General Assembly.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
August 10.
Mr. Stafford moved —-That the thanks of this House are due, and are hereby given, to Henry Sewell, Esq., for the energy and ability ■with which he has conducted the important negotiations in England entrusted to" him on behalf of the colony:- , Mr. Sewell's services were generally acknowledged, and he did not think he was wrong: in stating that the successful ne-^ gotiation of the Newi Zealand Loan was solely the result of his exertions^, and not; only had" he shown his desire, to serve the colony in this matter, but also in other questions of colonial interest, as that of steam communication, the establishment of lighthouses, &c, in which, his exertions had been unremitting. The fact of his exertions having been crowned with success, would, to many, give them ah additional value ; for, generally speaking, unless efforts and services were thus successful, they were seldom appreciated ; although the motives^ which actuated them, and the amount of. exertaequired were the same. As a small mark of the appreciation of Mr. Sewell's important services a vote of thanks should be recorded upon the Journals of the House.
Mr Stafford moved,—That the thanks of this House are due, and are hereby given, .to Charles Bowyer Adderly, Esq.., for the valuable assistance afforded by him to New Zealand, m effecting a compromise bftheNe^.Zealand Company's Debt. He believed that gentleman equally entitled with'Mr. Sewell to the thanks of the House, not so much on account of what he had effected, as the disinterested m°£y e S which prompted his gratuitous services. With no interest in the colony, beyond the fact of his being a member of the Canterbury Association^ he had always been found ready to exert himself in securing its advancement, and advocating its interests. As had already been stated, Mr. Adderly refused a sum of £200 transmitted to him from Nelson, and also a sum of £500 voted by that House. . " . Mr. Hall seconded the motion, which was put and passed.
STEAM POSTAL COMMUNICATION. Mr. Ward moved,—That in the opinion of this House, the objects to be attained by the establishment of a Steam Service for this colony are :—l, The transmission of mails with the least possible delay between New Zealand and Australia, in connection with' the main postal line between Australia and England.—2. Regular comramunication (not less often than twice a month) between the provinces.—3. Facilities for passenger and goods traffic: between Australia and New Zealand ; and that no arrangement of routes and times of arrival at and departure from the various ports will be satisfactory to the colony, which shall not provide for the attain j meat of the above objects as fully as maybe possible without entailing pecuniary loss.—That this House recommends the following arrangement of the service, as best adapted for carrying °ut the above mentioned objects-:• One-'lnter--Colonial steamer to ply between: Melbourne and Nelson, leaving the former port immediately on the arrival of the English mail of each month, or in case of delay, within four days of the time appointed for such arrival, and leaving Nelson for Melbourne with the outward mail on the 25th of each month ; and two Inter- Provincial steamers plyiug fortnightly between Manukau and Port Chalmers, and calling at the intermediate ports ; such steamers to leave Nelson for the Northern and Southern ports, respectively, on the arrival of the intcr-eolonial steamer from
Melbourne.—The hon. member said that as the question would doubtless give rise to some discussion, it would be advisable for the House to go into committee upon it. The House went into committee to consider the first resolution.
Mr. Ward said that it might be thought lie had been guilty of a certain amount of presumption in introducing to the House resolutions which seemed to insist upon a peculiar service being conducted in a particular manner. But the Miniatry had requested an expression of opinion from the House on the subject, and he had ventured to place one before them. The first resolution was simply declaration. It declared that while the Colony was advancing a large bonus for a certain object, it intended to gain that object as fully as possible—not to throw its money away, but to ensure its being spent for particular objects. The Imperial Government already shared with all the Colonies the expense of transmitting mails from England to Australia, and thence to the home country. Having accepted tiie proposal for steam communication, New Zealand had consented to spend a certain amount of funds on this service, in order to connect itself with that line. This was the first object of the proposed service. The House would remark • that it was not absolutely necessary to stipulate that mails should arrive in New Zealand to a particular day, but they would be justified in recommending any service which would bring them within reach of any New Zealand service ready to convey them to the different ports of the Colony. By an expression of opinion by the House on this subject the company would be able to see what the Colony required of them. The second object was one of great importance. If the question had been put to him whether a regular communication between England and the Colony, or the different Provinces was the most important—he should have said the latter. For the English mail to be delayed a few days each month, would not be so hurtful to the Colony as the interruption of intercourse between the Provinces which it was desirable to maintain (hear, hear). The third object of the resolution was to afford facilities for mercantile and passenger traffic to New Zealand and the Australian colonies. Australia was at present, for this colony, the first step to Europe.- It might be possible hereafter to obtain the mails via Panama, instead of, as at present, obtaining them through Australia. But it was quite impossible to say when that route would be established —at present it was certainly only dimly looming in the future. Our route then to England wa,s via Australia, and this Colony had a direct interest in rendering .the facilities for passenger and mercantile traffic as complete as possible, for they had virtually pledged themselves to the success of the Company having placed themselves in their hands by advancing a large sum in aid of the proposed service. Any probability of pecuniary loss to the Company, therefore, would be a matter of great importance to the Colony generally. He did not expect that the Government, with that prudence which distinguished them, would enforce the performance of any service which would entail ruin upon the Company. It was necessary for the House, therefore, in desiring certain objects to be carried out, not to insist upon any scheme which would not be likely to secure the Company and the Colony from any pecuniary loss.
