PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.-MS. WILLIAM CRUSH DALDY'S APPOINTMENT.

New Zealander, Volume XXI, Issue 2252, 18 October 1864, Page 4

PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.-MS. WILLIAM CRUSH DALDY'S APPOINTMENT.

Since the commencement ot tne present session of the Provincial Council, there have been three occasions on which the interest of the general public has been specially excited, llrst, the opening address of his Honor the Superintendent ; then the motion for a committee of inquiry respecting the sole of Ngaruawahia ; and lastly the disclosures respecting the appointment of Mr. Daldy, to which a peculiar zest has been added by the accompanying retirement of an eminent member of the Council, Mr. Wynn, from lus office of Provincial Solicitor, and Law Adviser to the Provincial Government. His Honor’s speech was quite au imposing affair to any one not prepared to look beneath the surface. Five subsidized lines of steamers, ami extended trunk and branch roads, —in addition to that which we cannot dispense with, the Waterworks for the City of Auckland. —these were the gorgeous visions shadowed forth, in quite a sober matter-of-course fashion, by the speech of the Superintendent. But one item of information was omitted from his Honor’s address, and cannot yet be extracted from the bosoms of the Executive, videlicet . Who’s to pay, or where’s the money to'co-no from ? The first drama enacted on the Provincial boards, during the present season, may he entitled “ Magnificent Pro-mise-s, or A New Man for the Superinten- « deucy.” The second tableau would represent the ex-absolute Ministry of New Zealand seated in secret divan, and performing a little plav of hocus-pocus with the lands of Ngaruawahia, while the Provincial authorities outside are doing lowly homage and obeisance. So far as the Provincial Government is concerned, we may denominate drama the second as “ Queenstown (Ngarua“wahia), or the Mute Sycophants.” What may be the distinctive nature of drama the third, it is due to our readers that we should now for a little examine.

In the Journals of the Auckland Provincial Council for the Sixteenth Session, under the date of January 27th, 1864, we find the following—our readers are aware that Mr. Daldy was at that time Provincial Secretary and 'Treasurer : “ Mr. Foley (for Mr. J. O’Neill) asked in whatcapacity the honorable member, Capt. Daldy, was to represent the Province on his approaching visit to England. “ Mr. Daldy answered that hj« was not aware of there being any arrangement made for his representing the Province during his visit to England, and that whilst he was a member of the Government ho would not be a party to such an arrangement. He was going home in a private capacity.” Under the date of February 4th, wo read as follows : “ Mr. May moved, and the question was proposed, That the services of Mr. Daldy (who has stated his intention of visiting the United Kingdom) should be obtained for the purpose of selecting emigrants.” Mr. May, the proposer of the motion, was at that time a colleague of Mr. Daldy in the Executive of the Provincial Government. Before the mover was called upon to make the foregoing motion, Mr. Daldy rose in his place, and said, that his arrangements as to going home were not in any degree influenced by other than private considerations ; aud that unless he had the approval of the Council , he would not go home in any official character. The utterance of this declaration at that time is a matter of public notoriety. Let us observe, then, how the matter now stood. Mr. Daldy, the Provincial Secretary and Treasurer of Auckland, has, from his place in the Provincial Council, pledged himself to accept no appointment of Provincial Agency in the United Kingdom, unless the arrangement shall have obtained the sanction of the Council. Assuming that the Provincial Secretary’s word of promise is binding upon him, and also binding upon the Superintendent and the Provincial Government, as men who would refuse to co-operate with or connive at a deliberate violation of a public promise, we must of course assume that the question whether Mr. Daldy shall, or shall not, be an agent of the Provincial Government at home, depends upon the passing, or not passing, of the motion made by Mr. Mat. So thought the Provincial Council at the time. So, doubtless, thought Mr. J. O'Neill, when he moved the following “ amendment” to Mr. May’s motion : “ That this Council declines expressing an opinion relative to the proposed appointment of Captain Daldy as Immigration Agent, considering that the responsibility of appointing Agents for this Province ought to rest solely with bis Honor the Superintendent.” Well, Government contrived tiiat this amendment should not be carried —-hut how ? We shall see presently. In fact, it mattered not one iota, as to the appointment of Mr. Daldy, whether the amendment should be carried or not. For preventing his appointment, after the promise tiiat he had made, it sufficed that Mr. May’s motion should not he carried. And was it carried ? It was not. We will give the result in the words of the Journals. After the entry respecting the proposed “ Appointment of Mr. Daldy as “ Agent,” the very next entry is as follows :

“Adjournment for want of a .quorum.—Notice being taken that the one-third of the members was not present, Mr. Speaker counted the Council, and, one third of the members not being present, then adjourned the Council at fire minutes to nine o'clock, p m. “Members present:—Mr. Cadrnan, Mr. Gallaugher, Mr. Kerr, Mr. May, Mr. A. O’Neil!, Mr. J. O’Neill, Dr. Pollen, Mr, Rowe, Mr. Skeen, Mr. Swanson.”

