POLITICAL.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXV, Issue 9398, 27 April 1891, Page 5

POLITICAL.

MR SAUNDERS AT HOEOBATA.

Mr A. Saunders, M.H.B, for Selwya. addressed a meeting of his constituents at the Town Hall, Hororata, on Friday evening. The chair was occupied by Mr J. Thome, Chairman of the School Committee.

Mr Saunders, who was warmlyreooived said that it had always been his custom to call a meeting of bis constituents as soon as he conveniently could after a session and it had been hie intention to do so even after the short session that took place in January last; but many of his friends who had spoken to him thought that it was hardly desirable to treat the few days that had been spent in Wellington as a session, and put his constituents to the trouble of attending a meeting. That argument prevailed with him for a time, but when he reflected on the really vast and important changes that had transpired,' he came to the conclusion that it was desirable that he should call them together to hear his reasons for any action which he had taken, to cultivate a good understanding with them, and to give him an opportunity of knowing their views on the many great and important changes which were caking place around them. Ho was an old man, but he never remembered a time within the history of the Colony when so many great changes upon really important subjects had taken place as had occurred during the last few months. Perhaps the most important subject upon which he was likely to speak that night was the new relations that had sprung up between New Zealand and' Australia. This was a subject upon which they were entitled to hear his opinions very fully, because he and Mr Ward, the present Postmaster-General, were the only members who were in favour of federation when the subject was under discussion in the House. He thought, however, that the action of the Federal Convention had most certainly convinced a far larger proportion of the House of Representatives, and a much greater number of the constituents, that a mistake had been made in rejecting the very liberal offer made to this Colony. Most of them would be aware that the previous Convention had very kindly and liberally invited New Zealand to send six j delegates in order to deliberate with them as to the kind of partnership they should enter, or whether they should enter it at all. The Convention sat, and had made a great deal more progress than moat people expected. It was nearly unanimous is regard to the desire for federation, and a point which affected New Zealand very materially was that if federation were brought about it would mean Freetrade between those Colonies which had joined, and prohibition against the rest of world. He asked them if this was not a serious matter as affecting them. Was it not important that they should be open to freetrade with Australia F It appeared to him that they had everything to gain and nothing to lose by such a partnership. Of course they did not yet know what turn matters would take, but if the almost unanimous opinion of the delegates went for anything, there appeared to be the certainty that unless New Zealand joined with the other colonies she would be shut out from her very best market for agricultural produce, and if New Zealand. {‘oined she would have a market open to ler such as she never had before. They were aware that the Colony had refused to send six delegates. Only three were sent, two from the House of Representatives and one from the Upper House. None of these were gentlemen who took any great interest in the subject. Sir George Grey went there to ride his hobby horse—the one-man-one-vote to death; Captain Bussell certainly did not represent the feelings of the people of New Zealand in a matter of this kind; and as to the delegate from the Upper House, he went there under circumstances that made his presence practically of no use. Practically New Zealand was not represented, and he thought the Colony had lost an opportunity which might never occur again. Besides the benefit to the agriculturist, he might point out that federation would have an immediate effect in lightening the burdens of taxation. New South Wales could borrow money at per cent; we had to pay £4 16s 9d. By joining in the Federation we could borrow money at least as cheaply as the former rate, and the saving thus effected would amount to more than £400,000 a year. The payment of I per cent lesson the national debt would mean a saving to the Colony of £BBO,OOO per annum. The subject was one which ha hoped would occupy the attention of the agricultural community. He would now briefly refer to the changes which had taken place in their own political world. They had a new Parliament, a new Ministry, a new Opposition altogether: they had anew estimate of the necessity of education, they had new laws proposed—new land laws—and new taxation proposals. They would thus see that there was no lack of subjects upon which they ought to understand one another. There was never a time when the changes in a new Parliament and Ministry had been so great. Out of ninety-six old members only forty-six had been sent back. There were twenty absolutely new members, five who had been in previous Parliaments, and three seats had not been filled up. Then they had men sent there especially to represent labour—not mere agitators, but working men themselves, very capable working men and well able to represent the class who sent them there. Then they had a new Ministry, which was not one of those frequent oscillations between Yogelites, Vogel himself, and apprentices or pupils of vogel. The Ministry had never held the reins of Government before, and, unlike former Ministries, nearly all the members of which were men who had recieved University educations, some of the men who now sat on the Government benches had not had such a good education by a long way as the children attending the day schools of the Colony were expected to receive. He must not be considered as saying anything against the value of education, but he would say this, that men who were capable of coming to the top without education had something in them that made them desirable assistants in a work snob as the Government had to perform. After briefly sketching the characteristics of the principal members on the Opposition side of the House, Mr Saunders went on to refer to the proposed substitution of a Land tax for the Property tax, which Mr Seddon had stated would form part of the Government policy. Mr Seddon had stated that the Income tax that would be proposed would suit farmers better than the present Property tax. If they could get such a tax he (Mr Saunders) would welcome it very heartily, but he felt that it would bo very difficult to find a tax that would suit small farmers better than the present Property tax, with its £SOO exemption. Ho referred to the failure of Sir George Grey’s Property tax, and said that in the absence of definite information as to the tax contemplated by the Government ho could say little regarding it. He would always oppose any form of taxation that would have the effect of relieving the towns from bearing their fair share, and throwing an extra burden on the country. The first business of last session was the election of Speaker. He proposed Mr Eolleston for the position, knowing him to be the man best qualified to fill it. He had nothing to say against Major Steward, but ho regretted that the election of Speaker had been made a party question, and undoubtedly Major Steward was put forward as a party man. Then came the election of Chairman of Committees. Three men were proposed, but he did not think that any of them were suitable for the office. As there was not likely to bo any Committee sittings, he induced the House to defer the appointment, thus saving tho payment of a salary for which nothing had been received in return, and giving them the opportunity, of selecting the best man available. The largest and most important debate of the session was undoubtedly th “he Addreas-in-Reply. In this debate the Opposition • showed very *ble,.-though>rdio

