THE COMING ELECTION'S.

Evening Star, Issue 7247, 25 June 1887, Page 2

THE COMING ELECTION'S.

SIR G. AT AUCKLAND.

Sir George Grey addressed the Auckland City East electors last Viight in the City Hall, Mr 'George Fraser, president of the Auckland Industrial Association, presided ; and there was a crowded attendance, the platform being filled by a number of leading citizens, including several members of the Legislature and dt local bodies. On Sir George making bis appearance be was received with enthusiastic applause, the audience rising en mapse. The cheering was renewed aS he commenced bis address.

Sir George Grey said he lelt on looking round at the throng like a general reviewing an army, and that even in tbese'times of depression and difficulty they would together bring New Zealand out ol her troubles god put her again on the path o( prosperity. Something new and fresh required to be done. This weß being done now ip tbp Mother Qouqtry ; and i| necessary in oq oil) qountry, how qiuch more ii) a new one? He then reviewed the pelitioal history of' the Colony f|om its foundation to the iaat session, traversing much of the ground dealt with in his previous addresses. He advocated the reduction of the number of members of the Assem 1 ly, as getting rid of local claims and local prejudices; also the reduction of Ministers to four. The Colony had now nSarly got to the end ol its tqther in the Loudon money market, and the taxation was more than they could bear. In a few' years, he believed, the Colony would be again prosperous, And the period of dou t, distrust, and financial difficulty which they now bad to encounter would pass away. In the North and South cities were growing up capable of manufacturing everything they needed. Roads and railroads were opening up the country oq every hand, but there was no large agricultural population settled upon the land in the vicinity o> such centres of population. To accomplish this object was the task now set before them. He urged them to keep steadily in view three points:—(l) The reduction of the colonial expenditure; (2) the reduction of taxation in consequence of such diminished expenditure: and (8) the settlement ol the waste lands ol the Colony. For three successive sessions he had endeavored to' bring forward the sohema outlined in his Land BUI, but ft had delayed or obstructed on one pretence or another in Parliament till his. heart was □early broken. If he had been allowed to go Home, or bis constituents could have spared him, and put his scheme before the emigrating classes, he could have brought out hundreds—aye, thousands—of desirable settlers with some capital, who would have settled on the waste lands in the vioinity ol the cities. An impetus would thus have been given to trade, and work found for their artisans in supphing the wants of these people. As to the concessions in l>nd to the Midland RaUway Company, they simply a robbery of the Colony. Sir George denounced the present village Settlement scheme as m its terms unjust to the settlers and injurious to the future of the ocuotry, while the conduct of the Minister of Lands in withholding information as to the expenditure and liabilities under the scheme till the last hour of the session could not be too strongly condemned. It was when the streets were crowded with unemployed that these village settlements were formed, and terms imposed on the settlers which no free man would accept, He would resist such a state of things to the last. Some of the regulations were illegal as outside the term? of the Act, and he could tell these special settlers that they would never have to nay the Inoreaae of rent as provided for under' the regulations. A 8 to the Civil Service of the country, tqany men were underpaid, many overpaid, and there were a good deal too many of them. They were out of touch with the public, and people pould not get redress and did not know how to get it, The number of Ministers was too large, as was shown by the way in which the Premier gave so much time to private business; and so one Minister at least oouid be dispensed with, but be believed (our would be enough with a simplification ol the Civil Service into (our departments instead of ten or eleven as at present. Things would go on better, and there would be less injustice done and a gre t reduction of expenditure. As to the Education vote, it was possible to make considerable reductions without diminishing the efficacy of a system which was the best in the world. The question of Protection had been suddenly raised. It should have been raised at the beginning of the session instead of being largely used as an electioneering cry. He was agreeable to the fair protection of local industries. In manufacturing districts of Eoglaqd the poverty was dreadful, but in count'ies where everything was protected the poverty was greater-os in Germany, (or instance, at present. By a manifesto he had seen from the South, the workmen were promised constant employment. Nothing was said about improved wages but to merchants and manufacturers the bait was held out of accumulating fortunes. Who were to contribute to make these fortunes ? He would not agree to unqualified Protection unless the manufacturing power shared the fruits of their labor'Vvitb capital, but would aid in the settlement of a Just tariff,'and that could be done when the House met. Sir George concluded amid cheere with a peroration about the Queen's Jubilee and tbe greatness Of the British Empire as illustrated In tbe London pageant. The following resolution was o&rtied| by 'acclamation That tbe Auckland electors beg to thank Sir George Grey (or his able address Just delivered ; that they desire a’so to record their unaltered confidence in him as their member, and sincerely trust that he n\ay long continue to represent them in the House of Representatives.”