MR SWAN'S MEETING.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 9540, 28 November 1893, Page 2

MR SWAN'S MEETING.

An enthusiastic meeting ot Mr Swan's supporters was held in the Theatre Royal last night). There was a very large attsndance, the circle being filled with Indies, and the downstairs portion of the Hoose with male electors. There was also a goodly nnmber of both ladies and gentlemen oh the stage. Mr C. Cranby occupied the chalr,'ifc<J in a few words explained how it fflffie about that tbe meeting was held. Mr Ward, a member of tbe Government, had been brought up here to get the last word for the other eide, so that there should be no opportunity of a reply, and an excursion train was rnn to help to get him an audience for one side of the queslloo only, A request had been made that an opportunity should be allowed to answer Mr Ward after he bad spoken, but as that was too much like feir play the request was refused. Hence there was nothing for it but to hold a meeting at tha Theatre Royal, during which the speech made by Mr Ward at WintOD, which it was designed he should repeat here, might be criticised and refuted. Mr M'Lean, who had been requested to deal with the aspect of the question now before tha electors, had kindly consented to do so. _ Mr M'Lean, who was received with *■■- great applause, said that the eide they represented desired nothing so much as fair discussion of the great questions of the day, But that they oonld not obtain fiora the other eide. There had been many political meetings addressed by bath sides, and while Mr Swan and bis supporters had dealt with the questions before the country, the other side had not x even been able to brlog themselves to defend the Government or reasonably attack the Opposition. They had praotloally confined themselves to tha history of some hundreds of years ago, tnd had spread themselves ont on the continent of Amerloa lnptead of concerning themselves with matters relating to New Zealand. (Applause.) Mr Ward had attempted to defend the financial polloy of the Government, and had come to Napier, so they were told, to repeat that speech. The speaker, in addition to some general remarks he would make, would criticise that speech and refnte the statements in it, and be would ds so by faota drawn from publications issued by the Government themselves. (Cheers.) The spanker then went on to dfsoribe what was styled loan conversion, which when . properly carried out was of advantage to the country, as although it increasMthe amount of the debt it reduced the interest payable. Bat pny so-called conversion that did nob result iv any decrease of interest, and that was purchased too dearly, was an injury to the colony. Mr M'Lean went into the history of the £600,000 loan of 1863, payable in 1915. At the time the so-called conversion of that loan was commenced the sinking fund in coaneo* tlon with it was £256,000, leaving the net ) indebtedness at that time £244,000. To redeem that loan of £500,000, in order to get the sinking fnnd, and so procure revenue by sly borrowing while pretend, ing not to be borrowing at all, the Government bad to Issue another loan at SJ per cent. The original loan was at 4 : per cent, But every hundred pound j debenture of that loan of £500,000 had to be purchased 8t a premium of £17. and as the 3J per oant debentures bad to be sold at) a discount of 5 per cent, it followed that for every £IGO of tbe old loan at 4 per cent redeemed the Government! had to give £122. In other words they converted a loan of ,£500,000 at 4 per cent, in connection with which there was £258,000 of aconmnlated slaking fund, into a loan of £610,000 at 34 percent. (A voice: "Shame.") When they heard It ont they would have a still worse; opinion of this most questionable ' transaction. As he had said, the £600,000 loan, less tbe sinking fund accumulated, left a net indebtedness of £244,000. This had been exchanged for an Indebtedness of £610,000, leas the amount o! the sinking fond, after making allowance for £96 000. p«t of the sinking fnnd used In paving off debentures. That made the net in. debtedness £514,000 an against £244,000 or > an increase of £270,000 In the debt of tha J- , colony at the price paid by the Governm' ment to enable them to snatoh £250,0017-* o. elnkins' fund to use as revenue and to pretend that fcbey Vere not borrowing. (Loud aoplause.) And he would now glvo ' proof of oonsoions gnilt qn tbe part of the Government with respeot to this '■ most) disgraceful transaction, for al- w though they pretended to believe 16 r.l capab'e of being defended now, they ' ''■ .took ,. fine oire to keep it oat of - :•;■ the Financial Statement. And tbe .Jj importance of that woold be more deary ■ "lia seen when he laid before them BOrne facts. t^yS which the Government had oonceiled/andwiMl

