PARLIAMENTARY AND MINISTERIAL WORK.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 11504, 10 February 1903, Page 5

PARLIAMENTARY AND MINISTERIAL WORK.

Mr Rolletrton'e connection with the General Assembly dates bade to 1868, when •he woe elected member for the Avon district, a constituency he represented contenuously till 1884. At tib» time be entered Parliament die native question was tJhe meet intricate and perplexing problem with which tiie Legislature had to deal, and Mr Rolleeton took a conspicuous part in the dtiecaasione which the troublous state of the country provoked , in Parliament. Iα 1869, we find him moving for the appointment of a Commission, to consist of two judges of the Native Land* Court and two other members, to visit the several districts, and so enable Parliament to arrive at the true state of native feeling, and appreciate the more readily the particular causes of the diseatisfeiotrion in the native andnd- Mr Rollestorfe speech on the subject came in for a good deal of criticism. Mr (Afterwards Sir William) Fox, representing the Government, referred aaroautidaily to "the style of a young member of a debating society endeavouring to 'flash his maiden sword. , " The motion was defeated. Peace with- the Maoris wee broug&"auout wtifhan tlhe year, end in *he following year (1870), the Stafford Government having gone out of office, the Fox-Vogel .Government brought down their famous public works policy. The chief feature of that .policy "wee the borrowing >of great •urns of money which ebouJa be applied under the direction of the Oolocml Legislature to the construction of leadicig lines of railway and of main roods, and' to imoniigraJtion. (Mir Rolfastoa frequently spoke in condemnation of tb* soheme. The ciounitry was living on borrowed money, he declared, end he predicted such a scramble from time (to time in respect to that borrowed money as would prevent any proper appropriation of the loans. He warned the House against the danger of flooding tihe ooumtry with. ianmegranlUf, unless the system of colonisation was adapted to the wante <£ the .people sod tihe requirements of 'New Zealand. Nor were th« rest of the Opposition clow to take advantage otf opportunity. For a fortnight, ' in the session of 1872, the.wordy battle over the Public Works poliby continued, and then the Oppoeition snatched a victory, Sir Edward Stafford carrying, by a majority of three, a motion canfcuring the admhiiatmtion of the Public Works policy. (Mr Rolileston strongly supported the matiion. In his. speech he censured "the gVowing attempt w centralite all power m a> few hands in the central Government," and lie "itatbrti&y displayed by liho Government to reconcile central responsibility with local administration." His speech aroused the ire of tie Colonial Treasurer, who declared that "tihe member for Avon woe nothing ii he was not at war. I really believe that if fate should cast him an Enoch Anion upon some desolate island, he would quarrel wrfcb the beasts of the fields, with the birds of 6he air, and even with the fishes df Mie sea. He could not be at peace!" The (Stafford Ministry wekned in .a I month, on a vote ctf wan* of confidence, and I Mr G. M. Woiterhouse, ALL.C, came into power, >with Sir Julius Vogel as leader in the Lower House. Mr Waterhouse resigned in five mouths, and the Premiership devolved upon Sir Julius, who made the afooItkra of the provinces the feature of his administration. The measure met with strong opposition from many leading men, among -whom was Mr Rolleeton, then Superintendent of the Province of Canterbury. In tbfcut capacity he appealed with confidence to the resurts of local eelf-go-vernment in this province, after a long period ctf administration. "I con point to tne .public iworlcs," he declared', "I can point to the roads; I can point to our social institutions, to our educational system, and our social life—l can point wifch confidence to these, end appeal to them fearlessly, and ask I*o you see cause there for the measure of the extaeme character of that which we are now discussing?" Ibe measure doing anray -with tlhe provincial government and substiitating tihe oounty system was however passed into law. The following year, 1876, saw the entrance of Sir George Grey into the political arena, at the head of the separation movement. Aβ soon as the new Parliament opened in 1876, Sir George Grey mored that there should be two local governments, one for each island, in addition to the Colonial Government; each local Government to have the entire control and management of its own affairs, and the disposal of its own revenues. Mr Rolleston, thougji he had opposed the abolition of the Provinces Act, did not support Sir George Grey's resolution—"another revolutionary scheme,"' he called it-whioh was sot sufficiently definite to commend hit 'allegiance. He outlined his views on the constitutional government of the colony in these terms: " For myself, looking at the history of the colony, I admit that Provincialism, as it stood in the past, can no longer exist. I hold now, and have held for yean, that if the statesmen of New Zea&nd would set to work sod bring the system of .Provincial Governments into harmony with the general Government, there is every reason for maintaining rather than abolishing Provincialism. It seems to me that what we want first of all is simplification of oar present institutions." The resolution in favour of two local Governments was negatived by 47 to 22. This was a victory for the Government, but the impending crisis soon came, and Major Atkmeon (who had replaced Sir Julius Vogel) and his colleagues were mi October, 1877, superseded by the Grey Government. The new Ministry, however,

salted in troubled waters. A large end sadden decrease in the sale of Crown lands, and a season of commercial depression, occasioned financial embarrassment; and native complications arose on the Taranaki West Coast., and caused considerable anxiety. A strong Opposition made tbe most of these troubles,' and in October, 1879, after a general election-, succeeded in defeating the Grey Minietry by a majority of two on a vote of want of confidence. A CABINET MINISTER. Sir John Hall formed the succeeding Ministry, Mr Rolleston faking office as Minister of Justice, Minister of Lands and Immigration, and • Minister of Education. Sir Harry Atkinson was the new Colonial Treasurer, Mr John Bryce Minister -for Native Affairs, and Mr Richard Oliver Minister for Public Works and Minister for Mines. During Mr Rolleston'a twelve years in Parliament he had been an active and influential number of the House of Representatives, and for eight years bad held the important elective office of Superintendent of tie Province of Canterbury.

