2
THE NEWFOUNDLANDER.
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY.
WEDNESDAY, Feb. 3.
The House met at 3 o'clock.
Mr. HOGSETT and
Mr. PARSONS called the attention of the House to the system of issuing tickets of
admission to the House. Hon. members were
daily pestered with applicants for tickets, to the
serious interruption of their business.
The SPEAKER assured hon. members that he
would endeavour to have the matter satisfactorily
arranged.
On motion of
Mr. GODDEN, pursuant to order of
the day, the House resolved itself into Committee of
the Whole on the Address of thanks to His Excellency the Governor, Mr. KNIGHT in the
chair.
The first paragraph was then read and adopted.
The secoid paragraph having been read.
Mr. PARSONS said the first paragraph of this
Address purposes to thank His Excellency for his
gracious speech, and for the uniform courtesy which
He has exhibited to this Assembly. Where
could
one find a greater illustration, of the happy state of
affairs existing in Newfoundland? For the past
five years, we have been dwelling in the utmost
peace and harmony. One would fancy that the
millennium had arrived. Now what occasion was
there to thank His Excellency for this? His Excellency was certainly a very graceful
gentleman; but
it as rather ridiculous to offer him the solemn
thanks of the House because he had refrained from
pulling the hon. the Premier by the nose, and
because he did not kick the Executive Council out
of Government House. Gracious Speech, forsooth.
Was it not high time to get rid of this nonsense?
He (Mr. P) could see nothing, for which to thank
His excellency in so special and peculiar a manner.
The second paragraph of the Address read as
follows:
We fully approve of the course taken by the
Executive Government in issuing the Proclamation
in June last, that relief in future would be confined to
destitute widows and orphans, and to the sick and
infirm poor. We believe this act well timed, and
we cordially hope and trust that the Executive may
be successful in its efforts to suppress the demoralizing system of able-bodied pauper
relief."
Now there was not a single human being in the
country to whom the course pursued by the Government could commend itself. He (Mr.
P.) did not
deny the demoralizing influence of pauper relief,
but he certainly did contend that Government
before cutting off from the people the only source
maintenance on which they had relied, should have
furnished them with some means of supporting
themselves and their families. But hon. gentlemen
opposite cared little how deeply the country might
be steeped in poverty, so long as they could save
the Revenue. £30,000 have been annually expended, and Government had shown no anxiety
to obtain
any return for this enormous outlay. Every man
who applied for relief was received and welcomed;
no inquiry was made, and indiscriminate charity was
issued broadcast, and why? Because hon. gentlemen, members of the Executive were importers
of
Indian meal and molasses. The hon. the Premier
purchased meal from the hon. Mr. this, and molasses from the hon. Mr. that, though
he himself was
the introducer of the Placemen's Act, by which
Government contractors were made ineligible as
legislators. And whose money had hon. gentlemen
been expending? The pauper's own money. Not
a man but had paid for every fraction of the pittance
which he received, in money or in labour, in sweat,
in peril, aye and in death. The speculation of hon.
gentlemen opposite was a good one. An Executive
Councillor had only to trade upon his politics, let
his stock in trade be meal and molasses; let him
fill up the interstices with strategy, and he could
not fail to succeed. Upon the second paragraph
he (Mr. P.) had to propose an amendment, which
was as follows:—
While we admit the necessity of the large outlay under the
head of relief for the able bodied poor, we cannot refrain
from expressing our disapproval of the injudicious mode
in which such outlaw was effected; and our regret that no
remedial measures had been adopted by the Government
to relieve the evils accruing to the poor from its sudden
stoppage.
In his speech his Excellency's says that "notwithstanding all the guards" at the disposal
of the
Government, the drain upon the revenue was annually increasing. What "guards" did
his
Excellency refer to? The only guard he required
was honesty, rectitude of purpose; but unfortunately that was not fortheoming. He
contended
that if this £30,000 had been spent in the employment of the fisherinen of the country,
after the
completion of their hard summer's labour, there
would not have been a pauper in the country. He
believed that the outcry about the condition of
the country was merely got up to frighten the
people into Confederation. It was true, the times
were bad, but they had been bad before now.
