MR W. BARRON AT CAVERSHAM.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 7928, 20 July 1887, Page 2

MR W. BARRON AT CAVERSHAM.

Mr W. Barron addressed a meeting of ths electors of Caversham iv the local Town Hall last evening. Mr W. Bragg (mayor of the borough) occupied the chair and there were about 250 persons present.

Mr Baruon said he would have liked that night to have gone into a short history ef the Parliament that had been dissolved, from 1884 (when the present Government took office) down to^the date of the dissolution, but as tho Government had appealed to the country upon their financial policy, and as any remarks of a financial

nature would take some little time, he thought he would bring under the notice of the electors the broad features of that policy, such as borrowing, our public debt, taxation, and retrenchment. When he hud got so far he would ask his hearers to give him their attention while he referred to matters concerning himself as the representative of the Caversham constituency.

While directing the attention of the electors to :he

PUIILIC WOIiKS POLlCtf,

so far as borrowing was concerned he would like, for the benefit of those who were not here

in 1870, to point out briefly what that policy was. In 1870 the debt of the colony was something like seven and a-quarter millions. Sir Julius Vogel—then Jit- Vogel—was Colonial Treasurer at that time, and he brought down a policy and proposed tv construct som« 1500 or KiOO miles of railway, also to induce a large-

number of immigrants to come to the colony, and generally to .settle the country and push it ahead.

That policy involved a turther borrowing of something like seven and a-half millions for

railways, an additional million for other pro--posals, and the Colonial Treasurer asked that, some two and a-half million acres of laud should be set aside for the purpose of carrying

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out his policy, which, broadly speaking, .night have been called the ten - million policy. When that policy was brought before the country, tho Colonial Treasurer, having me with much adverse criticism in connection witl it, expressed tho opinion that although the initiation and carrying out of that policy would pro bably involve increau'd burdens, they would no! he such as the colonists would not bo able to bear, in consequence of great impetus the colony would be likely to receive. He would now like to point out tho state of the colony in ISS7 as contrasted with that of 1870. We hail now 1727 miles of railway constructed, and there was a debt against railways of 13} millions. Th« net debt of tho colony was 3-Ii millions; the interest was, roughly speaking, ljj millions, and towards that interest the railways paid .£300,000 s year. Now, while tho Public Works policy, if carried out on the lines laid down by Sir Julius Vogel might have resulted in benefit, it had practically demoralised the whole colony, and we were worse oft' than if the policy had novor been initiated.—(Applause.) Ho would point out that tho railways in Victoria in 1884 contributed towards tho interest on tho public debt of tho colony all but£292,SsG, the railways of New South Wales all but £220,541, and the railways of Queensland al! but £440,837 j while the railways of Now Zealand contributed £305,310 towards the interest on our debt, leaving £1,243,485 of interest to be paid out of general taxation. In 1881-5,1447 miles of railway were constructed, and contribted £355,085 towards our public debt. In 1886, 1613 miles were constructed, and contributed £357,078 towards our debt; and this year 1727 were constructed, and contributed £299,670 towards our debt. This year our public debt, less accrued interest and sinking fund, was £34,192,000, and tho charge on that was £1,727,000, of which sum £299,000 was paid by railways, leaving to be paid out of taxation £1,437,508, or £200,000 a year more than in 1884. This railway policy which was adopted was a departure from thoso breadlines initiated in the Public Works scheme, and immense claims were made upon the Government for what were called political railways. Then, during tho last discussion on the Loau Bill, proposals were brought forward for the construction of lines which were not only not <lefeueibleaslikely tobeprofitableliues.but which were also premature lines. Owing to pressure baring boeu brought upon the Government, they consented to make provision for two levies, which tho House would not assent to, and which were struck out. Tho Government also had proposals to purchase what were called the district railways. These lines were constructed by private individuals for tho purpose of giving valuo to tho land and facilities to the district through which they were constructed. These were not of sufficient merit to warrant the Government to undertake them as colonial works; but owing to the pressure that was brought to bear upon the Government, they negotiated for buying all the district railways throughout the colony. These lines were such that they could not be defended as colonial lines. Still tfie Government provided means for their construction, they were constructed, and pressure was presently brought to bear and the Government took them over. This Government had been kept in office principally by two railway schemes—the District Railways Bill, which was framed tor the purposo of obtaining all the district railways, and the Midland railway scheme, which had the support of the large majority of the members sent from Canterbury. Had it not been for those schemes this Administration ■would long ago have had to give place to another more in accord with the predominating opinion throughout the colony.—("No'1; and applause.) But the amount of solid support accorded to this Government on condition that the Midland railway should be constructed and that the district railways should be purchased was sufficient to give the Government a large working majority for a considerable time

