Mr Fraser at Kaikora.

Hastings Standard, Issue 174, 18 November 1896, Page 2

Mr Fraser at Kaikora.

A YOUNG COLONIAL'S MAIDEN SPEECH.

AN ENTHUSIASTIC MEETING

A large and enthusiastic audience greeted Mr A. L. D. Eraser at Kaikora in his maiden political speech last night.

Mr W. White, who occupied the chair, introduced the Liberal candidate.

Mr Eraser, who was received with cheers, said it was three years since he was there before, listening to Mr Reardon addressing the electors. He did not then think he would be now seeking their suffrages. He came forward as a candidate at this election entirely against his own personal desires and interests, but be realised that a man should sink the consideration of self in the public welfare and be guided by the Scriptural text " Bear ye one another's burthens." It was not narrow vanity which prompted him ; he stood up to fight for the great liberal cause (cheers). lie hoped all accriinonious feeling would be banished from this contest, for though he politically detected Captain Russell he respected him personally as a friend and a gentleman. He would therefore fight this battle like a soldier, but not as an assassin (cheers). This was his virgin effort on the political platform, so he would crave indulgence for any shortcomings. A man who wanted a cheap biography of himself should stand for Parliament. Within the last three weeks he has heard more of his own history than he was* aware of. He would impress upon them that this was not a personal struggle between Captain Russell and himself, although when he entered the hall that night and saw the letters 1.0. R. he invested them with the " meaning I or Russell " (laughter). No, it was the Government and the cause of the people against the selfish grasping Conservative few. They had no class legislation now for many years, and he hoped there Avould never be any again. Since the fifties no administration has held power as long as the Seddon Government, and the Opposition were naturally thirsting for office. The Tories had no policy to lay down, and had no fault to find with the present adminstration. In all their public utterances they were forced to give the Government credit for their policy, which they would continue if returned to power. Mr Fitzßoy, speaking at Gisborne, said he would follow Captain Russell, for, while he agreed with the policy of the present Government, he could not agreed with the manner in which they administered it. Mr Rhodes, of Geraldine, said lie admired the present Government, but as he was always an Oppositionist he could not leave the party, and he asked the people to return him. Captain Russell also spoke favorably of the present policy. He admitted that a healthy opposition was a desirable thing, but there were several who, against their convictions, voted Conservative in order to increase the strength of the Opposition. This was an illogical and untenable position, because if every Liberal voted thus their interests would not be represented in Parliament at all. Even with no Opposition the good and true men composing the Liberal party would not frame unhealthy laws. The question to be decided at the coming elections was whether the colony was to be progressive or retrogressive ; whether they would uphold the present Government in their work of laying the foundation of an Empire or fall back into the old Conservative jogtrot policy of twenty years ago. This policy was large estates for the landholders to the exclusion of the workers —the policy of sheep, not men. He quoted from Hansard Captain Russell's advocacy of Chinese labor. This was the position of the average Conservative, and it was a gross insult to the workers whom Mr Eraser sought to represent. The Conservatives would keep the working man on rice whilst they fed on the fat of the land. Which then would they choose—the selfish crew or the present Government, who had the interests of the poope in view ? Would they support capital and Conservatism, which was backed up by all the wealth of the colony, against the present Government and labor ? He was a worker, and was fighting this election from his private resources against the wealth of New Zealand (cheers). The money for Mr FitzRoy's candidature was guaranteed by the National Association, and it was the same throughout the colony. It reminded him of the scriptural story of when Balaam couldn't speak the Ass spoke for him (loud laughter). It was stated that the main plank of the National Association was to return men to Parliament who were not selfseeking —twaddle ! They would send men to Parliament who would guard the interests of the land-holder as opposed to the workers of the colony. If the National Ass spoke of his unselfishness to any other donkey he would get his brains kicked out. Nevertheless, notwithstanding the wealth and power against them, if they banded together loyally as men and women the Conservative Opposition must fall before them as the morning mists fade before the sun (cheers). The Conservatives who love this country so much were doing their utmost to ruin the credit of the colony in London by saying New Zealand was going to the'dogs. The Tories had all the monied Press at their back. As an instance of Conservative •' flapdoodle" he quoted the Hawke's Bay Herald, which said_ prosperity was was once more returning to the colony because Mr Lewis (towards whose election expenses the National Association subscribed £107) was returned for the City of Christ-church. The Government were held responsible for the lowness in prices of products, wool, and mutton—they were even held accountable for the decrease

