THE COMING ELECTIONS.

New Zealand Times, Volume LV, Issue 2043, 28 October 1893, Page 2

THE COMING ELECTIONS.

ME F. H. FEASEE AT THE PEINCESS THEATEE. Mr F. H. Fraser, one of tho city candidates, addressed a meotingjof the electors, at tho Princess Theatre last night. There was a large attendance, including a number, of ladies, Mr E. Ayres occupied the chair: , , . Mr Fraser,who was received with loud applause, said, regarding a remark of the chairman bespeaking for him a fair hearing, that ho was not afraid that he would not. have a fair hearing. Ho had stood before the Wellington people on several occasions,- and he had never }xad to complain of their want of fairness. , women’s franchise. -. . It had been said that it was not until about six months - ago that he was converted to the support of female franchise.' If that was so it showed that ho could bo converted to a good thing; but it was not so. Some fifteen years ago, in the old Arcade, ho bad advocated female suffrage.- Ho could prove this by public print, and bo could prove that ho was always in favour of it by what ho had said in the House. One morning, about 12.30, ho had got-up in tho House to follow a gentleman well-known to thorn all, whoso name ho would not mention then, who had spoken strongly against women having a vote. Ho (the speaker) had urged then that the women'should have a vote, and lie was pleased uow-to see that the women had at last got what they richly deserved, and what they ought to have had years ago. He had always thought that too much difference had been made ■ between the sexes in many cases. - Asa member of the Education Board, ho had supported the proposal that the female teachers should ho placed on an equal footing .with tho male teachers,so'far as salary was concerned. ■ - a legislator's duty. Ho thought that those who sought to represent: the electors should have some guiding' principle. Ho had been chairman of the Hospital Trustees' for many years, arid the principle he had worked on was tho “ benefit of tho patients.” _ This had served him well, arid had kept him out of all sorts ’ of quicksands and shoals, and he ‘ had been elected as ! Chairman of the institution over and over again. Ho would say that a legislator should seek to do everything for the moral and physical advancement of the people. These two words contained aliriost all they could say with regard to the legislation for the pobplo. One of the first things they had to consider’ in regard to morality., was tho education of . the people. (Applause.) : ‘ THE EDUCATION QUESTION. ; He, referred tq an. article which ap- ; peared in, an evening paper , on this subi jeot, and said he ’ entirely agreed with that i article. , Eleven. or . twelve years ago, ho i had'said, and ho would say it Again now, i that any man who would dare to tamper with Hie educational.system waaa, traitor to his courifry!‘.((Applause.). The education sys- ; tom was one of the. best arid, greatest ■ privileges they had. They should not only i - consider the present rising generation, but q the generations yet imborn. They had ;, been told that their schools wore ’ godless i schools,. He denied that iji tolo. Ho knew a great deal about these schools! He had ; been a member of a school committee and a member of tho Education Board for many I years, and he would say this, that the boys [ and girls of New Zealand could comi pare .favourably, with ; the boys and > girls in the Old Country- (Applause.) s It had pleased him to,see little hoys, and , girls in tho streets showing respect to their , elders, and generally. behaving themselves . better than, the boys and girls did in tho . Old Country.. (A voice':. "What country.) f Ho was’speaking of Great Britain. There ; was no’ reasori for’.this outcry about godless 5 schools, unless, they .said that all, tho 3 teachers wore, godless, and that would not 'be true. The teachers taught the children , what was the essence of Christianity, that 3 was to do unto others what they would I have others do unto them. (Applause.) ’ They taught them , to behave themselves, i tq be, truthful, kind, gentle and obedient. > They did not want doctrines for their > schools, but philanthropy. I THE BIBLE-XN-BCHOOLS. t {Referring to this question, he pointed t out that Bishop Julius and Bishop Cowie 3 had said that it was utterly useless to read t the Bible in schools without comment. . Now, who were to make the comments? . They had all sorts , and conditions of men 3 as teachers, and therefore was it not pro- , bable that the comments might be a little i coloured P, The Bible, he thought, could bo , read before and after school for those who t desired it. Suppose a boy was unable to 3 pronounce the word “ Jerusalem ” correctly, , and was kept in in consequence, could that i .boy bo expected to have any reverence for 3 Jerusalem ? (A voice—“ We don’t know.”) . There were many difficulties in the way of 1 Bible-reading . in the schools. An oxoolt. lent suggestion, had been made by one > of . the local , school inspectors, and j that ,was that, on ' one afternoon the : children should go tq their various Sunday- -. schools, and the marks they obtained i should connt the same as if they were at ; the day school. Those who did not wish to j go to the Sunday-school - would have to r attend, the, day school. Another way would ; be for the children to have Bible instruc- :■ tion before or after school. He could i assure them that whatever side of the s House he was on, he would not tamper with 3 tho education system. THE LIQUOR , QUESTION., s Thirty-five years ago the liquor question [ was - considered impracticable, but now it , was right to the fore front. (Applause.) [• The, whole .matter was - very simple, and could be: summed up in these three words, 3 “Trust the pec,pie," The people were i asking that, as this business was ostensibly . for their benefit,.they.should say whether r they wanted it or. not. ..The direct veto was j meant for everyone. : It was for tho j total abstainer, the temperance man, . tho man. who , took too much, the I barmaid, : the - brewer, the publican, [ and the wine merchant. This, vote : was for them all. Even if they had Pror hibition he considered it would he 30 or 40 ; years before the drink traffic was directly under control. He believed in evolution, [ and not revolution. To his mind this [ question was a very important one, partii cularly to the wage-earning men. It brought to them, so little in the shape of wages, only about os as against I3s 6d to 14s from other sources of industry. He had not an unkind, word to say of the publicans, many of whom he! had great respect for; but several of them were the. victims of many who were not seen, and who were reaping great rents, and getting richer and richer, while the poor were getting poorer. This was a question for the working men largely. The present Act would have to be altered, as it would not please all parties. He could not see what reciprocity there could be between the.ends of large licensing districts, though in smaller districts, such as cities, it might bo worked! It was not fair to ask committees to close hotels except by the direction of the people, and in the past he had found that what was done by one committee was undone by the next. LABOUR LEGISLATION AND THE UPPER HOUSE. During last session the Industrial Conciliation arid Arbitration Bill had been, among others, thrown out, and he regretted this. He deplored strikes, and thought that if mastersandmen were brought face to face they would soon get to understand one another better, and the feeling of give and take would do away with the necessity of arbitration in many cases, but in any case arbitration should be available. As to the Shop Hours Bill, the differences of opinion as to tho day were, touched on. In his opinion, the practice of keeping halfholiday should bo more generally observed. He thought a vote of the people should be taken as to the day, and the majority decide in each locality which half-day should be observed. Saturday might suit some, 'Wednesday others, and the question should be' left entirely in the hands cf localities. • The Workmen’s Wages Bill, as brought in by the Government, was a good measure, and he could sec, no reason why a workman should have to wait longer than a weekforhis week’s work. (Applause.) While on the subject of working men, he took the opportunity of saying that hewas pleased with the conduct "of the working men members of the House-w(applause)— and he noticed that one of the leading English periodicals spoke very highly of them.. They were, by their conduct, an example to members on both sides of the House. The Lapd Settlement BUI was also thrown out. Hb bylievod .this Government; had

