THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

Evening Star, Issue 3301, 18 September 1873, Page 2

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

[By Electric Telegraph.]* Wellington, September 17. In the Legislative Council, Dr Pollen moved the second reading of the Provincial Empowering Bill, which he said would establish an equilibrium between the Colony and the Provinces, as the latter were getting too strong.—Mr Waterhouse opposed the Bill, sn the ground that it gave unlimited borrowing power to the Provinces. The Colony, having sanctioned such borrowing, could not shake off the ultimate liability. He.objected to see the Provinces vested with such dangerous powers.—Mr Sewell, Mr Miller, Dr Grace, and Colonel Kenny opposed the Bill. —Colonel Brett and Captain Fraser supported the Bill, urging that it was necessary to enable the public works policy to be carried out. —Mr Mantell moved that the Bill be read a second time that day six months. —The division is expected to take place to* night, and in all probability the Bill will be thrown out by a large majority. Jn the House of .Representatives, the debate on the Immigrants’ Land Bill was resumed. Mr Vogel concluded his speech by a recommendation that the debate be adjourned.—Mr Fitzherbert spoke strongly against the principle of the Governor having a voice in the presentation of the papers to the House, excepting such as affected Imperial rights. Ministers had made a grave mistake in permitting his interference, which was against Constitutional privileges.—Mr Vogel interrupted Mr Fitzherbert by saying the Standing Orders gave the Governor a yoice in the matter.—The Speaker showed that the term “ presented by command' 1 was a mere form, and that the right lay with Ministers, whose recommendation the Governor acted on.—Mr Fitzherbert spoko in the same strain. He said it appeared that the despatch was actually printed, and che Government bad better a clean breast of it, and admit that they were playing a double part. If the House discussed the Agent-General, it should only do so upon full information. He believed Mr John Hall had received authority to supersede Dr Featherston.—Mr MLean interrupted to deny this.—Mr Fitzherbert continued that the House had. his and Mr M‘Lean’s word, and it could judge between them, Presently it would receive proof. The matters respecting the selection of an Inspector of Post Offices, and Mr Bussell’s action regarding the San Francisco contract, looked lijse it. He believed the Government knew they had blundered over immigration, and desired to make Dr Featherston the scapegoat. He paoved the adjournment of the., debate.—Mr Stafford said letters from London made him believe that several important despatches had been withheld, hot ji L this and last. —Messrs O’florke, Ormond, Beeves, and Richardson denied this.—Mr Stafford suggested a rigid search after the letters, for he could not reconcile their assertions and his letters,—The debate was adjourned.—Mr Bunny then moved for the despatch to bg laid on the table!—Mr Vogel called fora division, but the voices being manifestly in favor of the production of the despatch, he cave way.—The debate is to be resumed tonight. .

The following is the suppressed despatch to Dr Featherston ; , “ ( The Hen. D.Pollen, to the &gent-Gene-ral, London.-—Colonial Secretary’s Office, Wellington, 27th August* 1873-(No. 101.) Sir—X have the honor to inform you that your three letters (No; 385, 11th June, 1873, No. 382, 12th June, 1873, No. 419, 15th June, 1873), have been brought specially under the notice of the Government on account of the very unusual manner in which they are phrased. Even had the tone yon adopted been more courteous and less insubordinate, the Government would not have considered that they were called upon to defend the instructions they have given to you. It is from no desire to do so, but simply to enable you to understand the views of the Cabinet on the subject, that I briefly refer to the second and third of the letters mentioned. The instructions to which in these letters you seem to refer, and of which in the latter of the two you so bitterly complain, appear to be those which prohibited your renewing a contract with Messrs Shaw, Savill, and Cp. On your arrival in London you appeared to be fully sensible of the evils of Messrs Shaw, Savill, and Cp.’s monopoly (see your letter Nq. 284, 24th May, 1872).. The Government recqgnised the same evils, and regretted the contract intq which yoq had entered with those gentlemen. Oh your applying for permission to renew it, yon were prohibited from doing so, when you telegraphed out the singular appeal—* Don’t imperil thousands lives entrusting service inexperienced hands.’ Still the Government’ adhered to their determination: They then found thit under a system of tailing fpf putyiq temlem.yqa agreed tq pay Messrs Shaw, Savill, and Co. the eftornjoiw pritf o|

