Pre-Sessional

Bruce Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 2646, 3 May 1895, Page 3

Pre-Sessional

MR ALLEN AT STIRLING. (By Our Special Reported.) Mr James Allen, M.H.R. for Bruce, addresßed the Stirling portion of his oon ■tituents in the Hall on Wednesday evening. There was a good attendance, a number of ladies being among those present, Mr W. S. Moßley ocoupied ihe chair, and briefly in trod need Mr Allen to the andienoe. That gentleman was well known to them all t>a a member of Her Majesty's Opposition. He was also referred to at times as a Conservative. If they would look at their dictionaries, however, they would find a very different kind of meaning applied to the word conservative. For his part he considered Mr Allen was a first-class Liberal. He was of opinion that Bruce should be prond of her member. If all the electorates of the oolony had representatives of Mr Allen's stamp the colony would not bave been plunged into debt in tbe way it had been last session. Mr Allen said he had not intended to make any remarks about definitions, but since tbe chairman had introduced the subjeot be might give them his idea of the words Liberal and Conservative. No man who bad studied science at all oould call himself a Conservative. There was of course the conserving of that whioh was good and the getting .id of that which was bad. If a man had studied he would know that there was no such thing as standing still ; there must either be progression or retrogression. It was fortunate that they belonged to a race that was progressing rapidly, as anyone belonging to that race must also progress. There were kinds of Liberalism, however, whioh he could not believe in. There was the kind, for instance, that professed to believe ia Socialism. He bad lately been reading a book on Sooial Evolution. The author treated Socialism from a scientific point of view, and he came to a very curious conclusion. He f aid that men as a society rouet progress or elße give place to others who oonld progress. He found also that tbe true cauße of progression was tbe result of religions teaching. There were two subjeots which were of special interest at the present time both to politicians and to the eleotors He referred to the visit of the Colonial Treasurer to England and the preliminary Financial statement of the Premier at Marton, and he intended to say Bometbing on these two questions, To deal in the first place with the COLONIAL TREASURER'S VISIT to England. He thought it a most uc usual thing for a Colonial Treasurer to leave the colony when the finances were in saoh a state as they were at the present time, Though there were instances of Ministers of the Ciown visiting England they were very few, and they had always given reasons. On the present occasion, however, no reason was given. The Treasurer, at the meeting held in Danedin just prior to his departure, informed them tb&t he was going Home to do something in tbe interest of the colony. That, however, was a very guarded expression, which might mean anything. Mr Ward had bsen intervieweJ in London, and be informed the interviewer that his visit was a ho'iday one, bnt he admitted that he hoped to remove false impressions which had got abroad regarding New Zealand and some of her financial institutions. If be had gone on a holiday visit they could only wish that be wonld bave a pleasant time ; but at the came time that was not the business of the country. If again the latter part was correct, and the visit was promoted by a desire to remove false impressions as to New Zealand and her institutions, even that did not justify the trip. They bad an Agent - General and staff in London, whose special doty it was to watoh the interests of New Zealand and remove misooEC6ptions whioh might ari&a. Their present Agent-General bad been specially energetic in removing misconceptions regarding the colony. In and out of season, and at al' possible times, he had given to the people of Eagland a proper idea as to the position of New Zealand. If that was not sufficient reason for tbo trip no doubt they th-jught he had gone | to fljat the million and a half loan for tthe purpose of the Advanoea to Settlers Act. The Government, however, evidently did not desire that the publio should think that, aa they had published a statement that the I loan was floated ia the usual coarse by the loan agents after consultation •with the Colonial Treasurer. It might have been ! neceeßary for the Treasurer to consult wuh i the agentß, but it appeared to him that the j cable would have been fufScient for tint j purpese. And so the visit still remained j shrouded more or less in mystery. It could ; hardly be a holiday, hardly the removal of ; misconceptions, and hardly the fl siting cf ' the loan. They would have to jnd^e for ' themselves whether the Treasurer was j right in leaving the colony when he did. In j eonnecti n with the visit, however, the loan j did crop up. He would like to refer to . a paragraph which he had read, and which referred to a statment by Mr Ballance that he had weaned the colony from a Bervile dependence on foreign money. And yet they found the Government now going to the London market lor a million and a half loan. He (the speaker) had never been one of those who thought it wrong to go to the London market for a Joan if they wanted it. He believed in going to the cheapest market for the money ; and so far as the place was concerned he had no objeotion if poli3y demanded that they should have a loan. But he claimed that it was a distinct change of policy. Ihe Government had alwaya put forward that they were a self-reliant and non-borrowing Government, and now they saw them floatlog a million