THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIII, Issue 89, 14 April 1892, Page 2

THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION.

(To the Editor.)

Slß,_l have read with great interest your report of the meeting of the National Association. The Chairman tried to make a point of the aims ot the Association being to have perfect political honesty and equal rights in the eight of the law, and objecting to class legislation ; while the veteran statesman, Sir William Fox, was horrified by the one man one vote having turned into, in city constituencies, one man three votes. I do not suppose anyone would place me on the list ol the labouring class, so I think I may justly claim to be, it' biassed, biassed on the side of the other class, and yet with a strong feeling of even-handed justice, I cunnob help noticing that until the National Association was called into existence the phrase " class legislation " wae never heard in our streets, and yet class legislation has existed in the world from the cradle of civilisation until now, and in this colony of New Zealand ever since it had Responsible Government.

Who ran this colony in its early stages ? Was it not the Foxes, and Carletons, and Sewells, and others, and to what class did they belong and for what class did they legislate ? How many years have the other clans legislated so that the burden of taxation should be borne by the working-man ? " Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypoeritea !, For ye bind heavy burdens aiid grievous to be borne and lay them on men's shoulders ; bub ye yourselves will not move them with one of your fingers," Is as applicable to-day and to the past political history of New Zealand as it was when spoken by the Great Reformer and benefactor of cur race ; and to those who read history and the words and counsels of that tfreat Light of the World aright, there can bo very little doubt us to which class in New Zealand and the world ab large His sympathies would be extended to-day. "Woe unto them that join houee to house, that lay field to field, till there bo no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth," is an exact representation of New Zealand of to-day, under the political control of past class legislation, but it was the other class. The burdens have been borne patiently for many weary years, but now that the so-called great unwashed class have a big say in the legislation of the country a great outcry is raised about class legislation, and tho country is about to be ruined.

I am eick of the miserable wo-begone cry of the Scribes and Pharisees over their loss of power, and although there is much I do not believe in about the legislation of to-day, yet I cannot deny that so far the working man's vote and the labour members, as they are called, have legislated far more calmly and sensibly than I anticipated. Like Sir Wm. Fox, I do not believe in plural constifcuencee. I believe in fair representation, which can only be obtained by proportional representation ; but Sir William seems to have forgotten how many years property held plural votes which pub their class into power, bub then a defective memory ia convenient when it was the other class.

Nob to be too long in this letter, Mr Bucldand says the present system of legislation favours the adventurer in the large city, the person who could speak frothily on political subjects. "Oh wad some fey the giftie gie us" is a sufficient answer to Mr Buckland. How many thousands are there in the colony who read the Parliamentary debates, who only see Mr Buckland here in hie speech minutely describing himself.

Mr Monk chose two very inapb illustrations when speaking of Wairoa mills and Piako Swamp drainage as an illustration of the benefits the capitalists have conferred on the labourer, especially the Piako Swamp business, which was a thorough question of class legislation of the other class, and although it has ruined the Company who logrolled it through the House, they had no idea ib was going to do so when the other class legislated it through.

Mr Ewington has " Socialism and Land Nationalisation "on the brain. lam as much opposed to both as he, bub I do nob think he is acting fairly'and honestly in trying to ferment class legislation in making it appear that the object of the present Goveriament is to confiscate property, and thus pub ill-informed country settlors in antagonism to their fellows in the towns, and make them imagine that their land is to be forcibly taken from them.

Abhougb. the Premier is, I believe—and I am not an admirer of the head of the Government—ready for land nationalisation, it is only when tbe people wish it, and he is not fool enough 10 believe that an Act will ever be passed to confiscate property and provoke civil war ; for, in that case, I for one would throw in my lot wich Mr Ewiugton's class. Bubland nationalisation, by buying out the rights of the present occupiers, is so far out of the sphere of practical politics that it seems foolish to harp so much on that subject; the present freeholders have every probability of being freeholders for ever.

Mr Bell objects to State Socialism, and so say all of us, bub in quoting the placing of supporters of the present Government into Government positions, he is only quoting what bis own class has done over and over again. Has not the late longwinded Continuous Government been accused repeatedly of family connections being in the Government service in high positions ? It is only now—and we deprecate this as much as Mr Bell—that the "other class" find it out as unworthy of the Government in power. It vould have been far bettor had the

selling the railway business been left out of the programme altogether. That question has been settled for ever, and when we do sell our railways it will be when we are sold up as a colony altogether. It would have beon coore to the point if the National Association had tried to devise mean* to bring about fairer representation and doingaway with Parliamentary Government, when class legislation of both classes would be done away with. If this was the maia plank of the National party, many would porhaps join them who now hold aloof; but their present policy is a selfish one. Be< cause they have to pay more equal and juit taxation than they have ever had to pay before, they howl down the present Government and cry, " Class Legislation."— iTours, etc., Patriot.