Mr. Thomson at Balclutha.

Clutha Leader, Volume II, Issue 79, 13 January 1876, Page 7

Mr. Thomson at Balclutha.

| Mr Thomson addressed a meeting | ofthe electors in Barr's-Hall, Balclutna, | y on Thursday; evening last, ; nThere\wa_V; . a large attendance.. „.".. '-- • ; t'X” His v Worship the Mayor occupied j f the chairj -and" in introducing the 1 referred to the inclement state > of:: thei-fweather v which ; no doubt .pre-," ~, : vented jnany-frpm ;being, present. . Mr' : Thomson had represented the district ; J for five' years iri the* General ___3_m Myy ;- rr and for : 'sbme ; years' in We Provincial Council, and they all, knew the' honesty with ; Ywi-ich he had them ; and the' zeal with <which he had wrought? : for th-if 'interestsV "- .* Mr Thomson said it was not his in-' . "tention' oh that occasion to ; pass Vunder review fthe whole of ; .the proceedings j of ., .last session, .although, it would be necessary to ..refer to ! spine of the measures which attention^' of the - House.- • - The most prominent ; ■ wasVthe'measure brought in by the:;Gbr.vernment .'to. abolish - Provincial Instil ; . -tutions — to do. away with those institutions uri^^^whicn they had lived ever since th¥^C6Tpny had got a Constitution. He: need scarcely say he had: voted against that measure at every ,- stage, and; in doing sp : he believed he fairly represented: ;the : . iriirid. of ' the "V Clutha^corisi_tuency;.-r-(Applause,) iFor* this he"had various: reasons— rist.-T'hey were alb aware that, the members of the House of Representatives were elected: for fiye;years, and he: might r just imen-v tion by.the: way:*that he considered that too .long, and he was in. favor ot.. trienrii-IV-P-rUariients.VV-He .had never oeen afraid to, come before; his ; constituents to give an "account? of his" actions, or - ;sqlici fcrr prelection,- - and he' thought it would prove more beneV vficial-Iboth to the (members; and"cpn--stituencies, ' if-; the .former, hadVtb..seek Te-electiphJ every three, years: -Itwas true, that 1 the *Parliam.rit''h : ad ;a\ much poweronthe last asit Vhad,on:tHe^fijrst •nay _i*ifc; existence*: :butV a great many changes • occurred in the ' course- of : five yeiars/and the i circumstances,' "were, very ' much ,a]teredj^at ; the eridVpf a Parliament fromiwhattthey wer&at the beginning, and. he Jherefpre thought it un'W-ise~tjiat '.. at the termination' of ." its e_isteripe the ParHairieni should; legislate uppW.yery important,^Landt*especiajiy.<upon questheir owtf bpiriio'ns^M^a^^li^^ "sm% ConstitutiQn r theyYde.sir_;tb five for t_e~ future, ; and this privilege has-been secured for'them SQiely.through - "the 1 action of . theY Opposition — (A pplausev) The Gpverhirient; : deterndned to give' themVnb; Vypice ''''in.''the;.'.h\atterj Vbuti to r abolish -the- Constitution; regardless of , what might.be tiie voice of" the people themselves upon .Hp was not there to apolbgise.for the Pro.vihci-1 Ibstitutibns, or to hold' 1 them?; tip. as faultless; butr-he thought they had, upon the; whole, wrought well. v,Theyrv_ad their faults, arid he' might indicate .the direction in whicK^hey might Vvbel inaprpved,: }[_ He ithp-ght the. ..FrPvincial i Councils 'were.'toosiarge, had too.-many ; members) arid also that ; ,th_re ! .was an ; inconsistency in haying an elected "ju-pe-iritonderit^V^i'd a responsible Government, p. This .-had led to some difficulties, but on.^the-Vyrhbl- they systemi had wrbught well.; tinder theVProvincial ♦ system theylhad had money' toJTay out in 'every district throughout -the y country incthe making of rbad_.__dbri_ges, i and iri- opening '= rip the- country for settlement.— (Applause.) ..." Thelegisla-'l tion of the General AssemblyVbhan'ged I very much. r! An Act passed. the one session ;vt&s almost .sure r:tb: .'require V ambrid*mpritjthe;; next. ; ;V?f6bably one ' half of. the . questions legislated upon ; were : purely ibcalVquestionVafiecting in- j dividual .^rbvirices^ andcould b. ; better , dealt, with by Provincial. Councils, the . whole"- members,^S-„whLch; were ; ac- j quairited VwithV thexfacts-and \circum- j stances :of ""the' Province, than -by the ; General -Legislature, the meriibers of ; which* wererignprant of them. . As re- j gards administration,;^ he believed that of the Provincial Governments would compare favbfkbly- with the work of the General Government. The weak p_rt the policy^bf the General Government wasVthb centralisation, ;of admiuis.tration -in Wellington. They no wi saw this themselves and were trying to make people believe that it* was not their intention to centralise. The Road Boards thbyf'prppbsed ' were no new boon to Otagpi as'weha.ve had them for years.. li haabeen charged^against the,.Opposition^ that^ they had no united policy, but he thought there was very little in the'charge-V They were uriited r iii; opposing; the abolition of the Constitution without;' an appeal to the^peoplej and they were united in . apposing the ; centralisinig of all . power; iri^Wellington.? The niembers from different prpyinces might oppose upon different grounds,: : but they were: uniteddn, their opposition. When they got into jower :he ;had no . doubt they would introduce 'pssuph a policy as w6 'bid 'prevent 'iheceritralising of power in VWellington.j .-they : . .wbul^r have a policy which^would be acceptable' : tp the-couritry. -, i _- '*■ AltKough the'^iriem-.' 'blrs.of the, | i^psitipn, might Jppt be united !uiwa^very Vminor„ p^in^rja [con--~stituency^.had:.|i x:ight ;: T iqjk^ : 'dividual n opinion 'of a?ca-no!datejwho Vsought $M? : suffrages; j -He had^there- ■ ; V' fbre": '§6* .bxplaii- '; : that; he thought at was «•<! desirablp r tb r j hayeVlbcalVb^^^tabli- ? : i&hed tpip^rform ithe i_anctionS;j.mther||Pji

