PARLIAMENTARY.

Hawke's Bay Weekly Times, Volume 2, Issue 93, 12 October 1868, Page 245

PARLIAMENTARY.

Mb: STAFFORD'S. SPEECH .. A..,,'.- .. - ON . MrVvMoLEAN’S “ ALARM ” RESOLUTION. CProm the Government Reports.) ■ Mr Stafford •, Sir, I cannot say that the Government is surprised at this motion of the lion, gentleman’s, however much we may regret that he has thought it consistent with his public duty to propose such a motion, and to make the extraordinary speech which he lias made to the < House. ■ We have been painfully aware for some'time that we were unable to cooperate with the hon. gentleman, inas- 1 much as we felt ourselves unable, from a, sense of public duty, to accede to the demands which he had made upon us, before 1 any question at all had arisen as to tlie removal of this very small body of troops, upon which hang, according to the hon. gentleman,' the fortunes of the Colony. The fortunes of 210,000 people he has assumed to depend upon the removal of 57 men from the East-to the West Coast. Before that removal tlie ; hon. gentleman had made proposals to Government which we could not entertain. The proposals he made to the Government were shortly these :—That we were to appoint ar special Commission to deal; with that which has been referred to generally as the East Coast question ; that the Commission was to have full power to [deal entirely on its own responsibility, with all the affairs, both past and present; connected with the ' East Coast district, which, extending from Opotiki to- Wairoa, has been more or less the scene of disturbance for two or three I ye.;rs. The: Commission was to have the 1 entire direction of affairs, with a very large; I -might almost say unlimited, power to commit the country to any extent which the Commission thought fit, and the hon. gentlemen offered his services to aot as that Commission. His proposition was that; for the first year, a force of 130 Europeans should be maintained, at an ex» pense for the current year of £15,000. .Then, he put down an additional Native force at £II,OOO ; cost of steamer £3,600'; compensation to settlers, : £7,000 ; compensation to Natives, £8,000; surveys, in all, £5,000; and advances, £7,000 j which £7,000 the hon. gentleman, after all our past experience, proposed to be recouped by-futuro-Aaloa- of thoix^lr^wnerd-that land was'to' be obtained I cannot say. Thus we have a total of £56,600, which the Government were asked to place under the sole control of the Commission, to be expended in a limited portion of the country. The Government, after that careful consideration of the proposition which I thought ought to be given to any proposal coming from that hon. gentleman, believed it wasjiot consistent with their public duty to propose to this House to spend so large a sum upon that district alonß, knowing that additional indefinite liabilities, to be provided for in future years, would arise, which, in consequence of the character of the Commission, must be expected to flow from its action. The answer to the hon. gentleman was a verbal one. He seems to have an objection to verbal answers; but he ought to know that most important questions are settled, and most valuable information conveyed, by means of unrestricted oral communication. The answer given to him was a verbal one, and was substantially to this effeef, that the Government did not think it would be right for them to propose to this House to spend so large a sum as that in the district in question ; but they WBre prepared to propose some special amount for the service of the district, and to place the expenditure and appropriation of that sum at the disposal of a person who should be a responsible Minister. They were not prepared to propose that the Government, which was responsible to the Legislature for what took place, should have no control with respect to the action to be taken, believing that the public money should be spent, and the necessary proceedings conducted by, a Minister responsible to this House; and it was intimated at the same time to the hon. gentleman, that if he would entertain' the proposition, and would undertake the responsibility as a. Minister, residing on the East Coast, the Government would, as far as possible, meet his request- To that communication no answer has been received. Shortly after this, a . small,portion of the Armed I Constabulary was, in consequence of the i disaster which our foreesbhad met with oh the West Coast on the 7th.of this, mouth, proposed to be removed from Napier to [ the. West Coast, and we were again unfor- ) tunately unable to find ourselves in agree* ment with the hon./ gentleman, either as i to the danger to.be apprehended, or the i panic which was said/ to exist in Napier. > We. could hot agree with him on the action ■ to be. taken in a great.emergency, when - nearly the whole of the forces of the

