ADDRESS BY MR. W. J. NAPIER, M.H.R.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11642, 2 May 1901, Page 6

ADDRESS BY MR. W. J. NAPIER, M.H.R.

MEETING IN ST. JAMES' HALL. REVIEW OF THE PAST SESSION. Mr. W. J. Napier, the senior M.H.R. for the City of Auckland, addressed a meeting of electors in St. James' Hall last night. The hall was well filled. The Mayor (Mr. D. Goldie) presided.

Mr. Napier said he felt he could never be sufficiently grateful to the citizens of Auckland for electing him their senior member in Parliament. Ho proposed to refer to certain promises he made during the election. He at that time sketched out what he thought should be the leading lines of conduct he should adopt if ejected to Parliament, and he would endeavour to show that as far as he' could he had fulfilled his promises.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF PARLIAMENT. The first thing that struck him during his first few weeks in Parliament was that according to the ideas he ha.d formed of Parliamentary government, and according to what was laid down by constitutional writers, Parliamentary government did not exist in New Zealand. (Applause.) According to the Constitution of New Zealand, the people of New Zealand were supposed to be supreme in the government of tho country. The Ministry was supposed to be a committee of the representatives of the people to obey the representatives of the people, and carry out their desires. That was a complete myth. The measures were concocted and devised by the Ministry and members were supposed to accept thorn unintelligently. The consequence was that the country "was governed practically by a bureaucracy. An individual member, or even a number of members, could not do much to resist the Ministry. Tho conditions of work were so opposed to commonsense, and so much beyond physical endurance, that unless by a large body of the members, successful resistance of anything that might be bad was impossible. He was not referring to the present Government, but to a system which had endured in this country for a lumber of years. The next circumstance that struck him. was that the present House of Representatives was composed of men of great ability and practical wisdom, and he believed that if that wisdom could be exercised under a better system, the laws would be much better framed. It seemed to him that the throe hours from half-past two to half-past five wore wilfully frittered away, and the earlier Hours of the evening were not always well spent, while questions of moment to every man, woman, and child in the country engaged the attention of Parliament, in the small hours of the morning, when members were fatigued, and when scarcely half-a-dozen men in the House could give a clear, intelligent judgment on any clause of a Bill placed before them. It did not require much consideration to sav that that system was wrong. He thought, however, that the majority of members earnestly and sincerely desired that there should be some amendmentthat legislation should be done, in the daylight, and that the hours of sitting should be restricted. Durine- the session 25 committees were set up and 217 Bills were introduced. The mere reading of those Bills by a member, without taking into account tho necessity of digesting them, occupied a considerable amount of time. The Houso had 289 divisions, which was an absurd waste of time. In many Continental assemblies members voted by rising and sitting. If a more intelligent way of ascertaining tho opinions of members of the House were adopted, he was quite certain a great deal of time would be saved.

DEFENCE AND VOLUNTEERING. Turning to the Acts passed during last session of Parliament, Mr. Napier said there were 73 public Acts and 37 local Acts passed, The most important was the Defonce Act, taken in conjunction with the Defence Committee's report. In the early days of the session he put 17 questions on the Order Paper, to be asked the Defence Minister. Previously the Defence "Minister (Mr. Seddon) had treated some of these defence matters rather lightly. But before these questions camo up Mr. Seddon agreed that a Secret Defence Committee be set up, and he (Mr. Napier) readily withdrew his questions. The Defence Act was the corollary of this defence report. The Act was passed at the end of the session, and was not so full as it was intended to be. He hoped, however, that a fuller Act would be passed next session. The Act provided for fixing responsibility on the commanding officer. Formerly there was a state of absolute chaos: tho Commander of the Forces had no official status, and in the event of war there could have been no enforcement; of obedience. He was impressed, being tho only young volunteer officer on the committee, with a, number of things that worked adversely to volunteering, and he was determined that something should be done for the volunteers. As a result, it was now law that volunteers shall receive 6= a day during the time they are in camp. Formerly they got nothing. The new system would lead to the more efficient training of the volunteers. The Defence Act also provided for a sum of £31,251 being spent on the defences of Auckland; the capitation for artillery had been increased from £2 10s to £3 10s, and the Government had to provide overcoats for all volunteers. He advocated other reforms, but acting on the advice of a few military friends he thought it best to let well alone, and as tho Act stood he thought he could claim to have succeeded in obtaining a large measure of reform.

