THE ELECTIONS.

Press, Volume XXIV, Issue 3219, 24 December 1875, Page 3

THE ELECTIONS.

. \, ■----"' '--.' ■ •■•■•■ ■» —■ "■ ■ ■ MR MASKELL AT OXFORD. On Wednesday Mr W. M. Maskell, ,one of -tte candidates for the Ashley district in the •General Assembly, met the electors at the; Bo*d Board office, Oxford. About sixty-five eersdns were present. ' ", ' On the motion of Mr P. Briggs, seconded hy Mr J. Olpbert, Mr T. Woodfield was toted to the chair. The chairman 1 said they all knew why the meeting had been called—yiz, to hear Mr Maskell explain his views. He had come as a candidate for the suffrages of the ABhley electors, and he hoped they would give him * patient bearing, £nd behave as they generally'do at Oxford meetings, and hear Mr Maekell quite out before interrupting him with questions. He begged to introduce him. Mr Maskell, who was received with cheers, said that the remarks made by their chaiiman, bo far as his experience - of meetings in the Ashley district went; were hardly required, as ne never was present at one dis* Orderly meeting in it, and as a public man he had been connected with it about ten .years.- It wan five years ago since he last addressed a meeting at Oxford, then as a candidatefor the seat in the General Assembly. Aa there were some of them aware, on that occasion he 1 was defeated, and had not Since an opportunity of asking them to elect him. Since that time the Government had done many things, and left undone many things, in the colony, bat which it would not be necessary to bring into this election reference to questions of former years, as there were now later questions engrossing public attention —matters which TBereof importance pne year might not be *o the next, therefore he would not refer to tite past, but confine himself to his duty as a ■candidate, to. explaining those of the preheat and future as well as the course <& action which, if elected, he would take. He-wished to make one remark, not *aly to those present but to alii the electors ■of the. district, namely, that whatever he might cay to them that night tie desired it should be entirely and absolutely understood lie did not intend to make to them a stateraent wrapt up in a mist or fog pf words, but what he honestly thought and intended, if,returned, fo do in reference to the matters to which he would allude. He assured the' 'electors that be should speak his mind distinctly, acd not in a way intended to deceive them. [Cheers] Now, proceeding to conSkier the question of centralization conclu : aively decided, the first matter before the •electors of "the colony was, what form of Government they should adopt for the future. They'were aware that the form ofiGovernment they had hitherto lived under in Canterbury -was soon to be done awaj "with. Most of those present were also 4wate that when the Abolition Bill "was in abeyance, and the country was engaged in the consideration of the question of ibolition, he strongly took the side of prdvincialism. . Now he must take the liberty •of saying—whether they thought him Bentimental or not—he bad a great reapect for the provincial form of government, and regretted that the provincial institutions of Canterbury, under which they had lived foreo many years, were to be done away with ; institutions under which they had rapidly come 'into- the prosperity of'the present, and institutions to which for the last ten years they bad ebown so much attachment, and with which lie had been connected, and he could cay without false pride not ingloriously. psheere/| Some of them might have visited * dockyard like "Plymouth or Pprtsmouttfe aadeeen dismasted vessels or^|w'ar ships*rra ii»|ermadeuße of. ¥et although thosefoia! feeiM'Mff'Beeri tiieir day, and theii was gone, persone could not fe*f?ejl Ifeft-- they were bface fit foi servict and war, but had given way to t&E deiiaands of modem -requirements, whtfe' the victories or dangers of thest "eeele were Remembered; persons might p excused giving way to a sigh qf regre|jflp taey were no lenger Teqiiired. WellJ.t«ey thit ttie provinciiaiidayi *ere gone by,-tod Government* *ere giving way to a better kind of Govera they cbald nbt saj \MWt whilst it laeted, the Provincial Goverti ' Ua. nof "3one~will" on ~lhe wholelb Wβ oonntry. £Hear, liearvj T&erefdreih* oealdnot help .e»ying-non thie- pexhapesb have aaoppdr *ttWijol doing «o-~OQfi word in regwdt

