LAST NIGHT'S BANQUET AT MILTON.

Evening Star, Issue 11266, 13 June 1900, Page 6

LAST NIGHT'S BANQUET AT MILTON.

IN HONOR. OF MR JAMES ALLEN. The Bruce constituency paid their representative, Mr dames Allen, the honor of entertaining him at a banquet held in St. George's Hall, Milton, last night. The hall was very tastefully decorated for the occasion, flags,- flowers, and foliage being put to t1.3 best use"in adorning the walls, and it may be mentioned hi this connection that the likenesses of the Queen, Lord Roberts, and Baden-Powell were framed in bay leaves. A hundred and a few diners sat down to the. excellent repast provided, those present including representative settlers from every part of the wide constituency. Mr W. Moore. Mayor of Milton, presided, Mr W. Livingstone (of Waitahuna) occupied the vice-chair, and amongst those present were Mr J. W. Thomson, M.H.R., Mr Scobie Mackenzie, Mr James Adam (lion Accord), Mr ]'). Thomson (North Branch), Mr A. Lowry (Crichton), Mr W. Dunn (Riversdale Farm), Mr J. A. Duthie, xMr W. Forsvth, Mr W. H. Millar (Manuka Greek). Mr"w. Cameron (Glenore). Mr W. Hamilton (Lovell's Flat).' Mr J. Duff, Mr R. Craig (Circle Hill). Mr A. M'Pherson (Berwick), Mr J. J. Scott (Waibola), Dr Fitzgerald (Kaitangata), Dr Sutherland, Mr J. Kennard. Mr M. Henderson, Mr D. M'Donald (Milburn), Mr H. M. Driver (Clarendon), Mr .1. Hollick, Mr R. Murray, Mr Begg (Hillend), Captain Stewart, Mr W. Taylor, Mr H. Sprosen. Mr J. Lockhart, Mr R. A. Pyke. Mr J. B. Scanlan, and Mr T. H. Russell (Milburn). Mr James Adam said grace. Dinner being over, the Chairman made a short, introductory speech. The company had met to do honor to their representative in Parliament—(applause)— and the meeting, he was pleased to see, was not a meeting of the Milton Borough, but was well representative of the whole constituency of Bruce. For that reason he would have preferred that the chairman of the county should have taken the chair instead of the "mayor of the borough. Unfortunately, however, that gentleman was not present. Being in the chair, lie (Mr Moore) might;;relate how the meeting came to be held to-night. Immediately after the last General Election it was suggested from several quarters, especially from Kaitangata—and he was very pleased to see Kaitangata well represented—that they ought to get up a bumper banquet in honor of their member. He (Mr Moore), though not Scotch, was naturally very slow, and in reply to the suggestion he asked whether it would not be better to let the banquet stand over till the eve of their member going to Parliament. That seemed In be accepted as good advice, and (he result, whs' the tine meeting now assembled. It was a meeting that Mr Allen Mould admit was of a representative character, and it was a meeting that Mr Allen ought to be proud of. At any rate, they Mere proud of Mr Allen.—(Rear, hear.) Mr Allen held a record so far as the County of Bruce was concerned. He had been elected to four Parliaments, once without opposition. When the banquet was first mooted the Committee sent out communications to every polling place in the constituency and to friends afar, and while the response had been very satisfactory in the way of attendance, there v.-:is also a bundle of replies from men who had been unable to Httend. One of these answers was from Mr Buchanan, of the Wairarapa, who regretted that, engagements prevented him from being with the Bruce electors to do honor to a young New Zcalander of whose, career in the House thay might be proud.—(Applause.) Mr \V. Eraser wrote that his engagements would not permit of his being present. Captain Russell wired that he had been away from home and could not attend. Mr John Duthie. in excusing himself on the ground that he was about to leave for London, wrote : " There was no member with whom I was associated in the last Parliament who did his work more faithfully, or whom T would more delight to honor." Mr 0. Lewis and Mr A. Sliio also sent apologies. Mr Donald Reid wrote: "It would be a blessing if we had more men of Mr Allen's stamp in our Parliament. He is a credit to your constituency and lo the Legislature.'