NEW LEGISLATION. Mr. Napier proceeded to refer briefly to other Acts passed during tho session. The Electoral Act Amendment Bill provided that the office of registrar of electors and returning officer should not be held by one person, made canvassing unlawful, and mock ballotpapers illegal. Then there was the Government Loans to Local Bodies Act, which reduced the rates of interest on loans to local bodies to 4£ per cent. The Government Railways Act provided a great many reforms, and the Government Valuation of Land Act placed the Government valuation on a proper footing, providing for an appeal to the Supreme Court on questions of law. He took a great interest in the Imprisonment for Debt Abolition Act. In 187+ an Act called tho Imprisonment for Debt Abolition Act was passed. The name of that Act seemed to imply that there was no such thing as imprisonment for debt, yet for 26 years men iiad been imprisoned practically for debt, though nominally for contempt of Court, and only last year was an attempt made to extend the scope of the Act of 1874. The present Act abolished the power of debt-collecting associations to get men sent to gaol, and the power of imprisonment at all was still further limited. There was the Conciliation and Arbitration Act. That was an important measure. The policy of that measure had been, accepted by the country, and the new Act was merely a consolidating measure. Some new features, however, wore introduced, and one of them giving the Court power to fix a colonial scale would have to be carefully watched. A few people at the Bluff might be dissatisfied, and the Arbitration Court had power to make their award apply to the whole colony, including Auckland, even though there might be perfect harmony in that particular trade in Auckland. The Land for Settlement Act enabled land to be taken for the purposes of settlement and other public purposes more expeditiously than formerly. The Manual and Technical Instruction Act now formed part and was to be read with the Education Act of 1877. This was a great step in advance. if New Zealand hoped to become an efficient manufacturing nation, it would be absolutely necessary that full and efficient technical education should be given to the workmen of the colony. The question went to the very root of national prosperity, and he believed this Act would stimulate interest in the question and that the public would realise more than they do the good effects that would flow from the establishment of technical schools. The Maori Councils Act was welcomed by a large majority of the native race. The Native Land Administration Act involved a good ileal of discussion, and on this Act he, supported by Mr. Fowlds and Mr. Eraser, of Napier, fought strenuously on a question that might very seriously affect the Auckland province. The native land question had been the source of many failures to politicians, but now there was a possibility that the large area of land in the Rohepotae might be brought into the market and settled. This Act vested all the lands of the Maoris in Maori Councils. He made an attempt to have the land dealt with only as the Land Boards deal with Crown lav. is, but: was not successful. What he sought was that the laud should only be leased at the first rent for 30 years, that the leases should be perpetual, but that there should be recurring valuations. He went further than that and urged that the value of the land had been given to it by Europeans and by the expenditure of public moneys provided by Europeans alone. He was ready to drop the past, but he hold that the present value of the land should be fixed, that the Government should pay tho Maoris for ever a 'air rate of interest on the present values and let the future values, which would be created by Europeans alone, belong to the State. (Applause). That

amendment was not accepted, but they were successful ■in getting land owned by not more than two natives exempted from the operations of the Act. If the Act had passed in its original form, all the land owned by natives'would have vested in the Council and would have been locked up, and the cumbrous machinery of the Councils would have to be employed to effect a sale of any portion of that land. - The clause he referred to as having been accepted would affect nine out of every 10 pieces of land north of Auckland. The next Bill of importance ho wished to refer to was the Municipal Corporations Act. That he regarded as -a charter of ■civic liberty! No Act passed in the memory of any * British citizen, had conferred such power and privileges of self-government as this measure contained. Many changes had been introduced extending the powers of local bodies, and he believed when the Act was in full working order the people would bless the day when it became the law of the land. The Old Age Pensions Act extended, the provisions of the old Act and also placed the question of old age pensions beyond doubt, making it a permanent law cf ' the land. The Post Office Act would be a great boon to commercial men and to the community generally. Many of the best reformers of the time considered that the functions of the Post Office should be extended, and lie looked forward with great confidence to seeing many reforms introduced by the present Minister for Railways. Another Act of importance was the Public Contracts Act. It provided for a universal eight hours' day in all public contracts. That was a great achievement placing on the Statute Book of the country that the legal working day was eight hours. Mr. Napier also referred to several Acts, including the increase of members to Parliament, which he objected to, and 6ha Slaughtering and Inspection Bill and the Workers Compensation Act, both of which he approved. THE PUBLIC HEALTH ACT. Referring next to the Public Health Act, Mr. Napier said he believed it would be beneficial, but he held that in many of its features it transgressed the traditions of Liberalism, taking away the power from local bodies and from the people and vesting it in a salaried officer in Wellington. The Act tended to centralise functions which could only be properly and efficiently discharged by bodies possessing local knowledge. Some of the provisions of the Act wore of a most drastic character. He had read the ukases of the Tsar, but he did not think he had ever read anything worse than some of the clauses of this Act as far as central despotism was concerned, and the taking away of civic liberty. He did not think, however, that those clauses would ever be put in force.

