WELLINGTON.

Evening Star, Issue 3898, 21 August 1875, Page 3

WELLINGTON.

[By Telegraph.] (From our own Correspondent.)

Wellington, August 21. On Wednesday, Sir Cracroft Wilson made a very bitter attack on Messi s Moorhouse and Macandrew, which next day provoked the following reply from Mr Reeves : —There was One speech delivered the previous night by an hon. gentleman, who he was sorry was not then in his place. That hon. gentleman had repeatedly taken credit for being in his place on all occcasions, and ho hoped he had not been given a hint to vacate it now Still his absence would not preclude him (Mr Reeves), because if there ever was a speech worthy of criticism it was that of the member for Heathcote. That hon. gentleman had one good quality about him: he had a large amount of goodwill. His speeches always overflowed with benevolence. Reing also musical, he had a soul for sweet sounds. There was one inst ument on which he performed most admirably, that was a trumpet (cheers)—and it was his own property. There was a reason why he could perform admirably on it -because practice, especially in music, made perfect he was always performing on it. He never knew an occasion, and they were many and various, on which that hon. gentleman got up to address an assembly whether m this House or in a more popular assembly, on which he did not perform a fanfaronade on that instrument.—(Cheers.) Last ni/ht was no exception, and that hon, gentleman then stated that on no occasion had he ever takes the public money for public services. If the House was to believe the hon. gentleman he was the most patriotic man in the Colony. There was one part of his speech to which he took entire exception: (he hon. gentleman thought it to be his duty to allude—in terms which he (Mr Reeves) hardly liked to characterise in the way he would had the hon. gentleman been present to three gentlemen who had occupied prominent public positions in the Colony, and who were not able to reply to him in the capacity in which they were taken to task. He mentioned no names, and no doubt he had good reasons for not doing so, be (Mr Reeves) would follow that example. The first allusion was to a Superintendent who had occupied a very important position in the Colony, and who had acquitted himself largely to his own credit and to the satisfaction of the public. The hon. gentleman made certain statements which were entirely inconsistent with facts in regard to that gentleman. He led the House to believe that that gentleman had on certain occasions acted in an arbitrary manner, and bad taken upon himself what almost amounted to an appropriation of a certain portion of the public funds in order to effect his own particular views. Now, there was no foundation for that statement; the gentleman alluded to did what was perfectly right and proper—(hear)—but it was unlikely that he would cancel a security upon which he might have borrowed a further sum of money bv hia own act and will. The member foi Heathcote said this : that the gentleman ii question cancelled debentures issued for the purpose of constructing the tunnel and railway between Christchurch and Lyttel on, and com mitted them to the flames by his own arbitrary action. He (Mr Reeves) said he did nothin; of the kind ; that gentleman was so advised and he (Mr Reeves) believed he did so con trary to his own convictions, and, in doin( so, had the support of what were oallei the heavy intellects of the Colony, It wa conceived right that that should be done to ex tinguish a portion of the debt in consequenc of a large accumulation of the land fund Again the member for Heathcote said tha gentleman had given up his office, because th Provincial Council would not vote him a salar of L 2.500 a-year. That was entirely contrar to facts. (Cheers.) On his right was a mem her of the Government at the time who woul bear out in saying that the Governmec brought in a Bill to increase the Superintend ent s salary from L 750 to L 1,500, but th fentleraaa referred to vetoed that Bill.— (M lontgomery: Hear ) Previous to that th gentleman referred to made np his mind to g eat •£ office, which hie friends knew, and hj

sent down a roeetAge to the Frorinoial Council stating that in bis opinion the salary of his successor should be raised. —(Cheers.) Were the hon. member for Heathcote present he (Mr Keeves) would characterise bis statements in much Harsher terms. Then the hon. gentleman proceeded to refer to another Superintendent, and if he (Mr Reeves) had not believed his purpose was deliberate—for he had seen the non. gentleman called to order for reading his speech—lie should not have felt bound to enter upon the subject. He believed it was a most deliberate attack—(hear)—upon a gentleman who had no power of defending himself—a most unprovoked, wanton, and cruel attack. (Cheers.) The memberfor Heathcote raked up an accusation against that gentleman—it was not the first time he had heard the member for Heathcote rake up that accusation. He (Mr Reeves) believed an error was committed, but he was sure oi this : that the public of that Province, this Rouse —(cheers) —and the people “•in whom was always found a spark of that divinity which forgave—always had considered and forgiven that offence. —(Loud cheers). More than that: long years of faithful, devoted, and unselfish public service—(cheers) had more than condoned that offece. —(Cheers). It would be of very little moment for him (Mr Reeves) to tell this hon. gentleman what his opinion of him was : he was proud now as a public man to hold that gentleman in the highest esteem—(cheers)—which he was sure was shared in by every member of the House—(loud cheers)—and by the great mass of the people in his own Province. When he (Mr Reeves) had a seat on the Treasury benches it was his duty, in company with that gentleman, to go through the length and breadth of the Province, and a fact which had struck him was that throughout the length and breadth of the country', and in the most remote quarters, the hon gentleman was received with an amount of personal affection which he (Mr Reeves) had never seen shown to any public man in the Colony.— (Cheers.) He was convinced, in spite of the as ersions of the member for Heathcote, that when the public career ol that gentleman was in duo course brought to a close thousands, and the children of thousands, would rise up and call him blessed.—(Loud cheers.) He would leave behind him a heritage greater than wealth, namely, a good name in the memory of the people to whose cause he had devoted his life.—(Cheers.) Then again the member for Heathcote went on to say that some Superintendents were emasculated by being re-elected by the voice of the people. He could tell the House that the member for Heathcote made it widely known that he would serve as Superintendent without salary, but the people would not have him—(cheers)— at the price, and they were right, for he would have been dear at that price. What had been seen last year in Canterbury ? They had nominated the head of the Executive Government, who, by his own admission, was a lay figure bound not to open his mouth, and they had seen that Government do more in a short sitting of two months to make Provincial Institutions hated than all the other Provincial Governments that ever existed in the Province.

The ‘ Times,’ in referring to the matter, says “Itis a pity the good feeling and moderation of the debate should have been disturbed by a speech which was simply contemptible as an argument, and pitiable as an exhibition of senile vanity. The cheers which followed Mr Reeves’s vindication afforded the best proof of the sense and sympathy of the House. Mr Moorhouse was absent, and therefore silent. His character was unjustly assailed, and his official acts injuriously misstated, and it was consequently the duty of some member of the House to defend the character of a gentleman who had done ten thousand times more for Canterbury than his assailant has ever done or is capable of doing.”