MR. TRAVERS AT THE TOWN HALL.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXV, Issue 1686, 12 May 1866, Page 2 (Supplement)

MR. TRAVERS AT THE TOWN HALL.

Mr. Travers met the electors of Christ church and the neighbourhood, at the Town Hall, on April 6, at half-past seven o'clock, to give a further exposition of his proposed alterations in the Land Regulations of the province. Mr. Moorhouse, Mr. Lance, and other leading men, were on the platform, and the body of the hall was crowded; Mr. Bowen, the Resident Magistrate, was called to the chair,

Mr. Travers said that at a meeting held some time ago for the purpose of hearing the candidates for the representation of the city in the Provincial Council express then, views on provincial affairs, Mr. Moorhouse, as he learnt from the papers the next day, for he did not hear what he said owing to the noise in the hall, announced his intention of meeting him (Mr. Travers) for the purpose of discussing his new land scheme. As no steps however had been taken in the matter by Mr. Moorhouse, he had convened this meeting himself, not wishing to avoid a threatened discussion, and invited Mr. Moorhouse to be present. He had already explained his views fully in public and they should be met by fair argument. He did not think Mr. Moorhouse could be ignorant of those views, and he had now the opportunity of expressing his opinion on them. (Applause.) Mr. Moorhouse said he had come there to be more fully informed of Mr. Travers's reasons for proposing alterations in the Land Regulations of the province. In the first place, he wanted to know what reasons Mr. Travers had for thinking that by reducing the price of the land on the hills to £1 an acre, he could sell such a large quantity of land in so short a time as he said he could. Mr. Travers seemed to adopt the policy which he (Mr. Moorhouse) had proposed some years ago; he argued that railway and other public works were necessary for the progress and welfare of the province. He (Mr. Moorhouse) had been called ".Railway Bill "in consequence by a gentleman who showed more wit than good taste. (Laughter.) Mr. Travers started now where he (Mr. Moorhouse) had left off. (Applause.) His friend Mr. Lance had not propounded anything very new j he also endorsed his (Mr. Moorhouse's) policy and came up to the point where he left off. Mr. Travers had proposed a new scheme, diametrically opposed to the principle of the Land Regulations, and he (Mr. Moorhouse) wanted to hear somb further arguments in favour of it. Four weeks or more would elapse before the elections took place, which would afford ample time for Mr. Travers to propound twenty new land schemes, and he (Mr. Moorhouse) wanted to hear his last new ideas. It was not necessary for him to justify his antagonism to his (Mr. Travers's) views. (Mr. Travers—Hear, hear.) The first Provincial Council of the province, as intelligent a one as ever had existed in it, had fully discussed the Land Regulations of the province. Mr. Travers's scheme was in fact no novelty. After about six weeks discussion that Council decided that in order that the province might derive every benefit from the Waste Lands they should be sold at a tolerably high price. By this conservative plan the province was more advanced than any other part of New Zealand, for by not Belling land cheaply it had been kept from speculators and got in the hands of the earnest industrious settlers. He might refer them to the provinces of Auckland, Southland and Nelson, to show what bad effects had followed from a mal-administration of the Waste Lands. Mr. Travers hgd not heard the argument which had taken place in former years in favour of the land being sold at £2 an acre, he lived in a province where the legislature got rid of their land as quickly as possible, at a low price, and sold it to the land speculators. (Mr. Travers-Hear, hear.) He objected also to Mr. Travers's scheme because it would depreciate the value of the land throughout the province, and weaken existing securities. Money had already been lent on lands to a very large amount, and if the price of the unsold portion were lowered, the security for those loans would be considerably reduced. The law relating to pre-emptive rights would be amended whether Mr. Travers wished it or not, for such was the wish of the people. He (Mr. Moorhouse) was content to advance steadily, and not raise a large sum of money for the sake of a short riot. Moreover the hind speculator into whose hands the land would get, would compete with the land office and when the land revenue was gone recourse would be had to taxation. He should a short time before the election hold a meeting on subjects of general interest and he should then express hisopinion upon Mr Travers's last new scheme, for he had not intended to speak that evening. When the present contest for the Superintendency was commenced the candidates all expressed views pretty nearly similar. Of course, in that case, the public would have said " Let us take Mr. Moorhouse, the man we know best;" consequently Mr. Travers concocted this new scheme on his way to Timaru in Cobb's coach. Mr. Travers had made a mistake in saying that he (Mr. Moorhouse) had challenged him to discuss his land scheme with him in public. He (Mr. Moorhouse) would never have thought of challenging such a champion as Mr. Travers. What he had said was, that he should be glad to hear anything further that Mr. Travers had to say, but he was not surprised that he had been misunderstood, for there was such a noise in the hall on that occasion that hardly any one could have heard him correctly. After a few more remarks Mr. Moorhouse concluded amid loud applause. Mr. Travers, who was received with loud cheers, said he wished to make all persons perfectly well acquainted with his views, so that they might be able to form a sound judgment on them. It was true that the gestation of his views had taken place in Cobb's coach, and that the chicken had bm hatched at Timaru, He had felt it necessary to devise some scheme by which the public works could ha carried out and until some short timo af tor ho became a candidate for the superintendency ho had not fully prepared or considered his policy. Ho had looked around and considering that there were only the pastoral and agricultural interests on this side of the ranges, came to the conclusion that they would not afford sufficient inducement to capitalists to spend their money in such works. He deemed it necessary, therefore, that they should depend on their own resources to carry ■ them out. Mr. Lance and Mr. Moorhouse both admitted the necessity of carrying out ( the public works, but gave the people no idea i how they proposed to do it. Mr, Moor- . house had a scheme in his head which ho i had concocted in that "sweat of intel- ] ; lect, that horrible agony of soul," he was < accustomed to indulge in, but he gave the | people no idea how he was going to carry it ] out, Mr. Moorhouse should not have «left t off "his policy if it was such a lerygood , one i he would, however, show that Mr,