So long as we have to import the commonest necessaries of life, there will be paupers.
But if this
£30,000 had been employed in assisting the poor
fisherman to cultivate his homestead, how different
would the result have been? Five acres of land
were sufficient to maintain a poor man and his
family. Let the poor man till his land, and with
the wealth which God sends him from the sea, he
will make a comforthble subsistence. Never was
a country more blessed by Providence, and yet
we could daily hear it denounced, merely for the
purpose of debasing the people of the country, and
making them believe that a change was required,
and that for that change we must look abroad, and
not within ourselves. Doubtless a change was
necessary, but the change must be radical and internal, not from without. The poor
man of the
country, who, as he pays no taxes, is unaffected
by taxation, might ask what he could lose by Confederation. Now, at least, he possesses
the inalienable birth right of British freedom. Under
this nefarious union he would be curtailed of his
liberty. Why, he would hardly be allowed to
sneeze. Let the men of money look to it, then.
They must necessarily be affected by this scheme.
Oppressive taxation would press them down.
Cauada would tax their food, their clothes, their
beds, their boats, their nets, their hooks and their
lines. She would tax everything they possessed
when living, and their coffins after they were
dead. The able bodied poor want you to open up
the resources of the county, and not to give them
yellow meal. The hon, member then referred to
the importance of our fisheries, and contended
that the Government should foster and protect this
branch of our industry. He pictured the miseries
of those who were without food, and stigmatised
the Proclamation of the Government relative to
poor relief as the most cruel and despotic act that
ever emanated from the most despostic of Governments. He begged therefore to propose
the amendment which he had read.
MR. PINSENT.—The Speech with which the
Governor has opened the present session of the
Legislature is one of more than ordinary importance. It is the first, in fact in the
career of
the present Government, which has been marked with a decisive policy, upon the two
great
questions of Poor Relief and Confederation. It
gives us some very important and, so far satisfactory, information, upon the French
Shore
question: and the provisions made for the
Mail service are such as give promise of greater
efficiency, comfort and convenience, under the
Inman, than under the Cunard Contract; and
for these matters much credit was due to the
Executive and to the Governor himself.
With reference to the Proclamation designed to
suppress the "gigantic evils" which have been
produced by an ill regulated system of Pauper
Relief, he was disposed to think that, in the
absence of positive measures for the improvement of the condition of the people, the
Executive has done wisely in, so far at least, withholding its hand. Whether consistently
with
the calls of humanity, and without the substitution of some new mode of succour, this
sudden
and radical change can be continued throughout
the coming three months, is now a question
the responsibility of which rests more with this
House than with the Government. This administration seems to have failed, and he knew
of
no other that could succeed, nor had he heard
any serious plan suggested by any party or
person in the Legislature or out of it, for the
amelioration of this country and its people, by
the use solely of any nueans within ourselves.
The Opposition can suggest none.
Mr. HOGSETT.—We are not the Executive.
We are not paid for it,—you are.
Mr. PINSENT.—No, and he was not a member
of the Government, nor was he paid, but he considered that it was no less his duty,
and that of
every member of the House, in the faithful discharge of his obligations to the people,
in their
present straits to devise and suggest positive
measures of amelioration, if he could. If he
could not, it showed that there were none to
offer. How were the representatives of the
people to demonstrate their fitness to rule, and
to succeed to Government, unless they manifested a capacity to do that which those
in power
failed to do. But this Proclamation was condemned by the amendment of the hon. member,
Mr. Parsons. The policy of the Government
is denounced to-day by the Opposition, which
yesterday unanimously declared its approval of
that policy in this respect, and took credit
to itself for having instigated and forced
it, and of initiating a course so creditable.
He supposed this change of opinion arose from
the change of leadership. The hon. leader Mr.
