OUR MEMBERS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1585, 15 June 1887, Page 2

OUR MEMBERS.

We take the following from the ••Hanßard" report of the debate m the Souse on May 31, on the motion that the House go into Committee of SupplyMr Ivess. — Sir, the speech of the honor* able member who has spoken last (Sir G. Grey) prompts me to Bay a few words. I recognize m the delivery of that speech an evldenoa of insincerity, having m view the speeoh which he delivered on the occasion of his defeat m 1879. The remarks which he made to the Honae on that occasion are strongly and strangely inconsistent with the spaeoh which he delivered this evening. It will be remembered that m 1879 his Government had to face a deficiency of something like a million of money, and, the Government having sustained defeat, and having received from the Governor an nneondi-

tiooal promise of dissolution, there were many of the then Opposition inclined to withhold supplies, and one prominent member— Sir William Fox — pictured t> the House the great evils whloh had resulted m otht>r colonies by the withholding of sapplk.3, and, whilst admitting the constitutional right th»t the House had t:> do bo, he stated that he was one who would be sorry to »cc any obstacle placed In the way, but at the same time he would insist on as ear>y a dissolution ac possible, that the elections should follow, and that tho Opposition would only permit auoh legislation as they deemed important and essential to the intereata of the country. I turn to "Hansard" of 1879, and, having hoard that the honorable gentleman strongly counselled the Opposition to withhold supplies unless they obtained a distinct and definite promise from the Government that the Rspreaen-

tation Sill ahoald be proceeded with Immediately, I hold that the promises ffhioh had been advanced m this House by members of the Government or the Premier show an eataestneea to farther

the passing of the Representation Bill, of the Opposition will only grant the reasonable request they have made to the House — namety, supplies to oarry them over the period named. I also noticed two prominent members of the Opposition ap plaudlng to the eoho the remarks o? the honorable member. The remarks I am Borry

to characterize as nothing more or lass than "bosh," because I am quite sure the honorable gentlemen who applauded those remmarks would oppose the honorable member for Auckland East at every step

if he attempted to paBS the measures he 'referred to m the course of hh speech tonight. We have seen that honorable gentleman saverd tiurs advocating views of that kind, and strongly opposed by the honorable member for Egmont, the honorable member for Giraldine, end other prominent members of tho present Opposition. Now, coming to the course whioh he leoommended the Opposition to follow— namely, to withhold supplies unless the ternn which the Opposition

dictated were aocopted— honorable members will see how strangely Inconsistent bh remark? of this evening were with thoEe made by him m 1879, when he occupied the poaitlon which oar Premier occupies this evening. In order to refresh his memory, and to point out the inconsistency of publio men m New Zsaland when th 9 force of ciroumstauc2B causes them, no dOQ^*! to change their opinions, I will refer to " Han«rd." Speaking on the impending dissolution, tho honorable member for Auckland East:, was then Premier, said, — " No condition was made that auppl'ei moat be granted before a dissolution was allowed. No notice was given t) us that possibly you mi.jht withhold supplies. I thought that a generous Opposition were to come forward and s>y they would set a good example, and that they would allow- a dissolution to take ..place, and .kn«wji_hat no-wjijTUoyeraorof New Zealand ; that there were a poopla m this oountry whioh would allow no Opposition to withhold supplies ; that if the Opposition rofused supplies they would go down with lasting infamy to future time. Not one of those honorable gentlemen would come back again. I know the New Z°>\land people so well, that, if the Opposition dare to withhold supplies, the dissolution atill shall go ia. I dace them to atop supplies, and I Bay thoy dsra not. Whatever may be the sufferings of the oountry In consequence of the ccblon of the Opposition, the people of New Zealand would bear me out and Bay, ' You did your duty to us m forcing theie gentlemen to come back to be rejected by their constituents.'" Now, it is singular that the honorable gentleman who uttered these words m 1879 with the impress of earnest ness whioh they bear, should come here this evening and counsel a Btep whfch might possibly lead the people of this colony into trouble, and might bring about privations and hardships to many. I feel sure that the present Government are only aotlng m accordance wi*h the wishes of the masses of the people of this colony m Insisting en a dissolution; It would be painful m the extreme to the majority of members m this House, and to the people of this colony, that the members of the late Government, who have been so strongly and so unmistakably condemned by the country, should, by a mere sidewind, be transferred to office m direst opposition to the wishes of the people I say, if such an action ' were encouraged by the Bupportßrs of the present Government, they would be strongly condemned when an appeal followed. I hold that, having carefully listened to tho arguments advanced by the various members who spoke m favor of the amendment, it wes evident ta t it was impoßslble for the leader of the Opposition, or those who might possibly be silled with him m office, to expect that they could fairly cirry any measures through tho preeent Parliament. I hold that the heterogeneous elements of whioh they ate composed would render that quite impossible. I fsnoy, a picture of the honorable member for Bgmonfc, who m times past had repll< d to members opposed to him m no unmeasured tarms, and ' m language Hkenbd by the honorable member for Akiroa to that of a coalheaver, being now allied on the one plat* form with tint honorable gentleman. The honorable member for Gbraldino said | they had one common principle to go on. I ask, what ii there ia com no on between the honorable me Tiber for Akaroa and the honorable membar for Egraont 1 How

