FRANKLIN NORTH ELECTORATE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 6998, 22 April 1884, Page 6

FRANKLIN NORTH ELECTORATE.

MAJOR HARRIS, MIH.R; AT ' OTAHUHU.

According to' announcement/ Major Harris met bis constituents at the Otahuhu Pablio Hall, foe the purpose of:addressing them on the proceedings of the last session. There was a. very- good attendance and Captain Hutton was called to the chair. He briefly introduced the speaker. . Major Habeis said that bo had. come before them with.the object of fulfilling a promise he had made that at all places where he had addressed them and aaked them to vote for him he would again address them. This was the laet place in the district at which he had to speak although it was the principal polling place. It was usual to take the principal place first, bat he had departed from this rale and addressed the oat districts first, and was now before them to tell what had been done at these meetings; bat he was forestalled by the notices of these meetings .whioh had appeared in .the papers, by which they would see that they were very satisfactory to him, > and not only to him, but to those who had elected him. He had made many friends I since he had last addressed them in this hall, 1 bat he did not mean to come before them with a flourish of trumpets. The duties of a country member were different from those of a town member. A oountry member had to do all that a town member had to do, and also to pay attention and find out the requirements of the district as best he could. To do what was required for a dozen settlements or villages,' each thinking ita6lf the. biggest .place .on the globe, when places within a short distance of each other were diametrically opposed, was a difficult matter. He recommended that in future they should communicate their requirements to him through .their. local Boards. He found th»t. during his tour two faults had been found with him. One was that .he did,not .speak:' often enough, and- the other that jiis. name always followed that; ofi.-.Grey ■ in. the.- di-vision-list.' In regard-to. the latter,, he must remind them that the names were taken in alphabetical order, and H followed G. When Mr. Hamlin was in opposition, the order of the names was Grey, Hamlio, and Harria. As to the other, fault, they could not judge from the newspaper reports, but from Haneard. When a measure was brought forward, say by the Ministry, it was the duty of the Opposition to show the defects in it, bufi the reporters only reported what was said by the principal speakers on each side, and then added that several other members spoke. He was one of those, but he might add that he had spoken 89 times in the House last session. Major Harris then stated that they had 58 sittings of seven and a-half hoars last session, and commented on the waste of time in the early part of the session and the hurry at the end.i Hβ considered it a waate of time to talk unnecessarily. The sittings gave 432 hours, and there were 95 members, This only gave an arerage of four and a-balf hours for each member. A man who was not able to express what he wanted in a quarter of an hour did not. deserve to be reported, but they found that eome members spoke for four or five hours, mid that wks why others spoke less. As he told them, the duties of a country member were not the same of. those of a town member, and in. some, respects they might seeoi/frivolous, but he would refer to what he b.a,d done. With the object of going into the road question,: he had moved for a return of the expenditure of the tolls collected at Newmarket, to find whether they got their share, and that Mangere got theirs. He thought the Government should spend money on the roads irrespective of the tolls, asjthey were, he considered, colonial roads. Hβ then asked to have the tolls abolished, more especially that at Panmure bridge, for he knew that in Hamilton and other plaoes tolls had been removed from the bridges. He also objeoted to the way in which tolls were collected, double, tolls being charged if a person remaiaed over-night in town. : The only answer he got from the Government was that they were willing to hand over the tolls to the local authorities, but. this he did not want.. He read a oopy of a letter he! had sent to the Minister of Publio Works as to the unsafe state of the Drury bridge, and the etate of the Great South-road. He brought the matter before the Government, and pointed out to Mr. Mitoheleon that if an inquest was held he would