MR. SUTTON AT HASTINGS.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3524, 24 October 1882, Page 2

MR. SUTTON AT HASTINGS.

Mr F. Sutton, M.H.R., addressed the electors of Hawke's Bay last evening in the Town Hall, Hastings, Mr R. Wellwood iv the chair. There "was a very fair attendance. The Chairman said that, although he had vigorously opposed Mr Sutton at the last election, ho had much pleasure in taking the chair on the present occasion, as he considered that any gentleman who wa3 returned by a majority of the electors was entitled to the sympathy and support of the constituency he represented. Mr Sutton, who on coming forward was received with loud applause, said it was with feelings of satisfaction that he availed himself of what was at once the duty and privilege of a member of the House of Representatives, namely, to call 'together his constituents as soon as possible after the prorogation of Parliament and lay before them his views on the political aspect of affairs as well as to explain the work done during the session, and to refer to the various bills introduced, some of which, owing to one cause or another, had not become the law of the land. Foremost amongst the work of last session stood the Crown and Native Lands Hating Act, the Road Boards Act, the Roads and Bridges Construction Act, and the Bating Act. There were also two other bills brought up for the purpose of carrying on railways, and while it must be admitted that these were very important bills he (Mr Sutton) questioned if they were as important as those he had just referred to. At the conclusion of hi 3 address he would be happy to answer any questions, and he hoped if any elector had anything to ask he would not be backward in doing so. THE LOCAL PROPOSALS. When he last addressed the electors of Hawke's Bay he told them that the taxation of " the country had gone far enough in the way of direct taxation, and that he would oppose any further borrowing unless it was accompanied with a revision of the system of levying taxes, Holding those views, therefore, he did not support the loan proposals of the Government in their entirety last session. He believed it was necessary that the railway works here should be pushed on until we had direct communication with Wellington by rail, and he believed that at no distant date ive should also be connected in the same way with Auckland, —he was not now and never was opposed to borrowing for important works such as these, but he was opposed to borrowing while the system of taxation remained in the very unsatisfactory condition it was in at the present time, when more than half of the revenue was derived directly from the people. He objected that people who received little or no benefit from public works should be required to pay equally for loans for that purpose with those who derived very substantial benefits therefrom ; and so far and no farther did he oppose the loan proposals of the Government, as anyone who read Hansard could see for themselves. Those, however, who had read the Parliamentary reports would possibly have noticed that upon the motion brought before the House by the member for Akaroa he (Mr Sutton) voted apparently, and apparantly only, with the Government on that occasion in respect of borrowing. He voted with the Government on that division because it was not so much a question involving borrowing as a question of whether Mr Montgomery or the present Ministers should take control of the loan. But when the second reading came on— which it did within the next ten minuteshe voted with the Opposition because he had gathered from Ministers that they were not prepared for a revision of the incidence of taxation that session. Some present might have noticed from returns published the other day that over £770,000 every year were derived from Customs duties, and when he told them that that amount represented about a half of the entire taxation they would see that the taxation was too much spread over the country. Those persons who reaped the greatest advantages from public works did not pay enough, and as a consequence those who supported themselves by trade, and who had only a verysmall interest in the said works, were obliged to pay for their richer neighbors. [A voice : That's whats the matter.] WAGES OF RAILWAY SERVANTS. Early in the session a movement was initiated that had his (Mr Sutton's) sympathy and support—he referred to the question of increasing the wages of the railway platelayers. A deputation of seventeen members, of whom the speaker was one, waited on the Government to urge that some substantial alteration be made in the wages of the class of men mentioned, the deputation holding the view that the colony, havin» become more prosperous since tbe time the wages were reduced (some three years ago), the platelayers as well as others were entitled to share in the increased prosperity If our railway works were to be well looked after we nmst have the best men to look after them, and these must have the full market rate of wages paid them._ He therefore sympathised with the object of the motion introduced by Mr Smith, the member for Waipawa, although he could not support the motion, for the reason that it took tho form of a vote of censure upon the Government, Mr Smith had worked honestly and straightforwardly, he believed, for his constituency, and probably he did not see the trap into which some of the older members of tho House had dropped him. The leader of tho Opposition, Mr Montgomery, even asked Mr Smith to withdraw his motion ; and he (Mr Sutton) could not support it, though he thought tho men had good ground for complaint. In his (Mr Sutton's) opinion it was absolutely necessary to protect the interests of these men, bub nothing could be more prejudicial than to

