HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume I, Issue 3, 18 November 1863, Page 3

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

Tcksday, Nov. 17tu.

I'x 1 lie House of Representatives, yesterday, the Bank ofOtago (Limited) Hill whs rend a- first time. The cn'iv of William Thompson's letter to Archdeacon Urowii mid oilier papers were lii'd on fhe table. 1„ answer to a question JVom Captain Jialdwin, " "When it; is the intention of the Government to fake action ivspeeting tlie move efficient admiiiislaation of jus!ice on the-Otago Gold Fields," the Colonial Senvtary stutcd thai it was the intention of the Government to enter practically into the matter as soon as Hie business of tlie session was over. On tlie motion of the h0,,. Mr. Pox tlie name of Mr. .ICvcs was added to the commiltee on adjustment of representation. The same member also obtained leave to In-iii" in a hill to amend tlie Sheriff's Aet, ISSS. The bill was then read a first time, and the second readin« was made an order of the day for Wednesdav. ° Mr. Fitzgerald stated (hat in making the fojlowin" motion, ne should oiler no remarks, us he believed there would be no opposition offered to it. He then mo>cd I'or leave to bring in a bill for constituting a High Court of Enquiry, to investigate the whole circumstances at tending the acquisition and relinquishment of the block of land at the Wail am, and tlie results arising to the Colony out of sueli acquisition and relinquishment." The bill was then read a first time, and ordered to be read u second time to-morrow. Mr. Jirodie then moved, "That in the opinion of this House tlie ' Custom Hues Act, IH'nl,' is ununited to the present requirements of t he Colonv, and should, therefore, be amended. 2nd. That the' Uovcnuncnt, be requested to prepare a bill, which should be laid before the House nt its next session; such bill to provide for the abolition of tlie dues levied under Section 7, Clause 1, of tlie present Customs Act ; and also a. revised tariff, no that the dues hereafter to be levied, may press more equally upon all classes of the population." lie enlarged upon tlie vast consumption by the miners of heavily-taxed articles, such as clothes, etc., which were necessary, lie stated, in a rigorous climate like Otago—lhe 'inequalitv of the taxes, as levied on spirits and wine, where the richer classes who used tlio Litter pav only Ss. per head, while the consumers of the former pay £2 15s. per head—that a case of silks worth £'1000 pays the same duty—.C4 Is.—as the same sized case of moleskin trousers worth .CIS. In fact, that the coarser articles used by the poor pay the main part of the duties. Ho thought wool should be equally taxed as gold. Mr. Kenall would not vote for the motion, lie had no doubt as to tlie necessity of revising the tariff, but very much doubted whether the carrying of the resolution would cause any change to take

