THE HON. J. W'KENZIE IN REPLY TO MR SPENCE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXV, Issue 181, 4 June 1891, Page 3

THE HON. J. W'KENZIE IN REPLY TO MR SPENCE.

sThe,Mowing5 The, Mowing i» that portion ot M HoKe-Me's speech whioh refers to th ohtoges brought against bim by Mr Spenoe lat£^(H»tittiiNHOner ;' of Orown Lands foi Southland ':— - Ho would not follow tha oourse pursued by Mr Spenoe at Inveroargill, or burl baok at Mr Spenoe the very bitter 1 language that had b__ nsed against himself ; but ho would take that opportunity of dealing with tbe ohargea stripped of the verbiage of abuse in whioh they were olad. Well, the first oharge was that he had ordered Mr Spenoe'a removal from Southland to Westland so that Mr Dunoan Campbell oonld be appointed a Crown lands ranger for that dietriot • secondly, that Mr Mussen was removed to Canterbury so that Mr Campbell oould take hia plaoe * thirdly, that he (Mr MoKenzie) had reduoed the land offloe at Inveroargill to less than an adequate working staff; fourthly, that he (the Minister) sent a memorandum to the Land Ofiioe asking them to make a declaration that they had not perpetrated a swindle ; and, fifthly- the appointment of Mr Campbell to the offioe of ranger. Now, he would give hard and dry foots, and show at the aame time substantial reason for his aotion, and facta were " ohiels that winna ding ' Wlaughter and applause),— and when they had hie explanation it would be for that meeting to judge him. First, then, he would take Mr Spenoe 's own oase and (be reasons whioh had induoed him (the Minister) to remove that offioer to Westland, On fais tour of inspeotion throughout the oolony he got as j far as Inveroargill, bdt he might say before j ha left Wellington on that tour he had doouments.eent to nim oontaining oomplaints of the manner in whioh the administration of the Orown lands and forest reserves in Southland were being oonduoted, and one of hia bbjeota in visiting Southland waa to generally enquire into, these matters. No sooner did be i eaoh Inveroargill than numbers of people waited upon him for the purpose of drawing attention to the defective administration of the Land Department, and the way in whioh the forest reserves were being' dealt with. One of the gentlemen who had Interviewed him made suoh atart« ling accusations againßt Mr Spenoe that he (loir MoKenzie; had deoided not to hear them unless he was prepared to sign hiß name to the aoousations he was making, Thia he agreed to do, and Mr Gore, his secretary, took down his statement in shorthand, wrote it ont that evening, and the gentleman iv question oalled next day, read the statement over, and signed his name to it. He (Mr MoKensie) took that statement to Mr Spenoe himself, and asked him to reply to it, whioh he did, and sent it on to Wellington ; but the reply was uot satisfactory to him (.the Uinistet), so he deoided that the gentleman who had ' made the etatement ahould again be written to from Wellington aud asked if- he had any further proof of the oharges he had made agaiaat Mr Spenoe. Another letter was reoeived from that gentleman, emphasising what he had previously stated, and giving dates for some of the statements he had made, at the same time giving the nameß of otber people in Southland who oould prove bis aoousations. But beforo thia enquiry oould be completed Mr Spenoe left the servioe, Whon at Gore reoently, a oopy of a petition whioh had been forwarded to his predecessor, the Hon Hr Richardson, wab presented to him, In it serious oomplaints were made with regard to the Croydon Buah, and ite administration under Mr bpenoe, At the Bame time a newspaper who handed to bim in wbioh appeared the following advertisement. "Notioe, Aiiy person or persons found outting or removing timber inside survey lines in Croydon Bosh on Drydeu and Reardon a sawmill reserve will be proaeouted by the law," (Signed) "Dryden and Reardon." an advertisement wbioh was quite illegal, and whioh had no right to appear in tbe papers. And this had been done under Mr Spenoe'a Very uofie^in the Southland Distriot. Had he beeni performing his duty properly as Commissioner 'of Orown Lands he would at onoe have contradicted suoh an advertisement^ The whole result of hia negleot had been that the settlers in Southland, not only in the Croydon Bush dißtriot, but also in other' distriots, had been prevented from getting what they had a right to, by the sawniiliers being allowed to assume by publio advertisement tbat they had a legal right to what the law did not allow them, The settlers were praotioally thrust to one aide. , On asking Mr Spence why he bad allowed suoh an advertisement to appear he was told in co many words that he (Mr Spenoe) waa not bound to read newspapers, v He (Mr MoKenzie) then immediately caused an advertisement to be inserted in the papers by Mr Spenoe, stating that sawmill licenses only give the privilege to eawmillera to caw timber alone, and that any settler who ohose to pay for a license could go to any btfsh in Southland for posts and rails or firewood, whioh they had beon prevented previously from doing, And he oould say that for this aotioa he had been heartily thanked