Mr Montgomery at Southbridge.

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume XVII, Issue 1789, 28 October 1896, Page 2

Mr Montgomery at Southbridge.

•0 MrW. H. Montgomery, M.H.E. for , Ellesmere, addressed a meeting of his _ constituents at Southbridge on Saturday evening m the Town Hall. There was a large attendance, the building being crowded. Mr R. Webster (Chairman of the Town Board) occupied the chair. The |Chairman said Mr Montgomery was no stranger to them, and it was, therefore, unnecessary to waste words on his introduction. His action m coming before them so soon after the close of the session, and when the leading events of the day were so fresh m the minds of all, was to be commended — m fact, m agricultural show parlance, it was to be highly commended. He would ask them to give Mr Montgomery a quiet and respectful hearing. At the close of hii address, Mr Montgomery would he glad to answer any question that might be put to him. - Mr Montgomery, on rising, was greeted with applause, and said his appearance before them, though his address would partake principally of a post-sessional nature, was not unconnected with the fact that the general election waa to come off within the next six weeks. However, before speaking on political subjects, he would first or all touch oa two matters of local interest. The first was m relation to the appointment of ft constable and the proposed removal of the Southbridge Court-house. He had had a good deal of correspondence with the . Minister for Justice on the subject, «nd on Thursday had received a telegram from Mr Thompson, which he would read. It was a fact that negotiations had been entered upon for the removal of the Courthouse, but through his (Mr .Mont? gomery's) influence no action was being taken m the matter. The Department ■were short of constables. There were not v sufficient m the force to meet present requirements, and m this respect New Zealand was worse than any of the Australasian Colonies, the proportion ofconstables here to the population being less than m any of the sister colonies. The telegram was as follows : — " W. H. Montgomery, Esq., M.H.R., Leeston. ifo Constable at Southbridge. My desire ia,. to meet the requirements of districts where polioe supervision is requisite, and with this view I have given instructions that the Inspector of the district should proceed to Southbridge and report from personal observations and enquiry as to the necessity for placing a Constable m charge there. It will be obvious to you that m the face of the reports furnished to me officially, and the returns of breaches of the law at Southbridge, I would not be warranted m incurring the expense of stationing a constable there, but being desirous of doing what is reasonable, I have instructed Inspector Broham to visit Southbridge and report. — J. Thompson, Wellington." He would communicate with the Chairman of the Town Board as to the date of the visit of the Inspector, and Mr Webster would take action, as he had always so willingly done m such matters, and acquaint Mr, Broham with the circumstances of the case and the necessity there exists for the appointment of another constable m the district. They might take it for grafted:, that the ; wishes of the people of South--^ bridge m this matter would be complied > with before very long. (Applause). The other local matter was with regard to the Ninety Mile Beach Goldfield. (Applause). When Mr Zouch appeared m Wellington with the news that a goldfield had been found m the Southbridge district, it would only have taken a feather to have struck him (Mr Montgomery) down, so great was his surprise. However, when Mr Zouch showed him the actual returns obtained, and exhibited specimens and particulars, he thought that the good . news might be quite true, and had consequently favoured the appointment of an engineer to report on the matter. That day|(Saturday) he had received a telegram from the Minister for Mines m reply to enquiries as to the delay which was taking • place m the visit of the engineer. This he would read as follows : — " WT H. Montgomery, M.H.R., Southbridge. Papers about gold on Canterbury Beach have been sent to Inspector of Mines, Dunedin, with request that he will visit and inspect locality and report, but as that officer Is at present inspecting mines m Central Otago, I cannot say wnen he will he able to visit Canterbury. He will, however, be asked to go there as soon as he can. — A. J. Cadman, Wellington." He (Mr Montgomery) was going to visit the Beach on Monday to see what could he done. If he found it a good goldfield he would do all he possibly could to get it opened up to provide work for the unempleyed m the Ellesmere distriot. (Applause). Mr Montgomery then proceeded to speak of the work of the past session, referring at length to the Banking enquiry, tho Prohibition question, Old Age Pensions scheme, the Loan Bill, the Canterbury College Bill, the Factories Act and the Domestic Servants Bill, and the Arbitration and Conciliation Bill, but as his remarks on these subjects have already appeared m the daily papers m their reports of his Leeston address, we do not propose to reproduce them m the column! of the G-uabdian. Suffice it to say, that he had given his support to each of the above measures, and expressed himself generally m favour of the policy of the Government. The Opposition had no policy, and did nothing but find fault, ",.. and there was not a man m their ranks to be compared to the Premier. The Chairman stated that Mr Montgomery had decided during the forthcoming qontest to refuse votes of confidence, but would be glad *t the termination of each address to pecelve 4 i vote of thanks, J Mr Montgomery said he had determined on this course because he looked upon a show of hands at a public meeting as a violation or the secrecy of the ballot-box, and many electors declined to vote either . one way or the other for this reason. Mr R, Mcllraith said MrMontgomery's action m the past on the question of borrowing did hot seem to be consistent. He had not voted for non-borrowing, but jj yet had spoken strongly against borrow- J ing. He (Mr Mcllraith) would like an * .explanation. Mr Montgomery explained that his voice had been raised against the appropriation of the Sinking Funds, not against direct borrowing. Mr E. Cowan drew attention to the present Ellesmere Domain, and said that owing to its position it was of neither use Ror proamc«t,g| Would Mi Uoitymrf