THE OTAGO CENTRAL.

Amongst these we bad one local live which was eadly neglected. The Premier, ho observed, took credit for having spent more than their predecessors ou this line. And so they had; but 4heir predecessors treated us shamefully, and the speakor maintained that the present Government had treated us very little better. The total amount spent on the Otago Central by the present Government to date was £177,975. But their first appropriation in 1884 was £165,000, go they had only exceeded their first appropriation by £13,000. And that was not all. We had to provide for a previous misappropriation of £300,000, and the present Government asked for authority to raise a loan, part of which was to make this good. The raising of the loan i was sanctioned, but they had never tried to make the misappropriation good so far as the Otago Central was concerned. In another loan they raised, £140,000 was specifically appropriated for this line, and if the Government kept faith there was still a considerable amount available for it. If they showed any desire to" keep faith, there .should be £440,000 now available, less the £W,OOO the present Government had already .spent. We were continually being encouraged ■to sanction some further borrowing scheme because of the inducement that this line, in which •we had a local interest, should get justice; the Joans were sanctioned, there was a considerable ■allocation for the Otago Central in the schedule, tine money was borrowed aud dissipated. We -had been deceived so often that he thought we •must now see the necessity of finding some .other means of constructing a line of railway >which we considered a good work, and no flonger allow ourselves to be angled for by this method and induced to sanction ■the country being committed to more borrowing. He maintained that the Otago Central could be made easily and profitably out of, the land it passed through, and the value of which it would enhance, if only the Premier and Mr Ballance would abandon their land nationalisation fads, which alone stood in the way of the line being constructed by a commission under the Goveru-

ment empowered to sell the land as the con-

struction of the line improved its value. Or tho Government might offer some inducement to a company under the District Railways Act. He maintained then that we could easily have the line constructed without asking the colony to bear any additional burden.—(Cries of " No!" and applause.) He had tried to show how un-

