MR. MOORHOUSE AND THE OPPOSITION.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5130, 1 September 1877, Page 2 (Supplement)

MR. MOORHOUSE AND THE OPPOSITION.

' The speech delivered by Mr. Moorhouse on Friday, 24th ult., in which he so vigorously attacked certain members of the Opposition, for uselessly consuming the time of the House, is so able and witty an oration that we now lay a full report of it before our readers : Mr. MooitHOUSßsaid: I confess I cannot see what case the hon. member for the Thames made out for the suspension of the sale of this land. He has not said a word to show why the sale which has been arranged should not go on. If the hon. member had said this land was exceedingly valuable arable land, capable of supporting a large population, susceptible of being • covered by smiling homesteads, and if he had described it with all the slang and trash that fills an auctioneer's advertisement, I could understand his wish to have the sale stopped. But he told us nothing of the character of the land. He said there were 20,000 acres to be sold in a certain number of blocks, but he did not tell us what sort of land it is. I know of my own knowledge that there are thousands and thousands of acres of waste lands of the Crown that, for commercial purposes, fire not worth Is. an acre, and I know that there are in the hands of the Crown lauds which, as a commercial investment, are worth £5 an acre. The hon. gentleman should not take up the time of this House complaining of the Government without giving some reason. If he had shown that the.'ft lands were to be detached ' from the State property on terms injuriousto the State I should have agreed that an inquiry should be made whether these lands were parted with in large blocks or not; but the hon. gentleman crops up in the most inconvenient manner, and gives us some statement which he has read in a newspaper of circumstances of which he has no knowledge whatever himself, and he says that this large block of land is being sold at an inopportune time, and that the sale should be stopped. But what is his rea- ' son for stopping the sale ? Is it becaHse it is • bush land, or because there is no bush on it ? Is it because it is covered with scoria, or that it is most valuable arable laud? What is the reason that he wants this sale stopped ? He tells us nothing at all, and then upon this hon. gentleman's spesch there arose an harangue from the hon. member for Dunedin City, and another from his companion the hon. member for Auckland City East. It is just of apiece with everything which Ihave seen both this session and during the last—every possible opportunity taken to delay the business of _ the country. I protest against such proceedings, and I beg to say that I understand the value of an Opposition quite as well as the hon. member for tha Thames. I believe that the safety of parliamentary government is depen- - dent upon the vigilant watching of the action of the Government by an intelligent Opposition, I believe that such an Opposition is most valuable, and I should be very sorry to see any Opposition /of less value than that which we have now. I should, indeed, like to have seen it of much more value, and as active, • ever since I have had the honor of a seat in this Howe—extending over a period of some twenty years. But there i 3 a use of an Opposition, and there is an abuse of it. The Opposition has the opportunity of abusing its power, and I am bound to say—and I say it with the greatest respect to every member in this House—that there has been an enormous abuse of the power of the Opposition lately ; that the electors of the country have a very . serious grudge against the Opposition ; that they have gone on in the hope.of being in the majority, wasting the time of the country, and incurring for the country expenses which they ought to have avoided. Is it not pal- " pablo to everybody that many individuals have been using this House as a debating society ? Gentlemen of imperfect experience and imperfecteducation come down and use thisHousefor nothing else than a debating society. I have seen hon.' gentlemen dragging down from the library loads of books, and charging Hansard with quotations, not feeling that if they had been in earnest in the interest of the country they might have saved time and expense by appending to their loug tiresome speeches a foot-note saying, " You will find what I have Baid here at page so-and-so of Spencer or Mill," or any of those authors whose works every intelligent man in this House had studied long ago, and read through scores of times. It is a serious charge upon this House that hon. members Bhould come down and read for U 3 the nursery rhyme 3 we have learned years ago. The whole of thi3 is a charge to the country, and has to be printed in Hansard in order that when we go back to our constituents we may have an opportunity of saying to them, "True, we have not done much for you, but you must be convinced we are men of great ability ; see Hansard • see the two, three, four, or five pages our speeches always take up;" and the hon. gentleman who is the cause of all this nonsense, notwithstanding his long experience, is the hon. member for the Thames. But, with all my great respect for him and for his charitable feelings, I am bound to say that he is respon-' Bible for a great deal of the waste of time that takes place in this House. He aspires to a prominent position here. He is the leader of a party, and he has associated with him, in close adhesion and dependence, hon. members who, under his shadow, commit themselves beyond all possible