MR BRYCE’S SPEECH.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2209, 25 March 1881, Page 3

MR BRYCE’S SPEECH.

[FBBBB ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.!

WANGANUI, March 24,

Mr Bryce’s meeting last night was crowded, and he was well received, Mr Bamber, ex Mayor, was in the chair. Mr Bryce said it would have been inconvenient to the public service for him to have addressed his constituents earlier. He loy ally accepted full responsibility for all the actions of tho Government while ho was in office. He had joined the Ministry reluctantly, because ho did not want office, and at that time he was suffering such bad health, that he would not have doubted any man who said he had only a few weeks to live. But ho could not refuse Mr Hall assistance, and ho never regretted joining the Ministry, for he had never been associated with a more honorable body of men. He complained bitterly of mierepre sentation by a section of the prese._ The correspondent of tho “ Lyttelton Times was always trying to get money out of the Government, and wrote asking Mr Bryce for an appointment as private secretary, and finally when the officers at lYcrekino would have no more of him he turned round vowing he would make it hot for the Government, which he had done by publishing all sorts of inventions. But the unblushing falsehoods of the “Lyttelton Times” were open and honorable as compared with the undermining process which had been going on in Wanganui. It was said that the undermining process had alienated the oop.fidence of his constituents, but if the meeting asked him to resign, or if a requisition containing one-third of the signatures of his constituents was presented to him before Parliament met ho would resign. That offer should be liberal enough to please the so-called Liberals. Ho ridiculed the pretensions of the Liberals, and said that real consistent Liberals could only bo found in the present Government party. Neither was there a Liberal party in the country, as was shown by the fact of the late Mr Ireland being succeeded by Mr Bastings in the professed ultra-Liberal constituency of Wakaia. After stating the fauscs of his resignation (as already telegraphed), he went on to deal with the Royal Commission. The Commission had no power of determination, and the responsibility of giving land back to the Natives must rest with the Government. He denied that the Commission had recommended the restoration of more land than they were compelled owing to tho promisee made to the Natives by successive Governments. Ho did not say that the Commission was infallible ; mistakes might be made, and if so it would be the duty of the Government to correct these mistakes, because the Government—and the Government only—would bo responsible. Ho thought they had made a mistake in proposing the sale of 17,000 acres of tho Parihaka block which the late Government intended to give back to Te Whiti. It was also a mistake in reserving land for the visitors as well as resident Natives at Parihaka, and he regretted the apparent disposition to recommend the issue of Crown grants, whether tho Natives acquiesced in tho work of the Commission or not. That would do rive the Government of the lever by which they wished to settle Te Whiti. Grants should not be issued till the Natives gave some guarantee of peace. While hopeful of the future, he admitted the gravity of the finan - oial position. Retrenchment must be continued as commenced by the present Government, but the real cure was the increase of producers and the decrease of consumers. Ho feared that, some means would have to be devised of relieving the revenue from the very great charge on it. Although the Government had been called illiberal on the land question, tho fact was that Mr Rolleston had done more for the settlement of the country than his predecessor ever talked about doing. When he took office he found the land purchase system had attained large dimensions, employing thirty-three officers, and costing the colony £10,265 par annum for salaries. He had proposed last session a Bill which would have struck out a new line in Native purchases, but it had been found impossible to carry this Bill through. He hoped, however, that a similar Bill would be introduced next session. To sive them some idea of the transactions completed by him during his term of office, lie would state that in the North of Auckland district 35,314 acres, Thames 21,128 ocres, Taupo and Bay of Plenty 32,005 acres, East Coast and Poverty Bay 277,072 acres, and Wellington 82,000, in all a total of 448 463 acres, had been handed over from the Native Department to the Waste Land Depart men 1 , for settlement. That did not represent tho whole of the work done, for in addition the purchases had been nearly completed of—ln Auckland, 243,700 acres; Wellington, 37 288 acres ; and Taranaki, 93,000 acres : or a total of 373,000 acres, making a gross total of 822,461 acres. The Defence Department included the police and Armed Constabulary, although technically they were all Armed Constabulary. On the Bth October, 1879, when he took office, tho total cost of tho service was £85,908. He had reduced it to £65,901, or a saving of £20,000, without in any way destroying its efficiency. The popular idea of the strength of the Armed Constabulary was 1000. Well, it had been pretty near that number at one time (998), but he had reduced it to 770. Little had been said about this reduction, but still it had gone on. It could not go on for ever indefinitely. Even if the West Coast difficulty was settled, tho colony would still require a force of at least 600 men, for there were many little difficulties in other parts of the colony. The colony received a very severe lesson in 1867 of the folly of denuding itself of an armed force. He considered that tho cost of tho West Coast difficulty in tho matter of the constabulary was represented by the difference between6oo men and 770 men, or £20,000 per annum. He thought that very shortly there would not be any need for a Native Minister with a separate portfolio. There would always be an Undersecretary, but tho need lor a Native Department as a distinct branch of the Government would pass away. When he assumed cffico ho found the contingency vote for Native affairs was £2OOO per annum, but that really £l6 400 hud been spent by his predecessor. Even that sum, however, did not represent tho whole amount, for many sums that should have been put down to the vote had been put down to land purchase and paid out of loan. Why, during tho last quarter previous to his taking office if the whole sum had been charged that should have been charged the expenditure would have been at the rate of £BO,OOO per annum instead of £2OOO. The Native contingency now was somewhere between £IOOO and £I2OO per annum, and a good deal of that was made up of liabilities that could not be avoided. The while department now coat about £15,000, but the greatest improvement of all was the doing away with the mystery that had always been attached to the Native Department, Hercules had lot in a river of water to clean the Augean stable, and he (Mr Bryce) had let in a river of light to the Native Department, and so purified it that it would never get back to its old condition. Ho referred to the work done in the district, and said that if anyone felt inclined to accuse him of neglecting Wanganui, he should ro member what had been done, and hide his head with shame, A vote of confidence was carried with enthusiasm.