and a half loaD, and they believed another million and a half would be announced next year. It was said that this was NOT BORROWING. Where was the difference, however, in borrowing for the purpose of lending money to farmers and borrowing for the construction of railways ? The Government had tried to sh<>w that there was a difference between the two, but he could not see it. In the first place they borrowed for the construction of railways. The railways were supposed to pay working expenses and aleo the interest on the loans, and they did very nearly do so. If the railway loans had been floated at the same price that the present loan was being obtained at they would far more than p*y interest. On the other hand they had this million and a half loan for lending to farmers. Tbe farmer was supposed to pay the interest, and so he claimed that there was no difference. On the question of policy, however, It was quite another matter. He was bouud to say that the lending of money to tbe farmers was a good thing for the farmer. Under these proposals he would get the money for 5 per cent, interest aod 1 per cent. sinking fund, and at the end of 36 years the debt would be paid off. Taken altogether he must Bay that if the administration oonld be carried out on a competent and sound basis he could not see how anyone could have any Strong objection to it. But it came to a question of administration and policy. In » toe first place, how maDy farmers would be MBiated by the proposal? Would it help the farmer who was grovelling and struggling on his knees for a living ? Ifc was only possible to borrow up to two thirds value of the land. The Board ought to see that the loans granted were not excessive, in tie intereets of the colony. But if only those men who could give good security were to obtain advanoea, what was to become of the others who had not made large improvements on their land, or those who had heavy mortgages already which they were unable to pay off ? It simply meant that they would tiot receive any benefit whatever. Again, sappoße tbe valuers were incompetent or were influenced by political feelings, serious trouble might arise. And still further as to policy, if it was right to advance money to farmers on their land was it not equally right to advance money to a merchant on his merchandise, provided he had good security. The member for Tuapeka, in a recent speech, had olaimed that as the Government were advancing money to farmerß they should aleo advance money to miners. If it went that far it might become a very difficult matter to arrange, bnt if the money were only advanced to farmers and the affair were ponduoted properly it might do ft lot of §OP(3,

FINANCIAL STATEMENT of the Premier at Marton, he thought this mast be a matter of extreme interest to everyone. They were told by the Premier that they might expect a net surplus of £180,000. Mr Seddon talked of gross surpluses and net surpluses, but one onrions thing they always found was that if they asked now muoh of a surplus there was in oath they found there was really pone. What happened last year was that they had to pay the land tax twice in one year because the Government were Bbort of money. If there was a surplus why wae it necessary for them to be called on to pay the land tax twice in one year ? If there waß a surplus no one would be more glad of it than the members of the Opposition. There were all New Zealander.?, and it was to their benefit, and it was their hearty wish that v might be true. Unfortunately he was not able to analyse the accounts that night, as the accounts for tbe last quarter had not been published yet, though they should have been in the ' Gazette' three weeks ago. He was therefore only able to analyse the accounts for the first three quarters of the year. Last year there was a surplus of £290,000. less £250,000 due to tbe Public Works fund, whioh left £40,000 to be carried forward. The surplus was therefore made up of this £40,000 and £139,000 surplus this year. When he told them that the estimated revenue for last year, after deducting moneys alre.dy appropriated, left only a balance of £2600 they would admit that it would be interesting to know how the surplus of £139.000 was airived at. If the Premier's figureß were correct, and be was assuming that they were, there must have been an increase in the revenue over the estimate of £53.715, and a decrease in the expenditure of £83.478. They were told there was a loss of £30,003 in the customs and £17,000 in the railway revenue, which meant that the other items muat have exceeded the estimate] by nearly £100.000 If that were co the Government muaC have considerably underestimated the revenue. He might say that they bad underestimated the revenue by £83.000. What was the use of appropriating money and then not spending it, in order that they might have a Bnrplus ; and yot thai; was what the Government had been doing for the last few years. It would be far better not to put the amounts down at all. The Premier had said that the PUBLIC WOKKS FCJND parti, whioh included railways and roads, had cost the oountry about £317,000, and claimed that this was the lowest Public Works expenditure Binoe the policy waß initiated. If that was what Mr Seddon said then ha was telling them what was not oorreot. The Public Works expenditure of IS9I waa £304,273, whioh was leas than last year. The Premier also forgot to tell them that there had been removed from the Public Works fund since that time the cost of Native Lands and roading. If they added these items, whioh in 1891 were ohanged to that fund, they would find that they had spent £200,000 to £300,000 more than was spent in that year. It waa therefore not