* Mr T.-Mackenzie and Mr Donald Reid (of Milton) were others who regretted their inability lo lvj present, The chairman concluded by proposing the toast of "The Queen," remarking that it was a toast which the events of the past nine months had put new life into. ' The toast Mas drunk with great cordiality, and the company sang the National Anthem. The next toast, " His Excellency the Governor," was proposed by the chairman and received with musical honors. Mr James Adam (Bon Accord) proposed " The Army. Navy, and Volunteers." and made a short but stirring speech, hi the course of which he said that all must be very much impressed with the way in M-hich our young men had shown themselves prepared to sacrifice themselves at the call of the country.—(Applause.) There was not the slightest fear of our volunteers " skedaddling." From what they had done in South Africa we could feel sure that if our own country was; ever attacked there M-ould be plenty of the same sort to come to the rescue —w should' find old men and young ones standing together in the breach.—(Hear, hear.) The volunteers deserved well of us. Many of them Mere at this moment lying in hospital in South Africa, and there was sorrow in the castle, in the hall, and in the cottage. The Old Country had given of her best, and there was scarcely a conspicuous family hi the Old Land thitt had not some member or connection who Mould never return. We, too, had lost men whose graves were in the Transvaal. The least we could do Mas to bear our brave volunteers in our prayers, and also remember them in our social meetings. He had much pleasure in proposing "The Army, Navy, and Volunteers," especially the volunteers—(applause) —coupled with the name of Captain Stewart. Captain Stewart, in replying, said that the events of the past fev,- months had made us drink this toast with added enthusiasm and new spirit. Once again in the history of our nation the forces of the Queen had been called upon to face the fiery ordeal, and they had not been found wanting. During the present war Britain had done something unparalleled in the history of nations —that was in the transport of i 50,000 men across six thousand miles of ocean to Cape Colony in three months. That she Mas able to accomplish this feat was due to the strength of the right-hand of our forces—the fleet—(applause)—which had kept the line of communications open. At this time Me should specially remember our fleet, and also the militia, which was garrisoning Britain, Gibraltar, the Channel Islands, and Malta, taking the places of the regular forces, so as to allow the latter to go to the Transvaal. For the first time in the history of the nation, volunteers had left their homes to fight for the Queen. It M-as not a new thing for volunteers to tight for their Queen. They had done it in NeM- Zealand, but it was a neM- thing for New Zealand to send volunteers across 8,000 miles of ocean to fight for Britain.—(Applause.) From the war they should learn the lesson of preparedness, and of giving to our volunteer force every possible assistance to make them thoroughly efficient. We had the material—our contingents to the Transvaal' had proved that—and with a. little more help than had been given in the past our volunteer force would be able to hold their own against any outside foe that, attempted to land on our shores.—(Applause.) Mr J. O'Shea, in the absence of Mr Donald Reid (Milton), proposed the next toast, that of " The Parliament of New Zealand." In proposing the toast Mr O'Shea'paid a high compliment to the manner in which the Premier had responded to the call of the Empire in.regard to the despatching of contingents and the raising of patriotic funds. It had been said that the best men did not go to Parliament,, but, for his part, he thought that the men who went to Parliament were men willing to sacrifice time and fortune for the good of the cotony. The toast, which was drnnk with enthusiasm, M-as coupled M'ith the names of Mr J. W. Thomson, member for Clutha, and Mr Scobie Mackenzie.

