MR. W. T. BUCKLAND AT THE FRANKLIN NOMINATION.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 571, 18 January 1876, Page 1 (Supplement)

MR. W. T. BUCKLAND AT THE FRANKLIN NOMINATION.

But mbsequently, before any rent became duo, Captain Holt sold tho run to a gentleman in London, dnd that gentleman sent out to Mr George, who was rending in Auckland, to go and take possession of the run, the rental of which was something like £200 or £800 » year. The nativei being assured that the rental was to be ptid went to Napier, and bypstheoated the rental for two yean to obtain food, of whioh they were in need. But when tho first year's rent became due nothing was forthcoming. The oreditors* beoame clamourous, and induced the native* to giro a mortgage over the land for the •mount due, and th« natives word afraid that they would foreclose upon the land. Twelve months had passed away and no rent had been paid, when the natives came to me, and said, "What can we do ?" I said, " Offer yotlr land to the Government." Tho land was immediately offered for sale to Mr Ormond, who was Government agent for the district. Ho said under tho ousting arrangements the General Government could not buy land in any of the provinces without the conaent of tho Superintendent of tho provlnoo in whioh tho land was situated. Btit ho said I iwill immediately apply to Mr Gillies, and jf hf 8 willing to give you Is 6dnn acre, the price asked, I will endeavour to make a bargain. Next day a telegram came from Mr Ormond to Bay Mr Gilles teleg.-pbs that ?n tho present eUto of the province's finances he ia not justified in buying land that is not needed for immediate settlement, and in any onne bo woulrl not giTo more than Is an acre for tho land. Tho natives were in fear that the land would bo offered and bought in by the mortgagee to got them out of then" difficulties. One portion of tho land I I ught tho fee simple of, the greatest pat of it I loasrd. I paid off all the debts of the Maoris, and freed them from the liabilitioi, and they were perfectly satisfied with my transaction. This was in 1872. In 1878, vthen I attended in my placo in Parliament, there was an alteration made in the mode of acquiring lands. The House voted a sum of money, and the General Government was instructed to purchase lands in tho provinces, irrespective of th« Superintendents. I wont to Sir Donald McLean, and aaid, " Hero is somo land ; I acquired it to get the natives out of a difficulty. You can hare it, and you will get it cheaper than you can acquire it from tho natives. Give me 2« an acre ; it is good country land." lie closed a bargain, and was very glad to do it, I had leased 20,000 acres, whicti I agreod to hand over to tho Government for £50. Now in acquiring thoso lands I had tray. I'ed moro than a thousand miles I went to Wellington once, to Napior twice, and three times to Taupo , paid solicilo.s' fees, and tho exp mos of an interpreter and natiro agent. I said to the Government, " I don't want the land ; give me £50 for the interest of my lease," for which Captain Holt had agreed to give about £200 a year. I up the whole of my time for three months, and the whole of my expenses, for £50 ; and for this lam accused now of a plot to sell myieh to tho Government of tho day, end all sorts of t lungs. But who was the parly who Deceived the natives, when land had been leased from them ? It was that same person who hat been vilify ins me— i fc Wft ' SirGeo go Groy himcelf (Cheers.) It was ho who b oke faith with the nativoJ, but who now acciifos mo of dishonourable lonauct in a transaciion of which I made nothng, but gave up my time and money. I say 't is due to myself, in the matter of this lease, to the pe.itlempn who proposod mo, and to the electors of this province, who continuously gave me the ; r confidence for tho last 20 years, that I sLould show that their confidence has been justified. When I made this offer to tho Government I was opposed to them I had been opposed to the Vo^cl policy, and should bo opposed to them if I were sitting there again During the session of 1873, and dur'lig the time this negotiation was pending, I was opoosed to tho Government. In tho session of 187-4 the Government always found mo opposed to them. In 1875, two years after that transaction was completed, I voted for them. I will toll you why. I did not alter my position, but they altered the\rs. The Vogol Ministry was not brought in upon the question of the public works and immigration policy, but purely upon tho question of the abolition of tho piovincei. Mr Stafford, who had been Premier for oevcral years was gradually preparing tho way for the abolition of the Provincial system. Mr Fox flaw what was coming, anct endeavoured