MR HERDMAN AT TOKARAHI.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8040, 6 November 1902, Page 4

MR HERDMAN AT TOKARAHI.

Mr A. L. Herdman, one of the candidates for the Mount Ida seat, addressed the electors at Tokarahi last evening. There were about thirty present, and Mr W. E. de C. Hughes was voted to the chair. Mr Herdman commenced by saying that when one conducted a political campaign he had many experiences—some pleasant and some sad. Amongst his pleasant experiences had been meeting with many old friends. He had now exhausted the Maniototo side, and had come over to the Waitaki .side. He felt certain that he would meet with the same cordial reception here as had been extended to him on the other side One sad experience had been that an old friend had told him that if he pursued politics for 20 years he would not have a shred of political conscience left, but he hoped that if it should be his fortune to be in political life so long he would still be able-to claim the possession of some political conscience. He felt that in contesting the seat he was at a disadvantage in not possessing the name of M'Kenzie, so lon<j associated with the Maniototo through Mr Scobie Mackenzie, then Sir John M'Kenzie, and latterly Mr Thomas Mackenzie ; but he would look up his genealogical tree and see if he had not at some remote period had an ancestor of the name of M'Kenzie who had disappeared about the time of the assizes. He intended to speak chiefly upon the two great subjects which he deemed of paramount importance, but would first deal with one or two preliminary points. A custom had recently grown up of the Government nominating candidates. Formerly the electors selected their own candidates, but now some person was sent down branded with the-Seddon brand and ear-marked Tts- the Government candidate, and the electors were told they must record their votes in that person's favor. Such a thing was unknown in the Old Country or elsewhere. It was an interference with the rights of the electors, who would not get a representative, but Mr Seddon got another vote. It had been said that he had no serious intention of contesting the election, but no man would undertake to travel all through the large district delivering addresses purely for pleasure. He was in earnest, and intended with the aid of their votes to get into Parliament. The objection had been raised that a man residing in Wellington could not represent, the district. But he claimed that a man residing within reach of the machinery of government could be of great value to the electorate. Mr Ewing, who lived at St. Bathans and was engaged working a mine there, could not be expected to visit all parts of the district. If lie (the speaker) were elected he would be able, through living in Wellington, to bring any matter affecting any of his constituents directly under the notice of the head of the department or the Minister, and there was more merit in a personal interview than in correspondence. Then it had been objected that he was a lawyer, but as there were only 12 lawyers in the last House out of 74 members, he did not think the profession was over-represent ed. He defined himself as an Independent Liberal. It had been said that an "independent" was a "rail-sitter," but itwas not so. Just as wooden rails had disappeared with the advent of barbed wire, the "rail-sitter" had vanished with the disappearance of the old Opposition. There was only one party in the House, and that was the party led by Mr Seddon, and the members of that party were the servants of the Premier. There was no Opposition, but there were some independent members, and if elected he would identify himself with that independent band. He would not in any way become identified with Mr Seddon because his methods of administration were bad. Until there was a Liberal Ministry composed of good capable business men, actuated by high and pure motives, he would be an independent. He had voted for the late Sir John M'Kenzie against Mr Duncan, and so long as he was a Minister, because he had looked upon him as a man who operated the brake on

