WELLINGTON.

Evening Star, Issue 3556, 16 July 1874, Page 1 (Supplement)

WELLINGTON.

(From our own Correspondent.)

. July 11. Last evening we published a short summary of proceedings in the House of Representatives respecting the motion to produce the telegraphic correspondence between Judge Ward and Mr Vogel. Our space did not suffice for full details. Our correspondent continues his narrative as follows :

Mr Fox was the principal speaker on Mr Gillies’s motion, and his remarks were mainly levelled at the ‘Daily Times,’ and at its Wellington correspondent. His speech, if not too long for your columns, is thus reported in the papers here : It was perfectly evident that there must have been either very gross negligence on the part of somebody, or else gross breach of faith as to the negligence being with either of the individuals engaged in the quarrel, in their private capacity. The House had understood from the hon. gentleman at the head of the Government that that was denied by each of them, therefore it might be safely imagined the contents of the telegrams were not obtained through those channels How, then, did they reach the ‘ Daily Times ?’ The only other channel was through the Telegraph Department; and that was a conclusion which he would be very loth to arrive at. During a long and pretty close acquaintance with the department, he had never had any

reason to believe otherwise than that the most strict and honorable course had been pursued in reference to such matters by the operators or other people in the service. There might have been m the department cases of negligence which might have placed persons outside in the way of seeing the contents of telegrams which were transmitted through the Government machinery. It was of the utmost importance that r? e JK°, mmd shou ! d be perfectly satisfied that it did not escape in this case through any oversight on the part of the officers of the department, or by any gross negligence which had been overlooked by the controlling officer of the department. He thought it extremely desirable, if there had been a channel of communication between the telegraph and the newspaper—which should not have existed—that the House should take some steps to ascertain what that channel was. The head of the Government thought it impossible to discover it, and spoke of it being like the story of Junius’s letter or the history of the Man with the Iron Mask; but he (Mr Fox) was free to express his belief that if the right steps were taken they could tear the iron mask from the brazen face. The contents of telegrams were supposed to be absolutely secret in the

hands of the Government, The House would recollect an instance when he was in office of an erroneous copy of a telegram sent by him to one of the departments, he being in Otago at the time, appearing in the Wellington correspondent s letter of an Otago paper. It was never absolutely ascertained how that telegiam was allowed to escape. A crime was committed, and the terms he used in condemnation of the person’s conduct, though made in the heat of the moment, he had never since regretted. The language he used in describing the conduct of the writer of the letter he referred to wns cer tainly strong ; and that individual threatened “jui l Trith an action for libel. He (Mr Fox) at once defied him to bring his action; because he was satisfied if he got the correspondent of the ' Daily Times ’ into the ■witness box, he would not have been long in ascertaining from him, by means of an oath and crossexamination, how it was that telegraphic information escaped from the Government offices and reached the ‘Daily Times.' But his lawyers saw, he (Mr Fox) supposed, that the case a disreputable one, and threw it up. He was informed subsequently that the person consulted another lawyer, who, he had reason to believe, saw that it was almost impossible to carry it to a successful result; consequently ™ action was never brought, and he (Mr Fox) was never given the opportunity m the face of the Supreme Court of the country of ascertaining how that telegram leaked out. _ That it was obtained by surreptitious and disgraceful means there could n°t be a shadow of doubt, but who was the guilty party, or hew many were the guilty parties, was not within the knowledge of the Government at this moment. The Government nearly broke up the department, scattering it in various places, but it was never dis-

covered by wbat individual, and by what particular channel the telegram was exposed. Through some gross complicity with some person outside the office, his telegram was surreptitiously and fraudulently communicated to a person, who was enabled to make use of it in the newspaper for his pecuniary reward, for newspaper correspondents were paid. He bad called' the person a “ doubly-dyed character ” for it involved first of all the act of deliberate breach of confidence with the Telegraph Department of what occurred there, or on the oth*r hand was a deliberate fraud. Therefore he deliberately used the expressions he did use, and had never regretted having done so. They hardly represented the character of the transaction. The action then taken had had a very good effect, for it prevented the repetition of such a betrayal of the official confidence of the country from that to the present tune. He was sorry another instance had occurred of the same paper apparently manifesting a breach of confidence of a similar character, which it was requisite should be inquired mto by the Government or a committee of that House.

lhat attack vra° replied to through the ‘ Kveiling Post,’ in a capital article, the relevant passages of which are ; The whole of Mr Fox’s revelations were merely the product ofj a vivid imagination, xlis character is saved at the expense of his veracity. As he evidently knows nothing on the subject, we will tell him why he was not made to answer, in a Court of Law, for his wretched slanders. It was because he spoke and did not write them. In actions for verbal slander it is necessary to prove special damage resulting therefrom. The correspondent suffered no pecuniary injury from the attack made on him —probably, in a pecuniary sense, he benefited. His lawyer therefore advised that, as no damage could be proved, it was useless going to law • and it was for this reason only that an action was not brought,, and not from any disinclination to have the' matter inquired into uuder oath in the Supreme Court.

