MR BOYCE BEFORE HIS CONSTITUENTS,

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 7177, 1 June 1885, Page 2

MR BOYCE BEFORE HIS CONSTITUENTS,

[by telegraph:."] Patea, Sunday. Mr Bryce addressed a well-attended meeting of his constituents last night at Waverley. He said he had last; addressed them as a ' Minister of the Crown, but now he was a member of Her Majesty's Opposition. They would remember that on the House meeting after the last general election the Atkinson Government resigned without waiting for a vote. Mr Thomson, in his address in Otago, had taken occasion to state that the fact of resigning without bringing any motion .before the House was a proof that they ought to have resigned in the previous session : but he (Mr Bryce) held that it did not follow that because they resigned after

the general election they were too weak the previous session. On their resignation what was substantially the present Government took office, but were defeated by a larger majority than any previous Ministry ever had against them, and yet practically the same Government were, how in office. Mr Thomson tried to form a Government, but failed; Sir George Grey also failed. THen Major Atkinson formed a Ministry, which' was defeated by a majority of eight. Then Mr Stout formed a Government, and virtually told the House " Take us or chaos." When the present Ministry got possession of the Government benches they took means to secure their tenancy. They loudly declared that dreadful disclosures were going to be made of the wrongdoings of the Atkinson Government, and that the disclosures were of so important a nature that nothing but physical force would remove them from the Government benches until the disclosures were made. But they turned out to be all moonshine. For further security of possession of tenure the present Government introduced what they called " policy bills." These were the District Railways Purchase Bill, the Bast and West Coast Railway Construction Bill, the Westport Colliery Bill, and the Greymouth Harbor Bill— bills which were of direct interest to members or members' friends — and gave the house to understand that the bills must stand or

fall as a whole. The result was tantamount to saying to members, " If you are interested in one of these bills you must vote for the lot, or imperil the one you are interested in." Such a huge piece of log-rollinet was never known in the colony before, and that waa sayiDg a great deal. These so-called policy bills really formed the work of the session. The District Railway Bill authorised the lease or purchase of the district railways. These railways had been formed by large speculating companies, and were curiously enough both a success and a failure. They were formed to enhance the value of the property through which they passed, and had been successful in that way, hut they were found not to pay. Now that the companies' object had been attained came the Government and said, "Take over these lines." It was perhaps well that the Hues should be taken over, but it should be on terms favorable to the colony, whereas he understood they Were to be taken at a value, not of their actual cost, but at their cost witharrears of rates supnradded. These companies had to get a vote of the ratepayers, but the shareholders and the ratepayers were almost the same, and it did not add to the Qomf ort of the thing to find that Sir Julius Yogel was a shareholder and chairman oE directors of one of these companies, while Mr Stout was solicitor to one company. He (Mr Bryce) would not say there was anything corrupt, but it was not at all pleasant to find that the necessary power to arrange on behalf of one of those companies rested with these members of the Government. The bill was rejected in the Upper House, but so anxious were the Government to have it passed that they really re-embodied the bill in a resolution and asked the House to. pass it. The House did so. Many members disliked the resolution, but would not vote against it for fear of throwing out the other bills which they wanted passed. The East and West Coast Railways Construction Bill proposed the formation of a huge company to make the railway. It was strange that while the Government were professing to be anxious to conserve the lands of the Crown they should be prepared to grant from a million to a million and a half acres to a syndicate. He took exception to the statement that the land was bad and rocky. It certainly contained valuable coal fields, and it might tap valuable minerals ! The bill also had a provision that if the land in the vicinity of the line was not sufficient to pay half the coat of construction land be taken elsewhere. Such a policy, he held, was bad in principle, and should not be tolerated for a moment. But in addition to the provision he had mentioned the Government were to take over the railway when completed and give the company 35 per cent, of the gross earnings, without regard as to whether the railway would pay or not. He contended that any Minister who would advocate such a thing had not the interest of the colony at heart. In addition to these policy bills the present Government were to put the colony's finance straight. This, the Government said, was in a terribly wrong state and must be put straight. The satisfactory way in which this had been done had been explained by Mr Thomson much in this way: Authority was taken for borrowing for the North Island trunk railway £1,000,000; also loan of 1884 of £1,500,000, a loan to the extent of the accrued sinking fund, amounting to £2,792,808, and a loan to the .extent of the sinking fund of this year amounted to £24,400. In addition to this direct loan authority there was power giren for indirect borrowing for the Westport colliery £500,000, guaranteed debentures £150,000, and Otago Harbor Board £750,000, bringing the total amount of borrowing authorised to £9,436,808j all in one session, except the million for the North Island railway authorised last session. The philosopher's stone which was to save the colony £244,000 a year turned out to be seizing the sin^ijig fund. The colony was bound to pay'the sinking fund each year out of rerenue, bat to save the colony paying this Sir Julius Yogel borrowed on debentures and added the debentures to the debt of the colony. This was dona to restore confidence. Sir .Julius Yogel argued that the higher the transfer value of land the bet'fer it was for the colony, but that was not the settler's view. The settler regarded the land as worth what could be made out of it and no more ; as soon as the nominal value went beyond that it got to be a fictitious value, and that was an unsound position. .Debentures had been issued to the amount of £247,7.00fbr the purpose of raising money in order to pay the sinking fund. And , this was to, enable the colony "to advance by leaps and bounds," which Sir Julius Yogel had promised ! Whea Mr Stout went to Dunedin it was expected that he would explain the local government scheme of the Government, but he made a very weak speech and never

