THE REV. DR. WALLIS, M.H.R., ON THE GOVERNOR'S SPEECH.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 186, 3 August 1878, Page 4

THE REV. DR. WALLIS, M.H.R., ON THE GOVERNOR'S SPEECH.

We taka from the "New islander" the following report of fche eccentric Dr Wallia's speech in the debate on the address in reply to his Excellency's opening speech :— Dr Wallis said he certainly thought there W RB an Opposition, and that it was the duly of the Opposition on such an occasion us (he present, to ventilate their opinions. Seeing, howevpr, that the Opposition, on the present occasion was entirely collapsed, he, for the occasion that nigbr, would venture to take the part of le B dPr of (he Opposition himself. (Laughter.) The addrees with which the Governor had opened Parliament, was, of course, n Ministerial manifesto. The Ministers bad laid their wise heads together, nnd" deliberated on the past ond future, and the outcome of their deliberations wa<* a "speech from the throne." The speech, therefore, contained the wisdom of the whole cabinet in a etale of concentration, and cnme to them the condensed essence of their past and future policy. It was partly history and partly prophecy, for it' had in it the deeds of the Ministry during the recesa, and recordpd that. « coming events cast fheir shadows before." There was much in the speech that certainly deserved praise, but there were certain things in it which were not altogether satisfactory. During the last session he Cave his humble support to the party which, by one of those arr.idents which would occur in (he best regulated tumMies, got possession of those Treasury benches, and be understood that they were to carry out in office the principles they previously expressed while in Opposition. He would be doing them tbe best favor in bis power by hemg that nisht their candid and plain-spoken friend. The Address in reply had been.aa usual, very fortunate in its proposer and seconder. The young honorable m^rnhpr who proposed it made B very excellent speech, and he (she speaker) inferred from what he (Mr George) said, th°re wns in him the rooking of a good colonial politician. The gentleman who seconded the motion aJso made r most sensible speeh, and once or twice, from tbe tone in which he spoke, he (Dr Wallis) thought he wbp, like himself, more accustomed to address saints than sinnera. (Loud and continued applause and laughter.) However, both gentlemen had discharged meritoriously the duties entrusted to them, and it was obvious that those two gentlemen weve thick and thin supporters of the Ministry, and that they had unquestioning faith 'fin the wisdom, the honesty, and integrity of the Ministers. It was most delightful to see faith— even political fnith — in its young, ereeo, beauty. (Laughter.) There was, to his mind, a peculiar refreshingnees in such crude, child-like faith as those two gentlemen evidently felt in the sstute leader of tbe Colonial Parlinment. But when they had been as long in Parliament as be had been — nnd this was his second year—(laughter) they would find their teeth cutt?ne their gums, and they would find that political scepticism would take the place of politicßl faith. They would find that " office" had the most extraordinary transforming power npon those who got into it. They would discover, a9 he (the spanker) had discovered, that Ministers were just gentlemen who leaned a little to anything, and committed themselves to nothing. They were round like a Dutch bottle, which you could not get bold of, and could not see through. He did not intend his remark to be particularly applicable to tbe hon. gentlemen who now sat on the right hand of the Speaker. Under the guidauce and teaching of tbe Hod. the Premier those gentlemen might turn out all that their friends desired; they might prove much better than might be expected, considering the peculiar circumstances in which they succeeded to office. (Voices: Hear ! hear !) All remembered that they got into office by tactics, which their friends, like himself, during tbe excitement of tbe struggle, called "splendid generalship," but which disinterested people outside bad the profanity to call artful, awful dodgery. Humble and meanly born people had often turned our to be first-rate citizens, and a bumble and meanly born Governmeut might turn out good. The Governor's sppech WBB more remarkable for length than for breadth and depth. Having taken upon himself tbe position of leader of tbe Opposition he would criticisa the speech, and consider firstly what Ministers bad done during the recess, and secondly, what reforms in reality they were promising to them. The close of last session fouud the Hon Sir George Grey firmly seated on the saddle, with the reins in his bands, and the Colonial purse in his pockets, and great things were expected of him, and if be had only selected members for bis Cabinet with the same opinions as himself the country would have got what it expected. While in Opposition tbe bou. member for the Thames promised reforms innumerable — financial, administrative, and electoral reforms, but he bad surrounded himself with a set of gentleman who, with the exception of the Attorney-General, never promised a reform of anything in their lives! some were radicals and others Tories of the most antiquated type. Tbe present Ministry and last Ministry were six of one and half-a---dozen of the other. Many of the departments wera in an exceedingly uoaatiefactory state — the department of