in the colonial birth-rate. (Laughter.) He thought the insinuation rude and suggestive. Was the Government an old nurse'? It reminded him of an Eastern Prime Minister who was held responsible for earthquakes. The Conservative shrieks reminded him of a steamer with a 7ft. whistle and a sft. boiler ; when the whistling commenced the rest of the machinery had to stand still. (Laughter.) Sir R. Stout was a political kaleidoscope, who would not be trusted in any constituency until Mr SctHon took him under his wing and supported his candidature at Inangahua against Mr P. J. O'Regan. When returned he bit the bosom which warmed him into life, and was one of the Government's bitterest opponents. Speaking of this political mountebank the Napier Telegraph, a Tory organ, said every one loiew Sir Robert Stout as a cunning office-seeker, and they had no sympathy with his efforts to supersede Mr Seddon. Sir Robert's whole aim was to get office on the back of the Tory party after the Liberals had kicked him out. In 1890 Sir Robert Stout advocated the State keeping a grip on the land, and the State control of lands, railways, and education. Today they all knew what he was. Though the Conservative Press praised Mr Rolleston fawningly, when he was in power his tactics were severely criticised by the same organs. The Conservative Press were vena], and wrote what suited their business. Mr Duthie did his utmost to injm-e the credit of the colony in England, and when Mr Ward was at Home Mr Duthie wrote damagingly ot' the colony to financial journals. Mr George Hutchison, the Judas of the House, first entered Parliament as a Liberal and a representative of the workers when he was returned for Wanganui through Mr Ballance's support against the Hon Mr Bryce. He used to speak with horror of the degradation in which the poorer classes were plunged. Now he was one of the most bitter and venomous Oppositionists. Criticising the Government this man said he could not speak of them in Parliamentary terms. They were pimps and panderers to banks and loan companies; but what Government did he thus speak of—the Atkinson Government. (Cheers.) The Government spent twenty-five million pounds in political railways construction for political ends 18 years ago and these trains are now running once a week. Messrs Duthie and Bell waited until Sir Robert Stout spoke in Wellington, and when they saw the electors would have none of him they decided to retire from politics. Messrs Mitchellson and J. G. Wilson, like rats, also deserted the sinking ship of Conservatism. He had no sins of commission or omission to answer for as he had never sat in the House, but he would tell them he intended to support the Seddon Government, which, if it did nothing but give the Lands for Settlement and the Advances to Settlers Bills to the colony, was entitled to the continued confidence of the people. This was Mr Ballance's platform, and the present Government had carried it out faithfully. The desire of every Britisher was to have a home of his own, and the Government intended providing homes for the workers by cutting up the largo estates. The Scriptures said the land was given to the children of men, which fact the Government recognised, and they worked for this end. The Conservatives told the workmen to be content with their lot in this world and to look for their reward in the next, but they liked to take the best of this world themselves and leave the chance for the heareafter to the poor man. He travelled a great deal through the country lately, and from an Arcadian point of view the sheep dotting the paddocks looked wonderfully well, but the home's and the population where were they ? He would support the Government which placed the people on the land instead of the sheep (loud applause). The Tories' prayer was " Give us this day our neighbors' bread." (Laughter.) The Government which placed people on the land without increasing the taxation of the colony should receive the support of ail thinking men. When the Government took over the Cheviot estate there were 78 persous living on it, and sheep were of moreconsequence than human There was now a population of •'>(>, with churches, libraries, and scli-mls. The Government had received aJ the rent due, and had £4OOO to the good. (Cheers.) He could not give them a better example of the beneficial results of cutting up the land than Hawera, where the happy and contented farmers exported the products of the earth, and the community was thriving. Compare this with the province of Hawke's Bay, where the land was much superior, but was lying fallow and unfilled. If the estates round Kaikora were cut up and the plough driven through the land the population must necessarily increase, and Kaikora would develop into a busy, thriving, and important town. The Advances to Settlers Act was an object lesson in the greatest good to the greatest number. Before the Act was passed farmers were at the mercy of loan companies, who charged aa much as 12 per cent. TJtti Government raised English which they advanced to setOTre at 5 per cent. If they pay G per cent. 1 per cent, went to a sinking fund, and in thirty-six years the debt would be wiped out. The Government also laid down a scale of charges for the middle man and the lawyer, who were the bane of small farmers, which protected the settlers from imposition. The object of the Government was to assist the smaller farmers, and 67 per cent of this class who applied for loans from the Government borrowed the money to wipe off old mortgages in which they were paying 10 percent. (Cheers). That Tory organ the London Times spoke in the highest terms of the Advances to Settlers Act. Captain Russell argued that under the