li; »uinS «wir «»»«l policy. ?haw, Savilt, wd Co.. on the Sfe*#ealantfl|ipping Company being formed, their rates, and induced you! to kgree\for ft>nr more ’ships. But this did not reader it the less necessary t > break down Shaw, davit!, and Co’s monopoly. The Government saw that in the interest of the Colony the monopoly must be put an end to, and in order to do so they with great r Juctance entered into an arrangement which gave for six months a monopoly to the. local Company. / The Government do not regret the cost of upsetting Messrs Shaw, Savill, and Co.’s monopoly. They only regret that the task was left to them instead of being performed by you. Had you arranged privately, through respectable brokers, for each ship as you required it, the Government think you might have employed Messrs avill, and Co. only to the extent you considered desirable, and that yon might have' escaped their exorbitant demands. 1 take the opportunity of observing that, commencing as yon did with unfettered pdwertj thd Obterridfelii have only interfered with and tjfecialy instructed; yon as they found the exigencies of the service required; The irbegular uatanner in which yea have conducted year oop£ respondence has occasioned moon incOuvenienoe and anxiety on this aide: The Government are aware that .yen hhve suL feted from serious and they ttfcogiuse the devotion with which? inepite of it, y»U showed your desire to continue to discharge the'daties of your Office Much of the irregularity of your oorvospendoneeM bodoubt-at-tributable to this oause, and the Government desire also to attribute it to the discourteous letters under consideration. I have tp-re-min i you of the cordial tenps which should exist between an officer holding so high a position, and- the Government 7 and ho re* quest you to conduct your correspondence in future in a more becoming manner, Ministers expect that you will endeavor to give effect to their wishes, and that you will do so, not in a tauqting spirit, but with a desire to promote their views to the you consider it would ;bo disadvantageous to carry out any instructions you receive, you should at once telegraph your reason? and ask for fresh instruction^; but as a rule you should consider that it is meant you should follow the instructions cebt ydn.<! 4ihd Government desire that, whether or not the New Zealand Parliament is, about to meet, yeu should regard it as your duty to reply monthly to : all communications you receive from then!, as well as to forward any information at your disnosilwhich you may consider likely to be of interest to the Colony.1 have, Ac , Daniel Pollen." ,