Education, the department, of Justice, and department of Public Workß. With regard to education there was no mention of amendment in the Act and they were still to continue the education of paupers ut the expense of the Stafe. Very much had gone wroDg too in the administration of justice. With reznrd to public worko, he asked why there should be twice fhe number of miles of railway in the South Island to what existed in the North Island. Very much dissatisfaction existed in Auckland in reference to tbe JCaipara Railway extension. The Minister had come up there and altered the route in a direction it was not wanted. When the Minister for Public Works came to Auckland, they expected he would bless them, but, worse than Balaam's ass, he cursed them altogether. Ministers, too, had been flying here, and flying there, and flying everywhere about the Colony, and when the cost was reckoned up they would find it bad cost the Colony a bonny penny, and tbe country would be amßzed at the discrepancy between the views of tbe gentlemen in Opposition, and thpir extravagance in office. (Voices: Hear, hearV There were many advantages in Ministers visiting various parts of tbe Colony, but be believed their trips had been mere pleasure jaunts and pic-nic excursions. If Ministers had so mud) time to spare they might have utilised it by preparing measures for the consideration of Parliament. Coraing to tbe reforms promised he feared they were not to have what they ought to have— real electoral reform. It seemed to him that tbe administrative j reform meant that two officers would have to do the work of three. As to the simplification of administration, he did not think them capable of c»rrying anything out of that kind. The best reform would be a reduction of the salaries all round. That would be real re/orm, but the present Government dared uot do any such thing as that. It would be almost dishonourable on their part to do so, considering the circumstances under which they themselves took office. They had not shown themselves in earnest in the matter of reducing their own salaries. Then they promised financial reform in the way of a change in the incidence of taxation. What was meant by a change in the incidence of taxation might be inferred from what it bad always led to in other Colonial Parliaments. It was invariably made not to diminish but to increase taxation. In financial reform the equitable adjustment of taxation was a fine popular cry, and tbe idea waa acceptable to all classes, and all interests, for every class or interest hoped that the burden would be taken off their own shoulders. Now the adjustment of taxation or equalising the incidence of taxation misbfc be carried out in two very different ways. In first the place you might find out thosa whose interests were overtaxed, and you might remove the taxation off them : that would ba equalising taxation; but that method was never followed in any Colonial Parliament, The olher way of equalising was thiß: they were to find out the people who were least taxed and increase the taxation upon them. That was the second mode by which tbe incidence of taxation might be equalised, and he suspected that waß the method which the Government were going to follow on the present occasion. They called it by the name of "Financial Reform," and that financial reform just meant increased taxation laid upon the people of the couniry. He had been all along, and especially last ee?aion he bad been, a great admirer of the extraordinary talent which some people had in gjving to objectionable things high-sounding names. Tho Government were' unrivalled for that. It was their intention to pile on additional taxation, and they called it " equitable adjustment of the burden of taxation." That palming off upon the Colony increased taxation under the name of financial reform showed the ingeniousness of Ministers. But ihere were other great reforms to be introduced. There was electoral reform; but he was doubtful if they were to be favored with it after all. It ought to have held tbe most prominent place in the Governor's Speech, and this was all that had been said of it: 'Measures will be prepared, and will be brought before you dealing with Electoral Reform, which it is hoped will tend to place the franchiss and the meihoil of electing members to the House of Representatives upon a satisfactory basis." .Now the hon. member for the Thames at the head of the Government, for many years past had been using extraordinary eloquence in advocating manhood suffrage. What had become of it ? It waa his duty in the Government over which he presided to have brought forward snch a measure, and staked the existence of the Governmeut upon it. It was now proposed, he had learnsd, to have four different kinds of franchise. There was to be first of all a freehold franchise; secondly there was to be a ratepayers' franchisethirdly there was to be a householders' franchise ; and fourthly a residental franchise. Such a proposal to issue from the Cabinet was absurd; it seemed to him most palable and most absurd. The one inculded the other. He hoped the Hon, the Premier would bring down a measure for manhood snffrage, and stake the Govarnment upon that. If the Hon. tbe Premier were to do that, and be successful in finally settling the Maori difficulties, get a railway through the King country, and also introduce the Hare method of representation, he would dbtain a name second to none in the Southern Heuusphere.^He^wouldl

thus enroll himself amongst the most distinguieed of men, and be remembered many ages hence. He hoped, therefore, that the Premier would take these things into consideration. He (the speaker) had now performed his part by acting as leader of the Opposition, and criticising His Excellency's speech so far : and, in doing so, ha earnestly hoped that he had not in any degree gone beyond the legitimate bounds of Parliamentary incivility. (Applause.)