PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

Southland Times, Issue 1744, 23 May 1873, Page 2

PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

Mohdat, Mat 19. The Provincial Secretary said that, before proceeding to other business, he wished to reply to the question put by the hon. member for the Mataura. Arrangements had been made for making the track from the Hollyford river to Martin's Bay, sanctioned by the last session of Council. The track was being formed by Mr Clark, and at the present time it had been formed some twelve miles into the bush. With regard to the position now arrived at, they were aware that on Friday last he had moved for an adjournment of the House. That motion had led to a lengthened discussion, the motion for adjournment being eventually given effect to. What he was now about to do was to state to the House the position in which matters now stood. When he last addressed the House ho stated to the Council that negotiations had been entered upon which, he hoped, would bring about a union of the discordant elements, and solve the difficulty. He was very sorry to Bay that these negotiations had failed. After due deliberation, the Government recommended to the Superintendent that the member for Oamaru Country (Dr Webster) should be sent for. He (Dr Webster) had taken no very prominent part in the late proceedings. The part he had pursued was that of a middle course ; and as it was upon his resolution that the Government had gon« out, they thought he was the most likely per-

aon to bring the conflicting elements together, and form a coalition Government. Unfortunately these negotiations had failed, for reasons which it was unnecessary to explain. That morning Dr Webster had reported the complete failure of his mission. After considerable interruption, Mr Tolmie added that he would simply refer to the circumstances which led the Government to give his Honor the advice that they had given to him. Consequent upon the negotiations that had taken place, the Government found that the contending elements of the House were of such a nature that it would be quite impossible to unite. The position of parties was this: Government had a compact body of seventeen supporters. About twelve members were Btaunch supporters of the hon. member for the Taieri. About fifteen members in the House recognised no political bead at all. A discussion here arose upon several points of order, after which Mr Tolmie continued :— ln consequence of the conflicting interests in the House, it was impossible that a strong Administration could be formed, and, although it was done reluctantly (but, at the same time, he thought the country would benefit by it) the Government had recommended his Honor to prorogue the Council, with a view to an application being made to the General Government to grant a dissolution. The Speaker then announced a Message from His Honor the Superintendent, which was read as follows : — "It iB with the utmost reluctance that the Superintendent is compelled to convey to the Provincial Council his regret that the Council has not seen fit to reply to his former messages — an' •ctof courtesy which he bad hoped would have ] been deemed due to the Joffice which he holds, apart altogether from personal considerations. The Provincial Council will have been in session • fortnight tc-morrow, without making the slightest progress in the practical business for which it was convened — and, for aught that the Superintendent can Bee to the contrary, this state of things is as liielj as not to continue for an indefinite period. There appears, therefore, to be no alternative but to prorogue the Council, and appeal to the people, a course which after his ineffectual attempts to form an Executive, the Superintendent, with the advice and consent of the Executive Council, has resolved to adopt. It is hoped that under the circumstances hia Excellency the Acting.Governor will not refuse hie assent to a dissolution, seeing that otherwise the affairs of the Province will speedily arrive at a deadlock. The Superintendent need scarcely say that the step which be has now adopted is a painful one to himself, and has been taken under a very grave sense of responsibility. Elected by and responeible to the whole body of the people, he should be betraying the trust reposed in him were he quietly to submit to the office being trampled upon, and to the business of the Province being brought to a standstill. The Superintendent would respectfully point out to the majority of the Provincial Council that if the somewhat anomalous political machinery in the shape of responsible Government, with an elective head, which the Province has seen fit to tack on to the Constitution, is to work at all beneficially, there must needs be in the choosing an Executive mutual concessions, and that the feelings and views of the Superintendent have at least as much right to ;be consulted as have those of the Provincial Council. The Superintendent has been chosen by the majority of the people to administer the affairs of the Province, and has been pledged to a policy of progress. It is manifest, therefore, that the majority of the Council, by seeking to force upon his acceptance advisers who, it may be, entertain opposite views from the Superintendent, are seeking to place him in a false position — a position which he refuses to accept. The Superintendent came down to the Council at its opening with very important proposals bearing upon the advance* meet of the Province— proposals which it was intended to have followed up by others equally important Instead of entertaining any of these, however, the time has been occupied in discussing matters which have little or no practical bearing upon the public interests : circumstances which the Superintendent trusts will amply justify in the eyes of the people the action which, in the . interest of the country, he has been compelled to take. Jambs Macakdbew. A long discussion here arose upon several points of order, after which Mr Beid said be wished to avoid as much as possible saying anything offensive to any member of the Council ; and would strictly confine himself to a statement, which, as an act of courtesy, the House should accede to him, in reply to ; what fell from the hon. member at the head of the Government. When interrupted, he was about to state that after what transpired on Thursday last in the House, and after the remarks of the hon. member for Oteramika (Sir F. D. Bell), and the hon. member for Oamaru Country (Dr Webster), he put himself in communication with Dr Webster, and suggested to him the propriety of endeavoring to arrive at a coalition between the tiro parties in the House. That hon. member approved of the proposal, and said he would use his endeavors as between the two parties to arrive at a solution of the present unpleasant state of affairs in the Council, and that hon. gentleman attended a meeting of the gentlemen acting with him (Mr Reid) and agreed, on certain conditions, to submit proposals to those who acted with himself. Those conditions were that two members were to be taken from the minority of the Council into any Executive that might be formed from the majority of the Council. He waited upon the hon. gentleman later, when he intimated that an insuperable objection was raised by Mr Turnbull to his (Mr Beid's) name being included in any Government that might be formed. He (Mr Beid) told Dr Webster that he would intimate to him next day the decision that might be come to by those with whom he (Mr Beid) was acting. After consulting with his friends, and at three o'clock the same day, he (Mr Beid) waited upon the honorable gentleman and informed him that ' his party would not agree to any specific condition that either himself, or any other member of it who might be considered eligible by the party, should be excluded jrom taking a part in the Governments They also received a resolution passed by the hon. gentleman's friends, j which was l to the effect: "That while thanking them (Mr Beid's party) for the offer made, they were of opinion that no good to the country would result from a coalition " — (Hear). After that resolution there was no other course open but

