MAJOR ATKINSON AT HAWERA.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3704, 30 May 1883, Page 4

MAJOR ATKINSON AT HAWERA.

THE MINISTERIAL PROGRAMME.

[BY TELEOR-irH.] Haavera, This day. Major Atkinson arrived here yesterday and addressed his constituents in the Town Hall last night. The Mayor occupied the chair. Major Atkinson said it was necessary to speak at snnie length of the past in order that the present position might bo understoodj[and some insight into the future obtained. Last session Avas tho first of a Parliament elected under the neAV electoral hnvs. Tho new hvws Avorked great changes in the old ones, and it Avas desirable to inquiro lioav far tho first Parliament elected under them ansAvercd expectations Speaking as a man of Parliamentary experience he declared that the present Parliament Ay as quite up to the average of previous Parliaments, both intellectually aud morally; and although there Avas a marked absence of leading men avlio could command the support of largo numbers so that parties could be easily organised and Governments formed, ho did not believe that that circumstance was attributable to the change iv the electoral law, but Avas simply accidental, most of the experienced men having been defeated by very feAV votes. The absence of such men, however, had led to difficulty in Avorking the House, and the difficulty Avas greatly increased by the fact that there were soma 40 new members, twofifths of Avhorn Avere absolutely new to political life so far as the House Avas concerned, aud therefore entirely unacquainted Avith its rules and procedure, and av!io came to the House imbued Avith the idea that it Avas possible to support measures and not men, voting one day Avith tho Government and tho next against them. So long as there Avas party government this Avould be impossible; every member must join the party which most closely approached to his idea of Avhat a party should be. It was the attitude of somO of thoso men that caused difficulty, for the Opposition was constantly on the look out to get their votes on some small question, hoping to discredit the Government by a series of small defeats. The present form of government might not be the best, but so long as it Avas in force there must be parties, and members must join parties. The difficulties of the Government Avero very much increased by the fact that the opposition Avas disorganised. There Avere at least tAvo sections—Mr Montgomery leading the larger, and Sir George Grey tho smaller but more compact section. Sir George Grey added to the confusion by assuming the leadership of both when it suited him, and simply putting Mr Montgomery on one side. Anyone knoAving the tAvo men and their positions in the House and tho country, must be aAvaro that this would continue. So long as Sir Grey Avas in the House ho could assumes the leadership whenever he chose. The Government from tho beginning of the session Avero ahvay quite certain of a majority on any no-confidence motion, because the House did not desire to see them displaced, but for the reasons given—tho disorganisation ( of tho Opposition—the discipline on the Government side Avas loose, and though the Government Avere always certain of a victory on a no-confidence motion, they wore not always sure of it on small, unimportant decisions. Tho Opposition knew this perfectly well. If not, why did they not at once proceed to turn the Government out ? AVhat they did Avas to obstruct Avithout appearing to obstruct, in tho hope to discredit the Government by Avinning small divisions, and to get tho votes of Government supporters who might bo dissatisfied AAith particular clauses of particular bills. Business was delayed, not unskilfully, but very unjustifiably, because an Opposition had no right to delay the business of the country unless justified by success in turning tho Government out. There seemed to be considerable error in the public mind as to the functions of Parliament. One of the principal functions Avas the determination Avho should govern the country, and therefore it often "happened that though Parliament had passed no bills for six months it had still been performing an important function. As he had already said, an Opposition should not delay business unless it had a reasonable chance of success, Avhich the Opposition last year had not, and therefore he charged them Avith want of patriotism in delaying measures Avhich the country demanded. The Government last session were charged Avith the duty of passing very imporiant measures ou such subjects as local government, local and general finance, public Avorks, loans, • and native affairs. On the 1 Gth of June—and it would have been 10-days earlier but for his (Major Atkinson's) illness—the Financial Statement Avas delivered, the native bills were all down, and in fact the Avhole policy of the Government Avas before the House. If the Opposition had really