POST – SESSIONAL SPEECHES.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4204, 10 September 1874, Page 3

POST - SESSIONAL SPEECHES.

ME. VON DER HEYDE AT WAITEMATA. Mr. Von dbu Heyde, at his re-nomination for Waitemata, said that when he last had an opportunity of facing the electors in the hall in which they were assembled he did not think that he should be called upon again »so soon to address them. It was but fair to tell them, and they would believe him when he said that then, as now, he considered that lie was as thoroughly qualified for a seat in the Legislative Assembly, or., any other honors in the country, as anyone born in England. He had no hesitation in acknowledging that he was born in Germany, and he felt proud of it ; but at the same time he also felt proud of the country which he had adopted, and in which his children had been born. Not for one moment would he have thought of jeopardising ■the franchise of those who supported him, had he thought there was the slightest objection to his holding his seat. The objection was a mere technical one. In 1857 he took the oath of allegiance in Australia, which was confirmed by Her Majesty. In 1860 he came to the Colony of New Zealand. At that time the Colony in which he had been naturalised had made application to extend the right of naturalization throughout Her Majesty's dominions. With the impression that this would be done he came here, and took no further trouble about it; but it appeared that after lie had arrived here, and some time after the application had been made, it was refused. From the date of his arrival here he had always been looked upon as a properly qualified person to hold positions of honor, and if the step which had been taken to invalidate his election had not been taken, by a very simple process the matter could have been rectified : there was no necessity to unseat him. He would not. throw blame upon his opponents. They may "have been actuated by straightforward motives, but he did not think that was the only way in which the seat could have been declared vacant. He would refer to a gentleman who was the representative for the district of Akaroa, who had been disqualified on his own application and went back to his constituents, and they one and all voted for him again, and the very man who opposed him before offered to propose him knowing that his election had been declared void on a technical point. Having referred to some remarks by Mr. Macfarlane's proposer and seconder, and having answered a few questions, Mr. Von Der Heyde continued: —-If you do not desire to ask me, I will tell you what I think of the Ministerial questions brought down to the House. I should preface my remarks by saying, that on the very night the division took place, the question of whether I was entitled to hold ray seat, was in the hands of a Select Committee; and I thought, if I consulted my own conscience, I was right to abstain from voting on that or any other question. However, I kept my opinion not to myself, but made it pretty well known. There can be no question that these resolutions, as they were brought down, contained very incongruous i-lements. There were three clauses: —First, the abolition of the Northern Provinces; second, declaring Wellington to be the seat of Government; and the third, localising the laud revenue and confirming the compact of 1856. As regards the first clause, there can be no doubt that Provincialism has been a good servant. In the past it has done its work well, perhaps not as economically as we could wish; but Provincial Institutions have always been on the spot, and have administered the government of the country where it was wanted. But the conditions of the country have changed, and I am of opinion that it would be well to adopt a different form of government; but at the same time I cannot reconcile myself to the idea that we. should attack the Constitution of the country, and let such grand changes !\s_are now proposed, affect one portion of the country and not the whole of it. Everybody will agree that there is a vast difference between the Provinces of the North and of the South. We have been taunted with impecuniosity; and I am afraid it is only too true. We have no large resources upon which we can draw to endow our schools, build bridges, and complete other large works; but we havo been obliged to borrow from the General Government. If it had been a matter of policy to abolish the Provinces, it would have been a more simple plan, and quite as effective, if the Government had said, " We will lend you no more money." But now they propose to abolish us, without letting the same rule go through the length and breadth of the country, and that I consider wrong. I would also like to be informed a little more fully as to what is proposed to be substituted for the present form of Provincial government. The resolutions, of course, did not bind the representatives who voted for them, to accept the Bill that will bo brought down; but I doubt very much whether the Bill be such as will be suitable to the North Island and the South. There is no doubt that the South Island is just as anxious to havo one government as the North Island. In connection with the change in our Constitution, I would have it urged upon the Government that a thorough revision of the representation of the Colony should be made. The North Island is nothing like adequately represented in the Assembly. The members of the North Island are numerically weaker than the members of the South; and it is one of those questions I should like to have seen tacked to the resolutions. As regards Wellington being made the capital of the Colony, I do hot see why Auckland should be asked to surrender the right given to it by charter of the Colony to be the capital of the country. If Wellington has been looked upon as the scat of Government, letS it be a tacit understanding that it is to be the' capital; but do not let us confirm it—there is no necessity to do so. Let us continue to look upon the seat of Government established there; but there is no necessity for making it such by a statute of the country. As regards the localising of the land revenue and confirming of the compact of 1850 and 1858, there is only one voice in the Province, and all proclaim against it as unjust. What was thought right in 1856-58, if wrong now, I cannot see why it should not be remedied by sweeping away the Southern Island Provinces. The Southern members are aware of this, and are making away with their land as. rapidly as possible. The burden of their speeches last session was, " We will do anything, but do not touch our land revenue." But how is the country to be governed ? The law was not like the law of the Modes and Persians, and it must be altered to meet the necessity of the Government. ME. SHEEHAN AT PABNELL. At Mr. Reader Wood's meeting at Pamell, Mr. Sheepan, as an elector of the district, reviewed at some length Mr. Wood's speech, and especially defended the Provincial Government, against some of the remarks made by the hon. member. He said that Mr. Wood attempted to dissever the last two of Mr. Vogel's resolutions from the two that preceded them, but the effect was still the same ; and the meeting wanted an explanation of the proceedings and votes of their representatives in the Assembly, and not what took place in Mr. Vogel's private residence, or, as Mr. Wood had said, in a place where reporters were not admitted, nor the telegraph wires flashed their messages. The real reason why he had then opposed the two last resolutions was the force of public opinion in Auckland. That it was which had dictated that course, why he refused to endorse the two last.clauses of the resolutions. Mr. Wood's conversion was as sudden as that of St. Paul. (Laughter.) If they were his opinions, and he had expressed them in the House, why were they not recorded in " Hansard '!" (Hear, hear.) Ho had there been ominously silent on these points: Mr. Wood was a man of great eloquence—ho was always listened to with respect in the House—had made perhaps the most brilliant speech when the .questions were .debated, but he had not made the slightest reference to the two questions he had informed them he could not support tlie Government in. They had been informed that the resolutions were mainly opposed' by Superintendents and Provincial Secretaries and other officers. Well, he (Mr. Sheehan) was a Provincial Government officer, and he was not ashamed of it. (Hear, hear.) It was a justifiable ambition in any one to aspire to, and Mr. Wood had in h's

