THE EARL OF KIMBERLEYasked the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, Whether he can give the House any information as to the present crisis in the Colony of Victoria, and whether Papers on the subject will be laid On the Table? The noble Earl said, the facts of the case were shortly these—In the spring of last year there was a General Election in the Colony, and the result of the Election was the overthrow, by a large majority, of the existing Ministry of Sir James McCulloch, and the formation of a new Ministry by Mr. Berry. The now Ministry, in accordance with its policy, brought in a Bill for taxing land in the Colony. It was met with considerable opposition in the Council, but ultimately was passed. After that Bill was passed into law there arose a serious conflict between the Council and the Assembly upon another subject—the payment of the Members of the Assembly. There had been for a long time a provision for the payment of the Members of the Assembly—a body which, he believed, was elected by manhood suffrage; while for the body which elected the Council a property qualification was required. The Act which provided for the payment of the Members of the Assembly was continued, he thought, for three years, and on its expiration had been renewed for a second term. It expired last year, just when the change of Ministry took place; and the now Ministry—Mr. Berry's—anticipated that if a new Bill, to continue the payment, were introduced, it would be rejected. 1391 They, therefore, resolved to place the payment as a Vote on the Estimates, instead of providing for it by a Bill. Afterwards, they changed their minds, and sent up a Bill, which was adopted by the Assembly by a great majority, but was rejected by the Council. The Ministry then tacked on to the Appropriation Bill the provision for the payment of Members; and the Council thereupon rejected the whole Appropriation Bill. The Government did not bring forward another Bill, but accepted the situation; and after the Legislature had been prorogued the Government proceeded, in order to avoid any difficulty in which they might be placed, to dismiss a large number of officials, and amongst others the County Court Judges, some of the Judges of the Insolvent Court, and the police magistrates and other officials. That caused a very great outcry in the Colony, as there was a serious apprehension of what might be further done. Before he went into this matter further, he desired to have full information of all that had taken place, and therefore he would not say more now than that these proceedings were of a very unusual character, and, if they were really such as had been stated, it could not be denied that they deserved the attention of their Lordships and the country. Speaking generally, be was adverse to any interference with the internal affairs of such a Colony as Victoria—for he thought it most desirable, on every account, that the local affairs of the Colony should be managed by those who were engaged in legislating for, and administering, their own affairs, and that they should be left to their own sound sense and good feeling in adjusting any differences that might arise between the two Houses of the Legislature. But there was a certain point at which they came into contact with the Imperial Government, and that was in regard to the Governor—he was an Imperial officer; he was the Representative of the Crown, and his acts the Imperial Parliament might fairly criticize. He did not desire to express any opinions upon the conduct of the Governor of Victoria. He had been placed in a position of great difficulty and embarrassment, and great allowances must be made. He was quite prepared to hear that he had taken the most judicious course possible under the circumstances. He had thought it desirable to make 1392 these remarks as introductory to the Question of which he had given Notice— namely, Whether the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies can give the House any information as to the present crisis in the Colony of Victoria, and whether Papers on the subject will be laid on the Table?
§ EARL CADOGANthought it was not necessary for him to follow the noble Earl in the statement of the facts which had occurred in Victoria in consequence of the differences that had arisen between the two Houses of the Legislature, and of the unfortunate deadlock that had followed those differences. The Papers relating to the matter had been laid on the Tables of both Houses the previous night, and he expected they would be in the hands of their Lordships on Tuesday, or, at furthest, on Wednesday. They would exhibit the policy of the Government throughout the course of those events, and they would also show that exaggerated statements had been made as regarded the dismissal of magistrates and other officers, and the anarchy and disorder which had been thereby produced. The latest despatch received from the Colony by Her Majesty's Government would also be printed at the same time, and it would show that ample provision had been made in the Colony for the administration of justice, and that compensation according to law would be provided for those whose services should be dispensed with. The Governor had also declared that even if his Ministers should so advise him—which there was every reason to believe they would not do—he certainly would not sanction any interference with the banks, or the currency, or the commercial interests of the country. Two telegrams had appeared in the newspapers—one some time ago, and the other that day—in which it was stated that the differences had been brought to an end by a compromise on the part of both Houses. Her Majesty's Government had no official confirmation of that. When the first of those telegrams appeared — he believed on the 11th instant — his right hon. Friend the Secretary for the Colonies telegraphed to the Governor for a confirmation of that telegram; but hitherto no answer had been received. They had reason to believe that there was some fault in telegraphic connection—which, 1393 he heard, was not an unusual occurrence. He would take the earliest opportunity of communicating to their Lordships any information on the subject which might be received at the Colonial Office; but, in existing circumstances, he thought their Lordships would forgive him for not going into the previous history or present state of those affairs, or entering into further details on the subject.
THE EARL OF CARNARVONsaid, that no one could doubt that an important question had been raised by what had occurred in the Colony; and though before long it might be the duty of the House to discuss the question, he concurred with his noble Friend the Under Secretary for the Colonies that at the present moment, when all the information was not before them, it was well to refrain from going into particulars. The telegram which had appeared that day was one which he was at some loss to understand; but his impression on the whole was that a friendly compromise had been arrived at by which the Council would pass a Bill for the payment of Members, and the Assembly would consent to strike out from the Appropriation Act the provision to which objection had been taken. The statement in the telegram about the signing of warrants for the payment of Members, and as to that proceeding being based on the 45th section of the Constitution, was one not very easy to understand with the information now available. The payment of unappropriated moneys called up recollections of the controversy in Sir Charles Darling's time; but the telegram was an ambiguous one. He agreed with his noble Friend opposite (the Earl of Kimberley) that it was not desirable that this country should show any readiness to interfere in] the local politics of a Colony which had a system of self-government granted by this country, and accepted by the Colony with all its obligations as well as its privileges; but, on the other hand, it must be remembered that the Governor was accountable not merely to the Colony, but to the Crown. Sometimes the Governor of such a Colony had to consider—to borrow a term from theology—questions of political casuistry. There was no Colonial Governor who had had longer experience than Sir 1394 George Bowen, and he hoped that the Correspondence would show that in this case the Governor had borne steadily in mind his duty to the Empire and his obligations under the system of local government which the Imperial Parliament had established for the Colony.
§ EARL CADOGANremarked that the telegram had been as puzzling to the Colonial Office as it appeared to have been to his noble Friend, and they must await official information to explain some of the allegations contained in it.
§ House adjourned at a quarter past Six o'clock, to Monday next, Eleven o'clock.