New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4592, 8 December 1875, Page 2

New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8.

The telegraphic summary of Sir George Grey’s speech at Auckland, admirable 1 although it was, did not convey precisely the impression which the detailed report is calculated to produce. Sir George was eloquent, as is his wont; he was extremely politic when dealing with general questions of policy as leader of the Opposition; and he was about as unfair and as reckless in some of his statements as even he could well be. As an illustration at once of his recklessness and unfairness, we quote the following .passage from his speech, reported in the Southern Cross :— ■; In Great Britain Parliament sits inXondon, a city ■with three millions of inhabitants. ■ With that multitude o£ eyes directed upon all tbeir_ actions, in addition to this there are a great number of journals of a high position which appear the next momine in which every subject which has been discussed in g parliament is laid before the public. It does not signify whether it is in the House as the House, or ilfcommittee —whatever it is, it is known throughout Great Britain's dominions. It is criticised by the most able writers, well known as with the reasons for all Government has done whether the action of the Government is approved or disapproved-every made known. Now here you have notlung of that kind. The Assembly sits in a small town in a distant part of Nbw ZeSand. (Cheers and laughter.) There is no report of the proceedings of that Assembly. The most momentous actions take place without you being consulted, or heard : until after you do not know how these things take place, there are no newspaper reports of what passes. (Hear hear.) The telegrams that are sent to yon are actually filtered out by the Government. (Cheers and cries of No.) Utter ignorance prevails upon all these subjects. What analogy is there, therefore, between > such a Parliament, and the Parliament of New Zealand ’ Do the words of the speakers in that House strike your eye the next morning after they have been delivered throughout the whole of New Zealand? If any disgraceful or discreditable transaction is exposed, it is months before you know what it was "Some appeared last session, and are still unknown. You are governed by a power you do not see; you know nothing of it. Therefore, what analogy can there possibly be between the Government of this colony and the Parliament of Great Britain’ Now, in proof of what I am saying, just let me refer to one singular circumstance. Close upon the end of last session the most marvellous Act ever passed then passed the; General Assembly of_ New Zealand, an Act which future historians will hardly credit as having been passed, and which X believe is unknown to any other part of the world. Now. the ■wonderful thing about that Act is this. I looked in Hansard to-day—and what you are probably well aware of is. that in Hansard appear reports of speeches which take place whilst the House is sitting as a House, but when the House sits as a committee, which is the time when the most important business is transacted, no report of the proceedings of such committee appears in Hansard. . (Cheers.) Now at the end of last session, the Government, 1 knowing that Parliament was about, then put an end to, and, I suppose, having some doubt as to what a future Parliament might be composed of, determined to pass an Act indemnifying members of the Legislative Council and members of the House of Representatives who had had dealings with the Government which might subject them to punishment by the law. (Cheers ) They determined; tq;pasa an Act indemnifying those members, and so prevented them from being proceeded against for breaking the law. (Cheers.) The whole proceedings upon that measure took place in committee, and 1 have had the papers searched, and there was not a single line about these proceed-in-s and Hansard does the least it could do—it only contains some three or four paragraphs. Even the title of the Bill was not given,; and it neverjaid a word about' indemnifying certain members of the Legislature from disabilities incurred under the pis- ■ qualification Act, hut they did not indemnity certain members, they indemnified the whole of the Assembly. The unfairness lies in comparing the; New Zealand Press, or rather the newspaper . Press of Wellington, with the LondGH (Press ; the recklessness consists, in declaring that “there is [at Welhng- “ ton] no report of the, proceedings of the; “General Assembly; that the most mo-j “ mentous actions take place without' “ your [the country] being consulted “ or heard ; that until months after you “ do not know how these things take: “ place ; and that there are no newspaper ■“ reports of what ■passes,” Now, this, statement, as our readers are aware, is' absolutely untrue ; and Sir George Grey, when he made .it, well knew that it was. so. Within the limits of our space; wej published in the New Zealand Times last session as full, impartial, and complete ■reports of the proceedings of both Houses: of the General Assembly as it was pos-! sible to do. , Sir George Grey was reported verbatim on several occasions ; and more than once, publicly as well as privately, he has borne testimony to the general accuracy , of the reports in! the New Zealand Times. It is therefore wholly inexcusable on his part to attempt to make a/ point against the abolition of Provincial Government,: and the meeting of the General Assembly at Wellington, by decrying the Weilington Press* to which ho , was much indebted for considerate attention dur-

