MR. STAFFORD’S ADDRESS TO HIS CONSTITUENTS.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume V, Issue 217, 23 January 1865, Page 3

MR. STAFFORD’S ADDRESS TO HIS CONSTITUENTS.

According to promise, we proceed to give a first instalment of Mr. Stafford's address to his constituents, from the Nelson Examiner. Its length will occasion it to be continued over several of pur issues. We shall reserve our remarks on the views enunciated till we have completed its publication : Mr Stafford, who was received with much applause, said:—Mr Chairman and Gentlemen—l beg to thank you for this numerous attendance. I have requested you to meet me this evening, partly because it is not unusual, and, I think, a beneficial practice that members of the Legislature should occasionally meet their constituents and explain their opinions as to the public affairs of the country—especially when the country is in a critical position—and partly, because I desire to state the reasons which prevent me from caring at the present time to remain a member of the Legislature of New Zealand. You are aware that the late session was held unexpectedly, at an unusual and inconvenient time, in consequence of the resignation of the late Ministry, who were unable to get the Governor to concur with them in giving effect to the policy agreed upon in the previous session. The Legislature was, therefore, necessarily summoned, and there was a full attendance of members. Indeed, except one member for Dunedin, and another who was absent from the colony, every member of the House of Representatives, notwithstanding the great inconvenience which it caused, took his seat during the session—a fact that was, so far, most creditable to them. I wish I could say that their course of action, when they had assembled, was equally satisfactory; but, though I have often been dissatisfied with many things which the Legislature has done, or left undone in previous sessions, I have never before been so generally disappointed at the result of any session as I felt with respect to the last. It was known, before the session commenced, that it would not be called upon to deal with ordinary matters, but that there were three, or possibly four, special subjects of prominent importance requiring earnest, and prompt consideration, namely, the formation of a new Ministry ; the relations with respect to responsibility in native affairs between the Ministry and the Governor; and mixed np with this, and difficult to separate from it, the question of the interference of the Colonial Office in Downing-streit with the affairs of the colony ; and lastly, what could scarcely be overlooked, the financial condition of the colony. With respect to tbe_ first subject, I will observe, generally, that, great inconvenience has resulted from the change of Ministries, of late yoars, at the commencement of a session. The consequence is, that no one remains answerable to the Legislature for anv misconduct during the recess, and while the new Ministry cannot be made responsible for the sins of their predecessors, neither can they be reasonably expected to be able to deal at once with many questions which may require attention, but with respect to which they may not have had time to become fully informed.' This inconvenience .is, each session, more strongly felt, and hampers very much the action of members, both individually and collectively. I trust that sucli a state of things may not occur next session, and that neither from external causes nor internal differences there may arise a necessity for a newMinistry. On the day I arrived in Auckland, Mr Whituker informed" me that he had been requested by Sir George Grey to recommend some person to be entrusted to "form a Ministry, and he asked if tie might name myself. I, however, refused to let him do so, and we concurred that, in the present juncture, Mr. Weld was, without exception, the most fitting person to be sent for. Mr. Weld is known to many of you personally, and, by repute, throughout .New Zealand, as one of the most honest and straightforward men and politicians in the colony—one who could neither originate or countenance anything that he did not believe to bo honest and right. He has also another advantageous qualification for a Prime Minister, in temper, and courtesy of manner, which prevent him from making personal enemies even of those who may differ most strongly with him in opinion. Mr. Weld, on returning from Government House, did me the honour to ask me to take office with him, and lie did it in the most handsome manner, offering any post, including the Premiership, I might prefer, saying, in doing so, that I wai the only man in New Zealand lie would serve under. I felt, however, constrained to refuse, owing to some differenoe of opinion with Mr. Weld on some important points to which I will allude presently. It would be affectation were I not to refer to this, as it is matter of notoriety ; and it will not be out of place to observe here—as it has sometimes been stated that I was anxious to hold office—that, in the last three sessions, I have been requested to take office, either to form a Ministry, or with the leadership of the House of Representatives, but I refused, for reasons which satisfied me at the time that neither the public interests, any more than my private inclination, required me to take office. You will understand that I make no merit of this. On the contrary, I think it a drawback to the efficiency of a member of a Legislature if he will not take a position which will enable him to give effect to public wishes, and serve public requirements, which can always be done most effectually by those in office. I know some peoplo imagine that it is right for a member to promise not to | take office, but it is a mistake, as any such promise I precludes him from taking that position in the Legislature in which he can most effectually enforce the views of his constituents. Of course these observations apply only to temporary office as a Minister, depending on retaining the confidence of the country, and not to permanent departmental office, for any seeker of the latter kind of office is certainly not a proper representative of the people. Mr. Weld subsequently took for colleagues some persons very fit to be Ministers, and in whom tno country cannot but place confidence, but his Ministry also contains other persons who certainly do not enjoy the confidence of the country. The Ministry had to deal with the subjects I have mentioned all in an ag-

gravated shape, owing to the circumstances which had caused the resignation of the late Ministry. At the risk of referring to matters more or less familiar to you, I will notice shortly the position of the Colonial Government with respect to the direction of native affairs. From the first establishment of her Majesty’s Government in New Zealand, up to 1856, the entire direction of native affairs, as, indeed, of all the public affairs of the colony, was vested in the Colonial Office, and its representative, the Governor. In 1856, a Colonial Ministry was for the first time appointed, which managed all matters which concerned the colonists only, but could only give advice with respeetto native matters, the final decision and action as to the latter resting with the Governor. This state of things continued until the session before the last, which commenced in October, 1863. There was nothing in the Constitution which made such a form of Government necessary, or which reserved native affairs from the control of the Legislature ; it was simply the result of an arrangement made between Mr. Sewell and Colonel Gore Browne, and sanctioned by the Imperial Government, when the first responsible Ministry was formed by Mr. Sewell in 1856. Shortly after Sir George Grey returned as Governor, he recommended that the Colonial Ministry should manage native as well as other affairs, and the Duke of Newcastle agreed to this, using the remarkable phrase that the attempt of the Imperial Government tr manage native affairs had ended iu failure. When the Colonial Parliament nest met, in the session of 1802, this proposal of Sir George Grey’s agreed to by the Secretary of State, was submitted to it and was negatived, mainly for reasons subsequently stated in addresses from both Houses to the Queen on the subject to the effect that the Imperial Government had hitherto managed the natives, and was solely responsible for the anarchy which prevailed amongst them, and that, until that anarchy was put an end to the colonists should not be made responsible for establishing law and order where it had never yet existed. In reply to those addresses the Duke of Newcastle peremptorily insisted on the Colonial Legislature becoming responsible for the native policy. The Legislature when it nest met, iu 1863, considered it useless to protract the discussion, and honestly, and in good faith, accepted the responsibility thrust on it. Having done so it proceeded earnestly to support the policy which, at the time, the Imperial representatives, Sir Gsoage Grey and General Cameron were attempting to carry out. It found the position of native affairs was, and for months had been, one of open warfare between the Governor and the natives. The Legislature was, however, equal to the occasion, and, having accepted the responsibility of the terrible mess into which the Imperial Government and its agents had got native affairs, it did not shrink from the, result but boldly undertook an enterprise without precedent iu the history not merely of a colony but of any community of the same limited number. (To he continued.)