MR. COX ON SEPARATION.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 674, 14 September 1876, Page 2

MR. COX ON SEPARATION.

We give to-day the first half of Mr Oox's speech on the Separation resolution* of sir George Grey. The remainder we shall finiib in our next :— Mr Cox.— Sir, I desire, f Jlowing iao examplß of a largo number of honorable mem ben, to apeak to the qestioo before the House, and in doing ao 1 shall hare to refer at toms length to despatches written in the 6arly daya of the colony, and to one, at least, of a former Qorernor of New Zealand, bearing apon the Constitution under which we lire, and in obedience to which we are now assembled m the representatives of the people of New Zetland. The honorable member for Franklin, who has just spoken, used ' an expression or phrase that I deiire to draw attention to. He spoke of an "outside power," and he entered upon a narrative of the history of this question of separation ; but ho did not commence at the beginning. He spoke of the beparation resolutions brought forward and discussed iv this House in 1865 and again in 1866— in the one case by Mr Russell, and iv the other by Mr Whitaker. But before any Reparation resolutions hid found their way into tbis House, the people of Auckland, the Provincial CouncM of Auckland, had expressed a desire to be separated fn-m the rest of the co'ony, and had embodied tb«ir views in a petition to this "outside jower " recognized by my young friend as an authority, and one to which we should have again to refer this matter, if a majority of thii House are of a n,ind to 1 say, «ive us separation. Thii was the very beginning of tht cry for separation. The next we know of it is from a despatch of Mr Card wt 11, thd ihon Secretary of State for tbe Colonies, written appaicutly more than twelve months aftur tho leosipfc of the Auckland petition. And what was the prayer of that petition ? It was this i that in the northern portion of this island there should be constituted a Government that would enable Great Britain to exercise control over Itative affairs until cordial relations between the Europeans and Natives were re-established. The tken Governor of New Zealand (Sir G. Giey), in transmitting thepittion, stated that, in hia opinion, the petitionera were justified in the view -expressed that the northern part of the co'ony was in a critical state, and that he entiiely concurred m the prayer of the petition that temporary provision should be made for the Government of tlie Province of AuckLnd, because of tho slate of Native affairs, and begged that it should be favourably considered : in other words, that the condition of the ciuntry was exceptional and temporary provision should be made to meet the case. In due course the petition was received. Meanw hilo quite twelve months had elapsed, and then we have tbe despatch referred to ; and in that despatch ue find Mr Cardwdi assuming, in the first place, thai, not having be*rd again from the Governor of the colony on the subject-matter of the Auckland petition, he had changed his mind as to the necessity for this temporary and exceptional legislation pmypd fir ; that the great trouble, the Native difficulty, had passed away ; that the state of the country was no lunger men as to give him anxiety. But we find bini also, iv the sreond place, assuming that Sir George Grey was still in the s me mind iv regard to this matter. I will mow quote ih-s exact words of the despatch. Addressiug the Governor of tbe colony, he says :—: — " But if your opmijn has all the while remained unaltered, it must have occurred to you that, in the adoption of any such measures, there wru'd re many obvious diffioulliei, » n d 1 should be glad to know your views on the possibility of overcoming them, and the mode by which they conld be overcorre. When the Crown aud .Parliament have deliberately established in any coLny the system of responsible government ; whsn that government has been in existence several years ; when institutions have grown up under it, private inteie ts have arisen, and public debts have been ooatracted, it is no easy task to retrace these steps. Even if I were assured by the voice of th« legislature of .New Zealand that the public feeling of New j Zealand was in favour of such a cour«t, many practical questions of great difficu ty would require solution before I should be justified in assenting to it < n tho part of Her Majesty's Government. But in the present instance tbe presumption is that the publio feeling of the colony is averse to any such proceeding. You inform mo, indeed, that you trans* mit this petition by iheadiiceof your present Ministers ; but you do not state, and I do not infer, that they support iti prayers But as you think," he goes on to say, that " the case is exceptional, and that ' the peace and happiness, aud prosperity' of a section of tbe colony is in* volved, it might be well to submit to your Responsible Advisers the question, not whether a separate coloDy should be erected in the North by the dismemberment of New Zealand; but -betber Ihe Legislature of New Z -aland might nor by looal and temporary enactment* meet the necessity winch yon have deolared to exist ," winding up this long, iiiteresting, despatch by saying that " any such measure recommended by the Goveruor, aoceptable to tbe Pn,vincial Council, aid Adopted by the Legislature . f th« colony, would receive full consideration. No aoubt, if thought favourkbly of by them, they would submit a Bill to Parliament to embody such a temporary form o£ government." And these resolutions before thi« House in 1865 and 1866 asked for a 'temporary provision" for the better government of North, owing to tbs> Nativo difficulty. And when it is re-m-mbered by whom those resolutions were moved and debate 1, this House need not be told that they were don* justice to. Then, as now, we had to listen to gloomy predictions as to what would follow tbe non-accenfaooe of sock a scheme of government. The difference, however, between the two periods is great. Then, undoubtedly, affairs might easily have taken a wrong turn ; now, happily, in respect to Native affairs, it would take a good deal of blundering to do us much mischief. But, Sir, it is time IJturnort to the resolutions now before \ us ; and I am bound to say that my first impr<S4ion on lookieg at them, catching sight of the word "unity," and readi ig on to the end of th°m, was tbafc produced o<> odo's mind by taking up the uewspaperg of the day and reading tbe advertisement beaded "Mark Twain on Bad Musioisns," warning the publio maingt the use of any othe' prepor«ti<As, ' for that all others were calculated to mislead tho publio— that only th^re were the. true, genuine "Constitutional Pills." W hit tho unity of the oolony hud to de with, the constitutional # >ill of tbe honorable member <f the Thames, I do fail to see. The mover of tbWe reso'tatione, in what he tlaouglt speaking to the