to form a Government from his (Mr Reid's) side of the House. He submitted to his Honor, on Thursday, the names of gentlemen who were willing to act along with himself; and as he had already explained, hia Honor did not see fit to accept thosenameß. (Mr Shepherd :Hear). On that same evening he was waited on by the honorable member at the head of the Government (Mr Toltnie) and requested — let them mark — by a gentleman who had previously said no good could result from a coalition, to use his endeavors to bring about a coalition — (Hear) — That course ©f action certainly did appear to be unreasonable. The constitutional method was to aak a member to undertake the task, who would agree to treat with theminority, in order to obtain a Ministry that would represent fairly both sides of the House. Up to the preaent time the constitutional method had not been adopted. As the hon. member at the head of the Government had informed the House, the member for Oamaru country was sent for, and that gentleman on Saturday again did him (Mr Reid) the honor of conferring with him, in order to see what could be come to between the two parties ; and, having submitted his proposals to another meeting, it was adhered to that his (Mr Reid's) party could not recede from the position taken up formerly, viz., that the gentleman entrusted with the task of forming a Government should be selected from the majority of the Council, and that morning the hon. member informed him he had abandoned the undertaking. He had only to say further, that after the decision come to by those with whom he was acting, and although the meeting would not allow any proposal to exclude his. own name, nevertheless it was his full intention to have voluntarily retired at the end of the session, during which time he would have i held a non-official position in the Executive, and led the business in the Council. But he could not agree to it going forth to the whole Province and the Colony that hia name must necessarily be excluded from any Government about to be formed. — (Cheers.) The action of the other side had led to the stoppage of business ; nothing likely to retard public business was attributable to him ; he had made most liberal advances — advances that bad been characterised by the hon. member for Oteramika as more than could hare been expected from his (Mr Eeid's) side ; and such being the case, be could only say that, whatever the result of the action now proposed to be taken, he felt that the majority of the Council and the public would be satisfied that whatever had led to the crisis, to the stoppage of the business of the Province, and would lead to the enormous expenditure of public and private means on a purely personal and paltry consideration, he and the party with whom he acted had done everything in their power to make overtures to those on the other side. He would not like to enter upon a discussion of matters that had come before the Council since it last met, though it would not be out of place to consider the Message just received. So far as any want of courtesy to the Superintendent went, in not replying to Messages Nos. 3 and 5, it was the Government who were responsible. It was their duty to have submitted the answers or replies they wished forwarded. Mr Fish was about to sp«ak, when the Speaker announced the receipt of a Message enclosing a proclamation from His Honor the Superintendent, which was read as follows : — " Whereas by an Act of the Imperial Parliament of Great Britain and Ireland, passed in the session thereof holden in the fifteenth and sixteenth years of the reign of Her present Majesty Queen Victoria, intituled "An Act to grant a Kepresentative Constitution to the Colony of New Zealand," it was amongst other things enacted that for each of the Provinces established in the said Colony by the said Act, there should be a Superintendent and a Provincial Council, to be elected and constituted under and subject to the provisions in that behalf therein contained, and that it shall be lawful for the Superintendent of any of the said Provinces to prorogue the Provincial Council thereof, from time to time, whenever he should deem it expedient so to do ; now therefore I, the Superintendent of the Province of Otago (one of the Provinces aforesaid) do proclaim and declare that I do hereby, in pursuance of the power vested in me in that behalf by the said Act, prorogue the Provincial Council of the said Province of Otago, and that the said Provincial Council is prorogued accordingly."