Untitled

Evening Star, Issue 7281, 4 August 1887, Page 1

THE HON. MR HABNACH AT SOUTH DUNEDIN. /.The,Hon, W. J. M. Larnach, Minister of Mines, addressed a ■ meeting of Peninsula elec* tors at South Dunedin last night in Neumann’s Hall. There was a very large attendance, and the Mayor of South Dunedin* (Mr Watdidp) occupied the chair. The Chairman said he presumedjmost_of them were glad to see Mr Larnach amongst them that night. He supposed he appeared before them in a kind of dual capacity—one to give an account of ins stewardship, and one seeking the renewal of the confidence of the electors. The Hon. Mr Labnack said ho* must'first apologise for nat having met them dulingothe recess last year/ but the press of duties'and other circumstances prevented him from doing so. He would now shortly reviewthc hwtoryof THE STOUT-VOGEL GOVERN KENT! , . previous to the period at which he joined them and afterwards. Most of them were aware that in 1884 Sir Julius Vogel was elected to the House, and he formed a new. parly with Sir Robert Stout. He referred to the construction of the first Stout-Vogel Administration, which did not last more than a few days.' Influences were brought to bear, and they were forced to retire. The Opposition at the time of,the Vogel Administration came to the front -and lost no opportunity for factious opposition in order to regain the seats they had lost, and they succeeded during 1884 in regaining them for a few hours. They were then compelled to retire, and the Stout-Vogel Government again came into power. He might say that, notwithstanding the fact that the present Government had continued in power since, they had done so under considerable,, difficulties. They must not be led hway by the claptrap cry for 'retfentebment. He did not mean in the sense rtlat retrenchment was not necessary, bat he considered this a claptrap cry —an ordinary ad captandum ' vulgis appeal for the object, of regaining office. And the men who raised that cry were those who showed not the slighest intention for retrenchment daring all the years they held office. In proof of which he might state that Major Atkinson in 1881 i came down to the House and said he had commenced a vigorous policy of retrenchment. But what was that ? In 1883, two years afterwards, one of the- strongest supporters; Mr Swanson, i called attention to the fact that no retrenchment had taken place, and said he believed no . effort to retrench would be made unle& the Government were to take back their Estimates and reduce them, Mr Swwjson was asked to move that they should be taken back and reduced by L 50,000. Major Atkinson instead of doing so, immediately said it was impossible, and that if the House wanted retrenchment of that kind they had hetter get somebody else to do itr Were these the sortof men they Were going to listen toi may, ? Notwithstanding that Commission after had teen appointed to inquireittto of the Civil Service and as 'to' how it, could be reduced, these men had never;, made the -least effort or shown any intoijtiqn, of carrying out this reduction,, Maoy .' of Uiem must know that, after a Commission of eatable inen had reported on the subject; : nßill was framed by the Atkinson Government to.be brought in for the purpose of remodelling the Civil Service. It was hr type when the j'. wsie tinted out of office, but instead of'gtyfagfUfeir successors what had been gained at theexpense of the country, when the present Government took office the type bad been scattered, and they had therefore to work in the dark and-find out for themselves where it was possible to make any retrenchment. Now, there wepy tyo modes of retrenchment: one was by lessening the proportions of the service of the country, and the other was by lessening the salaried of the Civil servants. The Stout-Vogel Government had not hitherto attempted to interfere with the daily paid men of the public service, but tremendous pressure had been' brought upon them to do something with regard tpAhe Civil Service, and with that view they/had brought down what to his mind wm a yery moderate proposal to reduce salaries'bn,' a graduated scale and at a percentage rate. '.The total amount of this reduction would be about 1,20,000, and it was shadowed forth in r , the Financial Statement of the Treasurer.’ Tfthe salaries of the Civil strvants were to be interfered with at all, that was way to do it. The Hall Government; it would be remembered, perhaps, carried a 10 per cent, reduction throughout, which he thought was very drastic and very hard upon thdse drawing small salaries. The present Government had had their hands very full ever since 1884, simply from the factions opposition rsdsed up during every session; and though nomiiwly they were defeated last session, yet they'Kad the strongest separate party in the fidris?* Major Atkinson had not enough fdfldwera-Bjna great number to oust the Government ;.but there were several parties with one; two;'or three, who each considered themselves capable of forming a Government, and it wah onlybyall these making a dead set to oust the Vogel Ministry that they had been able, to spqure Abe defeat of 1 the Government. And Major Atkfiison’s party had shown policy in the wayulfey worked this small fry; because they certainly used them for their own purposes, and no ddhot many of these gentlemen were promised some satisfaction for their firm cohesion with the Atkinson uartv to oust the present The sole object was to clear the benches so that Major Atkinson could get back again, and he felt sure that if that party had resumed their seats daring any of the sessions since the present Government came into office, they could not have-carried on the business of the countryf or a week, because they were in a considerable minority. They were all at sixes and sevens, and directly they came to the benches they would have beenquarrelling amongst themselves. Then why was all this determination to oust , the present Government, and why was all this dislike occasioned by the present Government .and against Sir Julius'Vogel? Simply fortAe reason that the Opposition believed that ha<Wt not been for the advent last time of Sir Julius Vogel to New Zealand they weald still have been the reigning power,Tr(Hear, hear.) There was no doubt that Sir Julius Vogel’s advent to New Zealand created a new party, and this party had continued to hold the reins of government during the last three years; and if he (Mr Larnach) was not very much mistaken in the feeling of the country, they would .still continue to hold the reins for some considerable time longer. r-{Hear,: hear, ” and criesof Although Ministers did not agree upon all subjects, yet they at any rate made up their minds to combine upon tbe meat important matters, and upon the chief principles that they were advocating—(hear, hear)—and as a party. they were a very happy faSxQy. (Laughter.) Although it had been reputed i that members of the Government did not ' always agree amongst themselves, to his know- , ledge this was not the ease, and he jras I only surprised at the reports levelled against ■ Sir Julius Vogel'and what he had done. He was sorry to see that these reports came from the very people who had really nude themselves what they were out of the very policy initiated by Sir Julius Vogel in 1877 —(hear, hear)—and he thought it was a very cowardly proceeding when men who knew little about mm and his present feelings in regard to the country should attempt to vilify him, and on that account say that they were opposed to the present Government. He could only say that as a Government, at any rate, they , were detemjqeiL'to stand dr fall, and if Sir Julius Vogel wwflot palufaftlfl to certain electors or to certam’men of the country, then-they murt take the Government as a whole. The other members of the Government believed in Sir JuHua'VMel/tad they considered' that he was hj very his position, And veil worthy of theVriimflence of-the country.—(Hear, heat.} The- pfeabUt Government was the only.one any rafe/sinoe he Had been-uMfew Zealand—the'slightest attempt towarihA retrenchment. —(Criesof “Oh! on Ity..'Andhot- : withstanding when the Stout-Vogel fihjvetaiieiit came into office in 1884 they founds*A deficiency of Lls2,ooo—and they were'nnt responsible for th'o'felling-dff' saved a sum equal to 11130,000; ’ -Comparing Major Atkinson’s appropriations in 1883-84 with tfrwS of the present Goveriimfentl Sfihia foAjtr : period his expenditurewaa L2,lß7;Kfliwlrereka that of the Stout-Vogel for the year was lA^dOO, 1 'shewing certainly a retrenchment of 'LlSftlOfi. —(Hear, hear.) Well, he thought iithe ; present couldmot be blataed-for or accused of anstfcing like extra vagance.-Tr(Oriea ?qf “Oh 1 oh I ” and laughter,) ,It should be boaae.in Colony was at the rate of about 15.000 therefore ititlAd bden that the out ,<5'S g^Sen? » country shad increased under tbe*giy#toe present Government. tiiere i.wwlffisft^raS 11 : some because freni increase of the population*, more. 'But notwithstanding the jnetsftafi Vf population, the expenses , had bew reduced. in 1 respect to