Glen, did not approve of the non-relief plan
for which he was such an advocate. Was the
hon. member Mr. Parsons, really in earnest, in
condemning the Government for their action
in checking this ill-regulated system of Poor
Relief? And yet he offers no other remedy in
the House, and he has never suggested any
remedial measures but the Torbay Factory Bill,
and Steam Bait skiff, and he has shewn no outside activity in public charities, in
associations
for relief. He could not claim the credit that
attached to the gallant Major, who is the active
Secretary of an extensive Benevolent Institution,
nor to the hon. member for St. John's West,
Mr. Biennan, who, no doubt, subscribed liberally. Reflections had been cast upon members
of the Government, who were said to have inproperly profited by the distribution of
pauper
relief; and others, who were said to have absorbed
the greater part. It was a grave imputation,
which rested on the unsupported assertion of the
hon. member, which could not be proved by the
public accounts. If any fraud of that kind could
be proved, he (Mr. P.) would be sorry to support such an administration. He believed
this
coarge was unsupported in fact. The general
system of Poor Relief had been defective; but
no more so lately than before. The men
accused if using these means of rapacity
had stopped it. But as to the Proclamation,
the view he (Mr. P.) took was that the Proclamation may limit the Governmental expenditure,
but cannot eradicate pauper-relief.
The Government may, by the hard lesson of
aggavated adversity, teach a greater measure, of
thrift and self reliance, and some good may
this be done, but there is a limit to all this. We
must, while we refuse to aid, devise, if we can,
the means and opportunities for improvement
and industry. Mark the present condition of this country. We are truly
told in the speech from the throne that the past
year has been unmarked by disaster or epidemic
disease, that both fisheries and the crops have
been attended with good average results, that
the price of provisions has been moderate. Where
are the corresponding effects, where the results
we should naturally look for from such a state
of things, in the comfort, the independence,
and happiness of the people? Is not the condition of the working classes the reverse
of these
three? Is it not deplorable? Is there a member of this House, a very large proportion
of
whose constituents is not in a wretchedly destitute
state? Our duties had already been reduced
to little better than a pauper-relief agency; and
honorable members are, by the policy of
the Government, as indicated in its Proclamation, deprived even of that privilege.
But, consoling reflectien, we have the luxury of Responsible Government, this magnificent
travesty of
of the British Constitution, King, Lords and
Commons; and yet how many hon. members
are there that would like to see the man who
could say of the mace—"take away this bauble," and who would knock the pillars of
the
Constitution about our ears; and it this were,
or could be done, and the civil expenditure were
reduced to any such short of a degradation of
the public service, are the people to beuefit substantially by a mere political administrative
change of that sort? The folly of this was
forcibly demonstrated the other day, when it
was shown that if £25,000 could be saved out
of £32,000, (which in itself was a simple absurdity, and merely putting it so) and
the amount
distributed amongst the fishermen, it would
not improve their condition if they got it,
being only twenty shillings a year, and yet some
such a plan, falling very short of even so much
good, appears to be the only suggestion that the
most reductive wisdom in this House can make.
Not that he (Mr. P.) deprecated, for he would
commend judicious economy—it would be good;
so far as it went. What are we to do then?
Shall we try beyond ourselves when the opportunity is offered? When we find the whole
trade and industry of the country, and with
those its general condition, in an unhealthy an
demoralised state, and going from bad to worse
year by year, in the presence of comparative
abundance, shall we halt or hesitate in our
choice, between enduring the irramediable ills
and sufferings we have, and entering upon a
new order of things, in which there can be no
possible risk of aggravating our evils, and which,
if it should change, must alter our condition for
the better? He (Mr. P.) spoke of the principal
subject of his Excellancy's speech, Confederation. The hon. member then went on to
say
that he regarded this question as one of too
grave importance to be lightly treated, one infinitely raised above all questions
of party.
The man must be a traitor to his country who
could make it the battle ground of faction.
Neither one side nor the other could recommend
its arguments to the intelligence and respect of
the country by personal abuse or trivial treatment. Assailing men for their motives,
and impugning, their sincerity, could do no good, and
could be suggested by no motive but to lead the
public away from the deliberate investigation of
the question on its own merits. He believed a
great change of opinion had taken place. He
blamed no man for changing or modifying his
views, from reflection upon so grave a matter.
