ADDRESS BY SIR GEORGE GREY.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 115, 23 May 1885, Page 5

ADDRESS BY SIR GEORGE GREY.

Sir Gr.or.-ir Orpx on Monday pvenin

May 11, .".'.Wjovsf.l a pnbli'1 mwli.'iß; in the Theatre Koyal, under tne auspices or the-Auckland Liberal Association. The large building was packed to its utmost limits fully half-an-hour boforo the time tixed for commencing tho proceedings, the lower portion of tho houso being rilled oxclusivoly by the sterner sex, while in tho dress-circle the ladios very largoly prepon derated, mid even securod representation upon the platform.

At oight o'clock precisely, Sir George Grey made his appearance upon the platform, attended by His Worship the Mayor (Mr W. R. Waddel), Mr P. M. Grant (Secretary of Liberal Association), Mr J. M. Shora, Mr T. B. Hill, and Mr H. W. Farnall (President of Trades and Labour Council), and the speaker of the evening was received with the usual ovation, the audience standing and lustily cheering until he had taken his seat.

He commenced his address by reminding hia audience that since they last met there very great events had taken place, and he thought it waa only fitting that he should devote a few moments to a reference to the war that had taken place in Africa, and the one that waa likely to take place in ■ Asia. They would all remember that 2 years ago a great movement wns on foot with theobjectof federating the Australasian colonies, and making them more closely united to the Empire. New Zealand, according to thnt scheme, was to be made a province of, Australia. They discussed those proposals in tlmt building, and decided that thoy were n mistake, and the same conclusion was arrived at in other parts of the colonies. He told thorn at that timo that a now being lind sprung into existence, unknown to Europe and the rest of the world. He told them that some other movement would bo made by this youth, although he did not know where it would take place. Well, a gre.it aeries of events took place in Africa, and England last many gallant officers and many gallant men, and failed, after all, to snvo tho horo of tho time, General Gordon. Moro disasters than successes overtook our forces. Again this new being to whom ho had referred took the lead, und the generous offer of assistanco to Britain attracted the attention not only of Great Britain, but of the whole civilised world, They felt, infact, that a now Empire had sprung intoe xistenco —a united Empire. Under such circumstances, ho thought it was a matter for regret that no offer of assistance in what might have boon tho hour of need had been mado by this colony, which owed so much to tho mother country. It would have boon a graceful act had such an offer been made, and thoy would agree with him that an excellent opportunity to show gratitude had been lost, was it any wonder, heaskod, that some like himself should have thought that New Zealand would have been the first to send a message to Great Britain couched in some such words as these : —We, the people of Now Zealand, grateful for paßt benefits, and now having tho opportunity of testifying our gratitude, hasten so to do. Tell us in what way wo can aid you. We make no specific ofl'er, but in New Zealand there are willing hearts and willing hands and open purses. Say what you wish your children horo to do, and you shall find that wo are ni> laggards to carry out your wishes." A great work lay before New Zealand. Tho broad Pacific was stretched bofore her, and it .-hould bo her prideandglory to civilise the islands with which it abounded, ond to dissominato amongst their people tho arts of poaco. That would bo a blessing to tho Polynesians, but forcible seizure by a groat powor meant virtual slavery for them. New Zealand's destiny wouldbelndeed groatif she applied herself to tho noble task of calling into oxistonco such an island nation. It was a work which would engage our hands for a contury to como. It was a glorious destiny, and ho only wished ho could havo youth again to assist in it. As that could not be, ho might at least tiro with laudable ambition tho breasts of the young. After referring to land monoply and destitution in Canterbury, tho speaker proceeded:— Tho plan proposed by Mr Ballanco for thoir reliof was to take small blocks as conveniontly situated as might bo to markets. Ho was going to let these on leopoa at presont market rate, tho land to be valued every twonty-one years, and the rent raised if nocoesary. These people woro to be com-, polled to live thoro, and labour amongut the great freeholders surrounding them. The blocks wore to be small, because those peoplo woro not intended to be farmers, Mr Ballance said he did not intend that the blocks should bo large enough to enable tho settlors to maintain themselves upon them. These blocks wore therefore intended to supplement their other earnings, and stress wns put upon them to make them work outside their own holdings. No man could tako up two blocks, becauso if he did ho might cam a living off them. Thorofore, ho asked what rights woro they to havo. Thoy could not earn thoir own livings on their leaseholds, but must work for tho big land-owuura {surrounding thorn in order to maintain themselves and thoir families. ■ Lord Lyttolton said ho could not get enough land in Canterbury, but in other provinces ho was making provision for tho future. Thoir map* wero therefore dotted all over with sections, and thoy woro told that married men would be offered special inducements to sottlo upon thorn. In Auckland wo had the power of taking up homostoad freeholds, and of taking up land in many other ways as well. What right had n man in his will to say that certain lands should not be sold, and tho map bo thus dotted over with lines of closod-up land in consequonce '! Surely thov would stand no such alienation and eloeinß-up of tho land. (Applauso.) It was not fair cither to movo up poor people from the towns to small blocks in tho country whence thoy could not escape. Ho asked thorn to accompany him to a hcoiio in that theatre — a very extraordinary scene, and yet they had passed it ovor as of no account. The Premier had told thorn they had many millions of acres left, but ho did not toll them whothor this land was good. It might bo acres of rocky mountain or snowy waste. Tho Premier said that there was no question moio practical th >n that as to what should bo done with tho land, and then ho wont on to say that the lands which had passed from us and had been sold were out of tho range of practical politics. Ho himself did not think so. The highest idea of politics was to get land for tho settlement of tho people. Mr Stout said furthor that no colony could entor upon a course of repudiation, as that would shako public credit and injustice in the end never auceeedod. This was folowed by their cheers, so that it was evident that they had been carried away by the liuenoes of the sentiment, although one man did try to say "No." (Laughter.) Then tho Premior also remarked, and this time they had again cheered him, that no generation had a right to partition tho lands of the colony, or to say to the noxt generation, "Wo have decided for you how the earth's surfaco is to be occupied." Ho (the speaker) asked them if, when tho Premier told them this, they reflected whether in the past the Government had acted upon that principle or not. Had tho Government not lent itself to tho work of partition ? What explanation could it give to tho starving children in Canterbury of the partition of the heritage of the people in that province amongst the rich and wealthy' (Applause.) Ho (Sir George) did not tell them the past was irretrievable. He believed in the English law that for every wrong there was a remody and it did not become the man who might be our next Chief Justice to publicly state that a wrong had been done the people for which the law provided no remedy. (Applause.) Now he had a remedy to propose. He had thought it out in solitude, and he had no doubt that it would earn for him opprobium, and beget hatred of him in certain quarters, but he cared not for that. What he had to advise the people was to provide that no man should obtain a tract of land unless he meant to live upon it like other settlers. If the people of Auckland left him in the position he was now in, he would bring in a bill to Parliament providing this : Tlut for every thousand acres a man took up, he should support upon it one farm labourer for a whole year. (Cheers.) Thusan estate of 200,000 acres would support 200 families, so that all would not be left for sheep, but something for men on' God's green earth. (Cheers.) There would be some measure of justice to the children of thof c who had been deprived of thoir fairsharo of the land. In this way a home would be provided them, while fair wages might be earned with which to buy land for themselves, instead of being left to perish for want of work, while all the land lay waste for the maintenance of sheep alone. That was where justice came in. But he had still another'idea. Let the Government, instead of sending people out of the colony in this way, buy the land back from the persons who have it, at its fair value, with interest, given upon the money, and s6 that every man earning money upon the land should see that he iB safe and' that tiii interests would be protected, Every man who had bought land which had been Crown