by large numbers of people i v Southland. (Hear, hear, and applause.) A great number of other oomplaints had been made to bim too numerous for him to mention that evening, bnt he had documents iv hia possession which would bear out every wprd he was how saying. '■ One gentleman in particular, he was informed when in Invercarol!!, oould obtain anything he asked for at the hands of the Southland Land Board. He,. had requested Mr Spence himself to furnish a return of the areas held by that gentleman for sawmilling purposeß in Southland, and he found that this same gentleman was in posaefaion of fourteen selections as sawmilling areas, amounting in aU to 2078 aores, with reservations besides, made for his own use and benefit, of 3790 aores, making a total held in the grasp of this one man of 6868 aores of Southland Iforeat Reserves, and he had only three Bawmills on the lot, (Oh I and Applause.) pother, statement mode to him when in Southland, was that land with timber npon It to the value of £8 per aore, had bean sold t ♦ m Bam oi 12t 6<J P° r Mre > for caßh ' Into this he had made personal enquiry and found it to be true. Taking all these things into consideration he oonld only oome to the one oonolusion, and that was tbat it woqld be In the interests of the oolony of Netr .Zealand, and of Mr Spenoe himself , that he should be removed from tbe plaoe where he had been for suoh a length of time, The removal of the Orown lands officers from time to time from one portion of the Colony to another had always been a recognised thing. Even the Judges of tbe Supreme Court, after they had been a oertain length of time in one distriot. were very often removed. Resident Magistrates also were moved. In the same way, polioe officers, add in faot every Civil servant in the Colony, if Jt was found neoessary and in the interest of the community, were liable to be moved at any time. (Applause,) What, then, he had done was simply to ask Mr Spence to go to Westland at the same salary as he was receiving in Southland, and he (Mr MoKenzie) had done so for no other reason whatever than that he thought Mr Spenoe had been quite long enough in the distriot, and that in the interests of the Oolony, and in bis own interests} his removal would be an advantage. Now, that was the reason Mr Spenoe had been asked to go to Westland. (Applause.) The reason for Mr Mnaaen's removal to Canterbury was that after consultation with Mr Spenoe himself in Southland they came to the oonolusion that it waß necessary to haye ft forest! ranger in Southland, Some years ago when his predecessor was in offlce, an. offioer be had juat appointed aB Crown Lands ranger was dispensed with on the plea of, retrenchment. Ten police officers were then appointed forest rangersat a certain sum eaoh per annum, Mr Mussen occupying the position of Orown Lands Ranger. On looking over the papers in conneotion with the forests ef Southland in the Wellington head offloe he ascertained that Mr Campbell during his two years of office as Orown Lands Ranger had protected the revenue derived from the forest reserves in Southland to the extent of an amount equal to his own salary by deteoting some illegal transactions in connection with thoee forests, ' During the whole time tbe ten police officers were performing the came duty there was not ono instanoe of a report hy whioh the revenue of the oolony had been inoreased; in faot, there waa no record amongst tbe papers in Wellington to show that those police officers ever did anything, while the people of Southland were crying out tbat the forests were being illegally operated upon, Ho had disouased thit question with Mr Spenoe while in Invereo.r> gillj and Mr Spenoe himself admitted tbatj a ranger was necessary, and, regbnnnended that one should be appointed ffe '1 Mr ' tfoEfcngie) then gave it aa hii opinion that one ranger would be quit sufficient to do the work in conneotion witl both the Crown Lands and the fores reserves aa well. Ur Spence demurred t this, and strongly reoommended him a Minister . to have Mr Muefen in oharge c the Orowa Lands, and to appoint a specie ranger for the forests, Mr Mußsen wf an elderly man of about 60 years < age, and unable to make long jonr_6] on horseback. While there was nothin to he said against Mr Mussen wha soever, still in the Minister's opinion, he wi totally unsuitable to perform both dutie He, therefore. M «"» aot of kindness to M Musfwn, asked him to remove to Oanterbur where fleoOuld do most of his travelling \ train, He had not the least desire to tran fer Mr Mussen from Southland if he cou •oerform both the duties Crown lands rang wd forest ranger, ano! i,t, as Mr Bpenoe hi : et-W&s »010 object had been to make m x Jorll*&phell,hßhadali that very tit

also an opening- In the Wellington Land Distriot, to whioh that gentleman oonld have been appoiuted, and he might add that if he had left Mr Spenoe in oharge of the InveroarglU offloe with Mr Muasen as Grown lances ranger, .'and had appointed another man; to look after the forests, sending Mr Campbell to Wellington or Obristohuroh, not one word more would have been said about thiß Campbell appointment. (Applause.) (Continued on Pourth Page.)