Mr. Stafford said that the Colony certainly was not in anyway pledged to the success of the Company, although of course it would be to their interest to secure it from pecuniary loss, for the ruin of any Companj'- undertaking such a service woxild have the effect of checking perhaps for many years the establishment of a similar one to this Colony. He did not object to the resolution, although it did little more than repeat the general object of the contract.
Mr. Clifford said, if the resolution was intended merely as a guide for the Government it was of little consequence, but if it was intended as a positive direction to them on the subject rfc would not be right to fetter the General Government by any resolutions passed by the House—they should be left to act as circumstances might suggest ; by which they must be guided to a great extent. Mr. Hall differed from the last hon. member. He thought it rightr that the House should express its opinion on the subject, and then it would remain for the General Governmeut either to adopt or abandon the route suggested, as circumstances might warrant. An expression of opinion would not fetter them at all. And again he would remark that if a route were adopted which was not found to work satisfactorily, the Colony would be compelled to endure the inconvenience of it very probably for a period of two years—until the "House met again. For that reason he believed the House should express an opinion on this question before it separated. The resolution as proposed by his hori. friend did hot recommend a particular route, but merely laid down those conditions which should belong to any route consented to by the General Government on behalf of the Colony. There was no wish to force any particular route upon the Government, for if circumstances arose to warrant it they would be justified in departing from those suggestions. Mr. CnitTis said he did not think it right to fix the Government to any particular course, which would tend to hamper them considerably. He did not think the House was prepared to express a decided opinion on the subject, having taken no evidence upon it. It was not yet mentioned whether all the steamers would arrive, or what instructions might be given to the agent; these and other considerations rendered it quite impossible to lay down general rules on the subject; as to the first resolution, he believed _they were all agreed upon it, but the details of the second he believed were not necessary. Mr. Forsaitii wishgd to know^if it was the hon. member's intention to press the latter part of the resolution. The former Portion./' 1* a question of principle, but the latter laid down practical rules for carrying out that principle upon which serious differences of opinion might arise. The hon. member had said that the communication between the Provinces was the most important; in a political point of view it was so, but in a commercial view of the matter, the intercourse between England and the Colony was a-subject of greater interest. He would recom-
mend to the hon. member the propriety of withdrawing the latter part of this resolution. Mr. East thought the resolution quite superfluous, for no result could follow from its adoption, aa the government was quite ignorant of the arrangement made by Mr. Sowell. Dr. Monho did not see that the resolution would commit the Government to any particular arrangement, for it stated that its provisions were to be carried out in such a way as to ensure as far as possible the success of the enterprise. It was quite clear that the Executive would not be committed to the particular route indicated. He was prepared to vote for the resolution as it stood upon the notice paper, which merely declared that as far as practicable the service should be conducted in a particular way. lie did not consider that it went too far.
The first resolution was then put and passed. Mr. Ward said that the second resolution (he had intended them to be separate, although on the notice paper they appeared as one) pointed out the manner in which it was desirable to carry out thecondilions of the first. He did not think it was unimportant for the Committee to have laid before it the manner in which the objects proposed were to be attained. The resolution was a great deal more delicate than the former one. He found from papers and correspondence which he had consulted on the subject that the proposed arrangement was exactly the one which the Company would expect tohave to perform. He would compare it with the one lately sketched ■out to the House by the hon. Colonial Secretary.—[The hon. member here described at considerable length and with great minuteness the route he considered most advantageous, and pointed out its superiority to that proposed by the Government.] The time having arrived for going to the Orders of the Day, the hon. member withdrew his second resolution.
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Lyttelton Times, Volume X, Issue 609, 8 September 1858, Page 3
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1,996General Assembly. Lyttelton Times, Volume X, Issue 609, 8 September 1858, Page 3
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