_ , FURTHER BOBBOWING, i, urg% he might say that the we^’anfm* Sons in thinking that that should on a very cantiona way. I —(Hehf,:'h|afiy

lieved it would taka L 2,000,000 to finish the worS now in progress. For his own part, he should be very sorry to see more than L 400.000 “vear spent in future out of loan-(hear, hear) _4nd he believed his colleagues agreed on that land settlement. He contended that the Minister of Lands had done more to settle people on the land than any former Government, and ho might fairly take credit for having settled during his term of office fully 10,000 people under village sett ement. No man could be mure enthusiastic than ho was in carrying out the duties of his office. He (Mr Larcaoh) might say this: that he did not agree altogether with some of the ideas of the Minister of Lands with reference to perpetual leasing. He was a believer being able to get their freeholds, and he thought no country could progress or attract people to it unless men were able to gt their freeholds.-(Hear, hear.) It seemed to be a natural born instinct of everyone to live Under his own fig tree-at any rate, to acqmre land and to be able to live on it. He could not object to any getting perpetual leases if they preferred them, or land on deferred payments. With reference to the question of retrenchment, he thought that itcould hardly be separated from taxation and education. As he said before it was very easy to retrench if the people of the Colony would do without a great “7 services; but if they would have post and telegraph offices and railways they must expect to pay for them, and if the Customs revenue did not produce the means of providing these, then it was a question of taxation. Now with reference to THE QUESTION OK EDUCATION, he thought they would admit that education was a very expensive matter in this country. (A Voice: “So it is.”) He had expressed his views very plainly on this question before, and they were to this effect: that he thought the country could hardly afford to continue to spend the enormous sum it had up to the present time on education.-(Hear, hear.) He would not like to see the slightest obstacle put in the way of every child in the country getting a proper education—(hear, hear) because he looked upon it m this way: that while seemingly we were immediately out of pocket, it would turn to us tenfold in ten years to come.—(Applause.) He would not, therefore, do anything that he thought would revolutionise the present system so as to bring it down. He admired Sir Robert Stout’s consistency—perhaps it was obstinacy—with reference to the stand he took with regard to education; but he (Mr Larnach) thought he would yet live to see that ho was a little wrong about the matter.-(Hear, hear, and ones of “No 1 no.”) Ho thought that without lessening the benefit of the present system the expense could be reduced, and he would like to see a committee or a commission of practical men from different classes appointed to thoroughly consider the subject and see upon what different footing it might be put. Those who thought with him that the cost of education was too high were, he believed, the friends of the present system, and not those who would bolster it up and say that the expenditure must go on, because that simply meant that the system must break down. Sir J. Hall In a recent address had said that education was costing the Colony a million a year; and, probably if they took into consideration the endowments in different parts of the Colony, ho was not far out in his reckoning. The speaker wished it to be understood that he was not an enemy of the present system beyond thinking that we were too extravagant over it, and its real friends were those who would calmly consider the position so as to put it on a different footing. For instance, he believed education boards could be done away with—(applause) - and committees appainted, and expense saved in many ways. While on this subject he was reminded that he represented a considerable number of Roman Catholics, who had their own system. He did not want to raise sectarian differences, but as a thinking man he could not help looking at what these people had done for themselves at the same time that they were contributing to our costly system. They might be surprised to know that these good people had about 8,000 children now being educated at their schools throughout the country and supported seventy schools of their own, In some of these the cost per head was not more than L2, and in some not so much; and if they were able to do all this so much more cheaply than us, there must be something wrong with our system. It would mean an extra cost of L3O 000 or L 40.000 to us if the Catholics threw up their schools and said they would avail themselves of their rights and send their children to ours; and he merely pointed this out to show that there must be extravagance in the taatter of education on our part. He wished to see the children of New Zealand get the benefit of the best possible system of education, and that those unable to pay should also have the fullest benefit of higher education in the shape of scholarships, but he did still think if we wanted to retrench something might be saved in this direction. It would not be right to jump suddenly at a conclusion and say how, but he believed his friend Sir R. Stout would yet, if he remained in office, go into the question more deeply, and find some mode of d Mr «aHing the expenditure without impairing the efficiency of the system. While our system was called “ national’’ he did not think it was so, because a seventh of the people were excluded in the direction he had indicated, and he was moreover not in favor of the system as at ! (resent in force, because it ignored the Bible.— Applause.) Many of Us brother politicians were at variance with him on this point, of course, but he had always thought schools had as much right to teach the Bible as they had to teach history.—(Hear and No.) What would be the result if the system went on excluding the Bible? Why, it would mean that in a generation hence, or perhaps before, the Bible would be obsolete. (Cries of “No” and “ Yes. ”) Some of our boys and girls when they came across it would say they did not know what it was; that they had never been allowed to look at it at school; and hu could not help thinking that we should make a great national mistake in debarring not only the reading but the study of the Bible in our schools.—(Applause.) He thought in the election of the new Parliament a candidate should speak out his mind freely, and they might depend that whatever faults ho bad—and he supposed ho had a good manv—he should never be afraid to tell them what he thought.—(Applause.) There was another direction in which he thought

