PARLIAMENT OUT OF SESSION.

New Zealand Times, Volume XL, Issue 6845, 30 March 1883, Page 2

PARLIAMENT OUT OF SESSION.

MR MONTGOMERY AT AKAROA. (united press association.) Christchurch, March 29. Air Montgomery addressed his constituents at Akaroa on Wednesday night. There was a large attendance, with the mayor of the borough in the chair. Mr Montgomery, who was received with loud applause, said he would refer to Major Atkiuson’s lectures, the proceedings of last session, one or two acts of the Government since, and the probable course of proceedings next session. When he beard that Maj or A tkinson’in tended coming to Chris tchurch to address the people, be, as well as others, concluded that Major A tkinson would be prepared to give an explanation of the past conduct of the Government, and set forth their future policy, and that, too, before the men who were opposed to him, leaving it to them to comment upon it, and the party to which he (Mr Montgomery) belonged was prepared to meet Major Atkinson if he touched on party questions. He, with others, was astonished to hear Major Atkinson say he came not to speak on a party question, hut on a question of principle which he wished them to think over. As Major Atkinson had engaged the ball, and bad invited members there, it would have been very discourteous to dispute with him, but he (Mr Montgomery) would ask, was it not an unusual course for the Treasurer of the colony to speak to the public on questions of high political importance and ask them to refrain from taking a party view ? No one could believe that the Treasurer—a politician addressed large meetings simply to speak philosophical truths ; his ulterior object was to ascertain the drift of public opinion so that be could shape his policy with safety. He would tell them where he differed from Major Atkinson, but, before doing so, would make one remark. Many of his friends in Cliri-tchurch thought that he should have spoken after the Treasurer, but he considered that the first place to do so was there, when speaking to his constituents. He would also address the Christchurch people before Parliament met.

Major Atkinson, speaking of the Constitution, carefully refrained from committing himself. Mr Montgomery here gave a brief summary of Major Atkinson's remarks, and with regard to the Hare system, advocated by Major Atkinson, he would ask if it were not of the first importance that electors should know the man for whom they voted ; therefore that mao should have an interest in their locality. Under the Hare system a good local man would be kept out of Parliament by a stump orator put forward by a moneyed ring, so he earnestlj hoped that the system would never be adopted here. (Applause). He could think of nothing more conducive to the severance of the colony than a Legislative Council composed of members chosen in equal numbers from each island. The Council required reformation now. It contained 48 members, many of them good men, but others those whom the people refused to return to the House of Representatives. It was an actual wrong to put such men there. Some of the other members were men who consider liberal legislation a thing to be stamped out, and the sooner the people of the country had a voice in returniog members to the Upper House the better. (Applause.) He was in favor of larger electorates for the Council than for the House of Representatives. Major Atkinson said that the taxation at present was fair and just, and pressed on all classes equally. He held it did not. (Applause.) In imposing a tax, it must be asked if that tax was necessary, and to decide that it must be decided what was the deficiency for that tax to make good. He would point out the deficiency ; that was if the revenue was to cover the expenditure. It had been said that as soon as the railways were finished that the net revenue over expenses would pay the interest on their construction. It had not done so, and a property tax bad been imposed to cover the deficiency. They should see if the railways themselves could not be made to pay it. They and other public works and immigration had raised the value of laud as land by £20,000,000, but had not raised the value of improvements. The property tax touched improvements, furniture, effects, joint stock companies, and merchants’ or storekeepers’ goods. They would thus see it was not fair. He would ask whe'her these, and men who had made homes fur themselves on the land and improved its value, should be taxed on both the original and improved value to pay the deficiency on railways which passed through unimproved lands, that have risen from£2 to £l4 an acre, or to meet the interest on £2,000,000 borrowed for immigration. Every immigrant raised the value of land. Who should pay for immigration? He himselfjwas fora tax on lands that benefited by the expenditure of borrowed money. The Treasurer said iu Christchurch that the property tax was fair, and yet last se-sion he said that property benefited by railways should be specially taxed. Whatever he said now, he would have to say something very different to the House, or he and the House would not agree. Major Atkinson said that the legislation of last session would prove whether perpetual • or freehold tenure of land was best. But n > tli -t e was no such thing in the Act of Let as perpetual lease, as any man who leased an agricultural section could buy it after six years. On goldfields land was leased without a purchasing clause ; but the Governor could resume it at any time, so there was no perpetual lease there. Major Atkinson spoke of the possibility of bursting up large estates and compensating the owners. He would like to know whether the enhanced value given by railway* would be coniidered in computing

