The Hawke's Bay Times. Published every Monday and Thursday. MONDAY, 12TH FEBRUARY, 1866.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 7, Issue 349, 12 February 1866, Page 2

The Hawke's Bay Times. Published every Monday and Thursday.

MONDAY, 12TH FEBRUARY, 1866.

“ NCLLITJS ADDICTCS JCAA’.IE IN VEXBA HAGISTRX."

THE PREMIER AT NELSON. Decidedly the most important of all the exparliameutary utterances that have been made since the change of Ministry, is that of Mr Stafford, which was given before his constituents, at Nelson, on the evening of Saturday, the 27th ult. His speech is fully reported in the Nelson papers, of which it occupies six full columns of closely-printed matter. - Of course this is much more than we can find room for in our pages ; and yet we are unwilling to pass it by with a brief notice, as the matters discussed are of paramount interest. We will, therefore, proceed to give our readers an outline, embracing its most prominent features. Mr Stafford commenced by vindicating himself from a charge that had been made against him —that he had opposed the measures of the late Ministry from a desire to take office himself, —which was far from the truth, he being anxious to retire from public life, and had actually intended to do so. He had refused offers that had been pressed upon him during four successive years in jCaaeequence of such intention. .Neither was

it true that he had been actuated by personal feelings against Mr Weld, whom he believed to be the most honest and straightforward politician in New Zealand, —one whose services can be but ill-spared at the present crisis of our affairs, —and whose retirement from iil-health is a source of regret. He (Mr S.) did not accept the trust offered him by His Excellency when first sent for, nor until he was assured of Mr Weld’s final determination to abdicate the Government. Only then did he undertake the task of forming a Ministry—a most difficult task for several reasons. He saw that it would have to encounter violent hostility, and felt the necessity of its being composed of men whose opinions and views were identical with his own, and who would not shrink from encountering that hostility. There were also existing in the minds of the great majority of colonial politicians certain local jealousies which deprived them of the confidence of the Colony as a whole, and which made it necessary that any Government should be composed of elements from each of the principal localities of the Colony, and enjoying the support of their district. In the Government preceding that of Mr Weld, there had been a fair admixture of such elements, as it contained, as well as Auckland men, representatives from the South, among whom were Mr Fox, from Wellington, and Mr Gillies, from Otago ; yet the South had called it an Auckland Government. On the other hand, in the late Ministry, Auckland was altogether unrepresented, and it had elicited, with better reason, the jealousies of Auckland. He desired his Government to be a purely colonial one, without these loccl feelings, and such could hardly be obtained. Again, it was almost impossible to form a strong or permanent Government upon the eve of a general election, which would doubtless have great influence on the constitution of the House of Representatives, and the constitution itself of the Colony had failed to satisfy a large class of the colonists, or, rather, two classes—one of which objected that the Provincial system was carried too far, and the other that the General Government encroaches too much on Provincial matters. Beside all the above, the Government has been of late, and must be for some time to come, carried on under the disadvantages cf a war both costly and exhaustive—burdened with liabilities that must be met with extended pecuniary resources, the providing of which could not fail to bring odium on those who adopt the necessary measures. However, in the face cf every difficulty he bad accepted the responsibility, and thought he had good reason for expecting a fair trial, such as had been accorded to every previous Ministry, but it had not been so. He bad not intended to dissolve the Council without asking for supplies, but he had stated his intention of making an appeal to the country, if by a factious opposition these supplies should be refused. Such a course would have been neither unusual nor unconstitutional, although the opposition had declared it to be so. It was taken by the Government of Canada in 1862, and more recently in Victoria. Even the editor of the Canterbury ‘Press’ had (perhaps unknown to Mr Fitz Gerald) suggested the course as one of two open to him to pursue. Mr Fitz Gerald himself had railed at it in opposition, because it would have necessitated a prolongation of the unauthorised expenditure for a short time, — about three weeks, — which had been carried on by Mr Weld’s Ministry for more than as many months. Mr Weld had stated at a meeting in Christchurch that “ he had found the Colony £900,000 in debt, “ and left it free of debt ”; but it was not so. The amount overdrawn at the bank some time before Mr Weld took office was some .£BIB,OOO, but of this had been paid £400,000, proceeds of debentures, reducing the debt to £418,000. when Mr Weld took office, and their still remained on his leaving £115,000 ; but against this apparent reduction of £303,000 had to be placed a sum of £309,000, proceeds of debentures, sold by Mr Header Wood, and also paid into the bank account, so that the whole reduction alluded to, and more, accrued from no action of the Weld Ministry, but was left them by their predecessors. Mr Weld had also drawn largely from the Commissariat, and had not paid one shilling of those drafts; neither was the discharging of the bank account by the proceeds of debenture sales paying the debts of the Colony. It was merely changing the creditor, which is all that any Ministry can do for the Colony for some time to come. Something must be done to meet the liabilities of the Colony. The tariff may be revised to adjust its pressure, but not to increase the revenue from Customs duties, which seem to be as high as they ought to be, or can safely be made. The source of additional revenue must be an

