TE AROHA ELECTORATE.

Bay of Plenty Times, 21 April 1890, Page 1

TE AROHA ELECTORATE.

MR ALLEN'S CANDIDATURE. !

DUE SPECIAXi CWSItESPOJroENT.^ to announcetaent Mr W. S. Allen delivered a political address in the PublJo HallfTe Arpha, on Tuesday ©trening last. Tlio cliair was taken afc Mr Allan's request ty Mr an^L he >vas ii'flucntially supported aA the platform. -Not withstanding the inclemency of the weather the body of the hall }waa well filled^ both town and country electors boing represented. . Mr Gallagher briefly introduced ithe speaker, with whose views, he said, h(|did not nece^arily identirjr himself, but yt&6, he trusted, would be fairly and atteMtiyely listened to. „-;...., ? v > Mr Allen, who spoke thronghouif in dear aua^arerully-enosen language, said that, to account for his arranging jbhis meotiag at such an early date, he should explain that it was iis intention Very shortly to pay a hurried visit to the fold country, and to rotum \ somej Ji<S;&"tUne before the forthcoming election, pefmg prepared to enter the New Zealand Parnament in tileir interests, if they shobldj "tiiink fit to $ccept-of his services, he i%-~ sired, before he went awaj, tomake hfrn^ Be?i 1 n .**rn"tf* the elyctors, and to let tJ^em kno^F> HTL&.t Lis intentions ana^iews W"ire. ; Coming before them as a comparaiitt'e stranger, is> yras but fair that he should! tell them who he was, why he had come there, and why ho was entering upon ibis candidature. To let them know who; he was it would b& sufficient if he told thiem that he had continuously for 21 , years ieat in the/fJiiglish House as the representative of an important constituency, -whiclr iiicltifled several towns^ a conaiderabJeagricTdtairar distriot, ajdd an important mining ipopiilatioi^, WMbu he first entered tbjat. constituency was one of only eight eiistinginEngland ?i in which rthe working class votes pre--dominated. During those 21 years he had been a. consistent member of the. advanced Liberal party, and had voted for the Factory Acts, and for the two Reform Bsli of Mr Gladstone. His reason for coming here was * personal one. He had t^ro sons, and he believed that in the Colonies there wa* greater scop~e |orl the energies of the rising. generation. r With their welfare in "view %e 'nad carefully considered the advantages possessed Tby the different Colonies^ with the result that he had Ibooght^ciljEocks'of lahd : here, intending eventually to settle one of his sons upon each, for he ha 4 come to the conclusion that of all lie Colonies (New Zealand ..offered the^f^iyest prospects for'happy aid setfement. Then as to himself,—though over 50 years of age he felt there was good s^tuff left in him yet ; and, having and a lengthened experience of work in the British House of Commons, he was willing to place his time and energies at their disposal as their representative, shpiild" they think fit, after learning his views,- to do him the honour of electing him. As to whether he knew anything of New Zealand politics and the wants oHshe country, he must leave them to be the judges after they had listened to him. Briefly he might tell them that he d^ not believe in Sir Julius Vpgel, and would not follow or support him. As to Sir Harry Atkinson, he had met him, and knew ' something of his work; and he believed him to be an honest, upright, straightforward man. Those qualities being what ho believed the country jßpe<?ially fieedect li^L ; its fepreseiit^tiyes, r gonejetilly spealdai^ he would su^poH Sir Harry.. With .regard to th.c position of the country at present tiinet/ he was not one who took t>y' any means a dc|Bponding view, and he believed that, by ngid economy in all "departments, and by a policy <>f Tetfenchment whore cdnsistent w#i e^iendx, tut without /Cheeseparing where wise and liberal expenditure Would really advance* the country's interests, tberejiias a bright and rj&iture „ befor(}lbhis beautiful and fruitful country. They heard, he thought, too much of the enormous debt of New Zealand— i^7;d(Kj|<)oOUfftr too)larg^ ise^ainlyl for j soiaiiaUa communii^- ; an 3 too little of the splendid assets to counter-balance it. These were the railways. These.lie found, had cost £14,009,000. Still, how small this sum was, coinparcd with the capital expended by private companies at home. The JJondon and North,- Western had a capital of £125.000,000, and the Midland a capital of £70,000,000. Our railways, he thought, might be valued at £l2 > 000,000, and i wereaconsiderableset-off against the total indebtedness. Besides, they w*re remunerative, t^st year the net return from the railways wag; a sum of £400,000, a^vea-y respectably retura, thought, ftlr &Xten then enumerated Other assess, roads, bridges, schools, mtro^uced'lby expenditure" on immi*iration, Crown &c, which together totalled a very large sum. Taken altogether, he did not think, then, that our debt was such a bngbear as mas zepresented. However, he would be strongly adverse to any increase. He considered that private indebtedness, which he fbnnd was £4Q,ooo,ooC^was a greater danger than the public one. this, too; 6, 7 and & per cent!, was pwd, as against about 4 per, cent, on the public debt. As showing the confidence of English financiers in the future of the Colony he quoted the high value of Colonial stock, and the much lower rate of interest at which New Zealand could borrow now -than six years back. The* speaker then referred to the increase in. Colonial productions, and specially of frozen mutton, which was worth more in the London market than that from any other country. He gave particulars of the gold production, and said that, on the whole, lie bettered- New Zealand was

