Captain Russell at Hastings.

Hastings Standard, Issue 177, 21 November 1896, Page 2

Captain Russell at Hastings.

A CROWDED AND ENTHUSIASTIC MEETING. A large and most enthusiastic- audience greeted Captain Russell in the Princess Theatre last evening. Mr Beilhy, who presided, said it was unnecessary for liim to ask a Hastings audience to give an impartial hearing to Captain Russell ; they extended that courtesy to every one (applause) Captain Russell, who was received with loud and continued cheers, said it was a pleasure to have a friend like Mr Beilby in the chair that evening. Mr Beilby wns an excellent substitute for the Mayor, who had the pluck and public spirit to contest ail electorate where he was a stranger against a Government Minister, in the .cause of independence and patriotism. 'Tile chairman had asked them to give him an impartial hearing, and lie was sure they would; but he did not travel through the country with a policeman to act as '• chucker out" and to stifle independent opinion. He respected honest convictions, and he would be glad to hear J anv sensible and pertinent interruptions in the course of his .speech. Tin; prkmieh's actions. When the Premier delivered a lengthy s S,ocli in that hall lately he (Captain Russell) did not come to hear him. In the first place he knew exactly what the Premier was going to say, as he had heard him go over the same beaten track time after time for the last six years ; and in the second place his native modesty would not permit him to listen to a persistent attac kupon himself and his actions, and to a garbled account of his character. He had addressed public meetings ill NewZealand from Auckland to Invercnrgil, and throughout he had been cordially received; but he travelled the country at his own expense and he trusted they would agree with him that there was a groat difterence between public men travelling at their own expense for the purpose of addressing the people and the political campaign, at the expense of the taxpayers, which the Government was now canning on through the country. The one was a a fair open method and the other an en - deavor to ram the opinions of the present Ministry down the throats of the electors' at the expense of the colony. (Applause). If Ministers ca:ne to a constituency for the purpose of supporting a candidate he thought in all fairness that the expenses of these Ministers and their secretaries should be charged to the account of the candidate whom they support. Again the Government ordered the different registrars to pay men to scout the country for the ostensible purpose of getting the names of every man and woman entitled to vote upon the roll ; but as almost every man so employed was bitterly opposed to his (Captain Rus.m ll'sl policy the result was obvious, and he appealed to every fainuinded man and woman if tuis was not an unwarrantable interference with the freedom of electors. (Applause). It was idle to argue on matters of taste, as diverse opinions were held on this subject, but he thought it was no special symptom of refined taste when the Premier came in hss (Captain Russell's) contitueiiey, not to expound the policy of his Government, hut to directly and wilfully misrepresent the tactics of his opponents. The Premier said he never hit below the belt and would refrain from personalities, but his spec eh in that hall was bristling with personalities ; and if he did not intentionally hit below the belt all he' could sav was that the Premier had no idea of where the belt was put on. (Laughter.! Mr Seddon was quite within his rights in striving to prove that he (Captain Russell) was unfit to represent them in Parliament ; but when he descended to false statements and misrepresentations he degraded the exalted oi'iice he tilled and was unfit to be Premier of the colony. (Applau: e )

