Hawke's Bay herald. WEDNESDAY, JULY 16, 1879. THE GOVERNOR'S SPEECH,

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5435, 16 July 1879, Page 2

Hawke's Bay herald. WEDNESDAY, JULY 16, 1879. THE GOVERNOR'S SPEECH,

The Governor's speech published in another column is a happy and striking contrast to the wordy and meaningless addresses ordinarily vouchsafed to our legislators when they assemble for the work of the year. As our Wellington correspondent prophesied a week ago, the speech is a practical, clear, and exhaustive declaration of the policy of the Ministry. The wisdom of the Ministry in adopting thisj method of countermining the mines which were fsaid to be laid by their opponents is apparent, and if anything can possibly keep them in power it will be the attempt to carry out a policy such as that now officially indicated.-. Whether they are sincere in their high aspirations remains to be seen. It is not easy to forget their former brilliant promises and _ their miserably weak endeavors to make those promises realities, and, though the Governor's speech will be read with hearty satisfaction by every true Liberal in the colony, the pleasure of anticipation will be damped by memories of what has passed. Both the House and the country will look anxiously for the promised measures, and if they be thorough-going in their character, and as fair and liberal as we are led to expect by the brief outline given of them, the Grey Government may even yet renew its lease of popularity and power. In its main features the programme which is placed before us as the policy of the Ministry has already been sketched by our Wellington correspondent. Of the advantages of a judicious extension of the suffrage we have before expressed an opinion. The Bill to be submitted with this in view may be expected to be very similar to the one of last year, but shorn of the iniquitous clause conferring a double manhood suffrage upon the natives resident in European districts, round which so fierce a battle raged. Accompanying this measure as a natural auxiliary we arc promised a Bill calculated to place the representation of 'the colony on a more equitable footing. Whether this Bill will be acceptable to the country at large must greatly depend upon its details, for a too slavish adherence to population as a basis would, while theoretically good, inflict in practice a great wrong on some important country districts, and would give the towns an undue preponderance of representation. It is doubtful whether the Ministry will find themselves able to cany a measure disturbing the representation, even though it might be as near perfection as possible, but if they are defeated on the bill it would afford them just grounds for asking the Governor to allow them to appeal to the country, and, viewed in this light, we are not surprised io see the Bill so early announced. The same measure Avill also endeavor to x-estrict the existence of any Parliament to three instead of five years.

One of the most important; parts of the Governor's speech has reference to legislation regarding the sale and lease of native lands. When Sir George Grey first assumed the reins of power one of his first declarations of policy was that in the future all dealings in native lands by private individuals were to be interdicted. He subsequently moderated his proposals very materially, but few will be prepared to see so complete a change of front as fiat now announced. Free-trade in native lands, with the greatest facilities

offered for"; their acquirement, is to be the watchword for the, future, and, so far as can be judged from the necessarily brief glance behind the scenes afforded by the address of his Excellency, the measures proposed to secure this end are at once simple, liberal} ahd fair to both races. HoweVei 1 , ill legislating about native lands it is so easy to hide abuses under a seeming cloak of liberality, tbat, while the announcement of the intention of the Ministry will give widespread satisfaction in the North Island, the appearance of the Bill to give effecb to the proposals now for the first time made publia will be ■ watched for with great iilterest and some anxiety; We hope that the measure* when it sties tnß ligki) t)f' day will prove tS be worthy of the flourish of trumpets attending the announce- ; ment of its introduction. "It is also under consideration," we are further! told, "how far this principle of pub-: lio ; aucfcidn might be fairly and beneficially extended to such nativ^ lands as. ! no yr ,rk.msmi uhsur-v-e^fedj dr the' titles to! whibli have not yet been investigated by the Court." This announcement; has about it an air of vagueness which! we should like to see removed. It : will be no easy matter to put up to; auction blocks of land which have not passed the Court, and unless grea£ care be taken one of three r. things will! inevitablj ocdur under suc"h 'a law ! either the purchaser may find his title; not good } oi* the Governinßnfc may" be| the sufferer in giving titles where they, are not clear ; or the native vendor^ may be wronged by an unequal division of the , nlone^. -We are hpttßld what method the Government will | propose to get rid of the great difficuli ' ties in the way. It may, perhaps, take 1 the shape of making the Court the! trustee of the purchase' money until the] individual claims of the vendors are! ascertained, in which case the Maoris' would have no inducement to sell their land before the titles were individual ised. -' ' '...■•- ■■--'^-■- '

Turning to that portion o£ the~ speech! more particularly addressed to 1 the; House of Representatives; it is gratifying to be told thatj while the land fund shows a great falling-off, as has been expected •, the revenue from other sources has exceeded the estimates W .£190,000. That the railways Have yielded such large returns must be a source of gratification, and to the English capitalist the reproductive character of this class of imblic works must .be a strong argument when we ask -> for a further, loan. It is not pleasant to" contemplate additional taxation,' but it is evident that the necessities of the colony imperatively demand it, and the announcement of a measure to impose a tax on incomes lias been expected for some time past. It is to be hoped that parties will unite in endeavoring to make the Bill a good one. There is no mention of an increase in the Land Tax, of which we heard so much a short time ago, and it may therefore be hoped that the Ministry have altered their plans, for so important a fiscal measure could hardly be considered unworthy of mention.

Last, but not least, an attempt is to be made to amend the present county system, the inadequacy of which is allowed on all hands. Sufficient time has now elapsed to show where the chief faults lie, and how they are to be remedied, but the single specimen of the promised Bill which is vouchsafed to us does not strike one as an amendment in the right direction. Under it counties are to be empowered to raise loans. The poorer counties will have to burden themselves with interest and sinking-fund or to neglect needed local works ; the richer counties, who could well afford the additional burden, have already enough without loans. On this, however, as on the other promised measures, no definite opinion can be pronounced until we have the Bills before us, as so much in all cases depends upon the details, and the machinery to be employed to cany out the reforms foreshadowed.