to obtain a party in the House, and ho Ousted Mr Stafford purely upon the question of the abolition of tho provinces. After, tho Ministry had been formed, he raised hii question of pubho works, but the policy was started by Mr Stafford who proposed t6' borrow £2,000,000 but the Fox Ministry wished to bid higher ard they proposed to borrow £10,000,00 ('. But the original proposal wasatartod by Mr Stafford. One reason, 1 believe why Mr Fox retired from public life, waa that ho saw it v»as simply impossible to curry on the Provincial system with the existing finances, and that the Provinces must be abo^shnd. H«< had been so many yoars tho advocate of tho Provincial system, and finding that it had to be swept away, he retired from politics, and went home. H« would not be a party to destroy those institutions for which ho had been an advocate for so many years, and ho went away and left tho Government to strike the blow. The Ministry shifted their ground, and obtained me as their supporter, who had always been from the commencement an opponent of the Provincial system. I believe tho formation of the provinces ia the first instance by Sir George Grey vt&a a fatal error. It actually necessitated the localisation of the land revenue. It vas said in the very first session that the Provincial system necessitated that localisation, and it has proved bo. Then arose the question of what waa tho best bargain that could be made berween the v*nous provinces. Tho three F's. »s they were then called — Fox, Featherstohe, and Fitzherbcrt— with three or four other leading men of the South, said, 14 We are one colony ; let us make the land fund colonial revenue, aud tat a half- crown of the proceeds of each aero that is sold go towards the expenses in connection with the maintenance of the General Government." " But, said Mr Whitaker, "we in tho Province of Auckland want to localize our land revenue ; we in Auckland have got something like £40,000 standing to our credit, and you want to take that away from us." " Yes," they said, "we want to tako that ; it is part of the price the old New Zealand Company require to get for assisting us in obtaining the Constitution Act." I am now aisuming that you are as well acquainted with the history of tho Constitution Act as I am. Mr Gordon : We know nothing about it. Mr Buckland : Well, Id 6 not wuh to weary you with that— (cries of "Goon.") Well, if laball hot treepas* upon your patience, I will tell you something that m»y not be familiar to all of you. New Zealand was principally sottled first by a oompany of gentlemen at homo, started for the purpose of colonising New Zealand. Tbo Government immediately started at this end of tho colony in opposition to thoie at the other end,

Thb speech of Mr Buckland U of iuch general interest, and contains much of historical interest M regardi the oarly career of the colony, that we have reprinted it from the "Crow" as amended by the revision of Mr Buckland himself. Mr W T Buckland said: Mr Keluming Officer and gentlemen,— You must be .very weary with all these speeches, io I will detain you ai shortly as possible I must fir»t offer my thanks to thoie two genlleu.fn who proposed and seconded me. After the way in which my dbaraoter has been spoken of in some of the Auckland paperfl, and after the way that Sir George Grey's Central Political Committee has ■poken of it, it seems to me extraordinary that we could find two gentlemen who could have the assurance to stand up here and propose a man who has been accused of telling himself to the Government, and of all sorts of high crimes and misdemeanours. My friend — I will not call him my friend— Mr Woodward has called me a criminal, and lam j>ut down as a scabby sheep and all aorta of things. I suppose I ought to ' el like Topsy, mighty wicked, but I cannot say that I do feel so, and I feel proud that two gentlemen of respectability and stand-ng in the community have indicated by thoir proposing and seconding me that they do not believe in the charges that have been made against me. I feel iure when I tell you the truth in connection with those chargei, I feel *ure you will say I am more sinned against than inning. I have Served this constituency for 20 years— (loud cheers) — and during the whole of that time I have served it to the best of my ability for the Advancement of its interests, never caring a tingle button about my own. I think, in justice to myself, 1 should go through the history of those matters td whioh allusion has been made by Mr Lusk and Mr Woodward. It is simply this : Soiue few years ago a native chief, named Hopepa Tammamutu, whom 1 had known for Several years, came to nib and said he was in gfeat difficult „ and asked me if I could do anything ia g«t him out! of them. He bad leased a run in the neighbourhood of Taupo to a Captain Holt, who Bad got th» land surveyed, passed through th« Native Land Court and the lease promade out ia favour of himself*