Ihie useful rnsfter of feeling. The Abolition Act was passed ParlianieHt of the country, and 'itii had been ratified, he ; mußt admit, by tftepeople. He wae not prepared to go in to attempt to v peefr the legislation of last session In regard thereto; and whatever opinions he held, the fact that the leaders of the provincial party-had partly given up the battle, was enough to determine a man in his position not to attempt to upset what had already been done. It was a fact—he read it so— that the candidates-for election who were of the provincial party, had £iven up the contest—had thrown up'tbe sporge, and would hot attempt to restore the provincial form of government. [Cheers.] He was. of this mind, and -decidedly of opinion that it was unwise to be perpetually trying to upset legislation. ■ Supposing there was a party returned strong enough to bring back the Provincial Goveramente next* year, and then the central party again gained the ascendancy next year, and-bo on ; this he considered would be an undesirable - state of affaire to encourage. It was to be avoided. The minority ought now to the dcci* sion of the majority, and if he had the honor to be elected to the seat for that district he should not go in to try to upset the Abolition Bill, and bring in the old system again. [Cheers.] That being now settled, it was to be considered by them what was to be put in the place of the provincial system. If the meeting would allow him, he would read a portion of the , Hon £. Richardson's speech, as a member of the Government returned by the electors yesterday. Mr Bichardson said—" The Government propose to centralise the whole legislative power in the General Assembly, to decentralise the administration provincially, and put it as far as possible in the hands of the local bodies and local boards to carry out public works. The Local Government Bill, now in course of preparation, went to divide the whole colony into shires, these shires to be constituted as the present Road Boards were, so far as the system would suit. The question of electoral boundaries was one which would receive attention, and the Government intend so to arrange it in the division of the colony into s_hires as to make the electoral boundaries coterminous with those of the shires," This was only perhaps a rough outline of the new system, and the details would have to be supplied in course of time, but in the proposal he saw a form of government that would, he believed, prove acceptable to the country, and if the Government filled in the details in a way satisfactory to himself, his district, and the colony, he would be prepared to support it. [Hear, hear.] A deal depended on these details, and he wished to point out some of them which must take place before he considered the plan satisfactory. First, it seemed to him that it was absolutely necessary in the provision for local control- in the decentralising system-, that all the Boards ought to be elected bodies, and should he be returned he would persistently refuse to support any proposal to make them nominated bodies. [Cheers, J f' It was plain to him that euch bodies having the administration of the laws and entire management of local affaire should not be exercised by persons who-were not , elected on the votes of the taxpayers.' This he would strongly support. [Hear, hear.] Secondly, the centralising principle must be made to apply to all parts of the colony in the fullest sense, and carried out so - that, the sparselypopulated districts were n«fe overborne by those thickly peopled and 'the towns; The i electors might-have «een from hie address j that he stated he was desiTous of equalising I the representation, so that * those districts now surrounding and including the la|ge !town* should not have any excessive share in the representation of the country. [Hear; hear.] It was known that in England many - thmly-populated districts 'Would never have a larger number, of people settled oh them, notably Jβ thaSWeet of England, where it wasnevident also that the requirements of such districts were limited But in a new country it was precisely the reverse ; those districts that were not yet fully settled in required more money spent in opening them out than really the settled ones wanted. The latter could well-take care of themselves, but in a district like the Ashley, under present circumstances, the people were not able to bring so much pressure to bear on the Government to prosecute public works as in districts near such a, centre as arid possibly some '• others. One of the ODJectione brought against the provincial institutions was that they favored the centres too much, and paid not enough attention, to the districts outside. Be that as people thought, there was one part of Mr Richardson's speech to which he would call attention, viz, " that the Eoad Bbards.wduld get as fixed in the Abolition Act £1 for 451 on the rates levied to be ound out of the consolidated revenue, and the Shire Councils • and districts would also receive a portion. ,. Well, they,all mu9t know that £1 would go further in a less scattered district, as for instance, Heatheote; and Avon, to meet the requirements of the people, than it would.in a dietrict in which there was a good deal of road yet to make, was not, therefore, prepared exactly to go in for a. hard and