IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT. Wednesday, Feb. 14. NEW ZEALAND GOVERNMENT BILL.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 317, 12 August 1848, Page 3

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT. Wednesday, Feb. 14. NEW ZEALAND GOVERNMENT BILL.

The order of the day for going into committee on the New Zealand Government Bill w»3 iead. The Earl of Lincoln rose and addressed the house as follows : — Sir, if it had not been for the impossibility, the other day, of my entering upon that branch ot this subject which I am most anxious to have clearly understood, I would not have troubled the bouse on the present occasion. When this bill was before the house previous to Christmas, as well as when it was proposed to go into committee on Wednesday last, I took no part in the discussion. On those two occasions the discussion was almost entirely confined to the question of the waste lands in the colony of New Zealand, and the rights of the natives to these lands as affected by the treaty of Waitangi, and subsequent despatches of the noble lord her Majesty's Secretary for the Colonies. How far this bill was called for — how far it was necessalv — are points upon which the bill has undergone no discussion. lam not underrating the discussion which took place — I consider that discussion to have been very important, forming, as it does, a necessary part of the subject ; but 1 cannot but regret that the right hon. member opposite (Mr. Labouchere) was unable tagive me any satisfactory explanation with reference to the despatches of the noble lord the Colunial Secretary. At the same time, looking at the feelings expressed by the right hon, gentleman who

stands here as the representative of the Government on this bill ; looking at the despatches of Governor Grey bearing on these points — looking at these despatches of the Governor, and taking into consideration the fact that the noble lord the Colonial Secretary has not reprobated the opinions avowed by Governor Grey, I think the house should be satisfied with the explanations offered by the right i- on. gentleman. I will, therefore, leave this part of the bill as it stands, and proceed to the other portions. The right hon. gentleman a few days ago expressed his extreme surprise that there should exist any desire for a debate on the bill. When the bill was first introduced, the right hon. gentleman said there was such a unanimity of opinion on both sides of the hou c as to render discussion altogether improbable and unnecessary. I will admit that the utmost unanimity prevailed in the house when the measure was introduced ; but I attribute that unanimity of opinion not so much to the circumstance that we were about to suspend the constitution granted to New Zealand, as I do to the willingness of all parties to get rid of that constitution. There was a unanimity of condemnation of that constitution. If it was true, as had been asserted^ that this constitution was right in the abstract it must be admitted that it was erroneous in its form, and too theoretic for practical application. The constitution was universally condemned by the members of this house, »nd by every person who knew anything of the subject out of it. There is a general feeling that the House ought to correct what has been done wrong ; and it is our duty on the present occasion to see if this is the best remedy that can be adopted. lam quite unwilling to revert to any part of the debate of 1845 ; it is sufficient for ray purpose that I commence with the accession of the present Government to office. I will simply refer to those debates, and express my ready assent to the doctrine laid down by Earl Grey, in his despatch dated December, 1846. In that despatch his lordship expressed an opinion that the time had arrived foi providing a form of representative Government for New Zealand. I, too, declare myself in favour of a representative form of Government — not a representative Government in the first instance, but the wiser and more cautious mode of first establishing municipal institutions, which might, before long, form the basis of a representative Government. And when I speak of municipal institutions, I do not wish it to be understood that I mean such municipal institutions as there given by the noble lord (Earl Grey) in 1846. They were mere copies of municipal institutions in this country without any regard being paid to the enormous difference between Great Britain and New Zealand. There was no allowance made for the striking difference which exists between the manufacturing population concentrated in the large towns of Lancashire and Yorkshire, and the agricultural population scattered over the whole extent of New Zealand. I consider the honourable member for Coventry, and the right honourable baronet then at the head of her Majesty's Government never intended what they called municipal institutions to mean mayors, town- councils, and burgesses; that these institutions were merely intended as the machinery for paving and lighting ; they meant something of a more comprehensive character, something which should in reality be the foundation of representative Government. The right honourable baronet the member for Tamworth anticipated these municipal institutions, and rightly described them as the germ of representative Government. In the discussioii to which I have referred, I quoted passages from the works of Burke, which completely exemplify my views. The noble lord at the heal of the Government is an authority on colonial matters ; and the noble lord stated that lie considered municipal corporations as a proper prelude to a representative constitution in New Zealand ; and expressly stated that it was not wise or desirable that the colony should jump at once from a state of despotism to one of the most elaborate and fine-drawn constitutions, containing a number of forms hardly understood in a country such as our own. Within a very few months from the grauting of this constitution by the noble lord, so little was it desired by any one in the house, or in the colony, that a petition was presented from which I beg leave to read a few extracts. It was dated 7th July, 1845, and the petition originat ;d with a number of New Zealand settlers, who were then in England. After a very great number of important statements the petitioners prayed that — ♦• Parliament will bestow upon her Majesty's subjects in New Zealand, without distinction of race, some such form of Government as the chartered constitution which, from the time of Queen Elizabeth down to the year 1829, the supreme authority of this country conferred upon every body of its subjects, not being convicts, who emigrated to plant a colony."