the Government carrying on operations in Auckland and the company in Wellington. By and by a constitution was granted to New Zealand, but the New Zealand Company bad large influence in the House of Commons, and thoy bargained that £200,000 should be paid to them in pursuance of the arrangemeat of grant Mg tho now Con->iitutio 1 Act, and that ono-fourth of tho proceeds of the sttlo of land, being really their due, should go in liquidation of the claims of thu company. We had then £15,000 in our coffers in Auckland, and it wa3 s»id that this sum should bo sent home in liquidation of tho claims of this company in respect to a debt with which wo h,id nothing to do. Sir Georgo Grey 1 hen said the lind fund shall be localised, and (he £45 000 shall bo givea to Auckland, and shall not go to tho fund for liquidating these claimi«, and positively refused to allow it during tiio time he remained Gorernor. His successor Governor Browne, acting upon positive instructions received from the ministry at Home, pa-d tho money o\er to the credit, of tho company. After some weeks of talk, a propoial wa3 made by Messrs Sewell and Wbitakor, that balf a mOlion of moiioy should bo bonowed, that the £*!5,000 should be re-funded to Aucklaud, and t'lat £90,000 should be exponded in tho purehaie of land to mate a colonial estate in this island ; £200,000 out of the £500 000 being paid to the New Zealjvad Land Company. Tho £200,000 wai clmved ngam^t the three p/ovinces of the Middle Island. That ariangement was ea ried out. loyally by the South. We made a foolish bargain, and wo n >w sry the land revonuo should bo the propei tv of the colony. Well, I a ree with you in t hit ; they have had a very good innings in the South, and it is time that we had our sliaio. But whon you t.ilk of "robbery" by tho South, 1 say it is not true. Wo mnde a fair bargain, though it was a foolish bargain on ou • side ; but if wo want now *o draw out of that bargain let us do so without calling hard names. (Hear, hear.) Mr Albin Martin : Mr John Williamson had something to do with it. Mr Buckland : Yes, ho had a good deal to do with it. It was his paper — the " Now Zeulandor" - and Sir George Grey himself that were largely instrumental in bringing -ho arrangement about. I .-an point to one thing in which I attempted to do some little good. It has been said of mo that when I was down South, that I did nothing towards the local requirements. I lemombcr very well that just previous to tl c war, or during tho timu of tho war, the Governim nt were exceed ingly desirous of getting a mounted force. Tbo Lito Colonol Nixon was very active in organising that foicc, by going round to the settlers who weie f irmers in tho neighbourhood, and inducing them to join. Sir Geoigo Grey had authorised him to raise a Defence Force, upon the conditi >ns tbat tho men who joined the lorco were to get certain land. Colonel Nixon org^ni^ed the Do fenco Foico m 18G3, after having recoivod instructions to offer the men certain land and ccrtam pay. I recollect siyin;* to linn, '■ But are you certain to get this laud ? ' He &a;d. " I am qi'ite sure. 1 will not truet to the MmUtrv, who are in to-day and out to-moriow, but I have got the word <>f the Governor." Colonel Nixon died from wounds received in action. The force did good service. There wiu no force that did more sorvico than the Defcnco Force. Well, when application was made for the land they were naked " What have you got to show for it ?" Tin Govcinracut-eoid "Colonel Nixon said so audio." They said " 13ut what proot havo you got ot that. You should have hal some paper to show." Sir GcorjO Giey hud then left tl o roloi y, and was in England. Ho came back and the matter wan reprcoiitod to him, but ho made evasive auswe s un'l the land ncvor could bo got. I made repeated applications for the land, and la*l session I spoke about it. I remember I was going ono day to see Sir George Grey on tho matter, wheu I met a friend, and I told him what my object was. Ho said " You needn't go. I have usked Orey about it. lie lccollccts the whole affair, and says tho men should have got the land long; ago." I then went to Sir Donald McLean, and Ijp said, " Well, it that is the case tho men must have tho land." Instead of that, two dajs nfterwards 1 received a letter, in wlrieh a lotlor of Sir George Grey's was enclosed, and in which ho said he had never made any aridiigoment of the sort. Is that tho character of » man of honour? When Sir George Giey •ays Colonel Nixon told a