done thou* beat honestly to settle people on the land, and the thanks of the Colony were duo to thorn for their efforts. (Aj>phi use.) The Betterments Bill was a just and fair Bill, which he hoped to see become the Law of the land. He was in favour of .village settlements and State farms, of which ho Would like to see more, to encourage men willing and able to work to; got it, arid to those ho looked for help iff Reiving the labour problem, tfHE RAILWAYS'.' A great deal had boon said of the Railway Commissioners. Ho thought, when the Government introduced the cystcifc, that they would liave done better r sj have paid more for a Chief Commissioner, and that they adopted a penny wise and pound foolish policy. The Commissioners had done good work and lately things had gone on more smoothly. Ho had, however, heard, but hoped it was not true, that they had s*vid they would not keep men after they wore 35 years of age. As to the control, while |ho thought that one of the Ministers —say the Minister for Public Works—should have a seat on the board with responsibility, he would not advocate a return to political control Wholly upd solely as it was before. Some of the things that .then came to light were discreditable in the ( o’xtreme, and the system led to a waste of money. , With regard to the Legislative Council, he ■ had in the House said that it had been suggested to him the Council should be reformed out of existence altogether. He did not agree with this, but thought onehalf of the Council should be elected by the people. C'a-OfIIRATIVE LABOUR. Ho had great faitli in the system of cooperation when the uplifting of.,tho working man came about. . To show what could be done, ho instanced the erection of the Paris Exhibition building, on which the labourers got higher wages by working cooperatively than they would otherwise have . obtained. In England there were many j successful instances of co-operative work- . ing. As to the Government co-operative f works, l>.e had not had the opportunity of seeing how they Were conducted, but he , believed they would be good as long as they . had good men to overlook the works, but if J they had men who did not understand it, 5 there would be trouble for the Government and the men.

