THE CORONATION.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 991, 5 December 1910, Page 8

THE CORONATION.

; PREMIER AND DR. FIND= LAY TO GO. : PARTY OF MEMBERS NOT INVITED THE CONFERENCE. . ■: " ' - ) lEGAL MISSION FOR ATTORNEYGENERAL. 1 In the House of Representatives on Saturday afternoon, Mr. Massed referring to two items on the Supplement- - sry, Estimates (£ISOO for the' Prime v'. Minister's expenses in connection with .'. the Imperial Conference and the Coronation, -and £500 for official entertaiu- ■ .'. rnents :in London during the Coronavtion),- asked if tjie Prime Minister would ■ givo the House some details' regarding New Zealand's representation. • Sir Joseph Ward, in reply, -said that ':. .. on ;the occasion, of previous : visits to . tho Mother Country,, and to the Postal Conference at Rome, he had always Lad to pay more than Parliament had been asked to authorise in connection . . .with his expenses. Upon the last visit lie liad asked the House to provide £SOO, ' and; his actual expenses and payment , : to: secretaries. amounted to £1644 10s. . In connection with the Postal Conference he had spent nearly £900 more . /. ' than was. voted by. Parliament. Mr. Davey: Was that never returned? - - '* Sir Joseph Ward: I never asked for .. - it. -- Sir/. Joseph N Ward added that- in . his : - 'position he could not avoid taking at" .least one, member of his family ■ with him in addition to his wife, whom, under ordinary conditions, lie could not . leave behind. . Under these; circum- ;'. i: stances, he felt that portion of the expenses should be borne by himself. He ' i was quite satisfied no man could carry the ;-work out for what was usually , T - voted by "Parliament, unless he adopted the:plan of >iiot' acting in a reasonable v ; manner", in connection With his office.On more than one . occasion lie had to : . spend nearly'. £300,. for an ordinary en- .. .'tertainment.. This was unavoidable. .-: Throughout the last,- occasion on which, i. he visited England, the British Govern-' • -ment had- asked to. pay-the expenses of ■ everybody with him,- but he liad declined .their offer. ' By doing so he was put in a stronger position. His predeces- , Eor:' alsp'had had ;to pay more than he - .f; received in connection with such visits. /' - A's. to.'the item'of £500,- that was necesv. eary 'because thie ( High. Commissioner jniist.do something more' than he would . . 'be .called ta'do'under ordinary circum- ., stances. He (Sir Joseph Ward) would' • 'be called upon "to do something more than ordinary himself. ■ No Invitation for M.P.'s, .' -. In'connection -with the representation ; : , : ;*6f>.the':. co.untry ,'there .had been.no in- ■ Y-'vitatiotf'inviting-any members .of .the -House-to proceedvto;.England; - He was • not at ■ liberty to speak . on, this, mat- '. . ter,- 'as it had.cqmo before .him in .quite : . a confidential. Way.;" It, might be that ■ after-the .coming general- election in. England an' invitation .wouldvcome. If .. did, he wouldLcommunicate with niem--.ibersV and inform them of the offer. ' He; unable say anything more, ; as the communications were strictly ; . confidential. : Th'ej;. wero hot from the ;...GHoine might say. Those*-> who were arranging it -were now before the electors, and some of theni might 'be left ; out -at tho'- general election. Two Important Gases. - ' . He wished to take the opportunity . of- saying that the -Attorney-General . Mould procetd to England' also: 'He would go Homo .chiefly in connection -' with, two important cases that required to have the best legal representative ; that we could send from ..this j ■'.'■ country. One : . was the Te Akau case, which was .before the Privy . • Council,' and. involved some : £50,000. ' v U was in connection with land acquired j •' from-the . Natives, on which land had j ■been placed Enropean settlers and their 0.-families; Tlid case involved /not only j ;• ;£50,000, but also the homes erected by •the settlers. It was probably the , -most important case that had ever come j before ; the Home ; authorities. Tho ' . : English' lawyers ' had written • to the ' Crown lawyers' in New. Zealand, stating J . ;that they felt they could not deal" with 1 tho matter competently, because _ a j special knowledge was wanted-of Nativo ■> law and history, going back to the > .. Treaty ;of Waitangi. Mr. Skerrett 1 - had ' been 'retained by the other. side, J "..-and if. in England at . the time ho « ; would act. He (Sir Joseph Ward) under- J ; stood he was likely to be there, at the ] time. In addition to the To Akau J ■ Block case .there was .the case of the : . .Webster claims. : • In connection with ' these claims there was a tribunal to be j set .up by' Britain and America. The j . . amount involved, iii so far as New ] . 'Zealand was concerned, was about half ] : a million sterling! . ] Mr.- Hemes: Is the.Government a ] .jarty-to.the Te, Akau-Case? -V . ( Sir Joseph Ward: Yes... ,5 Mr. Herries:.Not directly.V , ] Sir Joseph Ward: > Indirectly we are, ] because the Government.acquired tho ] • estate. . • ; . Mr. Herries:. Only portion of it. Sir Joseph Ward: Well, a portion of '.. it.-, caso .is.-'a'-very important one. The costs will be upon tho legal side, ,'aud the .vote must";stand over until we ■•■■know. In addition, if the Attorney- -, ; General, while in London, is free from , . theso cases, I shall bo extremely glad to have his attendance at the Imperial j .. Conference as well. - t Tho Te Akau Case. j Mr. Massey . said the Prime Minister < seemed to imply that 1 the settlers on , the- block might be dispossessed. He . ; did not think that such a thing could ! . possibly, take place. Tho worst that ; - could happen was that the block should ; have tojbe revalued, and the value paid • - to thoTainuis, instead of to the Ngatita- , v hingas. Of course, the latter had got ; -- . the money, and it was gone. He was ;. quite sure ' that the country and the - . Parliament ■ would see that the settlers not interfered with. (Hear;'hear.) As to the Coronation, he had no doubt that the feeling of the country was that New Zealand should be' properly repre-sent-ed both at the Imperial Conference and, at the' Coronation, and no difficulties should be placed in the way of the Prime Minister's going Home. ■ Sir Joseph Ward said ho would not . express, any opinion on the Te Akau 'i. case. Tho jssues were very important, as affecting the value of the land and : the settlers upon it. What the G-ov- -' ernment might do in the event of certain- tilings arising was quito a different riiatter. ' .;' Mr.-.'flerdman: : Is not the Webster ; case the one, in connection with which . • : Dr:..Fitcliott went Home? ■ Is it not be- . , tween tho- British and tho American Government, and not New Zealand? ' Sir Joseph 'Ward:- We maintain that ■i' : ' v positioii, but tlio British Government '-'ii.wants-' the. responsibility of New Zea- ' Jand kept quite open by the tribunal. • Postponement of tho Session. - 1 Mr. T. E. Taylor :Is there any fonndation for the rumour that tho session prill bri delayed next year. ' :,Sir Joseph Ward said it was proposed to postpono it until July 31. ■ ' Mr. Taylor : There is no proposal to ■extend the.life of the Parliaments -