Mr Thomson, after expressing his pleasure at being present, and seeing so many assembled to do honor to his friend and fellowmember Mr Allen, said that when.Mr Allen had to deal with any public question he did not try to find out what were the pleasing ij>u>a« tt.nl. micrkt ha uid atoilt jt. l»ut he

endeavored to find out what course should be taken in the matter, and he spoke and acted accordingly.—(Applause.) He had the corn-age of, his opinions, and sometimes this told to his disadvantage. The Government did not like Mr Allen—-(laughter and applause)—and during the recent election contest the Premier had gone twice to Kaitangata for the purpose of doing what he could to injure Mr Allen, and they might be sure that a gentleman who would cause the Government to go to so much trouble to keep out-of Parliament must be made of real good, sterling stuff.—(Applause.) Parliament should consist of first-rate men, and, whilst he would not say that all the members of Parliament were the best men of the country, he would go so far as to say. that Parliament might be looked unon n's the epitome of the country. The present Parliament had not met, and consequently he could not say how it would turn out, and therefore_he preferred to say nothing about it. He thought that the rule that should guide Parliament, as well as individual members of the community, was this : that we should do to others as" we would like others to do to us. If Parliament would obey that rule as closely as possible there would not be much to find fault with in the case of any measure that might be introduced into and passed by Parliament. He expressed sincere regret at the illness of the Premier and Minister of Lands, and said that he would much prefer to see those two hrm. gentlemen in their places in the House than to know that they were lying on beds of sickness.—(Loud applause.) He trusted that this Parliament would be as good as any of the past, and no doubt there had been some Parliaments which had been very good —Parliaments which we had to thank for many measures that had assisted m bringing New Zealand to its present state of prosperity.—tApplause.) Mr M. J. Scobie Mackenzie, who was accorded a hearty ovation, said he was gratified to see so large and representative a gathering to do honor to Mr Allen. , Tie (Mr Mackenzie) was now onJv an onlooker at political warfare, and he might tell them, though they might not believe it, that after all, for many reasons, he was more pleased at being an onlooker than a participator. All parliamentarians knew that when a m*n once got into Parliament it was not easy to get out again without the appearance of deserting his' colors. He had to be kicked out,—(Laughter.) To leave his work would seem as mean as would a member of one of our Contingents at the'front who should say in the middle, of a campaign : " 1 have had enough of this ; I am going home again." But when he was wounded or got a bullet through him itsimplified the matter greatly.—(Laughter.) He could then retire to his home or to his mother earth with the consciousness or the glen' of having done his dutv as far as was permitted him to do.—(Applause.) He did not know whether the Government thought that the fact of his chair in the House being vacant would conduce-to the peace and comfort of their Jives. If thev had so thought he was afraid they would find out that tliev had made a mistake, for Mr Pirani had plumped himself into that vacant chair (Laughter.)- From that chair he (Mr Mackenzie) used to fire Lce-Metford bullets, which, whilst they generally struck their mark, went right through the Government, inflicting a clean wound, which speedily healed, and left, no after effect. Mr Pirani, however, fired dum-dum bullets—" softnosers'"—(laughter)—which not onlv hit their mark, but left a very ugljr splash behind. Although out of "the 'fray himself, h's regarded with extreme satisfaction the fact that there were younger, stronger, and 'more vigorous members left to light the battle of the country, and amongst them and well in the front was his esteemed friend and their worthy guest and representative, Mr dames Allen.—(Applause.) He was afraid that at the present time the colony of New Zealand was not sufficiently alive to its true interests, in so far as it did not think it worth while to provide the parliamentary machine with an effective Opposition. Tie did not refer to the calibre of the members, but to their numerical strength. The first essential of the Opposition was that thev should be good critics of the Government, and the next—he was afraid it was the most important—was that there should be plenty of them. There need not necessarily lie enough to be able to turn the Government out—the people of New Zealand did not want that—but there should be plenty of them not only for the sake of New Zealand, but in the interests of the Government. Criticism was not enough. If it were we need not go to Parliament at all, for newspaper leading articles set out the arguments as clearly, concisely, and effectually as any member of Parliament did. The discussion's m the Press, parliamentary unions, debuting' societies, women's national councils—(laughter) —etc., however clear, were never translated into action. Nothing followed them, and nothing followed