took all sorts of oftte they did not refer to, if, as was doubtful, they knew anything at all about them. This conversion of the i' 600,000 loan into one of £610,000 to get nt the sinking fnnd wob completed on the 15ttj of March, The Financial Statement was made up to, and was supposed to show, all transactions up till that time. Well, this Financial Statement was not laid upon the table of the House till July, so that if the Government had nob felt ashamed of their conversion operations, and had wished to let the Houße know of them, as it was their duty to do, the matter would have been referred to in the Financial Statement, But thste was not a single word about it. In the debate on the Financial Statement, although the amounts which the House supposed were under the control of the Government were fully discussed, not a word was said about this precious changing of a £500,000 loan ioto one of £610,000. Why was that, unless the Government were ashamed of It? (Cheers.) The House was kept in complete ignorance of the transaction. There wsb a conspiracy of silence. It was all very well now that the whole thing had been dragged to the light by the Opposition, in spite of the efforts of the Government to conceal it, for (he Government to pretend that it was n very good thing. But why was id kept from the knowledge of the House? It waa because it was a fraud on the country, (Cheers.) It was a most reprehensible transaction, and disapproved by the Agent' General. Mr Ward, for some Inscrutable reason, professed to find something wrong In tbe late Sir Harry Atkinson cabling to the Agent-General to stop conversion operations when the Atkinsou Government were going oat of office, but that was honest conduct. It wan not like tbe conduct of tbe so-called "Liberal" Administrations, which, when going out of office, left obligations for their sue ceaaora to meet. Sir Julius Yogel did that, and it was beini? done now, (Ap

