HON. R. STOUT AT DUNEDIN.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5550, 11 January 1879, Page 3

HON. R. STOUT AT DUNEDIN.

(SPECIAL TO PRESS AGENCY.)

Dunedin, Friday.

The Hon. Mr. Stout addressed his constituents at the Queen’s Theatre this evening. The dress circle had been reserved for ladies and gentlemen, and was crowded, as was also the lower part of the theatre. On the motion of Mr. Stout, his Worship the Mayor, Mr. H. J. Walter, was voted to the chair. A number of loading citizens wore on tho platform. The Mayor briefly opened tho proceedings and called upon Mr. Stout to address them. The Hon. 11. Stout, who on rising was received with loud cheers, said that before beginning his speech he had to apologise for the absence of his colleague, Mr. Macandrow, who was unfortunately confined to his room. In appearing before them that evening be felt that he labored under a great disadvantage, inasmuch os his time and theirs was limited, and he had a great number of subjects to deal with. Ho had been subjected to a great deal of abuse, but was not going to answer that. He should not be there that evening if he didn’t believe that he had the sympathy of a large number of the people. (Applause.) The Government had been charged with having sought to exalt Otago to tho exclusion of the other parts of the colony, but the answer to this was that there were people in Dunedin who were opposed to tho Ministry. He should not say any more about this now. If he omitted anything during his speech he would be ready to answer anything they might put to him at the end of his speech. Ho might say that ho desired to meet his accusers face to face before the public; and he would now deal with a specific charge which had been made. There was one which had been called the Tapanui railway job. As he understood tho moaning of the word job, it was something which advances private interest at the expense of the public, but he would desire to point out that this railway had been discussed in the Otago Provincial Council, and in tho Assembly ; also, that resolutions were carried in the Housn approving tho necessity of constructing the Tapanui railway, and tho Government expressed its Intention of carrying it out. Then the question came, How was this to be done? The ordinary method of placing outlay was to take a certain route without making any reserves of the land. He believed that they should reserve land on each side of the proposed line, and not have the speculators of the colony reaping the benefit. This would bring money Into the coffers of tho colony, and tho Government therefore proposed that it should be done. They had large tracts of land alongside the Tapanui line. The House authorised the construction of the line, and tho Government therefore gave instructions to have it surveyed; in fact, the engineer had carte blanche as to the route the line should take. When the railway was in course of construction n petition came up asking that the line should bo constructed through the Tapanui township. Tho engineer surveyed tho proposed line, and told the Government that the deviation proposed by the petition would make the line longer and give worse gradients. This was the history of tho line, which was required to bo taken further away from the centres of population, and at a worse gradient. Had they done this they might have been twitted with the construction of a political railway. The tenders were advertised for, and more tenders were received than for any previous work. Besides this, there was a proviso that the contractor was not to receive one penny for his work until the construction was finished. Now, he wished to tell them that tho Government had been charged with accepting tenders before the time was out, but ho denied this, and he was surprised to see respectable journals making such a charge as this against tho Government, as it was unfounded. They had simply accepted the lowest tender. He now came to deal with a subject which had caused a great deal of discussion, and that was the University of Otago Bill. He had been abused very much for this; but he would tell them now that if he was spared next session he should introduce the same Bill. A third of the lands held by the Presbyterian Church was set apart for the endowment of a chair for the University. Mr. Stout then proceeded at some length to explain the position of the matter, the Church would not give the money unless they had the power of appointment and dismissal of the professors, nor could the. University accept the money unless it had the power of appointment and dismissal. A third of the endowment, therefore, was not able to be used by anyone, and therefore it was useless unless the law was altered to divest tho Church of the power of. interfering with the appointments of an institution for giving secular education. (Cheers.) All that had been said against him was that he had not consulted the Church, but as a politician he had nothing to do with the Church; but he had not found one opponent until a certain petition came up against the Bill, and then people said, “ Oh it won’t do to go against the Church. (Laughter and applanae.) Now, he came to refer to another subject, which was the Savings Bank Bill, (Mr. Stout referred at some length to this Bill, and the provisions of it, contending that it was of great public interest.) He now came to deal with the matters affecting the whole of the colony. He had heard a great deal about the barrenesa of the session, and when any writer or speaker could find nothing else to say against the Government they would point to what they called the barrenness of the session. It was very barren, but it was to the Opposition. There was nothing came of their efforts, that was the only barrenness he saw. He would ask how was he to think the session ought to bo judged, the only way in which this could be done was by looking at the social and political legislations. For his own part be placed the social legislation as high as the political, because he held that no country could arrive : at a high state of prosperity without they attended to the social legislation for the people. (Cheers.) They had passed Bills which they : were told were revolutionary, he would select a 1 few of these to show them the character of the : legislation. They had passed a Bill brought in ' by himself, which he believed had not been 1 Eassed in any other colony, though an attempt ' ad been made he believed in South Australia; * he alluded to the Trades Union Bill. Before 1 the Bill became law any combination of work- 1 men coming together to gain an advance in 1 wages were considered illegal, but not so now ; 1 besides this, they had provided for the legisla- j tion of these societies, so that none of their ' officers could make away with their funds with 1 Impunity. Then there was the Friendly Societies i Bill which provided better facilities in the way ’ of registering. The Juries Bill contained an 1 alteration in the power of law, by which parties i to special jury cases didn’t know who were the parties to try the case until they came into Court; and there was also an amendment, a - special juror should serve on common juries in 1 criminal trials. Then there was a Licensing 1 Bill, which affects the natives, the Government 1 were told that the natives were being killed ! with drink, and the Governor proclaimed cer- J tain districts in which not a drop of liquor 1 could be bought. The natives are represented by a committee, who decide whether certain districts should be allowed to have any drink in them. This was to ascertain tho extent the principle of local option was admitted as dealing with the natives. There were a number of legal amending Bills passed during the session which he hoped would lay the foundations for a much needed system of reform. The Repeal Bills and Administration Bill had also been passed. He could go on for hours session was not ns bad as had been said—a barren one. He would now pass on to some of their political measures. Some of these had not passed in the other colonies in one session, but they had passed tho Land Tax Bill in one session, and it had taken the legislature of Australia three sessions to do it. He would tell them the programme of taxation of the Opposition, and then tell them that of the Ministry, and ask them to contrast the two. They started on the assumption that land should bear taxation. Land increased in value—what was known as the unearned increment, and they said as this was made without any labor on the part of the owner, that therefore some part should be paid ; towards the revenue. Tho only way to do this was to put on this tax, and it was ; with this view that the Government had introduced the Laud Tax Acts. He felt oh 1 this subject that the Government should not i part with the fee simple of its land. (Hear.) 1 In other parts of the world the Government 1 had always recognised the difference between ' personal and landed property. This was done by the Tenants Eight Act in Ireland, and in England by the Landlord and Tenant Bill. They found that land owners were getting a i large subsidy from the Consolidated Fund, and i not one was aware of the total amount paid I by the colony in this way. He had a plan i piepared showing the amount that land owners I were getting out of the Consolidated Revenue I from the general taxation of the people. They ] were getting np to ss. and 6s. per £ on the ( annual value. This amount came out of the 1 jcoJwts o£ tho people, who contributed to the i

