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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 32

Nomination of Superintendent

Nomination of Superintendent.

Sir George Grey, K.C.B., was proposed by G. M. O'Rorke, Esq., and seconded by Mr. Robert Graham, of Ellcrslie.

A brief space of time having elapsed, and no other candidate being proposed, Colonel Balneavis declared elector Sir George Grey, K.C.B., freeholder, of the Kawau, to be duly elected Superintendent of the Province of Auckland.

This announcement was received with loud and prolonged cheers.

His Honor Sir George Grey, in coming forward, was received by the electors with great enthusiasm. His Honor then addressed the electors as follows:—Gentlemen, electors of the province of Auckland,—First, let me tell you of the sorrow with which I find myself here, in consequence of the death of your late Superintendent. It is a subject page 15 upon which I will not enlarge. I will simply say that I had known him for upwards of thirty years, and had a great regard and a sincere affection for him. And with the knowledge that I have of him, I do not tell you that I can do for you more than he did, or that I am a more worthy man than himself to occupy the position which he filled. I think he was a great man, a good man, and a man whose memory I shall always reverence, and believe that very many other persons will do the same. The next thing I have to do is, I may say, to a certain extent, an unpleasant duty. I must controvert the opinions of my proposer, to some extent, and also of my seconder. The proposer has told you that the province is in a sad state of destitution. Not at all! The men who made it what it is, who called its resources into existence, are here still. They can create abundance, more wealth to meet all our wants. I do not admit that any destitution threatens us. There may at some time be temporary distress, but mutual good-will with mutual forbearance will again produce an abundance and plenty, as wealth can always be created with great facility in a new country. The next thing I must do is partly to controvert my seconder. I have not come forward because I believe I can save this province. No! I believe that we all can together. Do you think that if I did not believe I had lusty sinews and brave hearts at my back I would have come forward to confront the difficulty alone? What could I do? But if we face it together it is no difficulty, or at most a mere temporary one. No; do not let us deem that we are in any way cast down, or cannot take care of ourselves. We can do that very well if the General Government do not cramp our energies. Well now, then the next thing I will do is to explain certain points to you, that there may be no misunderstanding between us. I have told you fairly and openly in my address that I am in favour of Provincial Institutions. But if I cannot carry my own views in that respect in reference to the province of Auckland, well then, what I say is this, that at least I am not going to be subjected to this indignity that the people of other parts of the colony of New Zealand are to to tell me "You are a destitute set of people, and you are not capable of self-government, so whether you like it or not we will take that from you, but we intend to keep representative institutions for ourselves." I shall say no! You shall do nothing of the kind; we all sail in the same boat. Why is it that you retain your privileges? In what respect are you better than us that you should possess privileges of self-government and benefit by them? You have no lawful right to take away our system of self-government without our consent, and you shall not break the law. Suppose all the representative insttutions in New Zealand go together, before we sweep them away let us determine what is to take their place. Determine, like faithful considerate men, who know what is due to themselves and their constituents; and when some new state of things is established, let every man, forgetting his own convictions which he can no longer carry out, and strive to make the new state of things beneficial to all. Let us maintain our credit in the eyes of the world, and if we wish to borrow money from other countries, shew that we know how to establish our affairs suitably to the common welfare, and that when they are established we know how to work them. That is my opinion, and I believe it is the line of policy we should take. Then there is another thing. I told you in my address, I think, that the office of Superintendent is not a political office, and it is my intention in every way to try and carry that opinion out; but let me explain to you that there are questions of such a nature which may appear to be political but really are not so—questions in which the interests of the community are involved. I may think it to be my duty as Superintendant to try to prevent some wrong from being done. Lest I should appear to have deceived you I will give you an illustration. Now, the sum of £700,000 was voted for the purchase of laud in the North Island, for the purpose of creating a large landed territory and a large future land fund. The first condition upon which that money is advanced is, that the lands, when acquired, are to be made in the first instance to pay all costs of their acquisition. Our share of that sum of £700,000 I take to be £350,000. Now that sum, measured by the part purchases of lands, and the general land fund realised from the sale of those lands, is as nothing at all, and we have a right to share in those large sums which for years past other provinces have been applying to the development of their own resources. I say, the very least thing that could be done to us, in reference to this £350,000 was to have said to this province,—Gentlemen, we hand over £350,000 to you to complete