' Colony where fighting was staking place, 1 , werei more or, less disorganised by defeat, ’ f and when. a number of. them .were just * 1 about , to arrive at , the expiration;-of the 1 • time for which they were engaged, and 1 l which'.expires .this very.day. ~ The number whose; time expires is about 80 :men, and ' f the force, had also lost, through men killed ! b and disabled,.about.as many more during i i, the lasti few weeks. : It ;was, -therefore, 1, ab'solutbly nedessary, if that foroe was not a to giro .way, that .it • should be reinforced i* by the only .organised band of men which the GoYerxunent had at its disposal, and

who would be valuable not only for the services which the 1 men themselves could render, but also-as a nucleus round which the hew levies could form. When arimi-.. lar action-was taken in regard to the WaC”l kato, and when, the Government remdved' about 100 men; from there, no protest was made, although they' were within a dayand a-half’s march of the place whetoKoreopa, a branded outlaw, was known to have placed himself, and to be the focus of disaffection at the back of Maungatautari. He is most certainly the focus of disaffection, for many disaffected men have gone over to him, and all those who still wish for war have been expelled by Bewi and the Bing, and have gone over to Kereopa. Then again, not one word of re* monstrance was uttered 1 when the Constabulary were, removed from Taranaki—there was no grumbling criticism when the portion of the force stationed there was taken away, although the out-settlements of some of the people in the Province of Taranaki are almost within ten miles of those who are now fighting against us, and who have been committing thorn ost horrible atrocities. The people ot Taranaki and the people of Waikato re* cognised that there was a publicrightand a public duty in the matter, andtheydid not lift up their voices to complain' that the only bodies of men on active service in their districts were removed from them. I may say, as I have said before, that the ' country is not strong enough now to carry on fighting, in two places at once. We very neirly got into that • position on the East. Coast with the ; concert and -consent —I do not know, after hearing the tone of the speech which lie has-just'delivered, that I - should not say sanction—of- the hon. gentleman. Indeed we might have got into a long campaign there, and'every step was taken in concert’with that-gentle-man —every step asT to which the Govern* ment gave instructions was'taken with the knowledge, and co-operation’ of that gentleman, who -was present, and whose telegrams T 'sent to the telegraph, office at the same ' time with - those of the Government. -= Sir,'the honorable member said the House wants'to know what is going to be done r ; but I tell him the House does know what is being done and what is-pro-posed to be done, and in addition tb'Syhat tile Government- proposes to do, itknows what - the Opposition proposes. -The proposal of the Oppbsi<apk.' ; iipw<tihcler the' • consideration of this/branch of theLegis--lature, is that the. conduct of defence and ifittivo mottor* shcmkLshould be divided amongst the four Superintendents of the. -North Island. The hon.- member for Napier has at the same time givdh an illustration of what would take place , if such a policy were carried into effect. We have a war policy going on along the boundary line of two Provinces on oner side of the Island ; we are obliged immediately to reinforce our troops ; we have on the other side of the Island the only disciplined force we possess j but the . [Superintendent of a Province where there is no fighting obstinately, callously, and heartlessly—l U3c his own words—refuses to recognise the danger of that place where women and children are wkhin a few miles of the Scene of active war, and who would become the prey of the enemy if he should I happen to be the conqueror.- V I should [like to know what would be the* position of the country between Kai ivvi atrd Waitotara under such circumstances—a newly settled country,; the resources of . which are [already beginning.to.be largely developed, and where many married men have settled down with their families, and have got sheep and cattle and cultivations. The [Natives of that distriot are the near relatives of those who are . fighting with us at Ngutu o te Manu. They are constantly in communication with them, and - are only quiet because they cannot feel sure of positive success on the . .part of their friends. These Natives .might any day be added to those who are now in open hostility to us, and most, certainly, any weakening of the force in. that neighborhood I would be followed by the certain destruction of property, and the probable destruction of life at the. same time, and that not the lives of. men and warriors alone, but of women and children. It was in order to avoid a possibility which might have happened any day, and which was beooming not improbable, that we. thought it right to act as we did. The body of men which we; removed was, by its-organisation and in accordance with the whole idea. with which it was' embodied, a strictly, moveable force, to . be moved from place , to place wherever was going on, whilst the defence of the centres of population was to fall upon the settlers themselves, who were to be enrolled as a Militia force. The hon. gentleman himself has for -a longtime held the power in his hands of calling out the-. Militia of Hawke’s -Bay, but he. has not chosen,to exercise that power, although he has attempted to efrerthrow the whole object; and intention with which the Legislature last session consented to the enrolment of the . Armed Constabulary as an absolutely : moveable force, while, the J .centre, settlements , were defen-ded-by Volunteers and Militia. That was the principle, which was .well understood at the;! time of voting the sum neoessary for the Armed Constabulary, and the Government have uninterruptedly aoted .upon that'/principle; sinoei and hava moYed the force about to Opotiki, to Napier, to iPatea, to. Hokitika, -and wherever 1 ;the presence of the Amen "was accessary; and when the esqapadtirispnera landed on the. Bast Coasts tip® Cohstabuhiryweto brought dowA;from •'VriialatMWi

