedings of the House lie he will find me always at his service, and ready to give him every information in my power. Mr. Fox : I rise with very great satisfaction to myself to congratulate you on the attainment to the high and honourable position to which you have been promoted by this House. The honourable members who proposed and seconded your election alluded to thirty years of personal friendship with you, entirely, I believe, within the shores of the colony ; but T believe I can carry back my recollections to an earlier period, when you commenced your labours in London in connection with the colonisation of New Zealand— to a period antecedent to my departure from the old country to make this my future home, and whilst I was yet meditating on the great step we proposed tv take in making this the sphere of the future labours of our lives. Sir, you have borne, through all the varied and varying periods of our colonial life, an active and prominent part. From those earliest days, when you were entering on the public business of life and assisting in guiding hither the highest colonising materials, to be afterwards dispersed on the shores of New Zealand, to the present day, when you occupy the position of the first commoner of the country, you have yourself been an active and most useful member of the political world. I, myself, am amazed at the power of endurance of our public men when I recollect the amount of labour they have encountered in doing their share of colonisation of the country. After the Wairau massacre, and when you first put your foot on these shores, great and long were the struggles we endured in those early days. Struggling with great physical disadvantages, shortness of capital, and native disturbances, you bore your fair share in the difficulties of that early period. After that we had to struggle for the introduction of those representative institutions under the shadow of which the colony has greatly and rapidly advanced, and in this work you also took an active part. You were a member of the very first Ministry that was established on the basis of responsible government in this colony, and, if that Ministry was not of very long duration, still, from 3 that timo down to the present day, you have always taken an active part in the Government, and have contributed your share to political and social advancement in every way. You have, during the whole of that period, been a member of the House, and have been doing all that you possibly could to relieve the country from the difficulties by which it was surrounded. It must bo a satisfactory thing to you and a pride to know that the very last political action wMch. you have taken as a private member of the House, and as a member of his Excellency's Ministry has been to serve in this country that spirit of colonisation with the promotion of which you commenced your public career — that you were a prominent member of the Ministry that devised these plans for the promotion of the prosperity of the country by reinvigoratingit by a new spirit of colonisation, connecting its future with the past, and wiping out, I hope for ever, that period of difficulty and trouble which those who have resided in the country for the last thirty years have had to encounter. SJr 4 on then* ground* it ia yritib,

great satisfaction I have to congratulate you. I trust that, for many years, I shall have the satisfaction and pleasure of seeing you fill that seat to which you have been now honourably elected. I now beg to move the adjournment of the House. The House adjourned at 3.30 p.m. The Speaker elect is to present himself to his Excellency the Governor this morning for his approval of the appointment, and he will take his seat in the House at 2 o'clock. The appointment of Mr. Dillon Bell to the high office of Speaker appears to be received by all members of the Houae with that genuine approbation which, from that gentleman's past political career, it is sure to meet with throughout the colony. With regard to the election of a Chairman of Committees for the lower House, the appointment of Mr. O'Korke to that office is certain, and that his unquestionable fitness for the position is recognised fully by all members of the House is evident, from the fact that opposition is not even talked of.

Welling row, August 15, 3.30 p.m. The House met again to-day, when his Ex- | cellency the Governor delivered the opening address as follows :—: —

