General Assemble. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. Friday, August 10.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XIV, Issue 43, 25 August 1855, Page 3

General Assemble.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. Friday, August 10.

The house met at noon.

Petitions were presented by Mr. Crompton, from the Superintendent and Piovincial Council of New Plymouth, relative to the present state of that province, and requesting the investigation and support of the house ; and by Mr. Hart, from the merchants and settlers of Wellington, respecting the establishment of a New Zealand Joint-Stock Bank. Both petitions were received ; and the former ordered to be printed.

Notices of Motion.

Mr. Brown gave five several notices of motion, namely : two for Tuesday ; one concerning native lands, and the other for returns relative to the pre-emption rights, the forfeiture of cottages and acres, and other matters connected with the New Zealand Pensioners ; one for Thursday, in the matter of all claims to land, &c, in the Province of Auckland ; and one for Friday, relative to the New Zealand Company's Charter, and purchase of land: and a renewal of the notice of sth September, 1854, requiring a return of moneys voted for educational purposes, that return not yet having been furnished.

Mr. Lee to move, on Wednesday, for copies of correspondence between the Superintendent of Auckland and the Colonial Secretary, with the Provincial Law Officer's opinion relative to the grant of land for the new Government House.

Mr. Sewell, on Tuesday, to move for a committe to regulate the printing of the pro-, ceedings of the house ; also, for returns connected with the distribution of the land funds of Nelson, &c, and further, for the appointment of a committee to consider the state and management of finance.

Mr. Merriman to move, at the next meeting, for the appointment of a Privilege Committee ; also, for a Standing Orders Committee.

Mr. Porter, at the next sitting, to move for a return of moneys expended on the Queenstreet Wharf; and also fora committee to consider the whole subject of land claims. Mr. Travers, on Tuesday, to move for a committee to investigate the claims of the New Zealand Company; and on Wednesday, to move an address to his Excellency respecting fees on deeds, &c.

Mr. Bacot, at next sitting, to move for returns relative to the Vaccination of natives.

Mr. Mackay, at next sitting, to move for leave to bring forward a measure for simplifying the Customs duties.

New "Writs.

Pursuant to notice, Mr. Travers moved that His Excellency be requested to issue new writs for the election of a member for Dunedin Country district, in the room of "W. H. Cutten, Esq., resigned j and for the Hutt district, in the room of A. Ludlam, Esq., resigned. Leave granted.

Mr. Travers next moved for a writ for the election of a member for the town of Nelson, in the room of S. Stephens, Esq., deceased. Mr. Travers said there was a difficulty in this matter; the Constitution Act provided no means for filling up death vacancies. It was important that means should be applied to remedy a defect which might virtually disfranchise a constituency. He would therefore move that his Excellency be requested to issue a new writ ; his Excellency would, in doing so, be guided by the opinion of the Law Officer of the Crown.

Mr. Merriman rose to a point of order, There was no proof of the death of the member ; and he would take the opinion of no Law Officer, not a member of that house. The learned gentleman cited authority for the necessity of a certificate of death in the case of a new election for a seat in the House of Commons.

The Speaker was not prepared to pronounce an immediate decision of the question, and suggested postponement until Tuesday. Mr. Travers assented to the Speaker's suggestion. His only desire was that the writ should have been transmitted by the steamer, which was to sail on Saturday or Sunday. On the motion of Mr. Mackay, it was agreed to request his Excellency to issue new writs for Christchurch Country and Wairau districts, in the room of the Hon. J. S. Wortley and F. A. Weld, Esqs., resigned.

The same course was followed, on the motion of Mr. Crompton, for the election of new members for the town of "Wellington, and Whanganui and Rangitiki districts, in the room of J. Kelham, Esq., and I. E. Featherston, Esq., resigned.

Previous to entering into consideration of the reply to his Excellency's opening address, Mr. Mackay begged permission to read a letter from Mr. Picard, member /or Motueka, soliciting leave of absence for a month.

Mr. Sewell would be glad to learn the grounds for such an application.

