HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume II, Issue 553, 21 August 1865, Page 6

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

MONDAY, AUGUST 14.

ADJOUUNF.D DEKATF. — WILLIAM THOMI'SON's I'ETITION". The adjourned debate on the question that the petition of William Thompson be received, was resumed by Mr. Hai::;htox, who thought tlr.it it was the duty of the lloupe to re. eive it Mr. Stai'FO • I) considered that the criticisms and remarks made by the hon. members during the debate were unkind, and fliat they had failed to a-sijrn a reason why the petition should not be received, and he was unable to iiid anything in the paper sufficient to prevent its being received. It was the privilege of Eu'opeans to petition the House when under like circumstances, and why should the Maori be excluded from the same privilege. The document might not be after the sterotyped form of petitions but was it not the case that Europeans often presented petitions not quite after the usual form There was something, however, in the prayer of tho petition genuine. The House was the proper tribunal at which complaints made by natives should be remedied. It was, therefore, plain that it is the duty ef the Houeo to receive the petitions. Tho natives presenting them were powerful, and to refuse to receive them would be a mistake which would be felt for years to come. Mr. J. C. Wilson, 0.8., slid it would be irregular to extend the privileges allowed to Europeans to the natives, particular to the petitioner. He (Willium Thompson) was in arms against the Queen, and had j been engaged in the present war from the time tho | troops arrived at Fokeno. During the first engage- | nient there, a bullet struck the stock of his gun, which Jed him to enquire whether it was his duty to continue his operations against authority. lie (Mr. W■) was informed that Thompson was treacherous and not to be trusted. He deserved nothing from the hands of the House. With reference to the document itself, it was not a petitior, but a manifesto