income tax. There might be difficulties in the way of assessing this tax in the case of the dishonest, but these may be overcome. There was also stamp duties, as proposed by the late Government, which, although unobjectionable as a tax, was not so good as the other, which would fall upon the right shoulders, —those who had helped to bring the Colony into its present position, and whose substance should help to remedv the evils they had helped to produce. However, it was probable that he should propose both the above taxes, and revise the tariff also. Mr Sewell had misrepresented him, and charged him with his predecessor’s unauthorised expenditure of £126,000, which he had thought best to cover with his Appropriation Act, as well as £30,000 unauthorised expenditure of the preceding Government. He was not bound to cover these items with the Appropriation Act, and it was unjust to him that a member of the Government that had spent the money without authority should place them to his debit. He had been charged with rashness in stating that a saving of £240,000 could be made in the expenditure of the Government without impairing its efficiency, but it was true; and he must repeat the statement,—not, indeed, during the present year, as 4 months had passed, and the money had been spent for that portion °/ year by the late Government, besides liabilities that he could not repudiate; but for the remaining portion (eight months) of the year he could effect its proportion of that saving to the amount of £119,000, and this on the appropriations for Departmental, Native, and Defence Services thus in the charges on the annual revenue alone, Mr Sewell, however, had said that, while affecting to save, he (Mr Stafford) would spend more than the Weld Ministry, and that the Provinces would get from his Government no more than 3-lGths of the Customs revenue for the whole year. In reply, he would inform that that proportion had already been paid for the six’ mouths past, and that the full 3-Bths would be paid over, both for the present and the past year, and this notwithstanding the large unauthorised expenditure of the late Government, out of the ordinary revenue without reaching on the loan. Beside the saving on the ordinary revenue before mentioned, he could effect a further saving on the charges on the loan, which, however, could not be precisely estimated, as it consisted of running contracts connected with the war, and expenditure occurring from time to time on account of certain “ friendly natives.” As an instance there is a tribe called the Arawas who are nicknamed “Big-mouthed,” and certainly, s if judged by their capacity for rations they well deserve the name. The ration account for these Arawas was at first about £BO per week, but very soon it rose to upwards of £3OO. There has arisen among the natives a system of fighting with Kupapas, who will not enrol themselves nor allow their friends in the tribe to be enrolled to fight unless under their management. These Kupapas all insist on receiving rations, and one result is that there is a large floating ration account, and an increased expenditure in that direction which cannot with certainty be anticipated. The claims of the Imperial Government against the Colony, at the commencement of last year, were estimated at half-a-million, which sum was sent home in debentures. Had these been guaranteed by the Imperial Government they would have had a ready sale—and £40,000 premium obtained on them, clear saving to the Colony. A correspondence is still being carried on on this matter, and there is hope that the guarantee \vili yet be given. The sum now claimed by the Imperial Government as due by the Colony is about £664,000, but there is reason to believe that it is far too high. ' There is an acknowledged error of £85,000~n0 small item ; and—what does not seem to have occurred to any one before—the Colony has a contra account, and by no means a small one, against the Home Government. When these mutual claims are adjusted, the balance due by the Colony will be found to be much less than is generally imagined. He had been accused of an intention to retain the troops, and also that he was paying £4O per man for them. There was not the slightest foundation for either of the statements. When he took office not a soldier had left j since that time two regiments had gone home, and the rest were being sent away as fast as tonnage could be got to take them. He had never promised to pay the £4O per head. Mr Weld, in a memorandum to the Governor, on the occasion of his taking office, did promise to pay-for the use of troops employed in the field, but he did not pay it; —it would be madness to think of it. The money could not be got; aud, even if it could, the country would not pay it. It w ould be the very last vote that the House of Representatives