Mr. Mackay was unable to state any. He believed Mr. Picard was about to be elected a member of the Provincial Council of Nelson.

Mr. O'Neill was of opinion that the leave applied for should be granted. There were many members who had absented themselves without exhibiting such courtesy. Mr. Travers dissented from this view. If all the members who acted with similar courtesy were to have leave of absence granted, the house would be overwhelmed with applications.

Mr. Forsaith said there was a principle involved. Those members who had absented themselves without such courtesy had done so with the intention of vacating their scats. Mr. Picard desired to retain his.

The question was not entertained. Leave refused.

Mr. Mackay would not prefer a like request, which he had been instructed to make on behalf of Dr. Monro.

Reply to Governor's Speech.

Mr. Sewell in rising to move an address in reply to the speech of his Excellency the Officer administering the Government on opening the session, said that he would move the adoption of that reply by the whole house. Mr. 'Prayers would have the house goiuto committee on the reply. Mr. Sewkll was desirous that the reply should be agreed to in the full house. The reply had hocn confined to but two or three

topics. There were but two important matters to be dealt with. These were, the questions »of Responsible Government and the affairs of Taranaki. His Excellency had acquainted them with his anxious desire to forward the introduction of responsible government, and in the hearty sincerity of his Excellency's desire he had the most implicit reliance. He was therefore anxious to convey the acknowledgments due to his Excellency. There was, however, a great difference of opinion as to the course proposed by his Excellency. He did not think it the best. He thought the house should have been convened in July, in the usual manner, without intimation of the policy intended to be pursued. That intimation had had the effect of causing a thin house. To invite the attendance of members to pension j .off old officers and to dissolve the house, wasr not a wise course. He must be content to accept a dissolution now as an inevitable necessity ; but it had retarded the introduction of responsible government. Respecting the other branch of the reply, relative to the affairs of New Plymouth, he perceived that on the 7th of April things had reached such a point that the despatch of troops had then been determined on. He could not but regret that in the face of such events, members should have been discouraged from attending by the statement made in the circular, that the business to be transacted was , unimportant. He could not consider that non-interference was the policy that was required. But, not being aware of the whole bearing of the question, he had not touched upon it. Mr. Sewell then ,read the reply, and begged to move its adoption.

Mr. Carleton, in seconding the adoption -of the reply, characterized it as dry and formal, but faithful. Its faults, whatever they might he of omission, had none of commission. It had been framed to meet the views of all parties, or rather of the remnants of parties. It sought to conciliate ; since the absence of even one member might leave the house without a quorum, and compel a dissolution. Mr. O'Neill was prepared, in a general way, to give his support to the reply that had been proposed. He was surprised to see Mr. Sewell, once so urgent for the immediate establishment of responsible government, now so desirous of deferring it. He would have it introduced without delay. The present holders of offico were not equal to any emergency. Mr. Porter thought that the best responsible government would be that which gave total separation to the Northern Province, and conferred power upon the Provinces in general.

Mr. King had an amendment to propose. The affairs of Taranaki involved not alone a .native quarrel, but one of greater significance. The quarrel had been the fruit of a native .association to shoot every native who should dare to sell land to Europeans. It had been otherwise complicated; and the honourable member entered into lengthened details to exhibit the causes and progress of the feud, concluding by moving that the house go into committee to investigate the bearings of the question iv relation to the reply.

Mr. Sewell must oppose the amendment. He considered it would be hazardous were the house to commit itself to a positive opinion. A general expression would be best.

Mr. Carleton thought the house was bound to allow the Taranaki members every latitude, and to grant them the fullest liberty -of speech.

Mr. Lee hoped the house would carry the reply as moved by the honourable member for Christchurch.

Mr. Traverb thought it would be fair to afford the Taranaki members an opportunity to elucidate matters. There was a difficulty in dealing with the reply before the papers connected with the question had been laid before the house.

Mr. Bacot hoped the house would not go into committee. The address had been framed so as not to commit any party, but to conciliate all by returning a civil reply to his Excellency.

