SIR GEORGE GREY AT THE THAMES.

Marlborough Express, Volume XIII, Issue 1093, 31 December 1878, Page 7

SIR GEORGE GREY AT THE THAMES.

On Saturday, December 3rd, the ceremony of turning the first sod of the Thames- Waikato Railway took place m the presence of a large assemblage. Sir George Grey arrived m the Hinemoa at 11 o'clock, and was received by the Mayor and Councillors, and other iufluentia! residents, and escorted to the site selected for the railway terminus, near the gasworks. An address was there presented to Sir George Grey by Dr .1. Kilgour, Chairman of the Thamps Valley Railway Committee. Sir George Grey then dug a sod with an ordinary spade, the silver implement ordered for the occasion not having arrived, and with a few sborfe congratulatory addresses, with several anthems sung by ■^school children, brought the important cereHbr to a close. I^^H^L a drive m the country, the company HH^to the Volunteer Hall, Shortland, bH^B^BL~^ 0 guests sat down to a sumptuoua

to the people, for in England the Ministry of the clay practically settecl whether there was to be a dissolution or not, itid the Queen's assent was expected to be givtin'as 'a matter of course. But here, in the colonies, (jhe Governors claimed large discretionary powers iu granting or refusing a dissolution, and appeared \o think it necessary that the House should" b? exhausted — that Ministry after Ministry shouii be tried until it ■was clearly proved that note could obtain a working majority — before ai\ appeal to the country was granted, and thui Ministers found their hands to a certain exteit tied, and were unable to bring down such radcal measures of reform as they would like to sej. It was this which caused the plural voting cliuse to be contained in the Electoral Bill, but -when a private member moved the excision of ttat clause he was supported by the Ministry. These and similar difficulties confronted Ministries at every step, owing to tlie peculiar constitution granted to the colonies. A Governor was oftenappointed for political or party reasons, and he could form, an alliance with a party and ruin any Mijpstrj'. In NewZealand there M'as another great constitutional difficulty in a paid Upper House, li no other colony was there a paid second Chamber. The present Ministry thus found themselves in this difficulty ; that out of a Council of about fifty members they had only five attached bo them, and to equalise the voting piwer of that Chamber forty-five new members would have to be appointed at £200 a year for life, thus entailing a heavy expenditure on the colony. Another point in the constitution of the Legislative Council to which he took exception, was that a member could resign his seat and become a member of the Lower House, and, when he retired from that House, or was rejected by his constituents, could return to the Council. Sir George Grey then referred to the Triennial Par- j liainents Bill of Dr Wallis, saying he had sap- | ported that measure because of the difficulties which |met a Ministry in obtaining a dissolution, i He explained the principle of the land tax, and spoke of the reduction in the Customs tariff, and other reforms effected during the year. As to the Electoral Bill, it had been sacrificed by the action of the Upper House in striking out the dual native vote, but another and a better bill, which would do away with pocket boroughs, would gi v e triennial Parliaments, and would probably do away with plural voting, would be brought down next year. After speaking of "the attempt to create & colonial aristocracy, by conferring the title of ' Honorable ' for life, but to be used only within the colony, " Sir George Grey passed ou to say that he believed that the, colonies had the right, if they chose to assert that right, to say in what way their Governors should be chosen. Next, he touched upon the power of the Judges to commit men for contempt arguing that this power should be limited and strictly defined, and that thera should be the right, of appeal when any man was committed for contempt — " to provide for the case of a testy Judge, or one with a gouty foot." Turning to broad general questions, he spoke of the condition oE the poor in England, and urged upon his hearers to be careful of the land laws, ia order, that «, governing class might not be created to the prejudice of the great masses of the community. At the conclusion of his address, which was rnceived with loud applause throughout, a vote of thanks and confidence was enthusiastically ac;orded to Sir George.