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New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4209, 16 September 1874, Page 2

The support which Mr, Stafford lent to the Premier iu carrying the resolutions which declared that Provincialism ought to be abolished in the North Island was hardly leas effective than that he afforded when the State Forests Bill was under discussion. It had been the task of Mr. Vogel to show the reasons that had led him to bring forward the measure, define its principles, and the grounds upon which these were based, condense the numerous statistics and facts that with indefatigable industry he had collected, and recommend the House to agree to the second reading of the Bill. Several members spoke in support of it, iind a few against it, but the opposition was, as it commenced to be and continued throughout the session, of the lamest and most impotent description. Indeed, this was one of the features of the session." In the lobbies of the House, and in obscure back rooms, bitter opponents of the Government looked ominously and' “ muttered thunder.” There was, said they, a crash coming. Things, they know, were not so smooth as they appeared. . There was a skeleton in the Treasury, or in Mr. Waterhouse or somebody’s iron chest, that haunted the Premier, and when it was understood that ho was about to visit London, the same idle tale had to do duty. The opposition to the State Forests Bill had been of this caste, and Mr. Stafford was severe upon it. Several false friends, unable to find arguments against the measure, and utterly powerless to traverse the facts set forth in the paper presented to Parliament, professed that they should like to see tho Bill read a second time and then quietly shelved. They wanted to literally kill it with kindness—to have it read, so that its funeral obsequies might immediately take . place. They even went further and said that this was the wish of tho Premier. It is difficult to account, on a rational hypothesis, how they could expect any one to believe such an absurd assertion, and perhaps they did not. Possibly they wore somewhat after the manner of persons who are accustomed to spread untruths,, and take very little notice of these at tho time they do so. Tho object which they have to servo is a temporary one, and tho lie is told and forgotten. There is no doubt that it by any moans the State Forests Bill could have been burked in the manner described, a very considerable blow would have been struck at the reputation of the Government. An illustration to the charge of fancy legislation, and bringing forward wild and impracticable schemes, would never have been wanting. Mr. Stafford acted as a very able assistant to tho Cabinet in utterly annihilating tho imposition that was being attempted. Ho told hon. mefnbers who advocated the second reading of the Bill in order that it might bo decently buried, they “were either iu earnest”—wo suppose in their opposition—“or they wore playing with the subject in a manner that was not worthy of their position as representatives, or that their constituents had a right to expect when a largo and important national question was submitted to their consideration.” Tho hon. gentleman was scarcely loss severe upon some members who, either too idle to read tho Parliamentary paper presented to them, or unable to master its contents, pleaded that there should bo delay. Ho asked, significantly, whether “those who wore acquainted with the habits and dispositions of members of tho House, believed" that members of tho Legislature, with very few exceptions indeed, would on any future occasion bo at all bettor informed on tho subject than they then were V

What, . continued he, “ would they gain by this delay ? A few additional months of local experience—a few additional months of contemplation of what was going on immediately in their neighborhood. Delay, if they kept their eyes open, would only enable them to see that whilst there was a marked and lamentable destruction of the forests of the country, there was nothing whatever being done to replace the timber that was being destroyed.” The idea of leaving the Provincial Governments to deal with so important a matter, he scouted. The word Province, said; ho, had been thrown in their ears, ‘‘ as if a Province was a little god almighty”—as wo may add there is little doubt it is in the ideas of a good many old settlers in the Colony. Some Provincial Governments, said he, had not the means to undertake charge of State forests. They had to receive alms from the General Government year by year. The Superintendent of Wellington, who spoke later in the debate, and then professed his inability to discern the difference between “ conserving and preserving,” had Said in a reply to a circular addressed by the Premier to all the Superintendents, that the best way to conserve the forests was to alienate them at once. This reply, wo take to be sufficient evidence of what his knowledge of forestry amounted to, and how the interests of the country would be served by only State forests being placed in charge of an Executive of which he was the presiding genius. The arguments employed' by Mr. Stafford were certainly very strongly in favor of the conclusion that the time has arrived when institutions that rendered admirable sorvico-.to the Colony in its infancy, should not bo a restraining power upon it, now it has attained strength and maturity. A man in a child’s dress would scarcely be a greater absurdity. At one time it might have fitted him admirably, and it might'still bea very nice garment for a child, but it would not he adapted to the altered circumstances and outline of the individual. What the Government had a right to expect from the Opposition—if indeed an Opposition which but snarls and faotiously carps is worthy to-be called such—was that one of two courses should be taken. Either the Bill should have been opposed, or it should have been read a second time, with a view to it being amended, in Committee. We will suppose that Mr. Fitzherbert’s idea of “conserving” forests was to “alienate” them, and that to the mind of".the hon. member the terms were synbnimous ; as he certainly gave reason for Inferring. Of course, if this be pp, all the’testimony that we have respecting the--.-waste and destruction there is on forest, land privately owned or leased mhst be utterly untrue. Also, the hitherto -admitted facta inust be queried, that it takes : one hundred years to grow an oak tree lo its propor age and development. And wo ; must receive as mere moonshine that forests promote a regular rainfall; break the force of tempests, or that their destruction has rendered sterile many districts that were formerly fertile. Believing this, the hon. member might have opposed the measure in all good faith. But the country would have had a right to • expect that he should have favored Parliament with a few facts in support Of his theories. It, on the contrary, he admitted the Premier’s facts, but disputed his conclusions, and disagreed with his remedy, he might have sketched what amendments ha thought should be proposed when the Bill was in Committee. - But this is what the Opposition, the members of which might very well be described as were the inmates of the Cave of Adullam, did not do. They elected to try and treat.the Bill as tradition says our forefathers used to do persons that were' affected with hydrophobia, or who had the misfortune to bo lunatics. They wanted to smother it, and in order to effect their end they resorted to stratagem, just as Mr. Fitzherbert described the Maoris as doing when they attacked their enemies—screening themselves behind bushes so that they might present the appearance “of a moving forest”—whatever this may be. Mr. Stafford rendered the Government signal service in exposing the design. In fact, his support of the Government throughout the session was so real and effective that no one could have felt surprise if he had joined the Ministry.