A SERVILE PARLIAMENT. Three Years ago good aiul tried wen were turned out of Parliament in iavor of unknown candidates pledged to the support of Mr Seddou's policy. Those were the sort of men Mi' Seddon loved and lie I the Premier) held written promises from many of them giving him their support. The' Primier objected to independent men: he wanted slaves. 'Well, he had got them, for the present Parliament was the most servile Parliament in the history of the colony. There was practically no opposition in Parliament at present, which was most unhealthy for the welfare of the colony and left the Government with unbridled power to do as they pleased. TIIK OPPOSITION. The little band which lie had the honor to lead struggled with the arduous duties of the Opposition night after night, striving to stem the torrent of perniciouslegislatio'n, and this without having any object in view but the good of the country. "When he took the leadership of the Opposition he did so with diffidence, as lie followed strong and ardent leaders like the Hon. John Bryce, the Hon. "W. Holleston. and Sir John Hall, and he felt the terrible responsibility of fighting against overwhelming odds for the right and waiting patiently until the common sense of the people came back to see the fallacy of the present Government's policy, (elieers). AUTOCRACY. Mr Seddon's Government was not the popular Government ; it was a Government of the country for the Premier and his followers, to the exclusion of all who were manly and independent enough to challenge his methods. It was an autocratic Government, and if the Premier likens his position to the captain of a ship with a captain's right to obedience he would tell him he was a pirate captain who seized the ship against the will of the party when Mr Balance died, and held it by sheer force of his personality until he was able to manipulate the elections. With an affection of geniality of manner he lifted himself on the necks of the people to the position he now held, and lie now received large salaries from outside sources which lie would not receive were he not Premier. The present Government interfered with the political, social, and commercial habits of the people, and when this occurred capital was scared from a country, commercial confidence was undermined, and the welfare of a country jeopardised. PAST ELECTIONS. He had never the pleasure of a walk over in his constituency. He had contested the electorate with Mr Desmond, who was an ardent Socialist, and with Mr lieardon, who, though he had no distinct scheme of spoliation, was a firm upholder of Mr Seddon's policy, which was practically being a Socialist. Socialism was bad for any country. Unthinking people concluded that by attacking those who by their thrift and energy were in a prosperous position they would do good to the general community ; this was wrong, as such a course destroyed confidence, injured trade, and scared capital—the life blood of a country —from our midst. THE UNEMPLOYED. He held the present Government resp jnsille for the scarcity of employment

in the colony, as at the lest elections ; they promised the electors to find work for the unemployed. How did they do it'? They only gave work to those who gave political work in return, and when the elector.-; of Hawke's Bay did not return the Ministerial candidate the workers of this elector,'.te w..-; o left to shift for themselves: anil yet ho was sure there were persons in his audience who still believed in the agitators, who only sought profit and emoluments for themselves and their friends. They knew how sensitive to an asmospherie change the ordinary barometer was ; in the same way the commercial barometer was influenced even when the ordinary observer could not detect the change, and the commercial barometer of the colony had stood at " stormy " for the past six years. For six years the withering blasts of scorn had blown fiercely on capital and the waves of Socialism had engulpbed industry. Was it any wonder then that the ship of capital furled her sails and made all snug to weather the storm ; but when the sky cleared by returning confidence, the prosperity of the country would return. Great effects often came from small and seemingly foreign causes, and in governing a nation, for this reason, too much attention could not be paid to thinking out the Results of the details of legislation. CAUSE AND KFFEC'T. In order to illustrate the subtle connec tion existing between seemingly remote matters, he quoted from a work of the Right Hon. J. G. Goschen 011 the '• Cultivation of Imaginations": "Bumble bees were