MR. READER WOOD AT PARNELL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XII, Issue 4404, 24 December 1875, Page 3

MR. READER WOOD AT PARNELL.

"Mr. Reader Wood met tlie electors of Par- | nell, last evening, in the PubKc Hall. The i building was crowded. His address oc- ! cupied nearly an hour and three-quarters. | Oil the motion of Mr. Wasner, seconded by Mr. Akchakd, B. Tonks, Esq., Mayor of Auckland, was called to the chair. The Chairman having made a short prefatory address, Mr. Reader Woo o, in coming forward, •was received with loud cheers. He said :— Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen,—l appear before you this evening in a two-fold character ; I have a doable duty to perform. First, as your representative in the late Parliament, to give yon some account of what took place during the last session and of my action there; the views that led me to take the course I did; and, also, as a candidate for your suffrages to represent you again in the :aext Parliament. I shall endeavour to give you some glin pses of the future ; and if, gentlemen, I am to judge, as I believe I may very safely judge. I shall receive from you similar support to that which you have given me in the past, entirely unsolicited on my part. I, therefore, shall not offer myself to you, for the fourth time, as your representative in the General Assembly in vain. I ■will endeavour this evening to give you as complete a view as lies in my power o£ the -whole of the last political session ; and I do SO because there has been a very considerable amount of misrepresentation of the views and opinions that have been placed before the public, relating to members of the Opposition. Statements have been made of opinions ■which they were said to have entertained, tmd attempts have been made by the Ministerial Press and the Ministerial candidates to shirk the issue which really lies before you, and to endeavour to substitute a false one. □The Press, or rather the Ministerial section of the Press, has endeavoured to make it appear that those members who voted against the Abolition Bill, did BO with the desire and intention of replacing the old Provincial Institutions. I read the other clay in the Southern Cross a remark of this kind. It spoke of the seventeen Provincialists. Their insinuation is, of course, that the sole object of that Bill is to abolish the provinces, and the sole object of the Opposition to the bill was to reinstate or to keep together the old Provincial system as we had hitherto known it. In making the statements which 1 shall make to you to-night, 1 shall not place my own words in the months of the persons to whom I shall refer. I will take their words absolutely, so that I may not be accused of any attempt at misrepresentation, or any attempt to make out views or opinions that were in any way different from the views and opinions which they expressed, Mr. May, whom I regard as par excellence the Ministerial candidate, Las been going about the country insinuating precisely, this same thing, and in almost exactly the same language. He wants to make out, if he possibly can, and to induce the electors to understand, if he can get them to do so, that it was the object of the oppobition to the great Ministerial measure of last session so bring back in all their force, or in all their feebleness, the mock Parliament which we have had exhibited before ns for the last three or four years. Now, I would ask you, is that a fair representation of the views of those gentlemen who formed the Opposition in the last Parliament? Take, for instance, Mr. O'Rorke. If there is a Provincialist at all, Mr. O'ftorke may be said to be that Provincialist. He would not be offended if he were in this room and heard me say so. Look at his address, going largely into the question before us, and though he offers a variety of alternative proposals, there is not one of those in favour of there-establishment of the old form of Provincialism. I notice, too, in Mr. Sv/anson's speech, which I have read in the newspapers, he admitted at once he was a "Provincialist, but he said he did not desire _ to aee brought back again the sort of thing ■which we have had for three or four years. Sir George Grey voted against that bill, as I voted against it, and 1 say there are no two men, even the most ardent supporters of that Abolition Bill, who have shewn more clearly than we have done, that in the iinr*" 6 ' position of this province at any rate the 1 Y 'Hneial form of Government is Jjjj V.a* t ntlemen you are aware that last session an <_ imposition was formed, and that the object of that opposition was, as I have just told you, very much misrepresented. Now really of the object of that opposition there is no possible question there is not the slightest dohbt. Sir George Grey •was leader of that Opposition, and as soon as it was formed he made a statement in the House representing that the Opposition had been formed. He stated also the purpose for which it had been formed. I will read you the exact words which he used on that occasion. I have copied them from the Hansard, and whenever I quote the language of .any gentleman to-night that quotation will be a copy taken from the newspaper or from Mansard. Sir George Grey, in announcing the formation of the Opposition, used these ■words: —"I beg, therefore, to take the present opportunity of stating that an Opposition has been formed which intends to act on basis :—First, to enquire _ strictly into the general financial condition of the colony; and, second, to oppose the passing of ' the bill for the abolition of the Provinces until the people have had an opportunity of expressing their views on that measure, and on any alternative proposal that may he offered for the amendment ofthe Constitution." Now, there -is not a single word about the re-establishment of Provincialism there—not a single syllable of the kind in that statement. That was the basis upon which the Opposition was formed, and what is there in that which