[A message from his Excellency was here announced. It covered an application from the Superintendent of New Plymouth to the General Government, requesting an advance of £ 1,000. His Excellency recommended that the house should pass a resolution granting an advance of .£1,500. The message also covered the correspondence and other documents in ■connexion with the affairs at Taranaki.] "The house resumed —

Mr. FoRSAiTn felt obliged by the deeply interesting statements of Mr. King. But, however much and sincerely the house sympathized with the colonists of Taranaki, they must not consider -the opposition to the amendment as any indication of hostility or apathy to tneir interests. The reply had been framed in a temperate and becoming manner. It fully met the case, and in no way committed its Bupporters. Mr. Gledhill gave the house a lengthened narrative of the disastrous state of the native feud, and the consequences that were likely to result.

Mr. Hart regretted that, with the knowledge which the Government had so long had of the affairs of Taranaki, the hou3e should have been summoned to meet in a manner so as to lead memhers to keep away. He himself would not be altogether \mwilling to withdraw his attendance from a house so diminished in numbers that it could hardly be said to represent the sentiments of the colony on so grave a question. Mr. Brown dissented from the policy of non-interference. He recognised the necessity of sending troops. But the troops would be compelled to take a side. The Government had been instrumental to the existing quarrel.

Mr. Carleton supported the amendment, and concurred ia the view taken by the previous speaker. Mr. Crompton spoke in favour of the amendment, which he urged the mover of the reply to adopt.

Air. Sewell was willing to adopt one of the paragraphs of the amendment.

This having met with approval, the reply so amended was put and passed. It was then agreed that the Governor should be requested to state when it would be agreeable to his Excellency to receive the reply, which should

then be presented by the Speaker,' accompanied by such members as might be willing to attend. Mr. Gledbmll applied for and obtained leave of absence, to return by the steamer to New Plymouth. Another message from his Excellency was received. It covered the draft of a Bill for granting Retiring Pensions to the Colonial Secretary, Treasurer, and Attorney-General. The house went into committee on the question of an advance to the Province of Taranaki. A resolution was passed, and afterwards affirmed by the house, recommending an advance of The house then adjourned till Tuesday, at noon.

Surly Sentiments.— (By a professed old Grumbler. J— Vanity never died yet of a surfeit. A parent who strikes a child is like a man who strikes the water; the consequences of the blow are sure to fly up in his own face. There are fools who cannot keep 8 secret; their excessive greenness, like that of new wood, makes them split. Reform is an omnibus that's always "just going to start." Friends, like tumblers in frosty weather, are apt to fly at the first touch of hot water. It is with a faded beauty as with a clock, the more the face is enamelled the more clearly do we see the progress of time. The most uncomfortable house to live in is a house full of pets— such as pet dogs, pet canaries, pet squirrels, parrots, and cats— but worse than all, pet children ! Cerberus must have been a box-keeper originally at a theatre. There is no one so long lived as your delicate fine lady who is always "dying." I have generally found that a "little party" with a "little mus:c," and a "little singing" with a "little vingt-et-un" after that, followed by a "little 6upper," and lastly by a "little grog" just before going home, carry one up to five or nix o'clock in the morning, and invariably end in a "little headache "the next day.

