POLITICAL ADDRESS.

Hastings Standard, Issue 24, 23 May 1896, Page 2

POLITICAL ADDRESS.

THE HON. THE PREMIER AT HASTINGS. The Princess Theatre was packed last evening, when Mr iSeddon delivered a political address. The Mayor (C. A. Fitzßoy, Esq.) occupied the chair, and in a few words introduced tiie Premier. Mr Seddon on rising was greeted with cheers. He thanked them for the cordial reception he had received, and he felt sure that the leader of the Opposition when on his proposed tour to liis (Mr Seddon's) constituents would be received in the same hearty manner. It was absolutely necessary that the members of the Government should meet the people face to face as they were not receiving fair play at the hands of the Press. 75 per cent, of the newspapers of the colony were run in the interests of the Conservatives, and the Press was not fairly using the great power it possessed. The Conservative Press were so misrepresenting the Government that it was necessary for them to meet the people and explain the position. The unfairness of the PRESS ASSOCIATION was noted. It did not do its duty to the public fairly or impartially. He cited the case of his last speech in Napier, which had been telegraphed throughout the colony in a distorted and incorrect manner, and on making enquiry as to the authorship of the wire from the manager of the Press Association lie had been accused of violating the secrecy of the Telegraph Office. Then there was a case nearer home. For main' years Hastings had been without a newspaper. When two enterprising young men took upon themselves the task of starting a journal there the Press Association demanded the enormous fee of .£SOO, whereas in another town where there was already an Association paper they had only asked £'so. It happened that the Chairman of the Association was the proprietor of the Napier Telegraph, and perhaps that fact warped the judgment of that gentleman. It was clear that that transaction was not in the, interests of»the colony, and as the Press Association received privileges from the colony, and was using its position as a mere political machine, it was the duty of the Government to see that the interests of the people were conserved, and if these privileges were abused it was their duty to withdraw the same. They must be told that they must keep within fair and impartial bounds or otherwise they would lose their privileges. Another action he complained of was the fact that writers were in the pay of the National Association who were supplying gratis political information to certain newspapers, and ho quoted the case of the Geraldine Guardian. which had received an offer from .Tames AVilkie of Wellington in that direction. The

.NATIONAL CONSERVATIVE ASSOCIATION had formed a large fund to run the next general election, and inducements had been held out to deprive the people of privileges that should be held dear. He hoped there were many in the colony who would refuse to subscribe to the fund for the purpose of corrupting their fellow-men. He hoped the people would judge the Ministry by the work tliey had done. They had been grossly and unfairly attacked, and lie was there to defend them. He would say that THK OPPOSITION, though few in number, was composed of gentleman. While he had always treated them at gentlemen he complained that his Government had not received the same consideration at their hands. He quoted numerous "terms of endearment" that had been made use of, and most of them had come from a gallant gentleman they knew well. However, although he had received much abuse from them he had not yet been reduced to a shadow. He was born of the people, and did not consider it was necessary to be bom in the purple in order to be a leader of men. They had been told they had no policy, but he thought the Opposition was now laying claim to it all the same. THK LIBERAL PARTY represented the people, the Conservative Party only a select few. The big estates must be broken up ; they were blasting the prospects of almost every man and woman in Hastings. When large areas were held as they were now taxation was east 011 the shoulders of those least able to bear it. He characterised the Opposition as a small baud of meddlers and muddlers; they Were deceiving the people and in some instances deceiving themselves. Captain Russell had an unholy compact with Sir Robert ytout, and* he asked how the polities of these two gentlemen could be reconciled. He pointed out that the statements made by these politicians were entirely at variance, and he thought that if the toilers were to bo left in the hands of these physicians death was certain. lie traversed the speeches of Mr Dutliie, Dr. Newman, and Mr G. F. Pichardson, and pointed out their inconsistency. The Opposition were coming round to the way of thinking of the Liberals, and he believed that when Captain Russell returned from his trip to the est Coast lie would be a supporter of the Government. One of the charges laid against the administration was that last year THE BIRTH RATE had decreased by 1918. He could not sec how the Government was responsible for that, but as last year was the best lambing season ever known he supposed Captain Eusseli would give them credit for that. He objected to the statement that tlie race was degenerating, it was unkind of the gallant Captain to say so, and was a dire reflection on YOUNG NEW ZEALAND. He had seen what the young stock was worth when lie was at the mouth of the pit at- the dreadful Brunner disaster, and he knew they were willing to die to save their fellow men. Give them opportunity, and they would find the*- had not degenerated. Give every man 800 acres of land free and they would soon sec where their self-reliance was, and whether they would not make good settlers. He alluded to the attacks made on the Government with regard to the alleged SEIZURE OF THE SINKING FUNDS. Government had only acted on the lines of the policy of 1884. There was 110 seizure at all, seeing that they had acted in strict accordance with the law. They were leaving posterity a beautiful country, and he thought posterity should be called upon to bear its burden. The repayment of that money should certainly descend to posterity. The Opposition had carefully refrained from quoting the report of the Public Accounts Committee on this subject, which stated that all that had been done was in accordance with the Act. Then a great deal had been made about rushing through THE PUBLIC WORKS ESTIMATES last session. He detailed at length the circumstances under which the " noblo fifteen " left the chamber refusing to dis-i cusa the estimates, saying they had uofc