THE FORTY POUNDS BONUS. The Public Revenues Acts Amendment Act also evoked stormy discussion. Under Mr. J. B. Fits Gerald, Auditor-General, it had been held for many years as a matter of law that if there was a general Appropriation Act that Appropriation Act covered every item in the Estimates, and that the items were therefore legalised. The present Auditor-General, however, would not allow anything in an Act of Parliament to be modified by a vote on the Estimates. Now it was constitutional law that the House of Representatives was supreme in the matter of finance, and he maintained that if the House of Representatives said they would vote £5000 for one particular sendee and £10,000 for another service, that should be the law. There should bo no question of an Auditor-General or anybody else saying it should not be done. It had been said that this Act was passed for the purpose of legalising a certain payment it was proposed to make to members of Parliament, but as a matter of fact this particular Bill was drafted in March, 1900, months before Parliament met. It was passed principally to overcome objections by the Auditor-General to a large number of payments extending over three or four years, and was drafted not by any Minister, not even at the suggestion of a Minister, but by the head of a Department, in order to let them get their hooks kept in proper order. Then there was the question of Ministers* salaries and payment of members. Ministers' salaries were raised by an Act of Parliament last session, and even at the increased rate the Ministers were not so well paid as the Ministers of past Conservative Governments, excepting the last one. In 1863 the total amount of Ministers' salaries was £8300, in 1373 £10,030, and in 1899 £6400. He maintained that if a man was capable of administering his department efficiently it was cheap at the money, and it was the fault of the people themselves if inferior men came into office. With regard to the payment of members, it had been said that at a caucus of members he proposed the £40 increase. Ho never advocated any £40 increase; he advocated an increase of £60(cheers) —and he did that on logical grounds. The salary in all the Australian colonies was £300, in the United States £500, and he maintained that the slat are of New Zealand was equal to the Legislatures of the Australian colonies, and that the representatives of New Zealand were entitled to as much as the representatives of New South Wales or of Victoria. If a member did his duty to his constituents he would make very little out of £300, and the ideal of the people should be to place men in Parliament who would do their whole duty.

THE MAIN TRUNK RAILWAY. The Railways Authorisation Act was of great importance to Auckland. Tho question of ."Stratford or nothing, and of the Central route had for years agitated Auckland. In his first election address he suggested that Auckland should go for both routes. Both had now- been authorised. In Wellington there was a great battle on the question of the North Island Main Trunk railway. At first tho Government pooh-poohed the idea of forcing the work on, but the Auckland mombers remained steadfastly united, with one or two little rifts in the lute, and laid down the principle that there should be an expenditure of a-quarter of a million. They were, however, ultimately convinced that only £130,000 could be really profitably spent this year, and they agreed to accept that, and insist on every penny of it being spent. He went over the route with tho Minister for Public Works, and he was bound to gay that in Mr. Hall-Jones the country had an exceedingly able and industrious Minister for Public Works, and he believed Mr. HallJones was sincerely desirous of doing justice to Auckland. Going over the line they found that as many men as could profitably be employed wore being employed, and he believed every penny of the sum voted would be spent. The line was now being pushed on with as much vigour as it was possible to do economically. The Auckland members were very much interested on one- point, which ho would never abandon, namely, that the £832,000, representing the value of the land purchased out of the loan earmarked for the North Island Main Trunk railway should be used exclusively for that railway. However, he believed the Auckland members had given such a shaking up to the dry bones in the one year, that there would be no difficulty in the future, and as it was not considered judicious to insist on more money for the railway they get more money for roads, and by their united efforts £366,546 was voted for public works in the province during the year.