plattae.) Mr Ward had said that Sir J< Harry Atkinson had Increased the debt C by £2,600,000. Mr Seddon followed Mr ol Ward at Lytteltoa, and said that o: what Sir Hairy Atkinnon added to g the debt was £2,375,000. But that tl wos only a quarter of a million ont — oj (laughter)— and a qnarter of ft million » was not much to a Liberal financier. b (Renewed laughter and cheers.) Bat tt neither Mr Ward nor Mr Seddon felt sj called upon fo nay what was the truth, a That waa that Sir Jullns Vogel left llablli. a> ties amounting to £1,134,000, and thatpart ol of the increise to the public debt by Sir di Harry was a special loan of £1,000,000 <" for the main trunk railway. And that n l £1,000,000 loan was one tor which the w Vogel Government were responsible, and °> the monev came to hand after they had v\ forestalled' half of it. But putting that th on one side, the liabilities left by Sir <* Julias Vogel and the special main trunk w Joan of £1,000,000 made a total of £2,134,000, and that sum, taken from 'a what was added to the debt after Sir H Harry Atkinson assumed office, left only ™ £241,000. And as Mr Ward himself ad- i« ' tutted that his Government had added <I C £544,000 to the publio debt, to say re curbing of money raised upon Treasnry ' bills having a currency till 1839, he had I' confessed that the socilled Liberals had G< added tn the debt £303.000 more than the «i lateSir Harry Atkinsouhaddone. (Cheers.) n° And in Bpite of the pretended savings by th> conversion operations, the interest paid ad by the colony was now £43,446 more than Se id was before the Government assumed ls office. The Premier and Mr M'Kenzie ad had boasted that the Government had ta reduced the average per head of the public M debt by £2. And they proved that by a 'ai most Ingenious contrivance. As most of P ri the speaker's andience knew, the Govern- th: ment had managed to assist or to entice to let this colony a large number of Australian s " unemployed and spielerß. The former pa were competing with New Zealanders so n*: keenly for employment that the labor ail market suffered, and the latter were so sts pressing and energetic that even a decent ke New Zealand thief could not hold his own. m( (Laughter and cheers,) Well, the JDflux «" of this undesirable class of people bad P° increased the numbers of tbe population, <>n aud therefore Mr Seddon claimed that de the Government had reduced the per head Co average of the debt. lie (Mr M'Lean) in; would give them an analogical c we. A thi poor man had five obildren. They As were bis population. Their average per tiv bead of indebtedness would be £20, for lac this poor man owed £100. But one day tin somebody comes to him and says: "Oh, th' I say, lam sorry to tell you that your wife (tl has presented you with twins." (Roars qu< of laughter.) But the poor man said in f&' reply: "Sorry? Well, I'm not, for my ne< debt *s decreased, and is now only £14 ani per bead where it wbb formerly £20 per gi' head." (Renewed laughter and applause.) «K That was how tlie Government reduced the the debt. Tbe Government claimed to Lil be a non-borrowing Government after thi admitting as Mr Ward did that they bad bel added more than half a million to the ref debt. But there was another aspect of «*' their borrowing to be dealt with. They as had recently taken power by means of str their majority in the House to issue Ht TreosuryMlls to the amountof £1,476,000. wl M* Ward, in professing to explain away eei the borrowing involved there, had said we that Treasury bills were only a means of fee anticipating revenue. But he forgot to thi say that no Government before the present ele one ever issued Treasury bills with a go longer currency than three months after thi tbe expiration of tbe financial year in bo which the bills were issned. But tbe Gov- ad ernment had been able to force through an thi Aot giving them power to give their bills ini currency till 1899. They thus were de borrowing for fix years, and not merely stt providing for themselves temporary ac fin commodntlon in advance of revemie. At als lha end of that six years whatever ret Government were in power would have to no meet that indebtedness now incurred by we the present Government, and that money sci wonld then be added to tbo pnblio debt, on If it hoppened to be what was called <i be Conservative Government in power six »g years hence, the Liberals would no donbt coi say that they were adding to the debt, sh although the truth would be that thty an only succeeded to the debts incurred now su by a Government that pretended they in were not borrowing. And it oboald be borne in mind that all this sly borrowing tr< by the Government was in the teeth of ml their assertions that they had a surplus of sp £512,000 last year, and one of £414,000 nd tbis year. Here was a total of £926,000 H taken out of the people by taxation in vii two yearp, in addition to all the borrow- do ing. Why did the Government need tn so borrow at all if they had a surplus? Hi (Cheers.) But now be (Mr M'Lean) th would show how the Government bad Bh secretly borrowed yet another £100.000, th In the session just ended they were able by " their majority to force through the cl House an Aot which gave them power to to isßne £100.000 worth of postal sh notes with a currency for ever, in When the pOßtal note arrangement fo was first sanctioned the notes only bad a w currency of three monthß. That was in- uj creased to twelve months for the conveni- ot ence of tbe public. That did not satisfy pi the Government, who wanted another h< £100,000, and so they got it by making oi tbe ourrenoy of these notes eternal, tc (Great applause. ) Mr Seddon bad been to going about saying that the Government a] lmd reduced the interest payable yearly tc by £60,000. That wss not true. Ac- ft cording to papers published by the Gov- bi ernment themselves, the interest payable tl by tbe colony in 1891 was £1,855,252 tl yearly, and it was now £1,901,698, an b Increase of £43 446, so that Mr Seddnn o: was over £100,090 from the truth. Mr p Seddon had boasted of reducing (< tbo expenditure by cutting down c tbe Civil Service. He recently told h an audierce of working people at h Lyttelton how his heart was nearly torn r in twain by having to save £50,000 by s reducing the ranks of the Civil Service. 1 But low did his professed sorrow com- c pate wttn tbe facts? As soon as the " present Government assumed office they 1 1 held an entirely unnecessary session ot I c only ten days' dnratlon, and for that they I < paid every member his £160. That wonld have gone some distance towards prevent- t ing the terrible anguish Mr Seddon felt < when he had to cut down the civil ner- 1 vants, for whom his great heart) bled, i Then ss soon as the next session com- j rnenced Mr Smith, the Taranuki member, got up and asked if tbe pay of members wis not to be increased ? Mr Seddon said the question should he considered. The ' end of the consideration was that every member was voted £240 a year, payable monthly. That involved an extra expenditure of £6750, which would also have assisted to prevent the Premier's heart being wrung by reductions In the Civil Service. (Great cheering,) Mr Ward had stated in his Wlnton speech that the Atkinson Government had Increased tbe Customs duiies by £391,000 a year. That statement stood in the report of his Winton speeoh that had been circulated in Napier. The speaker wonld give the shortest and simplest answer to that, and the only possible answer, by saying that it was untrue. (Applause.) He would give tbe facts, and then his hearers could judge for themselves. Sir Harry Atkinson bad to raise additional revenue. Ha proposed to do so by means of the Customs. He estimated that he would get by certain additions to duties tbe sum of £173,000, but he got £53,000 less than tbat, so that the sum of £118,000 wsb the . basis for Mr Ward's story about £391.000 per annum, What had probably happened was that Mr Ward bad seen a statement to the effect that £391,000 was tbe amonnt collected io three years, and that knowing he was speaking to an audience who wonld not question his statements be added the two little words I "per annum." (Load cheers.) As he (Mr M'Lean) had said before, a quarter of a million did not matter mucb to a Liberal financier. (Laughter and cheers.) However, apart from thnt, the worst feature ot the case was yet to be presented. It was a fact that this taxation wbieb Mr Ward affected to deplore he voted for. livery member of the present 'Ministry fdtK for (tat Inoreasea taxation except

