POLITICAL ADDRESS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVII, Issue 125, 29 May 1896, Page 3

POLITICAL ADDRESS.

An' HON. W. C. WALKER AT TB THE CITY HALL.

Ivkh8 -b 3 enceofbheHon. J. McKenzie, Slter of Lands, who was precluded from Shis promised address owing to his •„.» iodisposibion, a short address was 1 at bhe Ciby Hall last evening by the « ' W. C. Walker, Minister oi Educa- . Hia Worship the Mayor (Mr 'J. J. SJIJu presided, and there was a large **S£oX introducing the speaker 111 tnthe severe illness which had pntedMr McKenzio from being there ?„7n-hb. and said ho had been asked by t Minister to state thab he did not Lrl to leave Auckland without giving an 'iress Mr McKenzie would probably be kuto.mvout his intention on Monday .VToeeboverthedifficulbytbathad arisen T 2 VV C. Walker had kindly .seated to give ft short address, and be Z,UI ask them to overlook any shortlnKa thab mighb occur, as Mr VValker bad had only » few hours in which to prePS Mr Walker said thab in common with fclmm all he musb express his regreb bhab he ad baen called upon to address bhem bhuE ieht Under any obher circumstances ib _o_ld have been a greab pleasure bo him, L tbe sudden indisposition of his old fr nd and colleague the Hon. Mr MoKes-iA, waa to him a very bad Jory-to tell. ' However, Mr Mckenzie hots-i to address them before L left Auckland, and they would then aye the real McKay. (Applause.) He -ished also to express tho regret of the Hod Mr Thompson ab his being unable to ; om e U p before the session. His had been away travelling in Afferent) directions in consequence of the necessity they felb for placing bhe position 0 t the country fairly before bhe people, and Mr Thompson hod been obliged to look ifter aiiairs in Wellington. He wished .180 to say a word or two of regreb ab the lorn the colony had sustained within the paafe fortnight in tho deaths of Dr. Pollen [id Sir Patrick Buckley. Both were members of the Legislative Council, and though they often crossed swords Providence took them across the dark river on the same day, and they had lefb many Ittmenting frienda. Sir Pabrick especially left a memory which ought to be regarded si sacred by the Liberal parby (hear, hear), bee-use he for many years, againsb long odds, represented the Liberal party when tiiere wore very few of tho aame political principles indeed in bhe Upper House. ii was largely owing bo bis tacb aud lindly treabrnenb of affairs thab he waa sale to do as much as had been done in iho laab few years in the direction of Liberal measures.

PROGRESSIVE POLICY. . Id the firsts place he wished to state that the Governmenb sbood before the country is representing a progressive party. At theßame time ib might be admitted that tho Governmenb had nob been able to do everything thab every member of bhab progressive parby individually would like. lb waa right lhab there should be an advance guard ia every army, especially in t progressive army, and bhe Liberal party must; have an advance wing in advance of tbe general policy of the party to prepare the way. And if the Liberal party had nob recognised thab facb they would nob have been able to do as much during tbe laßt five years as they had. He would give ono insta.ee how tbo Liberal parby during the pasb five years had disappointed many of il» strongest and staunchesb friends. He referred to the land policy of bhe Hon. Mr McKenzie. Thab land policy was inbrodaced the first year afber he book office, and ib contained every vital principle that the mosb pronounced Liberal would approve of. Bub after that year was experienced, ib was found bhab ib was impossible to geb a measure of that advanced character carried, so the Minister, wisely, he (Mr Walker) thoughb, nexb year proposed a measure which ha was Bure would be carried. The consaqaence was thab wo had had, during bhe lasb four years, bhe mosb Liberal land laws of any country in bhe world, as far aa he know. (Applause.) The party had now been in power for a libble over five years, and the work they could claim to have accomplished within thab period was a record ef which any Governmenb could be proud. (Applause.) The biabory of those five years was begun by the late Mr Ballance. (Applause.) He wrote the coming policy very larga indeed, aod be wae taken away jusb when bo had hid the first stoße, so to speak, of the building, the firsb corner sfcone of that edifice being the abolition of the property tax and the establishment of a land and income tax. (Applause.) He also accepted M a part of the Liberal policy the principle of female franchise. LAND LAWS.