wise borrowing and spending had Jed to many of our present troubles, and he said now that if the new Parliament was asked to consider any scheme for further borrowing, every member should be pledged not to consent to ib without careful examination of the object for which the faonej was to be raised, and without it •being specifically appropriated beyond the .possibility of it being manipulated and used ■for any other work. If this were done •the limited borrowing necessary might not be ,amiss; but we should never raise loans as before, .subject to the manipulation of politicians and of a needy Government. For all Governments were alike in {this, they would yield to pressure for the sake of maintaining office.—(A Voice : •" Let us hear what you are going to do yourself.") He should like to give some attention to the subject of TAXATION. In 1884 the Government promised to take off a large burden of taxation. The Treasurer said, " I assert that a considerable load of taxation can be taken off the country; and it seems to me the question may well be raised whether we shall continue the property tax or have a land and income tax, or try to do without either." He also said," There is no reason why there should be increased taxation except on the cruel principle of the boy who stands at a window pane with a pin in his hand vivisecting house flies—that we should teach people how we can tax them." This was in 1884; but in 1885 we hail proposals for a large increase in taxation through the customs, the property tax, stamp duties, &c.; and the Government now appealed to the country on proposals which would have involved an additional burden o£ about £350,000. But that was not all; because had not i he WILD SCHEMES of the Government been checked, the proposals for increased burdens would have been maeh greater. He would give one or two indications of these schemes which the independent members who were accused of sitting on a rail had helped to check. There was first the International South Sea Trading Company. It was proposed that the colony should form a company, the Government giving a substantial guarantee for a certain rate of interest. The company, a large organisation, should be worked from New Zealand, should be empowered to issue paper money, and should have for one of its chief objects the purchase of German interests in the South Pacific. These interests were chiefly those of of Godefroy and Co., who had established a largo trading concern among the islands, and the Treasurer said he could see immense possibilities if he could only induce the House to pass a bill on the lines indicated. Well, now that was a scheme which seemed an exceedingly attractive one, but it was very fortunately checked by the.House; it was one of those schemes which tho independent members refused to sanction.—(Laughter and applause.) Another scheme was to give £97,000 a year by way of guarantee for 20 years to Meiggs and Co. to construct the Midland railway, and they were to get land worth a million and a-half. But that was stopped. Then there was a proposal to give to local bodies £300,000 a year, guaranteed for 25 years, and they were to be empowered to borrow seven and a-half millions of money. Those who knew what local bodies meant, and with what fatal facility even the most immaculate bodies yielded to the terrible temptation to borrow money, would know that YJ millions would have very soon been borrowed and spent. There would be a little temporary prosperity, but very soon the borrowed money would involve an additional burden on the colony, and people would wonder what in the world they had got for the money. That proposal was defeated. Now he would say this, that whoever helped to defeat such proposals as he had indicated deserved the thanks of every prudent man in the colony. (Applause.) He thought that the present Government were no worse than their predecessors, but he would point out that they brought under the notice of the House immense proposals for i ncreased taxation under the pretence of

P-ROTECTION TO LOCAL IKDUSTItIES. (Hear, hear.) Now, if the tariff of the Government; were gone iDto item by item, it would be found that out of the total amount of taxation proposed under that tariff not one-fifth of the duties received could possibly be considered as tending to the protection of local industries, and the balance was pure taxation. Everybody knew that he was a Freetrader. —(Hear, hear, hisses, aud uproar.) His idea of fostering local industries was by giving bonuses.andnot through -the customs. Fostering local industries out of the general taxation of the country and out of the customs involved a tax which pressed inequitably upon the mass of the population.—(Cries of " No, no !" and Hear, hear.) At anyrate we had Protection alrendy, and Protection which would be enough for almost every industry that could possibly bo established in this country.—(Cries of "No," and applause.) Wo had Protection of some kind for every in-

