Tuesday, June 17.

Mataura Ensign, Volume 7, Issue 367, 20 June 1884, Page 5

Tuesday, June 17.

r !Mr ; iMiiierj;;gpeaking on the Address ! in Iteply said* the rabbit question was j reallj theH mp'st important in the QjloftyVii'be loss by the. pest was one. million tp,one million and' a-half a year, And this was the chief cause of the present depression. Wool from South America, and wheat from India, would keep^^w^the prices of those commodities) so no renewal of prosperity could^be' : expected from them. We should get rid of the rabbits, and stop borrowing "a . little to draw breath. This' splendid country was dead blown, like an over ridden horse fed only on gustos. "jThe present Government had diis^poin ted; their best friends by continuing „ borrowing. He hoped and 1 believed the meat industry would help 4 the ? c6uritry, t for wheat growing was'really" gambling, > there not being one good; haryf at in five. Through want of confidence men were investing their'mdney in anything but land, and bus 1 . 1 m%rt . ' were allowing their own ©rijergfeg, and, twenty million acres to Hesidle. .: The property tax was a chief cause of want' of confidence. Another cause! was the utterances of men such as^the.; Premier,-., speaking of doing •wayv.i with; freehold tenure. 1 Per;pefcual r leasing was a will-o'-the wisp ttnd t 'un'suit'ed°"to' the wants of human nature. , There, (! was far too large a tejndeney to »turn everything into ft company, which meant a great loss of indiyidtiaT '^ene^jjjy;' He paid eight tiMe'S st) 'as ! -much jundqr : the; ; property t^ aSj-under- the Und tax, but he did nofcvTadvocftte the latter. .It was many, ye&ftj'jtoo'fcoon for federation. , tHhs j^jddreis was then passed. <■ bS" ftEPJKE.SENT ATIVIJS. ?'.v.-;MiTuESpA.TJ'»TuifB 17. t / ' .Mr.W^itiikW:. gave notice that he would jmoTe^that the control of the Him 'Ze&lan'dj be ' vested in'tfbo^rjci'pJ.'a.n.dn-poUtical character. JMajor Atkinson said that Government, after the vote carried on Thursday; waited iipori the Governor, M^u'.idd&f: ' .the'/.' jCircumßtax^ceja,' . of th!e c^j^Minwiers .deempd it their .duty to advdae the '/Governor ito grant a' dis\ solution. ','H4B r Excellency had 'been, pteifsed^b feSceptbf :^hat advice andii dissolution would T ,be .granted. Government had, th&r^forej nothing more nemb'Wbtit; .tQ.^^theHbupefor the n^sessa'ry'lsupplies. On Thursday evening he .would be prepared id bting dd^n the necessary proposals and make a short [Financial St&temtnt. In the circqmatances there was no jre/pson w.hj, J^ey should - l the session beyond Tirtfßdar.' next. He proposed, to. ask sullies up 1 , to about the endt of August beueVing thaiCtb.e. new .election could b©oigojtu through" and the House oe called together, again about , the 28th of^At n yM» r ;: i( '^ 'moved the ad-journpenJ;;ftifl;-;Tnursday evening at ■M^iFißh t5 sp.<3k6 in. strong terms, of, ; tibnai 'nature of > the %^^e^jft^pte4 n ?by ; the Go Ternment. After' th.©f,¥oie> on Thursday, it was their duty -to resign and throw the onus on tJbeuOppositibn ; of f brining a GQ^ernm.entiil He believed that the finances of- the Colony, were' in such a frightf ifl'ißtate that ' Government was aetfJaljy^ , tq , ,gi ye . ■ anyone an; opporiWui'ty of inquiring, into them. He den.p,uneed.ihe proceeding on the part of the Governor : as' ! mpst unconstitutiofiSiji aiia* 'with'jgreat regret he said' that his Excellency!; had' laid' himself °peft tp o !>he serious imputation of act-. iDgthe party bf ! ap6 litical partisan, The jWsittoH'w^s such that) he^elieved the Op^iWon 'would be justified in stopping supplies... r lJe w,qu v ld, not, advocate ( Of support thkt'extr'eme course, horreve^^Mqugh'.he'felt. that it might be jubUS^m";^ alluded :'to the conduct of George Thorne, juh., in directing the sub-*gefcfcM»ak£y to dbg ; the footsteps o£ the; t> -!A.us^li l^K.,Mutuai. l iTJSu ranee ag#it,' ancl make misrepresentatioua esa t© the^tyte pf the Colony. With f.-vcts, likeuthesei before 'them,' it miist lie , 01.---rious at a ,, glance thatjj^overn/oe. r I^/, allowed, to keep their te&tg 'one' moment longer than thmoment when §they ) , could be got rid of. .av :-i .1 •-' "' •'■■'■ i!/ - ■■ : ; :; Sir George^ Grey contended" that they Bhould tye' inlfoifmed , as to the nature 6i (h$ '66nvefsation with the Governor re fa.i: dissolution. false representation-gtrnight have been 'made jto his Excellency. , s ', '- # ••■:.'.'.'.' $he Hon! 'Major Atkinson said hehad narrated aft that took place. Mr BrackenMerio'unqed Government for the course- it' .had, taken. There If as no necessity for a dissolution, as the Opposition could well form a Ministry. " r On the motion; for adjournment till ThurMay-avfinißg, „ , • Sir George Grey said; that the course taken was a inpst irregular one. He could},, not , credit what the Premier Stated as to what took place between Ministers and; the' Governor He""be-Heved-thati : a had been made. to the Governor that the Opposition desired a dissolution. He woul d ask the.moyer of the- adverse amendment to i -follow up his action by some suchuimotion) as this: "The House earnestly solitfits the Governor to call jbo bis cbtmsei' advisers possessing the eonfiSerice ; oi this House. That was ike course he thought should be taken. He fea<i no 'confidence in the Governjnen«j'wbo had threatened that three tfeatl^'wbujil be taken in Auckland from" "'tbe'" members who had gone against- them. Such' conduct was most J irregular, '''^d*; should nofc be tolerated, j Aft§r' l^fe^ife'* a ' nnmber of. abuses intH^mafe;;^ land reguldtion S; he stated 'that^a person who had rendered good service to tjie Colony and earned the Ti'ctor?^ Cirose, and was entitled to i:.for his grant "was told, that ;sjb#? Jus / .f&ulij.^in .n^ f jkftowing,iit?>e,:iaw A Minister, sitting $# -^P^ e • wch«s had, }how^;.'tfe u P^ mA! 30 ' 000 ™ Tea: coutrarj to law.