the discussions in Parliament when the Opposition was numerically weak and insufficient, and hence it was most essential that the Opposition should be sufficient in numbers, so that when the discussions were ended the Government might be what was vulgarly called made to sit up—in other words, that there should be a close division. That was what did the business—(Applause.) With a numerically weak Opposition the Government—not the New Zealand only, but all Governments—were absolutely unconcerned about the criticism, for they knew for a certainty what the result of the division would be. They could therefore see that, if the country did what it should do in its own interests it would be very careful that it returned an Opposition capable', not only of criticising, but of giving the Government when they required it a warning that the coursethey were pursuing was not a course in the interests of the country. The theory that a strong Opposition was good for the Government was universally recognised. Disraeli, in his novel ' Coningsby,' made one of his characters put the matter very clearly. He said : " No Government can be long secure without a formidable Opposition. It reduces their supporters to that tractable number that can be managed by the great influences of fruition and hope." It might be said that the evil of an overgrown majority was one which would cure itself. He was afraid that the people of New Zealand had interfered with the natural cure. Of late years they had demanded that men should be returned to support the Government, right or wrong, and that they should have no scope for independent action, and {hat was having a most pernicious effect upon our politics. Another bad effect to the Government of a weak Opposition was that the stronger the Government party the more mrniths there were to fill. One party was no more mercenary than the other, but human nature was human nature, and one man in Parliament considered himself as good as another, and he mostly was—(laughter)— and when one saw another get ottice and position he naturally thought that he should be similarly favored. That difficulty was now being evidenced in New Zealand by the proposal to establish a number of parliamentary undersecretaries, and he was sorry to see that the proposal was being advocated by a most respectable Dunedin journal for which he had a great esteem. That proposal meant neither more nor less than that a number of extra billets should be provided for men of the Government party. That M-as absolutely true, and there was not a soul in Parliament who did not know it, When Mr Atkinson, in order to effect necessary economies, reduced the number of members from ninety-six to seventy-four, he also felt it necessary to reduce t.lie number of Ministers from seven to six, so as to maintain a balance between the paid and unpaid members, and that there should not be undue influence over the great body of Parliament, In the course of a few "years the number of Ministers was again increased to seven.' but the number of members remained as before. Now the proposal was to create anumebr of undersecretaries, and that would further increase the number over whom the Government.had complete and absolute control. The plea made was that Ministers were breaking down under the strain of their work. If that plea was well-founded, it was one which ought to be respected; and here he might be permitted to second Mr Thomson's kindly remarks about the Premier and the Minister for Lands.—(Applause.) He had the deepest sympathy with them, and expressed admiration for the manner in which the Right Hon. Mr Seddon had risen to the occasion in connection with the great work of the consolidation of the Empire during the last few months. When private members of the House, however, broke down no one attributed it. to overwork. During the s'esj sums Ministers undoubtedly had hard work J

to perform, but for the rest of the period, if they stuck to Ministerial duties, they had a comparatively easy time. No rank of life was free from worries, and private citizens who had bills to meet on the 4th of the month and could not meet them had got more heart-breaking worries than had Ministers.—(Laughter and applause.) He was not going to condemn the present Parliament, because a great many of the members he did not know, and the Parliament might turn out the best the colony had had. It ought to turn out so, because they had a magnificent chance—a chance that no Parliament ever had before. The time was when we were absorbed in petty local politics, but during the last few months we had been enabled to get out of the. ruts in which we had been travelling and see for the first time the glorious Empire to which we belonged consolidated, and establishing itself, as it were, upon a rock; and if that was not calculated to elevate the ideas of members of Parliament nothing would, for when the human mind once expanded to take in a big idea of which it had no cognisance before it seldom contracted again.—(Applause.) Moreover, the sense of pride of" the colony had been touched in its finest and most rcsnonsive chord, for we had been made to feel' that oHr great Empire was in part under our protection.