to atVengtlleti Llfo defence ' foveQ in the disfrieii Thera was remonstrance thiGTtmade by the hon. member a 3 to the possibility of danger at : Opotiki, an out-settlement, beyond the reach of any sadden assistance, /away telegraphic commupioation jasNpaierenjoys, away from regular, steam .communication, and really one of those few parts-of .the country that it might be in the- power of a hostile force to overwhelm before we could hear of it. Hot one remonstrance did he make then when we determined to withdraw the force there and make. it available on the East Coast -for the moment. But now, when there is oo fighting on the East Coast, and when the prisoners have escaped, he raises this alarmists cry.

• Perhaps I may say here that it might have been better, not to have attempted the recapture of those prisoners, but it was one of those cases in which the Government had-no discretion, as initiatory steps wore taken, before the Government heard of their escape, by Captains Biggs and Westrupp to intercept them between the peninsula and} the interior, while other parties were-getting ready to strengthen those officers; with ; a view of getting the Natives to surrender quietly, which was the intention. The; instructions from the Government when we heard of the ex-prisoners having landed were to induce them to surrender, by telling them that nothing would be visited against them with relation to the past, except those who might, when leaving the Chatham Islands,, have committed any atrocity, but that the rest would be unconditionally pardoned. But events accumulated from time to time, and before the . Government knew anything of it the es caped prisoners had attacked the settlers who tried to intercept them, and then i: was the duty of the Government to reinforce the district with as strong a force as it could. We got the assistance of a ship pf war, and we sent up a steamer to take forces to the district, and gave instructions to withdraw Major Eraser’s division from Opotiki,. and placed them under Colone Whitmore’s direction, with a view of retaking the escaped prisoners. The hon. fentleman has referred to what I think he nows nothing about—alleged differences between officers on the West Coast. Ido not.know from whence he draws his inspiration if he refers to any occurrences since fighting has commenced. There may have been differences of opinion before fighting commenced between Colonel M'Donnell

and Mr Parris, then in civil charge of a large portion of the district. Mr Booth, under Mr Parris, lived in the district. Mr Parris himself resided in New Plymouth, while Mr Booth resided in the Patea district. . But since the war has commenced there has been no differe»o<»-©f -opinion whatever. The honorable member for Napier desires, if I rightly gather Lis meaning, that when war has commenced, the military should be under the direction of the civil authority ; but as he did not explain what he meant by ihe civil authority, I do not know whether he means under

a civil commissioner, a resident magistrate.