He omitted a certain regulation necessary to complete his right. In his case Government held that his ignorance of the law was excusable, and that Min. ister now sat upon those benches unlawfully holding that enormous tract of land. J He (Iwelt at length on the oasft of a man in Canterbury who had; tried ;o purchase 26 acres of Government and, but yet it .' was given to a rich runlolder under pretence, of an application nade 22 years ago. Mr Turnbull concurred in the conclusions drawn by the previous speaker. They had all along been taunted by the Premier that they could not form a government, and here, when they were ready f to. do it, the Treasurer himself took steps to prevent their doing so. He fiad no hesitation in stating that the ICreasurer was a most unscrupulous man, and he had no doubt that Government would take advantage of its position to manipulate seats for its own mpporters. He asked what they had ;o so to (he country upon. He considered t'he Governor had acted most unwisely. He had involved the country in a great expense at a most critical time. He had sent them to ihe country with no issue before | ihem. ' ; Mr Steward,alluding to the case of^a j tnan named Walker at Waimate,where the case occurred detailed by Sir Gro Grey, stated that he (Mr Steward) jiad taken up the man's case, and he was bound to say that whatever the hardships of the case were, the Minn jster of Lands was not to blame. I i Mr Montgomery objected to the length of time asked by the Treasurer. ■All uding to the course pursued hy Sir G-. Grey in 1879, he read an extract from ' Hansard ' giving an assurance that a dissolution would take place within two days after prorogation, and the writs be made returnable within 30 (jlays thereafter. The Treasurer now Asked for CO da? s, and he hoped that would not be agreed to. j The Hon. Major Atkinson pointed out that in 1879 the elections did no ikeplace all on the one day. The con. c itions were otherwise altered. Conset uently, he could not take upon himself to carry out the elections in les s nan me time asked for.

The adjournment till Thursday was tut, and carried on the voices.