NEW ZEALAND PARLIAMENT.

Grey River Argus, Volume VIII, Issue 540, 3 July 1869, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND PARLIAMENT.

(From Hansard.) During the recent No-Confidence debate in the House of Representatives, Mr W. fl. Hakkison said that it had not been his intention to have taken part in the present debate, having been in hopes that the tight would have been left in the hands of those who were accustomed to carry on such battles ; but as a representative of a Middle Island constituency, he did not think he would be justified in giving a silent vote upon this resolution, It was a common saying that all was fair in war, love, and politics. He was of opinion, as were a good many other members of the House not experienced in t le turns and wiles of political leadership, that the honorable member for Rangitikei had availed himself to the extreme latitude of the principal of this adage. There were a number of new members in the House — some of them then sitting there for the first time, and others having been there only daring the previous session — who had not an intimate knowledge of the affairs of the country, and particularly. of Native affairs ; and he could not help thinking that it would have been far better if the leader of the Opposition had given the Government an opportunity to declare some policy, which could be considered by the House and ultimately by the country. He could not but think that it was unfair and taking advantage of the House, and particularly of new members, to deprive the Government of the oppor- , tutiity of coming down and enabling the House to know upon what positive question it had to decide. He had listened to the speech of the honorable member for Rangitikei (Mr Pox) with great attention; but in it, and he must say in the speech of the honorable gentleman at the head of the Government in reply, he failed to hear anything but attacks and recriminations, while matters affecting any policy which either party in the House might be called upon to consent to, were totally omitted. Those speeches were but a hash of old matters, seasoned with a very facetious letter, which did the powers of composition of the honorable member for Rangitikei great credit. The House was, in his opinion, placed in a very unfair position, for reaUy they had no absolute issue before them, and the question as it then stood was simply one of men, not measures, no special policy having yet been declared by either party. In the speech of the honorable member for Rangitikei there was nothing, as far as he could hear, with regard to what the policy of the Government should have been in.

the past or should be in the future, and the Bpeech was simply a criticism on military affairs, which any Government might be open to. He had noticed that the whole tenor of the remarks that had been made by honorable members on the Opposition Benches had been a series of accusations against the Government simply with regard to what had not been done— no accusation that the Government had failed in any particular thing. He had failed to hear of any great mistake which .the Government had committed ; and he thought that, considering the conditions under which the Ministry found themselves last session, after the sudden outbreak on the West Coast, and comparing the condition of the Colony now with what it was then, the Government of the country, and the officers who had served under them, were entitled to the thanks of the community. So far as he could gather from the papers laid on the table, and from concurrent testimony, he could fairly say, that when the House broke »p last session the Government had only a mob of disorganised undrilled men, swept up from the towns of New Zealand ; and they had now a force which, if it did not accomplish any signal victory, was aa good as auy force of the same material and with the same opportunities could possibly be. He did not think that by substituting for these flying columns Imperial troops the Colony would be a, gainer. He himself had always considered that the self-reliant policy was a mistake, even from the beginning, but he did not think that any member of the House who had read the despatches from the Secretary of State, and had studied the public opinion of the home country as it was expressed in the leading journals, could believe that the British Government would send out troops to this Colony except on conditions which the Colony could never accept. To his mind, the very first condition that should be affixed to the employment of Imperial troops was that they should be under the orders of the Ministry of the day in the Colony, and it was quite certain that the Imperial Government would never consent to inch a condition, and the Colony would have to return to that lamentable state of affairs in which it was when Imperial troops were before employed. The people of this Colony must make up their minds that they would have to carry on this war for a series of years—for a longer period, than many anticipated. Any one who had recently read accounts of the condition in which the western frontier of the American States was with regard to the Indians, must have seen that the atrocitiea committed and the reverses sustained in. New Zealand were nothing in comparison with those experienced in the western portions of the United States. We had the disaster at Turo Turo Mokai to look back to, but what was that to the horrors which had occurred in the western statea of America ? Not many months ago he had read, as, no doubt, other honorable members had, of a whole fortress having been surrounded by some 300 Indians, and every soul within it, with the exception of one man, murdered ; while General Sherman, though at the head of a large army, wrote in his despatches that he was not able to cope with the difficulty of putting an end to these frontier ware. The fact was that they would have to. submit to such things so long as the two races came in .contact whose habita and feelings were so opposite.. He would like to have seen some disposition on the part of the House a whole to endeavor, as he conceived they ought to do, to elaborate some scheme which should be of benefit to the Colony, instead of engaging in what were mere struggles for office and power. It was his honest conviction, and he believed the conviction of a large portion of the country, that the only way to settle these differences was to appeal tv the country ; and he believed that it would have been much better for the Colony if the Government had taken that course last session, instead, of allowing the same disunion to go on to the present time. It had been stated in conversation in the lobby, where so much transpired, that there were two or threedistinct policies in the House, or rather two or three classes of individuals in the House, who were in favor of two or three, distinct policies with regard to dealing with the Native question. One, which, was he believed represented by a considerable and influential section of the House, was, that they should pursue a retrogade course, give up the confiscated; lands, recognise the King and vote no more money for war purposes, or if money was absolutely required, that it should be taken from the customs revenue, and tha Provinces deprived of it. Another waa that the Colony should raise a loan sufficient to equip and pay, for alimitedperiod^ a force sufficient to carry on operations similar to those which had lately been carried on ; and the third was that we. should at once appeal in abject terms to the Imperial Government for troops Now seeing that these differences of opinion existed, he must say it would on'y be fair, before honorable members were calfcdi upon to give a vote, that they should be placed in possession of the opinions held by honorable gentlemen on the opposition benches on the subject. He was in no way pledged to the present Government, and would be very glad to see any gentleman on the ministerial benches who would: carry out measures that .might pacify the country, and yet he and others were called upon to vote on this occasion, not upon any such question, but simply on & question of men. There was no doubt that disasters had occurred, and there waa no' doubt that they would occur again, no matter what Government was in office. Did they not occur when the honorable member for Rangitikei himself was in. office, and when he had far greater advantages than the present Government at his disposal ? And yet the House was called upon now to decide no greater question than whether the honorable member for Rangitikei, or the honorable member for Timaru, or some other honorable member, was to occupy those benches. For one, until he could ascertain and learn that there was some distinct policy different and superior to that of the gentlemen now occupying the Ministerial Benches, would vote for the present Government. He noticed that the honorable member for Rangitikei glanced very slightly at the policy of the Government with regard to Provincial institutions, and he thought it was almost a pity that in discussing the question of the competence of a Ministry, they should rely entirely and simply upon the management of the war. There was. no doubt that at the present time the war was the question of most vital interest in the country, and it required, more than all others, that it should be settled i hut.

at the same time, the House should not altogether lose sight of other considerations in regard to the Government of the country, and he was sorry to hear so little said on such other subjects, that the House appeared to be falling into a course which was followed during so many years subsequent to 1860, and which caused all questions to be neglected for the sake of considering Native matters. He did not know that ho could offer any further remarks, and would only add that he sincerely hoped there might be elicited, in the course of the debate, something which would enable honorable members to know what was the policy of the Government, and what was the policy of the Opposition ; for, at the present moment, they were entirely in the dark, and he did not think that they should be called upon to vote in a question merely of men and not of measures.