or the direction of the Government. In -- opposition to that-opinion, we have the ' authoritative opinion of the hon. member \ for Bangitikei, who declared that during . the war the Native Office should be locked Up altogether, and that Colonel M‘Donnel! and the .fighting staff should have tlu- - whole responsibility of . operations. We have ‘these two high authorities in the House.and country holding diametrically opposite opinions, and I, for my own part, when fighting lias commenced, agree with the hon. member for Kangitikeiin thinking that for any civil authority to intervene.

except the’Government themselves, responsible to- the country for every step taken, js simply to produce conflict and confusion attended with loss and disaster. In that opinion the Government has acted since

fighting has begun. The lion, gentleman, by what lie must allow me to call a euphemistic expression of opinion, says that every Government ought to hold in their hands the control of peace and war. One would think the hon. member had fall-n from the kingdom of Lapu’ta, and for the - first time—instead of after twenty years’ experience in Native affairs—was attempting to understand what was the proper position for the Government to take with respect to the Native difficulty of New Zealand. One would suppose lie had never heard of the attempts made by different Governments, and the absolute or partial failures of those attempts, and oi different policies adopted towards the .Natives. To suppose that any Government can decide when it is to be peace or war is to : draw too largely on the faith of the grave and reverend seigniors sitting around me, for they know it is impossible to do it. The hon. member. for Bangitikei knows it, find the hon. member for Mataura knows it, or else why: not preveut the Oakura tragedy and the war in Waikato? The Colony has never been out of war for some • years before this Government came into office, and a few months at a time has been the longest period that it has hot been actively prosecuted j for we have always had so&e pf those startling events leading to more or less hostility for the time being. Tf any Governments drifted into war it was. the Governments of which the hon. ■members for Bangitikei and Mataura were members, and which liad almost unlimited resources at their command; : The House -made nonobjection to their policy; but, tired of arguing : the question as a mere question of personality—as it-is now being argued-—the House aid then for a short time show a sense of.patriotism, and, lay-, •ihg aside its internecine strife, did nob interfere with the Government or object That was the course I and others took in 1861*62 with reference to the Mijuatry of the member for Bangitikei, never

objeetingi/®W the praiseworthy attempts made) by 'lnim although from the first I they would be unsatisfactory ; -nor did the House refuse to vote one single penny asked for by that honorable member. Notwithstanding these attempts, and a similar lino of conduct attempted- to bo carried out- by the succeeding Government, of which the hon. member for Mataura is now the only representative in the House, they drifted into war; and when I next came up to Auckland to attend a meeting of the Legislature, I found nothing but signs and sounds of war on all sides. The streets trembled with the tread of cannon and munitions of war in all directions, while civilians, even ro the old settlers of 60 years of age, were for the time turned to military exercises. Even the venerable patriarchs of Auckland wore to he found trailing their muskets in the streets all night, in the third class militia, the first and second classes being at the front. That was drifting into war, the actual result following their operations which some day, sooner or later, any Government was bound to see in the country before order was established.- That war which commenced during the period of office of the honorable gentleman now loudly accusing us of drifting into wai», has never ceased since it began in their time, and was by the second VVhitaker-Eox Ministry carried to its culminating height. It was continued all through the time of Mr Weld’s Ministry, which, although beginning by stating its wish not to fight, but merely to open up the country by roadmaking, never knew the day or hour it was not fighting to the last hour of its existence ; one of the last acts of that Ministry being to ask the Imperial Troops to supply ao inland garrison in order to enable them to send the Colonial Forces 'to Opotiki, where war.was proclaimed, with martial law. There never has been a time since L 863, when the war commenced, except a few short intervals in the last year, when war has not been in existence ; and this Ministry, instead of drifting into war, was all but drifting into peace, and for some months we hoped, although to some extent with trembling, that at last peace would be restored to this fair country. And yet we are told we have been drifting into a war. which, through four successive Ministries, was never at an end, and never without startling circumstances tasking the country to the utmost to encounter. I am very weary of all this, and am perfectly ready to leave to others the remainder of this drift