: ,rrfprj^^|y Tpse^^igli|--9^^epes^ tiidedfin^the V^arap^ayila&the Provincial Councils, but they ihould exercise the ; samp f "fu;nctions.Y ; He; would, therefore, vote in fevor bf creating sub *i bbdies.h - ; (Applause.) ...But whether we had local such as ..these .tp. which, he referredf or not, he thought we ougb!tjto have a separation effected between 4 t|ie twb-islandg— rthat-is,; thas eaph islapd . .should .be a, . separate. ,and independent, QblonyV ' He would' mention sorhejof which led him to thinktsuch a course advisable. ; The, circumstances., of the two islands were essentially' dif- i x ferent. ; V lt might be true that another ; war with the "Natives was 'not anticipated, but the fact of; a large * number of Natives being located in the North Island would necessitate a large amount of legislation.upon matters relating! to the Natives." The Middle Island mepa■bers^kn.ow: but yeryjlittle-j of -Native affaj^s, .and the northern members are in a much. better position to do them' justice. ,"!' The Natives have all along been regarded .as .-.the superiors of the soil, and i.ths ;grp,und is all purchased: irpm r .thenv, .by , -tb e .Gfo.yernngLent, but purchased. at alow price, there "are so riiany expenses connected with 1 tfiese trahsabtioris,; there is little left available for opening up the country. The' inhahitants/of ; the .n'pr th,. therefore, look ".with /wistful, V eyes towards bur land-fundjj.tOj^assist, them in improving theirp.estates , and opening up the 'country^' This hankering after pur land fund will 'continue as long as the ; two'^islands > remain one Colony. If - Separation were found impracticable ithen ; he^jW^uldj.beJ.n favor of one Proyince in each. island, with a Federal Goverririierit to attend to federal affairs alone._ Hej)6irited our that members of Assembly were elected for five years, while members of Provincial. Councils were only elected for. four years. From this it appeared .tp. him that it was in- . tended that! the .General Legislature should be r confined to -federal affairs and- Prpyuiciar Councils to- legislate i s upon,-ipcal affairs with which the people would-be-better_acq.uain.ted and have a greater iiitere^t.A ..A'sVto the constitution of tha^"GpperiHbuße he thought a change was necessary. The members at 'precept, elected for life, were supposed! t° be "capitalists. But we did* ftofc leave the h.orrie country and come 1 hereto ""be" rilled; by capitalists. i^^^pefiS^^Lseishould be elective, tor al districts; might iTe^_-l-^e_^^^ !to V free, fthem.-; somewhat from locSf: influences,' .%. They might also ba elected ; for ;a, longer period, and retire hy rbta--:tion..], ;Th us the conservative element of the, Upper,. House would be sufficiently „ secured. The Legislative Council as at present constituted was a hindrance -to; progress and to necessary legislation. When, a : member, wished to introduce a.Bill. the. question was .not. what was wanted, but how :; much of it .was likely to pass through the Legislative^VGpuuciL He referred to the difficulty in getting a liberal, land law passedr through. the Council, and instanced' the alterations made upon the Act of last session raising the price of the deferred payment land and exposing; by auction, __. He had always been in favor of liberal land laws, and they- all knew that when amember of the Provincial Council he h;id done vyhat'he could in this direction, and would continue to do so. — {Applause).

