SIR GEORGE GREY ON CONSTITUTIONALISM.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume III, Issue 265, 17 April 1875, Page 2

SIR GEORGE GREY ON CONSTITUTIONALISM.

(From tho Dally Southern Cross.) Concluded from our last. The next thing we come to consider is, what is to be done about the General Assembly. Probably on this point many people may differ from me. All I ask from them is to hear my reasons, and I will hear their’s at any time. I will convert them if I can, and they can try to convert me. I am not at all unreasonable. I will allude to all the arguments in favour of views opposed to my own. My firm belief is this: I believe the General Assembly is allowed to remain as it is at Wellington, and everything is to bo swept away from Auckland by degrees, and at last your Provincial Council, that the future of Auckland will, in many respects, be an extremely gloomy one. I have no hesitation in saying that on tho other hand if you reduce the General Assembly to the lowest possible limit, make them meet only every "two or three years, and in some part of the colony which is central to all, -and which need not be a town unless desired, and if you increase greatly tho powers of your Provincial Government, you will make this place Sydney, some other place Melbourne, some other place in the colony Adelaide, you will have great Governments of your own, your place will rise in importance in every possible way. The intellect of the people will bo educated by having a legislature of their own on the spot. Your provinces are not inferior in magnitude to tho greater number of British Colonies, and iu fact they far surpass them in size, some of them have their separate Governors, separate Legislatures, and are separate colonies in every possible way ; and I believe that Auckland will rise to be a city of very great importance indeed, and that it will really become tho seat of Government again, a seat of a most im? portant Government, a seat of intellect, a seat of learning, a seat from which civilisation will be spread to all the country round instead of sinking into insignificance. (Cheers.) I believe that by sweeping away the General Assembly in its present form, you will save an enormous and absolutely useless expenditure, and that you will bring things entirely under your own control. I believe your youths, if given the openings I have spoken of, will have posts of worthy ambition set before them, and you will rear great men, and that you will send Secretaries of State to England, who will hold their own with the best statesmen England has ever produced. (Cheers.) I firmly believe that such will be the case; and, upon tho other hand, I feel satisfied that if the General Assembly, constituted as it now is, is allowed to usurp all the powers of this colony—if the provinces are entirely to be swept away, the population of the distant parts will sink in intellect, and will actually fall year by year to a degree that you yourselves could hardly conceive. I believe that your commerce will decline, an d people will cease to resort to tho place asa great centre of learning, of legislation, of all the inducements which could be held out to them to come here. The inhabitants of this province are at the present moment more numerous than the inhabitants of I may say almosthalf the British possessions, and the British possessions have Governments, capitals, and legislatures : while here it is proposed we should not have them at all. Why should gentlemen in tho Soulh, who know nothing about us —partly because wo have not a fair share of representation — say, “The Parliament gave you all tho privileges, which was quite true, but wo don’t like you having them, and wo shall take them away.” They have no right to say that tons. I do not believe the Parliament would allow them to do it without our consent,—that will bo a necessary thing now the disturbance has begun, and before you do consent I hope you will consider the points I have raised The only