Moorhouse was very far from deserving the thanks of the province, for he had caused much of its present embarrassment, and made no offer now to solve its difficulties, (Applause.) He had called attontion on a former occasion to the picture of Mr. Gibbon Wakefield, a man who had written volumes on the subject of colonisation. His great and enlightened mind arrived at certain conclusions which might be summed up as follows: that there should be a uniform price of land, liberty of appropriation, title in exchange for money and that the price should bo sufficient to deter the capitalist from buying up land to separate the parts actually settled He knew of the evil which had resulted from alienating the waste land of the province of Nelson; he had endeavoured there to assimilate the Land Regulations to those of Canterbury, and had been rejected for the Superintendency on that account. He now wished to prevent the lands of this province from passing into the hands of the runholders. The province consisted of three classes of country, viz., the plains, downs, and mountains! the plains and downs he called agricultural land, while the mountains would only be fit for pastoral occupation foryears and years to come. There was a process now going on in those mountains, by which the value of the land generally would be destroyed, as had been done in Nelson; he alluded to the practice of spotting. It was partly to prevent this practice that he brought forward this scheme. The credit of the colony was at present very low and it was impossible to borrow money; at the same time if the province did not advance, it must go back, for a country could not remain stationary, but "progress" should be their motto and the public works should be carried on. Would Mr. Moorhouse venture to stand up now and say that he could sell their debentures at such a price as would make it pay to carry out the public works, He did not think Mr. Moorhouse would be so Quixotic. Mr. Moorhouse said once that the way to encourage confidence in the public mind would be to grant long leases of fourteen years instead of seven to the squatters. He (Mr. Moorhouse) supposed that a hundred squatters should each borrow , on their leaseholds £IO,OOO, and circulate the , money, by which means a large sum would find its way into the Treasury. He (Mr. Travers) was unable to see how the Treasury . would be benefited. In the first place, as Mrs. Glasse said about the hare," first catch , your squatter." In 1864 Mr. Moorhouse , proposed that the squatters should be in- . duced to pay a little more rent and shoul! . have extended leases. The idea was opposed , by the "press" at first, but afterwards the , " crafty shepherds" saw that thev had better . accept the terms or they would fare worse j I so in the following year a packed committee , in the Council composed of some squatters , and squatter merchants fixed the lowest rental their consciences, if they had any (laughter), , would allow. The squatters diddled the . Council in 1858, and again in 1864. [ The land sales in the latter year reached their t culminating point, realizing a sum of , £281,000. People who only looked before , their noses thought the land revenue would , not fall from that point, but in tha ; following year the Press took the alarm and ( acceded to the terms-and the Squatter Go- [ vernment followed suit. He was not ac- , quainted with the early history of tre- , emptive rights bu lie knew that in 1857 I they were found to press hardly on . the people. Mr. Moorhouse was then , Superintendent, and the Land Board brought I the system of granting pre-emptive rights under the notice of the Council, and sug- . gested that "improvements" should be more [ accurately defined. A bill was sent down by • the Government, yet in committee they conI sented to an amendment totally defeating the ; object of • the bill. Strong articles were ( written on the subject in the Lyttetton Times > but to no purpose. The Superintendent al- , lowed the bill ; Mr. Moorhouse might then . have resigned his position and- appealed to . the people, or have dissolved the Council, but . he did neither. If the law relating to pre-emp- . tive rights were altered, much money would • flow into the Treasury. He knew of two I persons at Kaiapoi who were actually letting i and cultivating land over which they enjoyed . a pre-emptive right, only paying 2d an acre rental. One of them was a gentleman who had just risen in the hall, Mr. Dixon. t Mr. Dixon, who made his way with some . difficulty to the platform, said he was the , chairman of the Mandevilie Koad Board, and . that he believed he had the confidence of that I district. He had never cultivated an acre of . pre-emptive right for the purpose of bringing r the corn into the market, hut for the purpose of improving his property. He had , improved the public—their property. (Jeers and hisses,)

Mr. Travers amid loud applause, said that Mr. Dixon Lad admitted the charge. Tht effect of this improvement of the " public property" was that it was kept out of the hands of the working man and would not be paid for until it had been challenged more than 20 times. Any alteration of the law relating to Pre-emptive Eights would require the assent ot the General Assembly, but as the Provincial Council would not probably meet till after the next session of the Assembly, the present law would remain in force till 1867. How was it that Mr.Moorhouse and Mr. Lance had not moved in the matter during the late short sitting of the Council. Mr. Travers also said that he was in favour of the ballot as a protection for all voters, and made a few remarks on his present contest with Mr Moorhouse and Mr. Lance. He also advanced some further arguments in suport of his land scheme, stating that he had received a letter from Dunedin, signed " Countryman;" the writer of which stated that a reduction of the price of land was necessary in Canterbury, and he knew of purchasers for at least IOO.CWO acres at £1 an acre, and that quantity would be sold m six months. Mr. Travers concluded amidst loud applause.

_ Mr. Mooriiocse then made a few remarks 111 reply to what had fallen from Mr. Travers. but stated that he would take the opportunity of considering his speech, and answer him more fully on another occasion.

After a vote of thanks to the Chairman, the meeting, which was the largest which has taken place here for some time, separated.