General Assembly.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VI, Issue 394, 16 August 1856, Page 3

General Assembly.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. IN COMMITTEE —FINANCIAL RESOLUTIONS. June 26. The House went into committee of ways and means, when Mr. Stafford stated that the Government had come to the determination to oppose the resolution of which Mr. Fox gave notice on Wednesday, hecause, tempting as the offer was as regarded the Middle Island, they could not accept it in justice to the North Island ; and hecause it would tend to perpetuate the provincial differences to which it was so desirable that an end should he put. An irregular discussion ensued as to whether the proposition wasMr.Fox's own initiation, or whether put forward at the invitation of the Government ; the result of which may be thus briefly stated ; that the Colonial Treasurer had (as he admitted) somewhat incautiously said—speaking in his character as a Middle Island member—' we' were 'open to a bid,' meaning thereby the members for that island ; but he said it in banter, never expecting the challenge would be accepted, and feeling himself obliged, in considering the financial position of the colony, to do so with a view to the welfare of the entire colony, and not of any one portion, even that portion with which he was most closely connected. He freely admitted that it was at his invitation that the resolution was given notice of by Mr. Fox, and he regarded it as the bona fide expression of that hon. member's convictions. The adjourned debate on Mr. Ludlam's amendment was resumed, and terminated in its being negatived. The Colonial Tbeasurer moved the 12th resolution, as follows:—

12. " That this House is of opinion that the administration of the Waste Lands of each province should be transferred to . the provincial government of such.province, and the Land revenue thereof made provincial revenue, subject to the following charges;" &c—[as before stated]. Mr. Fox thereupon moved as an amendment the resolution of which he gave notice on Wednesday, which he said he did at the challenge of the Colonial Treasurer, whom the Ministry were now endeavouring to secure in an inglorious retreat, The lion, member then defended the consistency of his views with legard to the financial legislation of the colony, by showing that he had advocated the same views' in his own province.—ln the debate which ensued, (and in which no new arguments were introduced on either side,)1 Major Greenwood Mr. Travers, Mr Stafford, the Colonial Treasurer and Secretary, Mr. Fitzherbert, Mr. Ludlam, Mr. Williamson, Mr. Brown, and Mr! Paldy took part; and on a division the amendment was negatived. Progress was then reported, and the House adjourned till the following day.

, June 27. Mr. Fox obtained leave to bring in a Bill to enable Provincial Councils to enforce order and punish contempts. Bill read a first time, and to be read a second time on Tuesday. The House went into Committee of Ways and Means, when the Colonial Treasurer proposed a resolution to meet the case of New Pymouth, the fostering and maintenance of which province he considered essential to the welfare of the adjoining provinces. 13. That until the said sum of £20,000 shall have been paid to the Province of New .Plymouth, the colony do guarantee that the revenue, to be paid over by the General Government to that province, shall, together with' the gross proceeds of the Land sales, be not less than £4,000 in any one year. *v Mr i F- Brow^ Proposed an 'amendment by the addition of a clause to the effect that £2,5n0 a year of Land sales should be guaranteed to New Plymouth There Ayas very little chance of buying l and thej . e mnv> frQm N(llWe digtur _ bances, and it yyas not known how long these might continue. There were five natives to one fighting against the sale of land, and it might be ten years before any cou ld be purchased. ° <Wir' f* J"Cted t0 the m°ti°n > «s * barefaced scheme o, pensioning off Taranaki, for see nfnt W? °f ilB "««»»»«■ to the Govhad to/come thus before the House as a pauper legging for assistance. p*uji« fl tt«,Hi? !?ll tidet- aileC? aip Seriesof ci 'e>"«stance S attending the immigration of successive bodies

