WELLINGTON.

Evening Star, Issue 2990, 18 September 1872, Page 2

WELLINGTON.

(pnOM QUR O\VN CQRRESRON DENT.)

In reviewing the history of the past few weeks, since the vote of want-of-oonlidvnou motion was tabled by Mr Stafford, it will not be out of place to ask what benefit the country has derived from it ? First, it has had the effect of delaying the business of the Legislature ; for in the Assembly it may be said no business whatever has been transacted, save a few questions answered by Ministers; and in the Council such was the feeling of excitement and apparent apathy for business, that the Lords seem to have preferred bitting in the galleries of the Assembly to getting through the work before them—their sittings during the debate being of ’a very spasmodic character ; so much so that Major Richardson (their Speaker) has been enjoying a trip to Wanganui overland, and has favored us iu the columns of the Independent with a description of it, written in his usual delightful and sketchy manner. Mr Stafford has deckuecj, w n vakmg ma seat on the Ministerial Behches,' that it is'not his intention to prolong the session by attempting to carry through measures now before the Ilonse, buf wilf only bring forward Siucu that it may be absolutely pecessary to pass. Mr Stafford, a? a matter of good policy, may be right in this, as he knows that many members are desirous to get away from Wellington, and that he would not be well able to keep his party together for any length of time, as a single vote has become a necessity to carry on his Administration. That Administration, ft is to be hoped, wilj be IQ* the gopd'of tire country, api if.’ so Mr fjtkfr ford may rest assured that ho factious oppo* sition will be given to him, notwithstanding the compaot phalanx now in opposition. The desire ot the Opposition is to watch and see that nothing will be done to undermine the great scheme, to which the country unmistakably gave in its adherence at the last general election. On this point Mr Stafford may regt tpat cl+e present minority will act an 1 vote as ope man. (They canhSi have faitli in a Ministry such he Ifts suri rounded himself with. The varioqs conflict; ing views embraced ip the members of tho Ministry upon the policy of public works and immigration, the land question and settlement of people, and many other general questions of vital importance to the Colony, will require to be settled amongst the mein* here of the present Cabinet; but how the conflicting c!r* ,lta ar « to reconciled will be a puzzle even to Mr Stafford, win. *"S shrewdness. The party headed by Mr Stafford, having forced the.late Ministry to retire, will now require to merge their flip, fereuces into one common can e. But here comes the difficulty, for we find that some hold very strong objections to the ultra-Provincial views, as shadowed forth by Mr Curtis in the motion he brought before the House, 'which ft now gfthfi: rally known as the uperintendontal motion—a movement which the House looked upon with grave suspicion, and which would have been kicked indignantly out of the House had it not been cunningly withdrawn. In the Cabinet, Messrs Fitzherbert, Lillies, and Reid all hold these same ultra views ; Mr Stafford and Mr Se.vell hold, on the other hand, the extreme opposite, and the majority of their supporters hold by the views of Air Stafford. Again, a number of members who supported the want of confidence motion did so only on the ground that they wished a change in the composition of the late Ministry. This apparently could not be given effect to by the means adopted, although it was believed the late Alinistry would have given way to their wishes had not the adverse vote been given. Such, then, being the position of the Ministry and Legislature, it is not very likely that any measures of practical utility will be carried through tins session at least, and the result of Air Stafford’s motion is just this : that a whole year will elapse before any kind of utilitarian measures wiU be brought before the House, and it may be that that useful measure “ The Public Trusts Bill” and other measures passed by the House will bequietly dropped. Hence the result of the no con-