RETRENCHMENT might have been carried out, and in which the Government would not be agreed - namely, the reduction of members,—(Applause). When the question came up he made up his mind that the country would be as well represented with a less number, and therefore voted for a reduction even to sixty, and thought that at least the representation would be as good with seventy. He was not so sure that it could not bo done with sixty, for it would only mean that such members would represent a constituency of 10,000 instead of 6,500. He would extend the reduction also to the Upper House. Of course there was a certain cry to do away altogether with the Upper House, but he would not bo a party to that. Another popular cry was to reduce the honorarium offered by a quarter or by half, and he should like to bo plain about that. He believed the country had admitted the principle of payment of members. Personally he did not care anything about the payment.—(Great laughter). But ho thought that it was not too much, and he told them plainly that if they reduced it they would limit their representation to men with independent incomes. —(A Voice: “It is limited now.”) It might be, but it would be limited much more; and any man who did his duty in the House fairly earned his honorarium. Neither would he reduce it in the Upper Chamber, for the same reason—namely, that a certain rlaag only would be available to be sent to that House. Yet another popular cry—that we must begin retrenchment at the top of the tree—namely, with the Governor.—(Great applause.) Well, he did not believe in that.—(Cries of “Ohl ”) It simply meant that they wanted to mate New Zealand a second-class colony—(A Voice; “It is that now; it is bankrupt.”)— and he held that we wanted a good man, and not a second-class man.—(Someinterruption here occurred, which necessitated the intervention of the chairman.) Mr Larnach, resuming, said that he did not mind a few interruptions himself, and that a little bantering was rather a good thing, especially on a cold night.—(Laughter.) He ltd not agree that New Zealand was in that moribund state, and believed that we could retrench and live within our means without cutting down the Governor’s salary so far that wo could not expect a good man to como here for the sum offered. Such a paltry saving as that would be a very great mistake. One of the disciples of retrenchment, Mr Ormond, who had made a great fuss on the subject and moved a motion that the Governor’s salary and allowances and the honorarium should be reduced, had taken precious good care to put his motion in such a condition on the Order Paper that ho knew it would never come up; and when himself away from the House in 1886 for eighteen days he had drawn his full honorarium, putting in a plea of iUhealth, although during hie absence he had been able to attend the Napier Harbor Board and Education Board meetings.

I, TRAVELLING EXPENSES. Beferriug next to the travelling expenses of Ministers, he said that those of the Whitaker Government in 1883 were more than those of the present Government. They Were in 1883 L2,w)o,' and , in 1884, for part of the session, tMdee of Major Atkinson’s Government ftTfl/mwtAd to L 14.000 odd. He maintained that Ministers, if they should be severed from Wellington, could not do better in the country’s interest than travelling about; and be knew, so far as his own duties were concerned, be could never have got the knowledge of the different districts in any other way. Ho noticed the Hon. Mr Dioki one of the candidates, asked what he wanted to go through the Haast Pass for and up to Boss. This country was unknown, and what he> went? for was information. It was also aaket) why he had a secretary with him. Simply because he had a lot of country people to meet and bis presence was necessary. Besides, something might have happened to him (Mr Larnaeh), and henadtoomnonregard for his constituents.— (Great laughter.) Ho was quite suro ofthis, that if he had gone alone and anything had happened to him they would never have, for? gtm him for it.—(Renewed , laughter.) ; He

