PARLIAMENT OUT OF SESSION. MR TANNER AT PHILLIPSTOWN.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 9014, 29 January 1895, Page 5

PARLIAMENT OUT OF SESSION.

MR TANNER AT PHILLIPSTOWN.

CAPTAIN RUSSELL AT NAPIER.

(PRESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.) NAPIER, January 28. Captain Russell addressed a publio meeting at the Theatre Royal this evening. The theatre was crowded in every part. His IWorship the Mayor. (Mr G. H. Swan) occupied the chair.

THE PREMIER'S SPEECH. After some " chaffing " reference to a recent attack made on him .by Mr Carnell, Chptain Russell went on to deal with the recent speech of the Premier, whom he aocused of inexplicable ignorance or wilful misrepresentation in stating that Hawke's Bay was not so prosperous as the rest of the colony and that its population had not increased so fast in pro- ' portion since the last census. He quoted from official figures and the journal of the Labour Department to show that proportionately the population had increased* faster than that of any other provincial district, and that labour was in greater demand. Referring to the Premier's ac* ousation that he (Captain Russell) had de*.. nounced Sir Hari*y Atkinson as worse than . [a highwayman and s{ footpad, he quoted at ilength from Hansard to show that the Words had no reference personally to Sir . uarry Atkinson, being applied .first to the. Jkout-Vogel Ministry when they proposed *t¥ largely increase. the Customs duties, bad only repeated in general terms when the Atkinson Government proposed similar duties, and he and* others i left Sir Harry in consequence. As to the Premier's charge that he, as representing the old family practitioner, was responsible for bleeding the people, he pointed out" that Sir Harry At kinson only carried the increased, duties by the aid of Mr Seadou and the party now led by- him. He contended that however taxation was imposed " it must eventually fall on the working people. The people of New Zealand were taxed through the Customs 25 per oent. oii - the value of all import., while the figure for Victoria stood at 13£ per* cent., for New South Wales .12$ per oent., and for South Australia 8$ per . - cent. All, those who heard the Premier the other' night must be prepared 'for a further .increase. He condemned the Government for Bending over emissaries to Australia to . advise that work was plentiful in New Zealand, for the purpose of increasing the population. The co-operative system, introduced by the Government, he. con- ~ tended was only a big engine to secure work for men of the " right colour," especially when election time was coming round, _ ' i__n> monopoly. \ ~ On the question of land monopoly he said he was "fully alive to the importance of .smaller holdings, and quoted a long list ;of■■' official figures to prove" the inaccuracy oi the statement of the Premier with regard . to the large holdings held by a few people. The inevitable tendency at present was, h« said, to destroy the large estates Toy. division among families as the preset owners died off. It was the terroriaja of the present Government with regard, to large holdings that kept the large army of unemployed parading our ..street- at th? J present. SPOILS TO TH- VICTORS. . "" Captain Russell then went, on to contrast j, what he denounced as the *« spoils to the Victors' policy** of the Government with; that of Sir .Carry Atkinson. He mentioned,. as an instance quoted by the Premier against the late Minister, that Mr Moss, who was ' appointed resident of Rarotoriga, was.' opposed to the Government at that time; also Mr Gillies, when made a Judge of the Supreme Court, was politically opposed to Sir H. Atkinson. LAKO. POROHASES. Captain Russell then alluded to the purchase of the Polbiil Gully rifle range and contrasted that, transaction with' the present purchase of the Pomahaka block,' The Polbiil Gully range, he said, war*, the onlypractical rifle range in Wellington^-iWhe» the lease was 1 falling due the officers of hf_ Department came to him and" aavhrad "the purchase. Enquiries were made, and rafter, considerable negotiations through a firm 61 solicitors, it was acquired for £3000, and: not £3600,' the price which it was valued at by Mr McDonald. Mr Mackay, the Land Purchase Commissioner of-the Government, advised that the bargain was •a good one, and, if the land was' put into the. market at the present time, and a road put through the section, it would fetch £200 an acre. In contrast he would take the Poma•haka block. He then reviewed various transactions between Messrs Douglas, the .Bank manager, Rit chic, and Barron, with, regard to the petition for purchase, which was got up and paid for by Mr Douglas, and did not reach the Commissioner until long' after the land was purchased.. Mr Stephenson, the owner pf the adjoining land, on oath stated that, the land was' no* worth more than £1 te £110s, while the Government pain for the land £2 10s. While he bought Polhill Gully at £600 less, than tbe amount - wanted, the present Government paid £18,560, for which the Bank thought there was bad value for £8000.