—(Applause.) That was an elevating idea, calculated to raise our self-respect. He would like to point out that a grand lesson was to be learned from the events of the past seven months. That lesson enforced the necessity of standing together in the hour of danger. They might have noticed that in the early part of the war there was a certain tone of caution and hesitancy in tho actions of the head of the Im]>erial Government. Lord Salisbury at first was afraid of the Opposition and o"f a large section of the members of the House, but when he found that the united voice of the nation was behind him his utterances were clear and determined. This naturally led him to the subject of pro-Boers. He could understand a man being a. pro-Boer before the war began. Such a person might say that he was afraid the Government was taking a wrong action. But during the war, when he found the nation engaged in the death- grapple with another nation, it was an amazing thing to him (Mr Mackenzie) that there should be such a thing as a single pro-Boer in the whole community, .Such a man, if not a recreant Englishman, was the nearest approach to one that one could possibly conceive, outcry on hehalf of these pro-Boers was that they claimed the right of free speech. As a matter of fact, the right of free speech had never been interfered with. There was no pro-Boer in the country who could not get, his member of Parliament to stand up and advocate his cause if that member wished to do so; or he could write his grievances in a letter to the Press and gel publication that way ; or he could, if he chose, go to us house-top and utter his . opinions as loudly as he pleased. The ouiv point was that the peopje of New Zealand had the right to exercise their right, and sav that they would not listen to him.- (Applause.) Mr James Adam, in proposing the toast of the, evening. " The Member WBnice." said that he had had a. good deal to d« with nominations and proposing votes of thanks lo members of Parliament, He believed that he. was the man that proposed t he first member of the. Parliament of New Zealand in the little capital of Dunedin fortv-four years ago—(applause)—when the present member for Bruce and Mr Scobic Mackenzie, too were nice little, boys—(Laughter.) He referred to the nomination of Mr Marandrew. He had also had the pleasure of nominating Mr Allen for Bruce, and would be glad to do it again. The constituency hnd : given Mr Allen nine years' lea.se of the seal in the Legislature, thus conferring upon him the highest honor in their power, and at the same lime doing honor to themselves, for Mr Allen had been a credit to the constituency. He was always listened to when he. got up to speak in the House ; he was a man that one need not be ashamed to walk down the street with : he had a good education ; nobody ever heard a. whisper to his discredit; and the district, acted wisely in selecting and retaining such a representative. He (Mr Adam) did not agree with Mr Thomson as to the merits of Parliaments nowadays. He did not think that the Parliaments of recent, years could compare with the Parliament*; in which were men of the stamp of Munro, Fitzgerald, Wakefield. Stafford. Fox, Dillon Bell, and Captain Cargill—men with plenty of brains and great experience with regard to legislation. The Parliament of the present could not Stand comparison with the Parliaments that were led by such great and good men as he had named. He hoped, however, that the time would come when our communities would put into the House the very best men they could get. We ought to have our most intellectual men in the. Legislature. If be (Mr Adam) were in Mr Seddons place he would at once appoint Sir John Hall to the Upper House. In him they had a man who had filled with credit the highest positions in New Zealand, and that he should be passed by while boilermakers and carpenters and so forth were. sent to the Upper House was a disgrace to the Government.—(Applause.) The one appointment that, he (Mr Adam) could give Mr Seddon credit for was the raising of Sir Robert Stout to the Chief Justiceship.— (Applause.) He hoped that some day our Frenr.cr would rise to a higher level in regard to appointments to the Upper House, and elevate the best men he could secure, instead of making appointments for political purposes. The great need of the day m our Legislature was men with brains. " Bruce had done its duty in making a wise selection, and he therefore had much pleasure in proposing the toast.—(Loud applause.) Mr J. Allen ha.d to wait for a minute or so after rising before the applause that greeted him subsided. When silence was restored he said that he had to thank Mr Adam for the kindly way in which he had proposed the toast, and he had also to thank the company for their attendance and the way they had received the toast. A reception such as had been accorded to him as the guest of tho evening amply rewarded him for any little assistance he had rendered the constituency and for any thought he had bestowed upon the interests of the colony. He hoped that he might be spared to represent Bruce for a. long time to come, and that the work which fell to him to do would be not only in the interests of the immediate constituency, but for the good of the colony. Mr Adam had brought to their recollection the names of men who had acted as representatives in past Parliaments—names that no one could think of except with the deepest respect. No other colony could show a more glorious record with regard to parliamentary representation than New Zealand could — no abler men than our best ha-d ever sat in any colonial Legislature, and if those who now tilled the seats could follow the examples of those great predecessors and rise above the level of the mere local politician, perceiving that they had a duty to the country far greater in importance than the duty they owed to constitueuccs, it would be a blessing to New Zealand and help her to take her proper place in the. Empire.