PARLIAMENT OUT OF SESSION.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXIII, Issue 7562, 29 May 1885, Page 5

PARLIAMENT OUT OF SESSION.

MR L. HAEPEK AT PAPANUI. Mr L. Harper, M.H.E. for the Avon district, addressed his constituents last night in the Papanui Town Hall. There was a moderately numerous attendance, and the chair was occupied by Mr J. T. Matson, who briefly introduced the speaker. Mr Harper thanked the meeting very much for coming to listen to him, for he was quite aware that every one must be thoroughly tired of reading post-sessional speeches. However, it was his duty as their representative to address them, eve'n though the subjects he was about to speak upon might be somewhat stale at the present moment. , CHANGE OF MINISTRY. Before proceeding to speak of the measures likely to be introduced into Parliament next session, he would like to remind his hearers of the state of things at the last election. They might remember that at that time there was an unmistakeable feeling throughout Canterbury at any rate, that the Atkinson Government ought to go out of office. He was one of those who were elected to assist, in putting another Government in the place of that of Major Atkinson, and he believed that it was also desired by the majority of the Avon constituency that if possible Sir Julius Vogel should be put into a prominent place in any new Ministry. The Atkinson. Government had not, it would be remembered, committed any grievous sins, their sins being rather of omission than of commission, but the country had simply got tired of them. They had been so long in office as to get the name of the Continuous Ministry, and as such the country appeared to be thoroughly sick of them. It was therefore not surprising, that the Atkinson Government thought fit to resign on the first day of the session. It became th6n the duty of the Canterbury members particularly, as most of them had been elected to support Sir Julius Vogel, to endeavour, to get him to form a Ministry. In this, however, they had not been successful, partly on account of Six Julius Vogel’s ill health, and partly because Sir Julius had come to some understanding with Mr Stout that he (Sir Julius) should not take the Premiership, For these reasons Sir Julius had informed his supporters that he could not. accept the Premiership. This arrangement was not what the Canterbury members wanted. They had been returned to support him, not only as the one man whose large experience and fertile brain would see the way to make the Colony advance further in prosperity, but also as the one man who should take the most prominent position in a new Ministry. Moreover, they had not been elected to support Mr Stout, and therefore it went against the grain with many of them to support the Ministry composed of the men whom Sir Julius Vogel thought it necessary to work with under the leadership of Mr Stout. He (Mr Harper) did not mean to say that he had anything to find fault with in what Mr Stout had said or done during the session. Mr Stout had proved himself as good as his word. All knew what extreme views Mr Stout held on some questions, and that these views were most distasteful to the Canterbury members. Mr Stout, however, promised to set aside all questions on which he held extreme views, and set to work at practical legislation. To that promise he had faithfully kept, and the work of the session had been of a thoroughly practical character. And here he (Mr Harper) would refer to some remarks in Sir Julius Vogel’s speech on the vote of Want of Confidence in the second Atkinson Government. He referred to having been sneered at for having joined with men of Mr Stout’s views, and with other men who were said to hold entirely different vieyvs from those he had always held. Sir Julius spoke os follows':— "It maybe tbaj, in time to cqme my honorable friend the member for Dunedin East and I may draw nearer