WELLINGTON.

Tuapeka Times, Volume V, Issue 246, 17 October 1872, Page 5

WELLINGTON.

[From the Evening Star's Correspondent.)

October 3.

When Mr Reynolds characterised the motion introduced to the House by Mr Fitz-' nerbert — to the effect "That a Committee be appointed to investigate the claims and accounts between the Colony and .the Province of Wellington"— as the most barefaced proposal that had ever been before the House, he did not at all hit beyend the mark, and, as Mr Fox stated, it was only another of those cases in which he regretted to say the wide-mouthed advocacy of the member for Wairarapa, Mr Bunny (who'is also Provincial Secretary), did more to injure the Province of Wellington than its worst enemies could do. The facts are these : Amongst many other claims brought forward by the Superintendent of Wellington, one was a claim for payment of some lI,OOC acres of land that the Native Minister had given back to the Natives so as to settle the longstanding dispute regarding the Manawatu block purchased by Dr Featherston, and which, as the readers of the Star will remember, was nigh causing another war with the Natives of that district, report after report coming to Dunedin that, unless the dispute was settled by compromise, fighting was inevitable. Evidently, from wbat has transpired, it did not matter what cost the whole country was put to, so long as these Wellington cormorants carried out their own ideas. Just imagine 11,000 acres against a probable cost of two or three hundred thousand pounds, with loss of life, and keeping, back the settlement of the country for no end 1 of time ! Te go into tbe whole story of this long-standing dispute between the Maoris and Dr Featherston, as the then Superintendent of Wellington, would be superfluous • suffice it to say, matters were becoming very serious, and the peace, not only of this particular part of the Wellington province, but of the most of the North Island was becoming critical, when Mr Waring Taylor, the then Deputy-Superintendent, in conjunction with the Provincial Secretary, Mr Haleombe, implored Mr Fox in the most earnest manner to endeavour to get the dispute settled, and to induce Mr M'Lean, the Native Minister, to take the matter in hand. Mr Fox at that time raised objections or the score that the Government did nob wish to inteifftie, and it ma only after a great deal of pressnre -that the Native Minister consented to act. He received carte blanclie fron the Provincial authorities ; there was no reservation of any kind ; they absolutely, desired him to go at any cost, and the" result was that by giving back to the Maoris 11,000 acres more than that agreed ' to' by Dr Featherston, the difficulty was "Set at rest, and peace, instead of being broken, tending to bloodshed and war, at an immense cost to the country, of which the Middle Island would require to' bear the lion's ' share, was thoroughly established. For years no settlement took place upon these lands, but now Col. Fielding has made his purchase in this block, .and Scandinavians were settled on other portions without any interference on the part of the Natives. -'' Such was the result of Mr M 'Lean's settlement of the dispute. The dispute so settled has enabled the Wellington Province quietly to dispose of these lands, and what is asked is that the Colony should pay' to the "Province of Wellington LI per acre for this land handed back to the Maoris— land be it remembered in dispute. Mr Yogel said he knew of no reason why the House should be called upon to appoint a committee of the kind. It was clearly the 'duty of the Colonial Treasurer to decide upon disputes, in matters of account between the Provinces and the Colony, but if it was found that he was unable to deal with them, the orders of the House provided another tribunal, viz., the Public Accounts Committee ; thus leaving it open io him to refer such matters to that committee without coming to tbe House. Mr Bunny maintained that the accounts were such, as the Treasurer ought not to decide on his own responsibility. The claim in connection with the Manawatu land claims was one involving seiioiis consideration, and formed a very proper matter to refer to a select committee. Mr Stafford admitted that he had no knowledge of the matters which it was 'proposed to place "before the committee, tmfonought, looking to -what had been shown, there should bend objection to the appointment of- the" select committee; Mr Brown,' Canterbury, could not help remarking that the prophecy of- the member for Clive, Mr Ormond, had not waited long for verification./ He .told the House before the late-Government vent out.of .office what they miaht expect when the Jiuperintendent of Wellington jgoi.,o.n to the. Gbyerntnent benches, and. the. Proyihcial"' Secretary remained to.' urge- demandi on. behalf of the Province. -This was the arst instance of the correctness of that prediction and others would quickly follow. Tue'motion appeared to be written by the hon,\ member for the Waiarapa and taken to the^hou. member for the Hutt, a Minister of theUrown, who pro* powd to. It looked very \nuch as if the

