THE ELECTORAL BILL.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5521, 6 December 1878, Page 2

THE ELECTORAL BILL.

We noted iu our issue of Friday last the ex’stenoe of a certain amount of curiosity throughout tho country as to tho true motives for the action of Sir George Grey in withdrawing tho Electoral Bill, when it might have been passed “at last” exactly, as regarded its principles, in tho form in which it was first introduced, as representing the views of theGoverumeut, by the Attorney-General. We showed that it could not bo said to represent tho views of the Premier upon tho fundamental point of “ manhood suffrage with one vote, and one vote only, for each individual elector,” which ho had been preaching as the views of his colleagues and himself upon every stump in the Colony, and had pledged himself to give effect to. We showed that, nevertheless, he was able to declare in his place in Parliament that ho had not only given no such pledge, but that it was a question he had carefully avoided ; we showed that although there was a wellfounded belief at the time that nothing but his weak condition of health prevented him from breaking with bis colleagues about this very Bill, kicking over tho traces, and, as we said, upsetting the Ministerial coach—he was yet able to make a gushing speech in tho House, in which he described the measure as a portion of the “ great Charter of Rights” which was to be conferred upon tho people, and which would entitle himself and his friends to bo enrolled upon that noble list of men who have done good service, which, as ho said, ‘ ( will last for all “ages in the country wo are oadoavorug “ to found.”

Now seeing that at the last moment the Legislative Council showed its willingness to abandon all tho amendments made in the Council, excepting those relative to the extension of the Maori franchise beyond tho limit first proposed by tho Government themselves, it must bo held that there was no other ground for abandoning the Bill than that Sir G sorge Grey could not get all that ho wanted to get in that particular direotmn. Fn his speech on introducing tho Bill tho Attorney-General said, with respect to the Maori franchise, “ Honorable “ Members will see that it is proposed “ in this Bill that only those Maoris who “ are on the ratepayers’ roll will be allowed to vote. I hope that the King “ country will soon bo open to Euro- “ peana; but in the present state of “ affairs I believe it will bo well to allow “ these things to remain as they are ; “ and, in fact, I think it will bo bettor “ to increase the number of Maori mem- “ in tho House.” That was tho Ministerial mind at tho time, as officially expressed by tho ablest man on tho Treasury benches. Sir George Grey in his speech, delivered four days later—on tho ISth August, said no word about tho Maori representation. On tho 10th of September, more than a month having elapsed, there was a discussion on motion for going into committee on the Bill. In reply to some observations of Mr. Sutton, it is reported in “ Hansard ” that Mr. Sheehan said: — Ho thought tho honorable gontloman said somethlngafcout tho Maori franchise. ITIg colleague who was In charge of this Bill would nsk tho Homo to postpone tho portion dealing with that subject, and ho (Mr. Sheehan) would deal with It authoritatively in his Statement on Native Affairs, when ho would inform tho House what tho Government intended to do in the matter. Mr. Kichardson said there was one remark made by tho Native Minister which appeared to him very extraordinary, /Ho thought this Bill was now in the hands of a committee of the whole House, and that they only would have power to deal authoiitativcly with it, Ho understood tho Native Minister to say that ho intended to deal authoritatively with a portion of tho Bill to-morrow night. He could scarce!/ think that the honorable gontloman meant such a thing. . Mr. Sheehan said tho honorable gentleman misunderstood him. Ho simply said he would express tho view of tho Government on tho question of Maori representation. Tho views ,o£ tho Government cither wore nob represented by Mr, Stout on

tho 9th of August or they had changed in the interval. On the 17th of September Mr. Sheehan, in his Statement on Native Affairs, dealt with tho subject “authoritatively ” thus :

' Now s'r, I shall refer to tho question of special Maori representation. This is a question in which we arc all deeply interested, and one which will agitato this countrv for years to come. Some people say that it is nos necessity to have special representation; while others to it, but at tho same time stipulate that tho Maoris shall have no voice in tho election of European members of this House while they have special representation. I believe that wo are now on the ovo of settling all the differences between tho Europeans and the natives, and for tho present I shou’d not bo inclined to make any change in tho number of Maori members. I should, however, abolish tho household and tho leasehold qualifications, and give them only the freehold and ratepayers’ qualifications. I believe that in another branch of the Legislature you will have one, if not two, of tho principal Maori chiefs of tho Waikato? as members, and it is quite po'siblo that wo may have equally great chiefs of the same tribes in this House. X will tell honorable members here that in deaU”<? with this difficult question they must have confidence in tho Government.

A few days later Sir George Gkey complained that certain honourable members wanted the “House to deprive the Na- “ tives not only of two distinct franchises, “ —„ho household suffrage and tho lease- “ hold suffrage,—but also of the freehold “suffrage. They wanted to lake those “ privileges from the Maoris and give “ them nothing in exchange ; to impose “ upon them a bond which was not im- “ posed -upon their European follow- “ citizens also.” With ranch of tho usual “excited bosh,” the Premier continued to charge, as a crime, agaiut honorable gentlemen their desire to support tho proposals 'which the Government themselves had originally made ; his pious apostrophe to Mr. George McLean —“the Lord deliver them from such support”—electrified the House and the gallery, and showed tho ardor of a new desire to accomplish tho great object of getting the dual voting power for the Maori people. Tho operation at the Bay of Islands, by which it was demonstrated how the European voles in an electoral district could be swamped by Maoris, and a nominee of tho Government bo sent to Parliament to misrepresent the people,—was a very seductive example of what might be effected in other places by a Go-vernment--without principle and in want of support in the House—if legally armed with a general power such as that so dexterously exercised in tho case in question. If it could be managed that the communal or tribal title of the Maoris in their land should be made, as an electoral qualification, equal to an English freehold, Mr. John Lundon’s little army of 400 Maori electors would be saved; their assumed qualification would be recognized, and, tho principle being thus admitted, the disgrace of the trick played there would be in some sort effaced. But more than all, and above all, the power of influencing, if not of controlling, by tho Maori vote tho election of members of the House of Representatives in almost every electorate in the North Island, and in some in the South Island, would have been placed absolutely in the hands of Sir George Grey and Mr. Sheehan. This was a stake worth playing for certainly; but when the Legislative Council, having discovered tho game, took measures to prevent the winning of the trick, the Premier throw up his cards. That is, we think, the true solution of the riddle. Sir George Grey wo may assume could not like the Electoral Bill; it was not extravagant enough for him, or sufficiently revolutionary to get up a fight about; yet the power of the Maori vote would have gilded tho pill. The 70,000 adult males of Sir George Grey’s imagination, “ the very pith and “marrow of New Zealand,” must now wait, for another session at least, to bo qualified as members of tbo General Assembly and as free and independent electors. Their ‘ ‘ great charter of rights” is put in tho waste paper basket by their self-constituted champion, but we are warned to look out for something very radical and sensational in the next session, and for a grand “ fight” with the troublesome “Lords” who, in this matter of the franchise, have defended, tho ti ae liberties of tbo people aga : nst the insidious assault of the most unprincipled and tricky Government that has over ruled in Now Zealand under its free Constitution.