Evening Sitting.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3863, 2 October 1879, Page 2

Evening Sitting.

The House resumed at 7.30. Col. Trimble continued the debate. The position of nutire affairs was the direct sequence of the stoppage of surveyors, and then putting the lands into the market at £5 was a mistake, inasmuch as that it left the impression on the public mind that there was danger iv occupying these lands, as they were worth at icast £10 per acre afterwards. The withdrawal ot' these lands from sale operated adversely upon the uative mind, kud the proceeding was io Ytcillatiug that

they saw the Government had no mind of its own in the matter, or either ihut it could not trust itself to carry out its own intentions. He believed that eacli member of the Government was doing his duty according to bin lights, but these lights were notbint* better than darkness. Referring to the question .of manhood suffrage he said that what was required wbh an honest electoral bill, and not a contradictory measure such as they had now to deal with. In his own district there were no fewer than 600 freeholders who were not on the roll, and that was on account of the contradictory character of the measure at present in force. He was favorably disposed to redistribution of seats, and counselled them in fixing the boundaries of the districts to fix upon natural boundaries irrespective of every other consideration, by that means a community of interest would be maintained instead of a division as waa too often the case. He was likewise in favor of triennial parliaments, and everyone on his side of the House had expressed similar opinions. He did not believe the Liberal party so called in New Zealand was honest in its pretensions, if they had been honest how was it that no attempt had ever been made to repeal the law of entail, which was still in operation iv this colony. Mr Moss said complaints had been made by the previous speaker about the upset price of Waimate lands being fixed at £5. If the Government were permitted to put up the land by auction it was bound to reach its market value independently altogether of the upset price. This was the first time he had been made aware of the fact that the law of entail applied to .New Zealand. He reminded them, however, that the Government had been instrumental in getting a measure passed for placing the descent of real property on the same footing as personal property. The Government did not envy any man his large estate, nor did they wish by unfair means to curtail these estates, but what they desired to avoid was to prevent owners of these estates from getting more than a fair voice iv the legislature. Tho aggregate holdings in New Zealand showed that a very few individuals held as much as 2| j million acres, and the result won d be in j a 100 years hence that if these individuals had too much to say in the Legislature all the evils of the property system of the old country would be established in thi« colony. Referring to the Native question the Speaker said that the House had demanded that these affairs should be treated in a pacific manner, and it was argued that these measures were absolutely necessary for the success of the loan scheme, and what did they hear? They heard the Government blamed because it had not rushed the colony into a war with the natives. HY did apt feel disposed to say muehashe had during the previous session gone over the ground, and was in danger of repeating what he had already said. He contended, how-, ever, that this was the only Government that had ever shown any disposition to advance Liberal measures. Com* plaints had been made of unfair dealing towarda the civii service, but the facts were, that previous Governments had latterly filled every office with men imported from England to the detriment of men equally well qualified to discharge such duties in the colony. Once break up the Liberal party on those benches and it would be a very difficult matter indeed to rally it a^ain, and the charges put forward were far too trifling to warrant such an experiment being made. >' The Hon. Mr Gisborne contended that if the charges levelled against the Government iv the last want of confidence motion had been sustained by the verdict of the electors, the majority would have been a great deal more than the fourteen they secured on that occasion. Now, the fact was, that the most the Opposition now claimed was a majority of four, and that, to his mind, was conclusive evidence that the country, when appealed to, did not considered the Government guilty of the charges made against them. The position of the Opposition was this: They said, " We'll take your place, and pass your policy." It was a proposal unprecedented ■in the history of Parliamentary proceedings. They had no guarantee that the Opposition, if they came into posver, would give effect to the Liberal* policy they professed to espouse. It was a well known fact that they wished the system of private negotiations for lands to go on, as hud been the case in the past. He would warn new members to be careful before taking the false step they were asked to take, and he cautioned them against sacrificing their Liberal measures to any personal prejudice they might entertain. [Left sitting.]