LIWCOLN ELECTORATE.

■' ■ ♦ ME J. WOODWARD AT SPBQTGSTON. Last night, Mr John Woodward, one of the candidates for the Lincoln seat, addressed the electors in the Springston Schoolroom, which had he not secured in good time would possibly have been occupied by the Salvation Army. There was a very large attendance [of residents, who appeared to be in the best of humours, among those present being Mr A. Saunders, who is a candidate for the seat. The chair was taken by Mr James Gammaok. , The Chairman briefly introduced the candidate. Mr Woodward, who was received with applause, spoke to the following effect. In coming before the public, and putting his hand to the political plough for the first time, he had no personal interest to serve, but wished to benefit the present generation and New Zealanders to come. He could not point to anything 1 he had done in the past, but thought that the less old politicians said of the pact the better, as what they had done had been a disgrace to all concerned. The country had swallowed the pill of Protection, and was now promised a new political nostrum in the shape of genuine 1.0. G.T. whiskey, warranted to cure all evils. New Zealand had now a very bad name, but that name would not bd improved by its going forth to the world that tbe people were to become a nation of whiskey millers. He would now speak of his pamphlet on " Jubilee Farms." He had received praise from numbers who had read it, and was convinced that the scheme would benefit the young New Zealanders. He felt that the time was come for eethling the young New Zealanders on the land. The young people had been educated here, and should have an opportunity of acquiring Jubilee farms. (Applause.) A Voice : That's right enough, Jack. (Laughter and applause). Another Voice : The meeting will enjoy it better if I set it to music. Mr Woodward : I will give a song beforelam done. (Applause and laughter.) The Chairman here called for order. The Speaker continued : He intended to have his speech printed, and could take a terrible revenge on the people of Springston, by telling the public that they would not hear him. Mr Woodward here asked permission to read from his MS., as he wag afraid that the omiEEion of a word would render his meaning obscure. This was the first time he had addressed a public meeting, and he felt nervous. JUBILEE FARMS. "And now I will look at the old Jews' Jubilee Land Law, and the more that I 1 look at it the better I like it, for it was a | perfect revoliring force law, and effectually | prevented the land from gravitating into large estates. I consider that it was the Jews' charter of freedom ; for if they had not had that law the whole of Palestine would have become the property of a few men, as in England and Scotland to-day. There is a piece missing from this. (To the reporters : Have you got it among your notes ?) Now, if: you want to prevent small farms from gravitating into large estates all you have to do is to bring them under the Jubilee Laud i.aw. If Icould bring my own small farm under the Jubilee Land Law, I would do it to-morrow, as then it would remain in my family for many generations, and if it were sold would come back to them again. There is something in that if you only look at it. (Applause.) But if our present land laws remain in force, it is sure to be absorbed sooner or later into some large estate, but I hope that I shall not live to see it. (Laughter.) I wish you would keep order a bit. I took a deal of trouble to write this. It is more than any of you could do, I am sure. (Laughter.) GAVELKIND. Now, here is a piece about gatrelkind. "I am a native of Sent, a man o£ Kent, and the men of Kent can boast that they were never conquered ; at any rate, they were not conquered when William the Conqueror beat all the rest of England." The speaker went on to show that William consented to allow the men of Kent to retain "their land and their old Saxon kind law," consequently, while all the rest of England gravitated into large estates under the most unjust law of primogeniture, the County of Kent remained a County of small farms under the law of gavelkind. Now, however, gavelkind was destroyed, and the beautiful small farms of the County had vanished. He had he feared tired the meeting with his description of the land laws, but he had endeavoured to lay down what he believed to be a new view of the land question, and that wa3, that in order to reform our land laws there was wanted a law of revolving force to balance and hold in check the law of gravitation. (Laughter.) He would speak on other subjects. OTHER TOPICS. The first he had down was the cessation of borrowing. It had been a grief to him to see this fine country going down, down, down, under the burthen of borrowed money. If Major Atkinson remained in office no doubt he would want one more million — "only one." (Laughter.) Very soon it would require Lord Boss' telescope to discover New Zealand. The time would come when New Zealand would be able to pay her debts. (Applause.) He had I never been on a racecourse, but believed the totalisator was a machine invented by Old Nick — (laughter) — for the purpose of creating the love of money, which St Paul said was the root of all evil. Young men and women put the money on the totalisator instead of saving it up to buy farms. (Laughter.) If ever he got a chance to come down on that thing j A Voice : You will squeeze it. (Laughter). ! Mr Woodward : You will lose all the ; fun if you do not listen. I The Chairman expostulated, and Mr I Woodward continued : If they got old Ollivier up they would listen to him, but | he considered himself a better man than IMr Ollivier. (Laughter and applause.) If ever he got a chance of coming down on that thing ho would come down, like a thousand of bricks. (Laughter.) No