CbtONJED vbusbb's appoinsmbst. Captain Russell then reviewed Colonel _ Fraser's appointment as Sergeant-at-Arms, - which he characterised as a job perpetrated to reward political support. TUB PCIILIO DEBT.

The indebtedness of the colony was then touched upon. The Premier had stated the taxation per head bad decreased } v but that had only been brought about by swamping tbe - colony with a number of outsiders whom wa would have better been without. However, notwithstanding tbe decrease- per head of the indebtedness tbe public debt had ri5en£1,587,875, and, although the Government had not gone into the English market, he had no doubt a large amount of sly borrow* < . ing was going on under the Public Worki Act, which gave power to borrow £1,476,006 on Treasury-Bills, which did not mature for -C five years. • '"-,-'"'* ~~ noßßowiso. •%'•''-■''' Captain Rtrsssu. then open the ~ amount' of borrowing- proposed ,by th#. Government : last session,-' which -> he -" contended amounted to £7,368,250, .* a far greater sum 'than ever attempted by Sir Julius. Vogel in initiating, his Publio Works sohenie. . ' ' - ': -, Captain Rutaeil concluded by hoping /_sati.,

the day was close at hand when the people •would speedily call for a change, and resumed his seat amid loud applsuse. A hearty vote of thanks for his able and statesmanlike address was carried with acclamation.

Mr W. W. Tanner, member for Avon, addressed a meeting of his constituents at Phillipstown schoolroom, last night. ' Inere was a good attendance, including a number of ladies. The Mayor of Linwood (Mr J. R Brunt) presided, and opened the pro-