and nearer, or may separate farther and farther, on what are at present abstract questions; but it is not probable that within any reasonable time our views will differ as to the efforts that should be made to raise the Colony from its present depressed condition efforts which must be made before any question of abstract policy should come seriously to the front.” That showed the object which Sir Julius Vogel had in view in coming forward at that time, and the object which the Canterbury members had in supporting him, though they could not put him in the first place. They,felt that the people required a new Government, composed of men able to suggest means to improve the condition of the country. They also thought that although the views of Mr Stout and some others of the Ministry were not in accordance with theirs; still so long as all were prepared to act loyally with Sir Julius, they support the combination such as was formed, • rather than see the Atkinson Government again in office. Whether the Canterbury members were right or not was for the country to say. They had felt that* they had' a right to carry out the wishes of their constituents by putting Sir Julius in a position where he could be of some service to the country. With regard to the late Government he could not do better than refer again to what had been said by Sir Julius Vogel, whose words exactly expressed his (Mr Harper’s) feeling. Sir Julius said, “ I never, in all my experience, remember a Government leaving office in which, per■sonally, the members of the Government were held in more general and higher esteem than in the present case. • But the very fact of the high personal esteem in which the members of the Government were held emphasized the fact that the country still wished for a change of Government and a change of policy.' It is not necessary to look far to know why it is desired that there should be a change of Government. Besides the idea that it had. outlived its usefulness, there was present the idea that it promised and told people to hope and hope, and that still the circumstances of the Colony were not improving, but were getting worse and worse; that there was no sufficient grasp, no sufficient idea of the circumstances of the Colony with any view of leading it into a more prosperous condition. In fact, if I may say so, its colonising function was virtually dead, and had been dead for years, and there were wanting in the Government men of sufficient resource and of constructive power to find out for the Colony the way in which not only it could recover from the depression into which it had sunk, but also to point out to it new paths of progress.” THE PRESENT MINISTRY. He (Mr Harper) admitted that the present combination in the Government was very incongruous, and that the Ministers were men who had held very strong and opposite views, but they had combined to secure practical legislation'for the benefit of New Zealand, and for that purpose had set aside their special fancies. That they had done this, was proved, he thought, by the character of the legislation brought in. Following the idea laid down by the present Government in the Speech from the Throne, the Ministry had shown their intention to open up, as far as possible, other sources of employment than ’ those previously depended upon, other sources of prosperity than wool and grain. WEST COAST, With this view they had directed their attention to the large mineral resources of the West Coast. The two most important measures brought in, exclusive of the West Coast Railway Bill, of which he would speak presently, were, the West Coast Harbour Bills, which were already, of immense benefit. Only that morning, he had been told by a gentleman that he had seen the Taupo laden with coal going out of Greymouth, which had already benefited by tjie works. He believed that vessels of a thousand tons would be able to go in and

