MR CADMAN AT THAMES.

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 8071, 14 January 1892, Page 6

MR CADMAN AT THAMES.

[raxsg association telegram.]

THAMES, January; 13.

Mr Cadman, Minister for Native Affairs, addressed his constituents here this evening. The Mayor, Mr Jas. Rensbaw, was in the chair,, and there was a very, large attendance. The speaker received a most appreciative hearing. Apart .from politics, Mr Cadjnah is a man who is well liked on account of his unaffected -manner and-the integrity of his character, and. now that he is Native Minister, and making a good record' for -himself, he is ,in . a sense " heroised" by his constituents. Hence,- besides being, listened to with the utmost attention he was frequently; upplauded and at the close-of his speech 1 the audience enthusiastically passed a vote, of confidence in him personally an d as Native Minister, and also in ■Mr Ballance's .Government as a Government.

In regard to affaire of general or colonial Interest the speaker did not say much,, in fact the whole meeting occupied* only one hour. He referred to the legacies* in the chape of bad or ; troublesome work Seft by Sir Harry Atkinson's Government, such as the Judge Edwards' appointment and the Public- Trust scandal. With regard to the latter the, result had been a great improvement in the organisation ana management of the office, and as to the Edwards case they all knew it was BOW before the Privy Council in England, 'where the Government ■• felt themselves justified by the circumstances in sending it. He claimed credit to the Government for its reforms in the taxation and ridiculed the.talk, of which they heard so much, of capital leaving the country. The test of the ; whole question was the rate of interest. If capital were leaving the conntry thai VOuld rise, and it was: still the same as it was a year ago before the Government's policy was formulated. As to land legislation' and administration, the Government's sole object was not to destroy freehold tenure, but to secure small areas to those who first took them up, that speculators could not, under any circumstances Acquire the land in the long run, as they now did too often for the good of the country, by getting perpetual leaseholders to secure the freehold, which had a tendency to clip through into the hands of speculators. Much was said and written about the Legislative Council, and he doubted whether they were yet anywhere near a solution in regard to it. Government after Government would appoint members favorable to itself, and he questioned whether that was the thing to do service to the country, but • step in the right direction had been latterly taken by reducing the terms of future appointments to seven years. Credit was claimed for the retrenchment effected by the Government. As to the Native Department, the number of Native Court Judges had been reduced from twelve to seven, and during the year the Government had been in office they had bought 100,000 acres of land from the Natives, all in the interest of settlement, and he and his colleagues were determined to go on with that work to the utmost limit of their ability and opportunities. Finally, expenditure had been reduced, and would be still further cut down if possible. Public works were being prosecuted in a rational way as their means allowed, and with a determination against further borrowing. The taxation was being equalised, and Native lands were being acquired and Crown lands systematically spread in the interest of bona fide settlement. That had been, was, and would be the programme of the Government, which, therefore, he thought, might claim to be fairly in touch with the present and prospective interests of the colony and people of New Zealand.