sufficient time to study the figures.. Why, he said, in the year IMM2. the --.m of L 1,800,000 had been put through in one sitting. With respect to the CREDIT OF THE COLONY. having suffered by the Liberal administration, he said that never in the history of the colony did our "tit stand hi :'.it iu the London market In 1801 our :»l per cent stock was minted at i! 7 •; to-day it han reached 109. In l?»Vfl our 4 per cent stock was quoted at 107 and to-dav it was v.p to 115 J. SPOILS TO THE VICTORS. A statement he made at another meeting had been distorted, and he wished to correct a womg impression. What he said about spoil to the victors was that if two men come to him for work, the one a Conservative and the other a Liberal, and character and competency being equal he would engage the Liberal. He asked what Government would not look at it in the same light. When Sir Robert Stout was in office the highest salarv ever paid to a Civil Servant was given to a relative. lie had been licensed of appointing himself to the Chairmanship of the Assets Board, but after knowing as hedid the full condition of the attairs of the bank he considered it his duty to the country to accept the position. lie had never considered self in the matter and never would. He had been offered positions at double the salary he was now receiving, and he refused them as he considered it was lus duty to the State to do so. They had been told that they had increased indirect taxation but that statement was absolutely untrue. Of the

PUBLIC I>EBT OF TIIE COLONY, he quoted the f. din v. in j : Gross. Net. 1879 ... 1895 ... ... .u:s2 The incrcrw f om 1 5 79 to 1805 was : Gross, irls.MYs.:v ; .; ; net, £18,56.3.728, made up as follow* : Gross. Net. 1880-84... JE9.042.971 ... JEH,565.:529 1885-87 ... 4.670.071 ... 4.677.821 1888-90... 2,926,297 ... 2.967.310 1891-93... 589.890 ... 862.306 1894-95... 1.129,124 ... 1.490.962 Mr Ballancc had increased the public debt bv only .£589,890 gross, CK(52.n06 net; Mr Ward had added XI. 129.124 gross, £1.490.902 net ; Sir .Julius Yogel's term increased the debt -£'4.670.071 gross*. £4,677,821 net ; and the Atkinson Administration had added no b'ss than £11.969,268 gross and £11.532,659 net. Putting it in another way the* Liberal Government (Ballanee—'Wardi had increased the public debt by £1.719.014 gross, £2,353-268 net: and the Conservative administrations iVogel-Atkinsunt had added £16,639.339 gross and £16.210,460 net to the burdens of the people. CUSTOMS RKVENCE. This vcar the Customs revenue was £79.526 over the actual receipts of last year. The railway revenue showed an increase of nearly £30.000 over the receipts of the previous year. The Stamps revenue bad also increased, and the other heads of revenue also showed satisfactory increases. Taxation per bead in IS9O amounted to £2 5s lOd ; in 1895 it was £2 3s 9d. Concessions to the amount of £52,471 had been made by the last tariff: but the items on which there had been no alteration in the tarift" showed substantial increases, which was sufficient answer to the charge that there was failing prosperity in the colony. On the expenditure side, the greatest care had been exercised, and the appropriations were in few ceses exceeded. On the annual votes a net saving of somethinglike £'2u.ooo had been effected. They had been told that they had increased indirect taxation, but that was absolutely incorrect. He thought that with due and proper economy no additional taxation was necessary. As to ministers' travelling expenses, they were quite willing to defend theml Government preferred meeting the peopleto being governed by the beads of departments. Much political capital had been made about the expenses of the Uriwera trip, which was stated to have cost the colony £6BO. The correct amount was under £l5O, and when it was known that this trip settled a vexed question which had cost the colony half a million, the expense was very small. He quoted the cases of the Midland Railway Commission and the North Island Central Kailway Commission, in both of which large stuns of money were spent. In the latter case one of the party returned to Wanganui in a tit state for medical treatment. He charged the Conservatives with having plundered THE LAST'S of the colony. He quoted from the Doomsday Book re the select few who held land in Ilawke s Bay. Seventy-eight owners held 290.360 acres of the value of L 1.037.91 1 or an average of L 13.300 each. Forty - six owners held 1.145.038 acres, value L 3.269.360. average L 71.000; and 124 owners held 1.435.39S acres. L 4.307.274. average L 34.726. This land had become valuable bv the fact of roads and railways being constructed by the colony, and in former times had escaped with light taxation. Under the graduated land-tax these owners were compelled to contribute their fair share to the public revenue. He said the title deeds of land in the Ilawke s Bay district were smeared with blood and ram. Land was wanted for the people of the colony, and Government was justified in breaking up large estates. When land was wanted so that the people could live they should not be attacked when thev were doing what was in the interest of the workers. In cutting up t!:> -e e-t r-•. the owners received fair value for their land, and the time might come when they would not get the same wins ofu red them. In this colony. 2.<ri.s p. r--as owned land to the value of L.'Ji.iM.'.OoO : and the state of affairs was wi.r-v than in the Old C ountry. employment. When the last Government was in power they had 2000 men on relief works, receiving from 2s 6d to 3s 6d per day. The present Ministry had found work for 11,000 men with 35.000 people dependent upon them. With regard to the shearing question, it must be admitted that the large station owners were giving preference to Maoris. The reason perhaps was that Government had insisted on proper accommodation for the workers, as some of them formerly were asked to live in places not tit for sheep and cattle, and it was not asking too much for them to provide for better accommodation for their own flesh and blood. When it came to the ballot-box men would be able to demand a fair day's wage for a fair day's work. He claimed that the Government had relieved, the masses from taxation. and went at length into the working of the Advances to Settlers Act. Struggling farmers had been relieved from the usurer*, and it was not before time. The Act had been the means of reducing the high rate of interest, and a reduction of 2 per cent had increased the spending power of the colony by L 1.200,000. Although there had been a I<>~- this year in the working of tlie Adi.ir_>- to Settlers Act he believed that nov penny would be recouped. Caution was necessary at the