And the petitioners went on to say, thai— i " In praying your honourable House to devise some means of bestowing representative government on New Zealand, your petitioners wish to express their opinion that, on ac« count of their ignorance, both of the inferior order of the natives, and of the poorer imraii grants who fly from pauperism in this country, it is desirable th.t the local constitution of the colony should be far from democratic, the grand point being, that colonists, of whatever class, and not strangers, that is, persona having interests in common with the permanent inhabitants, and not persons coming from a distance merely to enjoy place and salary, < — should have a leal voice in the management of the colony." Now, sir, that the constitution granted by the noble lord was at variance with the terms of that petition, and with the recommendations of all who took part in that debate, is manifest. I shall be able to prove that it was at variance also with the opinions of those who were consulted by the noble lord upon the subject. I think it waa a matter very much to be regretted that, it being the opinion of the noble lord that such a complicated form of constitution should be attempted, he should have rushed with such hot haste into it — that when a temporary constitution might have been granted, he should have caused such s protracted delay as has taken place by the attempt he made to bestow upon the colouy this half-American, half-English form of constitution. I regret that he should have made such extraordinary haste, with so little consideration and so little opportunity of obtaining the opinion of the Governor of the colony upon it beforehand. But, sir, it was such a beautiful theory, that no one could help admiring it. The machinery fitted so extremely well that no one could doubt its power of working smoothly ; but when it came to be applied to the place for which it was intended it was so wholly unsuitable, that it reminded me of the fine machinery of a clock being applied to a place where the work was rough hewing and cutting out. Instead of those localized governments which would have prepared the colony for the more refined constitution, the noble lord attempted at once to establish a constitution which he considered might be applied to the whole colony without distinction. In the first instance, with respect to the franchise, which the noble lord considered applicable to the whole of New Zealand. It must be observed that it was a country where there was no great fluctuation of inhabitants. It was not a country where the natives had become accustomed for a long while to the new order of things ; but a country upon which we had entered only a very few years before, and in which we had only some 14,000 or 15,000 English settlers ; where that small body of settlers too was necessarily fluctuating from one part of the colony to another, day by day. In this colony it was that the noble lord proposed to establish a franchise upon the basis of what is called household suffrage, but which in that country amounted to universal suffrage. It was established, too, with nothing to act by way of check. There was nothing having the form ot aristocracy. Anything like an aristocracy was wanting. The check which is caused by respect for and love of old institutions did not exist there. The constitution was, in fact, without any check ; and how was it to be limited ? Solely by the ability, or rather by the acquirement of so much learning as would enable those who received the franchise to read and write English. Now, sir, I must say if ever there was a plan cunningly devised to produce not friendship, but to prevent the amalgamation of the native populatiou with the English settlers, it was this which the noble lord paused so short a time before enacting. If ever there was a plan to prevent the amalgamation of the two races, which would have most successfully separated them, it was this. Why, sir, we have the authority of Governor Grey, in this very book that has been laid before us, that there is not ia the entire colony a single native who can read or write English. Some of them speak English, and " the great majority of the native population can read and write their own language fluently." But remember " none can read or write English." How then could this universal suffrage to the English settlers, but which deprived the whole native race of the franchise, produce anything but jealousy between the two races? If anything could excite the jealousy of this jealous people, this would be the difference to do it, and the noble lord was forewarned of it. I have a paper here which proves that there were four leading colonists, who were then residing in this country, who gave him reasons of a sound and practical nature, which should have made him pause before sending that constitution out, but which nevertheless seem to have received no consideration at his hands. They dwell most strongly on the objections to tbest mere municipal corporations, and insist that they should be of a more governmental character. If they were intended to perform