found settlers in that part of the country who had been there for twenty years, and had seen no one belonging to the Government at all. They were outside of communication, and in fact did not know that they belonged to New Zealand.— (Laughter.) It was only after seeing him that they realised even that there w#s a likelihood of their being annexed to Now Zealand.—(More laughter.) He had set to work at once and induced his colleagues to make tracks and roads opening up the country, and that, he held, was the best way to make this Colony progress. While talking of what Ministers had done, he would ask WHAT HAD THE STOCT-VOGEL GOVERNMENT DONE since they had been in office?—(A Voice: “ Spent money.”) Yes, they had spent money, but they had spent it well and judiciously, and they had done a lot of hard work. They had been bold enough to bring in measures that no former Government had. No former Government had managed to get a Charitable Aid Bill.—(A Voicic: “It was never needed. I Besides that, 250 Bills had been consolidated into seventeen. Was that not a relief to the statutes of the Colony ? And if the Government had travelled, they made themselves thoroughly acquainted with the wants of the Colony; and he could say fearlessly that they never favored one part of the Colony at the expense of the other. —(Hear, hear.) In reference to further taxation, they were aware that the Government brought down a Public Revenues Bill, but it was defeated. Well, the whole object of the Government in rearranging the tariff was simply to vet a certain amount of revenue and also to protect local industries. (Hear, hear.) No previous Government ever attempted to foster native industries as this Government were prepared to do. And who was it who raised the opposition ? Simply two or three Oppositionists who called themselves Freetraders.-(A VOICE; “The Atkinson government.”) Yes; Atkinson, who pretended to be a Protectionist—(laughter)—but the Freetraders were too much for him. However, the Bill would not have been defeated but that two or three men who had been elected as supporters of the Government thought fit to change their minds. And one Maori gentleman who came into the House recently was induced to change his mind very suddenly ; and if rumor spoke truly, some coin of the realm passed in that direction; but he (Mr Lanmch) did not say such a rumor was true. But this is a fact: that this gentleman changed his mind and voted with the Opposition. And again, two of the Government party were absent in England,—(A Voice : “ One was J. C. Brown. ”) Had they been present and had the members who were elected to support the Government been true to their colors, he would say that that Government would have had a majority ; because a new member from Canterbury came up, and as they knew, when parties in the House found that the Government were gaining strength several politicians were always coming round in that direction. In respect to further taxation he might siy that the Government proposed not only to remodel the tariff, but on the question of direct taxation to introduce the principle of a graduated tax ; and for his own part he saw nothing unreasonable or unfair in putting it on those possessed of means, who had the strongest backs to bear greatest burdens.

There’, plenty for nil, but we thwart one another ; And the weak gather weeds, whi'e the strong pluck

the flowers. ... . , .. But let man ave treat man as a mend and a brother, And there’s plenty lOrall in this wide world of ours. He believed that if taxation was put on the shoulders of those who could bear it, the Colony would be in a much Jtetter position, and he believed that instead of depression prosperity would come again. He believed one of the chief causes of the depression had not only been the falling-off of trade, but the high rate of interest charged by monetary institutions. He thought they had dpne more to bring about the present state of aulness in trade and depression than anything else. No man, whatever his business, could live and make headway if money remained at the rates charged by banks, loan companies, and monetary institutions, He hoped some day a Government would take hold of the question, and either put a limit to the charges allowed to be made by these institutions, or takeover the right of note circulation they now enjoyed, and also the 1 nding out of their deposits at moderate rates to those who had good security. He should like now to say something

PERSONAL as regarded himself and the office he held. During the time since the beginning of 1885, when he joined the Government, he had satisfied himself of the capacity of New Zealand in respect to the mining industry, and he thought he had done his duty in this direction.— (Applause.) He was quite willing at least not to judge himself, but to leave it to those with whom he had had to deal, and he might mention that he had had requisitions from different districts asking him to stand for those localities. From Reefton, one of the principal mining districts, he had received the following telegram “ The mining community of this electorate being so well pleased with your anxiety to further the gold-mining industry, wish you to consent to be nominated for this seat at the coming election. Should you entertain their request, a numerously-signed requisition guaranteeing support will be forwarded.” —(A Voice : Why don’t you go there ?”) Because he was too fond of his present constituents. (Laughter.) He had received similar requests from Takaka and Collingwood districts, but his reply had been to the effect that as his own constituency had given no evidence of dissatisfaction with him he did not think he would be acting fairly to seek a change; but should he ever find it desirable to court new suffrages, his inclination would lead him to appeal to a constituency oi his friends the miners. Ho felt conscientiously that he had done his duty by that district—(applause)—and that it had been better served by him than over before. At the same time, he had heard rumors of opposition, and he should not be sorry to see it, as it was good that there should be so much interest taken in political matters. Every elector had as much right as himself to come and ask for their suffrages, and he told them honestly ho should not find fault if they elected any other man—(applause)— because, as far as he was concerned, he could always get a seat in the House if he wanted one, and personally ho did not think it would be much of a trouble to him to be relegated to the quietude of his own place. So if anyone eh c asked for their suffrages he trusted they would give him fair play, and judge both candidates fairly on their merits. If they thought the other was the better man, by all means let him be their choice. He had dealt with most of the subjects engaging attention.—(A Voice : “ Protection.”) As to PROTECTION, he had already said that the present Government intended to foster it as much as possible, and so far as he was concerned he had come to believe that the people of New Zealand desired Protection, and whether it came immediately or not, it would come, and very soon. While he was not a rabid Protectionist, he would go far to support colonial industry, because he could never be convinced that it was right or convenient to send a bale of wool Home and bring it back a manufactured article.—(Applause.) They could not convince him that it was cheap to send raw material to be manufactured by foreign labor and bring it back—we paying tbe expense while our youths were unemployed. He thought it a most monstrous thing. AH true mechanics were born; they could not be taught entirely; and what was the good of them to us unless we gave them the opportunity of utilising their natural talent ? The present Government would do all that was possible, and would never rest, if they remained in office, until they had protected local industries as much as possible.—(Applause.) Much had been said as to the uselessness of the