of hostile natives to New Plymouth, all tending to its ruin. The case should be therefore dealt with as a special one. By assisting New Plym »uth the other provinces of the colony protected themselves. 'He would suggest that the £20,000 he raised and funded for the purchase of land at New Plymouth whenever that could be done; the interest in the meantime to go towards assisting that province to carry on its Government. Mr. Daldy objected to the principle of the motion on the ground o( its depriving New Plymouth of all inducement to exertion, by "a guarantee of a certain revenue until the £20,000 be paid. Mr. Hall preferred paying over to New Plymouth at once the £20,000, rather than entering into an indefinite guarantee. The Colonial Treasurer thought it very much out of taste in an hon. member from the Province of Wellington to oppose the resolution. New Plymouth had been robbed of her own on more than one occasion, but, as he wished to let bygones be bygones, he would merely savant Wellington of all the provinces had least reason to complain of this assistance to New Plymouth. The Colonial Secretary was doubtful-if the guarantee would ever operate. They were now about dissolving partnership from the General Government on the land question ; the Province of New Plymouth then would be thrown on its own resources, after having been crippled by other provinces, and made a great Maori reserve. The case of New Plymouth should be made a special one, and the arrangement should be a final one. Mr. Fiizherbert protested against the apportioning of one province in a special manner, and the frequent reflections of robbery, &c, made by hon. members opposite against Wellington. The Colonial Secretary censured the rnanne in which some hon. members attacked recklessly any motion originated by the Government, however satisfactory, for the purpose of vexatious opposition. Mr. Da'dy called for names, but the subject was dropped. The motion was opposed by Mr. Macandrew

as premature, and further supported by Air. Lndlam and the Colonial Secretary and Treasurer; after which (and embodying the addition moved by Mr. C. Brown) it was put and carried —being then, on the motion of Mr. Bell,ordered to be re-committed, to allow of some verbal alterations, making the phraseology more precise. Mr. Fitzherbert brought forward the resolution of which he had given notice, as follows :— "That the sum already contributed by rhe different provinces towards the New Zealand Company's Debt, but not yet remitted home (amounting to 27,0001. more or less), and which the Committee of the House have determined shall be considered as a debt of the colony, and be provided for accordingly, shall be ultimately refunded to the various provinces in the proportions their several original contri--butions.

" Ist. Should the New Zealand Company not demand the remittance of this sum, then the aforesaid refund shall be made immediately after advices to that effect shall have been received by the Government of the colony, such payment being made out of the sum authorised to be raised as a national loan. 2nd. But should the Company require ths remittance of the said sum, then an immediate refund shall be made to the respective provinces of the Northern1 Island, by the provinces of the Middle Island, of such a proportion of the compounded debt of the Company as shall correspond to the further reduction of that debt occasioned by the remittance of the Northern Island contribution of the aforesaid 27,000/." The honourable member would not travel over the whole question again, but would content himself with moving the resolutions. Mr. Hall, as a member for the Middle Island, could by no means consent to the second resolution, though, as for the first, if the money were not to be paid to the Company, it might be fair that it should be refunded to the provinces, but the division must, in such case, commence from a certain day. Mr. Fitzherbert explained that he had brought forward his resolution because there was a want of decision in the explanation of Government as to what, was to be done \vith this money. Mr. Daldy asked the Government whether this 27,000/. was not already included in the balance of 40,000/-out of the 200,000/. to be guaranteed by the English Government; if so, it was already appropriated to the Province of Auckland. The Col. Treasurer entered into a statement corroborating Mr. Daldy's view.

Mr. Fitzherbert, in reply, said he had not expected these resolutions would pass, but he considered it his duty to the Province of Wellington to contend for the refund of the portion due to that province out of that money, which he maintained was not due to the Company. He must press the matter to a decision.—Before the resolutions were put, the hon. member added (at the suggestion of Mr. Hall) the words " to the New Zealand Company's Debt," at the close of the first paragraph. The "noes" having it, a division was called for, with the following results:— " For Mr. Fitzherbert'S resolution—Messrs. Fox, Fitzherbeit, Hall, Ward, J. Cargill, and Macandrew —6. . Against—Messrs. Domett, Sewell, Merriman, Richmond, Curtis, Wells, Beckham, Williamson, Cuff, Stafford, Lee, Daldy, Brittin, Greenwood—l 4. Mr. Fitzherbert then brought forward his motion on the Land Scrip question as regarded the Province of Wellington, which had absorbed more than her fair share by several thousand pounds. He would therefore move, — " That regard should be also had to the claims of such provinces as have absorbed New Zealand Company's Scrip, with the view of crediting such provinces with such sums as they may be entitled to in respect thereof." This was couched in the spirit of "universal philanthropy," not of mere provincial advocacy, and ha hoped it would have the support of the hon. member for Taranaki, whose province it would benefit, while it did not interfere with the Government scheme. Mr. Stafford hoped the hon. member would not press the motion to a decision just now, for he perceived some elements of justice in it, but its wording (which was rather obscure) required some consideration a3 to what would be its working"; in saying which, however, the Government must not be held to support it, unless they found it could be safely worked out. Mr. Fitzherbert acceded to the suggestion, and the further consideration of the resolution was postponed till Thursday.—On the motion of Mr. Stafford, the Chairman reported progress, and the Committee was adjourned to Tuesday.

