A POST-SESSIONAL ADDRESS.

Evening Star, Issue 10149, 30 October 1896, Page 2

A POST-SESSIONAL ADDRESS.

MR J. A. MILLAR AT PORT CHALMERS. Mr J. A. Millar, M.H.R., delivered a postsessional and valedictory address to electors ot the late Chalmers constituency at the Foresters' Hall, Port Chalmers, last night. Mr K. G. Allen (mayor) presided, and the building was crowded to the dopr3. Mr Mlllaß, who was received with loud applause, said he regretted thai it would bo the last occahion, at least for some time, on which he could do himself the honor of addressing his constituents at Port Chalmers. Unfortunately, the Representation Commissioners—and he did not feel at all grateful to them for having done so—bad so cut tip the districts as to allow him no other choice but to stand, for the City of Dunedin. He did not • feci' Qualified to represent a country electorate. His first constituency, Chalmers, would always have his warmest feelings and sympathy in anything he could possibly do.—(Applause.) He would briefly put before the meeting the different questions that had oocupicd the attention of the House during the last session. Commencing with finance he might state that they had a very successful year. There had been a surplus of £215,000, and that surplus for, once in a lifetime had been admitted to by the Opposition. Many might think It very strange that the Government should go in for borrowing money when they had such a handsome surplus as that. If the meeting listened to him as he went along he thought they would see that there was only-two courses open for them to follow—either the Government ha 4 to borrow money to continue their public works or to stop all public works. He d ; d not think in a young eouhtry like this that it would have been a wise policy to have adopted the latter course. Personally ho felt in a peculiar position in respect to borrowing, because he had strongly opposed borrowing, and he did not believe that such a policy was a good one for the colony. But when faco to face with the problem of having to stop all public works or to borrow, he felt it his duty to support the latter proposal, feeding certain that when he explained his position he would receivo the endorsement of his constituents. They h*d been told that the borrowing had been entirely for the North Island. They read in the Prees time after timn that all Oto2[o was to get out of this one million was £31,000 for the Otago Central Railway. The true position was that Otago was to reeeive £225670 for her railways, roads, Port Chalmers wharves, etc.— (A Voice: ""Will we got it?") If the members of Otago did not see that the money which was voted on the Estimates was expended then they should blame the members, not the Government. He was sorry to that some members had turned round and said that had it not befii for the increased Customs of last year the Government would not have had such a large surp'us. 1 he real fact of the matter was that the inc ease in Customs amounted to £79,000, and out of that imm not one-tenth came from things upon which an increase had taken place. They were growing more and paving for it, and it was that and not the increase of the tariff which had brought about increased prosperity. It did not suit the Opposition to admit that During the last year they had added to the debt of the colony one million and a-half, which was borrowed for advancing to settlers, and there was also half a million which was borrowed for paying preferential shares in the Bank of New Zealand, but no one could say for a moment that the money borrowed for advances to settlers was costing the colony one penny. That money had I) f n borrowed at 3 par cent., and was being lent out to settlers at 5 per cent., so that it would be seen that the colony was making a clear profit already mi th.it transaction, although tliern was only one-half of it lent out. Instead of it costing the colony anything it was going to leave a handsome surplus for other purposes. '1 lie introduction of the advances to settlers had been the main factor in bringing down the rate of interest, five per cent, was shown as the interest at present, but he believed that in four or five years' time they would find it still lower. There was no doubt that in a young country like this it wa3 impossible for it to progress unless it had cheap money. In his mmd, looking as far ahead as possible, they must decide at the forthcoming election for one of three things—viz , they must approve of borrow ! ng a certain amount of money to carry on public works, or they must say distinctly there should be no more public w..rl« carried on, or they must tell their candidates emphatically they must go for increased taxation. There was nothing -at ."all for public works except the actual receipts unless they went in for borrowing. During this last two years they had heard a good deal from the Opposition about maladministration, and the Government fully expected that some drect charges would be made, and they were made most emphatically this year. The first charge was that the Govo.nment had appointed eighteen men to the police force who had not gone through the Permanent Artillery. The reason for that was that the demand for police was so great that fhey had not sufficient men in the artillery to tend out on the streets, and instead of weakening the artillery the Government took in eighteen civilians into the po'ics force. Charge No. 2 was that the Government had appointed extra clerks to the Civil Service. There wero certain regulations with regard to the appointment of Civil servants, but in order to meet the increase of work extra clerks were put on, and that was called a crime. The third charge was that a certain man, formerly a policeman, applied for a hotel license, aud tho Government had brought pressure to bear by writing to the inspcotor telling him to give the man a character. The Premier had denied having I done anything of tha tort, and the only thing ! they could find out was that the policeman had j not borne tho best of characters. The inspector j would not give him a character during tho time he had been in the force, and ho (Mr Millar) believed that a character was given to tho man j on his receiving the license for the hotel. If the Government had done nothin; more disgraceful than those three things, he : thought that there was very little danger of saying that there was ma'aiministration —(Applause.) Tho co-operativo works, he said, had been a great saving to the colony. Under the old contract system it cost the country more for railways, while the men were receiving no more wages, and the work was not done any better. He hoped that the colony would continue the present system, and not go back on the old contract one, —(Applause.) Referring to the Banking Committee's reports tho speaker said that the Legislative. Council Committee had exonerated the Ministry from any wrong-doing whatever. They said that the only mistake which cjuld possibly be brought against the late Colonial Treasurer was that he might have • esigncd a little earlier than he did, but that at no time had ho been influenced by any other than a desire for the public good.—(Applause.) Personally he regretted the trouble the late Colonial Treasurer had got into, for his being rut of the House would be a national loss. He was one of tho abl«st debaters and financiers in the House.—(Applause ) The Lower House insisted that the public should know the names of the men who brought the llank of New Zealand to its present condition, but the Legislative Council would not have that, because they maintained that it had nothing to do with the public what, had been done with the past moneys ot the Bank. The speaker maintained that the people of the colony should know the names of those men who squandered four millions of the Bankof NcwZoalandmoney.— (Apjilau.se.) Four millions-the ni'mey of the shareholders of the Tank of New Zealand—had gone, and there was little or nothing to show for it. They were told that they had no right to know the names of those men, and he might fay that some oi them at the present time were holding their heads up higher than any man in that hall. Many men who had done nothing nearly so bad had been sent to work at the Heads.— (Applause ) It would come out sooner or later; it was only a matter of time. As soon as the Bank of New Zealand became the property of the State they would find out then, if it did not come out before, and he trusted that when their names were known proper steps would be taken to bring those men to justice.—(Applause ) In the Licensing Act it was proposed to bring all clubs and bottle licenses under the Act, and also iake a national poll on the day of the General Election. This Bill passed the Lower House, bnt was rejected by tho Legislative Council, arid he ventured to say that it would never pass the latter Chamber as long as it had clubs in it. The people would have to face the question sooner or later -whether they were going to be governed by the Legislative Council or the representatives they sent to Wellington.—(Applause.) With regard to tho Cld Age Tension Bill, Mr Millar explained that it was brought before the House in skeleton form for the purpose of discussing it and brig- ! ing it permanently before the people. It was proposed to give every man and woman over sixty-five years of age 10s a week. They j had nothing to show how many people were entitled to a pension, but it was estimated that the scheme wou'd cost £250,000. There was one clause in the Bill which was taken objection to—namely, that no man should receive lCs a week if he had an income of any description over £SO. His opinion was that every person who claimed a pension should receive one provided that they were entitled to it. It must apply to every person, irrespective of what they were worth, and then everybody would be placed on the same footing and no man could look down upon his neighbor. —(Applause.) Mr Millar then referred to the Asiatic Bill and the Juvenile Depravity Bill, both of which he supported. The Eight Hours Bill, he said, received a short shrift. He thought that that Bill could be fairly applied to almost any trsde where people were under cover and where work was constant. The Wages Protection Bill, which