But a long time had been allowed for deliberation, and in that period he knew of no
man
who had, from a Confederate opinion, changed
to the opposite view. The revulsion had been
altogether the other way, and the intelligence of
the community was now, he believed, almost
entirely in favor of union. There were those who
had hoped against hope, and found it fruitless.
There had been doubters and alarmists, who
now trembled,
"Even at the sounds themselves had made."
For his part, he had never opposed the principle of Confederation. He had always advocated
union; but he had taken exception to the
Quebec Convention, as possessing some features
that required correction, and as being wanting
in some provisions which it should contain.
He had always opposed the adoption of the measure without the endeavour to correct
these
defects, and he had always opposed the determination of the question without an appeal
to
the people, and had cooperated in an endeavor
to prevent the possibility of any such attempt,
and he had always desired and contended that
the measure could not, in justice to the country,
be submitted for its suffrages, without an ascertainment of the terms. It would be
merely deceiving the constituencies, and keeping concealed
from them the true issues they had to determine, to go before them without being enabled
to explain the principles and the main conditions
of the project. Delay, [?] to last year, may
have been discreet. Our position up to that
time may have improved. Time had been
afforded for observing the operation of the measure with others, and of ascertaining
what corrections and improvements were susceptible of
being made. Then, last year, our opportunity
had arrived, when the difficulty with Nova
Scotia was pending, but a feeling of consideration for our sister colony held us back
then.—
Disaffection had arisen there, chiefly from the
mode of carrying the measure; but whatever
the cause, the struggle had ended in failure and
defeat; and its champion was now President of
the Privy Council of the Naw. Dominion, that
same Mr. Howe, with whom Colonial union had
been the dream of his youth, the aspiration of
his maturer years, and with whom one would
have thought it would have been the cherished
object of his old age. It may be that, for a
short time, he had forgotten his old love in the
indignation of offended patriotism, but he had
been taken at last into the warm embrace of
the confederate arms. The time had now arrived when further delay might be fatal.
The
provisions of the Quebec Convention could now
be improved upon in all essential points. We
should now unquestionably obtain a larger subsidy, an objection which he once held
that the
capitation money was not to be increased in the
ratio of population, was already removed
Taxes and assessments on mining operations
had been entirely repealed. Light dues had
been remitted; articles used in the fishery had
been admitted free of duty, and above all, an
exception which had been taken, not without
reason, that we should at certain seasons be
placed at a commercial disadvantage by American produce being subject to a tax when that
of Canada was free of duty, had been removed
by legislatfon, which annulled all duties on the
importation of flour and breadstuffs from
the United States. There was the better, half of a Reciprocity Treaty already,
with the probability of the establishment of such
a treaty at no distant time, an object which, remaining isolated, we could not effect
for ourselves. Thus were all the staple necessities of
life admitted duty free. If we continued as we
are, it was an utter impossibility to forego taxes
upon any importations. Our present tariff was
enormous, and there was no hope of material
reduction. Many intelligent persons placed
great faith, and were willing to accept Confederation in view of the general benefits
and blessings which history and experience and the laws
of progress and political economy taught that
equitable unions produced. But we were not
coufined to such reflections; our faith must be
further strengthened by our own exceptional
position. Isolation and solitude were our bane,
and yet some would hug and foster this characteristic of barbarism. How were we to
remove
or mitigate it? Would any intelligent man
believe that improved means of intercourse
between ourselves and the outside world was
not an important step in that direction; that
assimilation with a more advanced, more pros
perous wealthy and progressive people, with its
consequent sympathy and example; that mutual
freedom of trade and industry, would not be unattended with those advantages which
in all
parts of the civilized world had followed from
such conditions? But even abundant fisheries
had been found inadequate to the support of the
people, yet we had great mineral resources, and
where were the ability, the capital, the disposition within ourselves to work them?
so of our
timber lands. We have gypsum, lime, the
finest pottery clay, &c.,and they remain useless.
