AUCKLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 1191, 26 September 1874, Page 9

AUCKLAND.

(from our own correspondent.)

I wrote to you only a few days ago ; bnt Mr Reader Wood's meeting having been since held, and having, as the first expression of opinion at the meeting of a member with his constituents, some novelty and importance, an account of it may be acceptable.

You are aware that Mr Eeader Wood was one of the members who voted for the abolition of Provinces in the North Island, and that he was also one of those burnt in effigy on the Barrack Hill. The burning evidently rankled in the honourable member's mind ; it was the Hegira, from which he dated all events. At such and such a time, " just so many hours before or after, or when the Auckland people were burning me in effigy," I was giving such and such a vote, or making such and such a speech. At a certain caucus held by Mr Vogel I said that I considered the last two sections of the resolution improper, and would not vote for them. I was cheered by the 46 members present, and •' that evening I was burnt in effigy in Auckland " And bo on throughout the speech, which itself was thoroughly characteristic of Mr Reader Wood. It was brilliant. It was well arranged and well delivered, but it told nothing — literally nothing — except the honourable member's firm belief, from what he and others knew of Mr Vogel's intentions, that he would sell the South, abolish its Provinces, and appropriate its land fund for Colonial usea. It is right, and due to the people of Parnell, to add that the hundreds present received all these announcements very coolly. They have no wish to see the South sold. They have a strong, and, I venture to say, a very just conviction that they are being unfairly treated. Mr Wood began by telling his hearers, as they have all along known, that he was an avowed Centralist of the purest water, and had always proved this by his votes on every question during several years. He had intended to introduce resolutions for the abolition of the Provinces ; but Mr Vogel told him "that he would no longer finance with' these Provinces, but that the General Government would have to take them under its own control." He denied that there were three resolutions, but that the whole motion formed only one, and that any part of it might properly be excluded when the Bill to carry it out was brought in. But whether this was done or no, he held that no member was bound by his vote in their favour to concur with the whole Bill. "As far as could be learned from the clumsy language in which the resolution was couched, the kernel of it was in the first Bubject— that the Provinces should bo abolished. All the rest was but leather and prunella." He quoted the opposition of Mr Macandrew, and of Mr Montgomery of Canterbury, to show that this was their view as well as his own. On the division list; '• there were sixteen men only with the Noes, and of thess 10 were either Superintendents, Provincial Secretaries, or hangers-on of Provin cial Governments in some form or another." Mr Wood did not say how far these facts disqualified the members from forming an opiuion, nor did he say how many on the other side were interested in seeing the resolution carried as hangers on of the General Government, nor did he infer that they were disqualified accordingly. He then took his audience to what he styled "a new region, where reporters were not admitted and where telegrams did not flash." Mr Wood then related what took place at the meeting of the 46 members who supported the resolutions, when they assembled in caucus in Mr Vogel's dining-room. He told Mr Vogel and the members present that the interest he had taken in this question was well known, and that he had done all in his power towards the abolition of Provincial Institutions. He stated to them that this seemed the first step on the part of the Government in that direction, but it was equally clear that there were two subjects in the resolution that would be against his grain. One was the confirmation of the Seat of Government at Wellington, and the Other was the proposal to confirm the Compact of 1856. He absolutely refused to be a party to these two portions of the resolution. The moment he Baid that it was welcomed by every person present with cheers. "Mr Fox then rose and said he fully concurred with every word Mr Wood had spoken. Messrs Stafford, Buckland, and Jackson followed, and everyone who had been burned in effigy in Auckland said the same thing, and they carried the whole feeling of the meeting with them Mr Vogel then said that these two last portions of b* c re«olution formed no integral part of it, and that tl ere would be no necessity to put them in the Act. He was thus instrumental in extracting from Mr Vogel these vie«Vß of the Government on the same Saturday on which he was burnt in Auckland." Mr Wood did not give much information as to the way in which the proposed alterations were to be made, and it was remarked at once by many of the meeting that either he must have seriously misunderstood Mr Vogel, or Mr Vogel must change his opinions very rapidly, or his published Bpaeches were merely to be taken as wasted air. From this Mr Wood soared very high, and talked about a great and gloriouß future for the country, when its destinies were in the hands only of the " National Assembly of New Zealand," meaning the 120 gentlemen, or thereabouts, who have signalised themselves by the prudence of their legislation^ the economy of their administration, the jealous care with which they have voted away the public money, and th<-ir sense of their own value, as evinced by the 150 guinea honorarum which they have just Voted to themselves. Of course, Mr Wood did not say thiß. He had too much good taate to criticise the Assembly, and confined himself, to a criticism of Provincial Governments and Councils. But he left the audience to infer from his silence how little there waß to complain of in the purity of the Assembly when contrasted with the jobbery, the self-seeking, the member-buying, and the lobbying of the Councils. The bulk of the audience, however, continued attentive, but very cold, and evidently wanted a little meat to all this sack. If anyone had proposed the abolition of Provinces ia both islands, Mr Wood declared that " only ivfm& member* h^ yoisi |pj %%,