endurance. The hon. member for Auckland City East is conspicuously one of these. When he stands before you, sir, , and talks nonsense by the hour, he gives incontrovertible evidence that he' is wanting in a proper conception of the fitness of things. He Btands under the shadow of the hon. member for the Thames, and that is not a creditable position-for any member of this House to occupy. None of us, however small we may be, should come into this House until we feel an entire assurance that we are fit to take part in the affairs of the colony; and in the assurance of that fitness we ought not to be dependent upon the patting or the patronage of any gentleman, however much, that gentleman may presume upon his past grandeur in urging his friends to obstruct the business of the country. I am glad the honorable member for Auckland City East laughs, because, whatever faults we may commit in this House, Thope we shall not be so far deficient in frankness as to believe anything we may say is prompted by illnature. No penalty follows a man outside of Parliament for speaking here what he thinks, and under these circumstances I may be permitted to say that I think the honorable member for Auckland City East would be far more effective in another sphere. I have my eye upon one particular line of' business in which I believe he could occupy his time very profitably in the interests of those who have his .. confidence. It is an industry in which the honorable gentleman would inevitably make his mark, because it requires that stentorian voice and power of lung which the honorable gentleman possesses in a very high degree. If it is not unparliamentary, and if it is not unflattering to the honorable member, I would Bay that I believe he would be a remarkable success a» an auctioneer. His physique is equal to any possible call that could be made upon it. No difficulty of a physical, moral, or intellectual character would daunt the honorable gentleman or prevent him giving vent to that remarkable physical energy, that remarkable intellectual effervescence or exuberance—l will not say excellence—which characterises him, of which he is exceedingly proud, and the consciousness of which would make some men exceedingly uncomfortable. Sir, I do not often presume upon the patience of the House. Jt }s very pomforting indeed to find another iwnsiblo man *tep into the breach in your place, and my sentiments upon the questions that have come before us have been sufficiently expressed by a great number of able men in • this House.' I am satisfied if the House finds /-'-an exponent of my ideas in another person, and Jt'am satisfied that my silence, if it has no ' other valuable effect, shortens the time and lessens • the expense of reporting the r froth which foams over the vessel jn which we now ar». It is perfectly nauseous to be compelled to listen to the largo amount of unnecessary talk that is indulged in. Sir, an honorable member now present, but who is not one of my party, suggested a very appriate name for it—rubbish. If it does ". not exceed the limits of proper parliamentary expression, I might add that half the talk we listen to in this House is rubbish. I remeraber a time, air, not very long ago, when there ■was a debate going on in this House ostensibly

against time. I was not then a member of this House, but I occupied a seat in the Speaker's gallery. I was shocked at the waste of time, and, having nothing better to do, I noted the deportment of several hon. members who took a prominent part in that waste of time. The minnows slipped through the net; I took no note of them. But I took notice of one honorable gentleman in particular. I do not know whether I should call him a tragedian, a comic singer, or a buffo ; but he was one or other. And that honorable member was the honorable member for Parnell. His deportment was remarkable. At the door of this chamber he took off his smoking-cap, enfolded himself in a gorgeous dressing-gown, and put on slippers of medizeval length. Advanciug to his place in this House, he stretched himself upon his seat, and, like a modern Ccesar, threw his mantle over his face, and composed himself to sleep. Then, sir, another member who figured largely in that debate was the young and learned member for Dunedin City (Mr. Stout). He came and took his place, hut there was no waste of time in his case. I was very much struck with him. He at once improved the occasion by endeavoring to convince the House of the extent of his learning. He told the House what all the metaphysicians had written about the question of the day. (Mr. Stout: " No.") The honorable_ member says "No." His memory perhaps is short ; but if I am deficient in any other respect I am remarkably acute in my recollection of the peculiarities of individuals. Well, the honorable member brought down a pile of books, and he succeeded in disclosing to me such a remarkable acquaintance with all the learning upon the subject before the House, that I was perfectly amazed. He turned up all the original authors, quoted " Hobbes of Malmesbury," and mentioned that that gentleman had written many other books in English besides his Latin productions. I was in that gallery, sir, which is now crowded with admirers of our eloquence and of our waste of public time. I was one of the public, and I heard the hon. member, with the greatest possible admiration, disclosing for future years, for ulterior purposes, the extent to which he was acquainted with all those authors the knowledge of whose works would enable the Government to provide for the best interests of this young nation. Now, sir, what