Mr Seddon. Mr M'Kenzie, too, if not the author, had been the chief advocate of many good measures. Amongst these was the advances to settlers scheme, which had had a highly beneficial effect upon the farming community by enabling struggling farmers to obtain money at a low rate of interest and relieve themselves of obligations to the money-lenders. Then Mr M'Kenzie had introduced the Land for Settlements Act, which had exercised a beneficial influence upon the whole colony. He had also found that Mr M'Kenzie, when he propounded a scheme, was thoroughly sincere and really believed that it was for the good of the colony—that he was patriotic, and that, to put it in a nutshell, he was honest. But sjjce he had recorded ii vote for Sir John M'Kenzie he had had his eyes opened, and had seen that Mr Seddon was rushing the oolony, if not to ruin, down hill. As an independent he would support any measure which he thought would be of benefit to the colony, but would oppose with all his strength any that he deemed otherwise. He would now deal with what he deemed the greatest of all questions—the finances of the colony. Mr Seddon was not a man who could have an intimate knowledge of the finances of the country,- and had shown his incapacity to deal with the subject by the ignorance he had displayed at Home of a simple economic fact. A Colonial Treasurer who was not familiar with the fact that Great Britain was the greatest creditor in the world, and that her imports were only part payment of interest by other countries, could not be familiar with the financial position of the colony. Last session Sir Joseph Ward had asked- the House for a loan- of £1,750,000 for various purposes. In 1901 when asking' for a loan of £1,500,000, Mr Seddon had said that the speed had been too fast, and that he, as captain of the ship, would have to give the order go slow. A loan of £1,750,000 was asked for in the very next session. If that was going slow, what would it be like when they went fast. The money had not yet been borrowed, but when it was borrowed—and he doubted if it could be borrowed at Home—the public debt of the colony would be £53,587,000, or £64 per head of the population. Was the country, in the face of its small population and of the amount of over £1,800,000 going out of the country as interest, justified in borrowing so-large a sum ? He said that it was not. In 1892 Mr Ballance, in laving down his self-reliant policy, saw that the colony had been going too fast, and' had. rightly urged that it. should-pull up, and rely upon its own resources. Mr Seddon was a member of Mr Ballance's Administration, and most have endorsed the prudent policy of his leader. When the mantle of his dead chief had fallen upon his shoulders, how had he followed up that policy ? In the past eleven years the public debt, in- ! eluding the loan of £1,750,000~ authorised last session, ' had been increased by £14,750,000, and it now reached £53,587,000 and the interest over £1,800,000. It was time that the true position of the colony was fully ascertained. One of the dangers of large borrowing was that it created a false sense of prosperity. Supposing that the stream of borrowed money were cut off, what would be the position? Men would be thrown out of emplovment and business would be so seriously affected that many tradespeople would be bankrupted- There was a danger that our credit m the Old Country would be stopped, and _in borrowing so largelv we were incurring the risk of such a contingency arising. The Financial News lately, in reviewing the position, had stated that people in financial circles at Home were viewing with perturbation the growth of the public debt of the colony. Another danger that a.wats attended borrowing was that there viuM be a growth of departmental espenditu e. He found that, leaving out of consideration the expenditure from the Public Wcrks Fund, there had been a considerable crovdh in the cost of the ordinary departments of State last year as compared with the pievious year. Out of the nineteen d*i s,rtments into which the Government i;f the colony was divided there vere on'v fc ci that showed decreases, while in others I here were large increases. In the C Secretary's Department there had been an increase in 1902 over 1901 of £119.000, jp ■the Postmaster-General's Department of £40,000, in the Education Department cf £50,000, in the Agricultural Depoitment of £25,000, and in the Bailways Department of £130,000. In two departments alone, the Colonial Secretary's ~ and the

