WELLINGTON.

Tuapeka Times, Volume V, Issue 243, 26 September 1872, Page 5

WELLINGTON.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

In reviewing the history of the past few weeks, since the vote of want-of-confidunce motion was tabled by Mr Stafford, it will not be out of place to ask what benefit the conntry has derived from it ? First, it has had the effect of delaying the business of the Legislature ; for in the Assembly it may be aaia no buoineas whatever has been transacted, navo a few questions answered by Ministers ; and in the Council such was the feeling of excitement and apparent apathy for business, that the Lords seem to have preferred hitting in tho galleries of the Assembly to getting through the work before them — their sittings during the debate being of a very spasmodic character ; so much *o ihat Major Kichardson (their Speaker) has been enjoying a trip to Wanganui overland, and has farored us in the columns of the Independent with a description of it, written in hid usual delightful aud skctuhy manner. Mr Stafford has declared, on taking his scat on the Ministerial Benches, that it is not his intention to prolong the session by attempting to carry through measures now before the House, but will only briug forward such that it may be absolutely necessary to pass. Mr Staffonl, as a matter of good policy, may bo right in this, as be ki.ows that many members are desirous to g t away from Wellington, and that he would not be well able to keep his party together for any length of time, as a single vote has become a necessity to carry on his Administration. That Administration, it is to be hoped, will be for the good of the country, and if so Mr btafford may rest assured chat no factious opposition will be given to him, notwithstanding the compact phalanx now in opposition. The desire of the Opposition is to watch and see that nothing will be done to undermine the great scheme, to which the country unmistakably gave in its adherence at the lait gtneral election. On this point Mr Stafford may rest assured that ' the present minority will act an 1 vote as one man. They cannot have faith in a Ministry such as he has surrounded himself with. The various conflicting views embraced in the members of the Ministry upon the policy of public works and immigration, the land question and settlement of people, and many other geucral questions of vital importance to the Colony, will require to be settled amongst the members of the present Cabinet ; but how the conflicting elements are to be reconciled, will be a puzzle even to Mr Stafford, with all his shrewdness. The party headed by Mr Stafford, having forced the late Ministry to retire, will now require to merge their differences into one common cav e. But here comes the difficulty, for we find that some hold very strong objections to tbe ultra-Provincial views, as shadowed forth by Mr Curtis in the motion he brought before the House, which is now generally known as the s- uperintendental motion — a movement which the House looked upon with grave suspicion, and which would have been kicked indignantly out of the House had it not been cunningly withdrawn. In the Cabinet, Messrs Fitzherbert, Gillies, and Eeid all hold these same ultra views ; Mr Stafford and Mr Se ell hold, on the other hand, the extreme opposite, aud the majority of their supporters hold by the views of Mr Stafford. Again, a number of members who supported the want of confidence motion did so only on the ground that they wished a change in the composition of the late Ministry. This apparently could not be given effect to by the means adopted, although it was believed the late Ministry would have given way to their wishes had not" tbe adverse vote been given. Such, then, being the position of the Ministry and Legislature, it is not very likely that any measures "of practical utility will be carried through this session at least, and the result of Mr Stafford's motion is just this : that a whole year will elapse before any kind of utilitanan measures wiU be brought before the House, and it may be that that useful measure " The Public Trusts Bill" and other measures passed by the House will be quietly dropped. Hence the result of the no confidence motion — a motion directed not against men but measures, as Mr Gillies tells the country, whereas, with a great deal of candour, Sir David Monro declares that he looked upon the motion as against men, not measures.

It will be unnecessary to traverse the speeches delivered, as the readers of the Star must be quite conversant with tho most of them. That of Mr Ormond's, however, must not be overlooked. Some members say if that speech had been delivered earlier it would have altered their vote ; but this is mere subterfuge, they had, at least most of them, pledged themselves to Mr Stafford, and it is only idle trying to blind themselves to the fact that they gave their votes to a foregone conclusion without a knowledge of facts. Mr Ormond had originally made his statement— a statement admitted by all reasonably thinking men, and even by his opponents, to be clear and intelligible. Afterwards, attack upon attack was made by various speakers,' who were either destitute of facts or wished to contort every action of Government into something apparently bad. Selfish, reckless, wanting in administrative capability, corrupt patronage in appointments and in printing, abuse, of press telegrams, and other charges were heaped upon