necessary to innoculate red clover so that seed might be provided ; field mice were the enemy of the bumble bee, and cats wire the enemies of field mice. Thus if a crusade were instituted against cats the result would be that field mice would increase, the bumble bee would be destroyed, and the raising of red clover become impossible.'' The manufacture of bicycles interfered with the cigarette trade, as it was impossible to smoke whilst riding. Another instance was that the election of Major McKinley. President of the United States, was beneficial to Hastings. He would prove it. Mr Bryan, Mr McKinley's opponent, promised to do a great many impossible things for the people, and consequently capital was scared, mills employing large numbers of hands shut down, and general depression was the result. Immediately after the return of Mr McKinley confidence was restored, stocks rose, the mills started again, and thousands of bales of wool were sold at good prices. This meant a revival in the wool market, in which Hastings was largely interested. (Cheers.) This showed that a staple form of Government was best for the country and the people, for trade revived anil the country nourished as they could never do under tiic fictitious policy of Socialism. T!;UK CAUSK OF UXK3iI>LOVI-;t> DlFi'll UM'V. Yet another instance of cause and effect. He would show that the present, administration were mainly responsible for the number of unemployed in the country at present. He admitted that the low prices had something to do with it, but a letter written by the Premier was the first cause of this lamentable state of things. In July. IW>'2. when Mr Seddon was Minister of Pubiie Works, he wrote a letter to Mr G. M. Prendergast, vice-pre-sident of the Trades Hall, Melbourne, in which he expatiated 011 the virtue of the co-operative works system in New Zealand. with the natural result that the colony was Hooded with the unemployed of Australia. Air AY. AlcLean. at that time a member for Wellington, lecturing in the Melbourne Trades Hall on the same subject, said the Government supplied free railway passes and sixpenny restaurant coupons for the unemployed going 011 these works, and said that this, together with the v igorous land policy of the Government left New Zealand without fifty genuinely unemployed men in the country. Of course all the starving unemployed of Australia swarmed to this paradise, and thus the tampering of the Government with the settled commercial and social habits of the people involved issues fraught with pernicious results to the country, and plunged the colony into the very depression they were pledged to remove". In 189 i» an official return of the House showed there were '207 unemployed in Wellington, and the ITOII. Mr Hall-Jones, now Minister of Labor, admitted that the Premier's letter to Air Prendergast and Mr AlcLean s lecture were responsible for so many unemployed. The reason for this letter was to increase the population of the colony by getting back the exodus of some .years ago. which was falsely attributed to the Conservative Government.

MASTKBS A>."l> AI'PKKNTICKS BILL. Another attempt on the part of the Government to help the unemployed was (he Masters and Apprentices Bill, but the Government had no intention of passing it, and though the l'l-emier iuti o-luced it lie never attended the committee meetings and lliey had to work the Bill into shape themselves. Even the labor members composing the committee did not think the Bill practicable. The Bill provided for one apprentice to every four journeymen. This meant that the blacksmiths' shops in the country districts would have to close, as a youth was required to assist as a striker to the smith. If the apprentices were thus limited their children would be forced to take up trades for which they were possibly unsuited owing to other trades being legally stocked with apprentices, and when a spurt occurred in a particular trade, as it often did, the tradesman could not cope with it, with the result that artisans from Australia, would fill the places which should be held by their people (cheers). Another regulation of the Act provides that apprentices be taken between the ages of 1-i and "20, after which