be blamed. In regard to railway workshops, he and others held that it would be better to'have .them in the country, and with the money, spent for the purchase of the site and making it the workshops could ;have been constructed in Papakura. He asked the Government to hand tbe reserve at Papakura over to a publio body, or plant it. Xbe Government had planted it themselves. He asked also that a Resident Magistrate's Court should he held at Howick once a. month, and in- ' stanoed oaees in. whioh great inconvenience was caused by having to go to Onohunga, and Government premised to have the Conrt held if it was required. They had all heard of the Howiok Wharf, which nearly cost the Government their teats. It was not thought of muoh importance by Government, but ha (Major Harris) beat the Government by one vote, and when the House reported and the .Premier ha.d oalled on all his followers, ho was only defeated by one vote. Major Harris then referred to the steps he had taken: regarding the Auckland and Otahuhu mail; He again advised them to correipond through the Road Boards. Speaking about mails, although there seemed to be little interest, in them outside the..districts, they might take an interest, in it when it affected themselves to know.- what was ..done in the district. Ho , had applied fo have offices opened in three districts,, and was informed that, exoept the conveyance: of mails and conducting of office?, was conducted free of cost to the department, the request could not be 'granted, • He pointed out the injustice .of this.-. With reference to the appointment of a Minister of : Agriculture, he had been, in ■favour.of.it. -Many present had been in.the'district along thne. They knew the land now,., and the manure whioh it required, but if they wenS to other land, say 50 miles away, they would find that they made grave mistakes and people got old "before they found out what manures suited their soil. It was no advantage to the Government to keep people poor, and they might have people to lecture in the country districts to guide the farmers. This he would strive for. He was sorry to see while round the district that the farmers were not thriving and that many of them were, worse off now than they Were twenty years ago, and he considered the appointment of a Minister of Agriculture a step in the right direction. There was another matter to which he had to refer, the education question. The vote last seision was £350,910, and there were other sums whioh made it up according to Major Atkinson's statement in round numbers to £400,000. This was a matter which must be tackled some way. He was in favour of the education of the peeple, but education must be done within cost. It was a great pity that what Parliament voted was never considered sufficient. It ought to be, but they gave it to the; Education- Boards, and it was not enough for them. .They were irresponsible bodiee, not responsible to,the people or to Parliament, and they, went into debt. In Auckland they were £6000 in debt. In Westland the bailiffs had been put in, and they ; might expect the same in Auckland, for the bank had refused them ■ an overdraft. As honest men, they knew ' they should not. go "into debt. They had dismissed a teacher for going into debt, 1 thus showing that they believed it to be wrong, so it appeared that it was wrong for the teacher to go into debt, but not wrong for the Board, as they were willing and anxious to go into debt themselves. The central Board had gone into debt, but would ' not allow the teacher to do so, and if he : wanted to got into debt he join from the central Board, and send the Chairman to ' Wellington to hunt up money. The Chairi man told, the Board that he thougbt he could i be of use to them in other places. He (Major Harris) did not want to say much on 1 the education question, but he would object ' that they should pay for ft, not only what ; was voted by Parliament, 1 but what oould be ; taken out of the pockets of Ministers. (Cheers.) These Boards were not responsible ' to anyone; and how, he asked, was the 1 money.spent ? - A gentleman gets into the Board with the design of standing for the Assembly for some district.. He gets money for them. In some instances this money is \ wasted through log-rolling; and, as Major , Atkinson said, it rested with themselves who they put into the Board. Anyone there, however, had. no right to ask their suffrages i for the House. . They urged that-they were constant in their attendance ■£ the^Board