ti'i-ost established, but in our Ijiriff then: with ii number of anomalies :uul iiicimsistoiicii'S which any sensible man could see should not exist. His iik'.i was tliiit a comuiisMon slioukl be. appointed of sensible busiiu.'ss Protectionist,; or Freetraders, or a nHxtur.:,of both, to gwrarofcilly through the tariff, and" they could make nmiiy desirable adjiistmt'titi ,wit)joufc increasing the aggregate burden or going further in the direction of Protection— ut which, his maintained, wi; had enough. Ho for one, if we were nguiii initiating our financial policy and the incidence of taxation, would never have any taxation at all through the customs, if he emdd have his way. But we had our tariff, and unfortunately, owing to tho necessities of the situation, we could not afford to reduce the customs duties. The reason for the present cry for more Protection was to a large extent the considerable depression we were experiencing. There were a number of men, good and bad, he was sorry to say, out of employment, willing to work but utterly unable to find work. Hut there were more men unemployed in Melbourne than in nil tho towns of New Zealand.—(Cries of "No," and interruption.") He would give his authority.—(A Voici;: "Details, please. Take the population.") On tho 10th August 1880 Sir Hubert Stout (A Voick : " That is a long time ago.") Well it was 11 months ago; bis interrogator seemed to be a stickler for time as well as truth.—(Laughter.) Sir Robert Stout said, " There are are more unomployed in Melbsnrne than in all the towns of New Zealand."—(Cries of " Then he was wrong. Ho doesn't speak tho truth always.") He was quoting from " Hansard."—(" It's not right anyhow.") And moreover, if they examined the Australasian for June they would find that a deputation of unemployed carpenters waited on one of the Victorian Ministry, asking for work. The depression we unfortunately felt was felt in other places which we held up as samples of what prosperity should be, aud as evidence of the kind of prosperity wo might bring about if wo consented to a system of Protection through the tariff.—(Applause and interruption.) Tho Chaihjian thought it would be better to allow Bit ljarron to finish his remarks. Mr Bakhon said he considered tho meeting very mild. He had expected an awful row that evening.—(Laughter.) What he wanted to show was that no Government could do inueli towards removing the depression. No device that the most ingenious political economist could invent would enable the Government to alter natural conditions.—(Cries of " Oh ! " and " That's humbug.") We wero suffering depression because wo had borrowed too much money—(applause.);—because the iuterest for it pressed on us unduly ; because the amount of employment for the masses of tho people was not so great as in the days of prosperity when tho money was being spent, and before the pressure of (taxation had beguu to be felt; becanse the price of our staples—wool, grain, &c.—was lower in the markets of tho world than it had been formerly; and because the yearly quantity of gold produced was not so great.—(Applause.) All this added together confirmed aud intensified the depression from which the colony was suffering. But if they were going to try to cure the depression by imposing taxation; if they meant to say that burdens could be lightened by being increased; that by increasing the cost of leeessaries to every man, woman, and child they would be relieved from taxation, he told them they were making a mistake, and that if a Protective policy were carried out they would probably in two or three years feel tho depression more intensely than now.^-(Applause aud a Voice : " What is your remedy ?") He said RETRENCHMENT was the remedy—(hear)—aud was not only a desirable expedient, but an imperative necessity, aud such retrenchment as would bring our expenditure down to our income. Retrenchment had always been proposed and had always beeu opposed by every Government he had had experience of. The other night only Sir R. Stout told an audience that the Government after hast}' consideration found they could see their way to reductions to tho extent of £100,000. Now he wanted to bring that into contrast with what was done in 1880, when Mr Montgomery wished to reduce the Estimates by £75,000. Sir Robert Stout then eaid the proposal was mere

claptrap, unless the people were prepared to cast on the local bodies a great many more functions. AlO per cent, reduction was made in the salaries of the civil servants. His (Mr Barron's) remedy was to reduce the number of members of the House, then the number of members of the' Legislative Council to half the number of members of the House of Representatives. This was a very difficult thing to do, but he believed it could be done if men were sent up to Wellington who were honestly determined to do it. He would then reduce the number of Ministers if he had his way. Then he would carry out a rigid system of retrenchment, beginning with the Governor and going right down.—(A Voice: "Do away with the Governor altogether.") He was not sure that we could manage to do that, but he believed that we could get men to discharge the offices of a governor faithfully for very much less money than we were paying at present. As he said before, he would begin at the Governor, and if any of his hearers were sufficiently interested in the proceedings of last session they would have noticed that he gave notice of motion embodying his ideas on retrenchment, which were exactly on the lines on which various organisations throughout the colony were being formed. He moved, on going into Supply on May 13—" That, in the opinion of this House, (1) the salary of any future Governor should not exceed £3500, and the allowance of his establishment shonkl be limited to £1000; (2) the salary of the Premier should not exceed £1000, and the salaries of other Cabinet Ministers should not exceed £750; (3) the payment of travelling allowance to Ministers other than actual travelling expenses should be discontinued; (4) house allowances to Ministers and expenditure upon Ministerial residences should be materially reduced; (5) the honorarium payable to members of the House of Representatives should not exceed £150, and the honorarium payable to members of the Legislative Council should not exceed £100." He thought the railway passes of members should not be taken away, as it was necessary that they should travel about to acquaint themselves with the requirements of the county. He had a return showing the expenditure upon maintenance of each department of the Government of this colony from 18G0 up to the present year. The cost of Governors and Ministers salaries, the Legislative aud other departments in 1860-61 was altogether covered by £108,061, and in 1880 by £2,144,654. We had gradually grown into a dangerously large expenditure which we could not possibly keep up. The real issue placed before the electors by this appeal to the country was whether we were to meet our expenditure by increasing the people's burden of taxation, or by effecting retrenchment in our overgrown appliances of government. It was in their hands, and he hoped every constituency in New Zealand would take the same active interest in the election as that constituency was now taking. Anyone who had enjoyed the honour of their confidence for so long would be unreasonable to object to a little opposition, aud he rather liked it. Of course he would httAe preferred the compliment of being returned unopposed, but an active, vigilant criticism and a stirring up of public opinion would never do .any harm, and might do a great deal of good.—(Applause.) He now came to a few matters of a more