would lead any one who desires to instruct the people to the • supposition that the object was to continue and maintain, or re-instate, the old form of Provincialism. Gentlemen, what I shall have to say tonight, I should first tell you, that I do not set myself up as a party man. I have not come forward to obtain any party advantage. What I shall say, shall be rather what belongs to the historian than to the party man. To tell you precisely what took place with reference to that great question that was discussed with vehemence, and at such length, in the House of Representatives. I wish to give you, in as clear a manner as shall be within mypower, not as a party man but as an historian, not my own view, but the views of both parties on that occasion. The main interest of the session centred in the Abolition Bill. The Abolition Bill contained three distinct principles, two of them absolutely contradictory, one of the other and the third having nothing whatever to do with either of the other two. (Laughter and cbeers.) The first principle was that the provinces should be abolished, and the second was thofc they should be immediately reinstated. There was this difference only between the old provinces and the new ones, that the old were called " Provinces," and the new ones Provincial Districts. (Laughter.) They were not only to be reinstated, having the same territorial, but they were to be reinstated in a far worse form. Under the old system you did at any rate elect your Superintendent, but under the new system he who was to hold the power and discharge the functions of a Superintendent was to be appointed by the Governor. (Shame.) Now, gentlemen, I ask you this as practical men—as men who have lived a considerable time in this country, and have seen something of Governments and Superintendents—whether if from the first Superintendents had been nominated— 1 am not now speaking of Auckland but the whole colony—l ask you whether you would have had Superintendents in the various provinces anything like the able men whom you had through election of the people ? (Hear, hear.) I ask you whether, if you alter that elective system,, if you allow your Superintendent, I care not what tho name be — Governor's Delegate I believe he was to be called—if instead of being elected by the people, he is to be appointed by the Governor, you may expect anything, like the' men who have been elected or are likely to be elected. One instance I will" give you. Could you hold that such a man as Sir George Grey would hold such a nominated position for one moment. (Cheers.) The thing is perfectly ridiculous. I say we never would have had snch a Superintendent for this province under the nominated system. But the most important principle in that bill was the absolute tyingup, otherwise called the localization of the land fund of the colony. That land fund was rigidly to be tied to the various Provincial Districts. There was to be no hope for the future that the land fund could ever become colonial revenue. And now, gentlemen, when we come up here what do we find. We find the Ministerial candidate, Mr. Joseph May, going about the country saying that he is going in for an " united colony and a common purse." (Laughter and cheers.) Mr. May was a thick and thin supporter of the bill, and that bill says this—mind, gentlemen, this bill is not a mere utterance of any one individual w'lo may be said to represent a party j it cannot be said that I am quoting from the speeches of any member, or giving an opinion that would be open to controversy and upon which all may not agree, but 1 am giving you the bill itself, and this bill—the creed of a party. This is what they would have the bill, the whole bill, and nothing but the bill; and they were in such a big hurry to bring it into operation that through their great hurry they lost it. (Loud cheers.) Well, gentlemen, what is this bill ? It is a bill which secured three things—that is if it were law—first, the unity of the colony; second, a highly centralized form of government; and third, a divided purse—not a common purse mind, but one divided, so that there were to be ten different purses ; that is to say, there was to be tho great General Government purse, and then there was to be a purse each for nine different Provincial Districts. (Laughter.) It was utterly impossible to do that. (Cheers.) But that was a vital point of the bill, and yet you see the gentleman who voted for that bill--who was the strenuous supporter of those who introduced the bill—going about the country saying that he is for a united colony and a common purse, when three or four months ago he voted for a united colony and a divided purse. (Cheers.) Gentleman, it might possibly be said that there may be some change on the part of those gentlemen who at the time voted for this Abolition Bill; that it is not at all improbable that on a revision of this bill some modification might be made in these very stringent provisions. Now, I want to look at that matter a little. I want you to see and judge for yourselves whether such a course is at all probable. I stated at Wellington that if these clauses provided for the absolute tying-up