Mr Carroll awi Mr M'Kcnzlc. The reason they did not vote for it was that Mr M'Kenzie was not in the House, and so could not vote, and that Mr Carroll was at that time a follower of Sir Harry Atkinson. (Great applause,) Was it not tbe greatest hypocrisy for Mr Ward to pretend to bewail th 9 imposition of tbat added Customs taxation, when he was one who voted for it. The late Mr Ballance also voted for the increases. It was nothing short of a mookery for the very men who voted for that taxation to now go about the country bewailing its Imposition and pretending that only Sir Harry Atkinson was to blame. But there was another proof of theinslncerityof Mr Ward and the other members of the Government. They not only pretended to regret the imposi tion of the duties they themselves had helped to impose, but they had siuce added to the taxation, In 1890 the re-

venue from taxation under Sir Harry Atkinson was £2,173,985, while last year

it bad risen to £2,338,511, an increase of £165,526. Could hypocrisy further go ? (Loud applause.) Further, Mr Ward, although he now attacked Sir Harry Atkinson, was returned to the House for his present seat as a follower of that statesman. He jumped into tbe very first billet offered to him by the so-called Liberal Government, who apparently wanted a man of Mr Ward's stamp. He reminded the speaker of Radyard Kipling's "Mr Tomlinson," who did nothing good enough to entitle him to heaven, and nothing bad enough to justify his entry to the other place. (Roars of laughter and cheering.) Mr Ward turned his political coat, then set to work to belabor the man whose measures he had supported, and for support of whom he was returned to the Houfo. That would show them the sort of man be was, and how mnch reliance was to be placed upon him. (Great applause.) Mr M'Lean then proceeded to refer to the address lately made by Mr' Cornford at a meeting of the supporters of Mr Carnell. The speaker made inn of Mr Cor-nford'a utterances, and caused great laughter, This was particularly the case with respect to an imaginary dream he narrated. In this he visited tbe office of a perfect man, who did nob believe <n employing people according to the rules of political economy, but for sympathy. He fonnd in tbe front office a man to answer questions who was deaf and dumb; in another office a copying clerk wlthont hands, owing to an accident; in another an accountant with such a bad memory that be could not add up a row of figures. Mr M'Lean then went on to ridicule the assumption tbat only Mr Carnell's supporters were sympathetic, and pointed to Mr Swan as one of the largest-hearted men in Napisr, This evoked tremendons applause, during which Mr M'Lean resumed his seat.