Railway, the expenditure for 1902 w £249.000 greater than in 1901. These in creases had nothing whatever to do witi public works. They were simply increase in the departmental expenditure, and show ed gross extravagance. As an instance o. the wasteful extravagance of the Govern meat he would quote the case of the Mako hine viaduct on the North Island trunl railway. The Government had had a. ten iier for the completion of that work in twi Years and a half for £48,000, but they hac decided to carry out the work by co-opera tive labor, with the result that it had taKei six years and had cost £y2,000. Thus besides the loss of time, £24,000 had beei wasted—thrown to the four winds of hea ven. Again Sir Joseph Ward had obtain ed from America 63 railway carriages whicl could have been made in the colony at : saving of £12,548, and that amount hac been thrown away besides the work bein| sent out of the colony. Speaking of tin Civil service of the colony, he said tha anyone who saw the army of officials pour ing out of the Government buildings n Wellington at the close of the day woulc be disposed to come to the conclusion tha the population of the colony consisted most ly of Civil servants. There were too man; officials, and the country was over-run b; far too many stock inspectors and othe: inspectors. He wished to see a Civil toer vice 'Board created, which would be en tirely independent of the Government, aiu which would fill up all positions in tin service They would not then find so man: men from the West Coast put into the ser vice, but they would have the highest men available chosen. There would be an enc to Government patronage. The people hac to pay the cost and they had a right to de mand that they should get the best avail able talent. The policy he had to propounc was.more prudence and caution m the ad ministration of the affairs of the colonymore real Scotch caution. The men m tin (Ministry had not a sufficient amount o: that 'Scotch characteristic. It was tin duty of the House of Representatives tc see that economy was introduced into th. various departments of State and that the? was only a moderate amount of borrowingthat there should be a return to the policy laid down by Mr Ballance in 1892. O course the works in hand would have to bt continued and a certain amount of borrow inn- would be necessary, but with ngic economy there was no reason why the} should" not be able each year t-o transfer ; large sum from the revenue account to tin Public Works Fund. He did not take : pessimistic view of the position of tin colony. With its glorious climate am boundless resources it had a great future before it, and there was no reason why with the exercise of care and caution, i should not enter upon a career of pros perity. In dealing with the land questioi he was treading upon delicate ground, fo: with the subject there was associated th name of the late 'Sir John M'Kenzie, win had not only done a great deal to enabl people to go on to the land, but hac created the Agricultural Department in or der to assist the farmers of the colony. H had carefully studied the Land Act of 1892 and had not been able to find anything n it to find fault with. But he found tha there had been a decrease last year of 15, in the number of settlers placed upon tin land and of 500,000 acres in the area of lam taken up. - He had not the same higl opinion of the present Minister of Lands a of his predecessor. But he was not pre pared to lay the blame for the falling off ii settlement upon the shoulders of the pre sent Minister, who always appeared to b< oppressed by a sense of the heavy weigh of responsibility resting upon him. H< believed that something more attractivi was necessary in order to induce people ti settle upon the land, and that they shoulc allow settlers to acquire the freehold of ; limited area of land. The only real differ ence between a lease in perpetuity and ; freehold was that the leaseholder had ai encumbrance of a five jper oefnt. rental which he. could never get rid of The freeholder had something whicl was absolutely his own, and he wai not liable to be affected by any amendment of the Land Act or the passing of anj revaluation Act. The only danger attending the granting of the freehold was the possibility of the aggregation of large estates, but there would be a remedy for this as long as the Land for Settlements Act remained in force, for, where large estates grew up, the Government could again resume them. But he would go further, anc propose that the Land Transfer Act should be so amended that no man could obtain a transfer until he made a similar declaration to that which had to be made under the Laricl Act, that the applicant did not possess 640 acres of land. The two safeguards would provide perfect security against the aggregation of large estates. With the freehold they would obtain a better class of settlement, for men would not be obliged to oibey the direction of the ranger, and they would have developed an originality which would produce a good race of farmers. The land legislation should be amended so that there might be appointed competent men who could form a proper estimate of the capabilities of the land so that it might be so cut up that settlers would obtain a sufficient area to enable them to make a comfortable living and not merely a bare subsistence. He had propounded his political views, and if they believed them to be sound they should vote for him; if they thought otherwise they should vote for his opponent. The election contest had so far been fought in a Friendly manner, and he hoped that when it was over, whatever mighT be the result, le and Mr Ewing, who had been friends for years, would still remain so. The question for the 'electors to consider was whether the country could be best governed tccording to his or 'Mr ■Ewing's views. He hanked them for the courteous attention hey had given him. He asked them to ionsider what he had said, and hoped that vhen the polling, day came round they vould record their votes in his favor.

Mr Herdman, who was frequently applauded during the delivery of his address, then resumed his seat amidst applause. '' In reply to questions Mr Herdman said that he was not in favor of a-State bank. Before Crown tenants were allowed to _ acquire the freehold they should be required to occupy the land for a time and put upon it a certain amount of improvements. The proceeds of all sales of land should be devoted to land settlement purposes, and not go into the general fund. He was in favor of elective Land Boards. He would support a change in the law which would make rents "payable on the due date with the rebate instead of being, payable in advance. If the land for settlement policy was to be- continued it would mean a great deal more borrowing, which might be avoided by allowing tenants to acquire the freehold and applying the money so obtained to the purchase of other estates. He was in favor of referring the Bible-in-schools question to a plebiscite of the people, but was not in favor of the referendum. He was not in favor of giving a grant to Catholic schools. He would support throwing the Maerewhenua endowments open for mining provided that a quid pro quo was given to the Hospital Trustees. If the settlers were being pestered by hares the proper Cning to do would be to proclaim an open season all the year round, so that they might Be shot at any time. They should either have colonial prohibition or none at all, and he did not believe in local prohibition. On the motion of Mr Dasler, seconded by Mr Haugh, a vote of thanks was accorded to Mr Herdman for his address. Mr Herdman acknowledged, the vote, and moved a vote of thanks to the chair, with which the meeting closed.