believed in their strength thoy Avould have at once tried conclusions on some general principle, but instead of that thoy pursued the extraordinary course of attacking the Financial Statement on small points immediately it was delivered. He (the speaker) rose to the attack and replied, so completely routing the Opposition that never again did they muster up courage to attack the'statement so far as the policy of the Government Avas concerned. The Govei-nment was tried Avithout success to get principles discussed, and it was not till the Oth of August that the Opposition brought doAvn a no-confidence motion re the Loan Bill. The motion was " That the financial proposals of the Government Avere not satisfactory " —a motion so wido as to catch every member who Avas not satisfied Avith Avhat the Government proposed to do for his particular district; but the House never intended to displace the Government, and so tho debate avus flat and the Opposition Avero defeated. The Government, supported by a large majority, then proceeded to carry its measures, and carried every one of them of importance Avith scarcely an alteration. Then the Opposition became indignant and talked of undue haste, a cry which had been kept up ever since. If the Opposition delayed business iv the earlier stages of the session there must be haste in the latter part ; but every member had full opportunity of making himself acquainted with every measure. In Juno there avci-c introduced no less than 20 bills, in July 19, and in August 14, most of them of great importance, so that it Avas absurd to say that the House had none of the Government measures before it until the last moment. As to tho legislation of tho session, ho would point out that one of the objects of abolition was to dccentra.ise poAvcr and give tho local bodies full authority over local matters, to secure Avhich various Acts had since been passed giving the local bodies nearly as much penver as they ought to have. No doubt the powers given could bo increased as the country developed and became more thickly populated, but at present tho timo was not ripe for much further extension. If the country could think for a moment as to what poAvers local Governments should possess it would be seen that there Avould be great difficulty in pointing out any duty or poAver which should bo exercised by the loctd bodies but was iioav exercised by the central authority. jjNo doubt new districts felt tho want of roads, and tho Avant made itself felt in the pressure put on tho Government to attend to this road and that, yet immediately a Government did anything in that direction it had been accused of jobbery. If tho Government put on the estimates monoy for .a district represented by a supporter, it was favoritism ; if for a district represented by an opponent, it was to purchase his vote. In either caso the Government Avas held equally blamablo. To put a stop to this sort of thing tho Roads aud Bridges Construction Act had been passed, and he claimed for it that that Act Avould relieve the Government aud tho House of a great difficulty. Noav any money voted for roads and bridges Avas put into a general fund, and administered as it Avere automatically. These Avere tho regulations, the machinery under AA'hich tho money Avas to bo distributed, and the Government had nothing to do with the matter beyond carrying out the regulations, and the grants Avero made equally to all so long as tho money lasted. It had taken three sessions to pass the Act, but iioav it was on the statute book and would be regarded as one of tho best Acts ever passed for the establishment of the independence of the local bodies, and the relief of Parliament from pressure to Avhich it Avould not be subject. Tho rumors so industriously circulated about the centralisation of power in AVellington were absurdly contrary to the fact. Tho CroAvn and Native Lands Rating A ct Avas also a good measure, removing as it did grievances under Avhich local bodies had long suffered, because the broad principle was noAV recognised that land to whomsoever it belonged should contribute equally and fairly to tho cost of constructing and maintaining the roads of the country. A good many natives had come in and expressed a desiye to pay rates when they