and localization of the land fund I would not vote for it. Mr. Pyke, who is a Southern member, immediately said that if these clauses were not in the bill, he would not vote for it. Mr. Wales said the same thing, and Major Atkinson, who had charge of the bill, said not only would they tie it up for these Provincial districts, but they would make it a feature of the whole bill, and when they got their Shire Councils, they would tie it to the Shire Conncils. That did not look like any hope of makingthe land fund general revenue of the colony. What are the latest utterances of their party 1 I will again trouble you by reading some words used by Mr. George McLean, who is a candidate for a constituency in Otago, and who was a supporter of this bill. 1 have a telegraphic report of his speech lately delivered, in which he states that he would only hare supported the bill conditionally on the land fund being localised—that is, reserved for each province. That is plain speaking enough. There is no mistake about his views and his opinions. Then there is the Bon. Mr. Richardson, who spoke as a member of the Ministry. He said the Government had not the slightest intention of taking the Canterbury fnnd to be spent in any other of the provinces. Gentlemen, you will recollect very distinctly what took place the last time I spoke from this platform little more than twelve months ago. Then we were discussing the same question —not the question as embodied in the bill, but the question as embodied in the resolutions. I read the resolutions to you, and the effect of them was, that it was de sirable the provinces should be abolished, and that in their place should be substituted a form of local self-government, with substantial endowments. Now, I understood at this time, and most people understood, that these substantial endowments were to be endowments in land, or endowments by means of land revenue. That is the view I took of it. I believed that it was the first step on the part of the Government towards making this land revenue general revenue; that at any rate it was to be made an endowment, and would beconsideredin the bill as general revenue. I stated to you that there would be an attempt in the next session —that is, last session—to preserve the compact of 1856, that such a provision would probably be found in the bill, and if there was, that I would vote against it. Many of you must recollect the words, that if such a provision were in this bill I would vote against it. I did more than that against it —I tried to get rid of these provisions, and when first the clause in committee came on for discussion, I moved this amendment— the amendment is on the clause that localises the land fund, and was to the following effeet:—" That the land fund shall be appropriated annually by the Parliament -of the colony for such purposes as it thinks fit.".; Now, what reception-do you suppose that that amendment met with in the House of Representatives ? When the question was put there were two voices heard in favour of that ; amendment— Mr. Swanson's and own. 'Yet now we'are told that the Ministerial, candidates are going in for a united colony and a common purse. Gentlemen, that there is not the ghost of a chance of that, I think I have. shewn you very clearly. Having dwelt so long upon that matter, I am going

; to dwell a little longer on the question of thi s land fund. It is for this reason nine-tenth of the measures which have been passed ii the various Parliaments are of the smalles imaginable, importance to the bulk ..of thi ; population, because nine out of ten knov ; very little about them and are vcrylitth affected by them. But I will , tell you that, ; if this bill beeomes law,— if-'the financia management proposed by it be carried out, there is not a single individual in this pro vince whose purse will not be affected by it, —whose spending power will not be diminished, —-whose wages will not be practically lowered, —whose income will not be practi cally lessened. I will tell you why. You have all read of this compact of 1856. Thai compact provided that the land fandshall.be provincial revenue, and that compact has beer thoroughly kept from that day to this. ■ Ii has not been relaxed in the slightest possible degree. There was at the same time anothei arrangement,—l will not call it a compact, but it was, at any rate, an understanding, and that understanding was, that while the land fund was to be provincial revenue, fiveeighths of the Customs revenue should alsc be Provincial revenue, and that the expenditure of the General Government should not exceed £50,000 a-year. Now this understanding has been broke over and over again. You will recollect, gentlemen, very distinctly that in the early days of the representative institutions your Provincial Councils ware very useful and respectable bodies. Why ? Because they had real power ; bccause they had funds at there disposal; because they were local Governments ; and because you could get a*, them. The five-eighths of the Customs receipts was very, very early reduced to threeeights ; the three-eighths was further reduced to the 40s capitation allowance. The 40s capitation allowance was then reduced to 30s, and the 30s reduced to los. All resources and all fund were taken away from these Provincial Councils by the legislation of an over-riding body. Their powers were taken away from them until, they became what we have seen them, —impecunious bodies and mock Parliaments. Mr. May, who does his constituents the honor of considering that they are all madmen or fools, tells them that