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THE POLICr OF THE GOVERNMENT.
I On Saturday evening, Mr. Parkes addressed a
large meeting at the Masonic Hall. We extract
from the EeraliPt report those portions of binpeacji
which be*r upon Jthe. policy of the new .Govexo
fnent :- v
One of our first services will be to deal with 'tns
complicated and difficult question of the collection
Of the duties on the River Murray (applause).
You may be aware-you all must be aware-that
ibis question is one involving the dearest interests of
a large portion of the population, and that at the
same time it is 017e which ought to be settled so as
not to injure any other Bfection or portion of the
country. You will b4 aware that the Parliament
I which WRS dissolved in February last, and tha new
Parliament recently elected bad condemned the
policy of the late Administration (haar, hear, and
a voice, "More «hame*)- I heard some gentleman
say " more shame," and Í admit that it is a question
upon which men may fairly disagree, but I bar*
never concealed my opinions on the question; and I
1 have held those opinions for ten years, and I think
they are sound, politic, and calculated to benefit th»
country (cheers) Well, tbs new Government
had acted upen tills question in obedience tp th»
will of Parliament, «na I may inform you that al*
though we have only been in office four days a des-
patch from this Government is now in the bands of
the Government of Victoria on this subject
(bear, hear), eo that we har» lost so tims.
What the nature of that despatch may -fe» it
S'ould not be proper for me to tay,' but it -li »uf*
cient to show we have acted promptly and with a
hVely sense of our duty to Parliament, if I tell yon
that our views are now before the Ministry pi vic-
toria (hear, hear). I now come to what I regard
as a very difficult, a very important, and very preta*
icg question ; I mean the present position of alarga
number of persons in the employ of the Government
(Hear, bear). The young Government of this
country is the anomalous position of being''*
large employer of mechanics and labourers, I §*y
anomalous position, because I bold that a country'!»
best governed* where all employment« vi this ItittA
are in private bands (hear, hear), and it'll ?* «t«Of
things at all times undesirable, and only to b*<Jui&
fled from necessity, when the Government of a
country is a large employer of the citizens of th»
Country. Well, in the Department of Public WQQB»
in this colony there are employed at the present
1 moment fully 1400 men, the greater part of w&rib.
in all probability, represent families, and you -m4
I f?oni that see what a large portion of the popul»tic»
1 are interested In this Government employment.
I Well, sometime ago, the Government took the ~*\*P
I of reducing the wages paid to these mechanics Maa.
labourers. Now I scarcely need say, that so fax it
I and my colleagues are concerned, we hat« not yat
had time even to look into this complicated question.
But I wish to explain to you in the same language {
used at the late general election, what my views ax»
upon the principles which should guide a Govern-
ment under circumstances of this kind. '" If
the Government must be an employer of
labour, and from the necessities of th*>
case the Government of this country must ie-.
(A voice: "What about the eight-hour biU-f*^ ,1
was Baying that I desire to explain to you, holdinig
the responsible position I do, in the same terms as I
explained to you At the last general élection, when I
occupied no such position, what are my view« on
the principles which ought to regulate Government
in its employment of labour, tf ow I hold that if the.
Government must of necessity employ labour it
ought to lay down this principle for ita guidance ;
it ought to endeavour to obtain the best men in the
community, and in order to do that it ougb.t-.to giv«
the highest rate of wages paid by private firms in
the community. It ought not to give moce^JiecAVW
that would be an improper interference .withijth*
investment of capital. It ought not to give less, be-
cause that would be an improper interference with
la1 our. The Government, doing as little aa possible
to influence the marketone way or the other-, ouglft
to ascertain from the most reliable sources, the
rate of wages paid by the most respectable firma,
and whatever that ia, the Government ought to p»jr
to the persons in its employ. TheBo aro ti» views
which I entertain; and, as a member of the Go-
vernment, these axe the views which I shall endea-
vour to enforce in our relations with the labouring.
classes of the country (cheers). CloaeJj con-
nected with this question, I ihould like to say a
few words on the more general subject jof the Cudi
Service of the country. Ton mustknow.thattheu»
are a great number of persons employed in tua
various departments of Government throughout the
country, the whole constituting what ia celled th*
Civil Service. Now you most have heard that very
many abuses are practised in the appointment»
to the Civil service. [Interruptions by nbiae»
near the doorway.] I do not know whether the»
stories be true or not, but you will have heard zn&njr
< stories about appointments to the Civil Service ; and.
' you will hare heard that these appointments are
i sometimes made the means of obtaining ParUamä**
tary support. You will hare heard that persons in
no way fitted to perform particular duties are ap-
pointed because they happen to he the relatives of
influential men. I do not know whether these thing#
be true or not, but I have no doubt you have heard
them. Well, I want to tell yon what will be; th»
practice by which I shall be guided in the distribu-
tion of the patronage of the Crown so far as it is in
my hands. I believe .the time has come when,tha
Civil Service of this country Bhould be regarded u
a profession, and only the young men of the country
should be admitted into it ; and they should all have
a fair "chance according to their merit, and work
themselves up to the highest places. And as I faavi*
no relatives or friends whom I wish to place in thft
public service, I will give you my word that, so fat
as I have the power, I shall exercise that power in
order to make the Civil Service of this country .ka far
as necessary a profession in which tñe young-njen et
the country shall all hare a fair chance- of pronrotiott
according to their merit (Cheers.) I do nottte^erji
in sustaining a costly public service at the expensa
of the tax payers, for the mere purpose of superan.
nuatingmen who are far advanced in life, «eng
we have now got schools in the counnry-^hat'^S
bare grammar schools and a university, 1 da ««teta
why this Berrica, should not be opentooKHiTig mah
of ability, so thal the country may hare the s«rriC4k
of them for as many years «possible. Heneo 1 shall,