Customs revenues, and who were taxed to support the landowners. (Cheers.) They compared the Taxation Bill and the Customs revenue, and found that it was about £3 3s. per head here, whilst in England the Customs revenue per head was about 11s. 6(1. He said that the landowners were thus escaping their fair contribution to the revenue, and therefore they said they would put a tax on the land so that it should bear a fair share of the burdens of the colony. (Cheers.) They therefore resolved to introduce the Bill, which provided that improvements should escape taxation. The Opposition wanted them to tax improvements, but they said that this was not right, as it would be taxing one man for making improvements and not the man who stood quietly by—(cheers)—but they would need to be very careful in their future elections, or they would have a tax upon their improvements yet. They had also brought in the provision that they should not tax the man with a small , holding as much as a man with largo ; they said they would not tax any man under the value of £SOO. The Opposition wanted all taxation to he alike. [A Voice : On all realised property.] Yes, that was on all realised property; but let him explain what this meant; that they could tax sheep, and wool, and tweed ; everything that they wore, as it was realised property. It meant this, that if they taxed realised property they might tax the goods in a man’s store. It meant depression iu all the industries of the colony ; why they would have their factories taxed year by year as realised property, and this would result in a serious depression of trade. Some of the Opposition wanted to tax mortgages, but he had pointed out that they would simply clap it on to the mortgagor. Besides it would result in the withdrawal of English capital, whiohsimply meant stagnation, Tho Opposition were continually wanting to tax tho mortgagees, and tho Government said, well there are companies who are making largo sums of money, we will impose a small tax on them; but when this was proposed to be done, they said they must not tax the companies, which showed that the Opposition were not sincere. At any rate he believed tho Land Tax Bill would be a great boor, to the colony. [At this stage (1 a.m.) the telegraph operator refused to supply the balance of the message].