granted should be protected, but inquiries should be made into all property for which grants had been taken out by members of provincial councils, General Assembly, or by ir\f>n who, Vr'bila in office, rando the lft~*\s Trherghy the psopls had beon wronged by tricks ot the .Laud Office ; and every such man who had used his position to acquire land wroagly or at an inadequate value should bo mado to pay for his ill-gotten gains. Those who had bought subsequently deserved protection, but the original wrong-door should bo sought out and made to pay for what he had wrongly taken, This would prevent him rioting in his wrongly-acquired wealth while those children of whom he had spoken were dragging out a precarious existence upon such a wretched pittance as twopence per day. In this way they would assist to place tho colony in a far more healthy state. All such regulations aB Mr Ballance had drawn up wero good and just in thoir way, but it land had been taken wrongly wo had • right to see that tho wrong-doer did not walk off with, say, a quarter of a million in his pocket. Mr Ballance's regulations showed that the poor had been injured, and the poor could not be injured without the rich being affected too. Mr Fornell, in rising to move a vote of thanks, said he had added to it something to show that they were resolved to remain true to the grand Liberal statesman who had been truo to them from the first. (Cheers.) They had lately heard a lecture from the Premier on " Political Ideals," and he wished them to show the Premier and all others interested that they had found thoir political ideal personified in Sir George Grey. (Cheers.) j Now in putting this resolution he reminded them that prior to last session Sir Geo. Groy, in answer to a singular question, said at his last public mooting that ho would only take offico if ho found it necessary for tho purpose of passing his measures. If he could do that he would ba willing to retire aftorwards. What Sir Geo. Grey doubtless meant, however, was that ho would be content to remain out of ofllco until surrounded by members ready to fupport him in legislating for tho people. This opportunity they should try to afford him. He begged to movo, " That this mooting tonders its hearty thanks to Sir Geo. Grey for his addroßS, that it places tho utmost confidence in him as the leader of the Liberal party in New Zealand, and that it also expresßos its opinion that such a leader should bo supported by every man in tho colony who wishes for tho welfare of his followcolonists." (Loud cheors.) Mr T. B. Hill, in soconding the resolution, reechoed Sir Georgo Grey's wish that he woro a young man, bo that he might long continue to load them on to victory. As, howovor, a return to his youth was out of tho question, the peoplo might at least, during tho noxt elections, placo him in powor with such a strong and able body of men at his back as would enable him to successfully carry through Parliament tho great moasuros which, in tho interests of the pooplo at large, ho was fighting for. (Cheers.) The motion was put amid cheers, and passed with enthusiastic acclamation.