A.P.C. BUILDING AND INVESTMENT SOCIETY.

Auckland Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 148, 25 June 1887, Page 5

A.P.C. BUILDING AND INVESTMENT SOCIETY.

The general annual meetingof the Auckland Permanent Co-operative Building and Investment Society was held last evening; air 7.30, at the Social; Hall of the V.M.C.A. Building, when some .twenty-five,, {jersons were present. Mr Thompson, M.Hi R;, in the absence of Colonel Haultain, took the chair. The balance-sheet, was; taken as read.v "The annual report "was; read by the Secretary, Mr John "Batger. The former showed a balance in hand (March 31st, 1887) of L 12.091 lls lOd. , r The_. report showed the, past year had been one of great .depression,' and the Society's business had-felt its in-' fluence.in .many ways. There had, been little demand -for loans for building purposes, and the depreciation in the value, of house property had made it increasingly difficult to iind safe investments. ...The receipts for the year amounted to L 121,521 8s lOd, and disbursements L 134,929 Bd. Profit' ; and loss account}showed gross earnings, L 6,787 19s 3d, which, after deducting expenses;* left' L1,'553 ' 12s 9d. The Chairman, in moving the adoption: of the report and balance-sheet, showed that the falling off of business might have been expected.,«,, Altogether, ...the, shareholders, might congratulate themselves. A regular falling off was shown on all the items, showing the shrinkage in the business being evenly distributed.' The borrowing shareholders had been, with' a .few exceptions, fairly satisfactory in their' pay mentis. .The general expenses account -was .somewhat in,1, excess of last year's. This was mainly in consequence of increased rental of. business premises. Mr 'Ewihgton .seconded ~the adoption ,of the report,, when Mr Belham asked .to be. (informed as to -expenses of business, and was informed upon the subject. The Secretary explained that the increased rent! for office was because, till this: year they, had occupied a place conjointly withanother business concern, and also that the balance of purchase moneys in properties in liquidation was that amount paid when properties realised more than the.. Society had advanced upon them. The report and balance-sheet were adoptedt "unanimously;. The following officers for the ensuing year were' then elected-:—President :' Hon. T. M. Haultain.. Vice-President: T.Thompson,Esq*., M.H.R. Treasurer :■ Mr 3. Potter. Committee-: W.--S. Gochran, F. G. Ewington, H..'lf. Garland, G. Harper, H. W. Heath, C. Hesketh, W. Lodder, S. Vickers, T. Watts. Auditors : Messrs L. A. Durrieu and; W.;Gorrie. Votes of thanks to the trustees and officers of the Society were then passed. Special Meeting. A special meeting; as! advertised, i was then held. Mr Ewington proposed, " That rule 55 be altered so as'tb strike but all the words between'the words 'appointed time' and 'unless, 'and to insert in their stead the following words: ' Shall pay a fine of five shillings, and'if absent-during the whole time of the . meeting, ten, shillings;'" carried.' Proposed by Mr Ewington and seconded by Mr Belham, "That rule 58 be altered, and the word 'ten' he, inserted instead'of 'five;.'" . A .ballot being demanded .by, Mr Ewington,, upon there being not. threefourths of .votes recorded in favour, of this,' this was .declared carried by 156 for, and 32 against. Mr Ewington. moved,. "That rule 78 be altered, and the .wor.de ,' of the trustees' be struck out, and. ' other members,of the Committee' be inserted." Carried/ A motion by -Mr Ewington', " Tlmt'rule 85 be altered, and that after the-word ''registered ' be inserted, ' the entrance fees received" on borrowers' shares shall also be paid .tostKe Survey Committee,'" was: withdrawn by that gentleman.. ,".." ...,.,,

