ELECTION SPEECHES.

Evening Post, Volume XLVI, Issue 117, 15 November 1893, Page 4

ELECTION SPEECHES.

AIR. THJTHIR AT THE THEATRE ROYAL. The Theatre Royal was crowded last evening, when Mr. Dntbio addressed the electors, Mr. J. G. W. Aitken occupying the chair. QOVKBNMENT FINANCE. Aftpr dealing with the broken promises of Ministers as to the ponny post, Mr. Dnthie proceeded to deal with the Government finance, and said that a splendid opportunity had occurred for the, remission of taxation on the necessaries of life, but the Government had not taken advantage of it. The surplus had arisen on the Atkinson tariff. The Government olaimed that there had boon prosperity owing to the Govern, raont policy, but any prosperity the country enjoyed was from its frozen meat and dairy industries. There was, however, great lack of employment in the country, owing to the feeling of insecurity causing the locking up of money. Our largest organization, the Union Company, had had to reduce wages, and money was being sent to Australia. The Government claimed that it gave employment with the surpluses, but the taking of unnecessary taxation out of the pocketa of the people reduced their power of employment. For instance, if a woman had to make her boys' boots last another month, owing to the extra money paid in taxation, there was so much the leas employment for the bootmakers. (Applause.) Tho Government, by borrowing money locally, raised the rate of interest by cleaning out the local funds, and high interest meant low wages. THE " NON-BORROWING " POLICT of the Government was, however, a sham, for it was borrowing for a variety of purposes. The GoTsrnment was now converting loans not merely for the advantages to be derived from conversion, but in order to get the sinking funds. Mr. Duthie entered at length into the conversion operations, showing that in one case (the guaranteed debentures) the conversion had been effected at .£l7 per .£lOO premium, and £5 loss on deposit, every .£lOO obtained therefore costing .£122. In place of .£20,000 per annum interest on this loan, the colony was now paying .£21,350, besides having added to the capital debt by .£llO,OOO, and this was to get at £160,000 of sinking funds. Such a transaction could only have been effected by a profligate and spendthrift Government. (Applause.) The net PUBLIC DBBT was now .£38,923,940, an increase of .£1,5G4,753 since the Government took office, and the yearly interest hod increased by over £37,000. The Government had in addition increased the floating debt of the colony by half a million, and this Government since its accession to office had increased the liabilities of the colony by .£2,757,000. (Hostile demonstration and " They never borrowed.") The position might be serious to his noisy friends, for the Government, having spent all the money available, would leave an empty chest, and they might at any moment be thrown out of employment. THE GOVERNMENT POLICY had been, " Let us eat, drink, and be merry, for to-morrow we die." The position was not a pleasant one for a oolony to stand in with a load of debt on its shoulders. (Cries of " Get another five-million loan.") The Government proposed no remedy, but its supporters propounded such schemes as a State Bank and Government note issue. The note issue of the banks was usually under a million, and against this they had two and a -half million of bullion. If, therefore, the Government took upon itself the note issue, it would have to keep bullion against it, or its notes would be at a discount, like the American green-backs. (Applause.) The Premier was now coquet, ting with borrowing, and talked of borrowing money for small farmers. (Applause.) After dealing with the impracticabili'y of this, he proceeded to deal with the graduated taxation, which had failed in its avowed object of bursting up largo estates. Heferring to the Land for Settlements Bill, he said the better course would have besti to have left the purchase of estates in the lianda of the Land Boards. After purchasing the CHEVIOT ESTATE, ostensibly to relieve tha congestion of the towns, the Government was advertising it in Australia. Tho course pursued would tend by competition to raise the price of sections to amounts that would ruin those who took them up— (interruption)— as had been the case in many instances on the Waimate Plains. Tho whole CIVIL SERVICE was disorganised. "Without security of tenure and good pay they conld not have a good Sorvioo. (Applauso, and " Give us a bit about the working man.") The whole of the Civil Service should be placed on the same basis as the Postal and Bailway Departments. Referring to TAXATION, the Property Tax had been a very good tax, but it would not be advisable to alter the present system of taxation now. (Cries of " What about the working man p " and interruption.) By a Bill last session the Taxation Department was enabled to call any persons, and make any inquisitorial enquiry into a man's private affairs. He had been instrumental in preventing the construction of TE ARO GOODS STATION — (cries of " Shame" and applauso) —because the reasons given by the Railway Coinmis- . sioners — (Applause, and interruption of "They won't be there next year")— as to it being impossible to use Te Aro rs the main station were sufficient for him. It was necessary at the main station to have trains mode up with trucks for each station, and into these particular trucks the goods taken along the line for these stations were also placed, so that they could be shunted off at their destination. It would not be possible to make up the trains at Te Aro, and therefore merchants would send their goods to the main station whether they had a goods station at Te Aro or not, as they must have them go by the first train, and conld not afford to have delay in sending them out and re-sorting at Thorndon. (Applause.) What was wanted was sidings for heavy traffic like bricks, timber, and coal, which cut up the streets, and not a general goods station, and it was these sidings they should get. (Great applause.) The money saved would be much better nsed in extending the line at Eketahuna. (Applause.) If a man in the House could not oppose a job with clean hands his influence was gone, and ho wonld not be a party to a job such as was proposed simply because it involved the spending of money in Wellington. The community would make a mistake if it returned men at the GOVERNMENT DICTATION. They would simply haveservilefollowers, who would be afraid to open their lips in criticism of a Government bill. (Cries of " No," and interruption.) He would ask those who denied this, what about Mr. Earnshaw, who was turned ont beoause he criticised the Government? If they were to return men at the bidding of the Government, they would make tho Premier's" word law. ("No, and interruption, and "What about the working man?") They could not mention a Bill passed by the Government that had benefited working men. The Government measures haft simply set olass against class, and oreated a feeling of insecurity, and they must first restore confidence in the minds of employers before they could restore the prosperity of the oolony. This would be the task of the present Opposition if it was rotnrned to power. (Applause.) Though the bulk of the meeting appeared to be with him, the candidate was interrupted throughout, and both he and the Chairman had frequently to appeal to the disturbers to allow him a fair hearing. The interrupters met every exposition of the Government's financial policy with yells of " Never mind the Government, what are yon going to do yourself?" cries of " Come back to Wellington," "Leave the Government alone," and reiterated shouts of " What about the working man ?" and " What are yon going to do for the working man?" The last type of interjection was so frequent that Mr. Dnthie fairly lost patience with it, and exclaimed that the genuine working man was a self-respecting being, who did not oome to disturb meetings. Wretched stuff," he exclaimed, ' ' this prating about the workingman. The working man who respects himself I meet with respect." At the conclusion of his address the candidate was bombarded with the usual tire of irrelevant or would-be sarcastic question. He was asked whether it was true that he had sent a reminder to the Government Printing Office of his having subscribed two guineas to the printers' picnic. This _Mr. Duthie denied ; and he was next asked if he wonld take the duty off empty packing cases, but retorted that the questioner required the duty taken off his head, aB it also was empty. Another questioner wished to know whether the wl-arf was a private or a publio institution, and who was in charge, as "the working man" was not allowed to fish from it. One questioner advocated "indiarnbber tires on the wheels of night-carts." An eleotor who was either a severe moralist or a sporting character, was anxious to know whether it was trne that the candidate had J3l on Bosefeldt, and a festive qnerist desired assurance as to whether, if elected, Mr. Duthie would dance a hornpipe? The questions covered a wide ground. " Are you in favour of imposing a tax on young men ?" " Will yon remove the restrictions on young men taking their girls into the Botanioal Gardens after 4 o'clock t" "Do you think it right for the Government to put White-men on a State farm to grow vegetables in competition with Chinamen ?" " Did yon call Mr. M'lean in the Houee 'A silly fool?' and order him to 'hold his tontpie?'" To this last query, Mr Duthie replied, " I did." There was laughter, and a voice said, "You didn't mean it?" but Mr. Duthie again replied "I did," and explained the circumstances, adding thatthongh he was careful not to be rude to fellow-members tho provocation he had received from the foolish action of his colleague had made him speak hastily on that occasion. A question as to whether the candidate was in favour of taxing bachelors he referred on to the Chairman, as better qnalified to answer, as he himself married so young that he did not know the feelings of a bachelor. There were yells to the Chairman to answer, whereupon Mr. Aitken promptly replied "Yes "to the question. Mr. lluthie lold those present that he wonld deal with the liquor questioi at a future meeting— probably at Newtown on Friday. • **" Replying to other questions, Mr. Dnthie did not think the Labour Bureau was " all rot," a certain amount of good might oome from it, though there was much pretence about it ; he did not believe in the referendnm in the case of loans ; women shonld be paid in proportion to the work they did, but ho did not believe women in many branches could do the same work as men ; he was not m favour of a State note issue except when there was a bullion basis ; he had always paid workingmen full wages, and challenged anyone to show a cose otherwise. (A voice— Xhot s one in your favour, Mr. Duthia."); he lad never advocated the paying of workingmen 5s perjay ; he would not fe in favour of a compensation tax for publicans ; Bill^M ll* 6 m Pt OWC ° f **air Bent BUI principally applying to hotels-every

