AIR O'NEILL AT EDEN.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 4415, 8 July 1884, Page 4

AIR O'NEILL AT EDEN.

Mn O'Kf.ii.l, one of tho thre'J candidates for Eden, addressed tho electors at M'aUe'B Hall last evening. Mr Harper occupied tho chair, and introduced Mr O'Neill, who, he said, was ono of the candidates of Eden, and was a son of tho late Mr James O'Xeil!. Hedid not come forward in the interostof any party. He afiked for a fair and impartial hearing. Mr O'Neill then came forward. Ho stated that lie appeared with three qualifications, viz., that ho was the son of an old colonist; that' ho did not profess to be a great talker; and that lie did not appear holding in his hand a large honorarium wherewith to fight capital. With regard to tho first ho said if it should be a laudable thing for an old colonist to seek to represent tho peoplo in Parliament, it surely was a more laudable tiling for tlfe ron of nn old colonist who wished to follow iit his father's footsteps and make marks In publifi life; On the second head, ho said it must have btrKck those who had read the debates of tho lost I'arlJainenfe that a great deil of time was wasted by member.! in p»re talking for talking sake, talking to their constituents through Parliament, and making themselves generally obnoxiousj (A voice: I hope you'll not be.) No. They thus gave occasion to the adversary to rail at Parliamentary (Jovernmont; in fact) it was played out. To such men ho would offer a decided front. He would make it his duty to speak on subjects that ho knew something about, and in which his constituents would bo interested. There was a large majority of men in Mio House who talluel for talking sake. Their lato member, bo might ntnto, was not one of these. With reference to his third qualification, thero had been a great deal said about the honorarium, and especially against thoio men who voted against a reduction of it. It struck him that the best way to ptit.u fitrjp to thifi kind of thing was to abolish tho honorarium altogether. (Cries of "Yes" iind " No.") lint this would not be fair to the poor man. It was thus a question of amount. He would proposo to reduce it to £100 jwr annum, and not per scssioni Thus, if tho question of dissolution were raised at an early period, members would have to go back to the House without the double honorarium. Tho lato Parliament had defined tho meaning of tho unearned increment, which was the honorarium. He was in favour of taxing that SO per cent, It was about twenty yearn wince the Constitution was granted to this country, and she now had a large mortgage on her in tho public debt. The aspirants to power wero four. The ono whom ho was prepared to support was Major Atkinson, commonly known as " the Major." The second was Sir George Grey, known as " the grand old man ;" the third was Mr Montgomery, better known as " tho grand old woman ;" and the fourth Sir Julius Vogel, better known as " tho. wandering Jew." The colony ho likened fo a young woman which all these four wero anxioug to win. Sir Julius was tho lart candidate—he who had killed at one blow Montgomery, and had so dealt with Sir George Grey that ho was sent wounded out of tho rihg, and the doctors gave him at be."t three years to live. Major Atkinson was gutting ready for the contest, and to rapid had been the changes of politics that it was now a question whether a party under the" leadership of Atkinson or Vogel would rule the colony. Tho others were quite cut of it. The jealousy existing between tho North and the South could not be ignored. Tix OpjwMtioh had ignored Parliamentary rule, and voted to ou«t the Ministry from office', while they thus jeopardised tho .North Island railway, and then, by asking roelection, added i tit lilt to injury. (Applauee). Referring to focal politics, ho said that no question of party government could arias from them. On the question of general politics, any Government might bo ousted, and any measure made a party question. It was the duty of every candidate to give out plainly and candidly what his opinions were, nn:l not run on the independent ticket. He hoil, in his address, enumerated Ax points on which he was prepared to give a definite answer. The first was the present system of education. A great deal had been said and written about it, and a great many attempts had been made to injure it. He would support tho present system of free, secular, and compulsory education (Applause) in its entirety, and if any member attempted to lay tho axe at the root of the tree of education, he, for one, would stand in his way. Thero might be some reduction of expenditure, but on the question of the Act itr^clf he thought it should not be jeopardised in any way. (Applause). The next ques.----t ion was the speedy completion of the North l.ihtnd main trunk railway. ■ Tho question for this Wand was—What route would be the best for tho northern part of it ? He was of opinion that the route to Stratford would be tho best, and he would puppoit that route if placed in tho House. There was an alternative route- tho Marton route, and it was possible that the South would take advantage of the division in the North throw] both lines out. Therefore the Northern members on this question would have to bo vory careful so that between two stools they did not como to the ground. The third question was retrenchment. It was almost impossiblo without being practically familiar with what was going on ih Parliar inent to go into particulars. Still, ho thought that those;patriots who called out for retrenchment, instead of reelucing the small salaried •mijjlrt begin at their own— at the salaries of high officials, and include the honorarium. Members should also be deprived of passes for railways, which wore abused by being used for .business and other purposes. Consideringthe immense national debt, retrenchment must really take place. Whoro thero was a will there was a way, and tho interest on tho debt must be paid. Ho next referred to the non-separation, financial or otherwise, of the North and South Islands, which he believed would mean ruin to tho colony. He urged that all should keep together for tho object of strength. Separation would make the funds of the colony fall at once, and mako tho public creditors apt to call for their money. Anything in that wa^ he would strongly oppose. Ho would give a strong support to tho-present Government. He came out to support the party that would be in powor (tho Atkinson party) from conviction and from preference. As the South returned more members than the North, it was necessary for the North to have more unity amongbt its members. Vogcl had done good. by making tho credit of tho colony good, and ho would db so again } but if he got into power, the Northern peiople might whistle for their railway unless they wero prepared to give, a. large sop to tho South Island. They wanted a rail^ way to do for Auckland and Wellington what the railway between Christchurch and Invercargill had done for the South. Ho would actively promote the interests of this part of tho North Island, and would endeavour to secure the unity of the Auckland representatives. Thero was no doubt but that the "go-as-you-please" style if somo members had postponed tho North Islanel trunk railway, and it might bo years bcforo it was comploted if Atkinson wero not supported and Sir Julius Vogcl came into power. Thore was another question on which' lib would like to say a word, ■viz., tho native; lands question. Ho thought that }i was generally admitted that the systcifi that had been in voguo had not answevod. A now broom was wanted, and tho man to use it was Mr Biycc. Ho understood Mr Bryco's Bill iii substanco was that tho Government reserved the proi emptivo right over uativo lands, and as-i eumed tho midelle placotietween the natives and the purchasers, cut up" lands for sale a y it'pset prices, and gave tho poor man anel the rich man an equal chance of buying j therefore tho money paid to natives woiilel bo paid to them through aboard, and tho pakeha and land-shark would bo deprived of such ill-gotto'n gains that they had in the past. He would bo prepared, thero- ' fore, to support this measure. On the ques' tion .of immigration, ho thought it was possible that the colony could have a surfeit, ospooinlly if the article did not como up to sample A good many who had lately como out had found" their way to tho Mount Eden Guol. They did not require it to be mis'ed by strangers, who wero not entitlod to accommodation thereby—-a sLx months residence in tho c;olony. (Laughter.) Ho would put a stop both to froe and assisted immigration; because tho supply of labour in New Zealand was at prosent greater than the demand. A bill had been brought forward to abolish the law of entail. He would support it, becuuse by it the land of tho colony would be forbidden to.be t>hu£.up,- and would from time to time come into the market for tale. In conclusion, he gave it as his opinion that the country wanted rest and quiet, and not to be harassed by contending parties; that tho ship of state had been ploughing the seas for many years, and wanted a pilot. It was just a question whether it should bo entrusted t6 Atkinson or to Vogel. Vogel admitted he had an axe to grind ; ho had got millions out of the colony, and wanted more. He was mainly anxious to' mako use of Now Zealand to squeeze it as ho would an orange, and p>wlien done with, hand the rind to some other Minister, and allow him to make the best out of it, As soon as