as far as I bave power, endeavour to reconstruct the
Civil Service upon this basis, ra order to do justice to
the men ra it, and in order to do justice to the country
who have to pay for its support I cannot but think
that it ia a sound truth, that every person, in what
«var capacity, ia worth} of his hire that if a man IB
performing duties of a high and difficult character,
ne ia deserving of compensation accordmglj If he
Ia performing duties that can be performed by almost
anyone, be is only deserving such compensation as
is generally apportioned to that class cf labour
And I do not believe in any other system than that
which endeavours to ascertain the value of the duties
to be performed, and which endeavours to appro-
priate an adequate compensation for the perform
ance of thoBe duties I should saj ra general terms
that the proper principle to lay down would be to
have as few of these public serrants as posible, ti»
have them capable men and to pay them according
to their abilities And so far as I am concerned 1
can promise to be guided bj these considerations
Twill first satasfj myself that the office is wanted
I will ¿en endeavour to satisfy myself of the nature
«nd extent of the duties required, I will tnun try to
«stimate fairly what is a proper compensation for
those duties. And having ascertained these facts to
my aetiafaotion, I will then try to discover the man
moat fitted for the office, and for the pertormance of
the duties required (cheers) In connection with
the subject of employment under the Government, I
should like to be permitted to say a word or two on
the necessity which exists ra this community for pre
serving the independence and the manhood of our
common citizenship An English writer-a fine
English wxitex-who has the reputation of having
written the finest Saxon of almost any man-I mean
William Cob bett-in that excellent book of his,
** Advice to Young Men," cautions all young men to
?nun the Custom House, which means, shun
trying to earn your bread by any kind of em
ployment whatever under the Government And
any young man of a vigorous constitution, with all
the world before him to choose lus own part, with
any moderate share of ability, has a better chance of
prosperity and haDpraess by entering any path of
life rather than a Government situation And if we
desire to grow up a free and independent com-
munity, with the spirit of free men instinct in every
bosom-if we desire this great end, we must try tu
live independent of the Government, so that we may
bt in a position to hold the Government strictly to
Account for any misdoings It will be a dangerous
thing for this community if a large number of the
population become connected with an interest in this
employment under the Crown And it is in the
highest degree important that this feeling should be
cherished amongst the population, and it v.ûl bear
most beneficial fruits if it ia so cherished. The mara
duty of Government ra a young country like ours is
to promote the settlement of it That settlement of
the country involves the management of the lands,
the construction of ruada and other means of com
munication, and the establishment of schools. Be-
cause I hold that it is úseles» in itself-that, ra faot,
it ia barbarous- to settle-families upon the rude lands
of this country if you do not afford them the means
of educating then children, and afford them the
means of keeping up civilization I think the settle-
ment of the country must proceed from wise mea
sures, and the legislation or management of the land
question, by opening up means of communication
and establishing the means of public instruction
Time does not permit of my entering into details on
these three great divisions of the question which
I have presented to yuu. That u a large
question, and the principal question for Govern
ment to deal with-the settlement of the countrj
But my views must be known, both on the question
of the alienation of the land and the question of
publió instruction, from my past conduct in Parlia
ment I gave my support to Mr Robertson's Land
Act, and lam very sensible of the vast amount of
good which that measure has worked But I am not

