THE HON. MR. CONOLLY AT PICTON.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 6999, 23 April 1884, Page 5

THE HON. MR. CONOLLY AT PICTON.

[Br TELEORAPH.—PRESS ASSOCIATION.] AVtoxax,i Tuesday. J

Mb. Conolly addressed.His'constituents tonight, the Mayor in the chair. Beferring.to the work of past session,' he said'.that although mpcti time was; wasted, in, idletalkand recrimination, yet it : would .compare not unfavourably with the session which'> preceded'it.' • lmpatienee of legislation- andtho anxiety'to get away home' prevented more work .being"done.. He had been.especially interested in three Billis. The Bankruptcy Bill a' considerable r 'chanj;efor .the better, though ho' Bill eoulcl be' entirely satisfactory, and there - was ; a growing opinion to which, perhaps,- he Would be -a tfonvert-himself,''though donbtful' at present —that all bankruptcylaws wereundesirable, and libat the relation's between' tiebtor. and ' creditor should be left to be settled by the parties themselves. The .otlier..two A'cta were-the Married- Women's-Property Aot and the Act for Pioventiug Restriction ion the' Alienation of Land. Next session, unlets it*- were interrupted, unexpectedly, ' he hoped to • see both :pla'ced>-onithe - Utatuts Book. He referred to the benefit of-- theNative'' Land 'Courts Amendment; Act, and: said , that if, as shadowed forth by one of his colleagnes, they were' able next session' to ■ restore the pre-emptive right, they would be ready tor protect the natives ' from falling into the hands of land'sharks.' He referred also to ,theNßill introduced to give a Northern company immenseand improper privileges with regard to thepurohase of native lands, and . to its ultimate withdrawal. • He did not think' any other great company for the promotion- of ;land-sharking would introduce a similar measure. He condemned certain silly - Bills introduced last session, suoh as that to.prevent" the sale oh credit of goods by retail,'to regulate the hours of keeping shops open, and the-Eight-Honrs Bill. - Sir G. Grey's Bill to abolish the Legislative Council was entirelybeyond the power irif the-• New"• Zealand Parliament, as Sir G. Grey well knew. Another equally extravagant: and absurd. Bill^was.that which provided, for-an appeal to the eleotors of the whole colonywhere the' two Houses differed in opinion.- Sir G; Grey", introduced this just ao -though he-really believed in- it. Mr. Conolly then • dwelt ■ upon Mr. ' Montgomery's decentralisation resolution, the result of - which was that though Government had a large'majority, it Bhowed that there was still a 'considerable minority who; believed • in. pro- ' , Vincialism, which he hoped was-dead and buried, but which was restless in its grave. He referred also to Mr. Busden's false acausations against Mr.'Bryce,"which gave-the latter an opportunity to deliver a speech that .went to the hearts of members who heard it. : Mr. Bryce Was a man of. firmness, but charges of cruelty and brutality were abso-. lutely impossible* to-be true, and Mr. Bryce waanowchalleugmg the truth of them in the English Law Courts. ' The House Baw with" regret that Sir G. Grey appeared to exouse such atrocious and falsa accusations.. Mr. Conolly then spoke strongly against reviving provincialism, which, ;th<Sngh good for some, "would hot benefit the whole colony but he feared he would never see the day when the New Zealand Parliament' would.' consist .of men.taking up the position of statesmen, and net mere local delegates;; 'He referred 1 at considerable length, to Catholic grievances re education and: the proceedings of the oemmittee last session," and, said that so long as Government ! undertook . the education of the .colony, .it must do so on a secular basis, and. the moment..they attempted to assist the schools of- one particular denomination, -they must do it for all religions— Christian, Jew, or heathen. . The question of education; must, berentirely distinct from religion, and denominations must' not ask State assistance to teach their ohildren the faith'they-believed to .be correct. Hacoridemned this proceedings of -the committee,, and said that it took-the viewß of the clergy as representing the laity. " He could conceivo" no "subject, on whidb'J the . clergy bo little represented the laity" as that of . 'sending childrento the common - schools; The committee was a farce, and ended in nothing. He then referred to; the Dargaville episode as a disgraceful proceeding.. He was sorry, to see tiiat Mr. Darga vjlle was praised by his cohsti tuents for his courage in attacking the Ministry. There was no oourage in making charges .whioh he could not" prove, and > he was - deserving of censure rather than praise. In concluding a review of the pa st session,, Mr. Conolly said .it . was clear the Opposition were thoroughly disorganised and could only. nnite to . attack Government on side matters. Referring to the financial state of the oolony, he said when the returns for the y ear came to be made up the revenue from, railways would, be largely below the estimate, &nd that the grain being carried was an actnal loss to the colony. There was a falling off, also, of £120,1)00 in.the Customs, in which the Government had possibly made, bad . calculations. .. A large