July 1. The Colonial Treasurer moved clause 14, as follows:— That the loan to be obtained for fresh purchases of Native Lands be distributed in the following proportions :— 5-lOth-i to the Province of Auckland _f 90,000 3-10ths do. do. Wellington ...... 54,000 2-10ths I ew Ply montn > without intrst. 20,000 J do. do. with interest.. 16,000 jflßo,ooo After a long and desultory conversation, the clause was agreed to, on the following division :— Ayes, 16—Messrs. Brown, Curtis, Bell, Hall, Wells, Brodie, Domett, Brittin, Stafford, Sewell, Williamson, Merriman, Cuff, Lee, Ludlam, Richmond. Noes, 7—Messrs. Fitzherbert, Clifford, Daldy, Fox, Henderson, Featherston, Graham. The Col. Treasurer then moved clause 15, as follows:—■ That the scheme of arrangement and adjustment embodied iv the foregoing resolutions be brought into operatioa on and from the Ist day of July, 1856, and the revenue of the colony distributed and appropriated on that basis on and from that day; the contributions from the Land fund to the New Zealaud Compaay's Debt ceasing on and from that day, aud the purchase of Native lands being thenceforth provided for out. f the before-mentioned loans. An amendment, proposed by Mr. Daldy, that ISSB should be substituted for 1856, was negatived, and the clause as it originally stood was agreed to) on the following division :—" ' For the clause, 16—Messrs. Campbell, Stafford, Fitzgerald, Lee, Merriman, Domett, Ludlam. Brittin, Hall, Brodie, Wells, Williamson, Bell, Cuff, Richmond, Sewell. Against, 10—Messrs. Clifford, Fox, Featherston, Fitzherbert, Macandrew, Brown, Ward, Henderson, Graham, Daldy. The Col. Treasurer moved clause 16, but its consideration was not entered into, and the Chairman reported progress.

July 2. The Col. Treasurer, in moving the adoption of clause 16, amended it as follows— That such scheme of arrangement and adjustment be effectuated by an Act of the Imperial Parliament to be applied for forthwith, and that an appeal be made to the Home Government for its guarantee for an aggregate loan of 500,000/. " • After a long discussion^ it was agreed to. The following clauses were then successively adopted— 17. That failing such Act of Parliament and guarantee! the entire scheme be open to revision by the General Assembly; and that this House guarantees to the provinces nil moueys which may be received by them under the foregoing arrangement without liability to future account. IS. That application ba made to Parliament forthwith for effecting the befortjmentioned objects. Mr. Fitzheroert then moved "That in the event of the financial scheme of the Government failing from inability to obtain the necessary ioau of

■ the' loan of £200,000 offered hy the Home Government' for liquidation of the New Zealand Company's' Debt shall be raised onthe terms proposed, and the mode of payment -shall stand over for''adjustment amongst the several provinces at a future period. .'..'•-. The Col. Treasurer moved as an amendment that all the vror .Is' after "over," in the'fourth line, be omitted; and the following inserted,—" as part of a general adjustment of the public burthens, it being anessentialjpartofsu'ch an adjustment that the Land fund be exonerated from its special liability to the Purchase of native lands, as well as from the New Zealand Company's Debt; and that, in accordance with a former resolution of this House, the Provinceof Auckland-shall be relieved retrospectively from any contribution towards the liquidation of that debt; the purchase-money of native lands being provided for either by a scheme ,of burthens, or by a distinct appropriation of specific portions of such burthens to the respective provinces, upon the principles affirmed in former resolutions of this House. The amendment was agreed to on the following division, and the clause as thus amended, alsoagreed tO. ;_■■:-: : : ; > ■..'-.. .!:■ Ayes, I"—Messrs. Richmond, Taylor, Brittin, GreenwoodjCurtLs,Wells,E;tst, Merriman, Williamson, Domett, Cuff, Lee, Campbell, Sewell, Brodie Stafford, and Hal}. • . '" Iv'oes, 11—.Messrs. Clifford, Henderson, J. Cargill, "W. Cargill, Ward, Peatherston,. JBrown, Daldy,Eitzherbert, Ludlam, Fox. ' The Chairman thea reported progress, and the resolutions, as agreed to in Committee, passed by the House. ','