fidence motion—amotion directed not ar/ctinsl men but measures, as Mr Gillies tells the country, whereas, with a great deal of candour Sir David Monro declares that he looked upon the motion as against mix, not % a t S wdi he unnecessary to traverse the aneeches delivered, as the readers of the Star he quite conversant with the moat of Tern That of Mr OrmomVs, however, must not be overlooked. Some members say if that speech had been delivered earlier it would have altered their vote ; but this is an'hi'orfiu'e they had, at least most of Scm SJ’thcmarlvo, to Mr Stafford, Si if only icllo trying to WM themso ves to the fact that they gave their votes to a foregone conclusion without . biowledgo M tactf Mr Ormond hatl origin.; y mode hj s etaLent-n .statement atlm.tW by «H reasonably thinking men, , i n telli"ible ofSity, corrupt patronage m appointmStsonliin printing, ahnse of press teleflame, ami other charges were hcapa.l npon C with unsparing tongue by members of (Ssition; ami although supporters of Ministers were able and did reply to the varbus chaTges made, it was left Mr Ormond L the] last speaker from the Ministerial Benches to take up the various charges m detail. This he did m a long and exhaustn e anocch, and it was wonderful how easily he disproved statements and turned the guns upon the enemy. The charges tho Government principally reflect-d on their administrative capacity, and Mr Ormoid said he held himself responsible for those charges. The mam attack was upon the Brogdeu contracts. lt vls { ie ' csir f of the House that a contract with that hrm should be made on the basis of No. 2 contort to the extent of one million and both Mr Stafford and Mr Gillies voted for the resolution last session, and they then stated that a system of small contracts would be ruinous in its results; ou the other hand Sr Fitzherbcrt stated that the contracts did not go far enough, and that the contract should have been to the extent of two millions. Now, Mr Fitzherbcrt states that the Colonv would be involved in a further liability of L 125.000 over the one million fttrreed to. After careful investigation, Mr Ormond said the statement was wholly unfounded, as were many of the other extraordinary figures ami statements brought forward by that gentleman-contracts had been placed in the hands of Messrs biogdc-n to the extent of L 750.000, and they would receive further contracts, so as to make up the one million agreed ti by the House, but after that all contracts would be thrown qpen to public tender. The charge made was that the prices paid for tic works weic excessive, xMr Ormond asked how it could be decided. On the one side of the House wore the members for Taxon, Invcreaigil, and Wallace, while against them were the members for tho Thames, ( hnstchurcb, and New Plymouth, all professional engineers, who stated tho price'to be reasonable, two of them declaring they would not like to be partners in the contracts. Mr Ormond had anted ou the advice of the engineer m ch.ot and it was not right that the House should be swayed by the opinions of non-pro-fessionals against tho opinions of men with high professional attainments Inc point that had been attempted to be made that Borne Dunedin contractors bad offered to tender for the lines at lower rates, Mr Ormond disposed of by shewing that these contractors had never seen the specifications. The sporting offers of Messrs 1 roudfoot ?aul Co., VO coiisvrucv too Otago lines' rrom 7* per cent. 1 below Messrs Brogdeu s prices, and that of Messrs Forrest and Co., to construct any lines in the Colony at 10 per cent, below Messrs Bmgden, he contended should have not the slightest weight in the minds of members, and were unfairly made use of to influence the debate, That opinion every reasonable thinking man outside of I arhament will no doubt assent to, as it is known full well, that these contractors were quite aware of tho arrangement come to last September by the House, viz., that Messrs Brqpdon were to have the offer of tho hist contracts up to one million of -money, so that any offer made by others cQiild not be bona U, but only sporting ones as Mr Ormond happily stated. Mr Stafford had accused tho Government that they had information of the likelihood of a rise in price of railway iron. Mr Ormond denied that; but even had it been so, he asked, would the Government have been justified in entering into an iron .peculation / Mr Stafford himself would lxaye : 'becn % first to condemn it. One of Mr Stafford’s accusations ggaiqst Ministers was that a Superintendent qf a Pi'Oymcp held office as ope qf t|}eip, and declared no would not tolerate such a state of_ affairs. He would not have any Supermteudents of Provinces as members of any Mimstiy. This Mr Ormond also explained. He accepted oll*,ce on tffc umlcr-standing that he should resign the Superiixtcndeiicy, but ocourrouees of a complicated character had arisen in Ins Province with the Natives during his absence, owing to the intrigues of a European, which had Ted to great discontent, and even danger of a rupture between the gauew ; so much ho, that hostile feelings had'not been so strong since the time the Government went into office, lb was only owing to urgent representations from leading colonists ami chiefs that he had not resigned the Superintendency. He had, however, given notice to’the Government to redid his place by another on the Government benches, as ffe could not refuse the request made to him to remain by his Iffoyuioe inider the critical circumstances, Whip. will My .Stafford say, or how will he g‘d out of. Um dilemma of his appointment to the Ministerial Benches of three Superintendents and one Provincial Executive officer, they declaring they will pot resign during the session, Truly, Mr Stafford,' “ your lines have fallen in pleasant places !” and it will fie pleasing to learn how be can make his crooked paths stiaight. 1 he condemnation of the Immigration Agency arrangements was thoroughly exposed by Mr Ormond, and the result shows how ignorance may do evil and mischief. Throe tenders had been sent in for the conveyance of passengers from Great Britain, viz,, P Henderson and Co., Shaw, Saville and Co and Gibbs, Bright and Co. It has* been elicited that these tenders were cooked. Henderson and Co. were to have the whole of tlm Scotch emigration, Shaw, Savillo the whole of the English emigration, they undertaking to pay to Gibbs, Bright, and Co. a commission ou every transaction. The Agent-General rejected the whole of the tenders, and thou Gibbs, Bright, and Co complained they had bteu soul. When freed from the compact, the latter hrm sent

their agent (Mr Sloman) to make terms with the Agent-General for carriage of emigrants ; but, as soon as Shaw, Saville, and Co. found this out, they despatched an agent to Mr Sloman, offering him an amount to withdraw, which Mr Sloman admits was more than he could have reasonably expected to make out of the contract which he had arranged for with the Agent-General. Mr Sloman, however, declined to withdraw from his agreement, and declined Shaw, Saville, and Co.’s offer as made through their agent. The result is that the passage money is now reduced to £l3, the same price having been offered to Messrs P. Henderson and Co., which they refused to accept. In allusion to the nationalities, Mr Kolleston objected to Norwegians, &c., but they had already proved themselves well adapted to the utilisation of the country upon which they had been located, and Avhich otherwise would not be occupied.