out of Westportand Greymouth with perfect ease, taking 'coal to that extent. The demand for coal was greatly increased by the establishment of the direct steam service, and only lately the Imperial Government had loaded the Coptic with '4OOO tons. One of the first steps taken by the present Government was the opening up of these harbours, not by borrowing money for these works, as the Opposition I would endeavour to make people suppose, | but by guaranteeing certain sums, to be raised by the Harbour Boards of the respective places, the interest on which was to be charged on the harbour dues. So,that the extent of the country’s responsibility was a- guarantee which had enabled the harbours to get the required money on the most favourable terms. The chance of the country having to find the interest was very remote, as there was very little doubt as to the capability of , the harbours to find the money. With regard to the East and West Coast railway, they had heard all about that in that room. There was no doubt that the railway had been opposed by the Northern members and by many from the South. It was an unpopular project, and it would have been perfectly hopeless to try to get any assistance from Parliament towards getting it made by public money. He know that it had been said that the present Bill was a great mistake, but those who said that did not know Wellington. The Otago members considered their central line of much greater importance, and the North Island members considered that their trunk line was most important. There were very few people outside this part of New Zealand who knew, or took the trouble to enquire, what were the resources of the West Coast, and most had no notion of what the West Coast railway would do for this island and the whole of New Zealand. The Canterbury members had done the best they could, and though, with considerable difficulty, had got the Act passed,which gave large concessions to any Company, which would construct the line. Whether or not a Company could be found to do it, he could not say, but he thought, judging from advices received from England, that but for the war scare in Europe, the matter would have been an accomplished fact by this time. As there was every probability now of peace, there was every prospect of the work being undertaken by a company., But if it should not be, he said a good stroke of work had been done by bringing it before Parliament and getting the Bill passed. The Parliament had been convinced that it was a great Colonial undertaking, and Canterbury had the assurance • made by Sir Julius Yogel in his speech hot long ago, that he would consider it hisUuty to support the. railway being constructed by the Colony at large. Whether the Colony would be prepared to do it or not he (Mr Harper) was not able to say, but, steps had been taken in that direction, and the labour expended on the matter had, not been thrown away. NORTH ISLAND TRUNK RAILWAY. Coming to the other public works set on foot by the present Government, there was the North Island Trunk Kailway, though that was hardly set on foot' by the present Government, as it was to be constructed out of the loan authorised before they came into office. That line would be of great benefit to the North Island. OTHER MEASURES. There were other measures of a more or less useful character, such as that of the Beet Root Sugar Industry, the Government Insurance Act, the Direct Mail contracts, and the Island Postal Service contract. These were matters which he would touch upon, shortly, because he thought they showed the general policy of the Government to find as large-a field ’for our enterprise as possible. SOUTH SEA ISLANDS. , One* of the best'things, in a small way, was the subsidising of the postal service to the South Sea Islands, which had been done at a very small cost. There had been a good deal said about the annexation of these islands, and about the necessity for encouraging trade with them. These subjects had been ridiculed, and were thought by some to be impracticable, but he felt certain that Sir Julius Yogel was quite right in looking ahead for larger fields for the industries of the Colony. New Zealand was essentially, a maritime nation, and must look somewhat abroad, and certainly no place came so naturally within her immediate notice as the islands of the Pacific, which would afford her a near market for her coal, iron, timber, and fruits, and other produce that could be grown in a temperate climate. The trade, , which had already been largely developed, especially with , Auckland, would be increased, and, in course of time, the advantage would be reaped even here. Any step in this direction was a wise one, though, perhaps, it was rather premature to take the course which Sir Julius had endeavoured to take. DIRECT STEAM. Another enterprise which the Government had shown a considerable amount of judgment in supporting was the direct steam service. The New Zealand Shipping Company was the creation of. the Colony and belonged to the Colony, its shares being largely held locally, and its management being in Christchurch. This Company had had an uphill game to fight, and had worked it out pluckily. As a fact, their steamers surpassed those to be found in any part of the world, and brought a considerable amount of capital into the Colony by means of the passengers. They, also brought out a large class of unassisted immigrants—a most desirable class. Any encouragement from the Government would be fair and reasonable, but all that had hem given was simply remuneration for services actually rendered—so much for carrying the letters and so much for doing the passage in a certain time. The amount that this cost the country was only very little more than .£13,000, or £IOOO atrip. He thought it would be admitted that this amount, for the punctual despatch of the mails, and for bringing so many, passengers of a paying class, was very cheap indeed. The fact that the Government is prepared to recognise this Company, as well as one to establish communication with the islands, showed that they wished to encourage trade and commerce. FINANCE. The finance of this Government was a subject which had been a good deal commented upon, but in his opinion it was perfectly sound. It had been assumed that Sir Julius Vogel’s Government must be a borrowing one, and various sums were mentioned that Sir Julius intended to borrow. He believed that members iwho were irreconcileables would tell theiA that under Sir Julius the country would be compelled to borrow £7,000,000 or £8,000,000. So far as he understood the matter, the Government was authorised to borrow one million and a half, and that was all. This was found to be necessary because the country had been left in such .a bad state by the last Government. It was necessary to borrow this amount in order to complete the works which had been begun. He, for one, would be opposed to further borrowing, unless he were perfectly satisfied that the money borrowed would be very profitably , invested. DEFENCE, The only other loan permissible would be for defence purposes. The war scare had no doubt made the people look to their defences, but this should have been done years ago. Since Sir William Jervoishad been here, he had done his utmost to urge the people to see to their defences. No more than £400,000 would be required, and this was not a large sum to pay for insurance against the possibility of being attacked by a foreign enemy. Another reason was, he .thought, that , the Colony was bound to show that she was able and willing to rely upon herself. He thought