everybody who opposed this Abolition Bill and the financial arrangement under it wants to bring back these mock Parliaments. iGentrlemen, it does frequently happen that ' lunatics think they are the only sane men, ''and that all the rest of the world is mad. (Cheers- and laughter.) To pursue this subject a little further, the revenue collected ?"n this province altogether—the consolidated revenue, by which you understand is meant geneneral revenue — is £310,000 a-year. That comes out of the pockets of tha people Now, £310,000 is a good bit of money, there is no mistake whatever about that. But w? have got into the way of so talking aboui millions that we come to consider hundreds of thousands almost as nothing, and to speak of them with the same kind of contempt as we would speak of a penny whicli we would give to a beggar. Still, it is a goodish bit of money. It is a very large sum to have extracted from the pockets' of the people. [A Voice: "Every year."] I am very much obliged to my friend for putting this word in. It comes ■ to a great Bum. Now out of that for any good to yourselves you cannot get a single shilling; it all goes towards paying the interest on money for provincial steam subsidies, and what are understood as the general expenses of the colony. Towards roads or bridges, or anything that enables you to extend settle . 3 j or to make this province a more habitable place, there is absolutely rot one single shilling of that mr icy bronj »t back. , la did get some £10,Cv3.0r £12,C1 J a year within the laat two years, but that sum has been actua'ly st op •?, r.~idsl:>2 I " • wL-.t purpose do you think ? To pay for * ~cs on the railway. [Cries of " shame.''j The General Government, mind you, which is a.i antagonistic Government, maiagrs 3 railways, and we pay for them. Now, gentlemen, I would like to know how long you would get on in '; ; : .T J.f your rival managed it for you, and you had to pay whatever he told you to pay ? How would it be if a man who had a shop on the other,*:ide of the street had to draw your bills, :tnd you had to pay them. That is just the position of your affairs. The people have not a tvord to say in the management of these railways, but they have to pay the piper. I can teli you that if the loss on these railways is £1000 a-month now, it will be greatly more than £1000 a-month in a very short time to come. The Auckland and Mercer Railway was taken over by the | Government. It was handed over to them by Messrs. Brogden in first-class order. The General Government would have to pay for the maintenance, but there are two or three miles absolutely under water. Whe; Messrs. Brogden had the railway they wee allowed to run trains to Onehunga if thy made it pay. I know it, for they told jie so. But since the Government began to manage it, the railway has been losng money. What does this law say ? It ays" you are to be directly taxed for this, and you must pay it. I wish they may g6 it. But there is another view of it. Of curse they can stop funds that ought to core to you, and you won't get them. Now, gentlemen, when I saw this bill, and saw vhat the proposals in the bill were, I also saw what the financial arrangements must ircessarily be, I saw how frightfully .unjust tiey were to this province, for we have no knd fund. When I tell you you do not put one shilling of this £310,000 back, you must recollect that the great provincij of the South (Canterbury and Otago) hays the whole of their land fund, getting at thoratc of £390,000 a-year, whilst you have nolthe means of mending a road or putting tp a bridge. They have large funds at their lisposal, to go on and make what works tiey choose, and I say it is simply unfair to tlk about a united colony with such a discrepancy as that. It is but talking nonseme, and what no sensible man would listen 'o. If this bill proposed a united colony and a common purse, it would have been anothjr question, but it was a united colony and & divided revenue—that one part should roll in wealth like Dives, and the other be duced to the position of Lazarus with tht dogs. When we found that to be the case, and we saw the position to which affairs were to be reduced, what were we to do ?| There were about sixteen or seventeen of us. We saw that we weie very few, and that this bill was a monstrous one. We considered what course we were to take with regard to it. We came to this understanding,—that we meant to oppose it—not simply to vote against it, but to resist.it. by every means in our power, for we knew if that bill became law what a horrible thing it would be. But how were we to resist it t We said, first of all, that we would debate_ it fully and fairly on the second reading. We were desirous to obtain as much information as we possibly could, to endeavour to turn it over, and to get at the inside of it, if it were possible, to criticise it in every way. We knew that we would produce no effect in the House, but we knew that we would be speaking to the colony. We might have spoken to as many statues as have spoken to either the Ministers or their supporters. We hadr before us the hope that we would be educating the country. That hope had no basis inside the House; it was entirely out of the House ; for that Parliament, in almost the very last days of its session, branded itself as the most corrupt Parliament that had ever beenknown in New Zealand. (Loud cheers.) We know ,well what it was from five years' experience of it; we saw there was no hope there, and we turned to the country. But how were we to get at the country ? Look at Wellington. There is no public opinion there., Wellington is made by public expenditure ;. thejnore public expenditure there; is the. better fori Wellington. But how did we know that we had'■'! the sympathy "'of the-public? out of doors. We KneWj-'indeedi' that-ycrti' !were vfery. largely concerned: 11 'Telegrams were coming down from Auckland, which told us of the conduct of certain public meetings, but it was said to us,Oh, they are against you; wa know that we have the favour of the people ;;;we know that the pubEc is in favour of the bill, and that