doubt some thought he had come forward as a joke, but he intended to offer himself to be their representative. (Applause.) As to keeping the Bible out of schools, he said, look at boys killing twenty-seven pigs, robbing houses, &c, and doing nasty things on Sunday. He did not advocate the indiscriminate reading of the Bible, but said, educate the children's hearts as well as their heads. He might lose some votes by advocating Bible reading in schools, but he would nail his colours to the mast, and never take them down. (Applause.) He had changed his opinion on the question of Protection since the last election. He saw no good in the farmers fighting against it, but let them get Protection for themselves against the land sharks. He had been told that capitalists were quietly buying up blocks of land near towns in Australasia. This was a thing that protection was needed against. (Hear.) He thought absentees should pay double or treble Property tax, for they contributed nothing to the Customs. If the people allowed millionaires to buy up the land, they were selling their children as slaves to those millionaires. (Applause.) If returned, he would look after the interests of the district, and nattered himself he could do so quite as well as " Sir John Ollivier." (Laughter.) He was pretty well done, so would not trouble the meeting nmcli longer. He was prepared to support any well-planned scheme for the irrigation of the upper district, but considered that already thousands of poundß worth of damage had been done by bringing the water on to the lower part of the district. The Lincoln people must look out, or Saunders and Co. would deluge them with water and whiskey. (Laughter.) He was a Trinity man. (Laughter.) Did they know what that meant ? (" No.") It meant that he was a landowner, a farmer, and a labourer all in one. This was a guarantee that he would look after the interests of landowners, farmers and labourers. (Laughter and applause.) He was just done, and then would go home. He had a piece tbere he had intended to say, but he would not do so now as he had not been well treated by the meeting. (Dissent.) He did not intend to ask any-

one for a vote, bat hoped the electors would choose the best man. He thanked the meeting for hearing him, and was now prepared to answer questions. If no queßtions were to be put to him he would go home and milk the cows, as he thought they had not been milked yet. (Laughter and applause.) QUESTIONS. In answer to questions, Mr Woodward said he would not hare such a graduated Property tax as was proposed by Sir Robert Stout. He was not in favour of converting the Agricultural College into Jubilee farms. He thought the College might be made a home fox decayed gentlemen, who would be better there than in Parliament. The College should be popularised or shut up, as it was at present only a white elephant. [A Voice : "Make a Lunatic Asylum of it."] Mr Woodward : " And send you there first." He did not think children were being too much educated. He wished he had had a better education. The High schools should be open free to all children, and not kept solely for the aristocracy. He was think* iog of having his pamphlet on Jubilee farma reprinted, as he had not many left. (Here Mr Woodward read from his pamphlet showing the size of the Jubilee farms he proposed to establish the people upon.) He did not think that edution had made Jonathan Robertses of the young. The Railway management was unfair and stupid, as it drove customers away. If the carriage of wheat was raised the farmers would have to put carts on the road to carry their grain. He sometimes thought that Government were keeping the management in their own hands for political purposes, otherwise why was not tbe Board appointed? As to Government officials, the whole system wanted reformation. He would sweep tho Bankruptcy Laws away, and make every debt a debt of honour. For a man to get white-washed and then start as big a man as ever nest week was downright robbery. There was no leader in the Parliament at present. There was no chance, he could see, of his going into the House; but if there, he would join the Yovng New Zealand Party if there was one, and if there was not one he would do his best to form one. A Voice : Are you going to give us the song ? Mr Woodward : It is not a song 1 , it is a hymn. A Voice : I'll Btart it for you if you like, Mr Woodward. (Laughter.) Mr Woodward : I'll sing this here bit for you, if you like. (Applause.) A Voice : Would you grant subsidies to denominational schools ? Mr Woodward : In some districts I would, for the children are brought up with no more morality than monkeys. Catholics were, he thought, entitled to some grant, for they had saved the country thousands of pounds. Ho thought a grant of pound for pound should be made them. (Applause.) A Voice : Don't you think some religions are bad substances to feed on P Mr Woodward : I don't know what religion you axe of. (Laughter.) Iv answer to further questions, Mr Woodward said he was not in favour of a gun tax, as he ' did not believe it would lessen the number of accidents. He did not like dogs, but saw no good to come to the country from putting a tax on them. (Laughter.) If he had a harmonium to start him, he could get on with his song. (Mr Woodward here sang, "God Bless New Zealand," a song of his own composition, to the tune of the National Anthem, the audience joining occasionally, in epite of the Chairman's calling on them to " shut up.") At the close of the singing there was a burst of mingled laughter and applause. A vote or thanks to Mr Woodward " for his address, especially for his song," was carried unanimously. A vote of thanks to the Chairman, carried by acclamation, closed the proceedings, which had been of a good humoured character throughout.