the purchase of lands which you may think most advantageous to your own interests. I say that to withhold the management of that from us, and to expend it, as I believe it is to a considerable extent being expended, in useless salaries, and to make useless payments in the acquisition of lands of little value, I say is an intolerable injustice, and one that ought not to be suffered to be committed. And further than that, it is insulting to the people of this province. Are we not to be trusted with £350,000. Are we so far inferior to the members of the General Government that we are likely to spend more corruptly than themselves that sum of money—(cheers and laughter)—or more unwisely? I say no. That sum should have been entrusted to us; and page 16 it would have been but fair to us to have allowed us to have used the interest of that money for our local wants; and looking to what we have suffered, that would have been a boon trifling indeed to what we are entitled to receive. Why, I fear to say it, but the impression made upon anybody's mind must be that there is some other reason behind, and that the patronage arising from the expenditure of these funds is that which has led to their retention from our own hands. I have purchased more waste lands than, I believe, any man in New Zealand, and for so purchasing them neither those who acted as my agents nor myself received a sixpence beyond our ordinary salaries : no charge whatever on account of the purchase of these lands was ever levied upon the public. I firmly believe, from what I have heard, that one single individual may possibly receive now a larger sum for the acquisition of blocks of nearly worthless land than I received all the time I was in the colony during the period of my first Governorship—as Governor, purchaser of laud, and the discharge of my duties in every other capacity. I cannot help feeling the burden of so enormous a machinery for the acquisition of these lands, and that it is wrong of the Government so to burden us. From a mercantile view, was ever such a thing known before as to order a number of agents to rush into the market in order to get a commission on their purchases. That is one instance in which, as Superintendent, I think I ought to take your part, because by the result of the local government being invested with power of purchasing lands, and having the powers in this respect, which an Act of Parliament secured to them, it would secure a watchful supervision of its actions. For example, supposing any one public man was watched by one, or two, or three persons, almost with a watchfulness approaching personal animosity, what is the result? Every step he takes he makes with the greatest caution. He knows everything he does will be closely scrutinised, and that he will be brought up if he does wrong. But it also saves him from solicitations. If I am a public man, and a person desires me to do something wrong for his own profit, if he knows that I am exposed to the observation of enemies he will not come and ask me. He will know that their animosity will make them expose me, quite regardless of who else they may at the same time involve in obloquy. Therefore I think that the present system of the General Government in endeavouring in every way to purchase flattery and support in the Press and otherwise is injurious to themselves, by leading them to what otherwise they would not do, and it is injurious to themselves in encouraging other persons to go in for jobs which they would not dare to ask them to perform under another state of things. I therefore say, if the expenditure of this £350,000 had been entrusted to your local authorities, and that you could each one have watched each block of land as it was purchased, so that no private individual could get an interest in it,—if all these things had been watched upon the spot, it would have been infinitely better for your-selves; and we must yet try to get that done. To-day I must delay you no longer. I have pointed out two or three essential points upon which, I think, you had a right to hear me, and upon which, I think, you had a right, in point of fact, to exact pledges from myself. I have given you those pledges of what I will try and do. Many have said it was unbecoming of me, I having held rank as Governor, to come forth as Superintendent at your call. I do not think so. But let me put an illustration, which, I think, will touch the hearts of some of you. Put yourselves in thought, if you can, back to the heyday of youth, and consider the career you would like to run. And supposing a man thirty years ago, after long discussion in the British Parliament, to be sent out here as Governor, and that he had abandoned a happy and lucrative position to meet here difficulties of the gravest kind. Well, then, let thirty years elapse, and let him find that the people of the country to which he had been so sent in his youth, having become a great people, the possessors of Representative Institutions—such as your Provincial Governments are,—and that then the people, with one voice, come forward and ask that same man, in very mature years, to come to the front. Is that a career which any of you would like to run, if you were forming a vision of what you would like to have happen to you? That is what I feel; and I feel my position here this day is a proud one, and I am grateful to you for having placed mc here. (Loud cheers.) Now, let me have the pleasure of your cordial assent to the first request I, as your Superintendent, make to you. Here, on the platform, is a friend of many years, Colonel Balneavis; let me have the pleasure of asking you to join in a cordial vote of thanks to him as Returning Officer.

The vote of thanks was carried by acclamation, and Colonel Balneavis returned thanks to his Honor Sir George Grey and the electors.