THE ELECTIONS.

Press, Volume XXIV, Issue 3201, 3 December 1875, Page 3

THE ELECTIONS.

_ 0 MB FISHER AT WOOLSTON. Mr J. T. Fisher, one of tbe candidates for the representation of the Heathcote district in the General Assembly, addressed the electors at the Oddfellows' Hall, Woolston, last evening. There was only a moderate attendance.; On the motion of Mr Fisher, Mr Dunlop took the chair, and briefly introduced the candidate. Mr Fisher, who was warmly received on coming forward, said the first subject he should touch upon washis reasons for coining forward. First, he had, as all men doubtless knew, an ambition to gain the confidence of hie fellow-coloniste, and to do what he could to. further their interests. He bad also received a requisition from bis neighbors and fellow-colonists. [Hear, hear.} He was one of the oldest colonists in Canterbury, having been here some twenty-five years in the province, and he said that the old colonists deserved every credit for the way in which they bad carried ont the work of colonisation, and had made Canterbury what it was. They had some twelve years back elected him on the Boad Board, and had, after this promoted him to the Provincial Council. The Provincial Council having been done away with, he was like a servant who had received warning, and he thought he could not do better than come back to his old masters and ask them to] give him a place again. [Cheers. First, then, as regarded the abolition of the provinces. It seemed to him that the question was what was going to be put in the place of provincial institutions, because , on the decision of that rested the future weal or woe of the province. In 1872 he had supported a motion of the Hon Mr Buckley for the modification of provincial , institutions, and this he was in favor of ; now to a great extent. [Hear, hear. J Provincial institutions might have had ; their day, but still he could not ' see that it was necessary for lhem to go to the General Government and say, "We can't '-' get on, let usthrow ourselves into your arms , and allow you to dole out what you like." [ [Hear."] The promises of the Government . were very plausible and very well, but he ■ knew very well that they could not depend , on Government promises. Besides this, the j Government kindly allowed them the privi- • lege of taxing themselves through their . Road Boardf, or other machinery, to the j extent of 5s in the £. [Hear, hear, and laughter.] He might also point out that P the Government told them that they would give them certain endowments, but if the ! money was not foithcoming, they wonld . have to do as many speculators had, fly [ kites, or, in other words, issue Treasury bills. . [Cheers.] Now, he could not at all agree '•■ to the idea that they were in such a state of r bankruptcy as to warrant this being , done.. His platform on this subject was r this, that they should have the means , by Provincial Councils, or some other t machinery, of controlling the legisla--3 tion, and seeing that their wants were attended to. [Hear, hear.] Bather than go t in with the abolition proposals in the whole 3 he would agree to the financial separation i of the islands—[cheers]—as then they would t be able well to take care of themselves in > the South Island, only having their brokenL down establishments of Nelson and Westland to provide for. [Hear, hear. J , The money . of the country had been he considered needj lessly Bpent in native matters; the troops i had been marched hither and thither like j sheep, and he only wondered that they had f not mutinied. It had been said that he r could uot serve them, but he said this that c no one had done more for the Heathcote district than he had done in the Provincial . Council, and that too without any log--1 rolling. [Cheers.J Now as to education, a which was a most important subject. He i said that education should be national, c free, secular, and compulsory. [Cheers.J 0 He looked on education as a great c power in the State, and one which should be c most carefully and jealously watched. It t had been said that the proposition was ab ».. interference with the liberty of the subject, f but he said that there was no interference [.' whatever, as it was only right if a certain q amount of taxation'was paid that the people i, should see that the whole of the children c were educated. Therefore hia opinion on d education -was that it should be free, corns pulsory, and secular. [Cheers] It might 1 be said where was the money to come from, 0 and he said that it should come on the cone solidated revenue, [Cheere.| Now, as rey garded tbe question of the Crown lands. 1 The leases of the runs expired in 1880, s and he thought that the fairest way k would be to hare the rune assessed, and g put up at a fair price. There could > be no doubt that the province should r- get a fair price for it, and further than this, c he believed that the runholdere felt that t. they had done with the ntns in 1880. So far d as regarded tbe ti«> of the runs to be put I op, whether in 60,000 or 100,000 acre blocks, d that was a question Upon which much might ie be said, and lie riumld ask them to allow Et him, if they elected him, to do the bet he

