POLITICAL MEETING. ADDRESS BY SIR GEORGE GREY.

Evening Post, Volume XL, Issue 31, 5 August 1890, Page 2

POLITICAL MEETING. ADDRESS BY SIR GEORGE GREY.

A large and enthusiastic meeting was held in the Exchange Hall lost evening, when the political situation was discussed by Sir George Grey and several other members of Parliament. Tho chair was ocoupied by Mr. J. H. Heaton, Mayor of Melrose, who briefly opened the proceedings. Sir George Grey, who was roceived with loud applause, expressed tho ploasurohofelb at addressing a Wellington audience again about things which concerned their welfare to tho very last degree. In former years there waß inequality of voting in this colony. A wealthy man purchased a vote -in Beveral constituencies, and those people so controlled the elections that it really oould not be> said that tho Parliament represented the people. When he was Premior in 1879 he endeavoured to pet this altered, and he introduced a Bill providing that one man should have one vote only. At that time he believed there was a majority of th» House in favour of the measure, but he was ousted from office upon other grounds. After the lapse of 10 years. Ministers were compelled to brinff forward a Bill declaring that one man should only havo one vote. By passing such a Bill the House acknowledged that they did not fairly represent the voioe and sentiment of the people. If such a. Bill had been passed in England there would have been an immediate dissolution, but tho New Zealand Parliament did not dissolve. Oh, no ; they remained where they were, and they intended to remain until October next, although they did not truly represent the people. • He maintained that there ought to have been a dissolution, so that Ministers would be elected by a Parliament truly representing the people of the oolony. His contention was that thero was a precedent for the argument that the present Ministry, who would romain in office until about this time next year, did not represent tho country. Ihe Governor could, of course, send for any member of tho House who was. in favour of a dissolution, and ask for advico as to how he should aot, but it was very unlikely that His Excellency would do such a thing, and the only hope of tho people lay in the latter inaiating on their right, as by an unlawful effort the Ministry were to be kept in office 12 months longer than they ought to be. Ministers thought they could govern the people tnndh better than those who would be i airly ohosen by the people, and they asked to be allowed to remain in office so that they might gain the affeotion of the people. (Laughter.) It had often been said that evMs euoh as had followed the acquirement of large estates in England would soon be felt by the people of New Zealand, and already they were being experienced. In England it took ICO years to add 180 new offences to the statute book. His hearers all knew that runß of such large oxtent were held in the colony that rabbits actually multiplied in plaoe of shaep, aud this seemed, as if the sins of the ruaholders were being visited upon them. In one year in this oolony no fewer thaa sixteon now offenooß relating to rabbits woro introduced. A youth for having a rabbit in his possession was liable to be shut up in gaol for a time and discharged as a felon. This was a monstrous thing. Sir George quoted from the Rabbit Act, and his remarks thereon oreatod considerable laughter. Thero was to be no fair trial in opan Court, but any two Justices of the Peace were eligible to deal with the oharges. Ihe present Parliament was partly sitting for tho purpose of allowing certain persona to secure large landed properties on the East Coast, and the people had also been recently deprived of 2 000,000 acro3 in Canterbury. He balieved that about 1600 persons and families hsld between thorn over 17 000,000 aoreß in New Zealand, while 80,000 poople owned only 300,000 acres, and were luoky to get that. Many of the people who had oome out from Home were poor people who had oome out with a revorenoe for those who wore rich, and did not know how to go about to get land in this oolony. While they did not know how to act there were certain well-to-do pooplo who used their money and their influonoe to acquire large tracts of land, and the consequence was that at the present time thero was little or no land to bo got at at anything liko a reasonable figure. Tho great properties held by tho well-to-do "cIaES had had value given to thorn by tho money spent upon the railways, and by tho money spont during the Maori war, and tho owners had done nothing in return. On some of these properties not a penny had been spent, while on others the only expenditure had been on fenoing. All rightthinking men now admitted that the unearned increment belonged to the who'.o population, and if this view were adopted the taxation of the oountry would be reduced. Sir George referred to the introduction of tho Land Tax