THE CHRISTCHURCH ELECTION.

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 9321, 23 January 1896, Page 3

THE CHRISTCHURCH ELECTION.

■»> MR R M. TAYLOR AT THE OPERA HOUSE. Mr R. M. Tavlor, one of the candidates for the Chrietchnrch by-election, addressed & meeting of the electors la*t night at the Opera House, which was a little over haiffllled by people. His Worship the Mayor presided, and formally introduced ihe candidate. Mr R. M. Taycor, who was received with lonte applause, said it fjßve him great pleasure to meet the electors, because he had on previous occasions Sydenham and Cnristcluuch in Parliament,' aud he now appeared before them to give them an oppoitunity of exercising their privilege in the choice of a candidate. He had previously ri-ptcsented the people in Che Liberx.l interest, and ho had seen no reason to change bis views on the important, question* of the day. As far as hie experience had gone, the present Government was about the best we could got in dealing with the interests of tho country. (A Voick—" Oh! ") Well, we had only to look at their past performances, aa the Factories and Shop Hours Acts for instance, and all those Bills which tended to the amelioration of the condition of the workers, and he would defy anyone to point to any Government that had "done as much before. He had never been a sitter on r rail, and he would tell them that the present Government was the ablest they bad had, the Premier was the ablest man in it, the Colonial Treasurer was the ablest we had had, and the Minieter of Lands was strongly in favour of settling the people on the land. A number of people would tell them the Government had not done fairly by them. What was that to him ? He was not going to sacrifice his principles because a few men chose to do him an injury. (Hear, hear.) The first questiou he would touch upou was the Advances to Settlers BUI,, which was of great benefit to Canterbury, which was mortgaged to the tune of £9,000.000. By borrowing his money at 3 per cent., ami lending it at- 5 per cent., the Colonial Treasurer had reduced the rale of interest ] throughout the colony by about 3 per cent, j And it they took it at 2 per cent, ie meaut on ' £9,000,000 that £180,000 had been taken from the pockets of the 10 per centers and given to the borrowers. Tua charges against the Colonial Treasurer about what he said at Home were practically that he had cheated the people at Home. All he could was that if a young New Zealander like Mc Ward could take in these fiuancial swindlers the more credit for him doing so. (Loud laughter.) If the Colonial Treasurer came here he would easily disabuse the minds of the people of the gross and scandalous charges which had been made against him ; ho would practically knock them into a cocked hat. (Laughter.) On the question of land for settlement he said he wanted a block of say 10,000 acres which could be served by a railway ; divide it into 150 or ! 125 sections, pat a cottage on each and provide a couple of cows and a pig—iLiughter) —a breeding sow. (Great laughter, and a Voice—" Hadn't you better have the Sumtier donkeys?") Ho next advocated the encouragement of the beet sugar industry, which would employ a large number of hauds, and save a large sum of money going out of the country for sugar. He had brought the question of old age pensions to a practical issue by asking the Government to put a column in the census paper showing how long people had been in. the colony. In this way the number of people to receive pensions and the actual cost of the scheme would be arrived at at the same time. He would raise the necessary money iv the first place by adopting Sir George Grey's suggestion, and taxing those who drew large sums of money from the colony by way of interest. This would yield about £100,000 a year, aud then he would have a graduated receipt stamp tax, of which the Hon. Mr Larnach, who knew something about bauking business, approved. He did not think more than £200,000 would be required to initiate the scheme. Government or no Government, if they opposed ib and made ib a Ministerial question, he would oppose them, though they should go out on it. (Applause.) He would support measures to suppress the system of sweating, eepeciaUy as it affeoted one girle in the dressmaking and similar businesses. He knew numbers of girle from sixteeu to eighteen • years of ace who were only getting Is a day, which was unjust both to them aud their parents. There was also too much overtime and the Saturday halt-holiday was evaded by work being taken out of tne workroom. Those tilings wanted remedy ing and ha should dp his best to rente',, them. He would also endeavour to get the Government to embody in their Bill a minimum rate of wage, and that no girl should receive less than 53 a week. Concerning the Fair Wages Bill he said he hoped that something would be done in the direction of a fair wage being paid for a fair day's work. Hβ hold that a man had a right lo receive a certain amonnt per week for his labour which would leave him a margin over and above his expenditure to provide for old ago. He was also favourable td the introduction of an Kight Honrs Bill. Oα the matter of the railways he was not goiug to say that the present Miuister of Railways was nob doing hie best, but what he did say was that wo had an absolute right to insist upon the railways baing run in the interests of the people and profitably to the country. He advocated a 61 return f*re to Port, and once a week a 5s return to Timaru aud 2s 6.1 return to Ashburton, which he held would tend to develop busiuesa. He considered that the r&ilway employees, those of the Poet and Telegraph Department), and the " bobby " ehould be allowed a free pass once a year, or if nob that they should be granted ono at excursion rates. (Hear, hear.) Further than that if he had his way he would give every poor man and woman, and family—(laughter)—an opportunity of i taking a trip once a year. On the matter of the electoral franchise he pointed out that while we had one man one vote we had nob one vote one value, hs 8000 people in the country were equal to 10,000 in the towns, which to his mind was nob fair. He trusted that this would be remedied and the voting power of town and country made equal. He was satisfied with the Education Act as it stood, except that he would like to see it altered to provide that equal work should receive equal pay. He believed in State Insurance and that the Bill the Colonial Treasurer had promised to bring in would satisfy the people generally. Ho would support Canterbury College and all such bodies being elected and not nominated. Aa to the financial position of the country, they were told by Ministers and others that in June next the sinking funds, &c, would be practically finished, and there would be no money to spend on public works, &c, except more was raised by' taxation or borrowing. If there was goiug to be a scheme of that kiud he would insist on our back country, from Cheviot to Wai para, being connected by railway and opened for settlement, and upon the Midland R&ilway and such works being carried out. He, however, would not pledge himself to any scheme until the views of the people had I been taken on it. A Minister made a statement a few months ago that the Canterbury potato was cooked, by which he meant that there were no more works to be done here. He (Mr Taylor) did not believe that statement because that potato was not parI boiled, let alone cooked. There was work to be done in Canterbury, and he i would do his best to ccc that we got our fair share of expenditure. With regard to the licensing question he [ believed a fair compromise had been j arrived at by Parliament, and he was not prepared to alter the present Act until it had had a trial. (Applause.) He believed that the Bill had been passed last session for tho purpose of covering the next licensing election, and it would therefore be unnecessary to again deal with the question until three or four years hence. If the Act was against the interests of the people be would do what he could to amend it. He believed in raising the age of conseut, and while he would not do auything to weaken the marriage tie, he would make the grounds of divorce the same for men and women. He had read a lecture on this subject; delivered by a rev. gentleman to a meeting of ladies, but he considered the lecturer's views were not in the interests of those whom he was addressing. Hβ (the speaker) would not, however, mention what those views were, nnd he was not going to mix himself up in the matter or interfere l>etween the rev. and his lady friends. (f.Rngbter.) The other candidates had dealt with the question of t the Bftnk of New Zealand from their own