turn been a member of the Provincial Government. He (Mr. Sheehan) considered that the very best men might occupy such positions with credit to themselves and usefulness to the public, and that the very best men should be induced to take office. He disclaimed any personal motive in occupying the position of Provincial Secretary, for which he received a salary of £450 per annum, but he thought no one would deny but that he could earn a much larger income by the exercise of his own profession Of one thing ho could assure the meeting, and that was that in abolishing the Provincial system of government for centralisation they were only exchanging King Log for King Stork. On one matter Mr. Wood had intentionally misled the meeting, and that was with reference to the £25,000 he said was voted for the Province. He had averred the Provincial Council was on the horns of a dilemma, but lie conceived he was on them himself. Either the hon. gentleman was not in his place in the House when the measure had been passed, and consequently did not see its object, or else he had wilfully misled the meeting. That money was voted for public works, and its expenditure had to be sanctioned by the Minister of that department. It was of such popular ingredients as had been largely made use of by Mr. Wood that many a speech was made ; but he conld only characterise his remarks on the Provincial Government as similar to hitting a man when he was down—(hear, hear) —and he could not deny that Provincial Governments were declining. It was all very well to suggest and recommend that pressure should be brought to bear on the Superintendent to assemble the Council \uA allocate the £25,000 for educational purposes when he (Mr. Wood) knew very well that the money could not be so dealt with. Nothing could be more unreal .than the attitude assumed by Mr. Wood. The building they were assembled in was occasionally used as a theatre, and Mr. Wood's remarks had been made to them from the stage—he was the hero of the hour, but he (Mr. Sheehan) had never heard anything more unreal than his honorable friend s utterances. The hero of melodrama, armed with a dagger, and whose appearance on the stage was heralded by music and blue fire was not a more unreal personage than Mr. Reader Wood. (Laughter and applause.) He might remind them that Mr. Wood had ridiculed the notion of -the two clauses referring to the permanent establishment of the capital city in Wellington, and of there being any significance in the provisions regarding the confirmation of the compact of 1856. He had pooh poohed the notion of agitation on them, but that was mere bunkum when they remembered what had been told them of the proceedings in the cave with the Premier's hardy followers. (Laughter.) Did not Mr. Wood then say ho would not support the resolutions of the Government if those two were included. Did that look like making light of the two questions? (A voice: " Give it to him, Mr. Sheehan.") He should do nothing of the sort. So long as Mr. Wood had confined himself to his own political actions he would have sat and listened to. him in silence, but when he attacked the Government, of which he was a member, he could not do otherwise than speak in its defence. The Provincial Government was not an effete institution ; it was as active and useful as ever. The truth was' that Parliament had recklessly squandered the public funds, that now nothing was left for local selfgovernment. How the public funds were dealt with could be seen by the appointment of the District Judge for Napier at a salary "of £7OO a year. Why, that was more than the expenses of himself and his colleagues put together ; but then he could not presume to place himself on the same footing as a District Judge. (Laughter.) He was much smaller fry. (Renewed laughter.) Again the man that at one time Mr. Wood had denounced as unworthy of the confidence of the country, ho now regarded as its saviour —he meant Mr. Vogel. Lastly, referring to his own voting in Wellington, Mr. Sheehan said he had voted against the resolutions, and would do so again if they contained the two last clauses. He regarded the removal of the seat of government as a gross act of robbery. It was a proposal that no Auckland member should have listened to much less have voted for. (Cheers.) As for the abolition of the Southern Provinces, that would only happen when they were as bankrupt as those of the North. By that time our landed estate would amount to 10 or 12,000,000 acres, and when we were in a position to enjoy it, we.should have to share it with the South Island. The future depended on the well-known vacillation of the Premier. In 1574 he might propose the abolition of the Provincial Governments, and in 1875 the abolition of the Colonial Government. He (Mr. Sheehan) said, let them go. in a lump ; he decidedly objected to the North Island being made the subject for experiment, and he equally objected to be governed by a majority of the Southern members. (Cheers.) The same power that could put an end to our Provinces, could sweep them away, too. They might be endowed in 1575, and swept away in 1870. Our only endowment would be local taxation. The true state of affairs was, we wore on the eve of a great financial crisis, and money must bo obtained at any cost to carry out the Public AVorks policy. Ho did not act from personal motives, but to warn the people, and he would advise them to .follow the good old rule, "To take a good hold of what you are to got before you parted with what you had." (Cheers and laughter.) ' At the end of five years there was not one person present but would admit they had made a great mistake, and given away local self-government for anything but an equivalent. The North Island would only be a dependency on the South, and they might thank their members for occupying that position.