i September 18. On the House resuming last nikht, Mr O’Rorke gave a sketch of his actianwimmi-* gration. He dcfended-the system of grant* iag free passages, theeffect qtwhichjhad been a large increase of immigrants. Within the last month 600 people had been landed at Dunedin, and two vessels with passengers arrived at Canterbury. Advices had been received that fifteen vessels were no# afloat, #ifch nearly 4,050 souls on board ; five more were to'be despatched in September, six in October, and fully 10,000 persons would be introduced into the Colony during the year. —Mr T. L. Shepherd referred to the division that had taken place in the-Upper House on the Provincial Loan Bill, and said the efforts of the< Lower House were useless if defied in another place. He was called to order by the Speaker —Mr Vogel said an ample opportunity would be afforded for discussing the attitude of the Upper House.—Mr Fitzherbert said the present discussion would be aimless. As the question was to be discussed in a direct mode, he would reserve his opinions for a future debate.—Mr O’Eorke had admitted the Agent-General’s department to be in a more satisfactory state than it was before supposed to be. The Immigrants’ Land Bill was well intended, but weak.—Mr Brandon defended the AgentGeneral. The instructions sent to him had been satisfactory, and the Agent-General had been blamed because he had presume}! to offer advice upon questions upon which he had more knowledge than,those who instructed him.—Mr Hunter praised Mr Vogel for taking the responsibility of the AgentGeneral’s acts. The Agent-General, who was expscted to be .-ambassador, insurance, and shipping broker, bad been overworked, and it was no wonder if a mistake occurred. Mr Webster spoke at random. He Condemned the Bill as having been framed* by literary men/ and compared editors to washer-women. , He spoke of. pditora as scorchers(?), southerly busters, ft cl, ridiculed the goldfields’ members, and said the members of the Ministry knew more • about selling qld clothes, lawyers’, letters apd invoices, than about colonization. The House listened to him in dead silence. —Mr Luckie approved of the delicacy which ledmhmterate desire to refrain from producing the suppressed dis« patch o£ “ Wallace wight” (Mt Webster, the member for Wallace), had surpassed himself that evening, Considering the festive garb in which he appeared that evening, there was perhaps some excuse for burn- He then spoke as follows Land was the question on which everything iajhp Colony would hang shortly. The squatting, qrlarge land holding interest would have to make iva y. If what has happened to-iughv in another place shall be repeated, interest would have to bow before the interests of the people. A few years ago, in -a place where be (Mr Luckie) had spent ten yhafrs of his life, Colonel W hjtmdre had the to say at a public table, “ What, do we want with settlers and storekeepers here ? this is a sheep country, anfiaheep farmers intend to hold the land. ” As to the sneers of Mr Webster. at the Press, was it right, he asked, that such sneers should be thrown out at a class ofnten who had made their mark in every Colony, and .one of them had reached the highest position in this Colony. They rose sometimes, no doubt, from small beginnings, but they had the knowledge to know where to get information,. and. .that Was knowledge. He had heard, also, of assignees and clerks of assignees in b&hkmptcyfiomingl to a condition of wealth by the misfortunes of others. Wria that* anything: to boisft. SbSut, or .had any man a right to sneer at others when he himself might be sneered at } If the system for granting land on deferred payments had been established, which he regarded as one measure that had been nipped in the bud by large holders in anOther place, and whose interest were opposed to it,, it would maki this Bill much more useful than it was. The prime question now was the people's land for the people and the people for theland ? This question of the land laws would ring throughout the Colony during the next twelve months, and he would do his best td mate it do so. Mr Thomson thought that the Bill would be a useless one. As regarded Ministers and the Agent-General, it seemed to him that there were faults on both sides. Mr Reid did not subscribe to the opinion that any interest should be put down because another ptecq had exp raised its legitimate function. He believed the appointment of the AgeatGenerr) to have been a ipistake, but immigration affairs were ps wqU conducted as could have bpeu expected. It wqs the duty of to defend thq Agent-General, It was a great mistake to give a higher rate to a company because it .was Ioq&L He thought the Agent-General made a grave mistake in breaking with Messrs Patrick Henderson and Co. and the hootch agency, but otherwise his action Was not unsatisfactqry. He thought t^e ( Biff a harmless.m»m though* it might in some ctees he Mr Bunny ’ thq BiU,

