WELLINGTON.

Grey River Argus, Volume VI, Issue 407, 22 August 1868, Page 2

WELLINGTON.

(PBOM QUB SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.) Wellington, August 13. At last the grea,t debate is over. It was, concluded last night by a long reply from Mr Fox, and the House divided, with the result that was all along expected — a small majority for the Government. The numbers being, ayes, 25. , noes 34. Both the Westland members supported the Government. A great feeling of relief has been caused by the termination of what appeared likely to be an interminable discussion } 1 s,ay ''interminable" because the House and country narrowly escaped a reopening of the whole question at the last moment. .It was in this, wise : Dur^ ing the Hon. John Hall's speech, which it had been arranged betwegn the Government and Mr Fox should be the last prior to the reply, incidental a,llusiqn was made to Mr John TYilliarasan, the Superintendent of Auckland, whereupon up got the hon. member referred to, and announced his intentiqn to take part in the debate. It was only by the persuasion of his friends that Mr Williamson gave up his intentiqn to speak ; had he not done sq, the Government would have moved* an amendment that would have renewed the, whole question, and, perhaps, have qccupied the House for another fortnight. No less than fortyrfive members have spoken during the debate. There have b,een speeches, from great men and small men ; long speeches and short ones ; a few good speeches, and a many bad ones. It was. very tedious listening to the meaningless, platitudes of some hon. members ; and surely those two words "policy" and " constitution '■' were never tortured and twisted about before in such an amount of time. As the Hon. John Hall very aptly remarked last n}ght, "he was sick of the [ word ' policy ;' he could almost fancy the little boys in the street crying gut to, each other, ' what is your policy V *' In my last letter, I ga^e you a resume of the proceedings up to that date; but I find I omitted to make mention of the speech of the Superintendent of Nelson, Mr Curtis, which was perhaps the neatest and most practical of the whole; but Mr. Curtis has a very agreeable delivery, and speaks fluently and to the purpose, and uses clear and logical arguments. H% expressed his intention to vote for- tile Government; but with regard to "any change in the form of government, he thought that skeleton Bills would be best, so that any district or province desiring to change its constitution could have them applied. The debate was resumed on the sth by the member for Westland Boroughs, Mr Harrison, whose speech you wUI find reported in Hansard. He was iistehed to with attention, and his, speech was well received. He gave a complete contra-, diction to Mr Yogel, who had asserted that the cost of the County system in Westland was greater than it would be under provincialism ; and generally re-' futed the charges, thatsoine lion, members had made, tq the effect that the experiment in W/estland had been a failure. We was f ojlow%l by Mr Graham— "Maori George," as he is called — who, devoted his speech almost exclusively to the Native question. His opinions amounted to this— that we should let the natives alone, get rid of our armed const ibulary, and that sprt of thing ; and if the Maoris did occasionally kill a few white folks, and eat them afterwards—, why, it was their nature, poor things, and we should forgive them. Thank goodness^ however, the days of Exeter Hall mambypambyism are over in New Zealand ; and, although Mr Graham's views may be. much admired in, the. ladies' gallery, they, do not affect the House much. Mr Bunny followed, and in a trenchant speech showed what Provincialisai had done for the outh lying districts of the Province of Wellingtm. He instanced th^ case of Wairarapa^ which district Had contributed to the revenues of the iWvincejJß&t^Seft in land and Customs,, hut had only had expended upon it £15,000. The districts, of Wanganui and Rangatikei afforded another illustration: they had contributed £128,000^ and had received but i>93,00©. Mr Cox, from Timaru, enlightened Mr Fox's ignorance regarding tb,e. working of the Timaru and Gladstone Act, and showed that so. far as it went they were perfectly satisfied ; but they wanted a little further legislation' to give the© still more power and control over their own reyenues/ The most damaging speech for the Government was, by one who announced his intention of voting for them^Mr Ormpnd, the member for Clive, Napier. It certainly did leave the impression that in ihe manager ment of Native affairs the. (Government had bee.n greatly wanting in ability. He, referred to the sullen attitude of those tribes who had assisted in the last war^ and ascribed that to the fadT thaib the. Government had not kept faith with in rewarding them for their se/viceg. Tj.t appears that the Government promised % large quantity pf confiscated land ; but ti^at up to the present time the land; had} not] been given to them, and they were, naturally reluctant now to come forward and help us. He agreed with the opinion, expressed by other members, that nothing, would tend more to prolong hostilitiea than any exhibition of weakness by withdrawing from our present frontier. He, was followed by Mr Dillon Bell, whose, speech was undoubtedly the most florid and rhetorical that has been delivered during the debate. Mr Bell has a happy, style of delivery, and speaks in that easy^ colloquial manner^ which few speakers, can, assume successfully. Of* course, he pitched into the Government right and lift, and criticised their acts from the time theytook office. Some smart; blows passed between him and Mr Stafford, and several times the Speaker had to call both hon. members to order. If strong language and striking assertions could smother a ministry, then Mr Bell's speech -woyild certainly have effected that object, for he laid most damnable charges on the Government, and ascribed to them nothing less i than a design to upset the Constitution and assume despotic power. Unfortunately, however— perhaps I had better say "for-! tunately " —Mr Bell's charges .and assertions do not carry great weight They are generally either grossly exaggerated, or quite unfounded ; and he has a knack of reading little bits out of public documents just to suit his purpose. But all his books and quotations were no match for the memory of Mr Stafford, who seems to,