age they could be employed as journevmen. Thus they would see that after five years apprenticeship, from 14 to 19, a lad would have to wait 12 months for employment, and he would be virtuallydriven into the ranks of the unemployed. The Act provided that 10% of ordinary wages be paid to apprentices —that was if a man received 10s a day the apprentice was paid Is. This was no very marked improvement on the present system. RATING ACTS. The present Government had made a proper muddle of the Rating Acts, and no doubt many in the hall that night had been hard hit by the legislation which had been introduced by the Government with regard to the Napier Harbor Bosrd rating. The speaker went onto describe how under the new system rating on house property had been vastly increased and that on land, which was not perishable, it had been decreased. All were beginmg to feel that it was very easy to borrow money, but the dav Mould come when the taxes had to be paid for this borrowing and the people would be the safterers. He maintained that there should be but one system of taxation m the colony, under which all should pay alike. (Cheers.) OLD AGE PENSIONS. And then he came to a burlesque on legislation in the Old Age Pensions Bill, a measure introduced by the Government without any intention whatever of passing it. It was'strange that the proposal was mentioned ill the Uoveruor's speech at the

(•pening of the session, yet it was not until three months utter, at a time when members were anxious to get back to their constituents, that the second reading of the Bill was taken. In his speech on the I Sill, Mr Sedilon devoted six minutes to explaining i he provisions of the measure and fifty-four minutes to buncombe anil twaddle. The Premier had swelled with pride when he .stated what he wanted to do for the poor and needy, but Mr Seddon was only anxious to do anything for that ela. when he thought he could get of it. But who first introduced iniii! '? It was not the Liberal Party. Ii was i!v. late Sir Harry Atkinsir- snl one of the strongest opponents tk. ti to Hi<' jiroposj'l was Richard .John S< !>ion. "Vlie Mill was a mere machinery one—simp's « scheme for ascertaining how man;, pc Miero were in the colony of a certan: All the Premier wanted was to go bet ore the people and say that he hail introdu •<.>? a Bill which had been thrown out by die wicked Conservatives or the still more wicked Upper House. He thought the State should aid the indigent, but it was the duty of all to strive to make themselves independent. A BKTTKU SCIIKMK. In his opinion an extension of the principle of I'riondh Societies would be preferred to an Old-age pension scheme. These societies were doing splendid work ii 1 New Zealand at the present time. He dealt at length with the superannuation fund of the Oddfellows, and showed that under that scheme an old-age pension could be provided at the cost of a long beer or a packet of cigarettes per week. THK CPi'i-a; iiousk. The Premier had endeavored to stir up an agitation against the Upper House, and he thought it was n pity that a mail who held such a position should attempt to degrade the members of the l.egisla- | tive Council. There had been some talk of introducing the referendum, but although it had been a success in Switzerland iie doubted whether it would act in New Zealand. The present system of | constitution was to be preferred to the Referendum. Referring again to the Upper House, the speaker said very little harm could come from any action of that body. It was only right and proper that they should say that until the people had been consulted on certain measures they should not allow any fundamental principle to be interfered with. He could not favor an elective Upper House. '• TWIiNTY .YKAIIS Aim." The Premier that that lie (the speaker) had not. changed his opinions for twenty years. That was by 110 means the case. He had also said that if the Opposition were returned to power one of their first acts would be to repeal the land and income tax and revert- to the property tax. That was also inaccurate. He had always maintained that realised wealth ought to be taxed, and that there should be exemptions from taxation on the necessaries of life wherever the exigencies of revenue would allow. CUSTOMS. "When the present Government increased the tariff they stated that the increases would only amount to >£lo,ooo ; but last year the taxpayers had to pay an increase of no less than .£102.000. True Liberalism endeavored to make everything as cheap as possible, for the people ; but the Liberalism of the present Government was piling on the taxes and making living more difficult every day. The Opposition believed in evolution not revolution. W lien they come into power they will endeavor to carry out the laws of the colony according to the wishes of the people.

