PARLIAMENT.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5204, 26 November 1877, Page 2

PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE. OP REPRESENTATIVES. Saturday, November 24 DR. WALLIS AT AUCKLAND. Mr. FOX drew the attention of the House to the speech of Dr. Wallis, recently delivered at Auckland, which he said contained some of the grossest allegations against the House which had ever been given utterance to by a member of the House. Mr. Fox'proceeded to read extracts from the New Zealand Herald's report of the speech, in which Dr. Wallis stated that one out of every four members of the House were political trimmers and rogues, and that one fit-least had received a pecuniary bribe. .Having drawn the attention of the House to the inatter.be would leave lion, members to deal with Dr. Wallis as they thought fit. Mr. STOUT quoted from the Auckland Star to show that the report in the Herald was not correct, and which stated that Dr. Wallis’s words referred to representative bodies in general. Mr. ROWE was of opinion that the Star's version did not show that the report in the Herald was incorrect. Mr. Rowe spoke strongly on the subject, and said Dr. Wallis dared not utter a single word of what he had stated at the public meeting in the House. Dr. Wallis was a new member, and was possessed of little knowledge of the public men of the colony. It was the duty of the Hou«e to defend itself from such a gross general charge. He trusted the contempt of the House would rest with Dr. Wallis as long as he lived. Mr. MANDERS spoke generally of the charges which had been levelled at the House, and accused Sir George Grey and Messrs. Macandrew and Stout of having- incited the Press to make gross charges against hon. members. Mr. ROLLESTON was of opinion that they might pass by the utterances of Dr. Wallis, seeing .the strong charges which were frequently being made in the House. The principal point they had to consider was Dr. Wallis availing himself of his leave of absence from Fa.liainent on urgent private business to make an attack upon the House, with the view, perhaps, of bringing outside pressure to bear upon the House during its deliberations. Time was when the public men of the colony were free from such aspersions, and he attributed the present state of things to the example of the gentleman at the held of the Government. Since he (Sir G. Grey) had entered Parliament the tone of the House had been lowered. Sir ROBERT DOUGLAS alluded to the low tone of the House, and the constant charges of bribery and corruption which had been made against bon. members. He thought before taking any action in the matter the House should call upon Dr. Wallis to explain, and moved to that effect. The Hon. Mr. REYNOLDS said it would be ridiculous to waste the time of the House now in discussing a question of privilege. Already one privilege case was likely to cost the country several thousand pounds. He did not believe there was any foundation for the charges made by Dr. Wallis, and he thought the best course the House could adopt was to take no notice of them. , ■ , Mr. REID said that hitherto he had a favorable opiubm of Dr. Wallis, and he regretted that he should make use of the words attributed to him. He desired to know on which side of the House were the dishonest men. (Several voices; The Opposition.) Then it was strange of the honest men should have gone - to his home, and left the dishonest men to conduct the public business. If the dishonesty was confined to his side of the House, then from Dr. Wallis’ statement it followed that one-half of the Opposition were rogues and trimmers. When again granting leave of absence the House should enquire whether the member belonged to the honest or, dishonest section, for it was clearly not desirable that the honest men should go to their homes, and leaye the drhonest to do the work. Sir GEORGE GREY said he should feel surprised if Dr. Wallis used the language imputed to him, and if it were really proved that he used such lan mage, the House should go further into the matter. He differed from the hon. member for Avon that it was wrong for members of the House to address public meetings during the sitting of Parliament. During every agitation for reform in England members of the House of Commons had addressed meetings all over the country, both in and out of session j and had it not been so Gatholic emancipation or the repeal of the 06m Laws might not have been carried to tbe present day. He would always reserve to himself the right to influence public opinion in this way. He denied that ho had made general charges of the nature attributed to Dr. Wallis. He had made specific charges on certain actions, believed every member of the House thought he was justified in making such charges. (No, no!) Sir George Grey alluded particularly to thePiako Swamp affair. He had ..never,- villified the House, but he complained that wrong acts had been done with the connivance of the Government,! and he was prepared to substantiate every charge he had made. ,! He was" surprisedto hear the remarks of the hon. member for Avon, as he (Sir George Grey) s had received valuable support from , that ■ gentleman in laying before Parliament the acts he complained of. . ; .■■ I Major ATKINSON said there was not one single charge which the hon. tpember.for the Thames had made which he could substantiate. He had the whole of the-papers of the late Government at his disposal, and he challenged him to prove:one single act of wrongdoing on the part of the late Ministry! There was no doubt if he were able to prove any of his charges he would be only too eager to do so.