system, and said it had been repealed because tho great land owners found that it compelled them to -pay a fair amount eaoh year towards the carrying on of the oountry, He .trusted, fioweVer, that it would not be long before the 1 ' system was again in vogue in this oolony. (Hear, hear.) The speaker next dealt with the recent dock Btrike in London. He drew a graphio pioturo of the condition of the men and their 'families, and said ho bqliCTed that Pfoyide'hce lad willed" thai the New World should^ save tfte Old World. The people were in a state of oemi-sforyation. ' The Bum of £46,499 wag raised for their relief, b,ut of this amount only £16,000 camp from London, the balance being contributed by people in {he Australasian colonies. (Applause.) This surplus enabled tjje strikers to hold out, and tho dpok companies at last gave way. The New "World had trnly helped the Old World, and he thought that no bettor instance of federation than this could be desired. England had oopied many of our laws, and he urged that the colonies should poutfnuo to go on providing a good example to tjje Mother Country. In oonclpsion, he appealed to them np.w that certain men were abpnt to sei?e upon tho Boats8 o ats of power, with the object of holding them unconstitutionally for another twelve months, to rise up as one man and prevent epch a serious wrong. (Loud o,nd prolonged cheering } Mr. R. J. Seddon, M.H.R. for Kumara, said that New Zealand, one of the finest and wealthiest of countries upon God's earth, was misgoverned as no other country had beon misgoverned. He maintained that the present Government had had little to do with the prosperity of the colony. Tho Government was a Government in name only, kept in powor by the financial institutions and land sharks— a Government that did not have the confidence of the people. Tho remedy was in the hands of tho peoplo, who should uso the power whioh they possessed in the ballot box. The present labour agitation was good for both the labonrcr and the capitalist. He thought that the industries of the country did not progress as they ought, and ono reason of this was that taxation was crippling those industries. There should be a thorough change in tho inoidenco of taxation, and the wealthy people should be made to contributo more than they did. Mr. Seddon spoke at considerable length on the land question, and urged the people of Wellington to make their voices heard at the approaching general elections. Mr. H. S. Fiah, M.H.R. for Dunedin South, was of opinion that Parliament ought to have beon dissolved soon after the present sesaion opened. The present Government was essentially a one man Government. They all rogretted that' Sir Harry Atkininson was too fll to appaar in the ' House-, bub he thought they aJiOHfd insist thai; 1 wbtoeVer'ocoupied the I qsition should either take bja place or resign, {n order that the country should projrosß it was necessary that liberal measures should be pasaed, and in order that this should be brought about it was neoeßsary to return men pledged to liberal measures. Referring to the Estimates Mr. Fish said that it was not proposed to cut down any of the smaller salaries. It was only intended to make an effort to cut down the larger pa'aries, and if certain members of the House only kept together extensive reductions would be effected. In oocolusion, he trusted that the people of Wellington would eelect three gentlemen to represont them in the House wno would vote together in one direction, and work fcgetyer for 'ihe |jo/;d of thp place. Thg peoplo nevej had greater power (}jan at the' present time, and he asked them to wield it in a proper manner. Mr. F. J. Mobb, M.H.R. for Parnell, urged tjie meeting not tfl terminate without passing % resplntion declaring- that theie should be a dissolution. The present House were so evenly divided that they were at the mercy of a middle party of five or six, an.d while this state of things continued no good work qould bp done. No one would pretend that the Parliament was doiDg any good, and he earnestly trusted that the meeting would affirm that an immediate dissolution ought to take plaoe. Mr. Fisher made a series of charges against the Government, chiefly in connection with a continnanoe of the primage duty and the relations existing between the Government and the Bank of New Zealand. Mr. W. M'Lean moved "That in the opinion of this meeting immediate dissolution is imperatively necessary, and that the thanks of this meeting are hereby tendered to the Liberal party in Parliament, which is endeavonring to obtain the rightß of the people." The resolution was seconded by Mr. Donovan, and agreed to. On tho motion of Mr. T. K. Maodonald. a cordial vote of thanks was passed by acolamation to Sir George Grey and the other speakers. •Sir George acknowledged the compliment, and' on his motion a vote of thankß was passed to the Chairman. Three cheers for Sir George terminated the -pvouoedings.