vom a nia-i of limited bravery and unbounded ambition. If it were an humble petition he would be the first to receive it. IT Wi'li-un Thompson will simi a document declaring his allegiance to the Queen he would receive it. Mr. lli'CKi.anl> said that many of the statements mado in the document were untrue. Still it was the duty of the House to embrace every opportunity of making peace. He knew Thompson personally, and corroborate! the statements made by the last speaker. Thompson was not a leader, though surrounded by an executive council, but a tool in the hands of the other chiefs now engaged in the war, and had nothing whatever to do with tho papers issued in his name from time to time. He would vote for the reception of the paper on the ground ot expediency . _ Mr. Vooel supported the reception of the petition. The Hon. the I'ItKMIKK said he had little to say in the matter, having spoken on a previous occasion in support of the motion. Two que-tions had arisen during tho debut* 1 , which if \vh.s the tluU-ot the Uovernmont to state their views. The reception of the petition would be productive of good results. He thought the time had come wlcn we r''ould to shut r t"ie native population in ula oottles. I his policy had been long tried, but it. fade \ It was the dutv of this or any other Government acting on constitutional principles, to treat them as, and endeavour to make them, men, by bringing them under the intluenee of truth. Ue had every confidence in tho etVorts made by the hon. member for Ellcsniere. Ho believed them to be honest and true Hut even if j they had been used in a wrong direction, it would not be right of the House to cut off all hopes from the native race of obtaining redress of any grievances, ife would nor yield to any one who had broken the law, but treat them with an unrelenting hand. But such questions as the one before the Ilou-e were beset with dilhculties, and all efforts to set them light were li'iblo to abuse. Still in this matter the widest possible lat tude should be given to the natives, and trust sh ■ nHI be reposed in them in the hope of immediate settlement of present difliciilties. tie peri'eetly agrced with the remark made by some hon. members, to the effect, tluit there was no one in tho House qualified to form a correct estimate of Thompson':, character. If there was such a person, he was not the man. But it- was not necessary. He thought that the. petition ought to be received, no mutter who presented it. so long as the petitioner recognised the House as the final tribunal. Tins brought him to the second question. Hon. members hud snid that the petition ought to bo received on the grounds of expediency or fear. Put it t-hould not be so aftri--1 r.ied, and if lion, members continued to mi-construe the grounds on which it should be received, he would ask "the House to delay its reception. Ho would, however, ask this House to receive it, because fear di not exist. The House was receiving a petition from a mm driven luck into his fastnesses humiliated, and deprivi dof his lands. Let. then, the House receive the petition, and see what he hid to say. It is not the rule of the House to receive only one side of rlie questi -n. but it is its duty to take all sides into e nsideration. Feeling that his cause is sinking. Thompson comes before the Hou-c, not absolutely suppliant, but defending hiim'df, and asking the ilou-e to In ar him. petition was respectfully worded. Mr. George Gkmiam said, with reference to some of the remarks of hon. members, he hid to state that the petition was written when Ihompson's people were m a state of great excitement. When Thompson went to meet Col. Carey he und-rstood that his la ds in the Waikato were for ever alienate'!, but expected that he would be liberally treated When he sent in his submission, h- expected that it would be received. It would be an injustice to Thompson, and to himself, to refuse the petition He personally broughtThompson to make it, and now to rt fe.se this petition would have a most inju-ious tendency on the native mind. He knew that Thompson w.-i- a man of high character, and that he had on several occasions saved tile lives of Europeans. If hon. members would read the Sn/tf h of duly 11, ISH3, they would find an instance of this reported, lie believed Thompson to be a misrepresented man. There were expressions in the petition he much regretted. T.h'..-hon. the Post Ma-tkr General regretted that his opinion on tnis subject was directly opp >sed to that of his colleagues. He could not hy any possible exercise of ingenuity or stretch of benevolence regard this as a petition—it should rather be viewed as a manifesto from a rebel in arms. There was no sueing for justice, but a high and haughty defiance—it was a declaration of an equal, to an equal, not an appeal to wh it has been culled fhe " high inquest of the nation." There was a dignity which it was the duty of the House to assert, anil that was grievously attacked by William Thompson. What does ttie petitioner demand r Ife says that before fighting is at an end, '-li.-st, let all other things be finally arranged, nunely, let the boundary be taken to To la." Jn other words, give up all you have gtincd. This is his ultimatum. ".And then," ho says, "we have done no wrong on account of which we should suffer, and our lands be taken from us." With respect to the king movement, what was the attitude of the petitioner r He says, "when I set up that king I did not intend that his authority should be thrust upon tho Europeans. So, only to the Maoris and til-/ lands which remain to us, and even unto this day he still held on to the king;" and further, " but do you agree to the plan by which his authoritv may extend to the Queen's boundaries." He (the Postmaster Geucril) trusted the House would decline to receive a petition which assumed this defiant attitude, which asst. -ted an authority over our fai'hl'ul native allies who acknowledged the supremacy of the Queen, and haveshed their bio id freely in oure inse. He could not, believe that they were prep ircl to stoop to this humiliation. Not content with tho-e dec! ir;itions, William Th -mpson proceeds to sti. matise every net done by the Imperial forces as murder, and, by necessary implication, the act >rs as murderers. If the House listened to this petition, it might expect to be inundated with petitions in the same rebel strain. He had less reluctance in urging the House to reject this petition of the Oth April, becau.su a later one, properly «nd respectfully worded had already been received by the House. It would have been better that the petition had never been presented, or if presented, that it had been withdrawn, on th» presentation and acceptance of th i one befitting the dignity of the House to receive. Mr. Joi.lie thought it too much to ask tho House to receive the petition, seeing that it contained objectionable matter. Major Atkinson regr. tfed to see eo much ignorance of the native character displayed by the House. 'I he perifion was not to a private person, though sent to a private individual. All who knew tho Maori character knew well that the Mn ri will send his petition to tho person he knows best, or (rusts in most. lie wa persuaded by toe petition that the .Maoris had given in. With reference to Mr. Giuliani, he had to state that he did not, go to the Waik.ito under the auspices of the Government. MGraham said ho had already explained that to the House. Mr. Glediiili. stated that some years ago, under like cireuinst-mces, the "otise hud received petitions from the -Maoris. They then ae'uiowl dged the dignity and superiority of the House. They were now before tho House again, and was it because the petitioners were Maoris, or because the p> tiliou was not in due form, that hon. members were not in favor of their reception r Mr. Fitzcei'.ald said be would not trouble them with a speech, fur the subject -vas exhauste ', but had one or two rom irks to make with regard to himself. Any connection he had had with the natives was not by personal intercourse, but through the House, and members were, therefore, qualified to judge of its legality of right ; still he thought it perf'e tly right for private individuals to communicate with the natives now in robe lion. He, us a member of the House nud a magistrate of the Colony, thought, so. With regard to the petition, the House was so unanimous m the matter as not to require further remark from him. When the natives engaged in the war, they thought, they had a just cause to light for ; and since thev were come to the Houso to state their case, and seek redress, ought they not to bo heard ? Have they not a right to be heard? Certainly they liavc. Well, then, with a true regard - to public feeling, he hoped the petition would be received. The motion that the petition be received was put to the House, and carried by a majority of twentv-fivo to sixteen. Ayes, 2f>—Atkinson, Bell, Buckland, Butbr, Carleton, Creighton, Domett, Fitzgerald, Gledhill, George Graham, Robert Graham, ldaultain, M acAndrew, Munro, O'Neill, O'Rorke, PJiarazyn, Richmond, Sewed, 'Thomson, Voge], Walker, Wayne, Weld, John Williamson. Noes, IG—Prodie, Burns, Colenso, Cox, Curtis, Eyes, Harrison, Haugh'ou, Jollie, Miles, Ormond, Richardson, Ward, Wilkin, Jus. Williamson, Wilson. The House adjourned at hull-past 5 o'clock. At sevon o'clock, the hour for resuming business, there was not a House. The Speaker waited a quarter of an hour, when there was a count out.