answers I have ever had made on this subject are of a most ridiculous kind. Some people have said it is no use your talking, we are determined we will be governed by gentlemen. That is a very common answer, and to that I would say “ give me nature’s gentlemen.” (Cheers.) Look at Abraham Lincoln, the shinglesplitter ! Was there ever an abler man than Abraham Lincoln? Why cannot we raise men of that kind ourselves ? Let all men come into public life who are really capable of doing it. Another which has been made to me, and by one of the most leading statesmen in the country is : “ All you say is quite true. It is quite certain that the Constitution quite intended that all these privileges should be given to the people of New Zealand. But now don’t you trouble me any more about it. We have all agreed toabandon those, and to accept the present system ; and wc won’t have your Constitutional changes.” To that I answer: When did we ever agree to give up those rights, and to accept the present system ? What contract have I entered into upon the subject? Did the members of the House of Representatives ever come to their constituents, and say : “ Elect us, the Constitution /Vet confers all these rights upon you, will you give them up?” And did they ever say instead of that “ Will you have a Governor nominated as he is at present, and a nominated Upper House of seventy members, all paid for and the House of Representatives influenced by tho Crown as they are now.” Did you say we will give the one up and take the other? I don’t believe that any man in the colony said so, and I don’t believe wc are bound by any agreement of that kind. To tho Centralists I say, you are the people who have made tho changes. The law says we are to have these things if wo like. The law is a living letter. There is a law in existence now giving us these things, and you want to get rid of tho things you have made. I have explained to you what I would do. 1 would have the General Assembly got rid of, with all the enormous expenditure of buildings, payment of members, personaland travelling allowances, which exceeds that allowed to a great ambassador. I do not believe the Emperor of China, if he sent an ambassador, would pay his expenses on such a scale, and tho Americans would laugh us to ridicule for paying such travelling allowances. Get rid of all those expenses. Have one Secretary of State resident in England, with whom the Provincial Governments may communicate from time to time. Let the Queen rule the Province of Auckland by herself, as she will be quite ready to do. (Cheers.) There is one point regarding tho carrying out of this general policy, upon which we must not be led astray. What enables us to raise the loans we are now obtaining ? The great tracts of land which I practically acquired years ago. That was the first thing that enabled the people to get on in certain provinces in New Zealand. Then there was the industry of tho settlers. It was upon their farms, upon the security of their labour, that these loans were raised, and not through the influence of one or two individuals. (Cheers.) Moneylenders would not give their money except upon the very best security, and it is upon your farms, upon your stores, upon your property, and the enormous wealth that you have created in the country, that these loans can be raised, and if to that security we add such portions of the land fund of the whole colony as we do not require for special settlements, we may raise many millions more if they are wanted. Before we do I hat let us reduce the enormous and wasteful expenditure that is going on. (Cheers.) Let us spend our money economically, let us settle institutions which may last for years, and not have the mind of England and this country disturbed by sudden proposals to change the whole Constitution of the country. Let us fix the Constitution upon a permanent basis, let us take stock of the great wealth we have, and then determine for years to carry on immigration upon a prudent and proper system so that we may not be threatened with crises from time to time, and be told that if we cannot get a £4,000,000 loan we will be all ruined. What is to become of us when the £4,000,000 aro expended. It will be the same thing ; we will be in difficulties if we cannot get more money. Let us determine upon some fair line of policy by which the Public Works and Immigration can be properly carried on for many years to come; and, if necessary, greater additional loans raised, which we should then be able to pay, and have good security for. That is what I should like to see, and I believe it is practicable and within our power. A great many statements have been made on this subject, one of which is to the effect, that while the white population has increased from five to six fold, the revenue has increased from seven to eight fold. This statement is an exaggeration. I find, on examining into the matter, that the population has increased rather more than is stated, and the revenue rather less. I do not want you to mistake this point. Our revenue partly turns upon taxation. If yon are burdened with a great many more taxes than yon were formerly, there must be more revenue. The revenue has fallen off, if you consider our liabilities, including the interest upon our debt. It must also bo borne in mind that we aro under enormous obligations to the native race. You have established a system you cannot stop, and must continue. You have come under obligations to an enormous staff of officials, and you will have to find them pensions. You will find that if we come to consider these things that in truth your revenue, instead of having increased in proportion to our population, it has done nothing of the kind. Another thing to be remembered is that revenue is really no test of the prosperity of tho masses. It would be quite probable, nay, it was quite possible, that if tho present system is allowed to continue, that an enormous revenue will be raised in New Zealand from a population to a great degree sunk in misery, as the population is in England, and that the people who will benefit by tho revenue raised from these poor wretches will bo the absentees, who draw their enormous revenues. (Cheers.) If wo carry on a great system of public works and immigration upon a certain principle, let us take care that all lhe wealth that is drawn from this count ry contributes to the taxation necessary io carry that system out. It is so late that I must not detain you longer. There are many other points I should have liked to have touched upon, but I will say this, that I have endeavoured to sketch out such a system for

you, as I firmly believe that if it is followed out will create thousands of happy homes in New Zealand, nay, millions. (Cheers.) I have tried to draw the outline of a system under which your great men may rise to Imperial rank, and yet impose no aristocracy upon this country. (Cheers.) I have tried to sketch out a system which will open noble and laudable objects of ambition to every man and boy in the country—(cheers)— to sketch out a system under which there shall not be a few rich and millions in misery, but under which there shall be some equality of wealth and happiness and prosperity throughout a contented community. (Cheers.) Under which no women and children shall starve and sink into misery. I do not know if you have ever heard of Gustave Dore, and Blanchard Jerrold. Gustave Dore is a great French artist, a man of the highest intellect. These two gentlemen made a study of London together, and they reported as their deliberate conclusions iu regard to the misery of London that it is false to attribute it to J tho wickedness of the people, and they say that according to the best calculations they could make —for every ten men who took to robbing, to vagrancy, and to pauperism, there were one thousand who led lives of misery, and died in wretchedness, who had struggled like heroes through the whole of it. (Cheers.) I have endeavoured to sketch out a system of institutions, and a policy which shall allow no such dreadful results to spring up iu New Zealand; and I say that, ultimately, we must prevail. I know it, because any man whojoins me in attemptng to carry this out must do so from conviction. lam not able to offer him place, power, or bribes of any kind. He knows that he must join me from a thorough and earnest belief that what is proposed to be done is right—for the good of the Empire, and for the good of New Zealand ; and men bound together by conviction of that kind are worth ten fold the men by whom they will be opposed. (Loud and prolonged cheering.) If my words are reported there is not a mother in N ew Zealand who will notlook upon her children with greater pleasure when she has read them and will not say, “ I will help that man.” (Loud cheers.) There is not a girl iu love that will not say, “ Ah, ah, there is something open for my lover now. (Laughter and cheers.) Now I will live to see him blessed as he ought to be, I will tell him to help Sir George Grey.” (Cheers.) I firmly believe, therefore, that ultimately the sentiments I have given utterance to will prevail, not that perhaps the precise system will be adopted but that what I have sketched out to-night will live in this colony, nay more, wall live in Australia, nay more, will live through the Empire. (Loud and continued cheering.) And now, thanking you all for the attention with which you have listened to me, I will detain you no longer. You may depend upon it that if I am to serve you it shall be done to my very utmost.