meetings, and then asked them to send them away for three.".or <our months. ...On their return they w6ul3.\haye'fco aektha officers and messenger' what; was,: done..;. Hβ had voted for |;he;ieSls;OoO..V^There: wM/aproposal. to do away with -the ■'. for , the election of -School? Committees, but he voted "against having promised the constituency to oppose.' of the Act; but he ttem r that if defeated on this and it was carried against him, he would help them to make.'the Act the beat possible. Major Harris then referred to his. notion regarding the Election Amendment Bill, .the Fisheries Bill; and' the v'ottf of £6000 to Publio Libraries. 'This he supported. There was another question on which he'had to address them—the property tax. A farthing had been added to this tax, and the only reason the. Government had for doing so was the reduced tariff on grain, amounting to £90,000. Nothing was easier than to put on a farthing on the property tax to meet the deficiency, so that all New Zealand has to pay for the deficiency caueed by the grain tariff in Canterbury. Even Waiheke has to pay for this, although the residents cannot receive any benefit whatever. Thie means £2000 a-week to the Canterbury members for their support. He voted against this. He was only showing them why he voted against the Government. He had voted with them when their measure! were for the good of the people." In-regard to the property tax, he thought to take the sting out, and moved that a proviso be added, that in estimating the value, only the improved value should betaken.- His object was to kill the Bill. Now they were rated on their improvements and if his proviso was got in, they would only be rated on the original value. Now the man who improved hie property, had to pay increased rates, while ..the owners of adjoining landa, the valued of whose property was enhanced bas "no extra rates to pay. That was wrong to be taxed on improvements. Now as regards taxation, they were going on with a vengeanceMany of them had left their homes to escape taxation, and he feared that many of them might leave this colony for the same oauee—to avoid taxation. Now they owed over £31,000,000. of a colonial.debt, and if they had the figures of what was owed besides, it would, amount to more than as much..- They had yearly to send home the interest. This he couid not object to. They had contracted the debt and must pay the interest, but what he objected to was the manner in whioh the money had been expended, and that they had Sβ little of it. The exports were six millions and the. imports eight millions, leaving a difference of two;millious, and if this state of .things continued theymust.be going to, the-bad with-a vengeance. .-. If a farmer spent more than his iocome he knew that a day of tribulation must come. But the Government was merely drifting, and sbowod no way out of these difficulties. Their only object was to remain in' office. Every farthing tax that was pub on the farmers the labouring classes must feel, and that could not go on. Hβ then referred to the Roads and Bridges Construction. Aot, and tho necessity which arose for a ohange In the distribution of the funds. He referred to the oharges made by Mr. Dargaville against Major Atkinson, of being a flunkey to the Bank of New Zealand, and said he supported Mr. Dargaville, beoause he was the weaker party and Major Atkipsen wanted to appoint the Judge and jury to .try him. The charge broke down. The pnnoipal charge was lending £200,000 to the Bank of New Zealand, without authority. Education had been pointed out as the only way of retrenchment, hut where there not others. Royal Commissions showed another method. They were appointed by the Government, for the purpose of evading their responsibilities. It was done yearly. Fer instance last session after a'railway had been refused, those applying for it got an; answer from the Premier that the railway would be surveyed. This was only throwing oil on the troubled waters"to keep it smooth for themselves, that they might retain office. In his opinion when a Government was met by these highwaymen demanding " Your money or your life," or a "railroad or yonr life," they should stand firm, and even if put out they would be helped by the honest men in the House. That w»s the positionhe was put in thie session, and he would stand. ,by the Government in regard to the ' railway tariff at Canterbury. It cost £29,000 since Vogel'e time for RoyaV. ; Commissions. The speaker , humourously! referred to the charges made by one commissioner for clothing, gloves, etc. In regard to the North Island Railway he prophesied that they would "not get it, but two millions ef the other loan had been spent, and Auckland was not getting its share. He knew what it meant. It meant log-rolling: Canterbury would come to them and ask them to vote for their railway, and they would vote for the North Island Trunk Railway; but, independent of their threats, he would vote for the railway from Taranaki to Auckland come what might. After a brief reference to the Kelso,and-Gore Railway, not yet made, and the attempt to tack to it the New Plymouth Railway, Major Harrie referred to the Russell Exchange Land Bill. That, he said, looked, a very innocent Bill, at first, and they thought ; jt. referred to the Bay of Islands. But that was not so. It was to give the Hon. T. Rusaell 6000 aores of land near the Te Aroha goldfield in exchage for land purchased by James Mackay for £130 for him when he was Government Lend Purchase agent. The Government tried to carry out the arrangement, but he (Major Harrie) asked why a Bill was not brought in to give eoldiers, volunteers, and others the land to whioh they were entitled, but none of theie had "the power to say to the Government, "You must do this." On the land question he had something more to say. There were, as they supposed, certain inalienable reserves, but 21,000 acres of these were sold during the last two years to friends of the Ministry. Mr. Buddie and athers, on the application of Meiers. Whitaker and RueeelV obtained 2550 acres, and on a similar application of the earne firm 1995 aores were obtained; also another block, 1556 acres. Two members of the House, Mr. F.'A.-Whitaker and Mr.- Whyte, got land in the same way, being allowed to purchase without->any : Gazette notice"that -the restrictions were withdrawn. The" restrictions were' taken off the land for the' friends of- the Government,, and others could not avail'themselves 'of it. federation,' he advised that the ; less they had to do with'it the better; and as to annexation bad no objections • toielands annexing tbemselvts, if without expense' to this~colbny,'but ! be would not spillorie drop of blood-to- 1 annex aDy of'the islands,- but let them paddle their own canoe. ' (Choere.) Major Harris then invited questions. Mr.' J. Goedon asked how Major Harris would act if any attempt was made to alter the Education Aet ? . If an offer was made to abolish Education Boards', what scheme would ho propose to admiuister the funds ? And would he by his vote not allewthe radical principles of the Act'to be interfered with—that is that education shall be free, secular, and compulsory? ' Major Harris said that if a Bill was brought forward to abolish the Boards he should have to consider what course would be most satisfactory, but as to the present Act, he had always promised not to alter it, and bad already voted against any alteration. In this oase be should feel bound to do the same, to vote against any alteration; but if it was carried against him, he would use his best judgment to do his best for the people. He should always vote against the alteration of the Bill in the first inatanoe.

Mr. Gordon asked whether an attempt was made to oust the Ministry by reason of of their aotion regarding the Canterbury railway tariff, he would support the Government.

Major Habbis said he had already stated in his address that he would feel bound to support the Government in the matter, but did not feel inclined to be bound hand or foot for or against the Government, uot knowing what form the question might take. Oα the motion of a gentleman present, a vote of thanks and confidence was accorded to Major Harris, there being only two or three to the contrary. . Major Hakkis returned.thanks, and said that he would be before them again, as he meant .to stand for the diatriot.

A vote of thanks to the Chairman brought the meeting +9 a oloae.