WELLINGTON.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 704, 23 July 1870, Page 2

WELLINGTON.

(FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDEKT.) The debate on the financial proposals of. the Government still drags slowly along, and will hot conclude probaßlybefore i tne end of this week. Without' doubt it has~ been the dullest and most unexciting debate of a largo character that has been listened to in the House of . Representa?., fives' for a long period. There has been a' want of spirit and a hesitancy about speaking the truth, which have had the effect of reducing the debate to the limits of adry~ dfscussion. One great reason for this is, . that the financial proposals have been So \ cleverly, framed and timed that they have ■ completely broken down the walls of political parties. Added to this, there is tlie other fact which operates very powerfully in the direction of making members somewhat reticen t— the approaching dissolution. These various, causes have combined to reduce the opposition to the Colonial Treasurer's schemes almost to the narr6w limits of a mere protest. The promises of •lots of money to spend, and of a grand revival of public works, have proved too great a temptation to many ; and, without thinking of the possible disaster which may follow. the adoption of a speculative and reckless policy, they have plunged in m'edias .res, blind to all consequences. The baits of a reduction , in the price of labor, 'rind an increase in the " price of wheat and other productions, have sufficed to hook agricultural representatives, and but a small section of the. House, remains who are candid enough to say that the scheme is visionary and delusive. The general tone of the debate has been this : — "The proposals are startingly large, and the calculations upon which they are based are too speculative, but the' principle is right, and therefore we support it." It was expected from the opposition that was offered by the Auckland members, Messrs Gillies aud Wood, that one or other of them would bring forward and press an amendment of some kind or another that would have the effect of shelving the financial proposals for this session, but the violent expressions of dissent that were uttered by these gentlemen have ended in smoke. Mr .Reader Wood did, to be sure, give notice of an amendment to the effect that the further consideration of .the Bills, to carry out the proposals of the Government should, be postponed until after the next general, election ; but when the time came for moving it, Mr Wood withdrew it. His explanation was that he had'beeri given to understand that if he' pressed his amendment the Government would con-? sider it in the light of a hostile motion, v His explanation was exceedingly unsatisfactory to the House, because the Colonial Treasurer^ in hia Budget speech, specially declared that if the House deemed it : advisable the Government would .offjjr rib objection to a reference of the whole question to the country. The real reason undoubtedly is that Mr Reader Wood withdrew his amendment at the. request off Mr Fox, whose personal friend he is, and that the Government would rather such a proposal came either from themselves or from some member out of the rang and file of the House. Possibly itiaas well that the amendment was not moved, for had the Treasurer's programme to go to : the country a? it is, it is probable that, dazzled by the glare of tho golden bait held out to them, a majority of the constituencies would commit themselves to its. adoption without that careful consideration which is necessary ti a wise decision. The general impression is that the amendment was unnecessary, because, it is tolerably clear that the immigration and railway schemes will not get further than committee this session. Whilst a, majority of the House has accepted the principle, of Mr Vogej's proposals,, it has at the same time intimated its intention of largely modifying them when the various . Bills for giving effect to them come oh for . consideration ; this intimation, coupled with the expressions of Opinion regarding 'the fallacious character of the Treasurer's calculations and projects, really means that the Ministerial measures will : be subjected to such a wholesale emasculation as to fender it impossible for the Gp-r vernment to accept them iii their denuded condition, and that on that, ground the constituencies will be appealed to. One .feature connected with, the schemes •of the Government has been made known which proves one of, two things— either that the Ministry adopted Mr Vogel's . proposals without proper