LAND PURCHASE. Mr Seddon hat! stated that the Government had acquired the Woburu estate, lie had made this statement knowing at the time that it was contrary to fact. Tin; Government had proposed to lake the estate under the compulsory clauses of the Act; but in his opinion it was a mere election cry for the Waipawa seat ; and after the elections were over nothing more would be heard of the purchase, lie had always laid down tli;; principle that the time had not come to take advantage of compulsory acquisition of land. There were millions of acres which hud been purchased by the colony and hundreds of thousand acres owned by the Assets Idealisation Board, and these were the lands that should be cut up and settled upon. The Lands for .Settlement Office was a mere electioneering machine which Government was working in almost evcrv part of New Zealand. 'I ho administration of the Land for Settlement Act had been very bad. He quoted from the Government report that Pomahaka had turned out a failure and that there had been six evictions in the estate last year. The Fair Rent Rill introduced by the Premier would mean the doing away with the lease in perpetuity altogether! The Government had previously agreed to the 5)99 years system, and they had no right to go back on the?r promises. The freehold tenuru best procurable and he (Captain S.msm'il, would always assist a man in coiu.-rting a. lease in perpetuity into a freehold :> tie was capable of doing it. OOVEKNMENT TACTICS. He laid heard that two other Ministers were to address the Hastings electors before the election and that a smart speaker also would lecture on behalf of the Liberals. He (Captain Russell) would endeavor to again meet a Hastings audience before J>eeember 4lb. and explain matters for which he had no time that evening. tiito public ni'.iir. Mr Seddon had quoted misleading figures with regard to the increase in the public debt-, lie would show them that the present administration had borrowed to the extent of six millions, for every million of which the taxpayer had yearly to pay 000. When, he asked, would the colony rise as one man against this so-called Liberalism, which spends money indiscriminately amongst its friends and piles oil the taxes on the people. (Cheers.) IHli I'UBl.K' SERVICE. Amongst other misstatements it had been said that as soon as the Conservatives come into office they will reduce the wages of all Civil Servants 10 per cent. He repudiated the idea that they would go in for cheeseparing, as he conssillejujd that good services should be rewarded with good pay. THE CHINESE yCESTION. The statement made by Mr Seddon that he (Captain Russell) had supported the influx of Chinese to these shores was entirely contrary to fact, and he quoted from Hansard to show that in 1878 he had supported the imposition of a polltax. I'IioHIBITION. He was opposed to prohibition on principle. Though lie was a disciple of temperance he looked upon prohibition as an interference with the liberty of those who took stimulants in iin>deration and deeencv; but he would W in favor of any legislation to restrain the abominable habit of drunkenness, and would favor the closing of public Louses which were conducted in a disreputable or disorderly

