HANSARD CHIPS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 241, 18 August 1879, Page 2

HANSARD CHIPS.

MR SHEEHAN ON 0. 0. DAVIS, •Well Sir, I am surprised that any person, even at the present time, should attempt any defence of the character of Mr 0. 0. Davis. The honourable gentleman knows what his character is, better than I do, and the whole country knows it. He is a man who has acquired a peculiar reputation amongst the Native people, because of the peculiar habit he has of going a long way round, instead of taking the straight road. What did I find when I came into office ? I found him negotiating for the purchase' of Native land, about which there seemed to be a great deal of trouble; and I have all the information necessary to bliow that he first made the trouble, and then professed to settle it. THE NATIVE MINISTER ON THE WAIRARAPA MAORIS, I will take the case of the Wairatapa settlement. I remember, year after year,

the Maori people coming with petitions from the Wairarapa, setting forth the nonfulfilment of promises made in respect of reserves—the non-fulfilment of conditions agreed upon. An officer of the department reports that in the Wairarapa district there are upwards of fifty well-founJLL ded cases of reserves which have teW promised to the Natives, and which haflPT never been given to them. In many these reserves are now in the hands of Europeans—of course bought from the Government at public auction, the Government having taken the lands and sold them, as the public estate. WAKEFIELD ON THE PREMIER. Sir, that was the kind of disunion that must have led every reasonable man to believe that sooner or later the Ministry would fall to pieces, and would lead the affairs of the country into utter disorder. |. What confidence could there have been in \ a leader of the Ministry who himself could intrigue secretly against the measures of his own colleagues 1 1 shall never forget that occasion, I shall never forget when the Attorney-General, who, with all his faults was one of the heartiest men in the House when he took a thing in hand -I shall never forget when he went, burning with rage, out of that door, declaring that he would resign the next moment: that he had never before been treated in such a manner. WHAT SIR GEORGE GREY'S SPEECHES COST THE COLONY. I know, said Mr Wakefield, of one case myself in which a capitalist of London was sending to this colony for investment a sum of £IOO,OOO, but at the very moment he was about sending the money—the draft was actually drawn—the mail from New Zealand came in with a copy of the Premier's speech. The gentleman, when ■ he read that, took back hie draft, and said, " Not a penny of my money goes to New Zealand it that is the state of affairs that exists." That is an absolute fact which can be proved. I could give the name of the capitalist if I pleased, and prove that the circumstances actually hap- . pened as I relate them,

KING OE NEW ZEALAND. What is the use, said Mr Hursthouse, of our passing Bills by majorities of this House if they can be treated in that way afterwards? Whether the Bill wasbad,good or indifferent, he was bound by his duty to the Government and to the country to send it to the Governor. If any other man in New Zealand had done what Sir George Grey did with that Bill, he would have been howled out of the country; but there is a scared halo round the Premier which no man feels inclined to break. HURSTHOUSE ON THE HONEST MAN OF OTAGO. Its recent additions have not strengthened the Ministry in my opinion, I see sitting before me a gentleman for whom I have always held the strongest respect until quite lately. Last session that honorable gentleman was prepared to speak and to vote against the men who are now his colleagues. He made the strongest speech that could have been made against the land tax, their only measure, And yet this " honeßt man of Otago" has taken his place in a Ministry which I sincerely hope will not long remain in office. WHERE THE SHOE PINCHES, \ . I have received several letters from jHk capitalists at home, I will refer to a let/W ter written by one gentleman, which runs as follows:—" The failures at Home, and particularly the failure of the Glasgow Bank, have shaken our belief in English investments. Many of us turn our eyes to the colonies. There are only two things which prevent a large influx of capital for investment into New Zealand ; one is the difficulty of realising upon English securities and investments without sacrificing a good deal, and the other is the Radical utterances and actions of the Premier,"—Mr Murray, YOUNG LIBERALISM, I can tell the Premier, said Mr Acton Adams, that years ago I looked up to him as one who might possibly be a leader of the Liberals in New Zealand ; but my feelings towards him have entirely changed in consequence of his autocratic action on occasions like the present one. I can tell him that he does not represent the young Liberal feeling of New Zealand to-day, There is a feeling of Liberalism throughout this colony which will not follow Sir George Grey, but will have leaders of its own. DEBT AND DANGER, We want money, said Dr Wallis, and we are ready to borrow it, blind to the ruinous consequences that must follow. Wc are like the ostrich in this respect, that we hide our heads in the sand, while Ruin, horsed upon Debt, is galloping up behind, I have long seen or fancied that in New Zealand our leading politicians and statesmen are laboring under a great delusion with regard to our debt,

INCIDENCE OF TAXATION, The adjustment of the incidence of taxation is nothing more nor less than increased taxation. It reminds me of the the fable of the two mice who discovered a cheese, and wished to divide it into two parts, They took it to Judge Eat—a gentleman who, by-the-by, has some blood relations in this House. Mr Rat put the two halves of the cheese into the scales. Weighed in the scales, one-half was found heavier than the other, and a piece was eaten off the heavier half by Mr Rat in order to equalize the two. Put into the scales again the other half proved heavier, and was eaten by Mr Rat into equality, and less than equality, And so Mr Rat went on eating, first this half and then from that half, until all was eaten, left nothing for the litigant mice. This V' fable is a parable and a prophecy ;• it X« teaches us how Ministers adjust the incicidence of taxation, and increase the taxation of the country. This year they discover that the masses are more heavily taxed than the richer classes, and they immediately propose an income-tax of a penny upon these richer classes. An income-tax, 'when once fastened on the people, can never be got rid of, andl it may be very easily afl Ministers require money, Kext, it is discovered that the masses are not sufficiently taxed, and, as they are taxed through the Customs duties, these are next largely augmented ; the richer classes are to be taxed more heavily next year: and so it goes on—masses and classes in turn, year after year.— Dr Wallis.