MR DOWNIE STEWART, M.H.R. ON MR MASTERS, M.H.R.

Kumara Times, Issue 1061, 24 February 1880, Page 4

MR DOWNIE STEWART, M.H.R. ON MR MASTERS, M.H.R.

Mr Downie Stewart;, one of the member! of the House of Representatives for Dunedin, addressed his constituents on Thursday last at the Temperance Hall, Dunedin. In the course of his remarks he said;—Before, however, the present Government got the proper voting majority, he must tell them that desperate efforts were made to secure the support of at least two men outside those who had promised their support provide d the amendment was adopted. The members referred to were Mr Tamoana, the Native member, and Mr Masters, the member for Grey Valley, Up to the last day, or almost]the) laat day, Mr Tamoana declined to give any hope that he would give allegiance to the Opposition. Mr Masters apparently, as he would show, had a considerable amount of bargaining for his support, but ultimately the Opposition secured the support of both members. The efforts to do this, he had said, were desperate efforts, they reflected little credit on those who put them forth, and they were put forth chiefly by the leader of the Opposition and some confreres. These things had shaken his confidence. In the lobbies of the House many things came to be known unofficially which were not published on the housetops, and he learned some things which he confessed he did not approve of. To show what had taken place, Mr Tamoana bad apparently been approached by representations from Mr Hall, for on the day when the division took place he voted with the Opposition, and afterwards stated that Mr Hall had promised to appoint a Native Minister, and to give to the Maori Minister the sole power of managing Native affairs. In making this statement be was quoting from one of the speeches reported in ‘‘Hansard.” Now here was a strong inducement held out to Tamoana, as the power, if granted, would have been looked upon with great satisfaction by the Maori inhabitants of tile Colony, Mr Tamoana was appointed a member of the Cabinet, and occupied his portfolio for a fortnight or three weeks, when he found he had been misled—not to use any stronger term and he then, in a very dignified manner, retired from the Government benches. Of course it was only fair to state that Mr Hall did not admit having made such a promise, but the Maori member had in disgust given up the portifolio, which he (Mr Stewart) supposed was worth to him something besides the prestige which it gave him among the Native race. There was a considerable amount of squabbling over the matter, but it appeared to him that the dealing with the Maori member had been sufficiently ambiguous to lead him to give his allegiance to the Hall party. Now for the other member, Mr Masters. He was returned—it was difficult to say upon what ticket, for he did not seem to know that himself, nor could those intimately acquainted with the contest decide that matter; but this much was certain, that Mr Masters committed to writing certain negotiations which'he had been carrying on with the Opposition, with the view of showing how very dexterous he had been in getting consideration for his vote. That letter found its way to the Press, and he would read a quotation from it taken from “Hansard” which stated: “I have the most positive assurance of support to both railways, harbor works, &c., from most of the leaders, viz., John Hall Rolleston, Oliver, Atkinson, Bowen, and others. .... I have also had many hours’ private conversation with leaders upon harbor works and railways mth a view of obtaining a pledge before giving my support. It is extremely unfortunate, and much to be regretted, that there should be division between the Grey Valley members, and I tried to •now Reeves that the Opposition was the proper side for us to take.” This letter showed three things. In the first place, that Mr Masters did not consider he was under any obligation whatever to support the Hall party, and that as considerations for his support he wished terms effacing the public revenue of this Colony to be agreed upon by persons not in power, in consideration of a vote which wou!d put them in power.-(Applause.) Ho (Mr Stewart) had thought at first that this letter was one of the canards sometime; circulated during Parliamentary but was surprised—ho would go further and say disgusted —to fand it was a genuine document.—Applause.) It showed, as he haa said, that Mr Masters believed he was under no pledge to support the Hall party; secondly, that a very large number of persons seemed to have been promising the expenditure of public' money when they had no authority or right to do so; and the the third It showed was that Mr Masters seemed to have a very accommodating conscience, a “ d held the opinion that Mr Reeves should not have been such and out-and-out Grey supporter as not to mark terms sufficiently profitable for his support.