he, and iays he never ottered that land, I say he is insulting the memory of a gallant soldier, und I stand up here to vindioto his character frstn an attack Yiko that. (Cheers.) Colonol Nixon said, "I will not trust to the Ministry, I have got tho promise of the Governor himself." Now I tee there is something like a Grey-fever attacking tho community, and my own impiossion is that it is veiy nearly as bad as the yellow fever in some climates, and at fi\tal to our welfare as that, io to physical health. (Hear, hear.) But I have an antidoto to that fever, and it is the recolleotion of the past effeot of Sir Georgo Grey's policy in this colony. I know overy ono of his aots, and I trace nearly all tho misfortunes of this colony to fcir George Grey. It baa been siid truly that there was a time when you could not get threo half-crowns in Auckland. Money was being brought into the colony by many people who went away becmso the lands of the colony were loCKed up, and people were unable to ge*. any. Governor Fitzroy allowed people to buy lands from the natives, which altered tho wuolo circumstance of the country. People came with capftal, money was flowing into the country and everything was prosperous. (Interruption.) Ihe Returning Officer : Policeman, will you rcmovo that man, pleaie. (Tho policeman here removed a person who had been brought in by several otheiS Irooi Onehung«, and Whose business it appeared to be to endeavour to disturb the speaker.) Mr Buckland : Lot him stay, he'll got quiet. Sir Geoigo Grey talks very largely about hohe-ty and honor t but when he came here, he had those Acti, before him which were sanctioned by Governor Fitzroy. A number of settlers had purchased lanls from the natives upon the bona fide faith of the arrangement made by Governor FiUroy. But Sir George Grey very shortly after hii arrival issued a proclamation that the whole of the people who had bought landi from the natives mint immediately send in their claims to Colonel Matson. Then came a proclamation that these lands were to be surveyed, and everything made right within a month from the proclamation, or the land wfll be forfeited. The consequence was that a number of people who had invested money in land, had their property confiscated because they were unable to pot it gurveyed ; in those dayi they could not got surveyors. Mr Constable was one of these, lie had purchased some 200 or 300 acres, but though ho had made a claim, from that day to this he had nover got a farthing from the Government, In that honest ? Was it not the action of a strong man knocking down a weak man ? By this action of Sit tfoorge Grey tho money that wa»

flowing into the colony was driven away. No land was to be got ; persons coining here to nettle could not get land, because the Government would not allow tho natives to sell land, and »11 progress wat stopped. At that time) when people came to Auckland to idtle on the land, Sir George Grey was in the habit of telling them to go down South. Mr Logan : (llear, hear, — rising.) I wni on«» of the parties whom Sir Georgo Grey told 20 years ago to go down South. (Cheers.) Mr Buckknd : Here is one of them, and wo aro now reaping tho reaulto. At the present time wo aro importing the broad wo eat, while the South grows abundance of grain. By Sir Goorgo Groy'a actions, foclings of jealousy wero engendered between the two races lhat never would otberwiso have existed — (oheera) — anil would not have existed if the pans of Governor Fitzroy had been carried out. The natives became at first sulky and then host'le, and that was entirely the remit of Sir Gco.'ge Grey's policy. (Applause.) Tho war was tho result of the policy introduced bj Sir Goorgo Groy. Auckland, instead of taking her position at the leading proviico of New Zeilund, has becomo almost aa a child to be spoon-fed by the Southern provinces. (Applausi-.) My friend Mr Lusk said I came hero to sluto him. lie is under a total misapprehension. When I came hero I had no idea of alluding to any speaker. But I feel it neecss.irj to allude to ono or two statements, though I shall not attack Mr Luilc. He made a very useful speech, if he had only been a little more accurate in his figures. He says thero should bo equal representation in the North and South Islands. But there aro djfforonces in the wealth and resources and population of the two island. The whole of the Geacrd Revenue is about £3,000,000. Of this tho North Island contributes £750,0C0, and the South £225,000 Taking the population of tho colony as 300,000 m round numbers, 100,000 of this is in the North, and '200,000 in the South Island. With regard to cultivation, tho J'outh Island cultivates ten acres to one cultivated in the North, and the gram