them with unsparing tongue by members of Opposition; and although supporters of Ministers were able and did reply t» the various charges made, it wjw lefc Mr Ormoncl as the last speaker from tho Ministerial Benches to take up the various charges in detaiL This he did in a long and eihaustive speech, and it was wonderful how easily he disproved statements and turned the gnus upon the enemy. Tbe charges made against the Government principally reflected on their administrative cipacity, and Mr Ormond said he held himself responsible for those charges. The main attack was upon the Brogden contracts. It was the desire of the House that a contract with that firm should be made on the basis of No. 2 contract, to the extent of one million, and both Air Stafford and Mr Gillies voted for the resolution last session, and they then stated that a system of smal: contracts would be ruinous in its results ; o i the other band Mr Fitzherbert stated that the contracts did not go far enough and that the contract should have been to the extent of two millions. Now, Mr Fitzherbcrt states that the Colony would be involved in a further liability of L 123.000 over the one million agreed to. After careful investigation, Mr Ormond said tho statement was wholly unfounded, as were many of the other extraordinary figures and statements brought forward by that gentleman — contracts had been placed in the hands of Messrs Krogden to the extent of L 750.000, and they would receive further contracts, so as t > make up the one million agreed t ■ by the House, but after that all contracts would be thrown open to public tender. The charge made was that the prices p*id for the works' were excessive. Mr Ormond asked how it could be decided. Oa the one side of the House were tho members for Taieri, Invercargill, a-id Wallace, while against them were the member for the Thames, ■ hristchurch, and New Plymouth, all professional engineers, who stated the price* to be reasonable, two of them declaring they would not like to be partners in the contracts. Mr Ormond had acted on the advice of the engineer in chief, and it was not right that the House should be swayed by the opinions of non-pro-fessionals against the opinions of men with high professional attainments. The point that had been attempted to be made that some Dunedin contractors had offered to tender for the lines at lower rates, Mr Ormond disposed of by shewing that these contractors had never si/eu the specifications. The sporting offeM of Messrs Proudfoot and Co., to construct the Otago lines from 74 per cent-, below Messrs Brogden's p. ices, and that of Messrs Forrest and Co., to construct any lines in the Colony at 10 per cent, below Messrs Brogden, he contended should have not the slightest weight in. the minds of members, and were unfairly made use of to influence the debate. That opinion, every reasonable thinking man outside of Parliament will no doubt assent to, as it is known full well, that these contractors were quite aware of the arrangement come to last September by the House, viz , that Messrs Brogden were to have the offer of the first contracts up to one million of money, so that any offer made by others could not be bona fide, luit only Bporting ones, as Mr i rmond happily stated. Mr Stafford had accused tho Government that they had information of the likelihood of a rise in price of railway iron. Mr Ormond denied that ; but even had it been so, he asked, would the Government have been justified in entering into an iron speculation ? Mr Stafford himself would have been the first to condemn it. Vne of Mr Stafford's accusations against Ministers wis that a Superintendent of a Province held office as one of them, and declared he woul 1 not tolerate such a state of affairs. He would not have any Superintendents of P. ovinces as members of any Ministry. This Air Ormond also explained. He accepted office on the understanding that he should resign the Supcrinteudency, but occurrtnecs of a comp.icated character had arisen in his Province with the during his absence, owing to tho intrigues of a European, which had led to great discontent, and even danger of a rupture between the races ; so much so, that hostile feelings had not been so strong since the time the Government went into office. It was only owing to urgent representations from leading colonists and chiefs that he had not resigned the Superiutendency. He had, however, given notice to the Government to refi 1 his place by another on the Government benches, as he could not refuse the request made to him to remain by his Province under the critical circumstances. What will Mr Stafford say, or how will he g-t out of the dilemma of his appointment to the Ministerial Benches of three Superintendents and one Provincial Executive officer, they declaring they will not resign during the session. Truly, Mr Stafford, " your lines have fallen in pleasant places !" and it will l>e pleasing to learn how he can make his crooked paths straight. The condemnation of the Immigration Agency arrangements was thoroughly exposed by Mr Ormond, and the result shows hovr ignorance may do evil and mischief. Three tenders had been sent in for the conveyance of passengers from Great Britain, viz., P. Henderson and Co., Shaw, Saville and Co., and Gibbs, Bright aud Co. It has been elicited that these tenders were cooked. Henderson and Co. were to have the whole of the Scotch emigration, Sbaw, Savtlle the whole of the English emigration, they undertaking to pay to Gibbs, Bright, and Co. a commission on every transaction. The Agent-General rejected the whole of the tenders, and then Gibbs, Bright, and Co. complained they had been sold. When freed from the compact, the latter firm sent their agent (Mr Sloman) to make terms with the Agent-General for carriage of emigrants ; but, as soon as Shaw, Saville, and Co. found this out, they despatched an a«ent to Mr ? lonian, offering him an amount to withdraw, which Mr Sloman admits was more than be could have reasonably expected to make out of the contract which he had arranged for with the Agent-General. Mr Sloman, however, declined to withdraw from his agree- , ment, and declined Shaw, Saville, and Co.'s offer as made through their agent. The result is that the passage money is now reduced to £13, the same price having been offered to Messrs P. Henderson and Co., which they refused to accept. In allusion to the nationalities, m r Rolleston objected to Norwegians, <&c , but they had already proved themselves well adapted to the utilisation of thecountiy upon which they had been located, and which otherwise would not be occupied.