fast line that there should be only £1 for £1, but it must be considered what, the districts want. [Cheere.] Returning to the, matter of representation, he pointed out r that Nprth Canterbury only returned, about two members and a- little bit more, to the Assembly. From the Waimakariri to the Huruaui there were only two districts and two representatives, whilst,' for instance, aronnd and in Christchurch there were five members returned for. »what appeared a smaller tract of country. Last sesFion, too, the latter district was practically represented by seven members. This, he thought, scarcely fair. [Hear, hear.] It waa giving a central dietrict a greater-proportionate power than a scattered one, the latter being more extended and requiring more public works to foster and encourage settlement. [Hear, hear,] .With respect to. this he might point out that practically tho opinion of a meeting in Christchurch .on the Abolition.. BilL.would receive more attention than a meeting of forty or fifty persons who were located in a larger area of country; Waa it not a fact that Government paid more attention to that one meeting than to all the rest put together. If he had the honor to be returned it would be his endeavor to either advocate ; increasing the representation, or by making '■ the districts smaller, accomplish the same end. [Gheere.] In this respect he found great fault with Mr Brown, who in the last session, when the Representation Bill was under discussion, so far as he could ascertain , from the papers and Mansard, had never objected to Christc.hurch having anothermember, or tried to procure another for the large F agricultural district between .the rivers Hurunui and Waimakariri. [Cheers.] If he \ (Mr Maskell) had been their member he would have strenuously tried to get another » member, and failiag in that have opposed [ the third seat being made for <3hristchureh. The giving of an extra member to the suburbs \ was as bad as giving an extra member to Chris.church, and t0..-that-he had been unj able to find that My Brown had ever ob- " jected. He was prepared to support , the B the scheme sketched out by Mr Bichardson, j with the proviso that the shitea aadj representation in the Assembly, Shixe Councils, ■■ arid Boad Boards should be placed-^n , ~an j equal There was •• another question—the registration of votes— l= to which he would give attention. They * were too well acquainted with the trouble of % the present mode of registering votes. I Whether it was new to them or not ne wonl4 jj repeat that in the Provincial Council and i outside he had always urged for an amends ment, arid should still da his best to U bring about a means to simplify the tion to enable every man who had a stake in M. the colony to have his vote recorded. On * the questioa separation -he -was not, and J nejveri hftd iibeeo, a separationist. A fftf years ago an aesociatioa-svas got up to bring . ' about the separation of theSslarids. This he * wap a u Jt? Opoojed to, and always held thai f if New Zealand! was to J>e made a great } f country it mast be by the unity and harmbn} of the coloniata. r [Cheere, | : [Another mattei "Z *UilK«gh * local question, and barely a colonial one—waa ot conaiderabli |icapart»nce to ,vwy ia tbu .proarince; Hi

then referred toZkbmSeaOßfSr dealing with the pastoral leases in 1880. The proposal to ceVtfo hatia into bloefcfi k 500 and ifcOOftcrgs,] he certainly could mrtrwipport, for if oQe* men agreed to take up several such bloeics, it would come to Very much tlie same thing as ftt present, and persons taking up tbe froat country might prevent persons applying for , that behind it He did not agree with the putting of them np to auction, being afraid the Government would not receive the value of the land, and besides, persona might lid the rone up to a price which they could not afford to give, and then-neither derive any_ benefit from them themselves or allow tacT country to get any from them. There wa# another course open to which he agreed, viz, that in 187T, three years before the runs were given up, a certain number of honest, experienced gentlemen, independent of the interests of Canterbury, might be called upon to assess them, and a fair notion of the 7 value of the country having been arrived at, then they should be offered at that assessment, I Hear, heat. J If those at present located on the land were averse to the assessment, the three years would allow sufficient time for them to clear off their stock, hence no injustice would be done. By this plan he saw a means of arriving at a fair valuation of the land for whichj to the present, little or nothing had been paid. [Cheers. J He was next going to speak of another important question that himself and the public must take an interest in, in and out of the Assembly, and no doubt many had heard it reported; or formed an