Hon. Councillors; Gentlemen of the House or Representatives— It is with much satisfaction that I have summoned the Parliament of the colony, and now invite your assistance and advice. 1 am glad to learn that the Ballot, which was for the fir at thne|in this colony used at the late general election of members of the House of Representatives, has been found to work well. Since I last addressed you, I have again visited the provinces of the Middle Island, and its West Coast. I was greatly pleased to see its material resources developed, and social institutions established to so great an extent. I have also observed with much satisfaction the growing prosperity of the North Island, and particularly the extraordinary yield of gold in the province of Auckland. _ Everywhere in both islands my visits elicited expressions of loyalty to tho Queen and good will towards myself, and I shall always remember with gratitude the courteous and hospitable manner in which I have been received in all parts of New Zealand. I congratulate you on the progress which has been made during the year in establishing under improved arrangements the postal route with Great Britain via San Francisco, and I hope the line will attract the cooperation of the Australian colonies, and the support of the United States. Our relations with the natives continue to improve. A bill will be laid before you to consolidate and amend the laws relating to tho Native Land Courts. You will concur with me in regretting the , death of the celebrated chief Tamati Waka .tone, who was alike distinguished for his lovalfcy to the Queen and friendship to the pakeha, anl who, whether in peace or war, w\s ever ready to aid in establishing the Queen's soveieignty and promoting colonisation. The Land Transfer Act of last session has been brought into operation, and I am glad to state that, although so short a time has elapsed, the progress of the system and its appreciation by owners of property have been very marked. The successful negotiation of a large part of the loan authorised last year, and the continuance of internal tranquillity, have enabled my Government to initiate and carry on the colonising policy of the late Parliament. Their endeavour has been to give effect to that policy in tho spirit in which it was framed, and to apply the resources placed at their disposal for the purpose with frugality, fairness, and a steadfast view to lasting results. It is with great satisfaction I have observed a general wish on the part of the native tribes in the interior of the North Island to promote the formation of great lines of roads thiough their lands, and the practical proof they give of their sincerity m that re&pect by themselves joining in the work. A commencement has been made m the public woiks authorised in the Middle Island, and immigration will, in pursuance of instructions recently given, be secured to those provinces which have availed themselves of the provisions of the Immigration Act. You will, I feel sure, concur with me that the introduction and settlement of suitable immigrants are as necessary as the construction of large public works, and that both are essential to a proper development of the resources, and the lasting welfare of the colony.

Gentlemen of the House of Representa. tives— The Estimates for the ensuing year will be laid before you. They have been framed with strict regard to economy. I congratulate you on the very favourable terms on which a large part of the loan authorised by the Acts of last session has been raised in London. The arrangements also which have been effected with the Lords of her Majesty's Treasury in reference to the guaranteed million loan are of a character to enhance the credit of the colony, and to facilitate its financial operations. I regret to inform you that there has been a considerable falling off in thi colonial revenue during the year, as there has also been in some of the Australian colonies. This, no doubt, is in consequence of the depressed value of the staple articles of production, and the stagnation in the manufacturing industries, attributable to the great European war. The present revival in the value of these products, the restoration of peace in Europe, the rapid growth of local industries, and the progress of immigration and public works justify the belief that the depression is exceptional, and I hope that it will prove transitory. It rests with you to adopt measures for equalising the revenue and expenditure.

Honourable Councillors and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives — It is of the greatest importance that elementary instruction should be more widely diffused, and that popular education should be raised to u higher standard. A bill will belaid before you to provide for both these ends. The reduction in telegraph charges has resulted in a great increase of business during the year. A number of convicts lately arrived at Canterbury from the penal settlements of Western Australia, and steps were taken by the Government for their immediate removal. Among other measures, you will be asked to give your consideration to bills for improving the law relating to insolvency, for amending the law relating to goldfields, for governing (?) powers on committees on disputed elections, for the regulation of the coasting trade, for the encouragement of fisheries, for conferring powers on Highway Boards, for providiug i or the appointment of a public trustee, for proouriug land for the settlement of immigrants, and for the better regulation of charitable trusts. I trust your deliberations may, under the guidance of Divine providence, contribute to the unity, peace, and. prosperity of the colony.

Mr. Samuel Wells, of Auckland, hag been gazetted collector of rates for the Mangapai Highway District, and Mr, R. J. Moore for the Waipipi district. The Bendigo correspondent of the Cromwell Argus writes:— "The number of domestic ' tabbies ' that run wild, and tkeir descendants, is assuming alarming proportions. All game, such as quail, snipe, plover, and even the omaller birds which originally frequented the Clutha Valley, have almost if not entirely disappeared, owing to the predatory habits of these vicious boasts. Miners in isolated localities suffer heavily, frequently losing their week's stock of meat in one night." The Otaffo Daily Times of August 3 states:— "On Sunday evening last, Mrs. Edwards, the wife of a farmer at Riverside, North Taieri, was bringing in the cattle, when one of the cows ruthed her, and tossed her up in the air three or four times. She was very much bruised about the head and chest, and one of her arms was fractured, immediately below the •houlder-joint,"