oame this ohange so suddenly ? It was only m this pUoe.two years ago that I heard the honorable?member]for Akaroa, whom I had the honor of fo'lowiog for two sessions, condemn the honorable member for Egmont, and say that it Is quite Impossible to follow hi m, and he would be sorry- to see his return to office. The honorable member for Akaroa ii, like myself, a Oanterbury member, and knows that the almost nuanimous opinion of Oanterbury h against the honorable mem-

ber for Egmont ; aud yet, m defiance of

that unmistakable expression of onlnion, he, without being brcked up by his conttltuents, rsaists iv returning the honorable member to power. Bat, fortunately, by the floatage of the Premier, we have eaoapedj and the public at no distant date will be oalled upon to settle the question. I think that, considering the exigencies of the colony, and considering the tenible consequences which have been depicted by the leading members of the Opposition, who have spoken about the direful results that will follow if the elections are postponed, it will be wise to let the dissolution follow without delay, and let the elections be conduoted on the basil of the oli Repcerentition Act, I fail iosee wlat great benefit will enaue by drawing three members from the South Island and tack-. in£ them on to the North Island. If the' condition of the colony is so dreadful C 3 that represented by bowq honorable mem*

bero, I nay the sooner this Homse dlsaolveß the better, became no good will result from protracting this debate. The Opposition^ entirely to blame for protractlog the debate so long. This afternoon I observed that one honorable gentleman had a carefully-prepared Bpeech for the pnrpoae of delivering It daring the coarse of the debate on the want-of-coßfidence motion, and no doubt he was prevented by causes best known to himself; but, being desirous that his labors should not be loßt, he, m the moat labored manner, read that epeech this af fcoropon, But I think it will take a great deal more than the matter contained m that speech to convince the part of the country from which the honorable member cornea of the justice of the action of the Opposition m endeavoring to wreßt the power from the present Government; I remember, m 1884, when the present leader of the Opposition sought a dissolution, .that we who were then m opposition did not put any obstacle m hiß way, but rather facilitated the action, and generously granted supplies, wbioh the Opposition are now desirous of withholding. I think it is wise, if they refuse to grant the Government their reasonable request for four months 1 supplios, that they should be forced to go to the country under the present Kepresentation Act I promise, if they throw any obstacle m the way of granting the reasonable request of the Government, that when tho Representation Bill comes down — that is, if it comes down with any amendments — 1, with no fewer than a dozen others, will throw obstruction— Hon Members.— Oh, oh ! Mr Speaker.-— The honorable member has no right to threatenlthe House m that way. \ Mr Ivess.— l-did not mean it exactly as a threat. I meant to say that, if the Opposition will not grant the reasonable request of the Government, if the Representation Bill does come down they oannot expect us to facilitate its passage through the House- I am very anxious to sea the representation of this colony adjusted, but, if honorable gentlemen are desiroHs of throwing obstacles m the way of granting supplies, they must blame themselves if any consequences follow. The honor able^ member for Auckland East has drawn a picture of the crushing effect which Ihe tariff will have on the working-man of New Zealand. He said, that every man, woman and child contributed no less a sum than £10 a year to the revenue or that that amount is extracted from the pockets of the working men of New Zealand. Assuming that each working man hais eight children, which would bring the family up to ten, that would mean that the contribution of the working- man would be no less a sum than £100. I think that is a fallacy, on the faco of it. . I think this is hardly the time, perhaps, to diecuss the pros and cona of the policy on which the Government has been defeated .