10 you have not 4 e 2 to stand upon," and is taUijlike, ttat.jl recollect reading some in time' ago a 'renrk which struck me very sfc much. It Beded to me to have great le force, though ijwas rather _ cynical, but w it,was,true, anjitwaa to thiseffect, that le if ; a man was tsucceed in this world, he t, must have eithienemies or friends, and he al will succeed berwho has both. Now, gent, tlemen,' I admnhat I have not- altogether a- done- badly in tfe colony. *■' I am not making t, a great thing oHt, but still I have not l- done badly. Ifcrived here with nothing, y and I have paidta way ever since, and that , i- is something cei inly. I have never been u able" to account f 'it," although I have often ; it reflected on th subject. I have always ; >e had, ! however, large crop of bitter : n and • malignant enemies. I have had [t at the same pie a few very trustie worthy friends I . believe I have got ;r more friends tm enemies here to-night. I t, hope you will ' it be offended with me if I r, say that my et|nies have invariably done 'e more-forme tm my friends. (Laughter 3- and cheers.) < le enemies have always been 10 in such a hunt they hava been so bitter, i- they-have so, instantly , desired to crush >t me in the Worlj that they lost their heads, r- and by so doin created sympathy for the d other side. Tire is nothing I should regret ». more in any citest that I ever had if there e were not somgood staunch enemies on the is other side. Gp me enemies, and I will find d the friends. "Vp, my enemies a few months :e ago at Welliton, when the Government Is introduced thbill, desired to make out that 11 I was oppose/by the members of my con--1 j stituency. A meeting was to be held at ;- Newmarket, id a telegram arrived to tho i- effect that a ,bte of want of confidence was s- to be proposi. I looked at the telegram, e and saw tha a public .meeting was to be d held at No-market, that another was to be i. held at Pmell for the purpose indie cated. "Ol" sr.id they, "see what they s are going i do in' in Auckland : they are -. going to pasa vote of want of confidence..-in n Wood; thepre going to put put his political a pipe." Hoiver, I saw in the morning •- another tele am that the idea of the want of i- confidence i ition had been given up, and ,t that it coul(iot:be carried. What was the ,t effect of allhese proceedings ? The object [1 was to shei that public sympathy, was for a the bill, an&gainst those who opposed it; i. but the reafesuH was, that public sympathy t was arouseior those who were engaged in ~ the Oppositn. In my absence, when some . persons souht to destroy me politically, and i. without haifig » friend, the meeting passed 2 an muuimus vote of confidence in me. 1 Gentlenen.l have seen, candidates rewarded t by theii coibtituents with enthusiasm. Cir ■. G. Gry T<fis received, when he arrived: i a the Mauktu, with a striug of people. There 3 was a foceasion and an oration. When Mr. i Macanrew went South he received a public J banqut. But I say that' vote, carried in my 9 absenii at a time that I was maligned and 3 insultd, was worth to me more than aiy - ovatiol whatever — a great deal more, i and [any times more. (Cheers.), 7'.. i it haq been given in my presence, .V • l wouldiot have been valued by me so highly. E Allowbie to express to you my deep thanks j for yoikcenduct on that occasion. I do not r know d anything so favourable to the int fluenceif a member in Parliament as a vote ■ of thatkind passed by his constituents at a I distane and despatched to him by telegraph ' when le vas engaged on their behalf in a i struggle vihere the most important interests * were conffirned. But if such a vote had been passfd I would not have resigned on it; ; because I never will resign my seat while i the Soust is sitting. But on any occasion i afterwardior before, if my views differ from i you '8, I wii hot desire to hold the position • of jour representative for one moment after i I ail satisfied of that fact. Understand this, ; if you send, me to represent you while Parliament is sitting, and when probably I have catered into party arrangements, ao want of confidence, and no requisition to resign will ever get me to do it. . The effect,, however, of such a vote would be to paralyse" whatever influence I might have in Parlia-' ment. I lave not brought this matter for- . ward as a personal matter, but rather to avail mystlf of the Opportunity which now presents its (if to thank -you- Cor that vote. . You sccccely knew the importance of what you than did. Until this meeting was held and an isolated individual who might have his OWi thought of matters could not have knewn the extent to which public feeling was with him. There had been no previous pihlic expression of opinion. The effect it pwduced was immediate. It was like ipthing that I recollect except the descrip : tons which 1 have read of what takes place ivhen danger threatens a disturbed country. When a country is at war, and in the struggle to defend itself the watchman goes to the topmost hill, • and when danger threatens the community, he