EVENING SITTING.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5438, 19 July 1879, Page 3

EVENING SITTING.

The House resumed at 7.30.

Mr Shanks moved tliat a respectful address be presented to the Governor in teply to tlie speech which lie was pleased to make to the House. Mr Shanks said that ho Was solely responsible for the address not being' moved at an earlier date," as desired by the Government, and he bla'riied dtder tttenlbers of the House far not having put him tight ill that respect,- as they ought to have known better than allow him to take a course calculated to hamper the administration of the land. The fariatac'isni, among the natives alluded to in the address wa!s a difficult subject to deal with, but ho thought air would agree in saying it was absolutely necessary, in the interests of humanity as well as in the interests of the natives themselves, that they should be taught to regard the law as being paramount to other considerations. The West Coast troubles he believed rested with the Government of 1867 in having taken no steps to occupy the confiscated lands. It was satisfactory to find that the revenue .under ordinary heads had exceeded the estimates by £193,000, and the shortcoming in the land revenue was not after all an.unmixed evil, as the land was still in the hands of the Government and could be- utilised ,at some future date. He extolled the wisdom and sagacity of ttie^-graier and the Native Minister in managing native affairs, and congratulated them on the increased development of the railway system and the increased revenue derived therefrom. The estimated increase in revenue was, he believed, perfectly reasonable, and great credit. was due to the Ministry for the state of preparation in which they met Parliament. Mr Reeves seconded the motion. The programme, set out in the Governor's speech was, he said, one which should recommend itself to all, and he was sure it would commend, itself to the country. He deprecated the proposal to bring down a vote of want of confidence. Sir W. JFox congratulated the members who proposed and seconded the address. He was not going to discuss the greatness of the polity contained in the Governor's address. There was nothing new in the <f great liberal programme" developed in the speech — it was a speech of the Premier's such as he delivered on the stump a year and a half ago. He referred to the Electoral Bill and other measures of last session, which there was nothing to prevent becoming law, but for the caprice of the Premier. The members of. both sides of the House were all ready to aid the Government in carrying these measures, but they were notpassed into law. The funeral meats of last;session had been again put forward to do service thfsjsession. This great Liberal programme was just what they had seen : and heard so often. The circumstances of the colony were too grave for the Legislature to enter upon the amelioration of our social condition until they had first decided who was to' conduct the administration.. The colony was in great danger of a native war, and the finances were in a serious condition of disorganisation. For 150 miles of the West Coast the natives *w.ere in a state of disaffection. They had 'it oti the authority of the Premier that a native war was imminent. He stood to arraign the Government on a variety of charges of incapacity and unconstitutional proceedings. These were serious prospects, and no time was to be lost in placing other men on those benches. La9t session they entered on the business ■with every advantage. There was no organised Opposition, and yet' all they succeeded in doing was the framing of a wretched land tax, which in nine months' time could hot be collected. They had two-thirds; of the House with them last session, and yet they did nothing. The same bill of fare had been brought for-

. ward this session, and he ventured to say * <that the result would be nothing at the close of the session. In dealing

with the native question, Ministers had made a great failure. Whatever branch of the administration were looked at— public works, or anything else — they showed an utter incompetency. This conduct had been characterised throughout by unconstitutional proceedings. The Premier had attempted to withdraw from the .bills presented to the Governor at the last moment the "Waste Lands Bill, as a trickster at cards sometimes concealed a card in shuffling. Never was there a more unconstitutional act known. The railway policy was next attacked by Mr Fox. The Government had entered into railway contracts at extravagant rates without Parliamentary sanction, and the Minister for Public Works told them ho was proud of what he had done. Thou again, a railway was to have been made at the Thames, and a sum of £180.000 appropriated, and the Premier completely changed the purposes of the House. That was a great unconstitutional proceeding. Then again, the other day an attempt was made to get this address passed without allowing the House time to discuss its contents. The emergency which was