kneAv that tho. Act had been . passed. Finance was an important subject, but it avus most difficult to get people to take interest in it. Major Atkinson then referred to the taxation and retrenchment which had been found necessary when the Government took office, remarking that he scarcely know of a case in Avhieh a Government having to impose heavy taxation, and at the same'time to retrench, and yet remained in office so long as the present Government had. It spoke volumes for the rightmiudeducss of the people of New Zealand that Avhen they saAV the necessity for taxation they submitted to it Avillingly. He contended that the present taxation Avas fair. Major Atkinson repeated the arguments used in last year's Financial Statement, adding that Mr Montgomery, in a speech he had made lately, said he disagreed entirely Avith those arguments, and he (Major Atkinson) thought he had at last got somebody to critciso bis contentions, but he Avas soon disappointed. Mr Montgomery assumed that the property tax Avas put onto make the difference between what tbe railways produced to the colony and the interest on the cost of their construction, and then argued that the property tax Avas unfair. Mr Montgomery Avent no further than that; but the property tax Avas not put on for such a purpose, and the argument tumbled to the ground. Mr Montgomery Avent on to say that the railways had improved the value of tbe land, not the value of personal property, and therefore tho land shotdd pay. He (Major Atkinson), however, held that personal property had increased enormously in consequence of the public Avorks policy. It Avas true that land had been increased in value to a large extent, but had not merchants acquired fortunes? Had not shopkeepers groAvn richer '! Had not laborers saved and bought farms V Had uot all classes become richer owing to the public Avorks policy? All classes had largely benefitted. When it was tho fact that directly tho route of a railway Avas fixed the owners of land cut it up and sold it in small pieces, making an _ enormous profit, which profit Avas invested in all sorts of ways becoming personal property, why should that personal property not be taxed 'i Why tax the holder of land avlicu the real owner Avas perhaps tho money lender who Avould escape ? AVhy should the tiller of the soil alone be taxed ? There Avas thirty millions of money borrowed upon the credit of the country. AVcro not the people Avho lent that money the real owners 't And Avhy should they escape:- If that Avere done a man Avho benefitted by a raihvay had only to se". his land, let three-fourths of the purchase money remain on mortgage, and ho escaped taxation, making the unfortunate tenant pay for the increased value which the seller had in his own pocket. But Mr Montgomery's argument as to unjust taxation affected only £00,000 or £70,000 out of a total of £2,000,000. MiMontgomery urged that tho present taxation all fell "on the working classes, because, as he said, political economists agreed that taxation on goods was ahvays paid by the consumer. . If that avoi-cso then no taxation upon Avealth, except unproductive Avealth, Avas possible, and they arrived at this absurdity—that it was absolutely impossible to tax the merchant or tho farmer or anybody else, except upon his fixtures or his plough, or money tinned into articles of luxury. The tiling- Avas absurd upon the face of it, and moreover tho same law Avould apply to an income tax. It Avas not so easy to shift the burdens as Mr Montgomery made out. Mr Montgomery urged that the State should not make railways through private lands and get no sharo of the advantage. That Avas an entirely different question, and it seemed to him (Major Atkinson) perfectly fair and reasonable that if the value of a man's property were largely increased the State should take a proportion of such increased value, and it Avas a great pity that the principle had not been adopted and carried out from the start. There Avere serious difficulties in the Avay of going back, because, as a largo quantity of hind had changed hands, it was impossible to trace the benefit aud tax the right person; but as to future Avorks ho could see no reason why the Assembly should not consider and devise some means by Avhich persons _ avlio Avere largely benefited iv respect of the capital A-alue of their land should not contribute a fair proportion of the increased value to the State. The proposition to impose rates to make up deficiencies in the raihvay revenue seemed most unfair, because railways Averc made as a matter of public policy, perhaps running through poor districts to connect rich ones, or through sparsely populated districts to carry out public poHoy. The advantages of tho railAvays to the Avhole country Avere not thoroughly appreciated. In England it Avas calculated that the saving in the cost of carriage Avas fully double the amount of the interest paid on the pubHc debt, and he had looked into the matter as it affected this colony. He found that last year 40 million tons had qeen carried over a mile. If the country had had to move that Aveight in another way than by raihvay the cost Avould have been three or four times as much as that, so that the community, owing to the ra'hvays, in that Avay saved a milVon and a half annually, which Avas being distributed pretty evenly over the Avhole country. Of course in populous districts the benefit -was most direct. AA r ith regard to parsengers, 42 millions Averc carried over a mile at a cost of a little over 2d, instead of -id if theyAvere carried in other Avays, resulting in another saA'ing to the community of £300,000 or £400,000. It Avas absurd to say that because the interest on the cost of railways Avas £500,000, of Avhich only £350,000 Avas covered by tho returns from the railways, therefore the colony lost £150,000, and that particular di.