fires liis beacon, and the intelligence is carried from beacon to beacon, from mountain top to mountain top, from height to height, the whole of the people are thoroughly roused, and then rush to the rescue. So your note was heard in the city. It came fresh from the neighbouring suburbs—it extended throughout' the whole of the province, and in due time reached Wellington ; thence travelling to Dunedin, telling us that we were backed by the people, and, having that knowledge, enabled us to go in for the fight. Then we determined that we would talk against time. Happen what might, we resolved this bill should not become law. There were only fifteen at first who were determined to stick shoulder to shoulder. We told ourselves off in watches of eight hours each, and we could have kept it up, if it was necessary, from that time until now. There is no doubt, whatever, about that. (-Loud cheers.) When we first began it, I thought it would be a very tough thing to do, but really it became quite easy after a while. We. had eight hours in a watch, and after that we might go where we liked for the .remainder of the day. I was captain of a watch at from 12 o'clock at night to 8 o'clock in the morning, "The fellows who were kept up for the night watches were generally the strongest and the staunchest men, who were able to endure fatigue. Now, gentlemen, I have read to you in the first instance, when I began, what the object of the Opposition was, and I ask you whether or not we succceeded. (Loud cheers.) We hung this bill, like Mahomet's coffin, between heaven and 1 earth. It is now for the public of New Zea- _ land to say whether it shall come down again to earth or vanish into the air. (Loud cheers.) So much, then, for the Abolition Bill; so much for the majority of 52 to 17, hut it shews you what a little resolution can do. As regards the other measures of the . session, it is not necessary for me to say viry much. There was, however, one hill ■which did not make very much noise when it was passed,—that was, the Municipal Corporations Amendment BilL We made a few little alterations in it. Before that, Mayors were elected in a little quiet parlour, as five or six gentlemen together arranged it very nicely like a small tea-party, and there- was not the slightest doubt that such nice little tea-party kind of meethgs would be dissolved by the pasaiig of the Amendment Act, which gave .the people the power of electing their Mayor. [A cry: "We have him.'] Yes, and a very excellent choice you have i made of it, too. I do not congratulate my excellent friend the Mayor on his office, but I do congratulate the citizens on having him ; 1 because I feel satisfied that any tendency ■ which might have been found towards ■/ cliauism or ringism will never be permitted ; by our worthy chairman the Mayor. ]Mr. ' Wood then referred to the Qualification of > Electors' Bill, and the Representation BilL] I- would give 33 as wide a. qualifica- ' tion., to .electors. as possible—manh'oo.d ' 'suffrage with, registration—for ' I .should. ' jhold- asa principle" that every nian jwho is called • uponi to 'obey J the 11 ' law ■ iand to pay taxes "has.! a'•right to a voice in i [the election o\ -those ,who make the laws and f 'impose such taxes. I think also that memi' ( bers "and their constituents should talk it 3 lover a-little oftener-than—they do, and for i -this purpose triennial Parliaments are a rery--5 gre.it deal better than five-yenr 7. if it were not also for another reason than i this,—that it would give the people an. j b 'opportunity of clearing the House of j Sir j t Julius Vogel's editors, and other people' of j

that description. (Cheers.) Gentlemen, I want to say a few "words-to you about the finances of the colony;*- I am not going to weaiy_ you 'with figures. I am going to state one' or- two general results. You have often heard me "speak in* this room of the borrowing policy. I have often said I was afraid it would not result so satisfacfactorily as its admirers expected.. I told you I had a fear that we would get into the mire that we would get enormously into debt, and have small means of paying; that the railways would not pay. I -was called a , "croaker," and that kind of thing. That die not affect me much. But for a long time it was impossible to get at a basis of comparison. Now, however, we can get at such a basis, for it has been going on for the last five years. 1 will shew you the huggermugger way we have been going on in these matters—the actual leap in the dar?" that has been taken through the ignorance, the blindneSo, and want of knowledge on the part of the Government. Two years sgo, in the session of 1873, Mr. Gillies, whom you all know, and with whom I have had the very great pleasure to act in many important political affairs, estimated that when the various railway contracts should be completed we would owe £17,000,000. That was two years ago, recollect. It was thought at the time a very large sura. In the House of Representatives no notice was taken of this estimate. There never As any notice taken of any warnings or precautions there. You may say what you do say there, and there's an end. (Laughter and cheers.) Now, the House of. Lords (the Legislative Council) have, during the last live years, done the country a great' deal of service. I do not approve of the way they are appointed. I think they might bo appointed in a very much better way. Still, .1 do not ignore the fact that during the last five years they have on several .occasions done a great deal of good. The statement that when the lines would be completed-,-the