SIR GEORGE GREY'S SPEECH.

Marlborough Express, Volume X, Issue 698, 3 April 1875, Page 7

SIR GEORGE GREY'S SPEECH.

Sir George Geey addressed a very large meeting at the Thames on March 19tb, when it is stated that upwards of 1500 persous were present. As a full report of his address would occupy too much space, and as some portions of it would not particularly interest this Province, we have selected a few of the most .. salient points for our readers' consideration. That he has a strong objection to the introduction of THE FOREIGN ELEMENT, may be gathered from the following :— " I have long felt strongly as to the best means of securing inhabitants for the country. There is the one mode by which you take great sums of money and you collect the scum of foreign ports — (hear) — you take any person fit or unfit for duties, and ihrow them into a new country such as this, and as they come m they expel from the country the most deserving portion of the population." He says when the landowners of South Australia wanted such men they got them at their own expense, and adds that "not only with regard to foreigners, but with regard to unfit persons from the mother country, to tax the laboring population to bring those people out here, is a mistaken policy. If the funds so spent had been expended m settling deserving ' men upon farms, and allowing them to have them free for a period of time, the money so expended would have repaid the Government tenfold the benefit which has been obtained from the course which has been pursued." There is a great deal of truth on Sir George's side of the question which future legislatures may well consider. On the question of PUBLIC AVORKS he says " I am glad to hear of railways being made — you cannot have too many of them, but let those who benefit by the railways be the first to pay for them," and those who are so benefitted, he considers are the large landed proprietors and runholders, the value of whose X property the railways increase. His views with preference to THE LAND LAWS, and the mode of settlement may be gathered from the following quaint and pithy remarks : — • " I believe the desire of a man for a farm is as old as a man's love for a woman. I believe that ever since good men had wives they wished to make comfortable homes for them. My notions are as old as having children, and I believe that any father having children whom he loves wishes to have something for them, some home,

some place where they may lay his remains, aud sometimes visit his grave. Tbey may call me Rip Van Winkle, but I firmly believe that antiquated as these notions of mine may be, the present generation will take them up again, ancl insist upon their being carried out." He had previously stated that he would recommend " the opening out to the mining population the means of settlement in the vicinity of their claims," and said "I need not tell you how cheering it must be to men to have good farms for settlement within a few miles ; I need not tell j'ou how much the skilled miner would be benefited bj r being on the spot, and able to take advantage of any new discovery which might be made, andi need not tell youbow advantageous it would be for a mau to work at mining when he pleased, and at farming wheu it was agreeable to him. All these things must be evident to yourselves." To the last observation there can be no denial, though it does strike us as being rather Utopian in character ; for if we could change our occupation when we pleased, there would be many times when we should say to journalising "Go hang." Sir George Grey's opinions ON TAXATION" are so liberal, and we may say, so peculiar for one in his station of life, that we quote them somewhat at length. "We ought to have a fair system of taxation, but we will only have it by being properly represented. — (Cheers.) When the franchise is extended, and when many people who are now deprived of votes have them, then and not till then will you obtain justice. Every portion of the community shrinks from taxation, and if possible puts it upon somebody else. Such is the inevitable result — 1 was going to say of the weakness of human nature, but I will not use such a word — but it is one of those things which do occur in human nature. — (Laughter.) As an instance of what I mean, I may refer to the enormous esi tates in England which were acquired upon coni dition of raising and paying men for military ! service. But when these landholders obtained | the power by getting a preponderating influence I in the Parliament, following this principle of ; human nature, they put these burdens upon . the suffering millions in the country. If you think that the great landowners and flockowners, so long as they are in possession of the power iu the Assembly, will take up your burdens and put them on their own shoulders, you are much mistaken. I can only say, that in so far as I can aid in bringing about a more equitable system of taxation, you may depend upon my aid in the matter." Any steps in the direction of equalising the fiscal burdens of the State is greatly to be desired, and there can be uo question that in this country, as well as in Great Britain, the heaviest burden rests on those i who are the least able to bear it. On the ques- ; tion of j EDUCATION, | his opinions are equally liberal and worthy of I regard. While such a doctrine is upheld by the leading men of New Zealand, and responded to by the majority of the public, we shail have no fear as to the future training of the youth of this Oolony. So long as such views generally obtain, fanaticism will be powerless for evil, and political liberty andreligioustolerancewill gohand in hand. He said : — " I entevfcaiii the strongest possible opinion that no man has a right to bring his children up savages, to afflict the rest of the community — (cheers) — and that the community have a right to see that every child born in its bosom is brought up a good citizen, and as far as possible a virtuous one. I think a system to attain these ends must be maintained, and my own desire would be to see a good system of education. What I mean is this — again to refer to the mother country. A tax is there imposed called the income tax, and which is now 3d in the pound. It has lately been rednced, and in consequence of the outcry is likely to be done away with. What do you do here with regard to education ? If you take a poor man's income at £80, you take his income afc 3d in the pound, and you tax the rich man what is nothing at all to him. — (Cheers.) As 1 pointed out in my address, absentees who are enjoying enormous revenues are as much interested as we are in this question, and so are the people to whom we shall have to pay interest on the enormous loans. If we were all to turn savages in New Zealand where would the interest upon their loans be ? If we all take to robbing, what will they do with their sheep and cattle ? Why are they to have all the advantages arising from the education of the population, and not pay a single sixpence towards the cost. lam not naturally a discontented man, but this sometimes makes me feel moody, that I have to pay income tax in England to keep the police to protect all the fine residences in London, and have also to pay here, while the absentees pay nothing for me. " In answer to the question, What kind of education are you in favour of ? he said : "I have told you that I think that every citizen has a right to see tbat the children born in the community are brought up good virtuous citizens, but upon the other hand, I do not think that any man has a right to impose a religious education upou the children, aud to take that out of the hauds of parents. (Cheerß.) I believe it is so sacred a question that no State has a right to interfere with it. It is a proper thing to reverence and honour people who give a roligious education to their children, but let the State solely concern itself with the secular education of the children." If our space would permit, there are several extracts which we should be glad to place before our readers touching the constitution of the THE UPPER HOUSE, which he stigmatises as being as corrupt in principle as anything existing in the worst days of the Roman Empire. He defended the constitutional freedom of the Provinces, and ridiculed the empty honors of the Order of St Michael and St George. In concluding his address he said regarding REPRESENTATIVE INSTITUTIONS. "Parliament bas laid down this rule, that if you create a legislative body you cannot take those powers away without their own consent. They say justly that if we gave people representative institutions, and then commenced to take them away, who could trust us again ? We dare not take away representative institutions

■when we have given them withont the consent of the people. If the people desired the provinces to be done away with, let the provinces, according to the constitutional law, pass laws themselves for their abolition, and let them make their own terms, and say, we will resign our powers on such conditions. They have a right to do that. Such a thing as taking away representative institutions was never heard of, and I dn not think that Parliament will allow such a thing. If the people desired to get rid of these representative institutions let them say so, and I for one will fully and amply obey. But lam fully and earnestly determined, if elected, to insist upon all constitutional iisages being fully and fairly carried out before the provinces are done away with." On the 22nd he gave utterance to the same opiuions m the city of Auckland, and has since, as our readers are already informed, beeu returned without opposition as Superintendent of that Province.