SUPPOSED GOVERNMENT BILL.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 13, Issue 1048, 14 May 1869, Page 3

SUPPOSED GOVERNMENT BILL.

(From the " Evening PosV'May 5.) , - Lfl.ss Tuesday the good citieens of Christ: ebureh were so alarmed,,ihatiiadfc.%«ab« shell Men from the clouds si&i. biirgt ia their midst, it could not have bees^ef^et. The alarni took took place a!; brealriftsttime as they were scanning the eqluaißa of tfee Lyttelton 2V«ses. A'nytUag ia which, we are very much interested readily attracts the eye, and no s>ed v&ge'revmOt® eagerly attracted the eye of a buß, inaa. does the fceadiog " The MiDDts Ismnd liAiro SWd" that of our southern Mends. The interest excited by the lieading was increased by what followed :— .. - : The folio wiag is the- draft cdpy of & biil which, the Government intend to brifigin next session of the Assembly. 51ie Bill is understood to hare been drafted by Mr. Fitzherbert in England. Everything connected with. -Mr. ¥itaherbert's mission in England is. interesting ; but this was the more so because it appeared to give an insight into a part, at least, of the policy which Ministers propose to adopt daring the approsckiag session. Tile Biil in question is entitled *' An Act fo-T promoting ir&migt&tioa and colonization in Few isealftiad/' o,nd was printed in England, probably fos.* fcHG con* venien.ee of what is technically calleS " settling." Tlie Bill is too long for us to reprint, but it proposes to borrow £1,000,000, at tho rato of not store tjiaa £100,000 a-ydar, the territorial reveaue applicable to' the seyrice of each. JteJVfcice and County being chargeS prifisarilvwitn the repayment o£.that portio& of the- interest :and sinking fuh# spent -fe • ite respective prorincca.. The temjotial revenue is otherwise alludeiS to -as being pledged, and as tWfc : Sferdi'ae ; is very small in tlie Jforth Island taa sensitive southei'ners took isMnjab alarm. But was the measure genuinft a»4» if.ao, how came the Times to g&<}io\dL<siits The first of thes,e ,qttestida» &atms!l#'«s--curred to Mr. Jo|»tj tSill, efface it irppears he telegraphed to Weii&gtoni, &eßh4Sg to knoW all about it, sad reeeited for swer that the Ministry vroxe as Sfiacsr^it as himself. ITexfc day ke pubH*ned in' tin Times an emphatic denial.jyf its bet&g ft Ministeral measure; but tßw dem^6a« not mended the matte* saiu^j, Bu^U6 tke papers insist on knowing "was drafted hnd printed if there-tfaii.ao iatetition to us 9 it. . :

Possibly ere long this gneetion. . mil be satisfactorily ansT*ere<s hy Mr. JJall, •as that gentleman's deaial ©ppefej's tftv ; be. regarded merely as a proof that -ffhefi-teoable arises, the Ministry "aye iactlvidtmiJy prepared to repudiate the acts of their colleagues." Wa shall loofe with istoifest -to the next avs£val& from Caateib^rV while sneb. a spirit of hostility aae bash, arouaed in tne.Bou.th to the me&jrare that, however great tile merits of the BSlaiigM be, there is no chance of n S£is§stry> rmk as the present one is, bringing 7 it to ilia birth. We scarcely think, however, that any, explanation will be - aSbsded before the Assembly meets. $Te must content ourselves with ' ft'Spgsosmg that the Bill was- merely drawn wp in London, under the ndvica of ftrends acquainted with tlie mope/ SB&i'&efc, -as a .draft of what would. V -take " with &* English Gorerninent and Sarlmai«iat, and;, be sunicient to induce them* to give a mßsantee to a loan foremig?^tiqjafifrtUeColor.ial Assembly should determine to apply for jt. The prematnro; and. rmexpiainsd pabiieation of the Sill is, Boweyesy a most unfornate affair for Mr. Stusbr4- .£ad his col•leagucs^ as whether justly (as the £/£tfcßltofl Times asserts) or anjusrtly (as ni© Press asserts) it tends-to strengwien- tb^'iaipression, which jMinisteriol spesches and articles created last season, trb,at tke control of the Southern torritorl^! revenne is an object long and increasingly coreted*