-no-doabt o< one thing, that thn pTCßftat rent was by far too lojr fe -Another question was th> pSfilaSion of Vow the, present state of Qinigs in tig opinion recruired alteration. There, "were * number of fend noose oi them cotermleoae. llM& therefore *aid that the jpropee of arranging ftboe waa to .make, every nsee who appeared on the rate roll cf any dietrict an efcetov of thiat district f Cheer* J He would not vote for manhood suffrage. Ibis would, be believed, -be a step in the direction of moboeracy, and aa each he should oppose; it. Another subject was whether the Ifpper House wai to be elective or not. Now ia England , , wltere tee aristocracy traced their descent froe the Conqueror or princes, it might be well to nominate members, bat here they had? nothing of the kind. The almighty dollar was the ■aristocracy here, anf he was therefore of opinion that the Upper Bouse should be elective. Another question which must be referred to was the honorarium. Now he said this, that he would cot go up to Wellington without hie legitimate .expenses, were paid. He said this right at once;. he iid not want to make a pile over it, but he said he would not go up to Wellington unless hie- . fair expenses were paid. [Cheers.} He had now told them his views on the various subjects., He had served them for years both as a member of the Boad Board and also as a member of the Provincial Council. In both of these capacities he had-endeavored to do his duty by the electors of the Heathcote. If they returned him to the Aesembly he would do his duty like a man. [Cheers.] He had no wish nor intention of going up ! there for a billet. What he wanted to do was to help as far as possible in the Government of the colony, and he asked them now j to return him as their representative in the Aesembly. He should now be very happy to answer any questions which might be asked of him. fLoud cheers. J '...."" Iα reply to questions, , , Mr Fisher said that what he meant by compulsory education was that all children should be compelled to attend school; certain days of the week to receive instrection.: He-had, jio- scheme of his own on the matter, bat he had no doubt' that the authorities -would work out 'the scheme. If children were found .knocking about not going to school, he thought that the authorities should be empowered to take steps to get them sent to school. If they were not so sent, the parents of such children should be made responsible for it, either by fine or some other means. When he said the children, should be sent to school, ie meant to the school of the district, or some other" school. All he wanted to see was, that all, the children [in the province should be educated. [Cheere,] If returned, he would come to the electors after the end of eachsession to give an account of his stewardship wherever he might lie asked to .attend. He should of. course.feel it his doty to come to the district proper, or where the greatest number of electors resided. Of course there were a number of electors residing -in Christchurch, but he would always attend wherever requested. Abolition, he:might say, was aa accomplished fact, and he might say that Provincial institutions were far too much like playing at Kings, Queens, and Parliaments. ([Hear, hear.] Besides this, the representation was bad. They had men who represented a cow shed, a stockyard or two, and twenty-five electors coming down to do battle with men who represented thousands. [Cneers.J He did not think that an income tax would be necessary, bat if it were necessary to introduce fresh taxation the ' absentee proprietors should be made to pay, as they took large sums of money oat of the place, and paid nothing back. Therefore he was in favor of an income and property tax, if taxation was necessary, but not under £300 a year. He would be in favor of reserves being made for the support of hospitals, gaols, and lunatic asylums. Beferring to the question of the down lands in 1830, he would be in favor of the pre-emptive rights being bought or relinquished. [Cheers.] He was not a pre-emptive right holder himself. Aβ regarded Boards of Education, he was in favor of an elective Board. [Hear, hear.] He should be in favor of a lodger franchise in the case of lodgers having a lengthened term of residence, as they then became householders to all intents and purposes. He did not think that any political matters should be decided by plurality of votes. The Boad Board system was very good as regarded their powers, because it was a property tax, hence property should be represented; but he might say again that he was not in favour of plurality of votes being exercised on political questions. He would, if requested, come forward for nomination as a member of the Drainage Board for that district. As he had before said, any man that was on the rate roll of the district should have a vote for that district. Unfortunately for him he had no interest whatever in pastoral leases of the province. fCheers.J He would like to see the runs valued in 1880 by independent persons free from all bias. He did not speak as* a representative of a class but simply desiring to see justice done. He had always looked upon the action of the Provincial 'Jouncil of Canterbury in regard to these runs as instancing what was only human nature, viz, that persons would look after their own interests if they had the power. [Cheers. | Had the farmers been in a majority, and anything affectiDg their interests had come up, they would very likely have done the same thing. No further questions being aaked of Mr Fisher. ' ' The chairman called on Sir Cracrof t Wilson to speak. Sir C. Wilson said that Mr Fisher's speech had been so moderate and had so completely coincided with his (Sir C. Wilson's) views that he did not think it was necessary for him to make a speech. If anything had been said that in his opinion required explanation or refutation,'.he should have beea happy to address them, but such was not the case. Therefore he did not think it necessaiy to address them, but would be happy to answer any questions. Several questions were asked of Sir Cra-_ croft similar in effect to those at Colombo road, to which he replied. Mr Staples moved —" That in the opinion of this meeting Mr J« T. Fisher is a fit and proper person to represent the district in the General Aesembly." Mr Attwood seconded the motion. Mr S. S. Noall proposed as an amendment —"That this meeting thanks Mr Fisher for his address this evening." ~.'." Mr John Lee seconded the amendment. The amendment was negatived on a show of hands, as follows :— For the resolution ... ... 18 For the amendment ... ... 14 Majority for resolution ... .4 The original motion was therefore carried, and a vote oi thanks to the chairman concluded the meeting.