Mr Thomson fully explained his pwn action and <that of the Provincial .Go-.'. 1 vernment_ to/establish a Clutha RiverTrust, and shewed- that the whple delay and imperfection.- of- the BiliSyas. the result of the opposition of the pre-; sent General. -Government.. 1 The Provincial Council t had set apart two runs, or 50,000 acres as an endowment! for the Trust,; .but .the ..General Government refused to crown grant it to , the Superintend--.-. -i'VThey -also advised the Governojr„-D„disallow an Ordinance of. the Provincial ppuncil constituting the' Trust after Ghe i ; endowment !had been .made ij:f ,He (Mr 4 Thomson) then introduced a. Bill s in'the*'General;Assembly" tb constitute ' it, but : then ; the Government would not a.llpwitytp pass with borrowing powers, or to let, the Trust Board • lease Vbr; deal ;with ; the endowment.. , It_ wpuld.,jmerely receive the rents, or the price" if sold by the Waste; Lands, Board. With the ipre-; sent Goyernmeut it was impossible to get 1 the* matter put upon a proper footing,— but he -had -got the Bpard Gpngtitu^dj^d >it w,pu|d Receive about s&bGO atyearias the rents^pf^he endow-ment,-iand. ?.v TJ_e powers :pf«,the.-gpard could 'of . • course be> s extended! i. :by; an. hmen^mebt - Apt, probably; a rppre-' serilaiibp;;;frbm the 'Board, i^sej[£ Wight have .s.pme_we.ight._ He^wouTd" be jglad* uto,,do what he could m the matter. — XAfrfaii_e> v'-- --P'-^cr *;h(;n ; „.J tD

•^•-' _rif>_.pTy>to Iquestions>iby Mr Mac-donald-_-_tr..Thomaon said that when a r member of the, Council phd(Q^ eyery pta^oppor.toityUe had urged that somethirig- shPiiia'be ;dbne, ■Jtpi pre^ventltthe^encroachment - ?pti 'iffl river upon the township^ "pf .Balclutha,, and 03 one occasion^got' n t_. 6byernmb&tUb place: _r Sum' upon the Estimates to oS_ry3f6ut f slie necessary worksf It iwa"sl-e.rg&in-uch owing to his personal ex_-ti-_s that the 50,000 acres! had as an endowment for the Thrust. v_f the inhabitants of Balclutha (were

no^ satiSfi'edJ^wit.h^hisiactioh 1 ! in this "___tfelP' it-'cbuld::be : easily-remedied; as: iheVhaH irioVd'oubt 'the; Government .w.buld be very glad to repeal the Act/Urid do away With thieridow-ierit.i—(Laugh-ter). r He ; X not approve of the'! auction -clause in the amendment Bill with reference to they deferred-pay-ment law -pass-id t last session. -.:. He supported the , Waitepeka deviation as, he believed itr would" benefit' a large ; number : of. setters. in;-that and .adjoipirig districts. „, r Therp.,was ppt the slightest truth in ithe, assertipri that tenders | would have -been Vcailed. for. the BalVclutha LVaiid > section i of thp/railgay but for the question of the Fdevi'a--tion. The Minister, of works explained to him that it was not the intention iof the Government to form the- section, until the bridge across the Clutha, was' : nearly, finished, so as to cross sleepers, rails,- <__.; as 'those fori that" = were all to be brought, by Dunedin.. 'He thought a new Court-house was. required at Balclutha, and -he 'wprild eriqeaypr. to get it. ' V'"; ;i !

Mr Joseph Robertson moved a ! vote of confidence in Mr Thomson.; , ;

Mr Robert Hogg, in seconding, the: motion, said that Mr Thomson had the full confidence and: deserved hearty thanks at the hands of the .inhabitants of the township bf Balclutha-— more jso than any other -.part of the constituency. He referred to Mr Thomson's .exertions with . reference : to the 80 r acre , reserye and other matters. . „ .. „.....:''•

The motion was carried unanimously and with .applause. Mr Thomson thanked the electors for the vote. He believed he had' faithfully represented the .constituency in the past and he would endeavor to do the same in the future. If at- any time he found that his views ..did riot agree with those -of the constituency or if a majority -of the electors asked him he would. at once resign. : A vote ; of -thanks ytp; thp, : .Chairman' concluded the^proceedings.