In conclusion Mr Eraser said ho was born a Liberal, and would continue one, but he would use his conscience on all subjects on which ho had to vote., He had known men who had voted against their consciences, and who had ..expressed regret for having done so, but ho believed that if men did this it was only right they should bo troubled in their consciences about it. He thanked them for their patient hearing, and resumed his seat amidst applause,after speaking for fifty minutes Only one question was asked, viz., aa to whether ho was in favour of frontage rating in place of rating on improvements for municipal purposes-, and he replied that ho tins in favour of rating on frontage, rather than on improvements. Mrs Wright proposed the following resolution ".That this meeting thanks Mr Eraser for his address,' and expresses its confidence in,him aa a fit and proper person to represent this electorate, in Parliament.” In doing so, she urged on her sister electors the importance of the trust now imposed in them, and hoped they would go quietly, modestly and womanlike to the polls, and not shirk their duty. . . , Mr J. Collins seconded the motion. He said that Mr Fraser on the Hospital Board, and in education and other local matters, had done good duty, and ho was one in whom they could repose confidence. . The vote was carried with only one dissentient, and a vote of thanks to the chairman, proposed by Mr Fraser, closed the meeting.;

. Mr Vogel addressed a meeting of electors in Merritt’s Frivatq, School,. Adelaide road, last night, Mr Gaby in the chair. A men’s committee' wag formed, Mr J. Sullivan being elected chairman; and a women’s committee, with Mrs Jounnax as directress.

At his meeting atHawera on Wednesday evening, Mr, G. Hutchison received a vote of thanks.

The name of Mr G. S. Bridge, of Wayerloy, is new mentioned aa an Opposition candidate for the Patea seat. The Opposition are in the position of disbelieving in Mr George Hutchison just aa much as those on the Liberal side, and though ho oj>posea the Ministry, the Peat-Hair party, which ia fairly strong in the Waitotara end of tho electorate, wm have none of him 1 . Mr Bridge is a. farmer, haa been connected with many local bodies, and holds very strong -views on temperance questions. Tho Prohibition League haa decided to support Sir Eobort .Stout,. Messrs H. D. 801 l and F, H. Fraser for the Wellington seat. 1

A meeting of ladies interested in the candidature of Dr Newman for Wellington suburbs was held at Wadestown yesterday afternoon. A strong ladies’ committee was formed, Mrs Butter being appointed chairwoman, and Mrs Lomas, secretary. Dr Newman then addressed the meeting, and a plan of campaign was drawn up. Mr Allsworth, editor of the Eymont Settler, has, it ia stated, been asked to contest Egraont in the Government interest.. Ho has taken , a prominent part in local politics, and is a consistent opponent of tho New Plymouth harbour rate. He defers his decision until after the Premier’s visit to the district.

By Telegraph.—Press Association. Auckland, October 27.

Colonel Norton has decided to stand for the Bay of Plenty. 1 *lt is stated that James Maokay, jUnr, intends standing for the Parnell electorate." ' 1

Mr Massey addressed his first meeting of the electors of franklin, atWaiuku, and received a vote of confidence.’ Ho. is independent. ' " : ,:i Mr Xi. Thompson 1 has addressed his first meeting of tho Maraden 'electors.He doclared himself generally a 1 supporter of the Government, but •would not be adelegate, or blindly follow any party, lie received a vote of confidence. ■ Mr Mitohclaon continued his impeachment of the Government policy last night, addressing the largest meetirig ever held in Northcoto. On the motion of a woman, seconded by a woman, a vote of confidence was carried, with only one dissentient: “ Peilwno, October 27. Last night Mr’J. Duthie, M.H.R., delivered an address in reply to the Premier’s Peilding speech. Tho hall was packed. The speaker traversed every item, ■ and showed of what value the Opposition had been in preventing - measures contrary to tho host interests of the people being forced through the Houser Ho proved that the present Ministers had added largely to tho debt of the Colony during their administration, while they had made no reduction in taxation, but had rather increased it. Mr Duthio had a splendid reception, and a vote of thanks was carried unanimously. Tho Mayor presided. li>j Tel-eyrapli—Own Correspondent. Nelson, October 27.

Mr Richmond Hursthouse is announced as an Opposition candidate for the city of Nelson. There are now six candidates, but It is considered improbable that they will ail go to the poll. ■