man shonld make bis own bargain and Btiok to it ; lid considered Die present system of l>nj ins jnryinen a farce ; they fihonld either l>n paid working men's wages or nothing at nil ; the strengthening of the Hutt railway linn was desirable, bat lie wub afraid it could not be undertaken at present ; he was not in favour of Bible-reading in schools ; he thought five business men might manage the affairs of the oountry bettor than Parliament for a short time, but in the long run Parliament, bad as it waß, was the beßt form of Government; be was standing in this election entirely by himself, and was not responsible for bracketing with anybody ; he considered _ratepaying a proper basis for municipal representation ; the influx from Australia only partially accounted for the unemployed ; he would not support the Friendly Societies Bill of Sir George Grey, as he believed it was aimed at the Union Company, and the Union Company's employes were contented (cries of "No ") ; he would not support the Shipping and Seamen's Bill unless materially amended, as he understood the Minister proposed to do ; he would deal with the Cabinet system at another meeting ; clause 21 of the Liquor Bill was a march stolen on the House ; he was not in favour of compulsion in the matter of half -holidays, but thought there should be a half-holiday, and that it should be on Saturday ; the Qrey-Hokitika Railway would not pay, for want of population. Mr. James Robertson moved a vote of thanks and confidence in the candidate. In returning Mr. Dnthio they would assist in forming a Government which at least would givo them honest finance, and under which men could progress without crawling after masters. The motion was seconded by Mr. Richards, and the Chairman declared it carried unanimously. A vote of thanks to the Chairman concluded the proceedings.