The general legislative policy of the Hall Government woe in some respects even more liberal than that erf their predecessors. Among the measures announced for instance, by the Grey -.Ministry but never carried by them, were those relating to manhood suffrage; triennial Parliaments ; representation proportioned to population; facilities tor occupation of small farms or rural allotments; purchase of native lands on terms fair to feotu races; 2nd enquiry into unfulfilled promises by the Crown on the* West Coast-, Taranaki. Measures based on each of ihewe heads were brought forward by the Hail Government, and were given legislative effect under their supervision. In fact, -ney carried into practice the liberal refomra which with Sir George Grey and itis colleagues had never advanced beyond the stage' of promise. I Some of their measures, indeed, were considterajbly in advance of the measures of the late Government, and some, according to Mr Rolleston, "•were of more practical, immediate interest for the wante of the country than any proposed by the late Government." REFORM OT THE LAND LAW 6. The consolidation of the land laiws of the country waa one of the first -works of the new Government. The necessity for a definite system of Sand aeMement had long beta apparent to Mr Rolleston, the new Minister of Land*. The experience of the previous two year*, moreover, had shown him that further facdlvtdee for settlement ■were required. Especially with regard' to deferred-payment land, tie existing law hod imposed; burdens which had proved moat onerous. The prioe bad been found to be excessive; but foot was not due to the Land Act itself, but to the Crown Land Sale* Act pawed in the eaxne session. When the Crown Land Sales Act waa passed in 1877, (Mr Rolleeton had entered « distinct protest against the BUI cc one that would etop the sale of land and impede settlement throughout tine country, consequently it was with satisfaction thai he now found hdmself in a {position to suggest to the House tbe repeal of <tihs£ Act in the new land Act he was submitting. He warn convineedPthiub any fresh legislation must start from tfbe repeal of the existing Act. In the new measure now brought forward by him, facUitdea were provided for a general deferred-payment system throughout the colony r and for establishing village settlement* and otQier ■senrioigon settlement of a special character. What the Government desired to see woe a country in the parouwion at a population, cultivating their own freehold*, and tihe legislation proposed wm contoMved in that spirit. Toe Load Ant Amendment BiH woe carried in December, 1879, and came into operation on th* first day of the ensuring year. The financial position of affairs when the Hall 'Ministry took office in 1879 was * grave one. The transactions of the financial year 1878-9, although the ve&r began with a surplus of £116,844, hod* left a deficit of £131,824, and the estimates prepared by the Grey Government for the ensuing year" showed a.deficit of £911,958 to be provided for. The,new Government endeavoured, by resorting to fresh taxation and. other important reforms, to place their finance on a sound and enduring basis. They might, m Mr Rolleeton said at the time, have attempted to extricate themselves from a present difficulty by forcing the sale of land at a price and upon terms which would involve large sacrifices in the future settlement of the colony. But they entirely disapproved of "sacrificing the pubBe estate*' to make up either a temporary or a permanent deficit in the revenue, or of setting land lor any other purpose' than for settlement «nd occupation. Instead, they introduced a property tax and revised the tariff. By these measures the HaH Government suooeeded in potting the finances of the colony upon a more .satisfactory foot- ; ing. They came into power, ac we have seen, facing a deficit of dose on a million of money; at the end of their second year the deficit was only £6667, notwithstanding that the revenue for the year had fatten short of tbe estimate by £114,639. No less than £700,000 in fresh taxation -woe 1 rowed daring the two years, while £500.000 was obtained from tbe land in toe s&nw period. But in their third year an appreciable reduction was made in the taxation, and despite this the estimates for the year showed a surplus balance at the and of the year of £21,451. By economy in management and administration .they had made the railways yield a net return U 34 per cent, on tbe total cost of construction, and they had brought about such a satisfactory state of affairs with tbe native race as had never existed before. They bad moreover done more to develop and settle the waste lands of the Crown than bad been accomplished for many year* previously: and they had given the country those liberal measures and reforms which for yean had been kept dangling