make the queotion take the form of a. rote of censure, as it might have led to the disfranchisement of all or nearly all the Government servants. WORK OF THE SESSION. During the early part of the session there had been a fearful waste of time, and he had not yet made up his mind who was responsible for that drawback. The Government blamed the Opposition, and the Opposition blamed the Government. In the speaker's opinion there were two causes that had a great deal to do with it—(l) the influx of | new members in the House, and (2) the want of a properly organised Opposition. From the latter cause alone an immensa waste of time resulted, and work was unnecessarily delayed, the Opposition not having either a policy or an acknowledged leader. THE NEW BANKBTJPTCY BILL. Amongst the bills circulated last session but which did not pass was one that had largely engaged the attention |of commercial circles, viz., the Bankruptcy Amendment Bill. During the last four or five years there had, unfortunately, been a large number of bankrupts, and it was felt that an alteration of the law was required. A measure to remedy the defects in the existing law had been framed, and it had received the endorsement of the majority of the Chambers of Commerce —the representative bodies of commercial men—in the colony. It would be brought in next year, and with some amendments, would probably become law. THE LAND ACT. The Land Act passed last session had been lauded by the press throughout the colony as one of the most liberal measures ever introduced. He (Mr Sutton) did not so regard it when it was brought down. It provided for the creation of a class of Crown tenants, having leases of 21 years, renewable for ever on certain conditions, but giving no chance to the leaseholders of obtaining the freehold of tbe land. The conditions of occupancy were most stringent—the • leaseholder could not borrow money, or part with his holding, he was limited to" 640 acres—in fact, he could scarcely light his pipe without the permission in writing of the Chief Commissioner of Crown Lands. What had occurred, and was occurring, 16,000 * miles away —in Ireland—might have occurred in New Zealand under this bill. It proposed to establish a section of the community dependent upon the Government as owners of the soil for a renewal of their leases. The majority of immigrants to New Zealand came with the hope of securing to themselves a freehold—they did not want to be at the beck and call of any Government. He was happy to say that the Legislative Council in this matter showed more liberalism than the House of Representatives. In the Council a clause was introduced giving to tho Crown leaseholders a right of purchase of the land at its value when they leased it. That removed much of the objection he had to the bill as introduced. The rent payable was supposed to be five per cent, upon the upset value,Bo itwaseasy to ascertain what the capital value was, and if a settler took a fancy to buy the land ho could request the Commissioner to sell it. Another important alteration in the bill as introduced was also made by the Legislative Council with respect to deferred payment sections. He had always held grave doubts as to the success of the deferred payment system, and exvjerience had confirmed those doubts ; the system was not a good one by any means. There was at present a total sum of about £35,000 overdue from the class of settlers referred to, and it would probably remain so. [To show how unfairly the system worked, Mr Sutton here cited the case of a man in Southland, who, thinking he had made a bad bargain in some land he had taken up, let his payments fall behind, ffith the result that two years later, an Act having been passed giving certain concessions to deferred payment settlers, the man who had not paid his ■nstalments obtained his land for £2 an acre, while his struggling neighbor who kept his engagements with the government had to pay £6 an acre.] He (Mr Sutton) desired to see the land settled, but the de- , f erred payment plan was not the way to do it. In the Seventy-mile Bush there was, perhaps, as fine a body of settlers as ever went upon land ; but it was questionable whether every individual settler would have been richer today if he had never taken up the land, or if he had bought the freehold for cash. It was absurd to put settlers on land that had no roads to it and no outlet for the produce thereof. Another hardship that existed under the old Hawke's Bay land regulations was in the fact that settlers were compelled to live on their land all the year round, and were precluded from working elsewhere to earn the money to improve it. Of course the proverbial coach-and-four had been driven through that law more than once, but that did not lessen the absurdity of it. The Legislative Council had made another very important amendment in the Land Bill, affecting deferred payment settlers. If a settler had paid up his instalments for three years, he could rent the land at 5 per cent, upon the value for four years more, and then purchase the freehold for the unpaid balance. That would be a great convenience to many a settler in this province, some of whom had almost submitted themselves to slavery in their endeavors to make the two endsmeet, and who would now be substantially relieved by this new provision of the Act. It was also in the power of the Land Boards to grant exemption to persons from the condition requiring residence upon bush lands. There was yet another provision of the Land Act he would refer to, and this related only to the land district of Hawke's Bay. The Land Board had the power to classify land, and to offer the first quality at auction at an upset price of 20s an acre, the second quality at 10s, and the third at not less than 5s an acre. Some present knew that there was in the Wairoa district a large tract of land probably not worth 10s an acre, and it was now within the power of the Land Board to sell that land for not