Dunstan’s member is evidently determined not to hide his light under a bushel. The first week of the session he took charge of the Goldmining Bill, which was so unjustly treated last year ; and next asked leave to introduce a Bill to amend the Otago Waste Lands Act of last session. In connection with the latter, the House was treated to a little unexpected diversion on Wednesday, and had a foretaste of the “Otago free fights,” without which no session is allowed to pass over. Leave having been applied for, Mr Gillies rose and intimated to the House that, in accordance with a resolution passed by the Provincial Council, the Provincial Solicitor of Otago was engaged in preparing a similar Bill to Mr Shepherd’s, which Mr Reid would introduce on his arrival in Wellington; and he suggested to Mr Shepherd the advisability of not pressing his request until the measure prepared by the Provincial Government had been sent by hifn. Up rose Dunstan’s member, and thus he delivered himself The hon. member for Waikouaiti assumed a very unusual course on a motion for leave to introduce a Bill in making the remarks he did, which forced from him (Mr Shepherd) an explanation which he did not intend to give, and which was unnecessary. He had been induced to move in this matter, knowing the session was likely to be a very short one, and he spoke to the head of the Provincial Executive of Otago before he left Dunedin, intimating his intention of taking the steps he was then tak_He intended to place the Bill in such a position, as regarded that House, that the hon, member for the Taieri could take it up on his arrival, which he informed him (Mr Shepherd) would be in fourteen days from that time. He

had forwarded a communication to the Provincial Secretary of Otago in these terms : “Do you intend to introduce an amended Land Bill beyond that mentioned in the Provincial Council ? I shall delay first reading until hearing from you.” So that his hon. friend would see his (Mr Shepherd’s) sagacity, even in this respect, was equal to his own. The time had not yet arrived for that hon. member to teach him his position in a matter like this. The amendment proposed by the Provincial Council of Otago was a trivial one; it simply removed the limit placed on the area which might be thrown open under the deferred payment system. It did not require a solicitor to prepare a Bill of that sort; he believed he was quite competent to prepare such a Bill—(Laughter.)—The hon. member for Waikouaiti was not so much actuated by a desire to watch the interests of Otago, as by a desire to snub Irm (Mr Shepherd).—(Laughter.)—He would give the hon. member the benefit of the doubt, and try to believe that he only exercised a sort of parental guard over his (Mr Shepherd’s) political career. (Renewed laughter.) —He the hon. member would pursue that course in the same manner for which he was so famous in the Province of Otago. Refusing to withdraw, Mr Gillies called for a division, and when the question was put a

first and a second time on the voices, the “noes” had it. The division bells were then rung, but this time the “ayes’’were In the majority. It is said that it had been first ascertained that the rejection of Mr Shepherd’s Bill would not endanger that proposed to be introduced by Mr Jtieid, and though the first reading of the former was carried, it Is tolerably certain it will net get beyond that stage. You have been advised as to what will be done with the Gold Mining Bill, The ' Post.’ the other night, came to the assistance of Mr Shepherd, and soundly rated the goldfields members, telling them that it was “ unfortunate for the goldfields that the personal differences between their representatives afford the Government an excuse for neglecting their interests ; and still more unfortunate for the goldfields that amongst their members there are many who will willingly sacrifice the interests they are supposed to represent, rather than abate one jot ef their little personal enmities ” This produced a very indignant reply from “ Stockwhip, ” who, however, does not sufficiently conceal his identity. He says The Goldfields Bill, which you say was prepared at the instance of the Government of Otago, was designed to be a Goldfields Bill for the Colony ; but in attempting to carry that out, even after carefully having been gone over by the representatives of the different Provinces interested in goldfields, the result was pro nounced “an abortion” by those very parties who sat in committee upon it. The fact was then realised, which men of ordinary intelligence were cognisant of before, that the cir-

cumstances of the different goldfields in the Colony were so varied that to frame any general measure must prove a failure. Accordingly, the majority of the goldfields representatives last session resolved to abandon the attempt, more especially as it was found that most of the amendments proposed could be met by regulations which it was competent for each Province to make for itself.

T hen follows anything but a complimen- - estimate of Mr Shepherd as a politician. I had almost forgotten to mention that when the doors were unlocked after the decision was called for on the Otago Laud Bill Sir Cracroft Wilson asked for the ruling of the Speaker as to what would happen if the House rejected the Bill of the hon. member for Dnnstaa, and was afterwards asked to receive another Bill on the same subject from the Provincial authorities! The Speaker said that any bon. member might introduce another Otago Waste Lands Bill by the leave of the House. He cautioned the hon, member for the Dunstan, however, that he would not permit a mythical Bill to go to the second reading; the Bill itself must then be beforo the House. “The member with a grievance ” was another role in which Mr Shepherd appeared on \N ednesday. He had been terribly exercised about a telegram which appeared in the ‘ Auckland Star ’of Jaly 2, and the terms of it were such as would not have insured its insertion m the columns of any respectable paper, ne complained that telegrams had been sent oncoming him of a character which would not be tolerated in America, and said if they were continued members would be obliged to go in for a supply of horsewhips. The Speaker said the terms of the telegrams were so offensive that had the reporters’ gallery been under his control he would have excluded therefrom the senler of the message; but in consequence of the action taken