fair to say that the expenditure last year was the lowest since the init.ation of the Public Works po icy, The amount of money appropriated for expenditure last year was £578,000 and the Government only epjnt £317,000, leaving £270,000 of the money appropriated which waa not spent. While Parliament was in session members asked for votes and the Government pub them on the estimates, but tn«y ware not Bpeut. For the time being the members were kept quiet, but that policy would have an end by and bye, when members found they were being disappointed year after year. He nosy came to another important question, the ■ TAKING OF PEIVAXK LANDS. j They had had this principle in practice for a few years past, but until last year the Government had not been able to take the laud compulsorily. If all the land in thß colony were taken up and ih- rs were j. Los of people j seeking land and unable to get it, and if the j land were held in large blocks it might be right for tbe State to step in. But the j question arose, had that state of things come : about? They bad large amounts of Crown j lands in the colony aid he thought it would i be batter to settle them firtt. It; wa3 in the I interest of the State to settle the Crown Unde, even if they had to goto Borne troubla j to do bo. How the compulsory purchase would work out they could not say ; tht-y oould only judge by the taking of lan i ! during the lass few yrars, when it was n"t j compulsory, and he ventured to cay that it I i had not been satisfactory. At some of thes* \ BeUlemeatß the settlers had been placed n the uufortonate position that they had ?n < j pay too much foe the land. At P.imahaka j ■' tha settlers now knew that they had p-iid t>o , ! much ; the c maty viluer hvi admitted th.s ! | and the values had been reduced by hiit ; i A curiouß Btatemeot had appeared i . j the paper a few uigbts before. It wi? by ■:» ! i man who knew the c <u.:try intimately, an I he considered the price txcessive. Ut said he I was glad to ccc a reduction had been made, tis Ico sidered £2 psr acre plenty for if. A:, i ' yet t-hia laud h *d cost the Government ab "j : i L 4 per acre. The same remarks applied i> Cheviot. They would therefore see t'-n.-danger of Ace dealing with private land*. The object of the Miaidter, and it was a right object, waa to SETTLE THE LiNDS of the coloDy and have as many of the psople earning their living on the land as possible ; and he gave the Mioiater credit for a desire to Bettle the land. The Minister, however, should also give his predecessor in . frbe some credit too If they would compare the last three yearß with the last three yeara of Mr Rica*rddon'a ad.-niaistra-tion they would fiod very little diffarence Even if they included all those placad on Cheviot and under the Special Sdt lement conditions there were orjy 70 tr SO more than in one of Mr Richardson's years. Si j that with all ihe pp?cial facilities trn: were offered settlement was not going on much more rapidly now that it did uader NJr Riohardson. There wag an idea that settlement was going on more rapidly now ; but it was not so. If it were the land evenue ahould also be going up year by ye c kr. Allowing for tho re^acuor.a that; had been made in some of the leases if settlement was going on at the rate of 2000 per year there should be moie money coniiug in. la 1889 the leases acd pastoral rents brought in £184 000, in 1890 £ 199 000, in IS9I £IS6 000, in 1592 fCOG.OOO. in 1593 £190,000, and in 1894 £184 000; so thu there had been a drcp fcit.ee 189 iof £21 896 under this head. 1= waa expUined ih = t the Government had reduced the rents, but chat would not account for it all The ''Joverument professed not to believe in selling the Unds, but sales had gone ou tune rapidly than under Mr Richardson, the sales far cash last year having amounted to £70,000 Leaving these questions, vvhi h w re not of special interest txoept to those who really wanted to know the condition of things, he would like to say a few word 3 as to the pol'oy they mi^ht expect in tho future There were two bila which they had heard alot of, the Masters ani Apprentice i Bill and the Undesirab'e Immigrants Bill. So muoh had already been said on these subjects that it was not neoessary f r him to dwell on them. What he wished to draw their attention to; however, was the line in whioh Miniaters deßired to legislate. Their idea evidently was to place a wall round New Zealand and keep within ourselves, and still progress as a nation. He contended that they oould not do this. It was right that they 9hould keep out those who would come into unfair competition with colonists. Under the Undesirable Immigrants Bill, however, it was proposed that no one should be allowed to come in unlees he had si many five pound notes in his possession. It was not well that they should build this wall round themselves. They had to compete with the nations of the world and it was only right that they should come in contact with tbe world and see what they had to fight. Another means of keeping out the outside world was the Tariff, They had a tar'ff commission touring the colony at present, whose object was stated to be to adjust anomalies, But he thought tbe real object was to enable the Government to raise more revenue, If the commission wanted to do good to the eoleny it should have gone through the country districts as well as the towns. It was not fair to take the evidence of one class and then set up a tariff for the benefit; of that class, to the detriment of the farming community. H,e moat cay, however, that he did not think the Qmwwwt M &q*§<J is »« dee? & w*y in