he had rAised tie wind he would kiss hands to the colony and be off. He then thanked the audience for listening to him very patiently. In reply to questions, Mr O'Neill stated : (1) That-he was against the income tax, and if any more taxation wove required he would put it on 4and as the best able to bear the burden ; (2) ro licensing, he would not abolish tho elective committee ; (;}) h e was in favour of the present Licemsiw Act; (4) personally, ho would like tho hour of closing hotels to bo unifoim, but local option gave the fixing of hours to the committees ; (5) he would he inclined to say that Justices of the Peace should not bo elected by tho people ; ((i) he was not in favour of nationalising tho unsold lands of the colony • (7) but would give the bona fide, settler everything he wanted, and lian" all speculators; (S) he was not in favour (if Major Atkinson's insurance scheme ; (!)) he approved of a nominal feo being charged in tho public schools after children had passed the fouifch standard ; (10) ho preferred tho land tax to either the inenmo or property tax; (11) ho would pledge himeo'f to go to the poll if he pawned his shirt for it (laughter, and a voice : "fwould be a disgraeo to the family if you didn't do it.) Mr Sheppard propOßOa "That Mr O'Neill be accorded a hear-y vote of thanks, Imtthatthis mcetinghasnocorfir'oncein him." Mr Doyle seconded. Mr Waite moved, as an amendment, " That a hearty vote of thanks bo accorded to Mr O'NcHI for his address." Mr Cole supported the mot;on, remarking that their late representative had given satisfaction. Tho amendment was carried almost unanimously. Tho meeting concluded with a vote of thanks to the Chairman,