Mr W. F. ISuckland at Otahwliii

Mb W. F. 'Buckland, member for North Franklin, addressed a meeting of his con-stituents-at the Otahuhu Public Hall on Thursday night: The attendance was good, the large body of the'nall being well filled! On the motionof Mr b.-Ci/McGee, Captain John Gordon was called to the chair. He introduced Mr Bucklahd, and '.bespoke for him.ft patient' hearing.., ~., i ; \ ; Mr Buckland, who was" receiv'edi'with applause, referring to the session, said the great question, was the Representation Bills There were- differences'-Of' oftinion on the .Government and, Opposition sides, and a certain .number of .members on both side 3 of the House were not particularly anxious1 to see the bill pass into law. Now, if it had ■ not passed = they • would m have- lost • their constitution in December, and if they had had a dissolution under the old Act they would have required two elec-' tions in~ the 'one'; year — so that it was ve^y. desirable ' that 'the / Act should pass. The first'thing the trouble was over was the number of members., The number was blank Ihrthe bill,; but Sir R. Stout proposed" to insert the number at 86. The dif vision was taken as soon as the House met in... the evening, and the result was that 71 was. the number decided on. Government" their, found" out other members would 'vote for * a"' larger number, and that a majority, might perliaps.be got in favour 'of increasing\tlie nuniber. He (Mr Buckland) voted throughout for the lesser number, and, if returned, would do so again. (Applause.), The.next, question was the allowance'to country districts. Sir R.. Stout's, proposal really would have added about 14 members to'the'towns/and taken them from the country. The country members opposed this as most unfair,, and , eventually an allowance of 18 per cent, was agreed on whicli made the quota for towns.about ,7,000,.and for the country about 6,000. Stout's margin was 500, but eventually he conceded 750. The clause respecting the amalgamation of city constituencies was struck out in committee. He (Mr- Buckland) opposed the clause, as it gave an unfair advantage to town electors. He considered a man should have; one vote only, and that on his .residential qualification. * -.(Applause.J He referred to an en'ort'madeby the Go-; vernment members to defeat their own bill, and the result. The bill was eventually recommitted, and 91 inserted instead, of 71. The advantage caused by the bill was1 that the North Island got three members, and the South lost three, and the passing of, the.bill, got ,them out of .the', danger'of losing their'constitution. T.hen there was a bill put on j the order paper; as the'""Mining Companies' "Act ■'Amendment Bill ; on going into Committee it was; ■pointed^'out that;it was. an amendment of the Mines Act/ The Upper House added a; clause giving power to the Government hand " over about Jhalf-a-million o'i SSBneyj ;tQ the East and West Coast Railway' Company. Notwithstanding a vigor-: ous , '1 protest,s it,/; was' \ [carried. • Mr Pyke -said it,was, siriiply,.'a?rbbb'ery of the, colony. Then tho want-of-confidence-motion come on. The Opposition brought; down no hostile motion till the Financial Stateinent^was brought down with a deficit of really L24B,ooo,*"'and to meet which, instead of .-. , reducing \ . expenditure,^ thej Government coolly 'to put on, fresh taxation to the extent of about' L 300,000. He did not think the colony ] could have stood it. There was no attempt; at retrenchment further than not carrying! on authorised works, the Auckland Custom- ■ house, and painting buildings and such ■ like. This was not retrenchment. ..The Ministers themselves spent more than ever, and there Was no sign;Of retrenchment. Sir J. VogelgOt rid of the sinking fund, also of the Hospitals and Charitable Aid, but their expenditure had increased,Lloo,ooo in three years. In regard tp the burning down and re-instatement of : the1 Post-office in Wellington, he was called' a fool for suggesting that a less pretensious building might suit. He told them beforo that he would go in for a fair,, encouragement of local industry in the tariff., • -, Now they had in the tariff proposals of the Government what boremost heavily on the poor-of the colony, a tax on tapioca, ,s,agpf. arrowroot, etc., and a tax on ■ rice, 'and on calico, sheeting, ! brown :hollands, etc.. The : ..proposed /tax .'on,, these articles alone i was estimated i ,t,o produce L 70.000. The: whole of them were largely used 'by poor ~, people, v and could not be produced here for,, aigreat many years to come, and this was called a protective tariff and guarding the interests of: the mass of (the people. A duty was proposed on netting twine for the purpose of encouraging the fishing industry, f, .The proposals:of the; Government were merely for revenue purposes. ; Then Sir J. Yogel proposed, to put On.'a'progressive property tax, so that if a man had L 2,501' worth'of property he would' have >to> pay about L 9 more than if he had^only L 2,500.; He should in future vote for ;an income and ll£th'd tax inpreference to a property tax. Mr Buckland then referred to the action of the native members as to the Lands Act, ancl.the.defeat of the Ministry. AH'that was then Required was to fix. up the .Representation 'Act and other, necessary bills, .and . .that- wasi all that was done. ~As to thpiHospital^and Charitable Aid Act an immense injustice was .done to this - district, ■ but'itiwas' impossible for .him to do anything; this session. He felt it. would :,be disastrous, to, ,tb,e 'c'buntry' districts.',., Mr Buckland 'then referred. to the' extrayagent expenditure of - the ' Government, which was only put before. the members before\the/' disscß lution. The expenditure on the, Governor and the .Ministry < was'-mbrei'than half the, expenditure on all the members of the Legislature'.1 He .had: consistently voted | against extravagantexpenditur.ebut no members, could reduce ; the, expend iture, e.xcept the. Government. .As to the education vote he thought ib too high, for their resources.' The • total expenditure last ''year? :was £509,000, and Sir Robert Stout said that he would allow no ; retrenchment on education. , (Cheers.) Yes,'but they must do it. If they did1 not they would have no education,; -for the ; British} creditors would not educate .their 'children. They must make :■ secondary >; education selfsupporting. Then they had the University of New "'Zealand,'-"""of ""^Aucklaifd, "* of Canterbury, and, of Qtago.., His.; .opinion was j one University was sufficient* for the colony.;.and now Sir Robert Stout wanted a Wellington University, and a 'bill was carried to give them,,large endowments. He was : of opinion;, that the?school':age for ;p7imary schqol^sßould bf7,tp^l3:^ears, s pj; no. -free education above the 4th "standard, and that would save L 200,000. In regard to the^permaiient force, they had a, Major General and permanentf.staff and a standing army, and he should ■''be.' in favour 'of abolishing it,, and let the police .bd.driUed to'the big guns! He.'had looked at all the .-batteries,', and ■'.they ' "wei-e! a Ipt ,of useless guns .in impossible -posi-;; tions.I'•'Let them, he said; get1' rid d£ that force at once.; ;That was a"'retrench- ; ment they could.meet: .It would be -better; ,to pay L30,'000 or L 40,000 a-year 'to, Great Britain for a Jman-of-^var to protect, their coast than the" present system.'; Mr Buck-; land then ppihtedout how the expenditure of Ministers'I,>Governor's;^aMmemberii';ex\. penses might Be reduced,1 and'L2O,O,OO could^ be saved, and]L7s,ooo:pouldbesaved on th& general administration of the colony^withoufc1" makirigHt brie* atom woree, and that would enable them to:meet;'ijheir annuaLtincome., In'tlie laridadmihistratibn"'also ) .'>yKere^there was' a deficit: of 'L2s,6(J6'last'year,'*'they should effect a saving, and makethe~land pay. Mr Buckland referred td'the runs in the South, the leases!.of ..which; fellah/,, and jibe fact that the'runliplders are,eaten off by rabbftg, »nd'tilj.ati the land, was, being'de-