only the functions of some small municpal corp. rations here, and to attend merely to paving and lighting, they would fail in teaching the people the use of their constitutional power, and not only would they fail in teaching the people, not only would they be ineffective, but the colony would obtain functionaries of a very inferior description. Those of the natives of a superior class would decline to work with them. These parties said — "We are the more impresed with the expediency of some arrangement, because we are convinced that it is essential to secure in each settlement the services of the leading colonists as officers of its corpoiation, since those officers are to choose the members for the Representative Chamber of their Provincial Assembly. The colonists who are most fit for this important trust might be unwilling to exercise it, if with its exercise were coupled the necessity of acting as common-councilman or alderman of a borough confined in its powers like those ot England and Wales." And they further said, "If the officers of the corporation are to perform duties such as those of an alderman or common-councilman of an English town or borough, we object strongly to their having a main voice in choosing members for the Pi ovincial House of Representatives, because, as we before stated, the best colonists will not have consented to perform the ungenial duties in order to secure the vote. But if the 'municipal corporation' possess the ' township' powers which we have above recommended, its offices would confer sufficient dignity and importance to induce the best colonists to accept them ; and they, being the ilite as it were of the general body of electors, might without disadvantage be empowered to select the representatives." " W T e approach the question of franchise with some diffidence, because we are unaware how far our views, as to the large local powers necessary for the ' municipal corporations,' will be agreed to by her Majesty's Government. We should, however, be unwilling to give an opinion as to what qnalification would secure success to the scheme if the municipal corporations were to have only the powers of bodies which bear that name in England and Wales : because we should conceive that the functions of such bodies were totally distinct from those of choosing a representative." I have read enough to show how anxious J they were that those municipal corporations should have a more extended form ; and if the noble lord persisted in maintaining them in the position he proposed, there should be a differently formed constituency for the election of the elective body. The plan proposed by the noble lord was, that those municipal corporations should be appointed by the governor in various parts of the country, with powers like those possessed by similar bodies in England. These municipal corpojations wore to consist of a mayor, aldermen, and buigesses, as in England ; and, as in the old corporation system in England, in some of the boroughs, the parliament of New Zealand was to be elected by the mayor, aldermen, and burgesses of the new corporations. That was to be the constitution ot the two representative bodies. From these two councils the governor was to elect members of the principal legislative council, and these two bodies were to elect the members of the general assembly. So that this infant colony was to commence with — first, English corporations ; then two provincial assemblies ; then two legislative councils appointed by the governor ; and, as the top of these constitutions, another legislative council selected by the Government, and one superior elective assembly. I have already alluded to what were the opiuions of al< practical men a& to the franchise. The gentlemen to whom I have referred, who delivered to the noble lord the protest against the constitution, declared upon the question of the franchise that — . "We are of opinion that, at any rate, Jn the existing settlements, and for the present, it would be very dangerous to extend the franchise too much, by making the qualification for a voter too low, trusting to a higher qualification for the person to be elected. This arrangment allows mischievous and intriguing individuals, who have no difficulty in providing themselves with the higher qualification, to obtain the suffrages of a low and comparatively ignorant class of voters through bribery or other corrupting means." Did these gentlemen speak without experience on the subject 1 Did they fear that bribery would be tried in the form in which it exists in this country ? Why they had already found out that the evils they spoke of were not merely in anticipation, but that they already existed. And this striking example is given — an example that might excite, some amusement, but from its similarity to many other scenes within the knowledge of members' of this House. It. occurred at the election which took place at Wellington, in October. 1842, for the officers of a corporation which posiessed very limited powers. Every .male adult who chose to pay £1 sterling to have

his name registered, was privileged to vote, and any voter was qualified for election. Three hundred and fifty persons obtained the franchise, and of course the small sum of money was paid for many of them by parties who wished to secure their votes. In one case, a committee for the election of certain persons had given £25 to a colonist who had great influence over a number of Bighland labourers, in order that he should register twenty-five of their votes, and make them vole for the committee's list. The leader of the opposing candidates, however, knew the laird's failing — set to drinking with him at bre ikfast time till he had won his heart, and then marched arm-in-arm with him to the poll, followed by twenty-five Highlanders, who were in the same state, and who all voted for the man who had so disgraced himself and them. — (Laughter and cheers.) But, after all the warning he received, the noble lord persisted in his course. Not having power to prevent such scenes as I have related to you from taking place in this country, the noble lord imports them into New Zealand, notwithstanding the warnings he received. I shall only point out one other subject which those gentlemen objected to. They suggested to the noble lord the extreme ditEculty he would find in limiting the franchise, after it had once been given. They told him that, once conferred, it would be utterly irretrievable. They said — "It is also of importance to observe that there is great difficulty in restricting a franchise once established and exercised, while there is comparatively none in extending it ; so that a fault on the side of fixing too high a qualification will be easily remedied, but one in the opposite direction will be almost irretrievable." But whether irretrievable or not, the noble lord has attempted to do it, as appears by the despatch to which I shall presently refer. But there is another, and no trifling evil, conseruent upon the haste made by the noble lord in despatching this constitution to New Zealand. A greater or stronger ground of complaint cannot be made against a colonial minister than that he should be guilty of anything like a breach of faith with the colonists, or that such a charge should be established against' him. Now the colonists complain that they have been deceived by the noMe lord, At the time the noble lord succeeded to power there was a colony preparing to leave Scotland for New Zealand, and with them it was a sine qua non that they should be allowed to try the effect of municipal institutions in that country. They were connected with the Free Church of Scotland, and the colony I cannot help thinking was one which was so constituted as likely to pave the way to a sound system of colonisation. For nothing can be a greater spur to a system of sound colonisation than for the colonists to secure to themselves those means of religious instruction and assistance to which they have been attached and have left at home. — (Hear, hear.) Well, sir, these colonists made their preparations to leave their country in a large body, and settle at Otakou, under the direction of Captain Car"gill, and one necessary preliminary with them ! was the granting them a representative constitution. As soon as they found the bill which the noble lord introduced in 1846 had passed, they applied to the Colonial-office to know would this essential constitution be granted to them. They received an assurance that it would be granted and sent out to them. And with that assurance they bavegone I believe. Mr. Aglionby. — They are gone. They are now on the sea. The Earl of Lincoln. — The hon. member for Cockermoulh says they are now on the sea. They are gone out upon the faith of that promise that a representative constitution should be granted to them. And the first thing they will learn on their landing in New Zealand is, that by direction of the noble lord at the head of the Colonial-office that constitution ,on the faith of which they left this country, is suspended for a period of five years. Mr. M. Milnes. — Their settlement is on the Southern Island. The Earl of Lincoln. — My hon. friend the member for Pontefract says they have gone to the southern island. I am perfectly well aware that they have gone to the south. But let my hon. friend read these papers. If he attends to the question he will know that the constitution is suspended in the southern as well as in the northern island. Upon the faith of that constitution which is now suspended they have left their, country, and upon their arrival at their settlement they will find that it is all null and void. When I call this a breach of faith, and attack it as such, I do not mean to use the word in an offensive sense. But the colonists have, in fact, been deceived. The representations which .induced many persons to go to Otakou with Captain Cargill have not been fulfilled. i % know not whether the advertisement I hold mi my hand, and which contains some of thos^e representations, was inserted with the knowledge or approval of her