Mr Walker wenb on to defend bhe land policy of the Hon Mr McKenzie. The Land Bill of thab Minister had made ib impossible for large esbabes ta be acquired m tbo future.. Land eebtJemonb now wenb "n two assured conditions—first, bhab tho Wea was limited, second, thab occupation *ps necessary. When they looked back on the past history of Now Zealand and saw bow much sinning againsb these two principleahad taken place, ib wasindeed lamenb>oie. If tho founders of this colony had only n»d tho wisdom to insist on occupation, and thas the land should nob be alienated in hrge blocks, this country, he thought, JtQBl- have been in a very different position from what ib was in today. They now had toremody the evils of the pasb. They had 10 pass legislation in order to reacquire estates. They had bsen obliged to undertake loans to find money for bhis reacquisition, and if lb was nob a mabter of jw'ona moment in this district, ib was so in «8 South. Tbe land thab had been Required during bhe lasb few years under ljw^ )„„,_ policy was bending to bring r>!)u» prosperity in many disbriebs which •™ lost many of their young men because were was no.laud for b'uem to settle upon. . . . ADVANCES TO SETTLERS.

A most impnrfcanb measure to his mind "Mi the Advances to Settlers Act. A greab °™ was hoard about its defeebs, bub ib was to'lV fnir to say thab bhose defects were due T«fy largely to tbe machinery with which ' was cumbered in passing through tho oßse, bat from year "to yoar bhese defects 6ro beiag remedied and the machinery wcominj- more perfect. The Acb had J* 61}. a boon to the small farmer and bbc •«all borrower.

RAILWAYS. ■With regard to railways Mr Walker , °nßfit there could be na comparison tnd n the P^ition of the railways now .what it was during the reign of the Thia year showed a vary J Btan«aH, IC rease in tho revenue-£13,76l . *'thß previous year. During the year .»n. c«"on- had bean made to bhs extent of ""•«t £25,000, and tbab waa independent cos K6B w'licn wero now m2U,G ior lino like^T' 108 of maiI *' Pn^,ic °fficers and th* terri ri paMenKers i -heep and mineraln to _k _ *'80 snowed large increases, fsirl i ■ tfee Min'«fcor of Railways could y omim to have made the railways c. devni muoh more "nportanb factor in the 'a op menb 0{ tho indußtrieH 0 { fc h e coon- * c ««n they had ever beon before.

OTHEB CLAIMS, ll, r ™")9 'Mb five years between bwo and piittn vu _and men bad each year been ftou, j Dn works. Twelve on tki - men had beea Placed on fcho land occnn ~princiPe of limited areas and of to _T ' Xho Agriculbural Deparbment Mb„»- Beveral new departures/ is ending fruit growing, dairying and

timber industries, and whab was more remarkable still, aba very small cosb to the country. When they compared whab other colonieshad beendoing in thesame direction, and bhe largo cosb bheir new departments had been to them, they would see whab advances New Zealand had made. Not only thab, bub the obher colonies were acbually applying bo New Zealand for experbs to teach them how to do ib. Native lands had been placed on a different footing, and bhe goldfields encouraged in every possible way. THE OPPOSITION. When Mr Ballance initiabed his progressive policy in 1891, critics prophesied bhabthe whole policy waa a mistake, bhab ib was an interference wibh individul rights, thab ib would lead to a total collapse of public and privatftcredib. What did these critics say now—uNlß96 ? They had publicly announced th_t if they wero again returned bo power, thoyVirould not be prepared to remove one single plank in the Liberal platform. (Applause.) If thab was so, whab was the value of v their prophecies in 1891, and what was bhe value of bheir opinions then, and how could thoy trusb them ab the presenb moment ? EDUCATION. Referring to the question of education, Mr Walker said tbe whole of the electoral machinery of the Education Act was co very crude and imperfecb bhab ib had been only the good sense of the people which had made ib work ob all rightly. Ab tbe same time, ib was an Acb which very few of them wished to see altered in any of its main particulars. Sbill he held thab the electoral system under bhe Educabion Acb would nob be sabisfactory until ib established once for all fthab all elecbions depended primarily on bhe popular vobe. He would cerbainly do away wibh bhe elecbion of Boards by the committees, and pub it in bhe hands of individual members of a disbricb. Men eiectod on a school commibbee to manage a school might nob be the very best qualified to elecb an education board. Tbe matter wonld, to a certain extent, come before tho Legislabare probably this session. Tho same principle also applied to Hospital and Charitable Aid Boards, which under the measure would pass into the hands of local governmenb governing bodies, ib would provent boards being elected as they now were, in a mosb anomalous and imperfecb way, by a collection of local bodies, instead of direcbly by bhe people. He believed an alteration of bhis sorb would remove some of the weaknesses ot bhe charitablo aid system und pub on tho Board men who were more direcbiy in touch with the people themselves. Ib was a mabter for regreb to see in so many parba of bhe colony these bodies, dealing with mabters of tho mosb vital importance, so often failing to afford satisfaction, and he could nob see any remedy obher than election directly by the people. ResponMbiliby had always the effecb of correcting imporfecfc adminisbration. In thab way ho trusbed thab our Hospital and Charitablo Aid system would be rendered more full of life and more useful bo bhe community.

