Mr Fergus at Cromwell.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 1582, 25 March 1887, Page 2

Mr Fergus at Cromwell.

1 Mr T. Fergus, member for the Wakatipu, addressed his constituents at Cromwell and Bannockhum on Friday and Saturday evenings respectively. • At Cromwell there was a large attendance of elec--1 tors, and at the conclusion of the meeting a hearty . vote of thanks to the member and confidence in I him was unanimously passed. Aftorrt iterating his | views expressed at this town on matters of colonial ; importance, Mr Fergus, in reply to questions, said I he was not a snj porter of any Ministry at the present time, but was a fiee lance. "He thought I (reports the Cromtrefl Argus) Freetrade was a very I good thing for this colony, an d that the duties already imposed were quite sufficient to encourage local industries. Mr Fergus had voted against Sir Julius Vogel's amended tariff, as he found in the list of articles, candles, tools, powder, etc. The other day at Wellington, the Premier was waited upon by a depuration of bootmakers, who actually wanted an imposition of 30per cent, on the imported hoots. In Protective Victoria no branch of trade p<ys its employes the wages they get in New Zealand. We can send over Kaiapoi and Mosgitl tweeds and beat them even with their Protection. Where does our million and a-half bushels of surplus grain go to ? Not to Protected Victoria, but mostly to New South Wales. When in Victoria 15 years aao, seamstress* s and tailoresses were getting as high as 50s per week, they are now paid half that amount, the result of Protection. To provide revenue we must have a Customs duty, but then only on those articles that can 1 e.t bear it, and not on the necessaries of life, ami not at prohibitive rates." Mr Fergus believed in a sliding scale of rental charges where found advisable for encouragement of the mining industry, and thought that the new Mining Act provided for this to a certain extent. He was in favor of the Otago Central Railway being placed under the same category as the East and West Coast line, and on mentioning the same to the Premier, was informed that it was not intended to disnose of the land, as in the case of the l.ittt r line. He was still c f opinion that the rabbit nuisance could he best put down by the pay* meut of a bonus on each skin.