Majesty's Government, or by the New Zealand Company only. That Company, however, is sufficiently represented in this House to be able to take care of its oxn interests. ' But these poor Scotch colonists should not have been left in the state they are in. Well, sir, the constitution was sent out, and Governor Grey at once condemned it as impracticable, and a plan which would not work ; and upon the receipt of that report the Government Introduced the present bill. And what does it do ? How does it deal with this constitution that was condemned before it went out — that was condemned in this country — that was condemned in the colony — tor I have seen New Zealand papers in which it was condemned ; and I say that the right hon. gentleman opposite cannot contradict me when 1 say that it was complained of in the New Zealand papers — that it was universally complained of. Well, sir, this universally condemned constitution, condemned even by the Governor himself — what does he mean to do with it ? To repeal it ? No ; but merely to suspend it for five years. And if I could imagine the result would be eventually its repeal, or if I could imagine that the time would be devoted to oon&idering and remedying its defects, and finding a plan more suitab'e to the wants of the colony, I might be contented. But this process of mere suspension I do not approve of. It implies the approval of tins constitution in the abstract. It implies that the constitution is a good one, and that it may at some future time come into operation. Now, I cannot contemplate, after all the noble lord has heard, that he can think it would ever be fit to be brought into operation. Would it not, then, be better at once to confess.that the Government was wrong in sending out such a constitution, to repeal it at once, and to provide at once such a constitution as the colony has a right to expect? My object in proposing to repeal it is not to deprive the colony of a constitution. I think that, instead of the constitution that was sent out, one more suitable should have been sent, conferring those municipal institutions which form a basis, and prepare for the arrival of a fuller constitution. But I say it would be far better now to repeal the present one, and restore the colony to its former condition, and prepare a more suitable form for it. Ido not know that it is necessary for me to point out the opinion of the Governor with regard to the fitness of the colony for receiving a representative constitution. He states that he knew of no circumstances to prevent the introduction of such institutions into the settlements in Cook's Straits and the Middle Island. But the right hon. gentleman proposes by this bill to suspend the constitution in both parts of the colony, and I do not think he has given any valid reason for suspending it in both islands. He merely grounds his reasons upon the vague suggestions of uniformity, and thinks it would be better to suspend it in both parts than only in one. I cannot help thinking that, after all, the noble lord thinks it himself so bad that it would be better if suspended altogether. But I am decidedly in favour of its repeal, and the immediate consideration of and granting a suitable constitution to the southern part of the colony at least, as soon as possible. In a despatch dated October 7, 1846, Governor Grey said: " I am not at present aware of any circumstance which need, then, prevent the immediate introduction of representative institutions into that colony, which would comprise the" settlements in Cook's Straits and in the Middle Island. All questions of a vexatious nature between the Government and the settlers in that part of the colony have now been finally set at rest; and. with a considerable acquaintance with British settlements, I can have no hesitation in recording it as my opinion that there never was a body of settlers to whom the power of local self government could be more wisely and judiciously entrusted than the inhabitants of the settlements to which I am alluding." * (To be continued.)