SIR WILLIAM FITZHERBERT AT THE HUTT.

Oamaru Mail, Volume III, Issue 621, 30 April 1878, Page 2

SIR WILLIAM FITZHERBERT AT THE HUTT.

[ PER PRESS AGENCY. ] Upper Hutt, April 29,

Sir William Fitzhevbert addressed a meeting of electors at the Oddfellows' Hall tliis evening. There was a good attendance. Sir William said that a great deal too much had been made of that meeting. Articles had appeared representing that he was likely to lead a new party in order to displace the present Government, and soon after this meeting was called ; but he assured them there was nothing in it. Neither did he meet them for the purpose of making a political manifesto ; he met them in accordance with the good old custom of a representative periodically meeting his constituents. Still there were subjects he might speak of to them without violating the high duties of Speaker. If people were on the tiptoe of expectation to hear him deliver himself of something sensational they would be disappointed as much as if they wont to see the Derby and saw the favorite run in hobbles. Since he last addressed his constituents a great political change had occurred, a revolution ho might say : and also conscientiously that it was not suitable. There certainly was an appeal to the people, but it was a handicapped affair. There was no doubt the action of the Assembly was confirmed by the people—most unwisely, he thought, because it took from the people the privilege of electing their! chief officer. In no form of Govern- i ment were broader democratic principles laid down than in the Constitution that the people deliberately renounced, Bad the anticipations that deprived the people of their old and noble institutions been realised I No, they expected bread, and received a-stone. He was not one who deprecated revolutions. Without revolutions they had not been so free as they were, but what they now wanted was something superior to replaco that destroyed. That was not tho oase now. and tiiey must get- something as an improvement on tho thing destroyod. At one time the people of New Zealand knew something of the Government of the Colony, but now throughout the length and breadth of tho Colony there was nothing but a mystery of Government. When he was Superintendent, it might be said his utterances wero dictated by self-interest ; but that was not the case now, yet he was of the same opinion as then. He would ask them in what direction was the tendency of those great and eloquent speeches which had been moving the hearts of the people all over the Colony lately, and he would uiswet' that it was a new pole (?) of democracy, which meant that the people were the fountain of all power ; but here came the nnpmaly < how was it that under the gospel of democracy forms of Government ever existed l It reminded him of Madame Rowland's exclamation, "Oh Democracy ! what borrows have been perpetrated in thy name ! " He feared the people had given up the substance for the shadow. The Government now was something for the people to gaze on, and not to touch. -Let the form of Government be administered by the best possible persons, yet the people were more distant from it than under the despised form they came from. He hoped they would reflect seriously upon these things, although they must not think he had any desire, if lie had the power, to bring back that which was lost. They heard a great deal about Bulgarian atrocities, but if that people were given a new constitution tomorrow they could not understand it, and wo\ild soon lose it. A constitution must grow np with the people. It was in Canterbury the conspiracy was formed that robbed them of their constitutional privileges, though after doing so they hesitated to accept the natural consequences of that revolution. He referred to the Land Fund. They took 80 per cent, only, but they might as well have taken all. Tho hon. gentleman here exhibited a colored map of the North Island, to show the enormous area of the land of the natives, uncultivated, as compared witli the whole area of the Island. He regretted to see so many brown lines (native land) coming down between the Manawatu and Upper Hutt. All that land had been bought by him, and if Provincial institutions existed now there would have been a railway through it, and 10,000 people settled upon it. He meant no reflection upcun any Government, either past or present, for it would bo tho same, he feared, with any Ministry, simply because the whole thing was a dead tetter to them all. The work done in the past in those matters had to be done over again. Ho bad done his best to secure these lands for the Province, but after thirty-seven yeavs' settlement, the road between Manawatu and Waikanae was aa bad as the first day th cam# to j

the island. But he did not complain of' them, it was v.i'.y u: t.w hystem. What did a Minister from one of the Provinces know of the requirements of another? Nothing.. Their minds were blank to tilings outside their own district. After recounting all that had been done by himself in the direction of the Hutt-\Vaikr</' p*,e line, ho said ho hoped Mi.' Charles O'Neill would be soon appointed, and be enabled to submit plans aud estimates of preliminary surveys by next session. They had been unduly kept back. While they could travel by rail nearly from one end of the South Island to the other, in the North the people of Weiliugton could go as far as liaitoki. The thing was absurd. Referring to tho work of Mr. O'Neill, and pointing out what ho considered the best route for tho Wairarapa line, he said lie predicted that the day would come when the present lino would be abandouod, and Mr. O'Neill's route be adopted. It was impossible for any amount of traffic to go over a gradient of 1 in 15. Tho hon. gentleman quoted from the Gazette to show that last year Canterbury aud Otago raised alone over eight millions of bushels of grain. To look at that and at their own position now, it was simply appaling to think howmuch, in spite of all their efforts, they were kept in tho background. In reply to questions, he said thnt, while he believed in manhood suffrage, lie did not believe in loaferliood suffrage, It must also bo remembered that not always those who cried out most for lniuihood suffrage were the most liberal. Tho most horrid tyranny was sometimes perpetrated under those catch-penny cries nf liberalism. To a man, who was a man in the proper sonso of tho term, ho would give a voto, if only IS; blithe objected to promiscuous manhood suffrage. Ho failed to see why women should not luwo votes ; they were more entitled to one than the men who, after voting, went homo and kicked their w'ves. When asked whether he would support Sir G, Grey, he said that while the question win most improper to one in his position, lie might speak hypothetical!}', as if he were a private member for tho moment, and would say he would not bind himself to follow anyone. It was a vicious principle for candidates to pledge themselves-to anybody. Circumstances changed, and men changed with them. A motion of confidence in Sir William was carried unanimously. Ho spoke about tm hours.