before the eyes of the people. In connection with the land administration of 1881 may be mentioned the adoption on a limited scale at Botorua. of a scheme for administenog native loads on behalf of the native owners. The leasing of town lots proved a.euccess, and nuite justified the action of ihe Government. They also in this year established a sanatorium at Rotorua. in charge of a medical officer, "to help popularise New Zealand in other parts of the world." During the year the Government brought down their Immigration and Public Works Bill, to appropriate close on two millions of money {or the purposes named, the money to be paid over to local governing bodies ok Ministers might determine. Needless to say, the borrowing proposals, although ultimately carried, were resisted by tbe Opposition. When they were introduced Mr Saunders, M.H.R., moved a resolution "that no financial proposals would be acceptable that were not based on the strict adaptation of tbe annual expenditure 01 the colony to the annual revenue, without apy assistance from borrowed money" Mr Rollcston's contribution to the debate whioh followed, gives us bis views on a borrowing policy. "I am," he said, "one of those wno, at the time when what was called the Vogel policy was brought in, foresaw the impossibility of checking it and keeping it within bounds if once set going. . . . Bui the resolution we nave before us is one which is capable of being now driven too far. You cannot enter upon borrowing and suddenly pull up without creating considerable disaster. I dread anything like going into a furtaer scheme of large borrowing; but, with regard to specific works,,and with regard to maintaining the advance of colonisation, I am quite satisfied, much as I regret what hoe been done; bat to stop would be worse than to go on prudently." Speaking in defence of the expenditure on roads, Mr Rolleston declared that "the only hope we have for toe future of this colony » to doable the and make the debt lighter upon the individuals who com- i pose that population. I believe thor- j oughry," he continued, " that at the present ! time we are drawing a four-horse load with a two-hone team; and the only way we have to bring up tbe leeway we have got into by extravagant expenditure, is to people tbe waste places of the colony. To do that, it is absolutely necessary to con-

tinue your road works and open up ih* land, and you cannot do it in any other 'way."' ! ' ' '.' '' '■ " ■ '■:'- ' l ■"• ■ To effect this perpoue, he held that advances most be taken upon the money that would bs raised from waste lands, but the money would have to be judiciously spent. "You cannot get people to settle until you open up the land, he reminded tIW opponent* of the vote for roads. Another point on which Mr Bolleaton held strong -views was that it would be the duty of the colony at no distant date to continue assisted immigration—to continue peopling the country—if it* prosperity was to be recovered. In the eighth Parliament, which opened in May, 1882, Mr Holkston continued to held the portfolios of Land, Immigration and Mines. Sir John Hull had been compelled during the recces to resign the Premiership on account of iU-heahh, and when the Government was returned to office aft*r the elections, Sir Frederick WTbitaker, then Attorney-General, became Prime Minister in his stead, retaining the other members of the Ministry in their respective offices. The outlook for the new year waa a hopeful one. Commercial prosperity had marked the past twelve months, and still continued;, there had been a general increase in the revenue, and a- renewed confidence existed as to the commercial prospects of the colony. THE PERPETUAL LEASE SYSTEMIn -thie year (1882) Mr BoUtsrton introduced a new Land Bill, extending the operations of the exwtdng system of land settlement. Hi» Act of 1879, ac we have seen, contained provisions for promoting village settlement, and for increasine ihe facilities in respect to deferred payment settlement. Subsequent experience, however, bad left Mr Boileston •omewiwt unsatkfied with reracilKies for tjie immedSate obtaining of freeholds. The point tie* he thoug-ht wa» open to Mow objection wae ttwt it enabled men to obtain land at ft much ear Her period than that at which iJbey were prepared at first to take it up, amdl so far encouraged borrowing. To this extent the measure tended to nullify one of tb* chief merit* of the deferred payment system—namely, the placing it wftMn the reach of a man to carry on without the assistance of the money-lender, and work himself up with a email capftaa into a higher position through his own industry. Bat though these difficulties had arisen in the working of the system, Mr Boileston still believed in the principle of deferred payments. ' He chimed that the difficulties alluded to were, to quote his own words, "necessary