country would owe sixteen or seventeen millions was considered very important, and it was discussed in the Upper House. The Colonial Secretary had a seat in that House, Dr. Pollen (uproar), and he was obliged to take notice of the matter. What I am now about to quote in what the present Premier said in reply to this statement. His words were these, "I absolutely deny." You see there is no mistake about thgse words—there is no beating about the bush there. I absolutely deny that these figures correctly represent the financial condition of the colony. No such debt as the 16 millions and the odd thousands, has actually been incurred or authorised. The total colonial debt is £9,622,104. The amount still required to complete the works authorised by the Act, makes a whole of £13,761,604. That, however, is not thepresent debt: that is the debt which we may look forward to incur, and when the money has been expended that will represent the indebtedness of the colony. Such were the words of the Colonial Secretary at that time. Now, I ask you to keep that 13 millions and a-h-lf, in round numbers, in your head. Remember that when this money was spent, we were to have "706 miles of railway fully completed and equipped." Let me remind you again these words are not mine. Two years ago, that is in 1873 that was the formal statement of the gentleman whose is the present Prime Minister o? the colony. Now, what did the Colonial 1 Treasurer tell us last session about the indebtedness of the colony. Major Atkinson told the House, that the debt on the 30th June, 1875 was £17,671,000. The Minister o£ Public Works told us that he had 277 miles of railway open on the 30th of June, instead of 706. Since then some 50 miles may have been opened in one place, and 50 miles in another, but this is the result of it, thatthey have expended four millions more theD they estimated, and they have less thr.n half the number of miles of railway they were to have for the less sum. There is the statement of Ministers two years ago. Now I ask you what you - think of that ? ■How many of you know anything about it. Vary few I expect. But you all know that the Auckland Harbour Board is £40,000 SJlOrt uf tlio mouoy they should lirwo £or building a dock. You all know that. When that happened the editor of the Southern Cross dipped his pen in his gall and vinegar, and the Press commented upon it, and said what a shame it was. But when there was a defalcation of £4,000,000 at Wellington, the Press did uot say a word or tell you what a shame that was. The people were asked, with respect to the Harbour Board, whether they had ever heard of such incompetency and .maladministration. The members of the Board were told they ought to be ashamed —that, indeed, the earth ought to open and take us all in except that wise editor himself. (Cheers and laughter.) But not a word about the four millions at Wellington. Now, let me ask, -what would have been the position of you . had Government been —real Government —a Government with power—a Parliament that had got power and funds 1 Do 1 you mean to tell me that such a state of things could go on without tho • public, knowing all about it, and taking care that the Ministry who made such blunders would not have a chance of making them again. (Loud cheers.) But because this is done by the General Government down at Wellington, you practically know nothing about it. When your own Harbour Board makes a mess, everybody is agog, and everybody cries out. Now I will shew you the way they make up accounts in the Colonial Treasury. Towards the close of the session the Colonial Treasurer comes down with a statement and a lot of figures, which he says represent receipts on one side and estimated expenditure on the other. A line is drawn, and what is called a balance is struck. The balance appears te be a surplus of £127,000. "Oh," 6aid everybody, "this is good." There is no question about that if it were true. The statement is published in tabulated columns, and it is said to be all right. But when he goes a little further into these affairs he tells you that the supplementary estimates have not been included in that surplus, he says that arrangements have been made to make advances to Auckland and to "Westland of £92,000 due to the provinces under the Public Works and Defence Act that is not in there, but when they put them all in instead of there being a surplus these several sums, together with £12,000 that ;s added, make £152,000, shewing a deficit af £25,000. I call that scandalous financing. I do not say it is done with the intention to deceive the people, but I do say if a man wants to represent a true account he puts in everything on the one side, and everything on the other, and not until they are all in does he strike a balance. If he does strike a balance before he has placed them all in, then I say you get an erroneous view of the finances of the country. That is not all. There '■are estimates which are in for the end of the year, the 30th of June. The estimate of Customs revenue for the year is £1,325,000, or £331,000 a quarter. We have now got nearly to the end of the half-year's accounts. ■But the actual amount of Customs revenue received for one quarter has been £268,869, which is short by £12,000. That deficiency reckoned upon the year a quarter of a million of money. There is no reason to suppose, as far as I know, that the quarter we are now in is any better than the quarter last passed. If that is the case and if the Customs revenue for |the remaining three quarters is to be fairly estimated you will have a large