Illfli 1 ' ■ oaf". i of the pulv. ■ hor ■ 1'.'.0 ■ ■ '.a tT:< r.--ts of the it i' ; v law v., v i uleeil.. i;. i* 1 - - wo-d t • :t-e • . ; £::» r-' t eot 1-- :r: .■ .■;>• p:ilk«; : a.r t'ir'r -I:tf v ; rsrt I Whole •' : ..■XaitrtL I f tLr.wvs. The i ».>•'! ta" i.- 1 !'. > •«. nu -I i; : s i i. -e to tii-.- r i .. He said t t t .r .-i!tv;iys l:eie:t,e:e ■!. th.it the p Hi i ( ontro! of tiie ra'l-i..vi wc.s inimi'-itl to the vvt-jfcre of the en'. •Mul t l .i .i! -\.ii d <. urn "•to'in- nt'n 1 !>l t,! 1 . 1 i _oil i,i I hulitof.ia »h »i- * •' 11 *'] t' • m lit lln (<>i * i 11 n_• of ii ihi _ UH .1* ' U >'. l 111 ■ I fi ->1 W >.l jnnons to i■ e 1 '• vviin-h -• :• .*.!>! Ik; controlled *' j • Hicii t . tuf- ie i.t of ti •- rit.oii . .in t i" p< ' • M-T« tt(. JI. .t i t r 1 ' itt reditftjoris tit t- • .-•.{• the v\ pmi nr. ft . i. ( ie > u. tt ei. t'KM\LE tU^K. It iift'rui'- the ft-ntidt- fr.f »i, ii i t ■ II iI" l. Tniii tl Hutii'r " ' »j pt- li f nid n ken In- toid tilf It.' it.nvr tooled a wciiua m his l«te i u ti . i I > iJ_ his he-t to fool t ii tlo'ii 11 *■ i • Sir John Hall wont 1 ior lilt mil the- v, oni.sn's franl i till t'.t i ll 1 . ! I -I. ,• W ud. Tht ip in ti and t irr,-!! voted ._j i~. f t'u U!' t»r»i.when l't >. I ti • 1 i--7 * 1 l w '. i lIU d a :-i. -iL deal w.Hui-n s tntneht*tnenniat I ih list it ail t i ! 1 <>d si A . ! ;;t it « is unlv t in I lit' wan e;it ot i> uvr witiio'lt do'ii" :no teuiL*. h.a\in/ ">i -loan II di t'> _ \ t'i f i. i lis tot . The livum r v.-as woll u'.'<in;itnt."-! with tins nin u he spoke to tlu-m mi nu lu.a. THE V. r.IMI-.KI: OKA? X. If w flll to -1\ til it 1 . u d !Td the voliiiitfi-r r.i|>u.itunt jiraut. Ist:- was l>v the Cm.creotia.t. n, ii'vl-i'l t ' i ' ; Wl.n. lie took o iii re tno v'-ar-; 1.-itt-i' he «!ratt»>«l a 1«1I to tutproi the cwttlition oi tav \ o'unteci's. '1 ins luTl f->r a p-trtral pajtiK ti* .t> mt u "'a' I.v t•' *i •> i cin f.ijui r '.'. i. ii > i i : a::d t-' r!> i p■i •t ; . > ■M-.tfiifil ni'.it". i'. « il' hi 11 ' * litt titi foi' thiir i ip. *. nii • il-. titt ei <. 1 t>f ttur. I''i» r Vi».i .i (1 's, rt i iii in the colony \vhieh -.v.th tr- • d tnottin,* and discipline should he as ltcmhl *n!«tier« a-, tlin -f i'f or c. f ,ir. r\ i'i rh< world, and when i>e i. f . h-' u vi.d t li.'ijh*;- d:~- 1 c'.phnt' niak .'i « iit \ .-eniti .i-------curps. The or.t'a >ik i'l it.-pair\ it ties eleet'ou v-.'s utvid. .'s 111' total lliltah- is polled lit fn ir ot t-i- I.iler.tli in the j colony at the l:t>r general election was trilling. The total votes po'led Were 3t)3.0'7<> —.itet--'—fit! i-m.ii hi'i - I" unsiii'ces.ifn'i e-indtl. i :>- ll'Ml.:. ! a iii-tjoi-in. tur 'he (ioM-ntmen: tin th co!..i\ uf -li'ti. fii'iu I i«-t tt pt.-.in th.'t a -i.i i'l flf.rt.'e ':t p«si ! .• p lull vevlM t.i.-'in t'.i. li.diri . '.l :h oth.- r : s -alt. at I -t s i, rlai.; -v.. p.,1 l re., ait llie Gove;-.itin-Hi on ;lii' 4th I'eeeniher. iCliter.-i. Tiir. "t; n-iTi'O. r-'E.n \. It was reeo-an-ed all over the world tlint ih-? l>[ ;>•' . r i*'■ I w.'-. n>>t -\p it -I t-i liiv down .- .• ' Ul.. a ! l.i'ier.d iiji:l .r r-1 ■' ,v i ■ ■ Mi —. > !"■ and £*- li"' * - I t-' - ; te the Lificr.iE p>h." a.:'.! •"\ hi I t.ill.- moilt'is to iiti|riirc iiru tht tinatti e-, nf The tinanr.'e-' { ,t ch,- .; t 'n>u\ v. u ;i,. n sound, so that in ttt. p.i.'.r!-. r :e of th<; colony's tiu.-iv.rv t'.n- < >ppi~it; >n ■- \ everv rias«>ii to r'-i't--- ; > d-.ifr .•■ j>< l l• ■ until Ihev i'tnder»itiK»d their position, hut if rct'inicd to p<i".. • hi- u'eiu'iid aim would Ik.' tu • --t >tt i ititnn ii'i d Ciaiti lenee, r«coii.'i!e tn ilissts. enrour:e_'e the ill - vestment of <-ap't d in the eewitry :'»d in everv pcssihle niantter s-tiuiuli>te tin.: in - ilustries an Il' 1 ( > of the r'doitv > that the tint me >\( 1 t .ffieiilfy should disappear from t> p t > -.I horizon. IjrKsTIONs. In answer to tjuesEiotis. Captain llus-ell Slid:— He eon-l'liTi-d hi ' I i * . than lease in pt tp»-tsiiM. H 1 -it 11 lilc to giviny chi- ip ttiotiey to 1.11 1 1 - IJc did not Whi' 1. m taxing the unimproved lal e uflc.d. He would he tn i.auf (if < Xel'l lite; money lender* trotn rar'i.-uu'Tit. With refer* nee ro ti <» revisimi i.f texntton Im« thought the prop»-r idi-.i would be to reduce the ta.xes on the neee-ssartes of life. He did not "pp- s te».- s t .,niir_' of a woollen fartor> in HHe put On tiie motion .11 Mr -J. N. V ilhatns, seconded by Mr IVti-h'f; . a vote of thank-i tn fap'-'-ti Kii--<il f>n Ir's address and eontidenre in him as a randidate was carried timtdst the enthusiasm. A vote of thanks to the chair concluded the meeting.