MR KYNNERSLEY ON WESTLAND BOUNDARIES' BILL.

Westport Times, Volume IV, Issue 720, 6 October 1870, Page 2

MR KYNNERSLEY ON WESTLAND BOUNDARIES' BILL.

(From Hansard.)

The following speech of Mr Kvnnersley explains his previous conduct in connection with this bill:—

He said he would certainly oppose the motion of the Colonial Treasurer, that the order of the day be discharged. Before going into the merits of the Bill he would say a few words with regard to the action he had taken on the previous day, and in reference to the remarks of the Colonial Treasurer. He adopted on the previous day, with great regret, the very extreme and unusual course of obstructing the Government business. He had stated on the previous day that he intended to do so, unless the County of Westland Boundary and Government Bill was brought before the House. He very much regretted having to take that course, but he did so because there was a great principle at stake. The people of the County of Westland had sent petitions to the House for the last three years, and they had sent up this year a petition signed by 2000 of the most respectable inhabitants in the district, which was referred to a select Committee, who reported favorably. Now, he considered that a petition setting forth a grievance from so many inhabitants of a district, who had petitioned the House for three vears for the remedy of the same grievance, should be brought before the House and considered. That was the point for which he was contending on the previous day, and the fact of the petition not having received that consideration at the hands of the House to which it was entitled, was the only reason which induced him to adopt the extreme and unusual course which he did. He was not altogether satisfied with the Bill. He would vote for it if it came before the House, but he did not consider that it was altogether satisfactory; at any rate, it was certainly not satisfactory to him. He had to choose one of two courses either to put the House to inconvenience, or to cause great discontent in the district which was interested, by allowing the petition of the inhabitants to be burked. The Colonial Treasurer had stated that the House was disgusted with the action taken by himself and his honorable friend the member for "Westland Boroughs. If they were disgusted, it was with the action of the Government, which had forced himself and his honorable friend to take the course which they did He had never stated, as the Colonial Treasurer had hinted, that the Government had been guilty of a breach of faith with him; he said that they had been guilty of a breach of faith with the honorable member for Westland Boroughs and his constituents. The Treasurer had stated that, in an interview with himself and the honorable member for Westland Boroughs, he understood that he (Mr Kynnersley) was not going to support the Bill before the House. He was sorry the honorable member had misunderstood him; but he told the honorable member what he had told the people of Greymouth when the petition was being signed—that the annexation of the Grey to the Province of Nel son was not the most satisfactory way of bringing both sides of the Grey Valley under one form of government, but that it was his intention to Bupport any measure which would accomplish that end. He told the honorable member that he considered the provincial form of Government totally unsuited to the circumstances of the West

Coast, and that if the Grey were annexed to Nekon in the manner proposed in the Bill, before twelve months had elapsed there would be the same animosity between Greymouth and Nelson, as formerly existed between Hokitika and Christchurch; but at the same time he would support any proposal for bringing both sides of the Grey Valley under one form of government. The Colonial Treasurer had indulged in a great number of personal allusions to what he characterized as disgraceful proceedings, and had attributed his conduct to youth, and inexperience, and so on. He did not care about going into those wretched personalities, and thought it was a lamentable state of things when the welfare and progress of one of the finest districts in the Colony should depend upon whether one or two representatives of that district happened to be on good terms with the Colonial Treasurer, or happened to support the Government or oppose it. He stated on a former occasion, that the Government had been guilty of a breach of faith towards the inhabitants of the Grey distriet. He came to that conclusion because he knew it was the intention of the honorable member for Westland Boroughs to have brought the petition before the House, and have endeavored to obtain a remedy for the grievance complained of; but the Colonial Treasurer took the matter out of his hands, and not only told that honorable member, but stated in the House, that the County of West. land Boundary and Government Bill, for the annexation of the districts in question to Nelson, should be a Gevernment measure. The Government brought in the Bill, and it was read a first time on the 22nd August, and it had been on the order paper ever since. It was considered so safe as a Government measure that hia honorable friend the member for Westland Boroughs telegraphed to his constituents that the matter was as good as settled; and now, within two or three days of the end of the session, the Colonial Treasurer told the honorable member that it was not the intention of the Government to proceed with the measure. He considered that that was a breach of faith with the honorable member, for if the matter had not been taken out of the honorable member's hands, it would have been brought before the House long ago, and settled one way or the other. If it had not been for the action his honorable friend and himself had taken on the previous day, the bill would not have been brought forward at all. He considered that, under the circumstances, he was perfectly justified in using the strong language which he had used in reference to the conduct of the Government in the matter.