THE 'FRISCO MAIL SERVICE. After touching briefly en the annexation of the islands, and pointing to the importance of the step to Auckland from a trading point of view, Mr. Napier proceeded to refer to the San Francisco mail service. He said the £30,000 asked by Mr. Spieckels' from New Zealand and New South Wales was about the sum now paid by the two colonies for postage. The only advantage to Mr. Spreckels would bo the contract for a term of five or seven years. Great hostility was shown to the proposals on the part of Southern members, and quite an agitation was worked up against any proposal to secure Auckland as the permanent port of call for the steamers, but the Northern members succeeded in securing a renewal of the contract for 12 months, and they hoped next session to have it made permanent. He thought the proposal of Mr. Spreckels reasonable, and it should be complied with, because if a large number of visitors were induced to come to New Zealand, Auckland would get the lion's share of the expenditure. The Governor of Tahiti had told him that when large steamers were plying between San Francisco and Auckland, a large number of Continental people of wealth would come to New Zealand. THE LICENSING BILL. A large number of Bills were dropped. One (the Licensing Bill) aroused a good deal of discussion. It was such a medley of inconsistent provisions and opposing principles that it pleased nobody. He hoped to see a Licensing Bill introduced which would remove some of the anomalies in the existing law. The principal anomaly was the extraordinary powers the present law gave to the magistrates in the lower Courts. He referred to the confiscation of large amounts of money invented in property because of a small infraction of the criminal law, which many people committed, not personally, but by means" of agents. Under the existing law, if a person was fined a certain number of times for offences under the Licensing Act tho license whs cancelled, and the consequence was that people who had money invested in tho house were likely to lose tho whole of it through no fault of their own. He maintained that confiscation as a second penalty should be abolished. If it was necessary to increase the penalty they should increase it.

CONCLUSION. The financial results of the session were that the people were relieved of taxation on the necessaries of life to the extent of £400,000, and remissions to the extent of £400,000 were given to people who used, the railways. The country would not suffer by that; in fact, the interest paid and sinking fund on loans was now, £1,749,000, against £1,897,000 in 1889. Notwithstanding that ho had passed some criticisms on the Government, yet on the whole he thought tho present Government was the best Government New Zealand had ever had. He thought the democracy of New Zealand was to be congratulated on having such a leader a? Mr. Scddon, and l.e believed that taking 10 years, if they looked at the results of the work of tho present Liberal party, they would find that the party had achieved as much as any other country had achieved in 50 years. They had inherited certain traditions from the British Liberal party, and they must take care that they did not depart from those traditions Unless they tested their Bills by some definite principle, there would be chaos. If he considered that any measure pressed unduly on any section of the community or was inherently unjust, he would oppose it He had been elected a member of the Government party, and he would remain a member of the Government party, but that did not. mean that he was to forfeit his individual intelligence. That he would not do. If they continued to be true to their traditions, there was a great future before the country. They would have industrial peace and industrial prosperity, and he believed that if the people generally adhered to the well-known and indomitable principles of Liberalism, New Zealand would attain to a pitch of prosperity and haziness that no other country in the world had ever previously attained. (Applause). A number of questions were asked and answered. In reply to a question bearing on the letter with reference to Mr. Napier's conduct as a member of Parliament signed by a number of members of tho House and sent to Auckland, Mr. Napier said he regarded that letter as either a joke or a piece of impertinence, and he did not think that his colleagues in the House would be guilty of impertinence. Mr. J. B. Graham moved a vote of thanks to Mr. Napier for his address, for his services in Parliament, and expressing unabated confidence in him as a representative of Auckland. Mr. S. P.oid seconded. Mr. W. S. Aickin moved as an amendment. "That Mr. Napier's explanation of the £40 bonus was not satisfactory." Mr. H. McLeod seconded. The motion of thanks and confidence was carried almost unanimously.