An M.P. who was a Prize-fightrr.— The following occurs in the autobiography of Mr. J. S. Buckingham, the early portion of which has just been published :— " We visited the mo»t popular prize fighter of the day, Gully, who had just beaten the champion of England, Gregson, m a terrible encounter, and who at that period kept a small public-house, under the sign of the 'Plough,' in Carey-street, Lincoln's- inn- fields. In him we saw a tall, handsome young man, his head fearfully battered, many cuts in his face, and both his eyes recovering from intense blackness; nut full of gaiety and spirits at his last trintuph. He wore a little white apron before him, and served the visitors with whatever drink they required ; while his young wife, an exceeding pretty woman, though of the St. Giles's style of beauty, assisted in the most smiling and gracious manner. Here I must anticipate the order of events, for the purpose of mentioning an occasion on which I met Mr. Gully I after an interval of many years, but under such a change of circumstances to us both as neither could then have dreamt of. In 1832 or thereabouts. Lord Milton, heir to the earldom of Fitz william, came of age, and, according to the custom of that princely family, a grand entertainment was given at Wortley House, near Rotherham, in Yorkshire. As I was at that time one of the meinhert for the newly-enfranchised borough of Sheffield, I received an invitation as a matter of course, and went with my colleague to share in the Fitzwilliam hospitalities. The scene was one of the mo6t hplendid I had ever witnessed. Among the groups, however, that passed from room to room in the general promenade, there was one that attracted universal attention. It was formed of three persons; the central one a fine, manly, athletic, yet well formed and graceful figure, and resting on either arm two of the loveliest women of the assembled multitude, about eighteen or twenty years of age, dressed in plain green velvet, without ornaments of any kind, but with such exquisite figures, blooming complexions, bright eyes, rich and abundant hair, as might make either a worthy representative of the Venus of- Cuidus. They were so little known that the question was perpetually whispered, ' Who are they i Who can they be ?' At length it was discovered that they were Mr. Gully, the cidevant prize-fighter, and his two daughters'] He was then member for Pontefract; had acquired a large fortune, and most honourably, it was believed, on the turf, being an excellent judge of horses; had purchased a large estate, and was living in a style of great elegance at Ack worth Park, near Pontefract, respected by all his neighbours."

Partial Views of Society. — Narrowminded and selfish men are ever prone to make the vices of others an excuse for their own. They have not the shadow of an idea of being noble exceptions. Far from it, they are ever suspicious and sceptical of that virtue which has no restingplace in their own bosom. 1 believe a man must be singularly endowed with wisdom and benevolence, who can continually come in contact with vice, without having his heart in some degree hardened, and his lively faith in virtue much shaken. Hence it follows that lawyers, magistrates, and judges, and indeed all persons closely connected with the punishment of offences, having their eyes Iso continually fixed on the worst side of the picture which humanity presents, are far too apt to forget there is another and a brighter eide. This is one reason why clergymen, whose mission is mercy and not punishment, should not be appointed to the magistracy, though it is far from being the only one or the strongest. Thoroughly convinced that the well-conducted and comparatively virtuous classes of society happily form a great majority, I feel such partial views of society to be equally unjust, ungenerous, and untrue; and I feel an utter contempt for this system of philosophy founded on the Newgate Calendar. All the most profound among our jurists, such as Romilly and Bentham, have strongly felt how the study of what is called law is calculated to cramp the intellect, and to extinguish all the most generous aspiiationß of the soul. Study attentively the lives of lawyers and physicians, and ccc how greatly the latter excel in real knowledge, science, and in active benevolence. I have often thought that if Bacon had not been bred to the law, he would not have been at once the wisest and weakest of mankind. The best and wisest among us are they who always take the most hopeful views of their fellow-men and of the future.— M.

History of the National Debt. — At the beginning of the last century, namely, in 1702, the national debt consisted of only £10,000,000. On the accession of George 11. it had risen to £53,000,000. It was then reduced during the intervening years of peace to £46,000,000, but during the Spanish war that subsequently ensued it rose again to £72.000,000, at which amount it etood in the year 1748, on the conclusion of the peace of Aix la-Chapelle. At the commencement of the Seven Years' War, namely, in the year 1757, it was £76,000,000, and at the end of that contest, in 1763, it had risen to £135,000,000, at which point it remained at the outbreak of the American war, in the year 1776. In 1786, or ten years afterwards, it amounted to £259,000,000 ; and in 1793. at the beginning of the French war, it had attained £269,000,000. In 1800 it amounted to £491,000,000, and in the month of February it reached £816,000.000. Since the peace it has undergone some reduction, and on the slh of January last the funded debt of the country amounted to £751,000,000, the diminution since 1816 having been exactly £64,471,963.— 5ir G. Cornewall Lewis.