and no more" — a declaration somewhat inconsistent with the eager cheers of the fortysix who met in Mr Vogel's dining-room, of whom he had been speaking just before. Finally, however, Mr Wood carried the audience off its legs. He is an admirable reciter, and the audience hushed when, with appropriate gesture, clear and audible voice, and perfect intonation, he concluded his address with a quotation which he styled, "less trite, far more beautiful, and as true as that of Mr Firth at the Choral Hall," and burst iovfh —

How coor are they th.it hare no patience : What wound did c^ er heal hut by degrech ? Thou knowest we work by wit and not by witchcraft, Aud wit defends our dilatory time. The delighted audience cheered to a man as Mr Wood sat down, with justifiable pride, at the power of his eloquence, and no doubt also at the facility it had afforded him for gratifying his constituents, without giving them one solid pr.\in of solid information. Up then rose Mr SheehaD, with apologies for interfering, and cut Mr Wood considerab yto pieces. He said his attacks on the Provincial Government warranted his interference, or he should not have spoken ; but Mr Wood had fallen short of the whole facts in several of his statements. He pointed out that the £25,000 voted by the Assembly was not, as Mr Wood had stated, available for education, but was to be expended solely on public works with the approval of the Ministry of the Colony. He denit d that Mr Wood was justified in attr.buting to the Government any other intention or policy than that which they themselves had deliberately and solemnly avowed. If Mr Wood was right, his views were the greatest condemnation the Government could receive, as they supposed them to be merely trifling with and deceiving thepeople. Hequoted local and well-known instances of corruption and gross jobbery in Mr Wood's "National Assembly of New Zealand," as it existed, and did not think it would be rendered more pure by having more money and more power, while it necessarily continued, from the character of the country, free from the constant watch without which no Legislature could long avoid corruption. He denied that he himself, doing good work as Provincial Secretary at £400 a year, was less patriotic or less disinterested than Mr Reader Wood, who had been a Minister of the Colony at £1000, and who would probably think it no dishonour to take the same office again at £1500. _ Mr Sheehan went in strongly for Provincialism, which is poor and needy, and has few friends here in consequence. But he carried the meeting enthusiastically with him in all that he said, especially as to the degradation of treating the North Island differently from the South. Mr John Mason (late of Otago), and a local celebrity, Mr George Staines, proposed and seconded a vote of confidence in Mr Reader Wood. A vote of thanks only was proposed as an amendment. The Chairman requested that none but electors should vote. The thanks motion was not seconded, and the confidence was carried by 25 votes out of at least 300 present. Meantimo some amusement is being caused by the wag who has pointed out in one of the papeis that Mr Wood's closing quotation waa from Othello, and that it wa9 from the speech of lago to Roderigo when Becking to make him a tool in the conspiracy that ended in the smothering of poor Dtsdemona. Its aptitude, aa concluding what was practically the narration of a conspiracy to smother the Northern Provinces, was therefore unquestioned. But its soundness as a maxim for the free Government of a free country may well be doubted, and Mr Wood judiciously refrained from pointing out the particular portion of Shakesppare fiom which his quotation was taken, To-night Mr Gillies meets his constiDuents, and we hope to hear from him something more than Mr Wood has told us as to the general position of affairs, aud in what way the proposed abolition is to be beneficial to this Island—a point on which Mr Vogel and all other speakers have hitherto been silent, and on which Mr Wood said nothing.