Our fisheries are badly conducted, under an
effete system, and especially a great source of
wealth, the herring fishery, was positively not
only neglected, but abused. Manufactures were
active in Canada, that might be prosecuted
under a different system with equal success
here—we have the material and water power to
any extent, and coal in prospect. The country
was well adapted for those woollen manufactures
for which Canada had become remarkable. We
export tens of thousands of seal skins, and thousands of hides, that afters successive
freights,
duties, charges and profits, come back either
from England or Canada in the shape of leather
and the manufactures of leather, and sell at a
large profit here. Those who talked of the
poverty and bankruptcy of Canada, had either
never been there, or having seen that
magnificent country, misrepresented the
facts. Millions would yet find a home
there, and have room and verge enough. It
was yet but very partially settled. There
were immense fertile and productive sections of the country to be peopled; and in
its
present infancy it possessed splendid cities, some
thousands of miles of railway, an unsurpassed
system of steam communication, internal and
oceanic, factories of all kinds, an immense forest
industry, vast mineral resources, unbounded
agricultural capabilities, prolific fisheries, public
institutions competing with any in the world,
and social and intellectual life in its highest
phases. He had gone to Canada, almost expressly to see and judge for himself what
manner
of country that was with which we were asked
to ally ourselves. He expected to find some
similarity to our own colonial features. The
picture was a very different one. The latest
returns of exports that he held were those of
1867, and he would cite some of the principal,
and those which most concerned us; produce of
the forest, about $14,000,000; of agriculture,
$17,000,000; of the fisheries, $800,000; of mines
$300,000; manufactures, $900,000; flour alone,
$5,000,000; barley and rye, (chiefly exported to
the United States,) $4,000,000; meal $5,000,000; wheat, $4,000,000; leather, $140,000,
and
so forth. Now it must be remembered that
these and many other articles were the exports,
there being retained in the country, besides, all
that was required for home consumpion. How
different from our present condition. Ours was
an exhaustive process. Every thing went away
from us. Nothing remained. All the surplus
wealth went elsewhere, chiefly to Britain.
The people starved. The Canadian home has
made attractive; most of the money made
there was spent there; the people, from the
richest to the poorest, were identified with the
country. Anti-confederates were heard to say,
"True they have a railway system, but it does
not pay. It is partially a public expense."
Such men confined their ideas to the mere outlay
and direct return in money. Such a position
was entirely falacious. It was part of a chain
of intercommunication and of traffic, which had
raised the value of all products, which had led
to extended settlement and cultivation, which
had cheapened importe and promoted all civilization. In these ways it had returned
to the
country ten thousand times the actual expense.
Would Canadians do without it now? No,
they would as soon think of blotting the country
from the face of the earth. There were some
who would cite Ireland as an example of an
unfortunate union, and raise prejudices from
such an argument, against Confederation. It
was not an apt or fair comparison. Here we
associated with equal rights. Here we should
enjoy the privileges of the British constitution
in its full perfection, without blot or blemish;
Education established on a basis which offended
none. The fullest measure of civil liberty, and
perfect freedom and equality in religion. In
another view he regarded this measure of Confederation as a step in the logic of events
that
would be worked out. The history of this
Colony, so remote as to make it the most ancient dependency of the Crown, was marked
with
several eras. At the cominencement of this
century, it was just allowed to emerge from the
condition of a temporary fishing resort. Then
we had an absolute Governor and Council, next
a Legislature, then the system of responsibility.
So we had been educated and fitted for a broader grander and more national position
and sphere
of action. Having eljoyed the questionable
blessing, and been taught by the experience of
local Government, the parent state having
guided and controlled our infant steps to a dergree of maturity, points us to a field
of action
where the exercise of constitutional Government can be better and more effectively
applied.
The machinery and paraphernalia of our present system are too much for this country,
and
they will be reduced in their scope and shorn of
there costliness, while we shall still have a
local Government and a voice in the concerns
of a great people and a united and progressive
Dominion. He had seen an excellent simile
from a Harbor Grace friend, who compared
the unwillingness of the people for change, to the
aversion countrymen at first had to Sam Slick's
clocks. Sam would visit a farm house, offer his
wares for sale. No, they had done without a
clock all their lives, and knew the time of day
well enough without it. Sam requested that
they would oblige him by letting one remain in
their house until his return. He left it, wound
it up for them, taugut them how to keep it in
order. After a while Sam returus to get back. [...]
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