insensible to some of its defects, and I know a« a
faot that wherever families have settled in isolated
?pots, in places far removed from clergymen and the
means of education-far removed from contact with
civilized men.-their character has been lowered,
and ra such bornes it is almost impossible to educate
children. The man who closes his ejes to such
things as these must either be blind or mad If the
influence of the mother is in any way impaired or
diminished from hex isolated position, and if the
children grow up without proper instruction and
guidance, the consequence to those unhappy indm
duals and to society must be calamitous ra the ex
treme So far as I may be permitted to have an\
share ra the legislation upon this great subject, the
land question 1 shall endeavour to the utmost of my
power to carry schools with families, and give a
freehold basis to every man's holding and to throw
around it such guards as will render it impossible for
the law to take the freehold away from him (cheers)
In other parte of the world, in alienating the public
land, security ia given that no person under an}
law can take this freehold away for a number
of years, and I think that is a salutary and
ust provision In any measure I may undertake

shall endeavour to copy the policy of Canada
and other British colonies in this great and
important particular With regard to the public
schools of the country, I hope I need give no
assurance of my anxiety to make them general!}
beneficial I hope it is not necessary for mo to sa}

on» word to assure \ou that I shall never rest con
tented until the means of sound instruction are
within the reach of every home in the country And,
seeing that we have a university in the land, 1 think
the means of qualifying those bojs of talent
whether they be tbe sons of shoemakers or the BOOS
of hankers, to enter that university, and come out
with credit and take their places ra society, ought to
be provided (cheers) I shall, so fax as I have the
power and capacity to do so, promote the construction
of railways and roads so as to connect the settlement»
in the country with the metropolis It has sometimes
been said that this great metropolis ia wholly depen
dent upon the country districts I believe ra nothing
of the kind But I behave ra this, that the country
ia one great body, and that all its parts are dependent
one opon the other The metropolis is ra some
degree dépendent upon the country, but the country
ia in some degree dependent upon this seaport and
great city And it is necessary that there should be
means of communication with ali parts of the colon)
-so that there shall be a market of consumption as
well as a market of supply I have indicated in a
few general terms the views I take upon this
question, which I regard as altogether the master
question* the question of settling the country

An «lector asked, "What about the immigration
question P* (Laughter )

Mr. FAMES I will answer that question X am
not m favour of the introduction into this country
of large masses of working men merely to compete
with other working men for the sake of reducing

waga* (cheers), but I am in favour of the gradual

ratxodnctKsi of population, embracing labourers, and
mechanics, and men with small capital, so as to in-
crease the population and wealth of the country, and
to promote settlement by occupying the waste lands,
wbicb> are capable of sustaining as many millions as

we-nave now hundreds of thousands.

