MAKERS OF NEW ZEALAND

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13894, 4 May 1907, Page 4

MAKERS OF NEW ZEALAND

l!v 11. H. Lisic.

IV.—EDWARD W. STAFFORD.

In leaching E. W. Stafford we hava arrived at the first of tho "Makers of New Zealand " whose intlnence on colonial affairs was exercised through the ordinary channels. It was as a Premier of successive Cabineits and one of the most influential members of the first five Parliaments of the colony that Stafford's work for New Zealand was done. Unlike Sir George Grey, wo hre not met by the difficulty of estimating the work done in two wholly different capacities—ono calling for tho qualities of a rulu-, all but autocratic; the other for those of a leader of bis equals in politics. Unlike Wakefield, ho did not aspire to becoming a founder of nations or sketching out the broad lines on which new communities should be built. It was as a politician and executive administrator of colonial affairs, and nothing more, that Edward Stafford earned whatever credit he is entitled to as one of the men who should be remembered by the people of the country ill which he spent the best years of his life.

Stafford was never exactly a popular statesman, even in- times which didn't call for .the qualities that make for popularity in the new era. Rather dignified in appearance and manner; convinced rather than enthusiastic in bis views of public affairs, he would havo felt it degrading to gain popularity by ;i purely mercantile attitude in policy, such as that, adopted by Vogel, and was wholly unfitted for and incapable of adopting the methods by which Mr Seddon gained and maintained Tiis unique hold on the public of the colony. Yet in most respects Stafford was more the man of bis time than any other New Zealand politician we have had would or could have been. The times were not ripe in his day for a policy of expansion on the lines of commercialism adopted by Sir Julius Vogel; the conntiy and its people were even less nearlv ready for anything like tho industrial policy inaugurated by John Ballance and carried on by Mr Seddnn, to which NewZealand is now fully committed. It must be remembered that the case of New Zealand was peculiar in many respects. Wheq its Constitution first came into forco its population was smaller than that, of any other colony invested with powers of almost complete self-government under the same circumstances. There were hardly more than 30,000 white settlers—men, women, and children—in the country when the first Parliament was elected, and even these were scattered in little communities, most of them hundreds of miles apart. In the North Island, at' anyratc, the Native population very greatly exceeded tlie European settlers in numbers, and, with the exception of a few thousands of acres bought, from tlicm by tho Government for the purposes of settlement, tho Maoris were the owners of all the land. In those early days manufactures could hardly be said to exist in tho colony: there were no factories, and .hardly any workshops; labour meant almost entirely work on -the land, and its relations with capital were of the simplest character. The work of New Zealand's earliest statesmen, therefore, while it mav bo looked upon as really more important lor tho future of the country than tho faT more elaborate legislation of 'late years, was of quite a different sort, and had to be dealt with under different methods.

It fell to the lot of ah- Stafford to bf! (be first colonial statesman to undertake for any length of time conycntively tin; task of consolidating the scattered fragments of settlement into something 'ike a, united community, and it is only fair to admit that the work was- surrounded by many difficulties. The distance from Auckland to Dimedin, though considerable, doesn't appear very formidable to-day, when it can be towelled by rail and steamer in less than three days. It tt!is a very different affair when the only conveyance available was a coasting vessel—generally n small schooner, —which might make the voyage in a fortnight, butmow probably in three weeks, and on one occasion took a month on the passage, ■ landing the weather-worn legislators in Auckland just as i tiie cession of Parliament was about to dose. This was bad enough, but it- was by no means all that had to be overcome. The original settlers •of New Zealand were separated by differences that wore very marked in a variety of ways; indeed, it may be said with some degree of truth that the settlers of the Auckland province were by far the most cosmopolitan of any of them. Tlio Otago settlers were Scotch almost lo a man; the Canterbury settlers were English, and they had been selected because they were something more than that— they were Church of England people, and, as far as possible, sons ot English farmers, accustomed for generations to take their hilie off to the squire whenever they met him. Tho New Zealand Company's settlers around Cool; Strait were not quite so specialised, but, while they bad a good deal in common with those of Canterbury, they had (special peculiarities and grievances of their own which made them far from friendly to the more northern colonists who were settled near the scat of government, which tliey regarded as theirs of right.