was there to justify all this presumption on the part of the hon. gentleman and on the part of those gentlemen who work in the same groove with him ? Why, evevy young person belonging to a Christian young men's debating society will be quite content to learn the art of debate in the proper sphere, without coming here to hear the hon. gentlemaa practise upon the colony. Whatever pity we may feel on account of the hon. gentleman's imperfect education is lost in the I irksomeness o.f his endeavor to complete that education upon us. Let us look at the demeanor of some of the old members of this House, and contrast it with the conduct of these younger members. Take those members who have not a name and a fame to make. Take the hon. member for Dunedin City Macandrew). Is it not remarkable that that hon. member can satisfy his own conscience, his own idea of what is necessary to make compliance with his obligation as a representative, without incessantly addressing the House ? Is it not obvious that he can manage to do his duty to this "interesting young nation," to use the language of the hon. member for the Thames, in very few words ? And so you may go round the House. Have we not here, close to the gangway, a gentleman who has been actively employed for years in promoting the material advancement of a very interesting part of this colony 1 Is that hon. gentleman not a remarkable instance of the fact that a very great deal of good may be evolved out of a very small quantity of wind. I have heard some remarkable speeches from the hon. member for Parnell. It would be an outrage to say that I do not admire the hon. gentleman's speeches, and, except in this House, that I would walk almost twenty miles barefooted to hear him. Well, sir, whatever value in some respects such speeches may have, they fall upon the ear of a man who is sent here to represent public interests very h>btly indeed, because they are not prompted by a modest, earnest desire to serve the country, but rather by a desire to seize upon the position held by other men who appear at this time to have been more able than nimself. Why, I heard a speech the other night from the hon. member, who was talking iu a most eloquent way. There was no argument in it from one end to the other—nothing but declamation and chaff. He said, for instance, "Look at those public buildings, the Government offices. There's a monument, sir!" But he did not condescend to criticise the style of architecture. He never mentioned one single point which might have offended either the artistic or the commercial eye. If I had that hon. gentleman's voice, I could use it to very good purpose ; but I confess I cannot do justice to his speech in the way of criticism. I cannot raise him where he ought to be raised and I cannot depress him where he ought to be depressed in that magnificent voice he uses. I cannot get down into that deep bathos with which he charms and delights the House; but, sir, the hon. gentleman is a critic. He leads us to infer that a very lamented officer of the Government, who is not now standing either in his path or in that of any one else.was not competent. He says that an architectural fault has been committed by the designer of the Government buildings. Well, sir, the architect of those buildings has left a monument which I think his descendants will not be ashamed of. The hon. member sets himself up as a judge, and, as report says, an architect. No doubt he will also be satisfied with the monument which he has left in the colony. More than_ twenty years ago I was a member of this Legislature, which used then to hold its sittings at Auckland; and I know that at that time, or shortly before it, the hon. member was an architect, and he has bequeathed to the colony an instance of architectural grandeur which may be seen even at the present day in Auckland. I ask the hon, gentleman himself whether that remarkable instance of architectural correctness —color, size, internal and external adjustment—is not now standing as a reproach to him ; and it would be a reproach to the meanest carpenter who ever undertook the erection of a pigstye. Now, sir, I have a very great regard for the hon. gentleman ; I like him, and, to use the words of a friend of mine when he was saying something slightly unflattering to another person, "Man, I love every bone in his body." And, as a very old acquaintance, I hope I may say friend of his, I shall always in this place criticise the hon. gentleman fairly and fully. My modesty will not permit me to take up the time of the House too long, but I shall say a few words more. Now, the hon. gentleman, in one of those nice speeches of his, the other day took exception to the management of the railways. The hon. member said, in effect, "The other day I met a very nice man named Conyers, who is admitted to be a great authority on railway management. Now there is a great los3 in the administration of the railways, and I am of opinion that if you were to employ Conyers, ho might for the present be prepared to accept a small salary and a commission, and eventually you could pay him something handsome." I know nothing of Mr. Conyers, and I should be sorry to say anything in disparagement of him, but I believe that this gentleman must have been in conversation with my honorable friend, who, it is on record, is quite capablo of undertaking anything whatever. I believe the honorable gentleman would bo quite ready and willing to undertake the management of the railways himself for a very Bmall salary to begin with. Experience of the honorable gentleman has tau»ht me that I am justified in belioving that he "would be willing to undertake anything whatever. I havo not the slightest doubt that the people in the Btrangors' gallery of this House, after listening to the speech in which the honorable gentleman ventured on a criticism of the finance of the colony, said to one another that he was a very able and clever man, and that his strong point was finance. I fancy I hear one man saying this, and then another man says, "Yes ; you are right. He is a great financier, and, judging by his eloquence, I should say that he was a very successful financier. I should think ho must havo been Colonial Treasurer." Then another man

