Representation of the Thames.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2109, 7 October 1875, Page 2

Representation of the Thames.

PUBLIC MEETING.

At the requisition of some of the leading men at the Thames, his Worship the Mayor convened a public meeting to take place at the Theatre Royal, to consider the insufficient amount of representation accorded to this district by the present Government Representation Bill. Th«

meeting was called for seven o'clock, and at one time it was feared that the meeting seemed likely to fall through, owing to the,few assembled. It was, however, soon obvious that the public generally had considered 7.30, and not 7 o'clock, to be the appointed time, as by that time the theatre was well and completely filled, and came under the designation of a " public meeting " in every sense of the word. On the motion of Dr. Kilgo.ujc, Jlis Worship the Mayor took the chair. opened the proceedings by saying that wie". meeting had been called according to request to consider the important question of representation. It was unnecessary for^him to say very much. For the la£t three years they had tried, and tried hard, to get the amount of repi'esentat:on in Parliament to which they were entitled, but their trial had been made in vain. The ..resolution arrived at by the pre-. ■ent Parliament not to touch on the redistribution of seats during the present session, simply meaat that nothing would be done for them in the way of redress for the next five years. The proposal of Government to give only one additional member to the Thames meant nothing. It was unjust, unfair aud inadequate. He did not think it was necessary for him to say more on the subject, so be would call upon Mr Carpenter to move the first resolution for the meeting to consider. Mr Carpenter, M.P.C., on rising to move the resolution said —He thought it would not be too much to characterise the acts of the Government concerning representation as a dishonest attempt on their part to maintain the same extravagant system of government now as hilherto. This question of redistribution of seats was not a hew thing, but it had often and often been demanded before on. account of the present unequal way in which constituencies were represented. In 1872 a petition with T many thousand signatures had been presented by their member Mr O'Neill praying for increased representation, but this petition had been refused on the ground that a certain number of representatives had been allotted to each province, leaving the manner in which those representatives should be distributed over the province for the province itself to decide. This was unfair. Unfair as the single instance of Totara was sufficient to prove. The true and proper basis of representation was the number of. the population. Other interests might" be allowed to weigh in the matter, but the true wealth of the country was not so much the land as the people who lived on the land; men make a country, not a country men. But more, Government by this plea of theirs, that a certain number of representatives have been allotted to each province and so ?hey could give no more, were simply perpetuating in a most inconsistent manner that system of Provincialism which they had done their best to destroy The Government put off the re-adjustment ot representation by every trivial pretext in their power. And why ? Simply because they had a lot of pocket boroughs on which they could always rely to keep them in their places, and they were afraid that if they accorded what was right and just to constituencies like the 'Thames, they might give votes to those wh.> would not be always at their beck and call. For himself he was afraid that the Thames would not get more than two members as things stood now. What the v ought to have done, he thought, would have been to call a monster meeting, and promise the Government that if they were allowed to have four members they would elect four who would back them up through thick and thin (laughter); by this plan they might have secured for themselves justice. Every one seemed to be on their side —all joinedin agreeing that the Thames was the wor?t treated community in the colony. Besides he would ask if population w,as not to be the test of representation— what was to be ?. Was it wealth ? If that was the case they did not depend upon their mining wealth alone, but they exported timber in such quantities, as to give them a claim on that score alone. Was it area of land ? They had a large district to be represented, capable of supporting a large people. Sir Julius Vogel had designated the Thames as a nomadic population ; but, independent of men who in a mining community were constantly coming, and going, they had a large settled population in the Borough and around it, which was rapidly increasing. Let them look at the new nouses and'buildings which were being erected around them, anil consider the eagerness manifested by the people to acquire the freehold of lauds, and then say if there was any reason todoubt the prosperity of the district or deny justice to the Thames on that score. He would say no more, the newspapers had made the justice of their claim so patent ! that no one could fail to see it. He would therefore move the first resolution : — " That this meeting emphatically protests against the Representation Bill now before the Assembly, as it deals unjustly with the electoral district of the Thames, and is of opinion that three additional members should be given in order to fairly and adequately represent this large and important constituency in Parliament." Mr, Bagnall, M. P. C., said he had much pleasure in seconding the resolution. Some resolutions required argument to back ihem, but it was not the case with the one which had just been moved. He felt sure that every member in the House of Assembly would agree with the justice of it. For three or four sessions — three he believed—motions had- been brought forward to re-adjust the representation of the colony; but these had in- { variably been shelved on the ground that the proper time for the re-adjustment was immediately before the elections. But now the time which had been spoken of as the proper time had come, Government again delayed it. It would have been better to have transposed the Abolition and [Representation Bills, and dealt with the latter as they had with the former, and vice versa. If this question of representation was not dealt with this session, the same answer would be returned next session, and the measure be again delayed. '1 heir position was this. It was just as if Government had asked them to pay all the calls and charges in the way of taxes in the same proportion as the rest of the Colony, but when the time came for receiving dividends they ignored their claims altogether. Let thorn take the case of Taranaki, which, with a smaller population than the Thames, had six times the number of representatives. Napier was another instance of this unfair treatment. The same manner of keeping their interests in the background was apparent in the matter of loans. Out of all the millions raised only forty or fifty thousand pounds had been spent upon the Thames, thoujjh