consideration, or that the Commissioners in England, who are also members of the Cabinet,; have been will- ■ fully kept in ignorance of the enormous scheme intended to be brought forward. I told you in a former letter that the Commissioners found grave fault with Mr Fitzgerald, for expressing the opinion that the Colony could not go on much longer without a loan ; and the whole tenor of their complaint was that they had no knowledge of any such iutention, and had assured the bondholders that no fresh, loans were contemplated. The Commis-; sioners did not leave until November last, and their letter was dated in the month of April, so that it is tolerably clear that Mr Vogel's scheme had not been made known to them up to the end of February. But it .has leaked out that in October last, Mr Curtis, the Superintendent of Nelson, wrote to the Government, requesting that the Commissioners might use their influence towards removing certain difficulties in the way of accomplishing the Nel- ; aon and Cobden Railway. The Government replied that they were very willing that the Commissioners should give their assistance in that direction, but that it must be understood that as the Government contemplated a large general scheme of raihoays and immigration to be applied to Pie whole Colony, Mr Curtis must understand that tlie aid of the Commissioners would he given to the furtlierance of the Nebon and Cobden Railway, regarding it us a portion of such general scheme, and not as a separate Provincial undertaking. Mr Fox, also, the other night aunonnced, ! in answer to the charge that the scheme had been hastily proposed, that so long ago as October last the Government had carefully considered a plan nearly as possible that which was now submitted 1,6 the, House. In the absence of these statement 1 ?, and the absence of any evidence of knowledge on the part of the Commissioners or the Home Government «if any intention' of the Colony to go in fur fresh 10.-m*, it is exceedingly difficult to arrive at .a proper conception of how the nWtter really stands. It has been put to the House by several prominent members, that not only will the chances of obtaining the ten millions be seriously impaired by the fact that the Commissioners declared against the probability

of the ' Colony incurring further debts, but the launching the new loans on the market will seriously lower the price of existing stock. It is also very certain that had the Honie Government contemplated the possibility of the Colony going in for such a gigantic scheme as the one under consideration, they would not have pressed the Parliament of England to concur^Jn a of, ..a., .uMHioMytfesL the Colony out of iU difficulties. " The only, and indeed I am led $o belief c to be the true explanation of 'the cbntra,dictpry,state,meni3 of the. Govecmn«Bt~oJW the one hand-aud the Commisaioqan on the other, is that the scheme adopted by the Cftbihet in October last did 1!-----elude any provisions for bprrowing^capijal, 'but merely contemplated the,l»ysteniL,of guarantees, which wiu so successfully applied to the construction of railway* ip \ India. Your member,' Mr Harrison, in / his speech on Friday, suggested this ex- . planation,aud as it met with no exprt*--sion o£ dissent irom the Ministerial benches, it is probably a correct one. I Although I have stated' that there has been a striking Want of direct opposition to the proposals of the Government; there have been some, most damaging speeches «. made.' Members on both. iidxis'Jot 'th'?"*:' House have, more or less, Concurred in the necessity of public works and TriiinU f gration; but. they have also characterised the Vogeliari scheme as Utterly undigested' and speculative. , Even such, thipk-and- , : thin supporters of the Government as Rich, Graham, Driver, and others, have all adopted this view ;- but the speeches of J. C. Richmond and Mr Fitzherbert ex-. .... posedjthe .whole affair in its naked der* *oririity. Mr Richmond, who never speakl, 1 without being well up :in his subject, showed, by a reference to the statistics of the other Coldnies, jthat not only was the T' scheme of the Colonial Treasurer too large for the capacity of the Colony. to. carry out, but that h^c>lcidatidns. were bitterly unsound He pointed out that whilst the experience of other countries enforced a ' lesson of carefulness and calculation, <the. "scheme of Mr Yogel was based upon 'nothing but; mere generalities: ' H^de-G^ rided the idea that the railways, as proposed, could be expected to prove .remunerative, . directly for many -year» f ,. to come, ; and/ exposed f the 'ww .' ignorance