populated.—He blamed Sir Robert Stout's fad about small runs for the whole of this trouble. He believed that through :this fad j the, exports of ( -the colony had fallen off at y least half a: million of money. He was not adverse to the settle: ment of: the people on the land, but the House should, be consulted:* The. House voted i.^L5,000, but the Minister 'spent L65,000,,and so if they winked .-at ithis they could nbtJ 6omplain of a similar^or even lax-ger over-expenditure down Sqiitfr/.:;' objection was that men Avere put into outf of-thevway' places. They.must give the .people', the freehold. (CheeKs.) <He objected,; to "such fads as perpetual leases, for eventually they would bring. such" pressure on-their members that they jvciiild'; get;their freeholds/ "-(Mr; Luhdon :• - Hear, ' hear, j He ; should that, | not ' b that wretched fad the perpetual;- leasej.making the settlers the-serfs; of tne'-fCrownv He would'rather give them tHe land; alto-j. gether,.an4 if in Parliament lie w6uld support, any.fliberal land -law. fie^read the Eight Hours Bill, a one-clause bill? to the meeting, and it was received with applause. Mr Buckland explained the action of the House in regard to the bill. - It was thrown out by a large majority. , He himseK was a thorough'believer in the eight-hour system. The eight-hour system was an unwritten law, of the .colony.;, and, if returned, he would try and get forty-five hours per week, instead- of forty-eight as .proposed in -the bill, made the law.■'.;He had noc studied tp please. his constituents by his votes, but taken an independent course, and voted for what he considered right and proper for the good of his constituents. Mr Buckland then referred to Sir Robert Stout's manifesto, dealing with the several items, and then said he had now. served the constituentsfor.four years'. He was always in Opposition, but had got many things which he asked, and on the whole- had succeeded as well as he expected. He had kept all the pledges, he had made,, and had got along well with Sir George GreyJ and he be: lieved if Sir George Grey was asked now, he would say vbte'"for~Buckland.. (A voice : -Lawry). ''This, might )o&'< his -last time •addressing them as a member, butafter that'he would a]>pear as a candidate. He had not intendedtb have stood again, but he had been earnestly requested to do do so, and had consented, and; would go' to the ;poll, "and if returned, he. would go*:in for rigid retrenchment and economy. He was glad to # -giee so many present. He hoped they would return him ait'the top of the'poll, and he intended to do his duty'to the-cb'ri-■tituehcy and the.country. (Cheers.) ■-. ? A number of questions were ask&d of the candidate, and- answered in a satisfactory manner. On the' motion of Mr-Gai-rett, seconded by. Mr McGee, a vote;'of/'thanks! and confidence was accorded to Mr Buck-' land, coupled-with a pledge to support him at the ensuing election. o■. " . :-: ' ' V,;