less than 5s an acre, and he hoped soon to see it sold and carrying people who would assist in bearing the taxation of the country. THE LICENSING QUESTION. It was well known that he took a great interest in the licensing question : in fact he had been accused of being the " publican's man." Well, he was nothing of the kind ; he served no man, or class of men, but always endeavored to do his best for the community as a whole. He wanted some modifications in the Licensing Act. Among other things he would make the Road Boards and other local bodies the Licensing Boards. It was a mistake to multiply local bodies as had been done of late years. The result was that there were too many elections, and the public took no interest in them. With respect to local option, he did not believe in it as it stood at present. His plan was to have a poll when a new license was applied for, but not to take one binding on the community for thi-ee years to come, and which left no provision for rising districts, such as Hastings for instance, going in for extended hotel accommodation at the very time when it might probably be most required. Ono portion of the Amendment Act that the Government had showed such undue haste in shoving through, allowed licensing committees to grant 11 o'clock licenses, and did away with the expense of advertising applications for renewals aud some of the other forms that were previously required. This, he considered, was only "tinkering" with, the measure, -and was not dealing with it in the way the country wanted. He would now proceed to explain the alterations that had been effected in the law of several of the most important Acts dealt with during the session. THE RATING ACT was one of those. The new Bating Act did away with the old system of valuation, and brought about a state of affairs that he had long contended for. There wus now to be one valuation appointed for the whole of the district, and the valuation of tho Hawke's Bay district would be effected by the valuator appointed under the Property Tax

Act. Two or three persons would not now be needed to go over the same country to make valuations. They were probably aware that the Koad Board valuations were made on the basis of the annual value, but that was altered, and for tho future the whole of the property in the colony would be valued, not at its letting value, but at its selling value. They were also aware that in the past the maximum rate had been one shilling in the pound on the letting value ; now they would have to pay at a rate not exceeding ,d in the pound ou the selling value, which was about equal to the previous shilling rate on the annual value. Road Boards would still be at liberty to make their own valuations, but they would have to do so on the new basis—the selling and not the letting valuation. This was the only alternative if settlers objected to be under the control of the officials at Wellington. Another new feature in the Act was a clause that provided that property could not be sold to realise arrears of rates as formerly. The local bodies now would have no power to sell any man's land; but land upon which rates were in arrear would be vested in the Public Trustee, who would lease the land until the rates were paid. He thought that provision would be found a very great improvement and a great protection. CROWN AND NATIVE LANDS EATING. He now came to the Crown and Native Lands Bating Act, a measure first advocated by himself, and which had become law. Lands in the occupation of natives were no longer to be exempt from taxation, but would be made to bear their share of it as well as those of the European. It was high time too that such a law was passed when the people considered how much the natives had benefited by the construction of roads, &c, without ever having contributed a single penny to the cost. ROADS AND BRIDGES CONSTRUCTION ACT. A great deal had been said regarding the Roads and Bridges Construction Act, and many objected that its proposals were extravagant, and that it could not last. Now, he believed, and hoped, it would last a long time. The main principle of the measure was that the Government should contribute three pounds for every one pound expended by local bodies on the construction of main roads* The Hawke's Bay district had only one road that was yet unimproved, and that was the main road to inland Patea. He was certain the County Council would do their utmost to secure a portion of the money granted by this Act, and within twelve months he expected there would be a good buggy road to the Kuripapanga bridge. Under tbe Act the Council would be able to provide roads for the transport of the produce of the country, and if that one Act had constituted the whole of the work of the session, he thought they would have reason to congratulate themselves that they had fulfilled one part of their mission at any rate. The Act, he might add, did not admit of a sixpence being granted for maintenEnce of roads, but simply for construction. It also afforded great facilities for borrowing money. Now, so far the Hawke's Bay, Wairoa, and the Waipawa County Councils had managed to cut their coats according to their cloth. As yet they had not got into debt, but they might at any time require an immediate advance on account of damage caused by floods. They might have to reerect bridges and make heavy road repairs. This could be arranged by way of a loan, which would be repayable in fifteen years by the payment of nine per cent., principal and interest, annually. River Boards could also borrow money for necessary works for fifteen years on similar terms of pa)ment. For instance, the Taradale people, who had pluekily undertaken protection works on their own account some time ago, and who, he believed, were paying ten per cent on the capital borrowed for that purpose, could, under this new Act, obtain the money at a