PARLIAMENT.
[Bt Txlbobafh.]
Wellington, August 9. In the Legislative Council yesterday afternoon,
The Hon. Colonel Brett asked the Colonial Secretary if any inquiry had been made respecting the White Eagle having be6n at Crozet Islands, and. whether she saw signals of distress, and disregarded them. The Colonial Secretary, in reply, read a letter. from a passenger, in which it was positively stated that no signals had been observed.
The Hon. Mr Randall Johnston’s motion that the Regulation of Local Elections Bill dg recommitted to insert & new clause, authorising proxy voting, was negatived bv 12 to 10. J
In the House of Representati ves'yesterday afternoon, Mr Earaitiana Takamoana took his seat.
SEPARATION DEBATE.
The adjourned debate on Sir Geo. Grey’s resolutions was taken up by Mr Button, who said he thought the resolutions ought not to bo treated as party resolutions. He thought if the mover had properly estimated their importance he would not have made them, as it were, the war note of Her Majesty’s Opposition. He ought not to have linked these resolutions with the fate of the Ministry. If he thought these resolutions found, favor with the people, he would advocate the necessity of a plebiscite. He was surprised at the inconsistency of the member for the Thames, who, after the action he had taken towards the resolutions of the member for Waikato, had brought down resolutions that were doubly calculated to weaken the bonds of union between the two islands, and that compelled him to believe that the gentleman who introduced these resolutions was more animated by political and party hostility than by any desire for the good of the people, though the hon, gentleman was very fond of talking about that. The hon. gentleman asKed why did not the Premier tell the House that he came into power when the country was’prosperous, and he had brought it to its present state of depression. The Premier could say nothing of the kind, because it would not be true to say so. They all knew the state of the country when the Premier came into office, and, although a period of depression seemed imminent, 0 the ptesent state was not so, and even the clouds of depression that threatened might blow over, leaving the Colony unharmed - . The Government had also been accused of not being able to build, and with showing but a palsied hand when they tried; but surely that could not be said of a Government that brought in such a Bill thoughtout and matured plan of local self-govern-ment, which must have been a work of more than one session. Creatures of quick gestation were rarely long lived, and though he might not be prepared to endorse all the details of these measures, he held that in the mainjthey were suited to the requirements of the people. The Opposition deplored that one Government had drifted deeply into debt, and they proposed, as a remedy, the creation of three Governments. He held that those who occupied prominent ositions in the House should be careful how they brought charges of corruption against the Government. They were brought so constantly without reason that members treated them with indifference, and he therefore feared that some day, when something very wrong was to be charged against the Government, the people would not listen to it. It would he the old story of the wolf and the shepherd. The Opposition had brought forward no reasons to show why a federal form of Government shold be preferred to their present unity, and the hon. gentleman who moved the resolutions referred to the ancient States of Greece; but, unfortunately, he thought, for his argument, the fact of it was the whole cause of this. Was it because the head and tail of the Colony quarrelled that they were to cut the body in twain ? He, for one, who represented a portion of the body of the Colony, would object, Auckland wanted Otago’s land fund, and when she could not get it she wanted to be cut adrift from Otago. Modern political teaching showed them that in unity lay strength. Take the history of Great Britain as an instance; or look at the struggle of the Northern States of America to prevent the Southern States seceding from the Union on their own caprice; or look at the work of Bismarck and the consolidation of the great German Empire. The hon. member then quoted the words of Lord Carnarvon on introducing the Bill to unite the various North Americancolonies, in support of his argument. Supposing, forargument, headmittedthatthis scheme of federation were carried out, and
one portion failed to pay its share under the financial arrangements made, what then would be the result ? Would not the others have to come to the assistance of the weak part ? Looking at the case between their creditors and themselves, would not a scheme to divide the Colony have an alarming effect upon the public creditor ? Would it not be the same as an individual who was in debt rushing into wild speculation ? Sooner than there be this separation, he thought it would be better if the two disagreeing members should withdraw, rather than the harmony of the whole should be interrupt**!.-—(Applause from the Opposition.) It was idle to talk of the difficulty of government, because Cook’s Strait was less a barruur than the boundaries of Auckland with die rest of the North Island. It might have been an argument in years gone by thart the two islands should not be governed! from one centre; but if they bad worked harmoniously for so many years, surely it was! out of place to use such an argument now, with their steamers and railways, than it two. Parliaments were adopted as proposed. Would the people of Wellington he any nearer the sfeafc of Government than. Auoklassd is cow? or would the West Coast people ? It appeared to him thajc the proposals of the Government constituted the true resolution of the problem they were discussing. The creation of thirty counties, each with its own little Government at its door, was more m accordance with Die wants and requirements of the people. It seemed to him that it was unreasonable as well as unnatural to sever the connection between two Islands inhabited by people of one ancestry. One pulse animated them ; and if a war overtook the people of one Island, the other Island would not stand idly by it would da something more substantial than eel sympathy. No, they ought rather to v° itT , ey could to preserve unity and brotherly feeling betweenifce populations of both Islands.