on the part of .the Colonial Treasurer of even the geological fe%tures of the Colony, and , huj , entire want of knowledge of its" requiremente." You will find., his speech well" worth reading, anoV \ althongh from his hesitance of speech, and* ] the many tables .of^ statistics which he 1 • quoted, prevented it 'receiving the close Attention it deserved oh delivery, it read *ell , and conclusively, in ,print. j M? f . Stafford nAde a characteristic bui infirm ' speech. He -prawed the Gavernmeflt for bringing their motion forward, "bnfc ex- : pressed the opinion that it was, crude, and, « unsound as it stood. He declared hiJ f intention of supporting the consideration.' '' of the scheme, but also of doing what he ■.could tc mould it into better and more shape ; when the Bills canie into Committee. At the close of his speech, when .referring to the fact that he 'had > given the best years of his life to the service of the; Colony which was the homer; of himself and his children, he broke downs. "J and literally cried. It was no doubt/ genuine emotion, but the effect.was some- ' what lessened by the remembrance that Mr Stafford possessed the rare gift/ofc.;.: " turning on a man" at a moment's notice. Mr Fitzherbert followed pretty r much iv the same strain ; he gave the House to understand that the Government had " jumped his idea, but that he was notTJ going to quarrel with them on that/ . account. He severely criticised tie "\iii-* fortunate" assurance of the Commissioners in London that the Colony was not going in for more loans; and pointed out the wildness of many of the Treasurer's calculations and theories. He did ; > not feel any qualms at the amount proposed to be borrowed, for he felt assured 1 that under proper managememt the? Colony could getany ; m6ney it wahMV r ' but he did protest against the proposed pla,n of administration. '. Either immigration or large public works , to be carried. out successfully tflust be taken in hand by .'. the Colony as a whole, and hot left to the fetched effects of provincial administration. The Hon. Mr Hall gave' th'e r j Treasurer a most thorough castigation with respect to'- 'the utter breakdown in his system of finance. He exposed several glaring, but sly dodges, of which Mr, Yogel had'been guilty in order to induce the House to think that, the expenditure of the year had been less than it had been said to be. , Jt appears that the^. Treasurer has, by carrying certain liabilities already incurred but not discharged, &> the following year, made it appear that the expenditure in certain departments has been less than it really has' been. I never saw Mr; Yogel more I thoroughly ' "baited" than he was on that occasion.' He kept getting up in fits of temper and endeavoring to palliate the apparent 1 discrepencies, but little Johnny Hall was too much for him, arid completely demolished him. Mr Hall concurred with Mr Stafford in supporting the principle., of the ' Ministerial proposals, but ' objecting to the details. Mr Gillies made a very violent speech against the scheme, and Mr Reader Wood followed in the same strain. Mr Gillies said that had. such a proposal emanated from Mr Stafford he would have trembled, because in such i hands it would mean something more than what it appeared to be ; but in the hands of the^present Government it meant some- -■: thing less. He believed that the scheme/ would in their hands utterly break down. : Truly might the Fox Ministry say, "save me from my friends I" . = ' i Mr Kynnersley made his maiden speech during the debate. - He made a favorable impression on the House, although he did not convince his hearers that the mining interest was, as he 'insisted; the most im-. r portant of any in New Zealand. He spoke collectedly arid well, and . I need hardly say against the Ministerial proposals. He chaiacterised the railway andi immigration :■ scheme as reckless and ill-considered, and expressed the opinion, that, if it were carried out the Government would wake tip some, fine morning with an army of/ paupers ; beseiging the Treasury as in 4) Queensland. He objected to the altera- ' tions in the tariff, as being merely an infamous means of taxing the miners of the ' West Coast for the advantage of the agriculturists of the East; and he opposed the. proposed substitution of a capitation allowance in lieu of a share in the , Customs revenue, as unworkable and V unfair. He strengthened his argument by pointing out the difficulty that would arise when any sudden* rush of population occurred from one, Proviuce or County to another. The

