MR. SAUNDERS, M.H.R. AT KAIKOURA.

Ashburton Herald, Volume I, Issue 221, 11 December 1878, Page 2

MR. SAUNDERS, M.H.R. AT KAIKOURA.

M. Alfred Saunders addressed his constituents at Kaikoura on Friday evening last, as we published in our telegrams on Saturday. We give the following extract, from his speech as reported by the “.Press THROWING DOWN THE GAUNTLET. If after hearing my views on the present position of our public affairs and putting any question you please to me, you have reason to think that my opinions do not fairly represent your own, I will im-. mediately put you in a position to choose some one who may more truly represent you, as it Would be anything but a pleasure to me to hold a seat in which I was nov fairly representing those who had placed me in it. I make this offer because the events of the session have been very different to anything that was contemplated either by you or by me, and consequently my action has not been c f a kind about which we could possibly lu.re come to any previous understanding with each other, and therefore it is quite possible that 1 may have given the present Government, or their measures either more or less support than you may have expected me to nave done. GOVERNMENT’S EDUCATION POLICY.

It was an unwise and delusive proceeding to take twopence a pound off the working men’s tea, and in the same breath t

oil them that we must starve our educa cion system, and could afford nothing out of the. cansqlidatedrevenue for the erection of the £200,000 worth of school building;iemanded by the Education'Boards/ it a; a wicked farce to rnake laws to compe parents to send their children to school', and then not to provide schools to which ,aey could be sent; and no working marl —and no true friend of the working man—would for one moment belie, e that tin .eduction of 2d. a pound on his tea, and l halfpenny on his sugar, was a boon worth raving at the expense of neglecting the education of liis children. Even the vote liked'by the Government for teaching wa it least ten per cent, less than they knew would be required, and £IOO,OOO was taken jut of loan for the erection of half the wooden temporary buildings that they knew to be necessary this year, and would be required every year. THE RAILWAY BILL. The Railway Companies Bill was a measure worthy of Mr. Macandrew, as it came into the House, and .would have enabled him to commit the colony without farther co do to an expenditure of £6,370,000, and fco have entered into contracts to the same mutant-. That-would have virtually excluded all fair and open competition. But' about ten of the most independent Members of the House—who usually voted with the Government —determined to put their veto upon that, and Mr. Macandrew was obliged to make a virtue of and in his own able, quiet way took the Bill out of the Ifouse in a condition that was both harmless and useless.

THE COMPANIES TAX BUL was a very objectionable Bill, as it showed a disposition to pitch upon banks and loan companies for special taxation, in a manner that would have frightened capital fropi

New Zealand, raised the rate of interest, arid haye been very injurious to borrowers. Besides which it gave an unfair advantage to. those Who were rich enough to lend money,‘.or transact other business on their own account without forming companies. C, THE APPORTIONMENT OK REVENUE.

Let the Customs duties, which are paid equally.by all, be devoted solely to purposes in which they are equally interested —primary education, hospitals, and other provisions for the sick and infirm, lunatic asylums, expenses of government and legislation, defence, police, gaols, lighthouses; and for interest of money borrowed for such purposes ; then let the""ißttd” ’ revenue be spent on any public works that add to the value of land, whether it be railways, roads, bridges, or drains. It should be spent as nearly as possible where it is raised, and be paid as nearly as possible from the land that receives the improvement, and in proportion to the value given to the land paying the tax. 1 * PUBLIC WORKS. It would be hardly possible to get a worse tribunal than the House* of Representatives for deciding on what public works should, and what should not, be done at the public expense, and as long as it is made the tribunal the public money will literally be ’ spent f in corrupting the people’s representatives, and the public progress and credit will Be lost by making unprofitable h ' *’ THE BEER BILL. ■ • ;

I Avill now come to the celebrated Beer Bill, and on that I will explain Low I came to speak one Way and vote the other. I spoke against 'the Bill because I disapproved of it. .1 thought it an unwise interference With! a 1 home manufacture, and a very undesirable introduction of the expense and annoyance of an excise establishment for very: little purpose ;. but. I„ voted with the Government ion the’ second reading because I. did. not /wish to see .them thrown out, arid especially by the dictation of bfewers from all parts of the colony, which I thought very degrading to any Legislative Assembly. SIR GEORGE GREY AND THE ELECTORAL BILL. After severely criticising the Premier’s speech in favor of the Electoral Bill, and his change of opinion regarding it afterwards, Sir. Saunders said :—After Sir George had had a few more weeks’ experience in the management of working men and working men’s representatives, a complete change came over the. spirit of his dream. He seems to have found out that working inen and \ their representatives required at least some of the promises made to them to be kept, whereas Mr. Sheehan -had* evidently been able to manage the Maori vote without any inconvenient concessions of that kind, and from henceforth the noble; savage and not. our farmers’ sons became the pith and marrow of the country that required Sir George’s special protection. HIS OWN CONDUCT. I feel that after what I have said you may very fairly ask me, why did I support Sir George Grey’s Government so far as I did ? Why did I vote* with theta on th'e Beer Bill, the Tariff, and on every question where they were, closely pushed, or on which there was a probability of their being defeated ? In reply to that, I must give more than one reason. At first, I heartily supported them because I hoped that through them. the colony would get some important measures. There was the very evident policy of letting Sir George have plenty of rope to hang himself' with, and when- I considered, not only the magnitude, but the unreserved and positive and unmistakable character of Sir George Grey’s promises," and the past history of the man by whom such distinct promises had beeeri made, and the manner in which they had been accepted and believed by a majority of the electors of the country, I could not but feel that it would be a mistake to take any responsibility for their non-fulfilment from Sir George’s own shoulders, whilst it was possible for hirii to - plead that’'he Radbeen deficient of ample time and opporcunity to give his supporters all the boons lie 1 had pictured as .sure to result, from his retention of power,, r ... . . ... . , - .. .HIS .REASON FOR IT. '' 1 It would have taken me a year to Rave learnt... from newspapers and blue books ; iud party speeches, what I learnt in a week by watching the Government in its own stronghold, and. seeing,how entirely every•Hing was'misrepresented ih the party lewspapers owned or subsidised by the Government-- they' Mattered. / .1; had no right *to expect that my-fellowc settlers would not taiie as long as I should have done to be-Convinced of.‘thejr insincerity. A 1 great-many hard things have been/said against Sir George Grey’s' £rbmiims, 'but., chose wlid'blamed-them could hardly have* considered how riiuch there was to justify such credulity. They were not listening : to the voice of a or.the, voice of an inexperienced youth, or to a novice in political affairs; qrdo any double meaning oracular sentiments, but to the most distinct avowals'of a man' born in high position, educated under every advantage, who had governed three great British colonies satisfactorily ' and successfully, who had gained the support of a majority of the New Zealand people’s representatives in his feeble old age, jvho spoke with natural contempt of any temporary popularity lie could, now achieyb compared to the.verdict of pqsjterity( and the approval of the great judge before whose throi e he must so soon appear. It would have been a much stronger, proof of credulity if iRe ©lectors of New Zei lani’ had ciiosdi to believe that a man ctf such birth, ».ich education, such history, such age; and such position would deliberately dhoose to overwhelm them with plain, distinct prom ses, which he had no intention to fulfil. lam still unable to understand why Sir George Grey has made, or why he has not fulfilled such promises, and will still hope fqp some more charitable solution of the difficulty than any I can yet »ee,