MINING office; that it was not wanted, and that the expense might be saved. But he could tell them that the mining industry would yet bring New Zealand to the front. Few knew the enormous mineral wealth in dfferent parts of the Colony. In the North there were miles and miles of country containing not only gold, but silver in large quantities, which was thrown away till lately, and only for want of better appliances. There Were metals of value, not in small patches, but over large tracts of country. And it was the same in this part of the Colony—i We was more metal thrown away than saved. He knew that since the present Government took office there had been more attention drawn to the mineral resources of New Zealand from other parts of the world than had ever been tho case before. Ho believed before a year or two they would find a very largo amount of foreign capital coming over here and very excellent investments, because there was no necessity for putting bad investments in tho hands of foreign capitalists. It was a mistake to suppose mining was an unsafe investment. He thought it was as safe as other investments if men would go and find out about matters for themselves. Mining was an increasing industry. Look at what the Government had done to develop the groat coal _reresonroes. Where did we get our good steaming coal from hitherto but *rora New South Wales ? Bue we did not get. nearly the quantity now that we used to, and it had fallen off for a year or two, and would continue to do so, because the present Government were bold enough to grapple with the question of making those West Coast harbors by passing Bills giving the people there borrowing powers, ana they succeeded in getting loans. And Westport and Greymouth would be the Newcastles of New Zealand. They would be surprised to know what important places they were growing. And who was the author of these things? Why, the present Government.—(Hear, hear.) And they were very much more important to the present welfare of the Colony than' his hearers Supposed, The present wealth of coal there was sufficient to pay the debt of : New Zealand several times over,—(Hear, hear.) But it was not the debt of the Colony that was really pressing on New Zealand* but the . totals of the individual debts, simply because’those unfortunate. individuals he had referred to just now had had to pay such high rates of interest. So far as the debt of New Zealand was'concerned, it was . somewhat high for the population j yet population would be sufficient to cover that, and so far as the present Government were. concerned it was not their intention to increase the debt of the Colony more than they were absolutely forced to do.—(Applause.), With reference; touttie

gold industry, he would point out that it was producing in different parts of the Colony a revenue nearly equal to a million and a-half, and some 150,000 people were engaged m it.

CONOI/DSION. With reference to the matter of Protection, he might read an extract bearing on the question from a letter received by the Premier from the Agent-General in London. The letter stated that “the discussions at the Conference relating to trade have been very animated, and the tendency of them all has been in the direction of a Protectionst policy.”—(Hear, hear.) “As regards the condition of the West Indies, Mauritius, Queensland, and the sugar-producing colonics generally, the bounty system now in existence in Franco and Germany was naturally condemned in strong terms. Again, opinions being freely expressed in favor of meeting foreign countries by countervailing duties, even Mr Service, though speaking as a Freetrader, gave a general approval of this method ; and no other delegate having openly opposed it, the Secretary of State assumed, as he had a right to do, that the Conference was nearly unanimous in recommending Her Majesty’s Government to adopt it. (Applause.) There was in England agrowing feeling, and not only in England but in >-cotland, in favor of Protection. They found, in consequence of their neighbors running away with tlieir trade, that it was necessary to have recourse to something in that direction. And that was, he believed, what it would come to after all. In England the Ireetrade policy initiated some forty years ago was nothing more than a Protection policy so far as England was concerned. —(Hear, hear.) He thanked those present for the patient hearing they had given him, and would be glad to answer questions. After a number of questions had been put to Mr Larnach and answered, Mr J. T. Houghton moved—“ That this meeting desires to accord a hearty vote of thanks to the Hon. Mr Larnach for his address, and to express its thorough confidence in him as our representative.” Mr M'Cutcheon seconded the motion, which was declared to be carried unanimously.