Sir Joseph Ward:' No; no proposal of that- kind' at all. . He added that had'it been possible for the Leader of tho Opposition to have gone to the Coronation, ho would liavo been prepared to ask thd House to extend tho life of the present Parliament until the second week in February. As .the Leador of the Opposition could not see his way to go, ho did not propose to do that. Had that been possible, it would have enabled all tlio members of the House who desired to have gono to tho Coronation to liavo done so, and to have been back in time for the general election. In answer to another, question, Sir Joseph Ward-said New Zealand-was not sending any troops to tho Coronation. Ho understood that a number of men were -prepared to go oil their own account. Mr. Massev Cannot Co. . Mr. Masscy said it was quite true that it was impossible for him to go to England. It was . out of' the question just now, but ho wished to say that it was not in any .way out of disrespect to tho British Government. Sir Joseph Ward said he quite understood that. Hq was not at liberty to •refer to a confidential document he had received, but if both of tliem could have gone the country. would havo agreed. He said he expected next session to last about-a month or six weeks at tlio outside. They had done most of their work this year, and next session of necessity would be a ■ very-short) one. ■Mr. Massey said whatever might be tho case with regard to tbe session,-lie was quite sure that the country would bo utterly opposed te the postponement of'the election. He for one' could. not agree t-o it : on any condition ' what- - ever. In answer to Mr. Herries, Sir Joseph Ward said he would be -leaving New Zealand about the middle of . February or in--March. Ho did not propose t-o go via Japan, but would go via Canada or Suez. ■ . —