says, "Yes, Jack, he was a Treasurer, and such a Treasurer as we. will not see again iu a hurry. He was a Treasurer: who undertook a mission to England, and, I am sorry to say, he completely failed." The honorable gentleman established his claims to popular confidence years ago, and he is entitled to the same amount of respect as other ruins. He is a ruin, and I think he must be almost an ivy-, grown ruin. But he will never be resuscitated: the honorable gentleman's restoration would cost more than the colony can afford. I. am a very earnest supporter of the Government of the day, and I always shall be so as long as I have a seat in Parliament, unless they have faults which are damaging to the public interests ; and I wish it to be distinctly understood that my ambition as a politician is completely satisfied, for I do not see that, after holding the position of Superintendent of Canterbury (with more or less success, but certainly with satisfaction to myself), I could gam any greater distinction by holding a high position in this House. I would not wish to_ bo asked to take any part in the administration of the affairs of the colony further than that which I take now. But if I happened to get into the Ministry—if I became a member of the Cabinet, or if accident made me Prime Minister—l doubt very much whether I would be equal to such an onerous position, because, although my father and mother, as my experience for the last half eentury goes to show, endowed me with enough Of wit to meet my neighbor from day to day, still I should not like to have to meet him at all times and under such provocations as the honorable gentlemen on those benches have to do. I happen to know that the administration of affairs in this colony means encountering increasing and unreasonable opposition, hard and persistent work, and intelligent inquiry from day to day, in order to meet the perpetual changes which take place. I find men here, sir, who are endeavoring—without any possible concealment —who are consuming the time of the country, and who are prostituting themselves to a few men who are collectively wasting the time of the country in trying to take office from those gentlemen who have it now. Intelligent men who sit in the gallery behind you, sir, and who, unfortunately for the colony, record for the information of the people what occurs in this House, and make their own reflections upon those occurrences—what do they say ? They say respecting this proposal to tax land, " Well, it is quite evident that that Assembly is not an Assembly composed of the landed aristocracy of the country : they are not bloated aristocrats." JNow, sir, I come to the honorable member for Totara. The honorable member for Totara, although a most charming geutleman and a much admired friend of mine, stands in this House in a most contemptible position. The honorable member for Totara presumes upon the circumstance that he has been fed by the Colonial Government ever since before the hair upon his top lip was fit for toothpicks. Mr. Speaker : I think the hon. gentleman will perceive that these personal allusions are quite unparliamentary, and it is not consistent with the diguity of this House that they should be made.

Mr. MoORHODSB : I am sure, sir, that you will acquit me of any desire to be impertinent in my remarks to this hon. House, or to say a single word in excess of what may fairly be said in parliamentary discussions. I hope you, sir, and the House will acquit me of any desire to be personal, or to overstep the rule? of debate. I was using a figure ; but I confess that I was a little bit too much in America at the time. I was endeavoring to describe the experience of my hon. friend the late Colonial Secretary, the hon. member for Totara. What I ought to have said was, that the hon. member's beard had not grown ; there can be no exception taken to that. Ever since he was a man, he has been actively, and no doubt usefully occupied in assisting in the administration of the affairs of the colonies, this among the rest. Well, sir, the hon. member, after having excelled in that capacity, after going through all the gradations of the public service in a manner which attested his value, and which proved the necessity ot his being employed in the service of the colony, eventually, upon the nomination of the hon. member for Timaru I believe, stepped into the arena of politics. An hon.'member reminds me that it was not upon the nomination of the hon. member for Timaru, but upon that of the hon. member for Wanganui. At anyrate, he now gets his first experience of politics ; and I think I am correct in my recollection that he even took office before he had proved, his armor. He comes into politics with no feelings of diffidence, like David felt when he complained to King Saul that he could not go into battle because he had not proved his armor. He seeks a constituency after taking office.

An Hon. Member : Like the Minister for Justice..