-.tricts must bo taxed to mako up the amount. Until some more successful critic than Mr Montgomery appeared he (Major Atkinson) avouUl adhere to his opinion that tho taxation as at present imposed avus totcrably fair. Ho Avas anxious that the taxation should bo fairly imposed, and no one man Avould bo more ready that he to make alterations if he could be convinced of the existence of inequality; but tho more he saAV of the property tax the more fair he thought it, and tho more he Avatched the Avorking of the income tax in other countries the less he liked it. AA r ith regard to the results of the last financial year, they had been on the whole very satisfactory. The revenue had been more than Avar, estimated and the expenditure less, so that the colony might fairly congratulate itself on its present position. As to public AA'orks, the House had last year decided that there should be a million a year spent for three years, and that would be adhered to, although what Avero called the reasonable demands of districts Avould require for their satisfaction fully five millions v year. The pressure for expenditure came from every side, but tho Government Avould not go beyond the limits Avhich prudence dictated, and Avhich had been approved by the House. Subject to these limits, public Avorks avoulc! be pushed on vigorously, and he appealed to the country to support tho Government in this. The main trunk lino to Auckland avus a matter of great importance to the North Island and to the colony, and the survey Avas being pushed on as far as possiblo. Three parties were out examining the several proposed routes, and not a day had beon lost; but it was not likely that Parliament would be able to to deal with the question next session. Tho connecting link between Hawcra and Manutahi, on the south' line, Avould be pushed on to completion, aud a vote for the last contract Avould be taken next session. As to tho land question, the Government Avould continue its policy of getting the land settled in the proper sense of the Avord, and not merely make a sheep-walk. A failprice would be demanded for tho land, tho revenue less the expense of survey being returned to the land in the shape of roads and bridges. The Minister of Lands had taken a great deal of pains in connection Avith this question, and had devoted a great deal of time, energy, and knoAvledgo to it. He (the Minister of Lands) had done more than any other man had ever done in the Lands Department. Since June, 1879, 3500 deferred payment settlers had been put on 366,000 acres ; surely a very satisfactory result. There Avere 42,000 acres sot apart under the system for perpetual leasing, for the purpose of trying the experiment of a iioav system of land tenure. The Government hoped shortly to be able to judge of the probable result of the experiment. As to native affairs, he contrasted the state off affairs in 1879, Avhen the Government assumed office, and the present position. There was still need of watchful care, and it would bo a torrible misfortune if Mr Bryce ceased to be Native Minister. Connected Avith this Avas the question of dealing Avith native lands. It was a very aAvkAvard question, and one which Avould require careful consideration by the Assembly. The system of Government land purchase was noiv nearly wound up, but it was apparent withdrawal of tbe

Government from land purchasing operations had not got over all the difficulties. There were grave scandals in connection Avith native lands and the Native Land Court, and there Avas no doubt that steps Avould have to be taken by Parliament shortly to remedy some of the evils. It Avould be necessary to consider AA'hat the nath-es really desired, and hoAV the country could be settled with fairness to both races. There Avould be difficulty, because it might not be possible to do what was thought right, and because the natives might not look at matters iv the same light as the Europeans, and their wishes must be consulted. As to the future, he had nothing very startling to reveal. The policy of the Government Avas laid down very clearly in the Acts brought in last session, and the Government would continue to Avork the liberal and progressive lines pursued hitherto. Public works would be carried on vigorously within the limits previously referred to; the local bodies Avould be strengthened and rendered independent; the native policy would be the same as that which had been successfully inaugurated and carried on by Mr Bryce, and firmness, self-reliance, and courage would no doubt soon bring about the state of things so earnestly desired by both races, that of living as one people. In regard to the session, the Government would bring in a number of consolidating bills and social measures. There Avould be the Abolition of Entail and Settlement Bill, a Bankruptcy Bill, and a bill to deal with married Avomen's property on the same .incs as the English Act. There Avould be a number of other bills, to which he need not specially refer, in continuation of the policy of last session. AVhatcver might be the result so far as the Government itself Avas concerned, a large amount of social work Avas sure to be gone through, but a great deal must depend on the position AA'hich the Opposition took up. Mr Montgomery bad objected to his (Major Atkinson's) southern tour, and had cha.