—(Applause.) He thought he might safely say that in representing Bruce he represented the most progressive district in the colony.—(Hear, hear.) If one looked back even for a short time, and remembered how the Tokomairiro Plain had b-cn made fertile by t he energy and ability of the fanners, it would be seen that a very great deal had been done and that the Bruce farmers could compare with any other farmers.—(Applause.) One had only to sco the Bruce County Court at the late winter show to be impressed with tho development that had taken place. He felt it a real honor to represent a district like Bruce. Perhaps he was not worthy of that honor.— (Voices : " Yes you are.") Well, what they had said and what they bad done that evening would spur him on to at least try to deserve the honor, and he hoped this reception would act as an inducement to him to show, or to try to show, that he owed the constituency a greater debt than the constituency owed to him, and to make him feel more and more that an} 7 ability he possessed ought to be devoted to their interests and the interests of the colony at large. It was now about twelve years sincehe first went to Parliament. He was then a young man—inexperienced and shy.— (Laughter, and an "Oh" from Mr M. J. S. Mackenzie.) Well, Mr Mackenzie never knew what it was to be shy—(laughter)— but he (Mr Allen) did. He recollected standing on the platform at Dunedin East and shivering at the prospect before him. By one facetious writer he was» termed "Jim the Iconoclast," meaning thereby that he

could do nothing but break down things. Unfortunately, the party that be joined bad only three years of parliamentary life, and never had the opportunity of Mly showing \ what they could.do in the way of building up. But they ftid something in that direction, even in the period of three years, by putting the colony's finances In proper order, thus laying the foundation for jßoch of the great prosperity that had since come to New Zealand—a "work the benefit ..of : which was reaped by others who came after thein.—(Applause.) He was not speaking that night simply as a politician of a district. Within the past few months there must have arisen in the mind of everybody who represented a constituency a feeling that he was representing something higher and greater than before. The Imperialistic spirit had been spreading throughout the British dominions, and it had a great, purpose in making everyone plav his part as a unit in the mighty nationality. In tinvos past there were men amongst "us vho believed it would be better for this colony to cut the painter and ignore the Queen and start life on our own account. The events of tho last few months had shown us a higher life than that-a life in which we should hve not only for ourselves but for the good of a great and glorious nation—* life for peace, a life for truth, a life for right; and if we joined with the rest of the Empire for these purposes there would be for us a history which he hoped would be greater than that of any nation the world had seen. It was to him a matter for regret that we in New Zealand had ignored the move for Federation and kept aloof from the councils of Australia, West Australia, whose position was much the same as owe, 1 had acted the wiser part in enteriug into the debates and attending the councils and making arrangements to enter into the Federation. By neglecting the opportunity which offered, if we at. any time wanted to enter into the Federation we could not do so on anything like fair conditions, such as were provided for the colonies that originally took a Tiand, or for West Australia. To-day we were feeling that we were notonly New Zealanders. but part of a great, nation, and the' present Parliament would' have to decide what, part we . wens going to play in the great scheme.! of Imperialism. He. for one, would.support with a4l the power ho had the proposi-. tion for a Pacific cable, and. not content with that, he maintained that it was' the iff >? f l^e Em P ire to }ia ve an * all-red cable,' which would link together every point of the Empire in tho interests of peace and our common nationality. (Applause.) Then there was the question of what part we were to play in regard to defence. Ho -regretted to say that Parliament had not done what it ought to-have done in the past. Notwithstanding what might have been said from high quartei-s, our defences were nob in the condition they ought to be in. Those who in Parliament denied the money that ought to be spent on defence could not see further than their own noses. They thouglit that every penny spent ought to be upon roads and bridges. ' Roads and bridges were, of