ing, for I have taken my fair share in public affairs. Speaking, I trust not egotistically, of this sore travail—and having given for some eight years the best part of my life to working out the wishes of the Legislature—l am now weary of all this, for I Ullj. How getting; to that, age in lifo wh.cn fighting for mere fighting’s sake ceases to have any charm, although perhaps there was a time when I would have preferred to encounter opposition. But that is past now, and I have ceased to care very much that I should ever again be tempted into public affairs. I have ceased to care to remain any longer almost a stranger in my own family, and to bestow time, money, and health, but to be told by those whose

acts we are now really trying to smooth over—to be told by them that we are originating some monstrous injury to the country. If that is to be the liue of conduct-, I repeat I am weary of it, and shall leal great pleasuro when the hour arrives which will enable me to look on and see how much more gallantly and patriotically chose men, who seem to think it fitting to select a time of civil war as the proper time for exchanging personalities with the Government, will be able to make peace, or keep the control of peace or war in their hands, as the honorable member for Napier says it is the duty of the Government to do. We do not plaee so high an ideal standai’d before us, or arrogate to ourselves the power to determine when war shall cease in New Zealand. We do not believe we can at once absolutely change by a rapid convulsion the minds of generations of semi-savages, nor profess to ensure that respect for law and order shall at once reign in a people some of whom have only within the last few years giving over eating their own relations in order to murder and eat Europeans. We do nob profess to change the lion into the lamb, and, finding we are expected to do that, we. are ready to surrender the reins of Government to those who think themselves capable of doing so. But we are not going to accept the false parliamentary position in which this motion seeks to place the Government. It is not a personal question, for we do not care how soon our position in the House may be changed by a vote of want of confidence, if when we heave office we carry with us some grateful recollection of our connection with public life in New Zealand. But we are not-going to have the direct motion of want of confidence, which has been debated for some lime, intercep ted by another motion. We are not going to allow the greater main questiou, which includes all questions of policy, whether Native or financial, to .be evaded or intercepted by this one, and I trust the House will support us in this. The issue which we have been debating for some days being decided, we are perfectly ready to meet the House on the present one, and will accept its decision, whatever it may be. The hon. member has complained of the weakness of the guard at the Chatham Islands, and it has turned out that it- was not sufficient, but the whole intention of the Government 1193 been of so beneficent a character to the Natives, and -we have been so influenced by reports, particularly by those of the hon; member- for Avon, as to the general good conduct of: the -prisoners, and of the absenoeofany intention on : t heir - .part to escape; -that we took' kiß advice and largely dimiuiehed the guard.)