TECHNICAL EDUCATION.

The Minister had paid a visit to the Technical School 'and Arb Gallerj and he had been very pleased to find thab an opporbuniby waß being so well afforded for bechnical education in bhis city. He knew tbe advantages of such technical classes and be felb sure that ib required only a little concentration of energy bo make bhe school jusb established in this ciby second to none in the colony,

THE COMINS SESSION. With regard bo the legislation which the Governmenb would introduce this session, it was impossible to state distinctly whab it would be in detail, bub this they might be assured—thab it would be continued in the direction in which ib had begun, that ib would be progressive in its character, and would endeavour to carry still furbh&r the principles on which the Governmenb began. Some of the measures which bad bean dropped in past sessiona would again j be introduced, and they trusted pass into law. They would go in tho natural course to the electors for their verdict ab the general election. And with regard to the general election j all he ceuld hop* was thab in bhis city as all through the colony the Liberal party would remember that unoin was strength. They were apb to think of bheir own particular fancies. They fixed their aim exclusively on one object and forgob thab ; their creed should really be much more universal. If they refused to combine or were careless aboub combining wibh obhers who might nob see things as bhey did, they would bo forgetting union was necessary and acb disunitedly. The party had learnt a lesson by pasb experience. He hoped ab bhe nexb election bhe parby would ba united and show to the enemy an undivided fronb. Their opponents would nob mako bhab misbake, and ib rested therefore with the Liberal party whether they would gain the victory or the Opposition. Thoy still had the battle to fight against monopolists which were only scorched nob killed. Theee were fighting for existence: thoy knew whab ib meanb bo them; they musb spare no money bo gain their end?. Tbe Liberal party had therefore to do all that they could to meet the desperate effort to regain the fort. The Government had endeavoured during the pasb five years to keep faith in bhe trusb which was commibted to them. Their record was a good one he honestly believed, and ib resbed with bhem to say whether bhe country was going to have anobher period of progressive and safe legislation, or whether they would have a period of re-action and standing still.

THANKS AND CONFIDENCE. Mr Theo. Cooper moved, "Thab thia meeting of Auckland citizens accords a hearty vote of thanks to the Hon. W. C. Walker for his able and instructive address, and of unabated confidence in the present Governmenb." (Applause.) Mr Cooper thought bhab they should also add a vote of sympathy with Mr McKenzie in his sudden attack of illse*.. He asked them to pass tho resolution unanimously, if only in view of bhe land policy of bhe presenb Government. While there mighb be differences of opinion as to some of bhe things thab had been done in the adminisbration of this Governmenb, no Governmenb was perfect, bhey could nob expeeb bo get a, perfect Government. There wae no netting away from bhe facb that the "* present Administration was a distinct advance, bo for as affording to the people a fair advantage in setbling the lands of the colony, upon any previous Government. That was emphasized by the facb bhab the party endeavouring to geb inbo power had admitted they would continue the presenb land policy, and bhab they were prepared to pledge themselves nob to alter it. (Applause.) Mr Cooper referred also to several other things which the Government had done for the colony, and aßked tbe audience to pass the vote unanimously. The resolution was seconded by Mrs Yates and carried unanimously with acclamation. The proceedings were broughb to a close with a vote of thanks bo bhe chair.