Now we quote these names not without a purpose ; they will be recognised by some of our readers as being, almost literally every one of them, the names of gentlemen who were prepared to vote in favor of Mr. o’Neil.l’s amendment. The number of members present was ten ; two more would have formed a quorum. Government found themselves unable to defeat Mr. O’Neinn’s amendment by negativing it on a division ; but they were able, by withdrawing their forces, to ensure the adjournment of the House without a decision being come to. Extreme must have lsen the strait, perilous the position, when even Mr. Newman himself, soon to be successor of Mr. Daldt, found it necessary to resort to an ignominious retreat, Mr. O’Neill’s amendment was negatived by means of a count-out. It was not, therefore, carried ; but it was not requisite to be carried. In order to preclude the appointment of Mr. Daldy as Emigration Agent. Mr. Daldt had said that he would accept no such appointment unless with the approbation of the Council ; and that approbation the Government failed in their endeavors to procure. A few days afterwards Mr. Daldt withdraws from his post of Provincial Secretary and Treasurer, and Mr. Newman sways in his stead. The former goes away to England, simply “ in a private capacity,” we are to suppose ; for we must not distrust his promise—until we cannot avoid it. Now we bid adieu, for the present, to session sixteenth of the Provincial Council, which terminated in February last ; and we come to session seventeenth, which commenced in the current month of October. On the 7th instant, Mr. Foley proposed the following motion, which was carried : ” That an address be presented to his Honor “ the Superintendent, requesting him to “send down to this Council a return of all

“ appointments made by the Provincial “ Government from the last session of this “Council up to the present time, and the “ amount of salary.” On the 11th instant, in accordance with the foregoing address, the Superintendent laid before the Council a return of the appointments made since the last session ; and in the list of those appointments and salaries we find the following : “W. C. Daldy, Emigration Agent, £4OO. “W, C. Daldy, Agent in Britain for the “ Provincial Government, Commission on “ Purchase not exceeding one per cent."

Let us stop to epitomize thus far, Mr, Daldy, who went home, as he said, entirely for private purposes, promised, in the Provincial Council, that he would accept no appointment from the Government, except with the sanction of the Council. The sanction of the Council is' not obtained. Mr. Daldy is notified to the Council by His Honor the Superintendent, as having been appointed Immigration Agent and Agent in Britain for the Provincial Government, with a salary of £IOO, and a commission not exceeding one per cent. Excellent, very excellent, most, excellent “honesty and common-sense” of the Provincial Government of Auckland ! On the following day, the 12th instant, Mr. Wyxx rose in the Provincial C mncil, and said: “ Sir, before this Council proceeds “ to the Notices of Motion, 1 wish to explain “ ray present position, that I have ceased to t: hold the appointment of Provincial Soli- “ citor. I only rise to give the reasons of “ that course, which I will do shortly and concisely, stating that 1 have permission “ from the Superintendent to make this “ statement. Yesterday, a message came “ down to the Council with the informa-

| “ tiou that Captain Daldt is an immigration j “ agent at the salary of £4OO a year, also “ receiving a commission of one per cent, on “ all purchases made in England on behalf “of this Province. The Council might “ think this extraordinary, if anything ex- “ traordiuary is done in these days ; that “ was the first intimation I received about it. “ With regard to the appointment I consider “it one of the most flagrant ever mad*. I “ do not intend any of this language to apply “ to Captain Daldt himself, whom no man “ respects more than I do ; but that ap- “ pointmeut should not have been made in “ direct violation of the law, at a time when “ the opinion of this Council might be easily “ had upon it.” In the subsequent debate Mr. Newaian said :—“The appointment of Captain Daldy “ had not been mentioned to him either directly “or indirectly by myself or the Superin- “ tendent.” We must recur to the Journals of the Sixteenth Session. That statement of the Provincial Secretary is made in the face of the message from the Superintendent delivered on February 2nd, in which his Honor said : “ Mr. Daldy being about to proceed to Eng“land shortly, the Superintendent proposes to “ take advantage of his services while there, “ and intends to authorise him,” &c., &c. Suppose that a quasi-discreet silence was observed upon the subject among these straightforward gentlemen alter the memorable countout, will any .person of common sense and honesty, who will speak without bias of interest or complicity, say that such a quibbling is anything more than a subterfuge? Well might Mr. Wynn indignantly reply:—“ When “ we are told that no communication took place “from the Executive, informing Captain <! Daldy of It, I cannot credit the statement, “whatever assertions may be made.” It is clearly an unfair representation of Mr. Wynn’s conduct, to assume that he resigned simply because Mr. Daldy’s salaried appointment was not communicated to him. Mr. Wynn distinctly bases his resignation primarily on the ground that such an appointment was made, and that he himself, in his capacity of a member of the Council, must after a little have occasion to vote upon it. The learned gentleman, it ought to be observed, has not merely been Provincial Law Adviser; he is also a member of the Provincial Council, and accustomed to take a prominent share in its deliberations. We congratulate him, accordingly, on the honorable promptitude that he has exhibited In dissevering himself, at the earliest moment when he could with perfect propriety do so, from suoh a Government as this - We havo had occasion before now to differ courteously from Mr. Wynn on matters of public policy, and of course such occasion may again occur; but we are bound to say that, by his spirited action in this matter, he has exonerated himself from all suspicion of participation in these ugly transactions. We cannot refrain, also, from accepting Mr. Wynn’s retirement as an additional indication of the cheering fact, that public opinion in Auckland will not submit to dishonorable dictation.