THE AUCKLAND SUPERINTENDENCY.

Evening Star, Issue 3770, 24 March 1875, Page 2

THE AUCKLAND SUPERINTENDENCY.

Auckland, March 23. About fifteen hundred packed themselves into the Choral Hall last night to hear Sir George Grey’s address to the electors. Sir George, on entering, was received by the whole audience rising and cheering and waving their hats. In the opening of his address he referred in feeling terms to the death of Mr Williamson, and related an anecdote about onoe purchasing lov a little boy two cannons he was gazing upon wistfully in the window of a shop kept by Mr Williamson in the early days. The bay told him his father was a mechanic. Borne years after he (Sir George) was stopped by a youth in Nelson, who produced the cannons, and informed him his father had become the Superintendent of .Nelson. Meanwhile, Mr Williamson, the shopkeeper, had become the Superintendent of Auckland. He felt proud of the institutions under which such openings for distinguishmeut existed, and that man was not a friend of the human race who would subvert them. He earnestly desired that every mother, looking at a clever son, might believe that the time would come when all his fellow-citizens .would recognise bis worth, that he might become a blessing to Iris country. He wished to deal with lar*'e Constitutional rather than Provincial questiona, and proceeded to review the position of the Governor, showing that it had been the practice, when Great Britain paid the expenses of a Colony and maintained military establishments, for the Governor to be nominated by the British Parliament, and such appointments were subjected to keen discussion in the House of Commons. When his first appointment to the Governorship of this Colony was made, the debate lasted three days ; but when Great Britain ceased to pay the Governor’s salary, it was customary for those who defrayed the expenses to nominate the holders of the office. Under the New Zealand Constitution Act, the General Assembly could make what law it pleased for the appointment of a Governor, and s nd it home to the Queen. Under the present system the Governor was nominated by the Cabinet in power in England and he had no interest in the country, and it became necessary for him to stand well with the Ministry of the day in the Colony and with those at Home, He thus became a mere machine. If the colonists attempted to reduce Ms alary, the Home authorities r- sisted it ihe office was practically useless. The present system also placed in the hands of the English Cabinet a large sum of money to be annually expended either in rewarding political support or in keeping adverse votes in the House of Peers out of the way in distant parts of the world. In truth, it placed a large sum of secret service money at the disposal of the Government, which in some instances was actually expended for electioneering purposes. He knew an instance where an Under-becretary of State, who had acted in such a way that it was impossible for him in the state of public feeling, to hold any office in England, to be rewarded with a Governorship with a large salary. He did not think it right for us in these Colonies to continue to rivet fetters more firmly upon our fellow-countrymen at Home. Further, while the Colony was paying a large salary for Governor, the Home Government, without our consent, might give him leave of absence for two years. This was another reason why the present state of things r.r/U - rravel y into, and the salary ot the Governor fixed upon such a reasonable basis as not to give an excuse for other extraordinary salaries in the Colony. He next referred to the constitution of the Upper House, and said such a thing was never seen in the world before in the present age as that ministers for the time being should have the power to call whom they liked to the Upper House, and, that these members representing nobody but the Minister who’ appointed them, should have power to disallow the measures passed by the representatives of the people. When the Constitution was framed, the Ministry of England agreed with him in the desirability of an elective Upper Mouse ; but it was considered that that would tend to injure the position of the House of -l eers m England, and it was therefore disallowed. He adverted at consider >ble length to the evils arising out of the constitution of the Legislative Council, and next proceeded to treat ot the c eation of Colonial honors, which he deuounced as an attempt to create life peerages, with the title of honorable and with the rank ot the son of a baronet, within the Colony, and as a gross breach of the law. He showed how a similar attemot to create a new kind of peerage in Great Britain had been disallowed, as beyond the powers of the Sovereign, and the brst title granted had been revoked. One i eason why m early youth he had tried to discover a new country was to establish fixed places to which people might repair to avoid the e\ ils of tne old society. He had seen England and was very unwilling to find it now declared that aristocracy is to be set up in this country, and that some f.-w are to be endowed with great wealth, and that probably hereafter millions are to bo ; eft in great misery with no rank at all. He said, Stop that system at once and have no more of it.’ Ho next alluded to the new order of knighthood of St. Michael and St. George, and said it was calculated to lead to great abuse. He maintained that Colonial services ought to be placed on the same platform as services in other parts of { the British Empire, and if rewards were granted they ought to be under one of the great British orders of knighthood, under which appointments were very carefully scrutinised, ft was impossible to make such new orders without creating great distinction between people hero and m England, and making colonists an inferior people, and almost a laughing stock to those at home. Their object should be to open up to public men honors of the greatest and most enduring kind. He referred to the Land bund, and said this was one of the objects which mainly brought him from his retirement. He showed how he originally acquired the greater portion of the Middle Island, and land at Hawkes Bay, with LIO.OOO of an Imperial grant. He was convinced that the stoppage of that system conjointly with systematic immigration, had brought incalculable evil on .the community, which several generations would not retrieve He believed that, had the ques“<"l the alienation of the land fund been submitted to the people, an Act empowering it would never have been passed. He referred to Mr v ogel s speech to the electors of Auckland Gity Hast, and gave, amid great laughter, a humorous sketch of the speech he considered

