MR MACASSEY AT NORTH DUNEDIN.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 5468, 28 August 1879, Page 3

MR MACASSEY AT NORTH DUNEDIN.

At tne North Dimed|»!PriUa^ed.laii.t;ev,en. ing, Mr Jampa Maca^ey addressed about 100 persons, »3 a candidate for the repr«s«nt»tion ofthe.city in the Houie.flf. Eepreseatatives. Mx.W. Wriglit.oc6upied.the.dliair." ; .;'' j \ Mr Maoassbt, who w»s wtrmly greeted^ rep«at«d his visws on the variouspolitical que»--tion* rof' theT'dlj'.'asi reported in our issue of. ytsterdjiy'.* -Amonj?; his "remarks, which were eudly «ppl»udtd from; .'time to'time,' he ex!- • pressed1 himielf in favour of the. Government establistiingTa St»te)Baoki n He .stidf theyihad' before them the aksvd fact that thsy.wojildwo: to meet additional taxation ia;tht fnttlre,'-1 The -finances af tue Colony for ,tlie last .12 xconths showed i 7 deficiency, pt Lj00,p00..;,1f9#,' if th^t deficiency w«aiiirly attributable to , a falling off in the land ravenue/ they -might hops; that irw6uld<kbt JWcu*-.»^iin;' But-thi»ii*«a;n6t the case, .iad Is*ai»4Uoii"i'wonld1- (ib»>'-'increaaid unless they found ,spme means of avoiding it. Jnder the»« circumstinces he would venture to iropoundtoithemiapluifordiminighingtaxatien withouri^u^ngto'the preseflt burthehs of thei*elccWrsj::iiid3oJie:;>rhlehT would also j^ani^ecjitity_Jo_meii ,who. had maabjr .to be,deposited. .By the failure of the City bf JGfasgow^Baiik iri*nr;persdd«ihaaiasli:all itWir, savings, i'ndniSnS'ffliriUietwfceleft deatitutei; Iniywtdria,"»i'so,''One bank/if not!in<)re, hsa sucoombed to the pressure-of th^tim'es. The* resnlt'«! these financial Mdfes, jras>6nously injurious to'ihe prospects of the Colony. The oOnstquence'Clthe GlasgOw.'BanfciaUuro Was' that the ColoniAlbtoks had had Itfplaoe their Londona^ncieslii-fiindß/'aYd^this led to the; withdrawing of capital, .from" the Colony, and, ,t» U»*yjkn*w,-financial pressure was felt .vary much'in; New Zeal»nd.M .They, were table .'to draw two~le«sons from thin'state of things. They sheuld. see"th»t I ,these engaged jin ordinary bab Wag " transactions should have ■ample:.BeoTOty::fpr.'th«: payment, of tbeir deposit*, come .what, ,That. w«s ;one''<tbjebt<i>e' had^m-vidw.-'- But beyond this, therer'wMr'a^dir&fc^spSct.of* being able jto lightan'the burden, 6f;taxation; " In what way could that ibe 'done ? : Many, economists. - bad. dißcussed this question in iti T»rious aipeots,, *tid'!RibaradV-.nad. strongly Jodvocated such binkß;= t;:ln- the leatly'diys'of^thisJColoßy a •iia^'onirttn%':birdinlß.cft*wM;Wss^ i»nd a Jt»^'Bank.iatll»%ea:b^'Sir' vlsi«q(«''«rty f . rwith the aßsistanoebf Oliver pverstone. ,In the Colony of Victoria a project of the same kind had beeni-uiidsri "doMderatiofiyahd lad been warmly ad vooatedby Sir Archibald Michie, the AgentGenetal otfyictoria, in a lecture which he had': delivered.*; Capital would:"of course be needed for suba'»-b»nkv -The .question. w»i; could they find it? ■In the : fact-that the i(k»l6ny»%'*aiJ^biiat?<ii'V,bfJrp>*i' l '.'>bont fput or "five""millionsfipfii.m'oneyy'they had)an, answer to tie question. Hitherio he Jbe-lieved-that ■ the money,?borrowed passed »td tbe hands of the-Bank of New Zealand, fend this bad been the" source of a controversy on •the part; 'ef 'the "other .tbank*1' "When |the L4;(WO;000 loan of' Siirf; Juliul J Vogel's was floated in 1874, the bank in London agreed ;topay 32per cent, interest for ft, I|a,.doiDg this he bank looked forward to invest the mqney in the Colony omsuch terms as to yield a tarofit to'shareholders. i"Now,iinstead of lending 'this moneyto the bank, why should thejl not dispose' ef it themselves for the benefit of the tax-be'arera? "rlt'wpuW jnodOubtrhe-.objected, that such an institution could tiot; be so well managed by the Gqveinmeiftt as by private individuals. In tnawer. to this he pointed; out that already they had lundertaken a great deal of the wpit of" a "pjKernaT"" Govern • meat Looking" at this proposal for..