supposed to exist in regard to the raising of public funds miist have been known for a long time previous, and what was the duty of the Ministry in such a case but to call Parliament together ? If they had Hot been guilty' of unconstitutional conduct he did not know what unconstitutional proceeding itas. The Premier, was growing moro and more ) Autocratic every day. First ho showed no more consideration tdvtards his Cabinet than towards the House, and in another memorable case towards the Governor. They had been told no Cabinet meetings had been held for a long time, and that these meetmgs, when they did take place, virere 'condiitifced Wifcli the utmost, irregularity. The whole proceedings had tended id set up personal government in the colony. Great jjre't6n«eß were made about the rights of the people, but thesS rights were, it appeared, to be cared for by one individnal will— that of Sir George Grey. Then, again 1 , the disorganised state of the Civil Service was another e'harge brought forward. They had seen men wild had grown, old in the public service superseded by oilier^ rind the result was that the service, had become a bye-word. In Wangantii ■ they had a most efficient p'ostrriaster and telegraphist— a man of excellent charadtbt*. The post was -wanted for political " ServicW, and the postmaster was fedticed its. stat iflf prior position, and the son 'of one -who iiaa rendered good service' at jin "election .was. appointed td ilte vacant offie'e. Another instance was that or rin • officer -who had been in the service for 17 years, and who was lately engaged in land purchases, against whom a charge vf&a got up by a little, scurrilous newspaper. An inquiry took place titid resulted in his acquittal. By and by, when the present Ministry took their seats on the Treasury j benches, the charges were revived. A Commission was appointed and acquitted him, and he werii b'ac"k to" the .service an injured man/ The public ae'i'viQe ait'Jfered j in consequence. Ho had negotiations on hand for a block of land at 2s 6d to 3s per < acre, but before he oould complete it 103 , pcl 4 acre had to be paid. The next charge was the appointriie'rifc of Mr Luckie. He did not object to Mr Lucidie!, fcvit he had neter been in the public service, Atid yefc he was appointed to' one of tile best and easiest appointments in the Service^ There were hundreds of men in the servide whtf Were better entitled to the appointment 1 than, Mr Luckie. Thp secret was that ho had been' editor of a newspaper which had given the Goverrim'e'nt valuable support. Then he might say oil bTingin'g forward the next charge, "Like master, lik§ mart/ Ministers were indeed a happy family. That must have b 6'en an exciting, scene which occurred at the Cabinet meeting the other day, when the Premier Setit for a messenger to put out his colleague, the Treasurer, by the "scruff of the neck." The report of these proceedings had appeared in. the paper whidh must have been furnished with that report by Some one*vho was present, sifld it is said to have been supplied by the Treastii'dr himself. The speaker then reviewed the eirctim'stances, saying that he believed that Mr Ballance was right in wishing to charge the secretary's salary to the Cabinet. If this sort of thing were tolerated we should soon hear of Ministers having recourse to the pistol and bowie-knife, to settle their differences. He believed that those who Still remained as Sir George Grey's colleagues had had " hard times " too, and had eaien hutnble pie. Sir William next alluded to native affairs, saying that when the Ministry assumed office the prospect n arid position of affairs were most encouraging, but they spoiled everything by going and '" making love" to the King natives, instead of leaving the movement to die a natural death. Ministers had made political capital out of their assumed influence over the natives, but when they went to the meeting at Kopua last March they had to "tout" and beg for an invitation. The mighty Maori monarch at last granted them an audience, and then majestically declared himself King of the North Island, and insulted the Premier. He (Sir W. Fox) believed that the Premier and Native Minister had some faith in their boasted influence over the natives, or they would never have acted with so much indiscretion, literally rushing the colony into war. Referring to the Waimate difficulty, Sir W. Fox laid all the blame at the door of Ministers for neglecting to lay out proper native reserves on the Plains. Had these reserves been laid out M'Lean would not have been murdered. Ministers had shown as much ignorance in the management of tho natives as any new-comer could have done. They had lost caste in the estimation of the natives. It was said the other day by a native that " a Native Minister should be a moral man." He (Sir William Fox) would not go into particulars, but would tell them that in the Maori country the scandalous stories of what had been enacted wore perfectly humiliating. They might trace the progress of Ministers through these districts by tho feotid atmosphere by which tliey were, surrounded. It was disgraceful to civilisation that such things should be. Ho concluded, by moving "We would beg to snbmit to his Excellency that in order to secure satisfactory results in the deliberation of Parliament, and to facilitate the proper discharge of the functions of Government, his Excellency's advisers should possess the confidence of this House, and we deem it our duty to represent to his Excellency that in the opinion of this House his present advisers have so neglected and mismanaged the administrative business of the Government of o the colony that they do not possess the confidence of this House."