have every Act and parliamentry record carefully docketed or stowed away in Ids brain. On several occasions the Premier brought Mr 801 lup by telling him to read either what went before or after what the hon, member was quoting. Mr Bell honored Westland with some of his opinions. He denouueed the County Act as illegal and unconstitutional, and the. system itself as a parody on self-government. Mr Cracroft Wilson, of Canterbury, said it was all bosh to accuse the Ministry of a desire to undermine Provincial Governments : "It is," said the hon. member, "a pleasing fiction, which none of us believe. We may try it in this House in a sort of Pickwickmn parliamentary sense, but no one believes that the Ministry or anybody else can prevent the ruin of the Provinces." With regard to the suppression of Native disturbances, he made the novel proposition that it should be done by contract. He caused quite a sensation in the House by thp quiet sensible way inwhich heputdownMf Graham. The latter gentleman interrupted Mr Wilson, and said something about the rebel natives being "British subjects." Old Cracroft Wilson (who is an ex-Indian Commissioner) replied, "I care not to answer the honorable gentleman. History js open to him. It is useless for me to tjpeak to those who put cotton into their ears, and will not listen. Let him read the history of the fate of Mr Volkner, Mr Bennett White, and the mailman, and other settlers who were murdered by those savages. If they are 'British subjects,' all 1 can say is, that they are the worst British subjects I ever heard of." The old gentleman said he was glad to see the savages coming out in their true colors, for so long as good, innocent people believe them to be Christians and true British subjects, so long would the present uncertain state of things continue. He added that prompt and effective punishment should be inflicted in every case. There was nothing much in many of the speeches that followed. Mr Macandrew, of course, stuck up for Provincialism, but I thought his speech very weak, and I think it had very little effect upon the House. Mr Bartf delivered a very good speech in defence of the working of the County system in Westland, and made a favorable impression upon the House. No doubt you will print his speech in full, for the benefit of his constituents. The Hon. John Hall— whose speech was the hist on the Ministerial side— gave a most masterly and complete answer to all the accusations that had been brought against the Government. He reviewed every speech of consequence, and by a cruel process of cold, unrelenting criticism literally smashed the arguments of some of the great Opposition speakers, and placed the policy of the Government clearly before the House ; that policy being, as had already been stated, a determination to do justice to outlying districts, and extend powers of local government. He stuck up most pluckily for Westland, and spoke of its people in the very kindest manner. He said that so far the Westland experiment was a success, and that the County Council afforded a good example to many Provincial Councils. He spoke for three hours, and was loudly cheered as he sat down. Last night, Mr Fox replied. Everybody expected to listen to a great pntoncal display, for Mr Fox is said to be r— as most speakers of his class are— best in reply ; and when he stood up, and marched to the table in the centre of the House, with his bundle of notes in his hand, there was the most profound silence. He spoke for three hours and a-half ; but his speech was not a great one. It was slashing enough at times, sparkled with wit, and bristled with sarcasm now and again, but it was not the speech people expected to hear, and it was not the speech Mr Fox used to deliver in former days. It was plain to everyone that Mr Fox is out of joint. His four years' absence from New Zealand has destroyed the continuity of his political experience ; and, although he told the House that he is fully aware of and comprehends the changes that have taken place during his absence, it is quite evident that he has much to learn— if ever he will really fully understand the altered political sta'e of the Colony. He favored the Westland County Council with a hearty slap or two, and quoted articles from the Hokitika and Westland papers tp show that the County scheme was a failure, and the County Council an unpopular institution. Mr Harrison interrupted him on one occasion, and contradicted an assertion made, to the effect that the County Council made no provision for education, hospitals, or charitable aid. His misrepiesantations of the proceedings of the Council were amusing for their very absurdity ; but, of course, it was his cue to throw contempt on what he called " this feeble imitation of provincial government." The result of the division you already know, and for the present the Ministry is safe. What is looming in the future I cannot tell. I do not think the Opposition will rest content with their defeat, and therg may be another combined effort t 0 turn Ministers out. But the safety of th e Government consists in the heterogeneous character of the Opposition party, it is a combination of most incongruous materials, and possesses no stability or coherence. Westland will figure largely in the debates. Mr Brown allowed his motion that Westland should be made a Province to lapse, but it is P a i4 t^it Mr Yogel is going to take it up again. Last night, Mr Harrison moved for a Select Committee to rsconsider the distribution of the charges on the Canterbury debt, and would have carried it but for Mr Yogel, who moved that the ques- , tion be postponed for a fortnight. I understand that Mr Yogel is waiting until the new Westland Bill comes down, when he means, if possible, to upset it, and have Westland declared a Province. A sort of bait is being held out to Westland members by the Opposition, to the effect that if they will consent to the formation of Westland into a separate Province, the Opposition will support them on the debt question ; a corresponding threat to the contrary is also held out. The good sense pf the House is, however, to be safely relied upon, and Mr Harrison stated the case so fairly and temperately last night as to secure a huge amount of support in the House. It will be interesting to vqu to learn that Messrs Yogel and Harrison are associated in bring in a Bill to protect newspaper reports of public meetings ; and that those gontlemen are making an effort to abolish the postage on newspapers. If they do not succeed in getting tlie postage altogether abolished, they will endeavor to get exchanges made free,