placc, just, as was previously the ease in the passing of a similar motion by Mr.' Taylor. Mr. Yogel approved of the resolution; but not of much that had fallen from the mover. The tax, for instance, levied on gold, was levied for the purpose of meeting the extra requirements of government oil the gold fields. was ,not the ease with districts on which woof' was raised. The hon. the Colonial Treasurer exvi- " lmv v ™ 9 that the resolution moved by Mr. »»aring lay lor in a previous session, and accepted ■ 1 House, was barren in its results. His opinion Mas iliat the eowiti'y was not in a position to abolish any duty, as recommended by the bills, although these might bo remodelled and lightened perhaps twenty per cent. The Government would be willing to prepare a readjustment of the taritl', to be submitted to the House during the next session. Mr. Curtis \" r a !,f OI " L> remarks in support of the present tavilf. 'Rhodes believed tlmf the tariff did not work well, file ]Sew Zealand larilf ought, he thought, to bo assimilated to that of the Australian Colonics, lie »as quite satisfied that the same amount of revenue might be raised at less expense by removing duties train all but about eleven articles now taxed. Mr. tolenso suggested certain alterations in the Bill. Mr. Cargill said that as a merchant he felt little interested in the matter. He was not prepared to support the resolution, which he thought went too far, particularly in doing away witli the duties on all articles mentioned in Section 7 Clause 1 of the present taritl. Mr. Stall'ord proposed as an amendment, that, all (he words in the resolution after the word session be struck out. The argument used that memorials had been received from the various Chambers otCommerce in favour of a revision of the tariff «as ol itsell suspicious, those bodies being composed of mercantile men whose interest led them to obtain just such an arrangement of the taritl" as would put the most prolit into their own pockets. He denied that one class had derived benefit at the expense of another catss by the working ol the existing tariif. Mr. protested against what, he called the aspersion ol Mr. Stafford upon Chambers of Commerce. The amendment of Mr. Stall'ord was then put and carried. , r-Colenso in movmgThaf thclettersfrom " certain C iiiel's nt Ahuriri, laid on the table oil the !th instant by the Hon. .Member for the City of Wellington (Dr. I'eatherston), be taken into consideration, made a long speech, and the motion was allowed to lapse, the feeling of the house being that the discussion raised was an i He one. A message v.-;is here received from his Excellency, enclosing a Loan Appropriation lfill, which was read a hrst time anil or.lciy 1 lo be rea 1 a second time on 1 htirs.lay next. Notices of motion tor a Saturday were made by tin 1 Colonial Secretary for the purpose of thanking her Majesty's Government for the promptitude with which tlie ' Himalaya' had been sent.with troops ; and by Mr. Sauuder's for leave -to bring in a Bill to abolish the New Provinces Act.

