PARLIAMENTARY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1279, 13 June 1884, Page 2

PARLIAMENTARY.

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. Thursd ay, June 12. ADDRESS IN REPLY. The Hob. Mr Richmond moved the adoption of a Formal Address in Reply to the Governor's speech, which had been prepared by the Committee. Sir G. Whitmore highly eulogised the Governor for the way in which he went about the country, and went into every matter brought before him. He thought inconsequence of the political crisis all reference to debateable subjects in the address should be omitted. He moved the omission of all but purely formal parts of , the address. He advocated a land tax, the proceeds to be used by local governing bodies. The Hon Mr Oliver and the Hon. Mr 1 McLean defended the action and policy ■ of the Government. At 5 o'clock the debate was adjourned, and the Council rose. HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES. ; Thursday, June 12. 3 i The House met at 7.30. ) FEDERATION. Mr Daroayille tabled a motion that F Parliament does not approve of the Fedst ration propossla as adopted by the Ooni vention held in Sydney. 7 LEAVE OF ABSENCE, i Leave of absence was granted to Mr r Taiaroa for ten days. I THE POLITICAL CRISIS. E The Hon Major Atkinson resumed the debate on Mr Sutton’s addition to the J Address in Reply, asking the Governor to - dissolve Parliament. After referring to the , majority of the Opposition as only tem- » pbrary and complimenting the House on s the moderation displayed throughout the 9 debate, he went on to speak of the Public y Works administration, concerning which r an absence of indictment was shown. I The railway rates were referred to, and i they were told that raising these was i imposing a tax without the authority oi t the House. No such position would be 9 maintained for a moment- They were s told they had not pushed on public works -• fast enough. When they saw the accounts it would be found they had pushed them J on rather too fast for the finance. The f deficiency in the revenue was spoken of i in a manner which ' showed that the t accounts had not bean properly looked s into. The deficit was at least reduced in t thia way LIO,OQO, they had made every 0 possible payment instead of delaying such payment until after the accounts - were closed. There being no charge he a could not possibly be expected to defend i- them. They even charged them with not p ssing their Bills. The fact waa e they were charged in the same breath with forcing through Bills whether the a House would have them or not He did 1 not know how to reconcile these two accusations. The fact was the Government e carried a large proportion of its Bills, and e put more on the Statute Book than any J other Government ever did. He meant to y press this, the National Insurance scheme, e and ho believed the time would come - when he would succeed in that endeavor. - If that scheme for averting pauperism waa i not accepted he asked those by whom he - had been beaten on the point to propose » a batter than National Insurance. The y bill of indictment was too general, and , without anything like point. After criti- - cising Mr Wakefield’s speech, he said he i would now ask them to look at what the i Government had done in 1879- Financial \ matters were in a most deplorable state. 1 There waa a deficit of one million sterling, t The Government had to provide means to 5 make it up by taxation and retrenchment. ) The Government did that, and the House ■ gave its hearty support, in the London market their debentures were down to 98, ) and their 4 per ceat, debentures were as i low as 80. That was the state of matters in 1878, but last January thoir Pour per , Cent. Loan averaged LIOO 6s fid, and by : inscription of stock they had reduced the ■ annual charges some L 30,000. That was ■ something to take credit for. It waa i stated that his statement in 1879 had damaged the credit of the colony at Home, but the fact was that when that statement got Home their bonds rose. The Native • question had also improved. They were now surveying a line through the country they did not then enter upon. As regarded settlement, under no administration had more been done than was d me by thia Government. The electoral laws had also been largely improved. It was said these matters had been forced on them. It was no matter, the work had been done, and that was enough for his present contention. After speaking at considerable length on Federation, he stated ha was a thorough believer in the movement, on this, if on no other ground, selfinterest. He next referred to the boasted unity of the Opposition. The fact was that the said union was so very slender that they wore afraid to postpone their motion for a couple of days for fear of falling asunder. That showed their good sense. They knew it was resting on a rotten foundation. It had been stated that the Opposition leaders had bound themselves not to take office until they had gone to the country. That showed a most extraordinary state of affairs, and it was worth notice by the country that Government had been displaced by an Opposition which had not a man in its midst in whom it had sufficient confidence to trust him to form a Government. When they went to the country he did not believe that the result would bring about much of a change. Sir George Grey would probably have a few more followers, and Mr Montgomery probably a few leas. That was about all the change that would be produced. The falling off in the price of wool had been laid to the charge of the Government. Well, the fact was that a good prosperous year produced feelings in favor of the Government, and a bad year brought about a very bad Governmant, If wool went up he had no doubt their successors would be a good Government. The Roads and Bridges Act had been alluded to as a failure. It was really a great success. It was a mere machinery Act, end did not i provide money. It said such a certain sum as they could spare should be divided. It was only meant to distribute such money as the House determined should be spent. The money voted last year was spent under the Act. The ma- 1 ?srity of nine by which the Government t