their fair share was at least two hundred and fifty thousand. • Thus they had lost for their district two. hundred thousand pounds, and all this for tho want of being properly represented! The people of the Thames were too good-natured and too easy, and so they only get half the amount of representation they are entitled to in the shape of two members, and even these lose much of their influence by additional . members being accorded to other constituencies. He had much pleasure in seconding the resolution. ' Mr WVJ. Speight said that until the moment of his entering therroom he had be€n unaware what kind of resolution would be proposed to the meeting. He would give place to no man in his d<-sir» of speakiagwell of G&WBrnment;-but there was a limit to all things, and that limit had-now be%n arrived a't;~ The present Bill was nothing more or less than a political manoeuvre on the part of the Government to stave off tbe time when fair play must be allowed to the Thames. The fact was, tbe Government were Sure of some constituencies, but they did not know how far ; they .were sure of ttyTSFhames. And so they decided to give 'representation to such constituencies as would return members who would ensure a Government majority for the next fire years. He was glad Tthat this hatd- been admitted, because it cleared the way for the amendment; which he would read to them:— " That this meeting has no confidence in the desire of the present Government to do justice to this district in the matter of re-distribution, or any other grievances, and hopes that the coming election will be instrumental, iq placing the government of the country in. the hands of men more competent to wield it, and influenced by more honest motives in their actions." He had made no arrangements for a seconder, but had simply written out the amendment while Mr Carpenter was speaking! The question which they were discussing now had often and often been agitated before, and justice had not been done them. They had presented petitions, they had shown the number of their population, of their electors and the amount of their taxes, exports and imports until every statesman must have been thoroughly alive to their position,' and all to no purpose, for the Thames had become a ' byword" for unfair treatment. The time had now come when thi-y must adopt other measures, and strengthen the party of Sir George Grey and the Opposition by placing such an amendment in their hands. He felt sure of thi-, that if they got nothing from the Government now they would never g«t it; and he believed Ms amendment would be more likely to be productive of good than the resolution of M.r Carpenter! Mr O'flaire said he would; second the motion, though ho did nofcr approve of it entirely. Still he agreed with the first part of it, and therefore he would second it. He must say he had never seen such conduct as had lately been exhibited at the Thames. Theyhad sent a petition containing a list of their grievances sufficient to condemn any Government, and yet they had praised that same Government when the question became one .of Abolition. This conduct was unmanly and unworthy. They now called a meeting to consider the subject of representation, and the proposer of a resolution actually said they should elect four members bound to support the Government. He considered that they wer« entitled to justice, and that being so they should set about obtaining it in a manly way—not go and beg for it. The latter part of the amendment certainly went further than he was prepared to go, but still he would second it as it had been put. Mr Rowe said he had not at first intended to speak on the subject at all, but he felt constrained to do so as an amendment had been put which, if carried, would put them all in a very wrong position. With the resolution he cordially agreed, it was a resolution of protest, and their duty was not only to protest but to continue protesting. If they united in their protest the protestrwouid have, some effect with the Government, but that effect would be increased or diminished in proportioa as they acted in. unison or not. That amendment made them partisans' of the Opposition (Mr Speight here disclaimed the idea of making themselves partisans) and they ought not to pledge themselves as partisans of any side. They had not met to strengthen the hands of any one but simply to strive for justice. He was much surprised at the conduct of the Ministry, for the proposed legislation did but increase the present injustice. The Government ought to have dealt with the.question comprehensively. Now was the proper time for the adjustment of representation. They were on every ground entitled to four members, and for this they ought to strive. They must do their own work and fight their own battles and not the battles of others; that work was to obtain adequate representa» tion. There did not exist in the Colony a district like the Thames which would rise to such importance, or where population would increase so rapidly. Mr Carpenter said he believed he had the right to reply as an amendme^had been made to his resolution. He "urged that the amendment dealt with other matters with which that meetjng had nothing to do. Mr O'Haire did not understand what he had said about returning four members pledged to support the Government. He had simply intended it in an ironical sense. They must remember tKat the Bill had now passed the second reading, and the principle was thus indorsed, therefore he thought that all that they could do was to protest. If they wanted to nail the Government let them do that on another night, and he would show them how. Mr Speight here wished to alter his amendment by striking out the words " or ! any other grievances." Mr Bagnall rose to explain that if this were done there was no reason why both the amendment and resolution should not be carried, and objected to the amendment being altered after Mr Carpenter had replied. Mr Kowe also rose to a point of order, that Mr Speight had no right to reply. His Worship the Mayor ruled that Mr Speight's alteration was out of order, and the amendment was then put as read. Nine hands—or including two held up by one gentleman present ten—were beUt up. for the amendment. , The resolution was then put, and carried by an overwhelming majority. Mr J. Gibbons then proposed that copies of the foregoing resolution be telegraphed by the chairman to Sir G. Grey, Major Atkinson, and Mr O'Neill. Mr Howe seconded the resolution, which was carried. A vote of thanks to the Mayor terniij uated the proceedings. . ■