The J Lous; then proceeded to the a ljonrned debate on the scroll,! reading of the Loan Bill; Mr. Vogel resinned the debate, staling that, members were still unprepared to discuss the subject, and expressed his surprise at the intention of (he Government, which had leaked out. through ihe Colonial Secretary, that they requested a fifteen months' recess, lie thought tins should have been stated by the Trea atrer, and should therefore oppose so great a lengtboftinic being granted. Me censured the late Government for not having come down to the House an I state,! precisely au l distinctly whether then* had sanctioned the several Provincial Loans. 'The question of whether the House sanctioned these loans was one which ought to have been entered on before creating a new loan for .£3,01J0,000, the more so us very littfe action had as yet been falcon on the Provincial loans, lie opposed the redemption scheme of e sinking fund, and thought thai the colony had no l'.'-ghl to expect the Imperial Government to guarantee the cost, o' erecting telegraphs and lighthouses in the Middle Island. The allocation of the annual debt of .£180,00!) caused by Ihe new loan would be saddled most unfairly. .£130,000 would bo charged upon the Middle Island and only .C 50,000 on the Xorthern Island, while the principal expenditure of the loan would "be for the actual settlement and colonisation of the North. The lion, member made an angry attack on the people of this Province in desiring to make this war a war of profit. He would take his ..'and against the government in opposing ihe second reading ol' this Bill. Captain IJaidwin considered thy question too important a one lo be passed over with a silent vote. To -die lirst item of ;£1.000,Out) to put down Ihe rebellion he gave his cordial support; he would do the same if .Cii,ooo,ooo were required for that purpose. Captain Baldwin entered into the question of Wailara, showing the base character of the native New Zealander, his utter want of gratitude, ns borne out by the history of the colony. (Cheers from various parfs of the House.) He eloquently painted out the kindnesses which had been shown (o the race, and the manner in which these kindnesses had been repaid by the Natives in butchering our women and children; —to punish so ungrateful and blood-tbirsty a race he would gladly vole ;£5,000,000, aye £10,0000,1)00 if necessary, for they could only be governed by the strong arm of force. "Willi regard to the second item, .£1,200,000, lo introduce military settlers and pay for public works, he could no! so cordially agree, it was an expense which should fall on the provinces to be benefitted by it. Mr. .lollie made a few remarks in favour of the loan, and was followed by Mr. Saunders, who would not support the bill; as a member of a Middle/Island constituency, he did not require five minutes consideration tc arrive at this conclusion. He did not believe in expending money in simply chasing the Natives ulmiit. from one place ! to anollV-r, as was now being done ; the military settlements of ths North was a wise step, but that it i should be performed f-t the expense of the North .itself. 'Tile Middle Island had ns much interest in putting down the rebellion in the Northern one, as I hey would have if the rebellion had occurred in Van Dieman'rt Land, or in ,lapan. Mr. Mantell descii'ied the bdl as a piece of spasmodic legislation, caused by chronic terror; a haphazard dash at the public purse, lie did not beii.ne that the security of the Nali ve lands was worth a slraw, no quantity of land would be taken, \iid more than its value would have to be given as jompeusation to herds of friendly Natives. The hon. member then moved an Jamondmendment to the el'.'eet that the House would make liberal provision for the expenditure of the money required to supplement the rmperial forces in quelling the rebellion, and to increase the number of Ihe military settlers to'lhe full 5,000, and that the settlement* of those districts now in rebellion shall be deferred until the rebellion has been put down. Mr. Fitzgerald, in speaking to the amendment, compared the average amount, of individual taxation per head in Grent- .Britain as only about one half of that which would occur here after the passing of the loan. Passing lo Ihe consideration of the general policy of fh ' late ministry, and reviewing the measures which had been brought forward by he present Government, as despotic, he declared that it were better to sweep awav representative instdutioiis altogether than to assist in enacting the farce they were now doing. There was no obstacle, he maintained, against the earlier calling of the session, so that the two great principles of constitutional government might not have been violated, namely, Ihat the Crown has no power to levy troops unsanctioned by the Parliament, or to spend the revenue of the country unappropriated by that bod}'. The debt sought to be incurred would, he. said, swallow up the whole of the three-eighths of the Customs, and the sole revenue obtainable by the Provinces must consist of special taxes laid upon the people by the Provincial Councils, lie denied that this sacrifice was necessary with the object in view, that is if the object be really to bring the war to a conclusion and not to enter upon a system of experimental colonisation. There was no other way to subdue the Maorics but by hunting them down one by one, with bloodhounds, and with a ferocity from which humanity revolted, if the proposed policy was carried out, and the .Maori war, he declared, had been made purely an Auckland question. The Colonial Secretary confessed himself disappoint ed in the great oration which had just been delivered, because he (Mr. 1\) had expoet.-'d that the member for ICllcsinere would have taken a practical view of the question. The principal appeal in that speech was not. to the reason of his hearers but to their interests —a confused mass of great oratorical display but of little value. To merely continue putting down the rebellion would not be but to half do (he work. A short, time hence and European necessities might cause the troops to he recalled, and unless a strong European military papulation were established the country would be at the mercy of the Natives, The Colonial Treasurer, in replying, entered into further details of the financial scheme, and showed the utter fallacy of the cotirsa suggested by the member for Ellesmerc, who was willing to put down the rebellion, but 'who refused to put the Government in a position to ensure that the present rebellion should be the last of its kind. The attacks on the Into Government, he maintained, were unfair. The war was due to the butcheries at Oakura, not to the policy of

the late Government. A division was then taken, when there were for the second reading of the bill 33, against it 11, namely, Ayes : —Jlessrs. Fox, Gillies, Russell, Wood, Stafford, Brodie, Ecnall, Turton, O'Rorke, Cargill, CarSaunders, Ormond, Harrison, "Wayne, John H uhamaon, James Williamson, O'Neill, K. Oral mm, Domett, Wells, Atkinson, Monro, Curtis, 13ell, Colenso, Butler, Eves, C. Taylor, liiclimond, Rhodes, Oeorge GrahamNoes W. Taylor, Fitzlierberfc, Fitzgerald, Fcatiters ton, r-atierson, Reynolds, Vogol, Baldwin. Riehardson, Jollie, and Mantell. ihe Loan Bill was then read a second time und ordered to be committed presently.