tu bound to say, not very dignified generalahip, “d they made the most o£ their deficient forces. It was remarkable 'that their were not successful in •turning aside a single new member from ' his election. pledges,. although they. com* ipletely warped an old stager like Mr Blake, i carried over tb their side two old independent members, and undoubtedly ’hoodwinked a large portion of the electors i who were not sufficiently up to Parliamentary manoeuvres to see the very ■costly party purpose concealed under a very well clothed pretence of economy. Of coarse there was no member of the House so blind as not to see that he might have gained some very cheap popularity by voting for Mr Eolleston’a amendment without losing a penny of his honorarium. All the members' knew perfectly well that the amendment would not be carried, and all that was hoped for by the Opposition waa that a sufficient number of members would ; seek, this popularity to somewhat equalieefhedivision list, and in this way give an.apparent justification of the action of the Atkinson Government in pretending that they did not know immediately after the election that they were in a hopeless minority; and therefore entirely unjustified in patting the country to .£20,000 expense by uselessly calling a Parliament in the middle of harvest for which no business was ready. Even if Mr Eolleston’a amendment bad been carried it would have increased, and not have diminished, the expense of the useless Parliament, as the honorarium would have been paid just the same, although, perhaps, a few weeks or months later, and all the other expenses connected with the session would have been largely increased by the resignation of the Ministry, which would have led to the usual fight for place and power, but ■ without the usual chance of any change either in the personnel or policy of the Government; .Such catch party manoeuvres were bad enough at any time, but they were particularly senseless, useless and extravagant after the electors had just decided, by an overwhelming majority, that they would not again accept the Government of a party whose selfishness and extravagance had dragged both themselves and the country into a state . of degraded dependence and indebtedness. He did not pretend to feel may unlimited confidencein the Government; and. be hud little . doubt that they would make many mistakes; but they could hardly be worse that their predecessors ; and as long as we pretended to be governed by the people we were bound to give the men whom the people had determined to trust a fair opportunity to do t.Vioir best. To turn the Ministry out before they had had time to even decide on their policy would only have had the effect of hardening and exasperating their supporters, of uselessly prolonging the session, of bringing on the next session at a less convenient season, and, by giving the Ministry no time for due preparation, would probably have left both sessions without any useful, conclusive or satisfactory results. If Mr Eolleaton had wanted to effect economy, and not merely to npset the Government, he would have ‘ gone to work in a very different way, and one in which many who were compelled to . oppose his party tactics would have been glad to support him. To fully estimate .the unreasonable character of Mr Eolleston’s proposal, and the consequent certainty of its being rejected, they must bear in mind that a large proportion of the members supporting the present Government were poor working men, who could notgp to the House at all without the honorarium, whilst the majority of those acting with Mr Eolleaton were more or less wealthy men, whose personal and party interests would he best served by abolishing- the honorarium altogether. Then they must remember that these poor men had been summoned to leave their homes and thqir employment at a very unusual and at a very inconvenient season of the year, for no’.purpose of their own, not even for any purpose ■ connected with the welfare of the country, but simply and solely to enable Mr . Eolleaton’s friend and leader to receive for life £6OO. a year for himself, and £6OO A year for his most obedient friend. And what Mr Eolleaton practically proposed was that, after obeying the late Prime Ministers summons issued for his own selfish purposes, these poor men were to be sent home without a penny in their pockets and without the means of paying their lodgings or any other expenses they might have legitimately incurred under the provisions of the law, which secured to them the payment of £l3O for the first session, whether long or short. At the time Mr. Eolleston’a amendment waa proposed, the numerous notices on the Order Paper justified the impression that , the House, would continue > to sit for several weeks j and it was but just to Mr Eolleaton and his party to say that after his mischievous and unreasonable patty motion had been lost, neither he nor anyone else unconnected with the Government had any opportunity to propose anything reasonable, as the Government, supported by an overwhelming majority, immediately brought the session to a sudden and unexpected close. He did not blame the Government at all for refusing to go on with business, or to answer party questions, before they had had any opportunity to decide upon their policy, but he thought that they should have given the members an opportunity to make some reasonable limitation of their own payment for such an absurdly short session, under such very exceptional circumstances. If Mr Eolleston had allowed the Address-in-Eeply to pass quietly, and had then proposed a simple resolution, such as the Government could have accepted w ithout resignation, to, the effect that, as the session had been so abnormally abort, it was not desirable that members should receive more than one-fourth of the sum provided by law, he might have carried hia' resolution, or he would, .at all events, have had the satisfaction of proposing gohfcfrhfafc .-pfta&ble and reasonable, and not" ihe'rely a party trick and a cheap, deltfsiye claim to popularity, for apparently intentions, when his real object was to show a possible excuse for his old friend in the most barefaced waste of public money for selfish, personal purposes, which any Premier of this Colony had ever perpetrated, and that was saying a good deal. Thirteen of the twenty-five new members took part in the debate, and from what he saw of the working-men representatives he had great hopes of their doing good work for their country and their class. There was another point on which he would like to say a few words, and this was a matter which, he regretted to say, had been made a party one. Speaking eight months ago in the House of Bepresentativea, and six months ago at Kirwee, he had said that if the charges made by Mr Hutchison were untrue the late Government would have no trouble in proving their innocence and Mr Hutchison's inaccuracy. He had also stated that they would find that the Government would never proceed with these charges into Court, but would evade such a course if Mr Hutchison gave them the opportunity of following it by waiving the tight to projection under Parliamentary jWiriWge. The result had been exactly as he had said it. would. The Government had actually, applied to the Supreme Court to prevent an inquiry being carried into the affairs of Sir H.: Atkinson. and Mr Mitchelson, showing to the country that -they were not prepared to submit to an inquiry./ He was sorry to have to add that Mr Hutchison had shared the fate of moat men who honestly came forward to tell the truth about men in high positions. Even his own friends had dropped him like a hot potato, leaving him to bear bimaelf the expense which had been entailed upon him by hia upright and manful action. His action had been such as to convince any man that what he had said was the truth, and that he was not afraid of any court of law in the matter. Another instance of the fate that awaited moat of their best public men was the fate of Mr Goldie. This gentleman had refused every offer of emolument, privilege or place, and his honesty, determination and careful watchfulness of expenditure should have earned for him the regard of every colonist. He had retired, and they heard nothing hut the sneers of interested Civil Servants, who dreaded the economies he had effected, and of contemptible news- . papera which endeavoured to make it