Minister for Lands and. Immigration vrak Asking for tlie appointment of a cpmmittee to inquire into' claims made by himself as Superintendent against himself as Minister of the Crown. The Government should have themselves performed the duty of making the inquiry, and then have informed the House whether they had formed an opinion on, the subject. It was for the Treasurer to make up hi 3 mind upon the subject in ttie tit st "instance, and then if the Province refused to accept his decision, to corns to the House and ask that some other mode of settlement should be adopted. Some of the claims had been standing over for five or six years, and had been considered as finally disposed of by the previous Government, only the P- ovincial Government; -weuldnot accept the decision. Apparently it did not suit the purpose of the Provincial authorities to do so until <he member for the Hutt should again b'.coine a Minister. Air Shepherd objected to the composition of the Committee as being one-sided. He admitted that the settlement of the dispute benefited the Colony indirectly, but at the same time the Province of Welligton had reaped a great advantage from it 3 settlement. Jt was, however, a thorough Wellington trick, to try and get a pound for something for which it had given half-a-crown. So it was that the ball rolled, and the Province of Welling, ton was gradually attaining a very peculiar character in the eyes of lion, members. 110 moved an amendment, to the effect "That the claims and accounts between the Colony and the Province of Wellington be referred to the Public Accounts Committee." On the 26th the same subject was a^ain before the House, the previous debate having beou interrupted, when Mr Fitzherbert said, having looked into the duties of the Public Accounts Committee, he found, by resolutions adopted in 1870, that such Committee were instructed to inquire into and report upon differences such as this, he would amend his motion soas to refer the matters of account to the hiuance Committee, leaving the Mauawatu question to be dealt with by the Committee now asked for. Several members apoke against agreeing to any «om mittee until they knew the claims that required investigation, and the House put in possession of the requisite information. They also spoke against the c institution of the <'ommittee, seven members of it being on the Government side and four on the Opposition, the Provincial Secretary of Wellington being one of them, and virtually acting as a judge on the questions of dispute brought forward by himself. Mr Fitzherbert said he hoped to be in a position to lay the necessary papers on the table next sitting day, trusting the House would grant him the Committee. The debate that ensued turned principally on the fact that no decision should be arrived at until the House was in possession of the claims and accounts, Major Jackson asserting that the House might be drifting into an Alabama affair, and have indirect damages included in the claims. Messrs Reid, Stafford, and Oillies supported their colleague's motion, Mr Stafford asserting, however, that so far as he had yet been able to form an opinion, it was in opposition to the claim of the Province of Wellington in the Manawatu case, and Mr Fox asserting that, while he wishful to s»e justice done to the Province of Wellington, there should be no injustice done to ! the Colony, and pointed out that the disIcussion now going on was an illustration that they should not discuss the matter until j the papers were laid on the table. The Native member, Parata. objected to the motion, on the ground that it was not right, to raise any objection to the action of the late Government. If the lands had not been given back by the late Native Minister, there would have been trouble about the matter still, and the question would not have been settled. He hoped the giving back of that land would be final, and that no forther question should be raised in regard to it. ! There can be no doubt that the Government have taken up a wrong position in supI porting the motion of their colleague, as the j late Government had declared the olaim prej ferred inadmissable, and it was believed by them that it had been abandoned as a demand altogether too ridiculous and untenable. 'lhis is an illustration why Superintendents should not be upon the Government benches, and although tho Premier stated that it would not be brought forward as a Government question, he was giving it all the weight which the Government opuld afford by their votes and support otherwise. In fact, Mr Stafford showed, the cloven foot when he found the House de-. termined not to allow the motion to be passed until papers were on the table, and in a passion declared that it was the intention of some members to talk it out of the House, the hour for proceeding to the Orders of the Day being close at hand, and that he vronld take the question np as a Government question, and make it the firsb Order of the Ti a y for Tuesday, which he could do without consulting the House. Tuesdays and Fridays being Government days, this he could have done; but evidently the Premier thought better of it, and that it would not do to beard the House, as on Tuesday nothing was heard of it.

Cctober 5.

It is unnecessary for me to give you a summary of proceedings that took place in the House last night, as you will have all the information in the columns of the Independent. . _ . Mr Vogel's speech, vindicating himself as Treasurer and Mr Ormonde as Minister of Public Works, were well^riceived The castigation he gave to the gentlemen on the Ministerial benches was thoroughly appreciated, and caused much amusement, Purely a well-educated people, like those who are denizens of Dunedin and its suburbs, will have seen ere" this through the flimsy veil of that party who condemned the Fox- Vogel Administration. In everything they have taken up the views of the late Government, so far as immigration and public works are concerned ; but can a set of mea who originally condemned that policy be in earnest in carrying it out to a successful issue? If they are honest men they cannot do so. The question is, are they honest? I, for my part, do not believe in their sincerity. The elements of which the Government were composed, are such that it would be impossible for them to be sincere — and to destroy the scheme would be simply suicide. Well, they have, through the arrogance displayed by them in the short time, they have been in office, shown their unfitness to rule over tbe destinies of a country whose future, ' as Anthony Trollope has .said, will be great if properly developed by railways and roads ; and the 'representatives of the people, by | their late vote, have come to that conclusion. The promises abundantly showered forth by Stafford And Co. to secure the votes of representatives, they • have already. sf en, in the twenty-eight days the Government have held office, to be mere moonshine ;. and, had it not been that the.. cunning of .'the acute statesman Stafford had secured the written pledge of members for the session, tliG "majority on this occasion would have been Very much greater. Now they have, from the defeat of the Stafford party as a Government, been relieved of that pledge, and the future Administration will rapidly acquire strength from the ranks of the motley party. The scene iv the House last night, notwithstanding that there was no expectatum of a division being called, was equal to that on the former division of "no confidence." The Upper .House— at all events, all that w>uW get admje»ion— were there ta hear Mr

Yogel, and it was a surprise when Mr Yogel sat' down that a- call was made fora division. It was the usual party tact ic3 —thinking that their opponents were not' prepared for them ; but in this t hey made a mistake. An adjournment for twenty minutes was called for, which gave an opportunity to collect the forces. On the Speaker taking the chair, one of the Government supporters appeared to bo absent, and Mr Stafford, who wo.uld not reply, ross to s\y a few words to gain time. The member, however, quickly appeared, and, on the Government whip going to hrn, and, in a voice that many could hear, telling him that the party were all in the House, Mr Stafford sat down. The division list shows the Jesuit. The cheering that took place wa3 loud, prolonged, and so joined in by the strangers' gallery, that rather astonished the discomfited party, who slunk off, Mid were seen no- more in the House, whilst the majority made a jubilee of it.