Mr E H. Williams congratulated tbe ladies upon having obtained the franchise. He felt It wonld result in a great improvement in the politics of the country. (Applanse.) They bad been told that the question was whether the Liberals should retain office or the Tories get back to it. That was not the cry. (A voice: "No") The real question was whether tbe Seddon Government had not so forfeited the respect of the electors that they should not be allowed to retain their position on tbe Treasury benches. The speaker admitted the justice of the Land for Settlement Ace of 1892, but the Act of 1893 was a very different thing. He admitted the right of tbe Ooverntr e<>t to take land if it were needed, but no Minister ebould have the power to go to a landowner who had honeaMy boagbfc his property and say "I will take part of this and le.ive yon part." That) would lead to corruption. Before tbe State should take land from the people who had paid for lb and who were profitably uMug it, they shou'd settle the native difficulty. (Cheers.) At present the stuple industries of the country were keeping it afloat, and the talk of Government supporters in favor of taking the lands of those producing our staple exports was claptrap, only worthy of mob orators of the lowest class, Mr Williams described as pure claptrap many of Mr Cornford's statements at a recent meeting, and particularly hia statement that the Conservatives hated tbe Labor party. As to the remarks abnut; tbe Conservatives belog against the people getting land, be could not help thinking at tbe time of a "certain Umubaoroa purchase that recently caused bdcli a sensatioti. (Cheers ) The speaker referred to his question to Mr Carnell— would be be in favor of reducing tbe taxation on tbe necessaries of life?— and Mr Carnell'a answer that be would be in favor of first giving two or three turns to the screw on the landholders. Now he (tbe speaker) thought that a roan who professed to be a Liberal ought to be in favor of reducing the taxation ~ pon the necessaries of life before anything. (Great applause.) He referred to the discharges of civil servants that took place all over the colony as soon as the Government assumed office, and strongly condemned Buch a state of things. He referred to one case in which a man who only needed a few more months' service to be entitled to bis pension, and was summarily dismissed for no other reason whatever. Men who would do that were unworthy of the support of any electors. The country wanted honorable government and honorable men to go to the House. (Applause.) Until that conld bo obtained tbere could never be proper administration. (Cheers.) The speaker then explained the mode of voting for the information of the ladies present, He described the law on tbe question, and stated the questions that might be pnt to any applicant tor a ballot-paper. He aleo explained that as Mr Sutton had retired from the contest, and desired that not a single person should vote for him, it would be necessary for his name to be scratched out. There would be three names on the paper, and twoof them would bave to be scratched ont. MrSwan, who was going again to be their mem ber— (lond and longcontinued applause)— would address them shortly. He had proved a most honorable and capable member, and one worthy the support o f every honest man and woman in thedisliict.

Mr Swan, who was received with tremendouß applame that lasted for some minutes, said that after tbe two eloquent speeches they had listened to any lengthy address would be very much ortt of place, He felt that they would not object to that view of the cisc, for they had all no doubt bad enough of political speeches for some time He considetfd tbnt Mr Witlhms had exposed a great) weakness of the Government when be refetred to the Bhoeking and heartless manner in which the Government, acting on tho policy of "the fpnils to the victors," discharged civil servants light and left throughout) the colony. The Government, dnring the short time tbey hud been io office, had from the start practised that policy. As for the Government's boast of a surplus, why did they not reduce the taxation upon the necessaries of life ? (Great cheering.) But they did not tnko off a penny. Every shilling they could net hold of gave them the opportunity to dote out more patronage to their friends, and to illnttrate the bad principle of " Spoils to the victors,' (Applause ) He must apologise to them for not having been able to so fully solicit their votes and influence as he would have liked to do, bub owing to the shortness of the time that intervened between the issue of the writs and the elections he had been kepb very busy. He felt that on tbe morrow he would be again in the proud position of their representative. (Great cheering.) He said with great confidence thtt no elector should ever have reason to regret casting a vote in his favor. (Applause.) He felt the responsibilities of the position of representative of a large and important districb like this, but would devote himself to conscientiously doing bis dntv if retnrned, as he felt he would be. (Cheers ) He had been rnnch misrepresented on the question of his attitude on the Shop Assistants Bill and the Shop Hours Bill. The first was to give a half-holiday to shop assistants, and he voted for it, and sought to get the holiday made compulsory. But the second measure was a much more drastio one, as it provided that even email shops that were kept by their ' owners, and did not employ outside assistance of any kind, shouH be olosed 'from noon on Saturday till Monday morning. That he thought was unjust. (Applause.) It was one thing to be In favor of shop assistants getting a holiday, which he had voted for, and quite another thing to demand the shutting up of small shops of struggling people seeking to add a trifle to their Income. (Applause ) In conclusion he thanked his committees for the hard work they had done, for which he felt grateful. He blbo deßired to think Messrs M'Lean and Williams for tbe interesting addresses they had delivered that evening. (Applause.) He urged npon all on the roll the necessity of going to the poll and voting odo way or the other— (renewed applause)— and he hoped there would be a largo ranjarity in favor of their hnmbla servant. (Great and long continued applause, during which Mr Swan resumed bis seat ) Mr W. Buchanan in an enlogistic speech moved a vote of confidence in Mr Swan as the representlve of Napier, a proposition that was received with cheers. Tbe motion was seconded by Mr J. Griffin, who was very warmly received. thq motion was carried amid cheering. On tbe motion cf Mr Fuller a vote of tbauks was accorded to Messrs M'Lean and Williams for their addresses, and after the usual compliment to the chair the meeting broke up with " Three cheers for Mr BwaD," ard cheering.