I do not wish to evade one single portion of our responsibility on that question, and I confess we were so far. deceived. Wo received what we thought trustworthy advice, and wo 'took the responsibility of acting upon that advice; but unfortunately, it did not lead to the success we had hoped for. The honorable member for Napier has stated, in support of his argument, that the Government should not have neglected his advice—that there has not been a single instance in which his warnings have not turned out true. He has certainly often indicated the existence of dangers which have been corroborated, but life is in error in supposing that he lias never indicated groundless dangers; for, during nearly two months, he wrote to us officially and privately, that he knew an outbreak was about to take place in the Wairarapa, which never did take place, although no restraining force was sent, and a thorough scrutiny into the state of matters showed that there was not the danger suggested. It is perfectly true that the Otnarunui affair happened, which might have perhaps acted somewhat as.a damper to the Natives in that district ; but we never found any organised intention of a rising in the Wairarapa, where there has been at times, as there are now, a few disaffected Natives. At this moment there is a very active rebel, who has been there for some two years, who was allowed to come back with some hesitation, but I am happy to think that his return was, perhaps judiciously, allowed, and if we are not going to allow men who have been at one time in rebellion to come in and settle down what course are we going to purse ? Are we going to keep bands of armed men hunting them up ? What the Government has been trying is quietly to let the old embers of the fire go out without being fanned again into life. There may have been a few blunders occasionally, sometimes on the part of officers of the Government, sometimes on the part of private settlers, who have been obliged, without instructions from head-quarters, to meet sudden emergencies wlMch might try even the greatest legislator in this House. It would b 8 foreign to the whole tenor of my opinions to say that they have not occurred, or that they will not continue to occur as long as human nature is human nature, and contains good, bad, and indifferent in all forms and colors.' The hon. gentleman stated he was not an alarmist, but if not, I must honestly confess I should like to see a specimen of that zenus, for I never heard a more alarmist speech than that delivered by the honorable gentleman this evening—enormously more alarming than the proclamation of Titokowaru. It is to the circulation of such panic sentiments by him and others that we owe much of the present unfortunate conditiqn of affairs. This is the first time he has so acted, and I trust he was carried away on this occasion, for to speak in such an alarmist and excited tone i? for him a novelty, and is, I venture to assert, likely to be followed by worse results than anything which has taken place within the last few months. To compare the removal of fiftyseven men from where, no fighting was going on, with the effect of such a speech coming from a roan so welL known to the Natives, would be absurd, and when the Natives find that the honorable member for Napier is so alarmed they will think there is something in it, and that the time has come for a general up vising. To attempt to compare the removal of fiftyseven men about one hundred and fifty miles from Napier—a distance that .Major Fraser says it would take in the presentstate ol the rivers twenty days to traverse —to attempt to compare that with the effect of his speech to-night is to expect too much irom credulity. I consider that speech as a cause of excitement to the Natives for which he will be responsible, and if we are to tell each other, night after night, that it only depends'on the will of the Natives to rise and destroy men, women, and children, we shall surely see that done, and I again say that on the heads of those using such language will recoil the effects of it when circulated throughout the country. I think it a most unfortunate occurrence connected with our form of Government that at a time of civil war we are obliged to show to tbe Natives our points of weakness and attack, which to my knowledge in past times has largely resulted in the calamitous wars and suffering the country has already gone through. Sir, I do not believe that any panic exists at Napier. I believe there is more excitement in Wellington, and in this House, qu the subject, than is really felt at Napier with regard to the removal of the men. We have assurances from many persons in the district, including the Bishop ofWaipu, than whom no one is better qualified to judge on the question—we have au assurance under his hand within the last thirty-six hours, to the effect that no appreheusion whatever exists’. • •. Mr M'Lean ; I never said, there -was danger in Napier. I said the very reverse. Mr Staefobd : The best information we can collect is that there is no known danger at this moment in regard to the outsettlers of Hawke’s Bay.. But, notwithstanding this, wo have thought it right, to take precautions. In the first place, rather more than of the small contingent which was intended to replace, that force of a nondescript character which so offended the hon. member for Avon;, but which, as a whole, has behaved: as well as trained levies, has been left behind. Out of a total force of sixty-seven; ton were left behind, ande an-officer was ordered immediately to recruit the forco.to the extent'pf twenty-five or thirty additional-men,'; We have instructed Captain Saunders- to put a certain number of volunteers upon pay at the Wauoa, - and- we? have also instructed Mr Gascoigne to organise s scoutingparty, whose head-quarters would be a point

from whence they wdnlil mand the Wairoa 'afed districts, in case of any hostilities pairt of the escaped prisoners^or’'other Natives. In.addition to the fortified-pas of friendly Natives at Wairoa, which* the honorable member has referred to, we have ordered a: block-house to be erected. We have not been insensible To the necessity of taking precautions, nor have we treated the people of New Zealand so heartlessly as the hon. member has attempted to show. We have guarded against attack from the only part of the country ' from which Napier could be attacked, and we have reason to believe that in case of any hostilities we shall have such immediate intelligence as will prevent disaster in that direction. So far from tho removal of that force being an evidence of weakness, I think it is an evidence of confidence. It would have been an evidence of weakness if that small force had been left there; but it was a mark of confidence to show that the whole of that force could be removed from point, to point, wherever lighting occurred, and so continue to give effect to the intentions of the Legislature. lam prepared to hold