Kelly, thought it wotllcl he better to name so man y acres of land in the Bill than to much in value. Mr Beeves’* speech,was substantially correct, and no attempt had been mad® to rebut it. Some in the House were afraid, if the Agent-General were superseded, he would come back and supersede sone other office also here—(Hear, hear.)—Mr Vogel replied. He said Mr Gillies had Spoken alternately for and against the Bill. The Government had to contend with difficulties 15,000 miles away. The Colony could well afford to pay L2O for each immigrant, when in America 500 and 1,000 dollars were given. It was impossible for any Government to carry on the business of the Colony, if bound to produce all correspondence. Mr Webster had raised a class of distinctions. He had said, “ You are all self-made men, and I speak from a pedestal.” ho assumption was more intolerable, and he would not descend to the boa. member’s level; but would only say that, in order to set himself right with the House, he should come down, and make an ample apology. In regard to Mr Reeves’s speech he would admit that it was a conscientious one, and also an able one; but when he referred to the comparative want of success which had characterised the period of Mr Reeves’s administration of immigration, he should not have been so ready to criticise that. t Mr O’Rorke had not really been unsuccessful. It was idle to say that the Government had no disagreement with the AgentGeneral. He blamed him for not carrying out his instructions, and also fit* irregularity in his correspondence; but that was a very different thing from agreeing with the sweeping statement of Mr beeves, which amounted to a statement that the Agent-General was not fit for any responsible position. As regarded the general question of immigration, the Government would be prepared to give free passages as desired by Mr Reeves. Nomination would require to be made by name, and not by occupation. The latter would be very unfair to a laboring population. Anyone who wanted labor of any kind could, without incurring any responsibility, swamp the market. The Bill then passed its sedond reading, and was ordered to be committed on Friday. Before the House separated, Mr Vogel said it would be necessary to make a statement with reference to an occurrence in another place. The Provincial Borrowing Bill was a measure to which the Government attached the greatest importance ;> it therefore required the gravest consideration. ■ He would request that the House would not meet the next day, so that the Government might have time to consider the situation. He moved that the House should adjourn till Friday, and the House adjourned accordingly. The following is the division list of the Upper House on the motion that the Provincial Loans Bill be thrown out Ayes, 19; Messrs Ackland, Boaar, Campbell, Chamberlain, Edwards, Hall, Holmes, Johnston, -Kenny, Mantell, Miller, Nurse. Patterson, Peter, Pharazya, Sewell, Stokes, Wateihome, and Whitmore. Noes, 12 : Baillie, Brett, Frazer, Grace, Lahman, M’Lean, Ngatata, Pollen, Richmond, Scotland, Taylor, and Wigley. Mr Vogel sent a circular to the supporters of the Provincial Loans Bill, requesting them to meet him at the Government Buildings to-morrow, at half-past ten a m. A meeting of Mr Vogel’s principal supporters was held to-day at the Ministerial residence, The result is not known. A meeting of all the supporters of the Provincial Loans Bill is fixed for to-morrow. (FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.) Mr Vogel, in reply, yesterday, said he wanted to make a Ministerial statement. The non-appearance of Dr Featherston’s last letter was owing to its being sent to the Governor and not returned. The Governor had affixed a memorandum, saying that it was unfair to the Agent-General for it to be produced. The Government bad aright to discharge the Agent-General or any other officer, and if the House wanted to take the responsibility of the production of the despatch, it would be laid on the table. The Government were actuated by a desire not to pat the Agent in a false position. Mr Fitzberbert inveighed against the Premier for the style Of his statement. He protested against the interference of the Governor in a matter not affecting Imperial interests. He said the Governor was to blame, and the Ministry to blame also for allowing the introduction of such improper influence. He spoke with intense vigor against the Governor’s action in the matter, and said his Excellency had no business "to restrain the House, unless he could say to Ministers that Imperial rights were at stake. He continues declaiming in most denunciatory terms, and says “the sooner the Government show a little stiffness in the back, instead of parading their tyranny over the miserable members of this House, the better. ” 'I he Speaker here interfered, and a scene is taking place. There is a more probable solution of the difficulty the Government has got into than either proroguing or dissolving. They will eat the leek in the meantime; bring in a Property Tax Bill and pass it through the lower House, send it to the Lords for rejection, and then appealto the country on the question. You are making a great mistake about your Mussel Bay agitation! If you persist in it, the shops will probably be removed to North Otago or Canterbury.

In the Legislative Council to-morrow Mr Miller i« to move—“ That, in view of the large sums of monpy accruing and available from the sales of land in the Provinces of Canterbury aud .the amount which the Colonial liabilities have already reached, and the necessity of fresh loans iu order to complete the railway system throughout the Colony, it is,the opinion of this Council that the Public Works Policy should be modified to the following extent; That the Provinces of Canterbury and Otago should be empowered to complete such railways as they may require over and above those already authorised by Parliament, whether main lines or branch lines, without any assistance from the Colonial funds; and that, if necessary, special Acts should be passed for this purpose.” A caucus of the inner circle of Ministerialists takes place to-day (at noon. Probably the Ministry will ask for a dissolution, and appeal to the country on the Provincial Borrowing Policy, and i! they get ib re-affirmed by the result of an election, they will swamp er reconstruct the Upper House. There is a deadlock between the two Houses. A meeting of fifty members is called to consider tha position. A strong feeling exists against the Upper House. The House of Representatives are determined to resist their class legislation, and urge the Cabinet to adopt strong measures. The Executive are now considering the question. There is considerable excitement, and the Ministers will be strongly supported.

BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH. Wellington, September 17. The Wellington cricketers have resolved to accept the challenge of the Auckland team for a match.

The purser of the Claud Hamilton received a telegram when that vessel was off Queenscliff seating that the, body Wardill the defaulter had been found in the Y area.

Tho Rev. Dr Gang lectures to-day on “Memorabilia of the Colonisation of New Zealand, Victoria, and Queensland.” The Carandiui Company opened successfully last night. At the in iuiry regarding the loss of Capt. Rouse, of the Claud Hamilton. W. C. Sinclair, acting master said : On the 7th it was blowing hard, and the vessel was shipping large quantities of water. I spoke to the captain about the weather, the gale being at its height, and was instructed to keep the vessel on its course as then going. About 20 minutes past 11, I was going to communicate with the .captain agaih, when I saw a tremendous sea rolling up, which I expected to strike her about the bridge, but it struck her between the main and mizen rigging. The next moment, when the ship rose above the sea, I saw her deck was swept. The witness attached no fault to the man at the wheel, but thinks, had the vessel been hove* to. as he had previously- suggested to the master, the accident might been avoided. The last words addressed to him by Capt. Rouse were, “ Run as we can. ” Withes? states it was impossible in such a sea to launch a boat, or do anything to save the captain. He doss not attribute the damage to the deck load.—William Robb, carpenter, stated that he had hid twelve years’ experience as a carpenter, He thought the deck-house was not properly fastened, though nothing could have withstood the force of the sea that caused the accident. Nothing could have been done to save the captain, F. H. Fisher, the seamen who was at the .wheel at the time of the accident, said he saw the sea coming up. He sat break, and held on to the wheel. The heaviest part of the sea struck the captain’s house. Witness heard him “cooey” twice afterwards ; the second time faintly. Witness did not think anything could have been done to save him he accident might have been avoided had the vessel been liove-to.—David Watson, engineer, said he was apprehensive of danger from the nature of the sea, and thought that the vessel ought to have been hoverto; He was of opinion that nothing could have been done to save the captain. A testimonial to Captain Sinclair, signed by thirty passengers, and accompanied with a purse, was presented to him off Hokitika. The man at the wheel was also presented with a purse, and a sum of money was subscribed in aid .of the widow and orphans of the late captain. The following decision was given “ That it is possible the late master committed an error in judgment, considering the bad state of the weather, in not having the vessel hove to, and that no blame can be attached to the present master and crew ; and I am further of opinion that as the late master unfortunately lost his life by the accident, any further or formal inquiry would be of no service.” Auckland, September 17. Mr Saunders quotes sales of South British Insurance shares at L2 7s fid, and Caledonian shares at LI3. South British Insurance shares have been sold in Auckland at L2 10s. It is rumored that the South British and National Insurance Companies will work together. A conference of clergymen will be held on Monday next to discuss the subject of religious teaching in district schools. Cambridge (Waikato), September 17. It is reported that Purukutu, being tired of inactivity, wishes to kill another European, but that Tawhiao has Ordered him to remain quiet. Timahu, September 17. The vessels in the roadstead were ordered out to-day, owing to the sea rising, The ketch Alert and brig Silver Ifim n g obeyed. The latter slipped the only gable she had on board, and ultimately got to sea. The barque loliba also got away, ‘ An immense number of lambs have perished in the back country, owing to the recent weather. Naseby, September 18. No Dunedin mail has arrived since the 10th, Although the rivers are high, the mail could easily have been forwarded, as the rivers have been crossed repeatedly. Erysipelas is Spreading. M‘Whirter, of the Kyebnrn diggings, was buried yesterday. Thi? is the second fatal case. Lyttelton, September 18. The Claud Hamilton arrivpd at noon, and sails for Dunedin during the night.