^ That is a matter on which the country will have to determine, Tind it would be foolibh m the extreme to deal with it now, because a verdiot of condemnation has been pronounced, and if I were to reiterate all the statements whioh have been made I shou'd be only wasting the time oE the House, because I assume that every mem ber of the House is naturally anxious to get before his constituents with a view to placing his views before them. It is Baid that the Government have not formulated a policy. I hold that the policy which the Government has formulated is a very distinct one ; and, although it has been condemned by the Opposition, I fail to see that they have indicated m what direction they would improve the administration of the colony. The honorable member for Auckland East had ample opportunity of carrying out the retrenchment policy which he advocated this evening. He had, I think, as fair n -triatTiß~anyuublic rnan--aoul<LrfiaaQnablJL expect m this colony ; but, although on every occasion ho. pronounced m favor of certain reforms, when he was replaced m office, with a strong majority at his back, he failed to give evidence of a desire to bring about those reforms. I fail to see that the present Opposition when is power carried out the retrenchment which they now so strongly advocate. They had as fair a turn of office as any set of men could reasonably hope for m this colony ; they occupied the Government benches for a period pf five years m the best times the colony might fairly enjoy ; and, instead of 8no wing earnestness for letrenehrnont, I think they pursued a policy rather of extravagance. I recollect sitting m this House when Mr Swanson brought m a resolution recommending the Government to retrench by a sum of £50,000 At that time the present leader of the Opposition was Premier, and he rose m his place and said it was impossible, and that, if the members desirous of supporting that motion were really m earnest, he would request them to take tho Go vermneat seats, and the Government would vacate them. Now what a change is seen ! We have many honorable members advocating a reduction to the extent ef £200,000. I believe there is ample room for a reduction m the expenditure m this country, and the country is determined to force it upon the present Government. No doubt, as some honorable member remarked to-night, there haß been a great exodus of our population to the Australian colonies. That is due to the depression m this colony, lhat is recognised, I think, by both sides pf the Houße. and tbe Government is attempting the best thing possible to get at the root of the evil by assisting local industries, which can reasonably be expected to oreate employ mont for our turplus labour, because m the absence of that reasonable ohcouragement, I feel sure that our people, who have been attracted here at considerable expense, will find their way to Victoria and elsewhere where there is profitable employment. lam quite certain that the mass of the pepple recognise the fact that the time has arrived fpr the encouragement of local industries, »od the reasonable encouragement whioh is proponed m the new tariff will -be recognised as an instalment of their just rights. I feel ,aert&in that there is a growing tendency m the colony tp promote Buch a departure. It was only three short months ago that I visited Melbourne, and I bad occasion to make a comparison between New Zealand i and Victoria. There I found flourishing manufactories of all descriptions ; thousands of men were thus employed ; there was a contented population. 1 failed to hear the cry of " the unemployed " raised as we hear it raised here during certain ! seasons of the year, Jt js painful m the extreme m the winter months to bear tho unemployed crying to the Government for assistance, and to see large sums of money expended m unprofitable directions. I feel sure that if the measures of the Government are passed into law we shall see a rapid change, and the people will become contented, and the cry for employment will soon pass away,