l>y the House last year in transferrins the control of the gallery to the Debates Committee, he did not feel justified in interfering. Mr Mervyn’a motion for a return of the quantity of land sold, or otherwise disposed of m the various Provinces during a period named, occasioned an unprofitable discussion as to what was meant by the term “new settler, Mr Mervyn desiring the return to specify as far as possible, the number of new settlers, ’ who had purchased land during the period named Sir Cracroft Wilson, who aims at being the funny man of the House, wanted to know whether new settlers ” meant now as it did in “old identity ” times, a colonist who had taken a dose of tutu ; Mr Shepherd, of Nelson

could not see how “ new settler ” x;ould be applied to persons who merely shifted from one Province to occupy laud in another; and Mr Wakefield pictured endless confusion among “ new antlers,” “old settlers,” and no settlers at all.” Mr Thomson, while of opinion that it was quite plain what was meant was persons who had not previously occupied, had pointed out that the return would not serve the object of the mover-to show how far the colonising policy had been successful in settling upon the land the immigrants introduced into the country by its means—if it came up showing that a thousand acres had been purchased during the time referred to, the House would be justified in drawing from it the conclusion that a thousand persons had settled up m the lands, because it would be found that a large proportion of those persons were already occupiers of the land. But as Mr Mervyn assured the House that the department had undertaken to furnish him with the information he desires, and knew exactly what he required, the return was ordered.

Some very important Bills have been introduced ; and three of them are already down for second readings. The Qualification of Electors Bill contains eight clauses. It leaves the existing qualifications under the Constitutiou Act undisturbed, and provides as an additional one the admission of every male person, twenty-one years of age, not subject to any legal incapacity, and who is a naturalborn subject of the 1 mpire. The only condition is residence in New Zealand for six months before the last registration of electors, and in one electoral district for the same period, before registration. Naturalized or denizen subjects of Her Majesty are, for the purposes of the Act, to be placed on an equality with natural-born subjects, when they have been naturalised or made denizen a certain number of years. The precise number is left a blank. No one is to be entitled to vote in the same district under two quad“cations. . When the electoral rolls for 1875 come into operation, the special miners’ franchise is to cease to exist, and the Miners Representation Acts are to be deemed repealed. Until then the electoral rights of miners under those Acts are prescribed. The Act is not to apply to the Maoris while the Maori Representation Act remains in force. The Abolition for Imprisonment for Debt Bill is sure to pass this session. Mr T, B. Gillies wanted to simplify it considerably, but as there was a conflict of opinion between himself and the Attorney-General as to the necessity of some of the exemptions in clause 3, he declined to waste time by suggesting amendments which he knew could not be adopted by the Government. Valuable suggestions ware thrown out by

Mr Gillies, Mr Brandon, and Sir J. C. Wilson, which will doubtless be acted upon by the Government; hut Mr Sheehan was fairly sat upon by Mr Fox aud Mr Vogel for suggesting that if by the operation of the Act persons who were now in custody were released, the State might be called upon to pay the creditor’s costs, if not his claim. The important amendments in the law which the Telegraph Act is intended to effect reached you by telegraph. In the course of the debate on the second reading, which is unfinished, Major Atkinson made the suggestion- - tfhich was well received—that the principal difficulty the Bill was designed to meet might be got over by the operator, after tr msmitting a message, placing the original in an envelope and forwarding it to the senders as an ordinary post letter. In Committee, Mr Fox will endeaver to introduce two clauses : one to punish offenders against the inviolability of telegrams—that is—persons who might become improperly acquainted with the contents of a telegram, aud circulate then!—the ether, exempting a witness from all penalties which might seam consequent upon his evidence when given, so that he should have no inducement to refrain from speaking the truth on receiving such an indemnity from the hands of the Chairman of the Committee.

_ Apropos of telegraphing, the ‘Post’ of tonight wonders why the Premier, when speaking on the subject, did not inform the House of the very important invention recently perfected by Mr Lemon, and now in daily use, for sending and receiving messages at the same time along the same wires. This has often been tried at Home, and to some extent has succeeded, but never sufficiently so to enable it to be used practically. Mr l emon has solved the problem, and has doubled the working capacity of our telegraph lines. His duplex invention is iu daily use on the jNo. 3 wire of the Cook’s Straits cable, along which messages are regularly transmitted from Blenheim to Wellington, and from Wellington to Blenheim at the same- time—a distance of 82 miles of cabe, and 32 of land line. The monetary value to the Colony of this invention is enormous. The business of the Telegraph Department was rapidly becoming too great for the present cable to carry it. Mr Lemon’s invention has doubled its carrying capacity, and so obviated the necessity,

which would soon have become a pressing one, for a second cable. He has thus, on this line alone therefore, saved the Colony some L 26.000 or L 30.000. A rifle match between onr Lords and Commoils is being arranged, and promises to be one of the events of the season.