Mr. MooimonSE : Quite ..true, so far; but the Hon. the Minister for Justice is not a dead politician, and the hon. member for Totara is. The hon. member for Totara then; we find, served with various successes for several years as a responsible Minister, until the hon. member for Timaru contracted a most unfortunate alliance, which led him, against his own judgment, and against the interests of the colony, to come forward allied with the party which, for a very short season, supplanted the Ministry of which the hon. member for Totara was one. Well, the hon. member for Totara having embarked on a ship, which speedily was wrecked among the rocks, it might have been reasonably supposed would have crawled, to the strand, and there fed on limpets and cockles for the remainder of his days, or until with his comrades he returned to brighter times. But the hon. member's good fortune still stuck to him, and he was amply and handsomely provided for by a process carefully prepared by himself- before he embarked' on the sea of popular politics. I suppose this was arranged for him in consequence of his long services in this colony. I am quite ready to admit that those long services ought to have been rewarded, and perhaps to go even further and say that no provision that could have been made would be adequate to the value of those services. But, sir, as a politician the hon. member has read us an exceedingly sorry lesson as to what does or what does not constitute political propriety. He has not got room to say a single word against any Ministers who may occupy those benches on the score of hypocrisy—of couse I use hypocrisy in its parliamentary sense —and I should not like to see a repetition in the public service of the colony of the hypocrisy of which he has been guilty. He sold his constituents most completely, for, as soon as his chance - of con-' tinuing in-office disappeared, he found genteel retirement as Commissioner of Annuities. There is no example of a similar kind in the history of this colony; it is the only precedent of the kind, and I hope such a thing will never occur again. An Hon. Member: Mr. Bathgate. Mr. Moorhouse : That is not a Bimilar instance. In the presence of a number of gentlemen who understand the merits of the case, I can only say that the hon. member must be conscious that there is no parallel. The cases are not analogous. I hear some getlemen cheering. An actor—l suppose we are all actors in this House to a certain extent—is encouraged to proceed or otherwise by a know-' ledge of whether he is pleasing his audience, and I assure you, sir, I estimate thoso cheers by a knowledge of the individuals from whom they come. I was going to remark that, having spoken for half an hour or more, I am beginning to become conscious that I am falling into that bad practice to which I so greatly object—talking .too much. But I entreat the House to consider that I am not an everyday trespasser. As I said before, I object to loug speeches. It is quite within tho scope of many men little more than half-witted, especially if they can read and can order one of tho porters to bring iu a tremendous pile of library books, and if they aro sufficiently unconscientious, to attempt an imposition upon the public and upon this House by sitting down for several hours every day for. tho purpose—to use a very expressive but generally accepted term—of "mugging up" speeches with which to astonish the House and open the throats and eyes of their tuents. Presuming on tha fact that I am! a very old man indeed in this Assembly—presuming—l was one of the first elected to the

Assembly of New Zealand—presuming on the fact that I have had an experience of twenty years off and on in this House, presuming on the fact that I have had opportunities of forming my model upon the most able and most thoroughly approved public men the colony has ever seen, presuming on .the fact, and I conscientiously . believe it is so, that I have improved these occasions for my own use and for the use of my constituents, I do implore hon. members to talk a little bit less. The advice I give to my own party is simply this : We understand that'a large amount of work is necessary, absolutely necessary to be done, and I strongly recommend every hon. member who moves on the same side as I do to allow those hon. gentlemen who are elected by us, and who enjoy our confidence, to do their duty, and we will go into the lobby with them without any talking. To the Opposition I may also, although it may be considered very impertinent, tender some advice. I say bring out your tallest man, your most redoubtable champion, or two or three, and throw in the hon. member for Auckland City East, and the hon. member for Dunedin City (Mr. Stout), these two to give voice and volume and noise to the propositions of the sensible men in the Opposition. I think they will be quite equal to the occasion, perhaps more than equal to it; i and the rest of the members of the Opposition will confer a remarkable obligation on the i country and on this House if they use their energies to repress any tendency to garrulousness on the part of the obstreperous members, with whom I associate the leader of' the Opposition (the hon. member for the Thames). Hon. gentlemen ought not to presume on the fact that they have a fine voice, though I confess I am remarkably envious of the fine voices of some persons in this House ; for instance, the impressive delivery of the hon member for Dunedin City (Mr. Stout), and the fine, liquid, luscious tones of the hon. member for Parneli are quite sufficient to invest a subject with the greatest interest. I confess I speak enviously, and perhaps I ought to make allowance for the eternal loquacity of some hon. members when I reflect upon. the enormous delights which must be experienced in opening a capacious mouth and letting out upon the world the full rich mellow tones of an excellent voice. When I open my mouth, the first thing that occurs to my sense is that it were better I were dumb ; there is no music in my voice, and no fascination is expected to result from any vocal utterances of mine. With regard to the hon. member for the Thames—l select him as a type of his order—the hon. gentleman gets up —I Buppose he has an idea in his head at those times, he opens his mouth and warbles some melodious notes, which, judging by the applause that follows, have greatly impressed his followers with the value of his discoveries. We do not all agree with his view of the subject, and very frequently doubt whether he has touched the subject under discussion at all, and all I can discover is that he and those who are with him are strongly engrossed with a desire to occupy the places of the gentlemen oh the Government benches. We have too much of this sort of talk, and it is time that the business of the country was got on with. I protest, upon my honor, that if the members of the Opposition would endeavor to convince, and if they succeeded in convincing me, that they have anything to recommend to the country more than themselves, I should be very glad to support them.