FEIiSOV.iL character which he should not if left to his own judgment have been inclined to refer to. There was one letter in a newspaper a few days ago making the charge that he had never taken the trouble to inform the inmates of the Benevolent Asylum that they had a vote, and going on to remark that he had no sympathy with these poor old men, lie. He did not much mind the implication of a want of alertness in trying to secure a few votes, but he thought the other charge was unfair. He had therefore looked up a bundle of old testimonials, of which he had enough to grace a patent medicine vendor—(laughter)—and he came acrosa a letter from the Committee of the Benevolent Institution thanking him for his exertions in procuring a vote of £1600 to provide a suitable home lor these old men, which, said the letter, " but for your kiud assistance would in all probability not have been obtained."—(A Voice :" Was that out of your own pocket, Barrour1" and great laughter, in which the speaker joined.) As to the right of these inmates to vote there could be no doubt, and the qualification, ho should say, extended also to lunatic asylums. But he saw no reason to suppose that these old men would not exercise the privilege as carefully and conscientiously as any other electors, and even if they gave a block vote against him he should never think any the worse of them. Another letter had appeared from Mr H. Warner, whom he wouW not have named— (Mr Wabneb: "Oh, lam not modest")—only he filled an official position in the Trades and Labour League—(Mr Warner : « No. The Cav»rsham Labour Representation Election League."—Laughter) Well, Mr Warner spoke about the distress, mid said, "Men who suffer such privation as this will not have Mr Barron to represent them. They have votes, and mean to use them." He hoped every man in the electorate would that, and would vote for tho mau he considered the best. He had always been a party man, and he always believed in party government aud in a man sticking to his party, but when the alliance was made between Sir Robert Stout and Sir Julius Vogel he became very much confused about party lines, and finally he had to make for his principles whenever he could find them.—(Laughter.) Last year he tried again, with no better success. As for the hours of polling, he fought for that session after session, and finally got tho Government to take the matter up, so that this election instead of 6 o'clock the hour would be extended to 7.—(Applause.) Mr Rutherford said the other evening that the speaker had taken little interest in local affairs, but of course he was talking nonsense then.—(Laughter.) Mr Rutherford did not always talk nonsense. He had considerable natural ability, and the speaker's impression was that he had made a very foolish speech on that occasion so that he might come out and surprise them some other night with a very clever one. As an illustration of the souud common sense he could talk, when he put his mind to it and allowed his conscience fair play, lie remarked ouce, in proposing a vote of thanks to tho member for Caversuam—(laughter)—" I am convinced that Mr Barren is not only a good representative,but I do not hesitate to say he is the best representative Caversham has ever had."— (Laughter, and a Voice : " How long ago ?") That seemed to be a long time ago—in 1S81; but Mr Rutherford had since been one of his closest politicel friends, and he was not going to resciik any opposition from him now. Then Mr William Bragg had charged him with neglecting the local interests of his constituents. The: mayor, who was in the chair, had control of the borough records, and if In: in his official capacity -would allow himself in his private capacity as Mr William Bragg to examine those records, he would come to the conclusion that what he had said was altogether