*; State* (i : the depositors would!"have the security/of; the whole Coknyipr their, deposita instead of being shareholders bf a baak which might fhue tha fate of the CitT of-.Glasgow Bank. It might be urged that if the bank were in the hands of the Governments would be made the vehicle of corrupt-practieesyiand any person not in favour with the Government would not get the. convenience, and the Government would make the bank subservient to political .purposes: It would be'easy to devise means to prevent anything of that 'Wndtakiog place, and to remoyS the cAntrblioFlf! from-the Government. Hi* view would be; to have t, Board of Control apd a Board of-Audit, both free from executive influence »nd directly responsible, to. Parliament. Ho would~not.be SisiipsEd to "interfere jwith present banking- institutions, -but -would cave. them as, .they were now, and .let -it , be-optional'with the p.sople whether tkty-: wouldTJdesli-witht suchCfah bank or not It might be said that the State bank might enter into competition with the private banks. His answer to this was that the extmi-' nation of the list of .proprietors of Colonial banks'would übow that'the proportion of shareholders resident in--the; Colony was small, and that.the. profits for the mest part went to other countries. Then,' if thß"<sasa uere other- ■ wise, and.we Bh'ouldjbe ableito escape fdrther r ,ta«tionJ7.Ke-"wpuli:sWisuppprj!.lt,v'»lthopgh it might interfere with private inatitu-tionsv'-^-The^'Bpeaker? them referred to. the Otago. TJniversityi ,and strongly urged the establtihment of mbdel;farnit(,"s6-tbatthe;tneo-reticalknowledge'imparted by the Prof«sior,pf <Chemistry -.- might be turned to account in a practical manner.,' ;,- ix ;j'> i. :r; ; ri2 r ; , ■ J -'v-(' —Inresponse to a queatlon.as to.whetherne wasin favour .of tiams.being drawn by Bteain or byTdrses, he said thiS unfortunate caU^ophe which had hftpp'en'ed'here recently had-led.bim. to doubt1 the ptof)riety'of'continuing the steamtrams. The advantages of Bteam-tramsj were verydeMtly'puirchased.if we had to continue fo sustain the loesea that had been sustained during the1 last'few'days. Considering that our Btreets = were»sb inaMow,The was inchned to think that it would'be'well* to adhere to ho«e: ; traction. He did? riot'think' it was right to employ 20 or; 30 men in laying ■dpwE! the- tram - lin«s' r6n thst' Sabbath, -f (Ap-, plause). However; he believed that the City Cjunoll-was;the;pcop«r : authQrily,,ta; interfere to prevent a contmuacce of that state jo] things.., Working on the Sabbath was tbo sort of thing he" did not like to see, and beside^it; offeudtd good.taßte. Bcgardingr party government, his opinion juat now was-tlw parlies wewconsiderably.mucei...He halj)re -, viously" stated' that ,hia? present iacluiations were iii fftvdvirrofithe"re6on»trucvjon ol tne Miiwfry.'.He ffas altogether in favourjof the programmo put forward by.the Government. Ha:believed in measures,:-nqtmen. Ifc ] was,: however, very deniable that,Otugo,should be stroßglyrepressntedin the Ministry, Jlnd consequentlyhe:would gladly support a Govern-; inout of; which Mr Macandrew was a member., ,-..Mri]a;,li>iAHraaV.;UienV.-i!rpp6sea.: th»t Mr Macassey,was a fit;»nd.prspti-person to represent the district- in the Housa of IKepresentatives. '■■'.■'-' ?'■-> •'■ .'.'..-■■■•.•!;:.■■ •■ Ll".';-1-'' Mr J. JLvBSHAti seconded the.resfalution, which was oanied with enthusiaVm. ; :; A:vote of thanks haviog beea accorded to the Chairman, the meeting separated. > j, j »<,