Sir George Grey, in reply, stigmatised the speech of Sir William Fox as a piece of great buffoonery, altogether iinwor'thy' of the occasion. He had been charged with-." unconstitutional conduct," and .the first charge brought against him was that he had advised the Governor notto assent to the Waste Lands Act of 1877. In doing bo he believed that he was acting in the interests of the people. He believed that the clauses which extended the leases of the Canterbury runholders were most iniquitous, and by them the people were robbed of four million acres of land. He could not defeat those clauses in the House, because the Canterbury members were too strong. He would not mention names, but among those who had voted for those clauses were members who had by so doing secured to themselves enormous profits, and these, were the gentlemen who were now seeking their revenge on him. The people of New Zealand had a right to these lands, which would support hundreds of families, instead of being monopolised by a few men to the prejudice of the country. One large company held 600,000 acres, valued at £12 an acre, which in rough figures would amount to £9,000,000. How many families could not this land support if cut-up into small sections ? He knew many young mem anxious to take up these lands, and he had tried to get this bill disallowed because he believed that course to be his duty to the people of New Zealand. With reference to the Thames-Waikato railway, he contended ' that it was distinctly understood, when the vote passed the House, that the line was to pass through Grahamstown. As to the Loan Bill, Ministers did not know until the morning of Wednesday thab the address in reply was not to be taken that day, and he then saw tho Governor, who said he should not assent to the Loan Bill until the speech had been replied to. His Excellencj also refused to send a message to the House advising them of tl)i3, and it whs under those ciroiunstances that he (Sir Georgi) ;isla>d that the addross in reply should be taken Wednesday to allow the Loan Bill to puss. Regarding what had been said about Cabinet meetings, he had never declined to hold a meeting when asked to do so. Mr Ballance might have stated to the contrary, \but he couid assure the House that such

a statement was absolutely untrue. He denied that when tho Ministry took office

native affairs wero in a satisfactory state in the Waikato, and he alluded to Sulli van's murder as a proof of thia. Wit! respect to" the" Taranaki difficulty, lie Bai< that when the Ministry camo into powe; ' tho ; settlers were absolutely unprotested, but the Government had now takell steps to protect them, and to supplj fh'e' settlers with arms, so that they conic now' resist any aggression on the part ol ttid Maoris. ike±b referring to the legislation of tho last two sessions, Sir George Grey said it was absolutely incorrecrt tc say that the Ministry could have" done at they wished.. They had a hostile majority against them in the House, and a hostile Governor who refused them a dissolution. He knew when he brought down a liberal policy the strong opposition he would haye 1 to meet, but their rejection of the Government proposals last session was not the end — the people of the colony would yet say that those proposals should be carried out, A privileged class here tried ti) fseep 1 the mosses as the laborer was kept in England — in a state of serfdom, — but the colony if oHid rise against such oppression. The fact that Mr Gisborne, Who had twice refused office in prosperous times, had stepped into the breach when the Government party was believed to be in a minority, and the action of Mr Gisborne and Mr Thomson showed tfhat the i Liberal party had to depend on in the way of salf-gacrifice and devotion. The people Avould stand by them in their attempts to resist the aggression of the wealthy, and of land speculators who wished to wrest the land from the people to serve their own selfish ends. The : Ministry were cfotsTmined to make a stand against the disgraceful dealings in native lands which had so long prevailed. As to Mr Booth', to whom Sir W. Fox had referred, the Government gave him every opportunity to refute" the charges brought against him. He had done so, and was fully retored to his position, Next, Sir George Gfrey warmly defended Mr Sheehan from the aspersions of Sir William Fox ; and he then attacked Sir William, saying that the latter had ..pursued him for years, but always with the result that his malignity was exposed. Sir William Fox : What about the letter to Sir Michael Hicks-Beach ? Sir G/eorjfe retorted that Sir M. HicksBeach had forgotten his duty to the Crown and this colony in conferring a title upon Sir Win. Fox in the way he had done, and it was his (Sir George's) duty 1 to protest against it. [Sir George Grey; continued for one hour longer, but our space, and the late hour (2.15 a.m.) at which a large part of the message was received, prevent us giving more of his ' speech, it may be said, however, that he merely attacked the Opposition for their antagonism towards a " liberal programme," and the Judges for their conduct towards .Mr Barton. Many words were telegraphed, but there was very little in them.] Mr Rolleston and Mr Moss continued the debate, the former attacking and the latter defending the Ministry. The House adjourned at 12.35 a.m. until Tuesday, on the motion of Mr Seymour George.