My Stafford* first took oflice ill 1856. Ills Ministry succeeded' two others, hurriedly formed and as hurriedly dissolved, of which Henry Sew-cll (representing Canterbury) ar.d William Fox (representing Wellington) were' the Premiers*: the first* lasted barely a fortnight, tlie second lilllu more than a week. The circumstances were sufficiently novel to account for these sudden changes without indicating any Berjotis unfitness for ollice on the jiart ol tho men who formed tliow short-lived Cabinets; but, on the other hand, they reflect the more credit, on tho politician who was able to succeed whore tliey had failed. Responsible government was a new tiling in ihese young countries— indeed, New Zealand had the honour of leading the way to its realisation .in this part of the world, as she has since done in other matters,—and possibly neither Governor Gore-Brown nor tho budding statesmen of the young colony fully appreciated the difficulties of its earliest workings. There were special difficulties besides in the .transferences of the wholo machinery of administration from - the hands of a practically autocratic Governor and a little group of permanent, officials to those of active politicians bent upon carrying out a policy of their own. Native affairs, indeed, had not been handed over to colonial control, hut so far from making the task of the Responsible Rxecutivc easier this made it* really more difficult. Tho Natives and their affairs came into constant contact with those of the Europeans ; the expansion of the colony, in tlie North Island at least, depended upon tho purchase of Native lands by tlie Government, and yet. the Governor had the sole control of these matters, and might .at any moment veto the action of his Ministrv.

It- is no small tribute to the tact- and policy of Mr Stafford that under the* circumstances lie was able to conduct the public affairs of the voting colony for rather more than five years. They were years, too, 01 more than ordinary importane« in tho history of the colony's development. Everything, or nearly everything, had to be done that had for its object turning the original group of widelyscattered settlements into a single community, and it is hardly too muck to saythat- a wise moderation and a- far-seeing discretion was in nearly every case exercised by .the Cabinet, of which Stafford was tho leader. Politics were keen in those days, and while the Assembly was sittiag,. tlie Ministry-was exposed to au

amount of criticism least as severe as anything later years can sliow. The men who funned the fust four or five Parliaments of the colony were for the most, part- able men ami powerful speakers, and the ugly ami certainly unpretentious wooden building, erected for Provincial Government purposes, and since handed over for University uses, has probably echoed u good many more eloquent and •statesmanlike speeches than the far more pretentious Assembly Buildings at Wellington. Stafford himself was not an orator—indeed, there weie at least half a, dozen more eloquent speakers in the early Parliaments than be,—but- he was forcible and effective, because, be was always in earnest. Fitzgerald was far more eloquent, toade; Wood was more polished, both Fox and Dillon Bell were pleasanter speech-makers; but it- is at least questionable whether any one of them quite equalled the Premier in the jkiwct of making a clear statement of his views and giving his reasons for having adopted them. The two gilat questions of statesmanship with which the early Ministries of tlie colony had to deal were the relations of the colonial Government- to those of the provinces on the one. hand and to the British Cabinet- on the other. Both were difficult to deal with, and both had to bo approached with care. Mr Stafford was always looked on with suspicion ,by the extreme Provincial party in the colony and in the House, and to a certain extent the. feeling was justified. ' He did not. attempt to do away with the Provincial Governments and Councils—indeed, such an attempt would have been dangerously premature, even if its success has been possible. What he felt, however, was that- under the circumstances in which Sir George Grey's American Constitution had placed the country one or oilier idea must prevail: either the colony must become a confederacy of provinces, or the provinces must become mere dependencies for purposes of local administration on the colonial Government. His own convictions were entirely in favonrof the consolidation of power, in the hands of the Central Government, and during the nine years in which be diiectcd as Premier the affairs of the country be never lost sight of thai purpose.

Hie struggle for complete colonial selfgovernment against tho prejudices of Downing street had also to bs approached with judgment, and there cannot be a, doubt that its success was largely owing to the courteous but nnyieldiug perseverance ot Mr Stafford. Step by step the idea of two governments—one for the Maori and the other for the European population—was reduced to an absurdity. Tho wars of 1860 and 1863 no doubt hastened the change of attitude on the part of tlie ITome Government, but it was tho policy of the Stafford from 1056 to 1861 that brought it about, and with it the new era of real self-govern-meiit for;' the colony.

By bis persistent policy of provincial repression Stafford rendered possible the Vogel policy of 1872, though it is certain that ho would not have formulated or carried it out himself; by his long and successful struggle for complete colonial self-government- he opened the door to the legislation of Ballance and Seddon, though it would neither have had his sympathy nor support.