Mr Vogel ought to have made, namely— That the excellent state of the institutions of Canterbury and Otago showed to what perfection such institutions could be brought under local supervision when the authorities had money; that Auckland had been badly used; and that he as Premier of the Colony would get them funds, and would appoint the Judges of the Colony a commission to investigate their grievances in relation to the land fund. He learned that great difficulty was being experienced in procuring land for which LBOO.OOO had been granted; and that much bad land was being purchased. He was of opinion that if, instead of employing agents at high commissions to buy land, the money had been entrusted to the Superintendents to acquire blocks as available to the Provinces, to use the interest in the meanwhile for necessary purposes, the purchases would have been much better and cheaper, and the wants of the Provinces would have been provided for. He referred at some length to the Abolition of Provinces resolution, and said that the second reiolatioii, fixing the seat of Government in Wellington, was the most unconstitutional and illegal thing ever heard of. Constitutional law in every country said that there shall be no declared capital, and for the obvious reasons that, if the city so declared were seized by a mob or any county, the Colony would be powerless to legislate. The Constitution Act declared that the Legislature shall sit at such place as the Governor may from time to time proclaim, and they need have no fear regarding the second resolution, for when they came to he considered they would not become law. This was so self-evident that the resolution looked so like a bed for holes that it ought not to have been placed there. He then sketched out a plan to be proposed for adoption, and spoke of the difficulties of getting Colonial matters brought directly under Home authorities. The colonists were actually at the mercy of clerks in the Colonial office, who decided what despatches should not be laid before Ministers If the Colony had her own Secretary of State in England it would not cost half what,they gave the Governor. L 3.000 or L 2,500 would make him a very great man indeed. It would be a salary greater than the American Ambassador received. He doubted if the Emperor of China paid such enormous allowances as we give our Commissioners proceeding Home. A Secretary for the Colonies appointed as indicated would become a member of the Queen’s Privy Council. Every Colonial institution would be properly represented to the Queen, and a closer bond of union knit between the Empire. It would raise the position of Colonial statesmen, and would give a worthy object of ambition to every colonist. If the Assembly remained in Wellington, and the Provincial Councils were abolished, the future of Auckland would be a gloomy one. If on the other hand, they reduced the Assembly! aud made it meet every three years, with enlarged powers to local legislatures, they would make this place another Sydney, another Melbourne, anetber Adelaide, with great governmenta and great cities of learning and intellect. Their own Provinces of New Zealand were not inferior to a great number of Colonies possessing governors, and all the State paraphernalias. The millions now being borrowed were raised on the security of the colonists’ industry, and the wealth they had created, and many milling more might be raised if wanted ; but let them commence by economising, expenditure, and fix the Constitution upon a permanent basis, take stock of the great wealth we have, and then determine for years to carry on immigration upon a prudent and proper system, so that we may not be threatened with crises from time to time. Let the colonists determine upon some fair line of policy by which public works aud immigration can be properly carried on for many years to come, and, if necessary, greater additional loans raised, which they should then be able to pay, and have good security for. He referred to the comparison that had been made between the increase of population and revenue, and said that taxation had greatly increased, while enormous liabilities to the Native race and civil service had been created, which could not be stopped suddenly. If the present system continued, he believed an enormous revenue would continue to be raised by taxation in New Zealand, from a population, to a great degree, sunk in mispry, while those benefiting from those poor wretches will be absentees. At the close of the address, a vote of confidence was passed, and thiee round of cheers given. There prevailed the greatest enthusiasm ever witnessed at an Auckland meeting. {From our won Correspondents.) Auckland, March 22. A movement is on foot to establish a Good Templar’s Hotel on a large scale by means of a company. A. private letter from Hicks Bay reports good beach prospect; gold obtainable there. By the mail steamer recently, amongst'her passengers was an American cousin, who took advantage of the steamer from San Francisco as a stowaway, and who at Auckland politely told up. The stowaway pleaded poverty, and asked time to see some friends in Auckland, who would pay his passage. In the meantime he was prepared to leave valuable luggage as a pledge of his intentions. His traps being considered worth the sum named, he was allowed to leave on parole; but he had hardly got over the ship’s side before a fellow passenger commenced to remove his traps, and, before finishing, succeeded also in removing his other fellow passengera luggage and had both conveyed to the Oity Hotel. The purser afterwards found not a , single article left. It is unnecessary to mention that the stowaway did not return, but allowed the steamer to leave without even taking advantage of the many opportunities for visiting the beautiful city and suburbs during the detention of the vessel.