deficiency. Mr. Rees said in his speech last night that the deficiency was £80,000 upon this quarter. Mr. Clark snubbed him this morning for having said so. But the actual figures are £62,000. ' I think it was hardjy worth while for one candidate to snub another, on account of such a matter. But there is another thing noticeable — that is,, ; that almost.everything ■ is charged ■ upon loan.. Everything -connected with public | iworts, .such as, travelling expenses, eyon advertising, is charged upon loan,, ana not on revenue."' Every littlewooden' buildingused for a telegraph - station- or post-Office in - country , districts is charged- upon loan. There is no renewal of fund of any kind to renew these temporary structures. Even half the working expenses of the Luna •were charged upon loan; What' would be said of an Auckland shipping company if its

' secretary borrowed money from a bank to pay half the working expenses of their ships ? Even the travelling expenses of the Minister of Justice were paid out of loan. Now the loans are all exhausted, and are | covered by liabilities. Mr. Waterhouse, ; who arrived from England during the session, told a committee on the finance of the colony that the opinion in London was that if New Zealand went in to borrow more during the next year or two her credit would be damned. Thus, your loans are ' gone, your credit is "gone," your revenue does not meet your expenditure. That is exactly your present financial position. I will take the opportunity of asking you whether I have hit the nail on the head, and whether I fairly represented your ,view 3. The question is this, —What is it in the matter of Government that you ought to have that you have not, and which you never had ? It is not a riddle I assure you. I will put it to you whether this is not a proper answer—that you want effective influence and control in the management of your own affairs. This bill - provided that everything should go to Wellington, everything must be filtered there through | the accounts. That we want to avoid if we can. [Mr. Wood then instanced the management of the railways, to shew how control from Wellington acted.] Perhaps you will be a little surprised when I tell you that if it could be managed—and I do not know that it might not be managed— if we could get Auckland created a separate colony, with our own revenue at our own disposal, it strikes me we would be able to get along better than we have got along j hitherto. We could not be worse than we are. Of course it would never be done if we never tried for it. It is worth trying for ? I say it is. The only reason a great J many people urge against it is by saying that Auckland is not big enough. Ido not think that bigness has much to do with it. Auckland poses'ses a harbour little inferior to Sydney,—greatly superior to nearly every other harbour in the world. Then there were the harbours of Wangaroa, Wangapoa, KaiEara, and Manukau. Auckland, through er harbours, might become a great depot and entrepot of the Southern Seas. She had not the means of repairing a broken-down bridge except she went to Wellington for it. She might say to the South, Keep your land revenue, give us our local revenue, we will look to ourselves, and we will pay you a fixed sum such as may be agreed upon as our share iof the public burthen. Let us have an adjustment, and then let us try our fortune alone. There is another proposal, namely, Insular Separation. But it would come back to what I have just been advocating, namely, Separation of Auckland. For Wellington would not be governed from Auckland, and Auckland would not be governed from Wellington. There would again be a split up and a new adjustment. But whatever you may have at present, two antagonistic principles are dividing the several parts of this colony— the Ministerial principle of centralising and concentrating everything in one centre and placing all political pewer in the hands of a clique to manage local affairs 500 miles distant. Opposed to that is the principle that power should be diffused among the people, who should have district direct control in the management of their own affairs. (Loud cheering.) Now, gentlemen, if you think my services of any value in that struggle, I offer myself to you as a candidate to represent you in the next session of the General Assembly. Mr. Wood resumed Ms seat amid loud and general cheering. Several questions were handed to Mr. Wood, to which he delivered the following answers :—That he had occupied the position of Colonial Treasurer from ISGI to 1864. That the question of strength in the Assembly resolved itself into this, that the North was out-voted. That there was no possibility which he could see of getting the Southern people to consent to give up their land fund. The cons of colonists had no special title to a grant of land ; but they had or ought to have the same rights as others. He believed that if Auckland possessed her own revenue, even after paying a liberal sum for general purposes, she would have £100,000 at her disposal for the purposes of education and public works. She would have the management of the railways, and she would make them pay. Several other questions were asked, but they contained no feature of public interest. Mr. Geo. Staines moved, " That this meeting express entire confidence in Mr. Reader Wood as representative of Parnell." The motion was seconded by Mr. Winks, and carried unanimously with loud cheers. Mr. Wood proposed a vote of thanks to the Chairman. Three cheers were given to Sir George Grey and to Mr. Header Wood, and meeting separated.