-ged him with fishing for a policy because he had thought fit to address the large centres of population upon several of the large questions Avhich appeared to him to require the consideration of the colony irrespective of party. Broadly put, Mr Montgomery charged him (Major Atkinson) Avith poaching in Opposition waters, but if he (Major Atkinson) had been foolish enough to do that he Avould havo been very much in the position of that historical character of Avhom it had been said, '' Simple Simon Avent a fishing for to catch a Avhale, and all the Avhal es th at he coul d get Avhere in his mother's pa?l." That would ha\-e been his position if ho had been fishing for a policy in the Avaters of the Opposition. Men who had taken a leading part in framing and passing the Abolition Act, the Counties Act, the Land Act and its amendments, the Property Tax Act, the Roads and Bridges Construction Act, the Native and Crown Lands Rating Act, and the various Native Acts were not the men to go fishing intheAvatcrs of the Opposition in the sense in Avhich Mr Montgomery used the Avord ; but if fishing for a policy meant endeavouring to guide and construct public opinion by public discussion, by personal observation, by ascertaining what where tho Avants and requirements of the people, and endeavouring to give effect to them, then he pleaded guilty, and should always be found fishing for a policy in that sense. Statesmen Avho could in the course of half-an-hour develop from their inner consciousness bills upon any subject, great or small, which Avould give perfect satisfaction to everyone, camo from tho ranks of the Opposition. They Avere not to be fouud in the ranks of the Government party. Mr Montgomery Avent on further to say that last session he he Avas very mild, almost tame, in fact he said they (the Opposition) were quite tame, but next session he would not be so. The Government Avas to be made to conduct its business as the Opposition wished. Mr Montgomery would b3 no longer tame. Mr Montgomery did not say Avhat he Avould be, bat perhaps he Avould go wild. Mr Montgomery tame Avas an interesting study, but Mr Montgomery AV.ld Avould no doubt be more funny still. Therefore tho GoA'ernrnent looked forward to the session with pleasure. He ventured to say, however, that the Government Avould conduct its business as it thought best, and that Mr Montgomery, tame or Avild, Avould haA-e little influence on it. Mr Montgomery had spoken, but the Opposition had not, and Avould not until Sir George Grey had spoken, for Avith all respect to Mr Montgomery the Opposition Avould do what Sir George Grey determined, and not AA'hat Mr Montgomery determined. The Government Avere prepared to go on Avith the Avork of the session, and make a short one of it, if tho House should so desire, but they Avere Avilling at once to face tho Opposition to see Avhich Avas the stronger party. Hkr-egrelted that he had been unable to speak in th> North Island on the subject on Avhich he had been speaking in the South, but Avant of time prevented him. He hoped, however, to do so during the next recess. It Avas the intention of the GoA'cinment to continue next year the present arrangement Avhereby the cost of charitable aid Avas paid out of the consolidated reA'euuc. Major Atkinson concladcd by saying that iv his travels about tho colony he had been gratified by the numerous signs of progress he had seen, and though there was a certain amount of depression and money Avas tight, and Avas i: kcly for a while to continue so oAving to over-speculation aud over-importation, he Avas certain that in a short time all this would pass aAvay, and that the future progress of the colony Avould greatly exceed that of the past

In reply to questions, Major Atkinson stated that he did not think the Government Avould attempt this session to introduce any bill to reform the constitution of the Legislative Council. He defended tho two recent appointments to the Council, and held that Avhenever the Government considered it necessary to re-form the Council it Avould probably have to call many more gentlemen to the Upper House.

A vote of confidence was carried unanimously, no amendment being proposed.