The nomination for East S j dnoy took place on
Monday, when Mr Jamts Jones was nominated, ra
opposition to Mr Parkes In the course of his
speech;, Mr. Parkes sàid -

"If he remained in office sufficiently long he
should certainly not shrink from dealing with the
largest of all cox public questions, th& alienation oi
the*1 lands and settlement of the people upon
them In dealing with that question, it it should be
his good fortune to get to it he should be graded by
these general principles. He should endeavour tu
settle the country in every instance upon a freehold
baa»-, so that the small agricultural settlers of the
country should havs the fee-simple of their home-
stead« in their hands, that there should be ra other
words, no deferred payments or obligations of an>
kind hanging over their heads That class of our
colonists who enter upon our wiidlands, and by means
of labour (the most precious of all the elements or
cmhxation) convert the wild territory into a pro-
ductive région, were the most valuable, and ought to
be the most respected class in the community The
man who made two ears of corn grow where only
one previously grew had always been regarded as a
benefactor, but the man who made one ear of corn
grow where nothing grew before was in an essential
degree a benefactor to a young countrj
like this. In any legislation which he might
havs*- the good fortune to introduce on this
subject he should endeavour to grasp the principle
which had worked so exceeding y well ra Lanada
and. other parta of North America-he meant that
the freehold homestead of the agricultural settler
should not be capable of being seized or taken for
any debt, or for aoy causa whatever, for the term of
thirtyyears Of course, the storekeepers and every
body else would know the law It was a wise law
and. had worked in the most beneficial manner in
other parts of toe world-that those struggling men
who had formed homes should be secured against
the reverses of fortune, against all chances against
all schemes.of cupidity, against their own folly and
will, that they should be secured in those homes for
at least a generation Before he passed from this
question, in the general observations which he had
to make, he- wished to observe that he should be as
scrupulous as any man in regarding the just rights
of that largo and important clase of our fellow colo-
nists» tbe pastoral tenants He wished to do no
injury to the pastoral tenants whatever And he
should be prepared, to the best of his ability

to secura for them «very advantage for the
proper proseen lion of their calling-short of
any attempt to invade the privileges of the rest of
the community Turning now to the'question of our
fiscal legislation, it was not likelv, so far as be could
judge, that the present Government would, during
the present session of Parliament, deal with that
question But if at any time he and his colleagues
should be called upon to deal with that important
question, he should at all times do the best he could
to protect the young commerce of this country from
any iinnecessary impediment or restriction Whilst
he said that, he ventured to state as his own opinion
thatïlwe axe to have anything like protective dutiea
ra tfi?» country, it would be far wiser, far more intel-
ligible* far more consistent with the public welfare,
to impose-duties upan a few articles which needed
protection, and leave other articles wmch did not
need it as free as possible He stated that as his
opinion* The Government with which he was con-
nected would at all times endeavour to save our
young; commerce, to which they attached the great*
est possible importance, from any unnacessary em-

barrassment ox restriction whatever"

The-territorial law of Utah fixes the pun
j ahmen t for adultery a* imprisonment for a term
of from three to- twenty years, or a lina not over
over 1.000 dollars, or both, m the d se re ti on of
the eourt Case No 1 was a test case, aod as
such of great interest The Mormon» have al

Vayt claimed that polygamy is not adnlttry,

and that their "revel at lou " absolved them from
all <$aty of obeying laws at variance with it
Brigham Young himself is lubie any day to bo
mulcted in thô sam 1U00 dollars for each of bia
50 extra wivea, or he sentenced to lie in prison
twenty-year» for each marriage be has contrac-

ted fliüee the first. Elder tfawkW counsel
stoutly resisted the motion that the- p isoner
be taken into custody, bat as the prosecution
Was firm, the United States Marshal was or
deredr to- do- bl» duty Time waa allowed to pre-
para a motioa for a new trial and arrest of
judgttwnip,

"-¿^ltiag:utandamiUioaairo 'alverna« for
a wife ia a c*ari*joarn%l*

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