constituents of Westland North maybe congratulated upon having returned a member who will at any rate be felt in the fionse. Mr Harrison spoke on Friday night. He staged that the impression created in his mind-when the financial statement was first delivered had not been modified by anything he had heard during the progress of /the- debate. ; ; He thought- then as he thought now; that the proposals were not the result of 'careful foresight on the part of the Ministry, but had been brought forward entirely in obedience to the pressure of the pnblic opinion, that immigra-. tion arid public works were necessary. There was no evidence either in the financial statement itself, or in the Bills, that accompanied it, of that proper calculation and consideration which measures of such magnitude deserved. He considered the. whole scheme, wild and v'sioriary, and that it had bedri brought forward in such a ahape that neither the House nor the country could properly consider it. He did not doubt the resources of the colony,

id hi

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(Fttr Continuation of JVeicw, see Fourth Page and Suppletoent )

on, the contrary he had the fullest faith-in them, but he protested against such la'igemeasures being aiiopjre'd' ■without the fup lest care and consideration. Had anyone. of greater, standing in the House moved! that the Bills be deferred until after the; new elections, ho would have voted for it,; but as he did notinteiid to move such an! amendment himself. He promised the "Go-| when the, Bills came into; Opjanmittee, m he shouU} do h* 8 «* mos i* ; , * 0^ make them as little mischievous as possi- ; ■We.- • He objected atrougly to the proposed \ scale of capitation allowance, and explained ; its gceat unfairness to the County of W6at- ; land and Gold PielSs communities gene- \ rally. Of cours_e, he supported the pro- ! po3al to afford wafer supply to thd 'Gold i Fields, . but he pointed out that the amount was ridiculously small to 7 be applied to works which, of all others the Government could undertake/ 'would be tho most remunerative and directly reproductive. He strongly- opposed the alterations in the tariff as being/ a wrong ste^ hi tHe i political economy of the Colony, and a flagrant injustice to the minors. , Mr Orniond (Government 'agent at N^pjer) .spokq generally in. favor of. the Ministerial proposals, especially with regard: ;tt> the appropriation of L 200,000 per annum for five yearsj for defence purposes. During his speech, he.said some' unkind things of Colonel Hauitain, for which he got a splendid' thrashing from Messrs Croighton and Haughton. The latter gentleman kept the House in a continuous roar of laughter for half-an-hour, so that not even the officers of the Housee could refrain from giving utterance to their sense of the ridiculous. Ho made a most witty and slashiug speech) full of personal attacks on the Ministry aud all theirfollowers, but said it in such a vein of good humor as to prevent anyone from taking serious offeuce. " You will have possibly heard, that a Bill was brought in by Mr Harrison, to empower Borough Councils to levy a separate rate not exceeding -3d in the pound for the purpose of maintaining efficient fire preventive' machinery in towns subject, to danger} from fire. The Bill was, I believe, drafted by Mr Lazar,;of > Hokitika, and was placed in Mr Harrison's hands by the Council of that Borough. ■'■ The Bill was thrown out on the second reading, chiefly on the ground ■ that it was not wanted' in many towns, and partly because Mr Barff, in opposing it, said that the' public 'opinion of Hokitika was against it. This was rather a strange assertion, considering that the; Borough Council of Hokitika had the matter under consideration for' vreeks, and hot a voice was raised against' it It' is a pity some such measure was not in force for such towns as Greymouth , and Hokitika, where; insurance is impossible and the danger from fire so great. The debate on the' relations with the Mother. Country has been shelved in the Lower House by the previous , questior, . but it has assumed an animated tone in the Legislative Council. .During the ■' discii9aicn in .< that august: ; assembly > ;: Mr Sewell said, something about, the necessity of soon sepa" a tfng from the Empire', the Advertiser took hold of this, and chaffed Mr Sewell for being an advo- • cate ■'" for' rebellion, althojigh he held his seat as a»me\nber of ' the Parliament from the.Ci.'own.