opinion that he was a sort of ogre in a manner devouring all the children—it was that of education. [Hear, hear.J It was easy for persons to make accusations, and difficult to bring them to book,bntaßbehadbeen greatly misrepresented he claimed their indulgence for a few minutes to say that in conversation with a farmer at the other end of the district, who was a supporter of bis, he was surprised tb hear him say that he (Mr Maskell) was Teported to be opposed to education. Now if such was tru,e, the electors might look on him as a kind of drivelling idiot. He had always seen that the more education a man had the more he wanted to acquire, and the greater progress he made the more anxious was he to see the persons surrounding him educated. He had received a pretty liberal education, and he felt as anxions as any man in the ; province to see the children have a good education provided. All the candidates had spoken on this point. They as a rule expressed ■ intentions to support a compulsory, freeeducation,howeverhenadnothdticedthat one candidate had stated what he meant by compulsory and free education. He was going to tell them what he would go in for, as he did not want to hide, anything, but to be candid pa all ma&ers. [Hear, bear.] Free education, was a misnomer. There was no such thing A as, free education— no school fees might be paid by the parents, but in some way this so-called free education would have to" be paid for— [hear, hear}—borne , by the State. He was in favor of compulsory education, so far as he' could "go. [Cheers. J They had it In England, but the case was slightly different here. Compulsory education meant that every child should be sent to school, or in default its parents incur a penalty. Now, it waa perfectly easyi to apply this system to towns -and thicklypeopled districts, but elsewhere, for instance/ where there was a sparse population, it was a totally different affair. [Cheers/) > At? the Cust he had been informed by one parent that h6 T had 'to send thie children four miles every day to school. - Thus, if they went in-for compulsory "education it must first of all be decided how far they would go, when it was remembered that there were a number of such analogous cases in , ths provinoe. [Cheers.] ■ Before the system was applied to such cases as this, it would to be arranged to make-the districts smaller and bring the schools nearer to the children. [Cheers, J To say off-hand that they intended to support compulsory education, was very much like humbug.; With regard, to free education, he begged again to say there was no euch thing, for the education would have, to be paid for in some form or other. He denied ever haying objected to a system :of national education, conducted by the State. [Hear, hear.] Explanatory of his meaning regarding the free system talked ofc he read a few figures, showing what it would mean im this colony. In the. province of Canterbury, there were about 12,000 children to a popula-, ition of 70,600 or 75,000 people, which in relation to each other, so far as he made it out, was about 16 per cent. He did not know the number of children in the colony, but; taking it at the same proportion, he computed there were 7OJOOO children of schdol age. It cost the province nearly £40,000. last year for the education of 12,000 children, viz, for teachers' salaries, apparatus, and so on, but exclusive of buildings. If, therefore, it cost this amount for one province, it would cost about £230,000 a year to maintain the schools of the colony* This would mean ultimately a heavy tax.' He was prepared to support free education—that was, education not paid for directly by the parente~from « tax.' It was said by some of the candidates they would pay for education out of the consolidated revenue. X But he desired to point Out that the consolidated revenue would not stand such W charge aa that alluded to being made upon it. bo far as he coulS gather from the Colonial Treasurer's statement. Then that revenue was not' Considered certain, and : on the other hand- it- should-4>e borne in- mind that the education, expenditure must increase every year. This national education rneajit a heavy, taxation no doubt, and-they would in Canterbury and 0 tagp have ■> to-, pay more in proportion than any•; other part of ihft colony. Therefore, having come to this tax, the question arose, which tax would- they prefer? He did not, agree to a land tax, which was very well'eo 1 far as it went, but did- not go far-enough, it did not applyto property of value placed on the land. If there was to be aMtax, onght to be on property generally, arid" extend to shares in companies. It was the only way to impose, an equal taxation. Having stated this* he need only; add that, jid.f ar fee it could be carried out, "he would support compulsory education, which- should,""be ;r made rfree. by being paid for by arjaopert/taxy- levied to carry education on. as/a national system. |Cheers.J He hoped, he had explained plainly this matter, and if he had not, that the electors would question him, as he had no wish to keep back, anything- 4!he only difference wit&Tegard to it beifcweeii' himself and the Provincial Ceuncil.Mas orr appoint ;he had raised himself, upon which he * was beaten, and f had . not raised it again. [Hear, .hear, from "Jjaglis.] ' His statement was borne out by Mr Inglis, ' whom he was glad to see present. fOheesrs.] ! He was not aware to what Mr Brown. 