appear that those men who had forced themselves into lucrative positions were of more real worth than the man who stood up honestly for the welfare o f the country at large. Ho was inclined t‘o think that Mr M'Kenzie was going the right way to put a stop to dnmmyism in hiii proposals to discontinue selling Crown laniln and to dispose of land in future on perpetual lease conditions, lb was scandalous ilhat speculators and men who were noA lona fide settlers should take up the land 1 , to the exclusion of people who wished to make their homes upon it and to cultivate it. Last session he made it his business to reply to several young members who havii come to the House primed with figures gained from various party papers. He was afi raid that people were too prone to go to tha\t-source, and with very poor results. Mr Mi core, of Kaiapoi, in speaking to the Address-in-Eeply, said that the Colony was indebted to the late Government for the i?ound position in which they had placed our finances. He (Mr Saunders) referred Mr Moore to the previous Financial Statement, which showed that we had to pay £255i,000 more for interest than when Sir Blurry Atkinson came into office. That,, he thought, would have settled the question; but to show how little even Ministers kniew of the finances of the country, one of the most industrious and best-informed of the members of the late Government came to him the next morning aiv.d told him that he had made a terrible mistake—that there was nothing in tho Financial Statement about the increased amount of interest. He (Mr Saunders) just picked up the Financial Statement, and on page 21 he read these words of the late Premier: “The increased amount for interest and sinking fund for 188999 as compared with that of 1886-87 is £254,727.” Yet one of Sir Harry’s Ministers told him that the sum was not half this amount! He mentioned this to show how little attention even Ministers paid to the finances of the Colony. He had heard it said that he was a wild enthusiast on the subject of economy, and that it was impossible to reduce taxation by half a million; but if we showed to the world that we intended to live within our means, to dispense with useless and expensive establishments, by this means establishing our credit, we would be able to borrow money as cheaply as England or America, and that alone would mean a saving of between £700,000 and £BOO,OOO a year. Mr, Saunders, who concluded by stating bis desire to serve the interests of his constituents, resumed his seat amid applause. Eeplying to questions, Mr Saunders said that he was afraid that the Civil Servants had been the actual governors of the Colony for a long time. The present system tended to throw power into their hands, and unless a Minister were a very industrious man he would have to get his information from the Civil Servants, and to a large extent be guided by them. He thought the proposed Board of Advice, consisting of Civil Servants, was a mistake. He did not know the feeling of the present House in regard to Female Franchise sufficiently to say what prospect there was of that measure being carried. A vote of thanks was unanimously accorded Mr Saunders, on the motion of Mr Murphy, and a similar compliment to the chairman terminated the proceedings.