: tadeavour to get the land sold or exchanged for a more suitable site P Mr Montgomery said this was a matter Vwhic'^diould be taken up by the local bodifAjfterested, and if the latter commur nwfcd to him their wishes m regard to samefhe would do his best to get a Bill passed through Parliament. to give efitct thereto. A elector asked if it was not a fact that a considerable proportion of the proposed million loan had been pledged before the passing of the Act P Mr Montgomery said the statement was only partially correct. It was true that - a number of contracts had boen let before the introduction of tho measure, aud that before these were completed the money m ' hand would perhaps be rather more than 'swallowed up. Mr McEvedy asked if another bad season was experienced, with low prices, would the Bank of New Zealand probably have to close it doors P Mr Montgomery pointed out that the Estates Company was now separate from the Bank, and that the latter would not be affected by an unfortunate harvest m any serious way. Mr R. Mcllraith raised the question of charitable aid, and expressed the opinion that each district should support its own ! poor. At present, the Ellesmere district - was compelled to send a large amount j annually to Christchurch for Charitable ! Aid, ana did not reap anything like an adequate advantage. He would like to know if Mr Montgomery would be m favour of altering this state of affairs ? Mr Montgomery said no doubt some change could with advantage be made, but it was a difficult question to deal with. It was well known that the poor all tended to gravitate to the large centres of population, and it was only fair that the country districts should therefore assist the cities m this matter. ' Mr Mcllraith said that eases of poverty finding their way into Christchurch, for instance, from country districts, could be sent back to where they came from for assistance from the local authorities. Mr said Mr Mcllraith was evidently m favour of the system which prevailed at Home, which had never been found to work well, and m , his (Mr Montgomery's) opinion was n»t a practical was of dealing with the problem, nor was it m the interests of humanity to shuttlecock the unfortunate poor about m the manner suggested. Tv Mr Waby asked if Mr Montgomery would me his influence to abolish canvassing for votes at election time, and so strengthen the purity and saoredness of the ballot-box. Mr Montgomery replied decidedly m the affirmative. He had always been greatly opposed to canvassing for votes, and m anyway interfering with the freedom of electors or the secrecy of the ballot-box. Mr Waby asked if Mr Montgomery would be m favour of reducing the honorarium to £150 P Mr Montgomeiy replied, No. It would *"~_mean the exclusion of labour members from the House, and he was m favour of all classes having a chance of being represented m Parliament. The present allowance was only sufficient to cover members' expenses. There was nothing to spare. Mr R. Mcllraith asked if Mr Montgomery, was m favour of "oarpet-bag politicians." Mr Montgomery said he would like to know what the questioner meant by a " carpetbag politician," before he could answer the question. The information was not forthcoming. Mr W. Mcllraith drew attention to tlie present excessive charges made by the Railway Department for the carriage of .entire horses, and expressed the opinion "^that the rates should be reduced one-half. Complaints had also been made about the practice of placing these animals m ordinary cattle trucks and subjecting them to the smoke of the engine. He asked if Mr Montgomery would endeavor to remedy this grievance P Mr Montgomery said if he was furnished with facts m connection with the matter he would communicate with the authorities. Mr Waby asked if Mr Montgomery would exert himself to get a Government grant m aid of re-building the Selwyn Bridge. I Mr Montgomery replied that he would dp so if the matter was brought Before him by the local bodies interested. \ Mr J. Cowan asked if Mr Montgomery would pledge himself not to vote for further borrowing ? Mr Montgomery replied that he "could not give such an j assurance. He reserved to himself the right to vote as he considered best under particular circumstances. Mr E. Cowan moved— •' That this meeting accord Mr Montgomery a hearty vote of thanks for his address." Seconded by Mr L. Inwood and carried 'by acclamation. Mr Montgomery briefly acknowledged the compliment, and said if he was returned at the forthcoming election, -as he hoped to be, he would do his best for ihe interests of the Ellesmere. A vote of thanks to the chair brought the meeting to a close.