Untitled

Clutha Leader, Volume II, Issue 55, 29 July 1875, Page 3

SATURDAY, 24th JULY. Sir George Grey reminded the House that this ; was , the mos^ momentous period in the history of the Colony, as measures were about to be introduced affecting the well-fare- of the whole, of New Zealand., Therefore, he demanded as a right that they should have time to consider those questions and look, into th« address before its adoption. It was clear an alteration of the Constitu-. tion was intended, as he understood, a new Representation Act was to bs introduced. Was that so? ..; ■„ .... , Sir Donald M 'Lean ; The Government intend to do so. Sir George Grey considered that ,as a distinct affirmation that the. Government was aware that it did not represent the people. Under these circumstances was it possible that ministers ; would commit so monstrous a proceeding*— so flagrant an injustice ? Before passing such a measure, let each district be equally represented. Let there, .be ; no pocket-boroughs ; not three numbers for, one district, • one for .another of equal size, and some with none at all. One result of such unequal representa- ; tion was that members of Government did not represent the people of the colony. The member for Timaru ijad ' told them it would be impossible to get a Government which more thproug'hly expressed his views. Was this, then what Parliamentary government had come to — that they, tried and struggled for years to represent only the views of onftman ? He asked them emphatically to look at the anomalous-composition of the Ministery. They had a Premier ; in the Upper House, and nomination , made with a purpose ; and such was ,the ■ nature of the many .changes., .taking place that no .one could tell what the next move would be. The hon. mem- , ber for Timaru might adorn the next Ministry, and he confessed he would gladly see such a change. - - -Returning to the subject of the Premier, he was an officer they could not get at.. There was no provision by which he might be impeached before |his peers for administration — no guarantee that he might not retire into a sinecure office tomorrow. He was no true representa- . tive — only that of an absent Premier now in London, and whose return to : the colony no man could vouch for. Then there was the member for Taranaki, undoubtedly an able Minister and a gallant man, but he was not a true representative of the people. He referred to the appointment of Minister . of Justice, which, he said, positively shocked him. For weeks he had wondered whether he would be a Lord or (Jommoner, and he now found that though he was a member of the Executive, yet he was not a representative of the people. The same could, be said of all the Ministers of the Crown j nor did the Upper House represent the people. Then why, under such circumstances impose a Constitution; upon the people that was utterly abhorrent to them ? To do so with an expiring '< Parliament, and one that did not represent the people, as was admitted; by the , Ministers, would be to act faithless! jd by their trust, faithlessly to the people™ and faithlessly to . ths country. . IS would'in truth be legislating by irieanM of the Parliament of Great BritainjJ| without leaving 1 the people of this cblony j any choice. In short, it would be one; of .the most wicked attempts ever made'] to rob a people of their rights. XlieJ hon. gentleman, next adverted to the! undue influence exercised at Home in the affairs of the colony -by a clhaafl banking* institution, and said that;, MJ abolition was proposed. at the of that institution, so^that addi|ioijM security might- be given for^the nibjflß required to sustain the^poycy^bi'^H Government, Eeiferrifl^tojtbS.t riojn^H lous pbsitioii t>f Mj~ TfidmdsVßusllliMM HonXfrjhe_ispea^ i though ■;$&% Zealand^ was Oft&§*ij§Hi weirrep?esentesJaj; ';c^ie^ly:|pyv^ntOTes^s^v^^

which he would honestly pray the^i -; take;« Wo-ddiib.ejip^^ Act •w,would x g^vei4u,cr^as(Bd. powers to f-f Jhe-people, -aryi^^ duty of ,r choosing ; iindepr sort "of I Constitution they would oe governed; I] Let a new basil of representation be V| fixed; let Ministers lay before the I country their proposals, and whatever | :the cpunt.ry should choose,. he and his; 4 party would assist to carry out. If not, ? they would not submit to it, and he 4 firmly believed they would be right in J resisting such unlawful proceeding. - It would be unlawful, according to constitutional law, and to statute^ law. ••< Anyone who had read the speeclte&of eminent rßritishj -statesmen, woiildtftd this doctrine laid down as a maxittijbr "^ constitutional law— -that powers qvtce granted to a people could^nqt be taken away from them by the Legislature which granted the powers. Then, as to statutory law, the Act upon which the Government were relying, was never, intended to be construed so as to ba' applied to the purpose it Was proposed to apply it.. Parliament had been de-**-' ceived into parsing the Act, and at the time it was passed into law it was never intended to use it for the purpose of robbing the people of representative in« stitutions.' Had that been, understood j instead of the bill passing through in a few days, weeks of anxious consideration would have been; devoted to itj Theterm, " Abolitjon of the Provinces." as used ih that Acti never contemplated interfering -with representative institutions. The present Chief Justice laid this down distinctly. He had told them there were five provinces in New Zealand, the boundaries-of, which had been fixed by proclamation, and the meaning of .the .term of provinces/ mentioned ... in , that Act, simply meant : the altering of .those boundaries. This he illustrated by instancing the case of Canterbury and Westland. , , The moment the , WestlancL - ;_ province . had r been proclaimed, ie province of Canterbury, previouslyjin existence, was. abolished ; but it lad not, however, been deprived of its [representative institutions. He was Superintendent of the province/ of / Auckland. There were certain rights .- belonging by law to that office, whiuu ■'- ■«•' rights he would not allow ; the office to be deprived . of.. ,While there was a Court in New Zealand, or a Judicial Committee in Great Britain, he would maintain those rights, and he would be upheld, not only -in the present time, but, in short, by.posterity in all time to come. r.. He, appealed jbo those around., him not to surrender those rights. He appealed to tbe hon.- v member for Timaru, whom he had never known to make propositio'n^to sacrifice right or / justice, to expedite or lend his aid to )k obtain for the ipeoplejofi^ev? Zealand a y just consideration of the Constitution :f before he forced it -on them. He appealed to, the Native 7 -Master to give the country time to consider what form of government it _was v to have; he appealed to the Colonial Treasurer, who had done the country good service, not } togodpwrijto posterity witji a bad name ; ' ho appealed to the Minister of Public : Works not to inflict updn the country a< condition of which he knew nothing p he appealed to , every member of the' Government not to kick away the ladder by which they had riseny and so prevent their children, and their y children's children, from rising even higher than themselves. For himself, ; he should resist the proposed meagre to the death. (Cheers.) The Native Minister said the Government intended to extend to the people a degree of power they never before possessed. They had better bear this, mind on behalf of the people. They were supported in their intention by law, by evidence of fact, and by the general feeling inside and outside pf .... the House alike; and; the. cool,determination of' the Government was to press their measure unswerving. It was quite idle to talk of appealing to tb.e ipeople ; they had, . appealed to the people ever since JBSO, uritiPthe feeling from one end of the .colony to the other was irresistibly for abolition. Wherever he, haij- travelled through the country districts;' he could not. fail to $£_. struck with, the. visible, centralising, jrowpr of Prttvincial | instifutio-.^/jrfjt toftfe^frfact beyond a do^^itt^^mm_mmg^y the time bad^dßnH|H^H^^H^;| larger ppj|jfl|^^^HHH|^^HHßl G U^^m^mmmm^mmmmm^mmm^Emmmmmmmmmmmm\