portion of the deficiency arose through the increased so-, bricty of the people, -.'i'herie had beeh a falling, off under the head of' imported spirits, whioh was not altogether a aubjeot of regret, but rather gratification.. It became immediately necessary to reform the railway tariff, as it was clearly not right that when the railways were .not paying anything .like interest on the cost of construction, they should carry articles at a- loss. '. The tariff was raised, but still not to the Height at, whioh it stood Bome.years ago, and infinitely less than the rate at which goods would be carried by any'other means than rail. It had met with a storm' of' opposition in Canterbury, where people- thought the increased tariff specially directed ' at them. A large number of members who hitherto had been consistent supporters of the Government went against them in.th'is matter, but he hoped when they had time to .consider how the tariff affected the colony, as a' whole they would see how short-sighted was the; policy they .advooatei; ' Mr. Conolly. then criticised portious of Mr. Montgomery's speech, . and said that ' Mr. Montgomery thought that the discontent existing in Canterbury* would put him in a better position, and so he would make use of it as an opportunity. for violent language against the Government. The depression .in.the South Island citj.es was that which has existed in Wellington five years'; ago; and' invariably succeeded over-trading.'; No J; G|oyernmeht could cure suoh a state of things. Mr. Montgomery asserted they' could/but did not attempt to show ' how it was to bo done. They might have' been extravagant and borrowed'too much, ! but the fault was withthe members of / both Houses during the last thirteen or ' fourteen "years,', and 'it was "absurd for Mr. Montgomery to charge it oh the heads of the present GoTernment. Mr. Montgomery was right in saying that departmental expenses' were excessive, but that was' a fa'rourite cry for the Opposition. Ho agreed there was "room 'for reduction. Mr. Conolly then;depreoated the redaction in the Armed: Constabulary,. and pointed to the destruction of the beacons" at Kawhia as an instance of its use' in pre-; serving peace and good order in the North Island, where . there .wore" still large niimbers of natives with'mistaken notions in respect to their _ rights ' and ' powers. The' colony was paying " a 1 very small insurance'in keeping the Arme'd Constabulary." Mr. .Conolly then stronglyopposed ' the' separation 'of the* island*, .'and said' that. •Marlborough, Westland. and Nelson would bitterly rue the day if it .took place. For those' districts the North Island had far more 'friendly feelings than Were'entertained by the southern portion of the.South Island." The policy of the latter was. 'to "keep tvhat they had got, and let other' districts. go; Mr. Montgomery's schcme meant that the million whioh in ordinary course would be : borrowed ■' in January ■ should' not * be borrowed at ' all, -and : that if ; ' ho ' were in power' the 'inillion for. tha North Island' Central Railway : would never.be'raised."''ln regard to'separation and some,other aubjeots ' Mr; Montgomery was'a'mere'cat's-paw in'th'e' hands of Mr. Mr. Conolly complained; that" it 'had' beehteveral times, circulated that/ he waa about to be elevated to a Supreme Court Judgeship.^/There was ■no foundation whatever for this, and -why the rumour was-renewed over and over again lie could; - not , # He ;did. not think ■his.; colleagues ;jn" Jhe yisheji him to leave and - he 'hot desert them ' when he apprehended- that dabger was, impending The, invitation to take oflSce "in the Whitaker Aliniatry had ;been v -entirely -unsought and was matter of "surprise."-' Three;-questions, at least,"would be fought: on the . huatinEß.; i-The first was, separation,or,provinoialiam,.„tlig,seoond was, a. laud tax as against a property itax'.. He had always advocated the latter. * 'Viewing land - as ; 'a • species of' • property, to tdx land and' -leave' other.'' property untaxed was class legislation of the worst ( . siible

description. ,He condemned * progressive laudtax,' which was based upon'• an utter fallacy, -arid' nothing' could be fairerthan property tax. He would gladly see'air increase in the properky;-t»x-coupled with a diminution in the numerous articles which at present were the aubjectof Customs duty. The third question was .that of education, and he atleast would' _ not support' any malarial iterations m 'the system. He desired- 1 to ' see s primary J education up to the sixth' ' standard ' maintained,' but thought they went a little tod - far in the direction of secondary education. Those who.benefited by that-ought to -pay for it, and*not - the colony at large. -■< The question on the 'hustings would be between the present ; system -'- and ■' denominational schools, and .be'had already indicated thai he should reaistany support being given to the latter. After referriog to local- topics, Mr.- Conolly 'concluded'by announcing ; his intention of seeking election at the - next general election. ' '■A vote of thanks and confidence was passed'almost "unanimously; About a hundred electors ' were present. j Cenolly addresses other parts of the district during' this week.* '