mentioned local government. This surprised everybody, and Sir Julius Yogel was sent for and he told a great deal about local government. Sir Julius described the present form of local gov.emtnent with, very minor alterations, and called it a new scheme. The whole colony had been waiting to learn how Sir Julius Yogel proposed to make the local bodies assured of an income, but what he described was not very assured as it consisted of on a sliding scale, which must ' be voted by the Assembly, if and when it liked. The new system was worse than the present one, and would end in complete disappointment. The Premier was horrijSed at £200,000 being spent on roads, ;but he (Mr Brvce) believed that in the repeal of the Roads and Bridges Construction Act the Government were not acting in sympathy with the settlers. /It was said that power was to be .given to the native committees to ideal with the title to land. It vwbb the merest folly to deal with native Uand before the title was determined. (It was a most grievous wrong to tho colony to go on with the central railway route with no prospect of a definite settlement. It *as largely increasing the value of the laud for the native

owners who were not liable te'taxatic«yS l&^R He was a North Island many v^t(||ip^P^B would say most emphafcicallyythalnotSaM lis^l sod ought ■to have been turneM^iM|ajS- I^HH satisfactory title: tp the iahd't.thromffi^^M which ifc passed had been ''bbtain%al^^PH lie now came to' a Bubjec^ J liei?7puwt|l^MH nave liked to haye 1 passeA^oyer^^M^Sß present irritation on the,epaffib^(?]9j|^^i|^^H[ not attach must .inippriaao%^b[i]|^{|il|^S^H were firmly dealt^with.^CjHe-f^oiildiy^^H simply enforce ' the law\,with'.iti^n|Sas'if^pH with Europeans. If that.-w6rl^rffl|y 4t^B and fairly done no harm ;wpul^i(c,pM^ 2STo amount of palaver could? jfcake^^n'e^i;;^^^! place of enforcing the la^. WitKi||a|d, \ MbH to the finance of the; colony' 'he^wa|^^^SH sorry he could not take so •hopefttlillS^^sH view as Major Atkinspn^^ld-irtalc^lil^SH There wa3 a greater tendency sijiJ'ibHelif^pH men o£ to-day to . fly firianciatl'.Bws^Mgpi than dig colonial potatoes^a^d^nnleßsS^gß that disposition took aturn,vfac^te,|.^HH better he cpuld not help ; f eelin^MM^^ the colony would be in a serious 'gijsifa^^S tion. If prosperity was:tobe>secure3Sp;:p'^® different plan would have to be adop||^l^^^ than that which was ' being porsped^y^fS^ the present Government." It %&$. '$\v^ s ibWSk politically ...on * exciting , ex^ectafippl'^lMffl which could not be realised, \an"df-i'ifci»f flip would die politically, of theidisapp'oinwd^l^B hopes it had- created. ' : ' ; '. ■''/".?;>: rv^oo3m& A vote ,of bonfiderioe Wds unanimously. '• -^ ;*' f.:'\':'r^.-i r^4!|;|^ :^M