the opinion that, whatever may be advanced. to the contrary—and I have heard statements to that effect within the last few days—-that it is an evidence of confidence and the very reverse of weakness. Why are the friendly natives about Napier not worthy of being relied upon ? What has become of the whole body of Natives to whom the hon. gentleman has within the last two or three years issued the enormous number of 2,209 stand of arms ? Were arms issued with so little judgment that none of the men who received them are now to be found willing to stand up for the maintenance of law .and order? More than double the amount of arms issued over all the rest of New Zealand to the friendly Natives have been issued _by the hou. gentleman, exclusive of any that have been returned. These arms are still outstanding, and I believe that some of them have been used against the Queen’s troops. Mr M‘Lean : Never.

Mr Siapeobd : That is the opinion of those who have had to deal with these troops. At Taranaki, 172 stand of arms were issued to the friendly Natives; at the Bay of Plenty, 316 ; at Auckland, 187 ; at Wanganui, 725—0 f which 365 have been received back into the store at Wanganui. What has beceme of the large number of arms I have referred to ? Are they not in trustworthy hands ? Out of the 2,209 is there not one single trigger to be pulled in defence of law and order against ferocious ruffians ? Is that to be the result of such an enormous and costly issue of arms, because they cost a great deal of money, and the cost of each rifle issued, including accoutrements and ammunition, may be set down at £lO ? Are we to be told that so large a number have been thrown away in so dangerous a manner as to be utterly useless because some fifty Europeans are not left at Hawke’s Bay ? If lam commenting on and criticising the action of •he hon. gentleman, he must remember that he invited it. So long as he refrained from attacking the Government there were no persons more ready to co-operate with him, or to acknowledge the great advantage of his counsel and assistance, than we were; but when he turns in a fit of disappointment, because the Government could not see its way to placing large sums of money and immense powers under his control Mr M'LpAtJ; I beg the hon. gentleman will not make accusations which are altogether unfounded.

Mr Stafeoed : If it were not the case it was a remarkable coincidence. I can only say it adds to the many regrets in connection with what people have to encounter in public life, to find ourselves, entirely in opposition to our wishes, placed in the relation in which we now find ourselves towards the hon. gentleman. It is by no means a pleasant addition to those other duties and liabilities which result from holding office in the present distracted state of a country, which has never had anything but divided and rival opinions, from one one end to the other, since representative government was established. 11 is no particular pleasure to be called upon to do what is well nigh an impossibility, namely, to act as if there were a united New Zealand, when it really does not exist: when, instead of a country having a national life, national impulses, national duties, and national sympathies, we have a congeries of disconted centres, all bub hating each other in . some cases—jealously suspicious in all. Sir, the task is one which I am quite willing 'to see in other hands. I shall be delighted if others can, more effectually than my colleagues and myself, establish that nationality, winch has hitherto not existed. I have seen some gleams of sunshine, breaking in occasionally .on the almost total darkness which has enshrouded the-Colony from the first; and I have been encouraged by these gleams to do what little I could to make them not transitory but permanent. I confess that X sometimes feel.as if.l could no longer fight the battle, and 1 believe I share a. feeling which has been, held by those whose who have .occupied the position yvhioh I now occupy.. I know it has been confided to me by two of them that such was the result of their experience. Warnings were addressed to ine which I did not disregard—-which I did-not think were ' without foundation, but 'which did not deter me. from attempting this great task. Tho time has however,'when l ean review s the whole and cohsiderwhetheroneiajustifiedin sacrificing tdsuoh an idea- everjthing which makes life-dear." '•'* -'-’•'•r 1 -'- • -•