thoroughly sound, and that, with a careful and. Judicious Government at its head, there was no reasonable idoubti about its future. *TM(r Allen sail that he was connected with railways in England, Canada and America, and he jsferong^y disapr; proved of a^niggardly policy. He would cut down rates and freights to a minimum, and do all that could judiciously be done to encourage traffic. That was the policy pursued wherever railways were successfully managed, and he would exert himself to that end. He did not know why a special train should not be run from Auckland to Te Aroha every Saturday afternoon, returning on Monday morning. With regard to education, he announced himself as an advocate of free seculaif education. . He considered it the duty df the State to see that every child received a sound elementary education. By that he meant reading, writing and doing sums. Beyond that he did not think the Ste^ should gp^. except^ in the cases of olnl|irl# specM^l talfent. rDpon the questioli otibk^property tax Mf Allen said he regarded this tax as a tax upon thrift, haxd work ,and industry. He said mat; briefly put,^ it meant that, if Ik bought a falot for 1 £1000, he would thea, pfaylpi3s tax at Id" in fhe £. If j^e^lnipiPDvell it Of his hard worl and thrift to a value of £3000, he would then be called upon tojpay £12 10s ; while his neigh^mTjwholjouglit a similar piece of landla»ii. amply it :jto \ increase in ya^e Iby ©is , neignbour's"*. industry,,, keeping another man out of it in tne meanwhile, continued to pay £4 3s 4d only. He would like to see the property tiax-iemovfed. tTpbn the -question of federation he t was not decided. , - There was much to say On either side. On the -whole, however, lie tlxouglit the interests of New Zealand nught3>ebe^rc6nser^ by her remaining^as.she was. He earnestly trusted that noth^g-would^eyer be rdone: to loosen the bond which binds the Colo|rylto;;lheijnother land, The Colonies had at one time been slighted; but lie could assure them that the warmest'interest watf now felt in England in all that concerned the Colonies. Mr Allen said he inusi; now leave himself in their hands. If they elected him he would give them ; the best service ne wa& capable of. Upright;nesß and fair dealing, wai his motto. This was what New Zealand needed. He had these f ail.him ; and if the times now looked gloomy let them take for their motto "Unto the righteous there ariseth a light in the darkness.'* As Mr Allen was prepared to reply to; questions, a Mr Henderson asked if Mx Allen approved^oi Government interfering with private industry. ; f ; r - Mr Allen said that, if tlie question meant — Was it right of Government insisting upon* due reglrd id theirelfeire and security of employees ? he would say, "-yesr^- -■ - v : " ■■-'•■ ■ ~ ""~~"" ""*;'^ ' '"' This, however, was not what Mr Hetiderson meant; and, as he failed to make himself intelligible either to the speaker or the andience, the remained unanswereeU %,: Mr Corns asked if Mr Allen approved of secular or denominational education. 3sx Allen* repeated himself as being in f avotir 6f free secular education. Mr Corns asked if Mr Allen would support the erection of reduction works and other means for encouraging the mining industry. Mr Allen replied that he could not then bind himself to details. Personally he was a free-trader, though, if a struggling industry required temporary support, he saw no reason why it should not -be aocot*decLi,f? Mx^^rns^asked what 'claim Mr Allen had to rep^e^erit a mining districts % Mr AUeif sai(£he had no claim upon any part of the Ikmsjljljttencyv He sjmply offered himself as drie J^ingftiie ;? time j and inclination to serve tii^sm^J A ; ] Mr Corns then ssid that there "were! other persons likely to come f orw,ar4, jmd he trusted that no one would commit himself till the qualifications of others "3l| 43ien, ijwib ifM^mic^L Jds mention" HiSiiSdress nfeeiings iit each centre on his return from England, was ; a^bentively listened to throughout his Bpeecn. A vote of thanks to him for his address, and to the chairman for his services, concluded the meeting. .