ing the late session. When, we say, that our reports of Assembly proceedings' averaged something like five columns each sitting! day, often extending much' beyond this; ..add that owing ’ chiefly to Sir George’s obstructiveness and “much “ speaking,” the House frequently sab from half-past two till three or four the following morning, the enormous labor thrown upon our reporting staff, and the strain upon the resources of the printing office, will become apparent. We say distinctly in opposition to Sir George Grey’s assertion, that nothing whatever of public importance transpired during the session which was not reported in our columns. : With respect to reporting everything, whether in committee or the House, Sir George Grey is in error respecting the practice of the London morning newspapers. The same practice is followed here that prevailed in London, namely, that of reporting only important questions, such as ■ finance, in committee. The London newspapers as a rule now content themselves with “ sketches of Parliamentary proceedings, it having become impossible to continue the oldfashioned debate-reporting, owing to the enormously increased talking power of the House of Commons, and Sir George Grey’s advent to the General Assembly of New Zealand has brought about an almost similar state of things here. If he speaks as frequently in future sessions as he did during last session, the newspapers will be compelled to abstain from debate reporting ; but as this plan has not yet been adopted Sir George and his loquacious followers have no reason whatever to complain.. The peg on which Sir George Grey hung this attack upon the Wellington Press was the circumstance that the speeches in committee on the Disqualification Bill, at an advanced hour of the morning and towards the close of the session, were not reported. ' This is quite true. These speeches were not reported, and if they had been delivered in the House of Commons under precisely similar circumstances, they would not have been reported in the morning journals, and by consequence would not have appeared in Hansard, which is mainly compiled from the newspaper reports. But Sir George forgot to mention the fact that the report of the Disqualification Committee, on which the Bill was founded, and which detailed all the facts, was published by us the morning of the day after its presentation, and that we subsequently published Mr. Stout’s memorandum which gave expression to Sir George’s views. In like manner we published the report of every select committee the morning after presentation, and incurred the censure of Mr. Speaker for printing the evidence and report of the Ohinemuri committee sooner than he considered advisable. ' Another statement made by Sir George Grey is equally devoid of foundation in fact. He said : “The telegrams that are “ sent to you are actually filtered out by “the Government.” ' This is a’ direct accusation against the Press Agency, which we leave the management to deal with. Of bur knowledge, however, we give the statement a flat contradiction. The telegrams sent by the Government are transmitted as Government messages ; they are printed as .such in the newspapers ; but the Press Agency is entirely independent of the Government, has its own reporting staff, and prepares and transmits its own messages. We make no apology for taking up this point in Sir George Grey’s speech, because we conceive that to a great extent the character of the New Zealand Press is concerned. If “the words of the “ speakers in the House do not strike the “eye” of Auckland readers, “the next “ morning after they have been delivered “ throughout the whole of New Zealand,” it is not because these words are not reported at the Seat of Government, but because there is no means of distributing the newspapers except by the tedious method l of interprovincial steamboats. This is not the fault of the Wellington Press. It is the necessary effect of settlement, proceeding simultaneously at remote points, connection with which can only be maintained by means ef steamers or sailing vessels. This circumstance also accounts for the fact that the provincial newspapers give more prominence to local than to colonial questions ; hence, although the Wellington Press may contain full reports of Parliamentary proceedings, these reports, are practically unread outside of the province and the immediately adjoining settlements. Sir George Grey would continue this undesirable state of things, however. He would perpetuate that against which he now protests. Ha proposes that Auckland should be the capital of the North Island, with the seat of Federal Government at Wellington; and we suppose that Dunedin would be the capital of the Middle Island, although Sir George did not fix it. Let. us ask what greater chance the inhabitants of Wellington would have of knowing what was being done in the North Island Parliament at Auckland, than Aucklanders now have of knowing what goes on in the General Assembly at Wellington? None whatever. The conditions would be precisely similar. The Auckland newspapers would give fair reports of the insular Parliament, no doubt, but the reports would not be read outside of Auckland. : ’ If Sir George Grey be really in earnest in his endeavor to create a healthy colonial public opinion ; —if he desires to see an enlightened and a virtuous and happy people occupying New Zealand, he would do well to take heed unto his ways, and remember that exaggeration and misstatement are not means to be employed in attaining this end; r There is such a thing as public morality ; ' and Sir George Grey has, more than once since his return to public , life, trampled upon it in the blind fury of hia reforming zeal. The cheers of , the Auckland meeting may Jiave had a stimulating effect upon his imagi- ' nation ; but a man who aspires to ‘ lead others in the path of public virtue should not sacrifice truth to make a telling point, nor misrepresent the laudable efforts of his fellow-men to.catch a passing, cheer.