produce of the South is 50 per cent higher than in Die North. Then with regard to fertility of aoil, where wo grow an are rage of 20 buihels to the aero, the South grows 35 bushels. If you are going to equal ibo tho representation, jou must take into uccount what tho people produce, and what they contribute toward* the revenue of the country. Tho same law lhat operates on ono tide would operate on the others. There is another thing which has been alluded to by several speakers today. It i* the railway management Although I must confess I have heard many things which have no solid foundation, and until my return from Wellington this time I was under the impression that Mr Ptissinore was a Jit person for hit oflico ; but during tho la^t few works I have taken some trouble to inquire into tlio mutter, and I say it is absolutely necessary that ho should be removed from bis position, if tho railways are to be made to pay. He has introduced the English system, which does not suit our eircumatunces and requirements. la Kugland they pay a certain rate for a quarter of a ton, but theie are private parties who pack tho goods and forward them. Now this is a railway maintained by money roceived from a number of persons, most of whom aro small farmers, who send in their produce weokly — butter, choose, and so on — and it is simply absurd to make the charges so hitfh that, though the railway passes by thoir doors, they find it impossible to make use of it. It is wrong to the people and to tho creditors of the Government. Mr Passmore is too na r row in his mind. He is a competent engineor and an honest man, but he is not the man for Galway. Some few months ago children wcie going to school in Auckland, and season tickets wore issued to them. The arrangements are now to altered that the children cannot tako udvantngo of the railway. An order has been! issued that children going to school will be conrcjed at half price ; but what advantage can they tuke of that ? It is simply monstrous, and must bo altered, and it only requires you to mako proper representations to have it altered. With regard to the road to the railway at this place, I called upon Mr Bichardson, and he said — " If you can show me whero the money is to come from I shall be glad to order the work to be done. These things are always done by the district in other parts of the Colony." 1 said, " Spend some of the money you aro going to contribute to that district, and you can adjust the mnttor afterwards." There was a question about srpirating from the South Island. I say it 's ami ply impossible- for uj in the North to show anything to the English money lender as » security to enable vi to go on borrowing money to continue our railway system. If we cut the painter and divide from 1 tho South, thero is an end to our going on with the railways. The only leourity we have got ii the lands in the Middle liland. If we cut the painter and cast ourselves adrift from the Middlo Island, wo shall have simply stagnation. It would bo simply the fulfimenfc of the prophecy which Sir George Grey made in 183S to the pensioners of Howick, that they would see the grass growing in the street! of Auckland. (Sensation.) Then Mr Lusk has said that tho £250,000 which is taken from the limd fund of the Middle Island all goes to pay the interest and Binkmg fund on their own rail* ways, and consequently that jou get no benefit from it ; but he has carefully kept from your view the fact that the appropriation of that £250,000 tor that purpose releases an equal amount of tho consolidated revenue which 1 would otherwise bo required for that purpose," and you will have your share in that £250,003 of tho Consolidated ftoveuue, Geutlemen, I have no wish to become a candidate, though my services have always been at your disposal, but I do not like to put my neck into a collar, and I shall not offer my services t ? you unless 1 am asked by a numerous body of the electors to do so. Another gentleman ivho is out of tho lunniug it Mr Woodward. I nevor heard such, a speech id my life as ho delivered. If that speech is made public, I make bold to predict he will tjet very few votes of any thinking men. I never listened to such a pandering oration in' my life. He panders to the Catholics, he panden to the Protestants, he panders to this party and to that, he pander* to everyone. I think his speech is simply discreditable. I would rather support tho strongest political opponent I havo than support such a man as that. (Cheers.) lam exceedingly obliged to you for listouing to me so patibntly, and to the gentlemen of unimpeachable character who proposed and seconded me, and in conclusion I have to say that I am not a oandidale for your suffrages. (Cheers.)