was defeated last night was singularly made op. The two reasons far this majority wore on account of the Canterbury railway tariff, and the attempt on the part of the Government to stop speculation in native lands. That was the secret of these nine votes which had gone from Government. They had been asked if the railway rates were right in 18*1, why did they raise them iately 1 In 1881 the revenue was in a good positson, and they were told that a reduction would encourage great production. They were asked to make the experiment. It was found that the railway revenue was falling off. The estimated revenue last year was L 380.000, but they found that it was rapidly falling off; and the result would have been that it could have been as low as L 300,000. They said to themselves the grain rate must be raised. They knew that its raising would lose them the Canterbury vote, but they reasoned that it was better to lose political support than lose a large amount—the sum of L 60,000 to the public revenue. They had to decide whether the railways should be made to pay S per cent., or else impose a serious loss on the colony. Canterbury felt that as its railways yielded at the rate of 6 per cent, they should get the advantage, and the rest of the colony suffer. No doubt Canterbury felt that an injustice had been done, but while he could not blame them ha felt that it was rather a narrow view they had taken. Six of the majority of nine votes were accounted for in that way. It could not ha said that these men had joined the Opposition. Then there were two who left the Government on account of the Native Land Bill. They had parted friends. They were told that all that was wanted was an appeal to tho country. He did not know whether that wish would be gratified or not, but this he would predict, if they did they would come back in no better condition than they were. The Government could quit office with the certainty that the work they had done j would tie remembered for a long time to | come with gratitude by the country. Mr Wakefield complained of the attack made on him as a professional journalist. He regretted to see the Premier set such a bad example, and one which would be the means of importing personalities into their debates. It was an underhand and an unworthy attack upon him.' Major Atkinson said he had not exceeded the bounds of Parliamentary speech. Sir G. Gbbt denounced the Premier for the flippant style he had adopted at a time of commercial distress and a . great crisis. It was a disgrace to the House. Parliament had said they had not confidence in them, and they should have ceased to exist as a Government. After that vote to hold office was a more subterfuge and a most unworthy act. It was said no charge had bseu made against them. He charged them of having robbed the colony of its land, squandered the revenues to the of their friends. He charged them with that. He charged them with filling offices of State with their friends. He charged them with supporting a libellous newspaper, defending a libeller, and making the public pay the cost. He charged them with having allowed native land to be improperly acquired, with having dragged innocent persons to the bar of the House for a punishment, with having given a favorite Bank undue license with the public funds, with having spent money on public works for the purpose of gaining political support; he charged them with occupying seats they had no right to occupy, and he asked that steps be taken for their instant removal. The Government should have told them what course they proposed to pursue. It was shameful, that instead of doing that, the Premier had gone jumping about that night bombastically speaking to the crowd in the gallery. What could they think or say of a Government that acted so. The proposal to go to the country was a most commendable one, and yet the Government had treated it in the most careless manner. They, as an Opposition, had come prepared to hear tho Premier make a short explanation as to what he intended to do, and what had they heard t ihe utmost insult and abuse poured out on them. They had no right to stop one moment on these benches. The House had told- them that they should not occupy them. He asked those persons acting with him to bury past animosities and unite as one man for the future in promoting the public good, and he pledged his word that ho would do nothing to stir up past differences; aud thus united, to strive to redeem the act of the Government. They would try to retrieve some of the money of which the public had been robbed, and place taxation on the proper shoulders. He asked them to devise some means for giving effect to the motion passed last night. The presence of the present Government on the benches was contrary to constitutional practice—as he understood it. The desire of the. House was that an appeal should be made to the country without delay. The Hou Mr Brtce said that the question of the Address in .Reply not having been disposed of, Sir George i>rey had no right to say that the Government held their position unconstitutionally. The Government did not intend to interpose any obstacle to the constitutional procedure under these circumstances. He argued that Sir George Gcey’sconclusions were wrong. When the Address was agreed to, the Government would no doubt ask a short adjournment to consider the position. Mr Holmes took exception to a statement made by Mr Oonolly that the Canterbury population was a howling set of cowards.

The Hon Mr Conolly denied that ho had made such a statement. Mr Shitox asked leave to withdraw his amendment, which was refused on the voices.

The House divided. Ayes, 7; nees, 67.

Dr Newman’s motion that a reply be presented to His Excellency was agreed to, and Messrs Steward, DeLautour, O'Callaghan, and Leveatam were appointed a Committee to prepare a reply. On their bringing up their report, Mr Whitaker spoke briefly in reply to certain remarks made by Major Atkinson in reference to himself, and The Hon Major Atkinson also said a few words. The address was then read a second time, and agreed to. The House then adjourned at 12.35 until to morrow at 2.30.

THE CRISIS.

[BY TELEGRAPH.] Wellington, To-day. On the House meeting, the Speaker, with the mover and seconder of the amendment and several other members, proceeded to Government House rnd presented an address to the Governor, who, in reply, said 3 he would (give the matter his serious consideration, fully recognising the necessity of his advisers posses >ing the confidence of the House. On the Speaker returning to the chair, Major Atkinson moved the adjournment of the House until Tuesday afternoon, which was carried.