' Prom our S; rctal Correspondent. I
Mr Hislop complain'd of the absence of any answer from the Government benches to the numerous charges preferred against them by members ou the opposite si-b/.f the House, from which he concluded that these charges were not capable of being diq-rov, ,1 and that Ministers thcmsolves admitted that tue charges against their system th f >- roughly proved. He had heard many reasons put forth for that silence. O uu w . s because of the personal nature of some of the speeches ; but that he dismissed with the remark that no one more regretted than himself the references of the member for
Auckland City East to ths Premier’s, private hospitality. Again, it had been said that the member for Timaru had commanded silence, and threatened that if his advice were not followed he and his followers would leave the House. - (Opposition laughter.) He quoted from Mr Stafford’s speeches in 1574, and said that now more than then the Premier smiled “ contemptibly and content” on the Opposition, used the public funds ■without the sanction of the House, and did not respect the voice of the people. He regretted that a well-spent life should have been clouded by connection with the present Ministerial Bench, The member for Timaru should have recognised in the members for the Thames and Auckland the instruments of the Nemesis that would bring down on the Premier’s head the displeasure of an angry people. Complaint had been made of the want of definitiveness of the resolutions. He thought they were too definite, especially the eighth. He referred to the lobby rumors that the Government were purchasing votes by offering to spend money in outlying districts, and instanced Marsden in particular, saying that the vote of that member was obtained by a promise to spend LIO,OOO in that district. He strongly supported the resolutions, but was opposed to Insular Separation. He reminded the Premier that in 1870 he advised the people of Dunedin to support the Public Works scheme as being calculated to bring about financial separation, and the Commissioner of Customs, that before taking office he was known as au advocate of Separation, and he called upon them to explain what had caused them to alter their views.
Mr Woolcock summed up the charges brought against the Government, saying if one-tenth of them were true, Ministers should be kept in close confinement. The Opposition had severely condemned the Government for their large borrowing and expenditure of borrowed money, hut the main blame—if blame there was—x’ested with the Parliament that had sanctioned it. Far too much had been made by the Opposition of pur indebtedness, while they forgot our assets. He had not yet heard it stated that sums borrowed were in excess of the increased value given to property in the country by reason of that exdenditure of borrowed capital. If we had borrow ed largely and invested that money in improving the national estate, with the result of increasing it in value greadly in excess of our indebtedness, the speculation was a good one. What he blamed the Government for was for not having taken a firmer stand against Provincial logrolling. It would have been far more dignified, far better for their once good names, if Ministers had stuck more firmly to their policy and less closely to their seats upon the Treasury benches. Referring to the method of averting the threatened financial difficulties he said three courses suggested themselves to his mind. The first was a reduction of departmental expenditure. A member had said he saw bis way clear to saving L 200,000 a year. If that hon. gentleman came down with an adjustment of affairs by which that sum, or anything like it could be saved, consistently with the efficiency of the public service, he would follow him into the lobby. The next course was increased taxation. The Ministry, through the Premier, were averse to increased taxes, but he knew' of a w r ay by which increased taxes could be obtained, 'more than the L 200.000 said to be saveable, without its falling upon the great bulk of the people. There were 13,000,000 acres of laud alienated from the Crown and in the hands of private individuals which had quadrupled in value by reason of the expenditure of borrowed money, and contributed not a shilling towards interest and sinking fund for the payment of what was borrowed. He had no antipathy to those holding large landed estates, but he did say, being specially benefited by the expenditure that had been going on, they should be special contributors to the interest and sinking fund. He told Ministers the day was not far distant when the incidence of taxation must be charged, and unless Ministers tackled it, the people would demand it. They would not stand contributing L 300,000 or L 400,000 a-year for the bare necessaries of life, while 13,000,000 acres of landed property, which had quadrupled in half a year py public expenditure, had contributed nothing. Ihe adjustment of taxation was a question that must be earnestly taken up by the Government, and they should do it before the discontent of the people burst forth and demanded it. If these two courses failed, the only other way of meeting any deficiency that might arise was to issue Treasury bills—a statesmanlike and legitimate course to adopt for tiding over temporary difficulties. He admitted things were not so good just now as we could wish, but they were not nearly so had as the Opposition made them out to be. He failed to see the economical character of these resolutions, any better form of local government, or that the work of the country could be better done by three Governments than by one. If by them he could see any prospect of the expenditure being reduced, more rapid settlement of the country, more rapid de » r elopment of the country’s resources effected, he -would support them ; but at the present they went in contrary direction. A united Colony was to be maintained by division, reduction of expenditure obtained by multipl;cation, and the tendency was to perpetuate Provincial jealousies on a larger scale, to cause discord, and to prevent the growth of natural feeling. The House rose at 5.30 p.m.
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Evening Star, Issue 4197, 9 August 1876, Page 3
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2,151PARLIAMENT. Evening Star, Issue 4197, 9 August 1876, Page 3
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