course, a necessity, but wo wanted something, more. Roads and bridges might be taken from us and homes and hearths might be dispoiled if wc were not in a position to defend ourselves. We had companies of volunteers, some of which were provided with rifles only to the extent, of 60 per c.pot. They had been told that there were enough rifles to arm-all the volunteers, but that was not the case. He knew also that, one of our best guns was lying in a shed unmounted, though lime after time attention had been called to the matter. Parliament had neglected their duty in this respect, and that duty was made veiy clear by tho events that had taken place in South Africa. —(Applause.) Turning now to our own politics, he had been struck with the importance of the references made by previous speakers to the dangers of autocracy in our Government. If there was one thing more than another that had made the English nation politically what it was. it was the fact that, both sides of politics were represented in sufficient numbers to make the ruling side for the time being do its business properly. He was afraid that if things went on as they had been going since the last, election, the Government side continuing to grow as it had growu, we should have to say good bye to representative institutions altogether, for the colony was coming to this position : that there was only one man in it. Was that so?—(Cries of " No.") Were the people of the colony all of one opinion ? Was there only one side to every question? Were we. to have a Parliament made up of persons who put before the people only one aspect of every question? In almost every public question that had to be dealt with there were two sides, and be need scarcely point out how necessary it was that the're should be in any Parliament—he did not care what Parliament it. was or who the ruling partv might, be—an efficient Opposition, in order to get a healthy public opinion and healthy legislation. If time had permitted he could have given the meeting several instances in which the criticisms of tlie Opposition had beneficially modified the prbposals of the Government, but as the night was wearing on he would merely, mention the modifications effected in the Customs duties so as to suit the wants and interests of the people and to the result of the Opposition's criticisms in preventing the Colonial Treasurer of the day from seizing and utilising public funds which as Colonial Treasurer he was not entitled to transfer to the Consolidated Revenue. After referring to the illness of the Premier and to the laving aside of the Hon. J. M'Kenzie, aud saying that he sincerely regretted to hear that Mr M'Kenzie was not recovering at a rapid rate, tho sneaker went on to indicate at some length tho lines on which he thought the Opposition ought to work. The Government had done a great deal already in the way of reducing railway fares and so forth, 'but for his part he did not think that they had gone far enough in that direction. He held that the policy to be pursued ought to be in the direction of reducing the cost of production in various ways, as, for instance, in respect to shipping as well as railway freights, and in the direction of removing the grievous injustice suffered by the producers of the colony in the. taxation imposed upon that machinery which was very largely in use in the Bruce and other agricultural districts. There was mi'ch useful work for the Opposition to do in bringing these matters properly before Parliament, and the speaker for one would be fomid doing his duty in helping to forward the country's best interests so that New Zealand would be able to not only provide employment for her own peonle, but also compete profitably in the world's markets.—(Applause.) Mr Allen concluded by once more expressing his sense of the honor conferred upon him by the I'r'iye constituency and his bone that tbe present excellent understanding between the electors and himself would be long maintained.—(Loud applause.) Mr Robert Craig proposed "Agricultural and Pastoral Interests," and in responding Mr W. Livingstone said he was sorry fanning was not looking so well as he' would like to see it. He thought farmers would do well to go in less for agriculture and more for.sheep. At the same time he thought a word of warning against freezing all the young sheep, especially ewes, and keeping only the scrags, was required. Dr Fitzgerald, in proposing "The Commercial and Mining Interests," took the occasion to point a moral. He had heard it whispered that sanitary matters in .Milton were not all they might be, and ho would advise the people to put their houses ih order,, for one thing certain was that if the plague got a grip here it would upset commerce and everything else. Mr John Nelson (Glenore) replied. The toast of " The Ladjes " was proposed by Mr J. Partane, and responded to by Mr G. H. Thomson. Other toasts honored were " The Chairman," proposed by Mr Scobie Mackenzie; and "The Host," proposed"by Mr James Allen.

Songs were contribnted during the e.veiling by Mr King, Mr Grant, Mr Parianc, Mr Woods, Mr Scott, and a number of others, and a most successful function was concluded shortly before 2 a.m. hy_ the singing of ‘ Auld lang sync’ and the National Anthem, followed by hearty cheers.