was a very good one, contained 158 lines whon it left the Mouse, but when it name back from the Legislative Oounoil there wero only eleven left. If they had the referendum then any quest ; on thrown out, by the Legislative Council could be referred to the people for them to say whether they wanted 1t or not. If chey wanted it it should be the law of the country whether the Legislative Council liked it or not.— (Api plause.) A large majority of the Bouse had come to the conclusion that something should be done to restrict the amount of boy labor and also to see that our boys and girls sent to a trade were thoroughly trained. The Fjre Insurance Bill would be prominently befoie the people this forthcoming election. Hi.s opinion was that the Government could carry out fire insurance as well as life insurance. He had steadily opposed the Elective Executive, and denied that with it they oould do away with party. Did they think for a .raoment that if they had the Elective Executive there would be no party in the House ? They would never do away with party, because there would always lie two opinions on given subjects, and men holding those opinions would form parties. If they had an Elective Executive he asked was it likely that Contain Russell and the Hon. J. M'Kenzie could work in one Cabinet, or that the Premier and Sir Robert Stout could do the same. If every man was going into the House to get his own way, and nothing but his own way, they would get any legislation passed at all. (Applause.) After expressing his approval of several other measures of the Government Mr Millar said that he had endeavored to carry on His duties faith' fully, and he could honestly say that whatever difference of opinion'might haVe existed among his constituents they would give him the credit of having honestly tried to do what he could for any one of them, independent of political opinions. He had to thank all those who had supported him, and he regretted exceedingly that he was Compelled to leave theni and contest another seat. He had loyally supported the Government, and he had found that whenever they promised to do anything for him they had done it. He honestly believed that they were striving todo the best they could in theintorcsts of the colony, and he trusted that the party to which he had the,honor to belong would be returned at the next election as strong as they were at the present time. If the people returned them he felt certain that in yoars to come they would find the benefit of having supported Liberal administration. He sincerely hoped that the people at Poit would return a man who would support the present party, and continue any little work he had started.—(Loud applause.) Mr Godfrey moved a motion thanking Mr Millar for his services in the past, and expressing regret at the severauce of his connection with the diatiict.

Mr .Tonus seconded the motion, which was canied unanimously.