wc should not expect the Mother Country to provide, us for many'years with a large fleet to protect , us,' for England, --to do. this, would have to double her fleet in these waters. There was. one idea which the present Government had put forth, and it ; was a , good one, viz. :—-That the Government of New Zealand should offer to assist in paying part of the expenses of a man-of-war, a fast cruiser, on the coast. New Zealand would get the benefit of the protection afforded by a fast cruiser, and also of the expenditure incurred on her account. NEXT SESSION. He'thought he had sufficiently wearied his audience with an account of last session, and would like to say a few words as to the future policy of the Government, so far as this was known. They had heard that the principal - subject to be brought forward would be some scheme of local government. He did not think that anyone knew what the Government proposed, hut evidently they were prepared to give large powers to local bodies, to allow theta to collect and’ distribute large sums of. money, and to leave it to them to provide for charitable aid and hospitals. However, there was no scheme before the country. There would also be the question of railway management, which it would be pro- . posed to put into the hands of non-political Boards. This was a course that should, he thought, be followed, as the railway management had not improved under the present Government, and would not improve till under non-political Boards. Then there was the question of Federation, which was not very well understood. He was hot prepared to give in his adhesion to the scheme until he understood what was meant by it. He did not think much good would come from it, aiid for the present it might well he laid aside. ■ It was not worth discussion till; brought before the country. He next came to a matter referred to by Sir Julius Vogel in his . last speech—the alteratioh in the constitution of the Upper House. He (Mr Harper) agreed that something should be done, and that the membership should be limited to five or ten years, as Sir Julius suggested. lie must saj, however, that he was surprised, after hearing Sir Julius Vogel’s remarks, to find so many appointments made in the Upper House so soon afterwards. This had been brought about by the incongruous elements the Ministry was composed of. This action, and one or two other things that had, occurred during the recess, had made one think that the: present Ministry would have to be watched very carefully, and disposed one to believe that the support the Ministry would get during the coming session would not be so hearty, as it had been during the past. They must keep to the honest course they followed’ during their first session. He was alluding to the remarks made by the Premier when in. Auckland. He thought it unfortunate that Mr Stout, as Premier, should have said what he did say. As Mr Stout, he might say what he liked, but such a speech from him as Premier, was likely tp do harm. To say the least, Mr Stout had been unwise in giving utterance to views which it would have been better to keep silent upon, as he had done when in the House. Another matter on which there might be trouble, was as to > the land for the: North Island Trunk railway. There might ■be a satisfactory explanation given, but he must say that he had been under the impression, when the vote bn that loan was taken, and the loan was authorised, that it was understood the Native lands would be taken over at their then valuation. The improvement in their value, consequent on. the. construction of the railway., would go a long way to pay the expenses of construction. But he now understood that .the present Minister of Native Affairs intendednotto require the Natives to part with the land until, after the railway has been constructed, and then only to lease the land. This, as he had said, might be explained, but it appeared ■to him to be contrary to the intentions of the House. He wished his constituents to understand that though in the past he had given'the Government hearty support, and intended as far as he could see to continue that sup.port, still he must be allowed—in, the event of his seeing that the Government was not carrying out honestly the policy of Sir Julius Vogel as laid' down in the Governor’s Speech; and in ‘the event of' his seeing that the members of the Government were not working harmoniously together—to. reserve to himself the right of withdrawing his support from them as he thought proper. He hoped, however, that the different members of the Ministry would see the desirability of all working together, and had no doubt that the little irregularities, if he might call them so, to which he had referred, would -not be repeated. He thought it was as well'that the constituency should understand that he did not consider himself bound hand and foot to this or any other Government. He had. been a hearty supporter of the Government, and intended to be so, subject to these matters being explained, and the policy laid down by Sir Julius Vogel being honestly carried out. He did not think it was necessary for him to refer to. anything else. He would be happy to answer any questions. , 1 In answer to questions, Mr Habpeb said that he had applied to the Drainage Board to have an alteration made in the system of rating under it, but as the Board was coming to an end they refused to sanction his taking any steps to bring in a Bill. When he ceased to be Chairman of the Board his power with them ceased. He was not in favour of a Land and Income tax in preference to the Property tax, hut was in favour of a moderate! Land tax, the proceeds of which should be spent locally as the Government proposed. The present Property tax was a Land tax, and had had the effect of driving away a' good deal of eapi'tal. Taxes of some sort must be raised for charitable aid and Hospitals, and it was of very little consequence whether the funds were from the. general revenue or not, except that under the Land tax as proposed the money raised in a district would be spent in it. He was in favour, of people having a vote wherever they held property, as far as possible, though it could not be exercised as a rule,‘because the elections were all held on the same day. He was not in favour of totalizators, which were ruining racing in the Colony, or of bringing up the rising generation as gamblers. He was also opposed to that other institution called “ Consultations.” He did not think there was any surplus population in Canterbury just now, but if there were, it could not be settled on the Native lands of the North Island until those lands had been acquired by the Government. Native lands were rated after they had been leased. He would Use his best endeavours to get an increased accommodation at the Papanui railway station. . He did not know that? the Hokianga Fruit Growing Company had had any concessions made to it by the Government. He believed the land had been bought from, private individuals. He did not think that unfair con.cessions should be made to that or any other Company.

Mr Joseph Eichards moved a vote of thanks to Mr 'Harper for "his address. He (Mr Harper) had tried to do his best, and it-was to be hoped would do better in the future. ! •

Mr Howlaxd moved—That Mr Harper be thanked for his address, and that the; district has confidence in whathehas done, and what he will do in future.”

Mr Godfrey seconded the motion, which was carried unanimously.

•Mr Harper acknowledged the compliituent, and moved a vote of thanks to the Chairman, which,was carried hy acclamation. r This closed the meeting.