qQeitioD, used the word " despotitm.'' What he intended by th« term one oin only speculate upon. But 1 would remind him that there are many forms of despotism ; amongst others is the despotic ait of a power that u sometimes freely exercised to influence men to vote against their onnvictious, by appealing to their prej uiice', their iiitireits, and their fears. I« be aware tiat fchh power has ever been usod ? Ihs existence of despotitm implies a.avery — they may, however, be flattorei), fnncioatod corrupted, in various ways. And lam not far wron,j in believing that »uch methods might be resorted to iv oonoeivable cates. Sir, I wouM Ike to refer tj t>it nomination speech, I think it was, &f the prrsest Superintendent of tbe Province of Auckland. Always eloquent, he on the occaiioa epoke out hi* mind, and he promised two or thrt>e thing*. The 6mb promts* that he made was, that ho would be gnided by a majority cf the people ; the second, that regarding the tflL>e of the Superintendent as purely "executive" and not " political," h# wonld atnv« to keep it so— going on to cay that "one of the things he was most afraid of wai that men, merely because a moneybag Wan shaken before them, would run after it like thistle-down," and that "there were things as great as money-* such a thing as |hberty— and that was worth more than money." No doubt by this was ment that liberty of speeoh which is «o universally valued, and sometimes ao -unwillingly granted to men holding view* opposed to oar own. On a lato occaiion, when the member for the ~Thames (Sir G Grey) rose in his place •tnd seconded the motion of the Premier that the services of Isaao Eiri Featherttoa should be recognise! by the colony there was no man who listened to him who was not moved to sympathy, for he ■poke eloquently and well of the many servioes raudered to his country by him who is gone, and we felt that with such men lead'nj us we need not fear for tbe future of the people ; for that he, and suoh as he, not only dii his duty to his province, but was foremost amongst the m3n who bad fought for the institutions that we now enjoy, securing to us a Hocus of Representatives, where the people as a whole could be made known by representatives from all parts of the colony ; that his withdrawal from earth ! was a loss to the colony ; that his name was indeed the property of the colony. [ Wtil be continued in our next.'}