rate of interest equal to about five per cent. per annum. ROAD BOARDS. The Road Boards Act provided for a new system of election, which was a great improvement over that hitherto in force. The Boad Board elections would in future be conducted on tbe same principle as those of County Councils. Every ratepayer, no matter what amount he paid, if his name appeared on the roll, had a vote, and every elector was required to vote in person. This latter provision obviated the mischief that sometimes was created by proxy voting. There was another difference and it was this, that though in no case could anyone have seven votes under the new Act some would be entitled to five. Property under £1000 entitled the holder to one vote ; above £1000 and under £2000 to two votes ; above £2000 and under £3000 to three votes; above £3000 and under £5000 to four votes ; and exceeding £5000 to five votes. That was a very simple alteration, but a most necessary one. Under the Act also each Road Board would require to decide within the next two months how many members should constitute a Board. There could be any number from four to nine. Suppose the Hereteunga Road Board decided on nine members, and that became the rule. The election would be for three years instead of one, and every other year half the members must retire, though of course they would be eligible for re-election. In the month of May, 1884, four members would go out of office, and so on every alternate year. This was, he thought, a great improvement on general elections, when there were often so many persons elected totally unacquainted with the method of procedure that it took them a long time to learn their work. He did not think he would be divulging a secret when he told them that it was the intention of the Hawke's Bay County Council to cancel the present divisions and resubdivide the district into nine wards. There were at the present time very large and important districts called " outlying districts." For instance, there was one of the finest properties in New Zealand—he referred to the Longland estate— in an outlying district. Vf by it was outlying, or ho wit was outlying, he could not say. That important estate had never paid any Road Board taxation at all while properties in Clive and Hastings paid both Road Board and County rates, or about double as much rates as the Longlands estate. This state of affairs should no longer exist. BOTJNDAEIES OF DISTRICTS. j Another of the Act was that giving power to settle disputed boundaries. It would also enable local j bodies to abate one of the greatest nuisances in this part of the country —he referred to the great number of pigs running wild, especially in the neighborhood of Awatoto, to the danger of persons passing. The amendment of the law would enable the County Council to pass a bye-law dealing with the subject, and then no one need fear being pitched off a shying horse through meeting a pig. CONSTITUTION OP LOCAL BODIES. Perhaps one of the most important alterations that had been effected, and one that he took some credit to himself for bringing about, was that clause that empowered tho County Council to declare itself dissolved, and tbe Council for the future to consist of tho chairmen of the different Road Boards. He wanted to see the proposed nine divisions each returning the chairman of a Road Board to the County Council ; and when each Road Board was represented in the County Council jealousy would be effectually stopped, and there would be no separate interests, whoever was elected. HOSPITALS AND CHARITABLE AID. There were a few things things that should have been attended to last session, but which were not. Under this head he had to find fault with the culpable and negligent way in which the matter of hospitals and charitable institutions was quietly shuffled off, although he had no doubt it would be practically dealt with next session. Tho sooner the country knew who was to maintain these institutions the better. The Government had crippled their advancement very much by leaving them in their present unsatisfactory 6tate as regards finance. If the Government meant to support one institu-

tion they should support all; there should be no different treatment for different places. He held that hospital and kindred institutions should be a charge upon local funds and not upon the General Government, I and hoped that a bill to this effect would be introduced during the next session of Parliament. For the present year the Government had decided to maintain the hospitals of the colony, and he trusted that the Hawke's Bay Hospital would not be treated exceptionally, as the public had most liberj ally subscribed to it. PROTECTION V. FREE TRADE. Mr Sutton concluded by expressing himself in favor of Free Trade, which he contended wa3 not calculated to injure local industries. In carrying out his ideas he would not, for instance, advocate the sudden removal of the whole of the duty on, say, woollens, but it might be done gradually and he thought it would not then affect the local factories. If it did close them, it would be a misfortune for their shareholders and their workpeople ; but it could not be expected that, to give good dividends to a a few shareholders, the whole colony should be made to pay a heavy tax on its woollen goods. In concluding his address Mr SuttOn said he could not hope that he had succeeded in pleasing everyone by his actions in the House, but he believed he had not made many enemies at all events. He had worked consistently and to the best of his abiiity for the district be represented and tho colony generally, and not for any man or class. The speaker resumed his seat amidst loud applause. Several questions were asked by Mr Ellis with respect to protection, after which a vote of thanks to Mr Sutton and another to the chairman were passed by acclamation, and the proceedings terminated.