start of such a scheme. The time had arrived when the maximum rate of interest should be fixed in this colony, and he thought no man should recover more than 8 per cent. The Opposiiicn had the audacity to say that the Liberals did not give the FRANCHISE TO WOMEN, but tbr fact remained that although Sir ■Joini !l >'l and Mrs Shepherd worked for it. the Liberal Government was in power when the measure was passed. The women of New Zealand had voted for progress at the last election, and at the coming one the\* would do the same. He believed that this year the Government would be returned by an even larger majority, and perhaps shortly an old lory would be as scarce as a moa bird. \\ ith regard to LAND SETTLEMENT. the Government had placed 17,000 settlers on the land, and New Zealand was now the brightest gem in the British Empire. Its LAIJOR LEGISLATION was iu advance of any county in the world, and they must carry it out to completion. In New Zealand there are i>Hl ■rirls employed fit millinery aad dressmaking who were not receiving a penny for their services, and tfiis would have to be alts red. A fair wage should be fixed. The Apprentices Act would also be considered. MISCELLANEOUS. He* favoured the abolition of private benefit societies, and they should protect the workers by encouraging Friendly Societies in the colony. He spoke of the Undesirable Immigrants Hill, and spoke warmly against the Chinese. The liquor legislation would not be complete until clubs were brought under the same law as public houses. ;ind he favored national option. Government w>-re prepared to grapple with Slate Fire Insurance. He referred to distraint for rem. and considered that landlords should be placed on the same footing as any oilier (".editors. Girls of tender years required greater protection. and if the Council again refused to pass the Act they must do someto bring that body into closer touch with the people. Unless the Government had come to the rescue of the Bank of New Zealand it would ha ve been a bad day for the colony. As to the surplus it was a genuine one, and Government would be able to carry 1.150.000 to the credit of the Public Works Fund. In conclusion the Premier gave a, great peroration, advocating the raising of the people so that none should want. "What the Liberal Government was attempting to do was to make the people contented and happy. Mr George Fl'iis moved a hearty vote of thanks to the Premier for his very able, interesting, and instinctive address, ami also expressing the confidence of the meeting in the present Government. Mr lleyuolds seconded the motion. Mr Beilby moved an memlmeut that the meeting accord a hearty vote of thanks to the Premier for his address. Mr McQuillan seconded. The motion was carried by a large majority. The meeting closed with a vote of thanks to the chair and three cheers for Mr Seddon.