ceedings. , . , _. Mr Tanneb, who was teceived with some applause, gave his reasons why he had not previously spoken, one of which was that he had received intimation from the Government that he would probably be elected a member of the Tariff Commission, and he was not sure when he would be called away. In the course of his address he said he would endeavour to avoid the bitter and odious spirit of partisanship which stained our Eolitics far too much. (Hear, hear.) He riefly ran over the work which was left over from the previous session, the number of Bills brought down, and the divisions, and observed that no reasonableman would charge IhcParliamentwithlaziuess. The firstsubject he touched upon was the Licensing Act, and he pointed out that the Alcoholic Liquor Sales Control Act was a better measure than many gave it credit for. The four hundred Committees had been reduced to sixty-two, and now nearly every adult was interested in the polls, and the result of the last elections was that one hundred licenses were swept away immediately after the Act . came into operation. (Applause.) He hebelieved in the control being transferred to the public, and would adhere to it. .In consequence of the great importance of the question the Government promised to bring in anamended Bill. They may have known that there were members. who wanted a reform, and they knew there was an astute politician opposite them who would make the most of the situation. (Applause.) The Government might be right in introducing the Bill, but he could not say if they were right in saying " that every member could vote as he chose on the subject. Had the words been added " Provided he votes as the Premier wishes him to vote, or I will drop the Bill" they would have lnderatoodthemeanißg of it. (A Voicb—Vlt'a * bad state of affairs).' 7 He was ot opinion that the Premier wished to put the Bill through in the form in which he introduced it, or as near that form as possible. The Premier hardly expected to see the bulk of the members take it and tear.it to pieces, and he was not prepared to go with the bulk of his party. ' That was what Yankees ■would call "steel-clad gospel trnth." He (Mr Tanner) denied the truth of the statement that the temperance party maintained a conspiracy of silence, and he stated what had been done on the subject. The temperance party were prepared to submit their amendments, express their opinions, go to a division, and abide by the consequences. Now the Bill had been dropped, the energy wasted, and the recrimination calmed down, the party would have to go over the same ground again, and he believed the temperance men •who formed a majority would be as solid and compact in their conduct next session as they were in the last. He voted against an enquiry being instituted over Clause 21, because a dangerous precedent would be introduced, and there was also no evidence to justify it. He had endeavoured to get amendments which would improve the Bill, and he also tried to get paid to the unfortunate litigants the £75 which was voted them. Concerning Bellamy's he said the proposals to alter it led to some of the Strangest divisions he ever saw, and suggested to him that the members were far more willing to avoid the solution of the difficulty than discuss the remedy. Then next was tbe famous or, as some termed it, the infamous appointment of Colonel Fraser. (Hear, hear and applause). He disapproved of the manner Colonel Fraser was introduced ' into the House, and the surreptitious way in which he was tallowed to take up a position to which they Were told he could not be appointed. If the Government had asked permission to tallow him to fill the position until be could 'be legally appointed he ,(Mr Tanner) believed the House would have consented. (Voices— *• Question "). There were three divisions, but the first was the crucial one, as it was a trial of strength between the Government and Sir Robert Stout, and though he (Mr Tanner) disapproved of the manner in which the matter was brought about he voted for the Government, as it •would have been unfair to have voted with Sir Robert Stout iv the distinct trial of strength with the Government.-r( Hisses).— If -the constituents judged him wrong he was prepared to take the blame, but he did his best at a critical juncture, and if the same position presented itself tomorrow he would do- the same. (Applanse and hisses.) He felt morally! boundto support the Government, and was not pewuaded by the Government whip, for ' he was one of the men who came least under that gentleman's hands. (Hear, hear.), He approved; of the Industrial Conciliation Bill, the Shipping and Seamen's Act, and of the prinoipfe of the Shops and Shop Assistants Act, He preferred-the holiday, however, to be on a. Saturday, and considered the Parliament wise in remitting power to fix the day to the local bodies. The Lands for Settlement- Bill he regarded as a step in the direction of relieving the industrial classes, and under it there was.no reason why, in the immediate future, land should nob be resumed, sub-divided, and settled in a way that would meet with the approval of the people of Canterbury. He expressed sorrow that he ever voted for the lease in perpetuity, and eulogised the S item as propounded by the late Mr llanoe, and added that there was some •reason for the oharges that were made that the Government thad deserted that gentle- ' man's principles. Ho did not wish to blame tb* Government; ho rather wished to support thum, but if the lease in . perpetuity . was to be regarded as the final state of land tenure, they, would get no good result from their legislation, • speeches and attempts at land nationalisation. Despite the hostile criticism it had evoked, tho Advances to Settlers Act was one of the best the Government had introduced, and he heartily approved of the Government borrowing money and lending it at a reasonable rate of interest, He -voted against the Consols Bill because they could get no satisfactory explanation from the Government concerning it. He aupErted the £2,000,000 guarantee to the ,nk of "Now Zealand because they were assured that unless the Bill were passed the colony would not be saved from financial difficulty. He sympathised with the movement to abolish distress for rent, and with the principle of providing old age pensions, though he saw great difficulties in the way of carrying it into effect. He would, however, support any measure that wis reasonable ana was not unduly burdensome. A great deal of cheap •wit and useless flippancy had been expended over the Undesirable Immigrants Bill, but truch an Act would have to be in force if there was to be a pension fond. If there was not such a BUI there would be a lot of objectionable people thnut on us from places where a pension scheme did not exist. (Voices— *' No, no.") He said yes and explained how. He approved of the enlargement of powers,' areas and duties of existing local bodies ; he had supported the Elective Executive, Bill last session and he would vote for it on .every possible occasion because he saw the necessity of it. He thought he had said -enough to convince his audience that the charge of laziness had no foundation when applied to the present Government. He thought the Government had, with a few exceptions, in their legislation, shown a sincere desire to advance the national welfare; that they had fought their way through many difficulties, though not always perhaps in the wisest manner, and those people who complained of the House not having put through the measures they desired to see passed, should remember that the' growth of a nation was beyond the work and lifetime of an individual, (Applause). Mr Tanneb. answered a number of quea- . tiona, after which Mr A. *Atxbs moved-—** That this meeting of electors express their confidence in Mr Tanner as their member, and especially would thank him for the independent position he has taken up with respect to many important matters that had come before the •House." Mrs Gabmson seconded the motion, which was earned. ' A vote of thanks to the Chairman closed the meeting.