THE LAND FUND RESOLUTIONS, GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS, Wellington, last night, 8 pm. PARLIAMENTARY.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 656, 3 August 1876, Page 2

THE LAND FUND RESOLUTIONS, GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS, Wellington, last night, 8 pm.

PARLIAMENTARY.

At th» evening aitting yeaterdaf evoning, crery part of the ilouso was crowded Mr VVliiiakttr oominencod by disivowing all. idea of repudiating any couipict or bargain, and wui not Roing to 'argue the question a» a matter of law, or on technical ground*, but uiked the House to look nt it as remible honest men. Ilia prapoaila wouid not prejudice abolition, for whatever happened, thia question of land revomie must crop up and be dealt with. The question waa whether the

land fund belonged to particular localities with arbitrary boundaries or to the colony at largo. Prior to 1852, the wast* lands were d emed tho property of the Crown. Tho Colony itself was not recognised a* having any right of inter. »t in them. Sir Geoigtj Gippt made % cc'eb'otrd speech on the iubjoo' in New South Wale*, and the legialuture of that colony to which New Zetland then belonged, affirmed by Act that the lands belonged to the Crown. In 1854 when tho Assembly met ths wmi altered, but oven then provincial legislature! wero eiprewly excluded from proprietorship, 'lhun in 1853 ano.hsnh-vnga took plac-i, and fina-cial resolutions of nhiob the f .so-called co id pact formed » part were ptsstd vi well as » waste lands Bill, giring power to Proyincial Councils for legislation in the mater of land. The rrsolution wai to be embodied in an \.ct of ihe Imperial (Jorernment, otherwise it was expretsly stipulated that the measure should fall through, and that the whole matter bo open to revition by the Assembly. Tho Bill waß reterred for the Queon's auent. The Imperial Parliament did not embody tha renlution* in an Act, and the Bill was disallowed. Ho contended tht*re wa» no compact, and, that under the authority of the reio.Uiioni themselfei, there was no breach of faith in the Aisembly at any time reconsidering the whole »übjeit. It was absurd to suppose Parlinnent bound itsolf for ail time in tho session of 1853, and in the abience of nil Wellington members except the speaker. Oeriaimy a portion ot tho resolutions of 1856 were embodied in an Act, but thty were even then altered and no allusion was roaie to their bumg binding. Again in 1861 a series of resolutions altered them by inaltvig a fre.-h re-adjustment of the debt between Canterbury and Otago, and once more in 1868 they wore altered, lie ontondoi thut when the right of pre-emption orer li&tiTO lands was taken awny the resold lions regarding the Utilisation of the land fund weie amhil.ited. A study of tht financial rtiito of the Colony shnve^thit its mtenst deinanued a revision oy|^nting ar.an«ements as to tho la-.A lu^d, and that there ahould be fcm one purso to the Colony. The principle of the aliened compact was yijlated by tho Uoremmo t'a own proposals, and t'>e ditttsrcnce between his and their* wa» uot one of principle, buo ol degree. Th? ore Jit of tin Colony ulso required th it the land fund showed be mute Colonial revenne, in which cue thero would bo a surplus of a million a year ani our crs lit w .uld again stand high. Ho conleuded it *>a both just ond expedient that the land fuui •hould be resume I by tha C>lony. Sir J Yog.l raplieJ at considerable length. He tnid no Uout>t tho armn^ - m»nts lit the tune were n c.int to be bimliug. OoTcrnmont opposed Mr WhituLer'a iugijestions aake on the r merit*, and inopp>rtunnes4 when rea<l by Ig'it of QoTemm-ut propoails. ihe resolutions simply meant taking away £ilO,OO 'a jeir iroin Otago and Uautoibary to «jpen I m other pirts of tho Colony. He did not think fiey wew cal ed on to carry out any such uiiju«t mexp'd'.out a.d impolitic meiisure for thestku and bjnelit to be derired from such a suui._ Ho th«n quote ! figures to sho>v tv« prcgr3»s of tae Colony under existing regulation?. Sir George Grey and Mr Micandrew followed, after which a dir'sio'i wastakoa and the iollowing inemb r* pairel :— For, Me«*r* Curtis, Hnrst'iouio, O'Rorko, Sheehan, Nahe. A^iii.st, Alessr* Bu.my, Ormond, Harper, X Uy, ami Kus^ll. [This remainder of the ditijun hat ap« pears elsewhere.]