L i • . > lit no man's 1. ;.'t v■- -.f - [ f»in . , ri» mii/ut at a:ty tiiue pounce »>n i'. ;i;i t < t qiu-i t!v i le <>\\! . r t ok no iiu»T'-~: in in its improvement: that thn- Act kept c ; i'al uut of the c lony. and !:»■ dr» w a moving pi. »"nr- . \>'>hli shuu! ! i»* -♦; to -low in i-e-. »■ J h mes brok. r: ~nd [anils - r..i i-ore fiapdo.*!! A r \ T ~e i.i \ " ! )r,) - vidcd tna" I.»X>O re■< nt t'r- ■!i 2,000 aiTfs tjf Jiil el i--. -» *MiO acres of third cla-- las.d -'invaliding a htiu*.-:e.itl could not b< touched hy the «p rations of rh" Act. He was sent a~ "mani(»-t > by the Prohibition Colonial Council and a-k-d to -ign his name pK -ltriii'_r lain to -uppor; their views. II" tt» 1t ! -ir procr.tmine mo»l» ra'» . I I".' 1 i>r>'C-i"t i -:irninlt tlncunifi '■ '« *■> Id ti»- hni hand and !' ■ " m -i ilnTi- ( . If" notilii po--ib!. I' • to -:>,'n p!»di:t - by all the polttii n -1. m< nt-, and h- refu-ed t>. U' :>n nvtitn.a'.on. (C'ht er-. > !!•' v.:i> 5;.,: a Prohibitionist bat he was an advocate of temp ranee. II the Prohibition!-: ; v - ! ' r " c< they wonM ui\-- ;t. i»'< •• 'k for the present <*©v»"rnii.. n*. wht.'h h "I d«me more for th* advancement of temper ance than any previous ni:c. IK- was in favor of :i, three-fifths majority to male Prohibition law. ami favored the appointment of an in-i*vror to <»•»• that hotels dispensed pioy.r li-pior and nave uood act'.ninnind.''ton. If the fßHcnt law was enforced strictly there would be no iwd f. r prohibition. tfh u feretu* to the 'uarikinj question. tu> <»>'.> rnnit t:t in \o t M <s two million- to the Bank of Nt v A a laud av-nvd a national di-a-ter. 'I hey had only n hoar-: f->r con-i«l- ration, and they had to he <!■ u-ive. By their prompt action th»y -a\« d the country from dire re-ui*.-. If th truth were known tf i r-v.uivcs were responsible for ttn* euitduion in whi:.'h tht b-Luk w i He compandtht 'io\cnifiient i< ti in\>itfithat of the HusseH-Atkinson administration of l*- s< ), «htn the of New Zealand \rt \mendiat ut Act, section :t, prv)vidtd for the payment of dividendout of the current profits of the bank, which the operations of the institution did not warrant, in order to mislead the public as to its position. Section 6 of the same Act made this retrospective, so that they were dome this for some time. The Government had increased the public debt by tUTSM.Of'*). of which A*H."i*2,-">.V2 was sjwnt in remunerative schemes, which did net cost the colony (>d. leaving only which jrives no return. This was e\|>* tided in lighthouses, schools, .ve.. and the aununl interest was only £7,000. Th (ov rnment did not "increase the ( i i duties. The revenue only ii r l 1 in proportion to the papula tin I here was also an increast> in the revenue owinjr to the increased c<:>nsnmi>tifm of luMiries. This was a good as it showed people had money to spare for the purchase of such articles. He referred to the railways, and -aid they were worked, not as a source of revenue, but for the benefit of the people, and to encourage trade. The freight on sheep was reduced hy £30,000 per annum ; this did not loots like " spoils to the victors." The Government had brought the ship of State into a safe harbor, and if the affairs of the colony were left under their guidance New Zealand would be one of the happiest, land. m the l>riti-ii domin.on-. \\ hen the ht-'orv of New Z«al>ind will be written '' e present leiit-lation will form one of iUs brij*ht»-t pnges. and the land lor the people poliey of the present Ministry will be a monument to the Seddon Government more lasting than bronze. There being no questions asked, Mr Taylor proposed and Mr Westmoreland seconded that a vote of thanks be accorded to Mr Fraser for his able and instructive address and a vote of confidence in the Government. The motion was passed unanimously. A vote of thanks to the chair concluded the proceedings.