1 referred in hia speech (when, he alluded to » sectarian hot beds, but Mr Inglis would 5 fully bear him out, that the only question he ■ ever raised was that wliere- the Government I found a good school, equal in ali respects to * the dietrict school, he said it should be J helped and not knocked on the head. [Hear.] * Another matter that he had nearly omitted - waa in reference to the liyttelton and, Christ- ' church and Selwyri ami Christchurch fail- \ ways, which by; land belonged » to the province. jSome time ago the ■ Colonial Government made & proposal to » the Provincial- Government to pur--1 chase them for ; i £6o0 1 000, which was 8 valuation put on £hem by t the latter* Now,! - when the Provincial 'Government was abor =' lishec, thiss'um ought to be handed to the * province, not probably in " the shape *of " money, I>ut in public iwwke.''{Cheere.J- If * he had the pleasure to be returned, this was ' one thing,ie would ,trj i to, get for the prqr * via«3> *■ Intconcluiiob,3)s waft 1 not hew tcTmariy of them ;he bad given his ■" opinions straightforwardly, and whether the a public liked 42»em or aot, he-wae not putting Q them forth to gain popularity. ,He waa not *! going to make promises that fee coqia npt f carry out, or ask for a vote from ; "any B- man who might expect him to.go in for. c some underhand work, for land in the North, *'• island or a" railway'Seheme. * "He Was" -bo§ lt going in for anything but for what was rjgot f and honest , If were put he * would now be happy tp answer tjhgm without d beating about the hush, ; and nnable to te emswer would at Once say so. te ., cheera>X, ' : ''"' ' " ' : "

: Mr J. B. QorfMcafibvedM? That in the opf&toiruf thin nitwliugpMr Maek«4 if «-fit" arid preper'p&eon tbtep&eot the A'ehMjr district in tl» General Assembly."He tffrT not think thai on an j previous occasion in New Zealand's hietory was it so neceeaary that thinking and conecientiotH menehoold be returned. The affaire of the coantry had gone on admirably under the provmcial form of government, and now it was defunct. In rushing into centralism it was necessary to exercise cantion, and place the affaire of the colony in careful hands, In England, when a change took place, it was generally urged on by the Liberal party, and then worked out by the Conser- : vatives—those who judiciously conserved its interests,—and he looked upon Mr Ifaskeil as one who would rather-conaerve their interests than push them along totf quickly. Sach were the men to return at the present time to the Assembly. |oheerß.| : Mr Parish seconded the motion. He bad no ill will to Mr Brown, but looking back on Mr Brown's actiens of the last five yean, he saw that he bad done nothing for them bat ask a few questioned [Hear, hear.f Mr Morris moved as an amendment— " That this meetiDg thanks Mr Maakell for his address. Mr Parish—l should hare no objection to seconding that. [Laughter.} Mr D. Sladden seconded the amendment, saying that an expression of opinion from a meeting like that went for very little. Mr Maskell had modified hie views so that they almost accorded with Mr Brown's views, and in that case he did not see why they should pass a vote of confidence on a matter of opinion. He thought Mr MaskeU would be treated with every courtesy in passing the amendment, , but. if he had drawn it up he should have worded it rather differently. The amendment was pat and; carried. Mr Sladden moved a farther That this meeting thanks Mr Maskell for bis address, and will support a candidate who supports the policy of the General . Government." :Mr Mullin—Add through thick and thin. [Laughter. ] Mr B. Perham seconded the amendment. Mr Parish—Does this mean Mr Brown at all. [Laughter.] Mr Sladden— It's nothing.. Mr Parish—lf it's nothing, don't hold your hands up. [Laughter.] The chairmanr-Ifc seems to cut both ways. Mr Sladden—Then I will move a vote of thanks to Mr Maskell, but this meeting does not support him. The chairman—l had better put .themotion. This was agreed, to, and the result was— 14 ; againet, 7* The motion was declared carried. Mr Maakell thanked the meeting and Mr Sladden, explaining that not till the Abolition Bill was passed had he mbdified his views. A vote of thanks to the chairman terminated an orderly meeting.