A row with tho police on Saturday night occupied the attention of the magistrate to-day. A girl of bad character, in a state of intoxi'cation, was being taken to the station, when a mob of city roughs endeavored to rescue her. Detective Jeffry, who had made the arrest, struck out freely, and capsized one of the most prominent obstructors like a ninepin by a welldirected blow on the mouth, and lodged him in the station. The magistrate to-day commented severely on the offence of interference with the on account of the accused’s respectability and previous good character, imposed a mitigated penalty of seven days’ imprisonment. March 23. Ihe boiler at Lamb’s firewood yard to-day exploded, and was thrown a distance of 200 yards, without hurting anyone. The boiler, the weight of which was cwt., was driven right through the roof of Frazer’s stables through weatherboards at the side of Hayward’s premises, at a height of about 15ft, making a broad track. Stout weatherboards were broken to splinters like chips. Hayward’s house fronts Upper Queen street, and on the side next the street a similar opening was made. In fact the whole boiler, like a gigantic projectile from a Mammoth cannon, wns driven through two buildings. From Hayward’s it passed right over Upper Queen street, over fencing at an embankment near this spot, and was brought to a sudden standstill by a stout blue gum tree, within a few feet of a small cottage in a gully occupied by a family named Myers, The shock here was so great as to smash one of the windows in the cottage, yet the boiler remained uninjured, Mrs Hayward was in the room through which the boiler passed, and it went within a yard of her. She sustained a great nervous shock, but no personal injury. Nobody was attending to the boiler at the time of the explo ion. Favorable reports have been received to-day from Ohinemuri. The prospectors have taken out blocks of golden stone, March 24. Sir George Grey was to-day elected Superintendent, without opposition. Christchurch, March 23. From a statement of the estimated receipts and liabilities up to the first of April, submitted at last night’s meeting of the City Council, it was shown that at that date there would be a deficit of L 1,761. The overdraft at tin bank already amounts to L 1,415. The Mayor said that if the Provincial Council did not come to their rescue at the ensuing session all the works of the city would have to be stopped and the men discharged.