iimviiiTimli'il by fuels. llr. would liml an ullieial letter from the council to the siienker to this elTuut:—" I urn directed to acknowledge receipt of your telegram anil to convey a hearty vote of thanks for your exertions iv obtaining tin- recreation reserve and curying out thu drainage scheme." That did not look as if he iiml always neglected the interests of the borough. On the 2-ltU August 1535, too, ho received the thanks of the council for the interest he always took in all questions concerning the affairs of the borough. The speaker also alluded to his efforts in getting expunged a clause in the Municipal Corporations Act which would have injuriously nlfcctcd Cnvcrshnm, and also to his exertions towards the passing of the present Patents Act. He had never tried to blow his own trumpet before, but found it was not sue] a diflicult instrument.—(Laughter.) In CONCLUSION, he would say that he had had the hunour of representing them in three Parliaments, aud had enjoyed their confidence during that time. He believed anything he had bfen able to do had been done better by reason of his having a strong lanstituency at his back, and if returned he would be glad to still do his best not only for the district but for the colony. But if they thought they could improve upon their present representative and chose to elect anyone else, he should bear no gru.lj.rn against any man who voted against him, and should always consider that he had earned honour in having served them for so long.—(Applause.) In reply to QUESTIONS, Mr Bariion said, as for the Bible in schools, ho had a great respect for the book, but did not believe in allowing religious or sectarian discussion to he introduced into the schools. He would not reduce the education vote, but any departmental economies that could be effected without interfering with the esseutials of the system he would support. Ho agreed with the Premier's views ou this question. As to his being a Democrat and yet opposed to Protection, he learned iv this colony for the first time that Protection was anything hut a Conservative principle. Some of the greatest Democrats in America, including

Iho late Henry Ward Beeeher, were Free-

traders.—(lnterruption and dissent.) Mr Montgomery had, when the present Government was formed, been offered a portfolio if he would accept a seat iv the Upper House, but said that he was prouder of being a representative of the

leople.

If he were agaiu to bo offered a seai

therp, the speaker thought he was a man who would grace that chamber. Ho believed they would never be able to decrease the number of members of the Legislative Couiral without first increasing it temporarily. If any particular section of the community found there was any particular grievance under which they laboured, if they petitioned Parliament he would sco that it was brought before the Government, and the grievance remedied so fnr as the merits of the petition warranted it. He did not believe iv the Hospital aud Charitable Aid Act, and if it was proposed to repeal that act he would vote for it to-morrow. If a proposal were made to provide subsidies to local bodies out of the consolidated fund, he would support it. The property tax he thought a very bad tax. He believed in a laud and income tax.—(Applause.) After n number of other questions had been put,

Mr Yates moved aud Mr Crais seconded—

"This this meeting expresses satisfaction st the conduct of Mr Barron as the representative for Cavercham j;i the past, and its confidence in him as the most fit and proper person to represent it in the future."—(Applause.)

Mr A. Bjiaoo, who was received with demonstrations of dissent, moved as an amendment—" That Mr Barron bo thanked for his address, and that this meeting refuses to pledge itself."

Mr Warned seconded this.

Ou the amendment being put 40 hands were held up for it, and over twice that number for the motion. Several persons, however, raised the cry of "A tie," and the chairman requested those for the motion to vote again, when owing apparently to a misunderstanding of the question considerably fewer hands wore shown.

The Chairman then said the voting was so close that he must profess himself unable to determine it, and the meeting broke up amidst a great deal of laughter.