The whole matter of the Piako Swamp and the charges of corruption made by Mr. Balance about Mr. Whitaker’s laud transactions had been investigated by the House, and tie charges which had been made in reference to them were proved to be unfounded. Jhe difference between Mr. Rolleston and Sir George Grey was that when the former found fault with any act of the late Government he attributed it to an error of judgment ; but Sir George Grey had constantly insinuated that the late Ministry had been influenced in. their actions by corrupt motives. Ihe othernight he slated that he was seeking office, and that his (Major Atkinson’s) only motive for doing so was to draw his monthly pay. Sir GEORGE GREY : 1 did not say “ only motive.” , ~ Major ATKINSON said that would not make the matter better. He had said that was the main object. He agreed with the hon. member for Avon that Sir George Grey s attacks upon public men had done much to lower the character of Parliament. Hitherto the public men of the colony were regarded as sincere and honest in their intentions. Gross charges had been made about the public accounts, but tiie preseut Colonial Treasurer had adopted his (Major Atkinson’s) figures without ones’ngle alteration. Referring more particularly to the case before the House, he was of opinion that it would be better to let Dr. Wallis alone, considering thelanguage which had been used in the House. Still, Dr. Wallis might be called upon to explain how, whilst he was away on urgent private business, he could find time to address public meetings. Mr. DE LADTOT7R drew attention to the fact that Mr. Stafford had addressed the Hutt electors during the sitting of Parliament, and no one had found fault with him for so doing. Alluding to what had been said about the lowering of the prestige of Parliament, he found the papers of that date stating that Mr. Vogel and Mr. Pox, for their conduct on a memorable occasion, would never be able to free themselves from the obloquy which they had then justly earned. Mr. BALLANCE denied that he had made any distinct charge of corruption against Mr. Whitaker. What he said was, that it was a matter of public policy to consider whether it was right for a Munster of the Crown to dabble in native land transactions. The charge he had made was one of neglect of duty, not of gross corruption. Several gentlemen having expressed thenopinion that it would be as well that the privilege question be allowed to drop, Major Atkinson, with the leave of the House, explained the whole circumstances connected with the Piako Swamp transactions. Sir George Grey having -replied, (by general copsent Dr. Wallis’ case was allowed to drop. RAILWAY 'MATERIAL. In answer to Mr. Ormond, Sir George Grey stated that the Ministry had not countermanded any order forwarded to England hy the late Government for railway material. The only order which had been countermanded was one for railway tickets. BILLS, On the motion of , Mr. W. J ohnston the Poxton Reserves Bill was introduced and read a first time. The amendments made in the Wellington Reserves Act Amendment Bill and in the Borough of New Plymouth Reserves Bill by the Legislative Councill were agreed to. The Eoxton Harbor Bill and the Domicile Bill were read a third time. The Waikato Harbor Endowment Bill, the Gisborne Harbor Bill, the Mining Companies Act 1872 Amendment Bill, and the Taranaki Roads and Bridges Ordinance Amendment Bill, were read a second time, and the following were read a second and third time!— Roxburgh Reserve Amendment Bill and Southland Girls’ and Boys’ High School Bill. The Public Recreation Grounds Bill, the Ota»o Harbor Board Management Bill, and the Durat : on of the House of Representatives Bill were discharged. The Crown Redress Extension Bill was considered iu committee, and passed its third reading by 27 to 15. The House adjourned at 11 o’clock.