»tandno:n\ but fnrhisown part he was sorry that the Government had not m*ile a State Bank of it—(Applause.)—and gained control of the currency. Ttio result of Mr Ward's visit Home and the lwrrowiuj; by the Government of money at 3 per cent, had been the lowering of the rate of interest alt round. Money lenders and private individuals had previously fixed their own rate of interest, but now they h*d come down to the Government rates. Ib had been said that the Bank should hive b»en liquidated, bat what did the overdrafts ar.<i bills disconnted, &c, by it represent? It meant that if the Bank closed its doors hundreds of people in Chriaichurch would be thrown out of work. ;St> long as tho businesses owned by the Hauk were carried on in a proper way, and they patd fair wvge*, what right ha 1 anyone to complain ? hi conclusion he said that when polling day came round they would see what way things were going. He believe 1 that when the common sense of the people was exorcised — ('■ Oh ") —as it would be in the coming election, he would be absolutely at the top of ihe poll. (Loud laughter and applame.) In reply to questions Mr Taylor said everythiug should be done to cheapen the coat of flounders and other Heh to tho people of Christchurch. He was iv favour of assisting the prospectore t> prove the ground where gold existed in Canteibury. It was the duty of the loc.il bodies so far as they could do so to find work for those who resided in their districts. The amalgamation of loc*l bodies should bo optional, and it should not be carried out without the consent of the ratepayers. Volunteers should i have free passoH on tha railways when going to riflo matches, &c. Employees iv breweries should be placed on the level of other sections of the community with respect to the half-holiday. He believed that it was proposed to reduce the maximum number ot votes a latepayer had from five to two. bub he did not think a vote would he given to every householder. He could not say if the Ba.uk of New Zealand paid * living wage or not in the businesses owued by it. The workers in the dairy factories should have a weekly haltholiday, a3 he did not believe in exemptions at all. Seeing the time aud labour given by Volunteers, they should have an increase in the capitation allowance. He had always supported the Fair Ront Bill. Young men should uob ba boycotted as at present when seeking to obtain Government work. If they were encouraged lo act aa pioneers in opening up small blocks of land they would, as aoon aa they were able to buy a cradle, get married and so relieve the market of a number of young women. (Laughter.) Mv'J. Hawlky moved a vote of thauks to Mr Tavlor for his address.

Mr Rrdway secouded the motion, which was carried without dissent, aud the usual compliment to the Mayor terminated the meeting.

Mr Lewis's General Committee met last night at the Central Committee Rooms, when very satisfactory reports were handed in from the various subcommittees. A number of detail matters were discussed. To-morrow afternoon at three o'clock Mi* Lewis's Ladies' Committee will meet the Executive Committee at the Central Committee lionras. Mr T. 15. Taylor will deliver his seooud public address this evening, in the Oddfellows 1 Hall, Sydenham, at 8 o'clock. As a great number were unable to obtain admission at the Opora House at his first meeting a large attendance is expected. Mr Charles Lewis will address the electors at the Wnlchain schoolroom to-morrow evening at eight o'clock.