incidents of a system which he thought was a. good system, and which he hoped wvmld do tiF; things for the countay in the future." Witin. a view to remedying the evils that had cropped up in connection with the working of the system, he drafted in the new measure a plan for leasing agrienitaral lands, wiitb fixity of tenure, upon meonable ■terms—o. (proposal wMob distinctly foreshadowed the legislation introduced ten years afterwards by toe late Sir John Mc&enaie. The views "held with regard to the subject by Mr Boileston may be best expressed in his own worde, ■ Wuen moving the second reading of the new Land Bill in the: House be wiaii "The question to my mind isjjhis: When we look at the large number of people who are in difficulties, are we going now to proceed in the direction of «etabfishing a tenantry of the money lenders, or are we going to establish » tenantry under the Grown? My belief is that it would be greatly to the advantage of the country if we could take a aew departure in the administration of our lands, which, would enable the Crown to still retain its hold upon the lands, rather than allow the dass to whom I have referred; to get these lands in their own hands. To proceed in direction, then, and to afford facitttks for those men who wish to become tenants, and to provide a means by which this system of deferred payment settlement, which has been progressing, shall continue to progress, ore some of &c object* of the Bill. .. There is nothing revolutionary in the measure. It is but one step, as I think and hope, in advance, of wIKLt lias been previously established under the deferred payment System, and . ... it doc* not supersede that system, nor does it supersede the system of acquiring land for cash. It is eimply an at tempt to adopt our land system to the circumstances of certain classes of people, and" to certain portion* of the country j and I believe it will enable settlement to go on at even a much greater pace than it has been going on during the last two years." '. ■■.•; .: r ■.;', ■■ \i : .• r^, Ten yearn later Sir John McKenxie quoted these very "words of <wied>oen," as he caHed them, when moving the second reading of the present Land Act,.in order to elwiw that Mr Rolleston, and not , faimeelf, was the author of the perpetual lease sye--tem. <In introducing that system, it fc to be noted that Mr Roileeton ieldt strongly by the Utnataiion of th* perpetual lease to a certain portion of thie land, asbedng the anfy nope of retaining the system.' His idea was, if possible, to attach the perpetual lease to the best oksse* of land, in order to bue bonardd* settler into a position to work his way to the, greatest advantage. As -for the rest of the Crown lands, he thought there should be as litUe interfcnoM a* possible with the disposition of them. 'His critfckin of Sir John MeKensie's Fill showed that he held the same view of land legislation in .1892. - "It was, .in fact, always Mr contention, that the perpetual lease system should merely be an adjunct to *hat of freehold tenure, and 1 should not replace the lather."* -. v T Further improvements Sn the land laws were introduced by Lux itoUeston in the following year. To pronote,settlement in small blocks; to'disooorage .landlordism in aU its -worst iphase*;.to. regard the State as the first landlord, and the last landlord if possible—euch were the main features of hie land policy. The perpetual lease eye- ! tern, adopted at first on a very- limited scale, met <with considerable success, and in 1884 the operation of the system wee icagtly extended. ■ And before, the Atkinson Government went out of office, Mr BoUeston was able to say, with pardonable pride:—"Wβ hteve brought the colony, in respect to Crown bunds, to a "point from whloh I trust it will etill advance; and generally in respect to the settlement of the Itapd we have done more than -was ever done in any .period of five yean before in the hietory of the cotony." < . Of the later years of Mr Rolieaton'e Parliamentary career it is innms—iji to say much. Aβ leader of the Opposition he rendered excellent service, and when in 1899 a rival candidate enaiohed a victory at the poll by a majority of one vote, it was felt by politicians of every shade the* Parliament ttod lost the service* of one of its most valued legislators; a man who through a long career in the puWic service had wrought witfc a eingleuees and honesty of purpose worthy of the highest praiee. Though he never sought the «beap popularity the* is won by specfoae promises, the.foresrglht and the judgment he daaplayed in the <wmk of developing the cokny'comtnsnded univensal respect and esteem. In sill that he did the advancement of the country, the promiption ctf km fawpkiew) and prosperiiJy, ■was the end be tad ia view, and the results of his labour* mere not unworthy of the high political ideal* at which he aimed.