- To this Mr, Sewell: drew, the attention of the Council, as being a gross libel and a breach of privilege. He quoted all sorts of authorities, and - explained . what could, possibly bey done^to. : the' 'writer of the objectionable article, and it was fully anticipated there would have been a nice drama enacted. But old Sewell thought better of it, and contented himself by saying that Her Majesty had not a more loyal subject than himself. -.....• \ , ■ - Nothing further has been done with Mr Reynolds' resolutions, and I don't suppose anything will be done until the financial debate is concluded. I understand that an amendment to them is contemplated by one of the Auckland members, to the effect that the Colony should resume possession of the waste lands of the colony, and' administer them as a Colonial estate, for the benefit of general public works and immigration. It is at present impossible to tell how thi3 will go down, but it is important >s showing the gradual tendency of the House towards the abolishment of Provincial Governments. It is expected that the guarantee of a million by the Imperial Government will beproductiveofconsiderablediscussionand probably of dissent also in the ; Assembly. The whole tenor of the despatches on the subject, and the utterances of Ministers in the- House of Gommonay lead to the belief ihat the Home Government intend that the loan shall be applied exclusively to : the construction^ of public ■ works in the South Jslaud, and to, measures for pacifying the natives. It is known that tho Government have received important information on this Bibject from the Commissioners by Atlantic Cable, but up to the present time it has not been communicated to the House. If rumor be correct in reference to this matter, it is extremely doubtful if the Assembly will agree to the acceptance of the guarantee if it be fettered by any such condition as the one hinted at. The supplementary inquiry respecting the administration of the District Court in Westlandi by Mr Strode, has toeen concluded. His report arrived to-day, but its contents have not been made public. I aitt informed, however, that its result is the suspension or dismissal of Judge Ciark<vand this information is so far corroborated, by the fact that MrDndley Ward proceeded to Hokitika by the Claud Hamilton to take temporary charge .of .the administration. ; ' of rthe" District Court, pending any change that may take place when the Estimates come on for discussion. It is understood that the,.. Westlanrl members, in conjunction with those from Nelson, will endeavor to secure a more economical arrangiemenfr in lieu of the District Courc as at present constituted. I believe the idea : to be that the Crown Prosecutors iii ' Westland 'arid Nelson Gold Fields . bo invested with power to act as Judges in Bankruptcy, remitting' all the civil and criminal business to the Supreme Court. It' is expected that' by such an arrangement about LSOO per annum can be saved. ■■,;■:■ : •■ The resolution from the County Council of Westland, praying that for the fu ture the Chairman ; of the County; be elected by the people instead of by the Council,, has been laid .upon, the table, of the" House, but it is not likely that the Government' will act iipon it. From'; what I can gather, th.o Government are of opinion that the' charge proposed would magnify rather, than reduce tlie Ji objection urged against tho present sys-

tem. lam induced to think that if any change be effected at all, it will be in the direction of limiting the functions of the •County .Council to, th,e adminisjtration ,of public, works, : and placing the G°}A. Fields^ Pblicey arid 6aols ; under an officer of the General Goyecnmpnt.^ ; Sj?ch, v I am" informed,, is the 1 disposition ' of the Government, andt'lishouldiriot be surprisod to see it carried into effect. I am glad to inform? you that the worthy Mayor of 'Greymouth is gazstted a Justice io£rthe> Pjeace,.? His not haying been so apSoinfed b^foraHs^ntn-ely owing to an omission of the Government, and. the moment jihisi subject was brovight under their notice it wa»*t qnce repbißed*, jiMx) $m BpM&l <ftiss(Tjme>tf»y) af *er-^ noon on the financial proposals of the Govemrtient. He opposod them »v. toto, arid stated, his intention of , diyklinw the Hotise, if^he eve.n walked alone .into tfte ; lobby. ' It may be' as -vVell to "say that the' question now before tho House is !not that; tho propcisals bo* afiirihed, but that /the HiohseWoceedvio the consideration ..ofTtf&" B.iHHn conViedtion with the firianciuf proposals. ?',, : Yon, will see,,, therefore,; that membersiri dtipportin^the moliori-reserve' to themselves the right of opposing the details in Committee on the Bills.' "Mr Barff moved no amendment, but simply said he should vote against, the motion. ; ■