could be brought to agree to. Neither dfeld or would the country maintain a Colonial army as proposed by Mr Weld. The employment, up to its present stage, of Colonial forces may not have been altogether unwise. It was necessary to put down the rebellion ; and this has been done so far as to reader the conquering of the country, if it were justifiable, not an impossible thing; but ho could see no grounds on which such conquest could be justified. To attempt it would warrant all the calumnies that have been uttered against the colonists. Natives that have remained at peace were entitled to remain in undisturbed possession of their lands; natives guilty of great atrocities must be punished ; murders—like those of Yolkner, Fulloon, Broughton, and many others—must be repressed, or the whole tone of the national mind would become demoralised and destroyed. If it be necessary to resort to increased taxation to effect this end, it would be readily submitted to. lie believed that natives so guilty should he punished by the forfeiture of their lands. He had advised the Governor to do so with regard to the natives at Opotiki, who were concerned in the murder of Mr Yolkner. This was a very different matter from conquering the -natives in order to get possession of their lands. It was necessary as a punishment,—as a means of deterring others from the enacting of similar atrocities, —and as a means of covering, to some extent, the cost of suppressing the outrages. He never believed the confiscated lauds would pay the cost of the war ; or that their sale would yield much more than they actually did. He could not look upon these lands as a probable source of profit to the Colony, Some of them probably could not be settled without loss, and the utmost to be expected of them was that they should be settled without loss to the country. Experience had shown that new settlements could not be occupied without great expense, even under the most favorable circumstances. Those who expect a revenue from confiscated lands labor under a delusion. The question of Separation is now being agitated throughout the length and breadth of New Zealand. It may die out, or it may, as is most probable, increase till it becomes the cry of the majority of the people,—in which latter case the constitution will “have to be remcd lied. It is now increasing;— many persons are now favorable to it who were never so before. He thought it would be a grate mistake, presenting no advantages to counterbalance its disadvantages. It would be felt heavily by the smaller provinces, which only get fair play now in consequence* of a conflict kept up between the larger ones; by which means a balance is preserved, which would be destroyed by Separation. Neither is it easy to see where Separation is to stop If the Colony be divided into two, why not into three or more portions ? But the agitation may die out from the disagreement between its supporters. Several different proposals have been made. Auckland demands a pure and simple Separation—entire financial and political; others demand theextension of the present Provincial system, limiting the powers of the General Government to a few matters; another party propose what they call the county system, though what is meant by it, or how it oan be reduced to practice is not very clear. There are, therefore, at least three views entertained by the advocates of Separation, which shows disunion and antagonism. Thera is yet a party with whom he might agree, who were ready to admit some modification of the present order of things ; but he, whether in office or out of office, had always opposed Separation,—still opposed it, —and always should oppose it. The Government should if possible, direct the public feeling in the matter, and permit a change, if found necessary, in the constitution, such as would be attended with the least possible disturbance to the body politic. Mr Stafford then thanked the electors for the confidence reposed in him during his public life; and felt that they would do him the justice to believe that he had in accepting office, sacrificed private wishes to a souse of public duty. We shall embrace an early opportunity of discussing :be policy indicated by Mr Stafford in the course of the above important address.