the compensation, because on the question of compensation it would depend whether the enhanced value was retained by State or given to the owner.

National insurance should be considered very carefully by the people, and not as a dream of speculation or theory, because they might be saddled with it as a fact. Was it a scheme that free people could adopt, or was it dangerous to liberty ? In England it had fallen flat. It was very taking at tir=-t sight, and ha himself thought it good at first, but was now convinced it could never be adopted. Major Atkinson bad spoken very vaguely at Christchurch about the scheme, as compared with what be said in the House. In reality the proposals meant a poll tax of a million a year. Would empioydi like their employers to stop their money, or would employers like to take the trouble ? How was the money to be collected from those who travelled about the country shearing ? Who was to collect from the idle and vicious, and the loafers? There would be great difficulties in the way of administering the sick pay, and an expensive department in Wellington would be required. The system would create an unwarrantable amount of interference in private affairs. No doubt Major Atkinson was quite sincere in the desire to to encourage thrift here. Was it a way to encourage thrift to put people in gaol if they did not pay ? The real way to prevent poverty was to prevent men from spending their money foolishly, and to give them a chance of getting on in life by giving the people easy access to the land. He (Mr Montgomery) wished to see the law so altered that a working man who had saved £IOO could get a piece of laud to live on. The colony bad 25,000,0u0 acres of land, including Maori land, and he asked why it should be obtainable only at such a price that a man of small means could not go on it. In Canada and America the low price of land was filling the country with people, while in Canterbury the charge of £2 an acre retarded settlement. Land should be obtainable for a little more than the cost of survey. If every working-tnau were able to acquire land on which to make a home of hit own, the evils of having a nomadic population would be done away with. The last session of Parliament was very unsatisfactory. Ministers, in spite of the wishes of members, kept back the estimates and important measures till a late period of the session. Not a member, except those whose district benefited by them, knew a single thing about them. When the Roads and Bridges Construction Bill was before the House, Major Atkinson said it would prevent amounts being put ou estimates for roads aod bridges, yet when the estimates came down sums were on them for Wanganui, Taieri, and other bridges and roads. He challenged the Treasurer with having broken faith, and even -Sir J. Hall said it was wrong to force the estimates through so late. It was done because Ministers wished to secure a majority. The districts represented by this majority were well attended to, and those represented by the opponents of Government were badly attended to. He thought the Government would be prevented from doing so next session. (Applause.) Mr Whitaker had said that the Canterbury people were asleep about the West Coast Railway. They had not been asleep, but had been very confiding ; they thought they bad a member of the Ministry who would see justice done to Canterbury, but they had been mistaken. The Otago people got their central railway in spite of the report of a commission, and the Canterbury people could do the same. He considered that on the eve of a session of Parliament that the Government should give forth their policy, but he believed that Major Atkinson was fishing for a policy. The Opposition had been tame last session, as they wished to show they were not obstructionists or talkists, and they knew the public would not be ou their side if they went in for breaking down things and not building them up. The Opposition would, next session, insist on Government measures being brought down early. It would be better for them to be out. of the House altogether than to have another session such as the last. Mr Montgomery concluded by saying that he would go amongst his constituents and make himself acquainted with their wishes and wants. A vote of thanks and confidence was unanimously carried.