many ways as he would have liked to Bee. He could say nnhesitatingly that unless the Government were aotnated by UPRIGHT MOTIVES not only would they fall into disgrace themaelveß, but they would atao drag the colony with them. He would not refer that night to the Sergeant-at- Arms episode, nor to the appointments whioh had been made in violation of the Civil Service Aot They were two matterß whioh must stand out and whioh the people must condemn ; and there were many others beside?. -There were probably nob many of them who would understand anything of the trouble over the Horowhenua biook, where the nativeß had been treated very unfairly. The Government were ruliog not by principles of right, but by principles of fear. There wae terrorism everywhere, and people were afraid to say and do what they thought right, it Miniaters oould not agree tbatNew Zealand should be governed by righteous principles they were not fit to be in office. It they were going to terrorise people and buy votes it was time for the people to say they would have a Government who would govern in a proper mode, and that was not being done now. A reign of terror was nob the right thing to rule by. It was taking them baok to the dark ages instead of keeping up with this later age. In CONCLUSION he might mention that there many other subjects on which he might have spoken, but it was getting late. He had to thank them all for comiog out to hear what he had ta say on a few of the polit cal questions of the day, and he would be glad to answer aoy questions that might be put to him. In reply to questions, Mr Allan said he did not know if the million and a half loan would cheapen the ordinary channels for boirowing money. It seemed to him that instead of warring against capital the Government ought to have given every facility f r English capital to come to the colony. If that had been done he thought money would have been down now, independent of the Government, to five per cent. The loan would no doubt relieve those who took advantage of it ; but whether it would do aay real good was another matter. It might be that many men would be indncod to borrow because of the cheap money who would otherwise have done without it. They would have had to wait so long for reciprocity wit : all Australia that he thought Mr Ward had made a wise move in arranging a reciprocal treaty with South Australia. It was likely to force the band of the other colonies, and perhaps hasten reciprocity throughout the oolonies. He would like to Sre all the oolonial ports free to one another. Referring to the clause in the Education Aot providing penalties and fines for nonattendanoe at schools, be thought it very essential that the ohildren should have to go to school. In the towns, at any rate, it had been found necessary to provide for compelling them to attend, truancy being very oommon. Regarding how he voted on the I matter he did not think there was a division on that clause. He thought the time had come for an alteration in the system of local government. The local bodies in aome districts were so small and bo numerous that it waa impossible to carry on on the revenue they had It was imperative that they should be consolidated or that Bometh Dg should be done to help them to exi9i. He thought it moat 1 likely that any legislation would be in the I direction of enlarging their powers generally. He could not s*y th-U he was in favor at present of the Government purchasing the limekilns in order to provide cheap lime to farmers. He would be more ia f «vor of the | Government assisting the farmers by carrying the lime as oheaply on the railways as possible. He believed they c uld carry it for nothing, so that they might benefit by the increased product from the land. If the County Council petitioned the Government to build a new bridge over the i Molyneux be would do all he could to g^t it passed. ! He did not think Sir Julius Yogel had any ' further claim on the colony, either in law or i equity. i He was not in favor of giving a bonus for I the cultivation of vinee. A better way would be to assist men to get suitable vines. ! What the G ivernment would have to do, however, was to look to tbe conservation and supply of water for irrigation purposes ' This would aid the fruit industry, especially | j in Central Otago. ! He did not think taxing tickets for places ! of amuaetneut in order to assist to keep up the paupera, would help the local bodieß > much, tie did not believe in artificial ! means of getting revenue. It was bett rif j I they had to keep the paupers to do it i ! directly. ; Bsing askod if he was in favor of taxiDg the coiil that was imported from New--1 oastle he suii he thought hi-] views on the Freetrade quattion were pretty well known. ! He was abio to speak ou th;B question as i one interested, but he could not Bee his way | to favor an import duty. Keeping this coal i out would only make local competition 1 keener, and the tendency would be to raise . the price. I Mr Rutherford moved a hearty vote of ! thanks to Mr Alien for hia able address, and ! confidence in him as their member. ' Mr A. EL. Anderson seconded the motion. j Mr Farqubar said, on behalf of the Stirli ing School Committee, he had to heartily ! thank Mr Allen for the hoapitality he had I shown the school children on tha occasion j of their recent visit to Danedin. j Tue vote was carried by acclamation. Mr Allen in r. ply said he w^s glad to come and have the acknowledgement of his conI stituenta that he had done his best for the ! country. Regard. ng Mr Farquhar's re- ! marka he had to thank them for the rote. j It had beea a great pleasure to him to do ! what he could to help the children to enjoy I themselves. A vote of thanks to the chairman for ; presiding terminated the proceedings.