CO-OPERATIVE WORKS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 9904, 24 November 1893, Page 5 (Supplement)

CO-OPERATIVE WORKS.

I going to make New Zealand prosperous. It was open to the most serious objection — the objection that could be urged against political influence. Then ife was open to the objection of mismanagement and to all the objections that the present banks were open to, but in a much more intensified form. He did not think that in New Zealand any of the constituencies were ripe to accept the doctrine that a State bank was going to gee us out of all our difficulties. Then we were going to have THS HAIIAVAYS placed under Government control again. Well there had been a good deal said about railways' and a good deal Haid about Railway Estimates' The country had been told that the House could learn nothing about the railways. VVeIJ nil he could say was that, as regarded Railway Estimates, the House had more information about th«m than they had about any others olass of Eutiaiates. N<>w s what did the Railway BUI' provide ? Ib did not provide that a, Mioister was to go on the Board of Com-* missiouers and jast sit there and report; to the Housd what the proceedings were ; but * it provided that a Minister was to go on to the board; that the board were to be under his finger and thumb ; that he was to have the right of veto; that the commissioners were to be nonentities; and if anything happened wrong he could blame them, and if everything went right he could t*ke the credit. To put commissioners: : into a position like that would be to make them, tools of the Ministry, and he did not think the present commissioners would submit to it fop one moment. They might have made mistakes,.; but it might be said that during their term of , office the railways had been exceedingly wel? " managed. The management did not give ! satisfaction before they took them over, but h& ii believed it had given a great deal more satis- : faction sinca they had done so.—(Applatsae). jj Although it might be necessary that the ecta- I missioners should be in little closer touch wrSh- I the Minister, rather than put him on the board f and give him the power of veto it would be- i better to go back to the old stato of things \ bafore the commissioners were appointed. !} ■ THE POLICY OP THE OPPOSITION. S Nowit had pften been said that an Opposition I sondidate ia speaking to his constituents ti or in speaking publicly was always pre- j pared to run down the Government— ' was always prepared to pick holes in i their policy, but he had never got a policy '■ to give forth to the public. As a matter of j fact au Opposition man never had p. policy, : sxcept the policy of picking holes. That was ! bis duty. He had got to do it; but it could j it least be said that if the Opposition had a j policy at all, it was one of this kind : that they did not want to commence a process of levelling down, but a process of. levelling up. He (1 believed that the present Ministerial policy | was not intended to level up, but to level jj 3own. He would like to say, and he spoke '.! Ceom an.. Opposition point of view, that P iie desired to sea every man raised to ; i higher standard, but this could only be {' ione by affording educational advantages i io everybody. Let everybody take advantage j af a good, 6ound education. He did not know |i af any other way by which tUe levelling up pro- ii 3sss could take placo. Of course he did not S'aelieve iir a stereotyped education. Some |i people cried out for one set of books, to be '; srinted in the colony and used in all the schools. |i He did not believe they could find any one jj. 3ook suitable for every school, and should be j!7ery sorry to see .the same books introduced |i nto all the schools. The fault now found with I;" <he education system was that it was too fistereotyped, that thera was not sufficient l! liyeraifcy of instruction, but that we were j: ringing up men like machines, all of one j: pattern. To get rid of that, they must permit ; liversity, so aa to bring out the latent talents j )f the young, to develop that which was best ! n each one in order that we might succeed in ( ihe race to be ruu with other countries.— ■: Applause.) That was one thing of importance. ! socialism. j! Chen they must give full play to individual 'g ixertiocs. The talk was that Socialism would s :ome upon us. Well, he did not know what i vas the proper definition of Socialism, but if it ■ ueant that the individual was to be stamped out, Ji hat everything that makes the man and makes ]! ihe individual was to be taken out of him and cast jj iway, then it must be evil. We must have B udividuality encouraged, but not encouraged « ;othat one man should have opportunities that j vere more than another's. There must, he said, i- ) 3 equal opportunities for all; but they must ' lot stamp out exertion, intelligence, and in- if luafcey. If a man chose to bs industrious ho ji nusfc have the rewards of industry; if he wished [! o be lazy ha must take tho consequences of i dleness.—(Applause.) No, he did not believe f here was any revolutionary process that would jj' urn us from being hard-worked human beings \ v a moment aud put us into a sort of Garden i if Eden, where all we should have to do would f >c to ecjoy ourselves without doing any work i it all. There was no such thing possible now, md therenever would be. Wa should have to go through what seemed to be the ordinary rule of it'e—an evolutionary process. They heard a ■ ;reat deal about progress, and one could not tppreciate how much change could be made lader a gradual system of. progression unless lv took distinct periods. He could perhaps nake his meaning more clear by an illustration, .t was said that men, and women too, had in the ong process of the ages been evolved from nonkeys. That might; be true or not; bat there wag at any rate a good deal of truth in the theory of evolution. Now, if fe the sourse of ages monkeys had ■de'feloped uto such an intelligent audience as he law before him, what oatglit not take ■ )lacs iv the political -world under the same jradual process of evolution? Why, it might :ouvert even our Seddons iuto noble neu—in fact they might have the whole .ot of the Ministry made types of a very nuch higher character than, in his opinion, ;hey were at the present time. Very well, this ;radual process of change would go on as the ?ears go by, but the change coald not be made in leaps and bounds, and as would be disastrous tor the country if it were attempted. We could lot stand still; nobody saM that was possible. VVo must go either one way or the other—either forward or backward. Well, let us go forward, but forward at a reasonable rate—not at a pace that would perhaps make us leap into some shasm which we should not be able to get out sf. Lsfc us progress ia a reasonable way. PAUTI' GOVERNMENT. They might ask him perhaps about the parliamentary system of which bo much was now 3aid. It was all very well to talk about gradual progression, but it; might bo said they found things getting worse instead of better. They found a cry against party government. Well, what was that cry ? Those who were crying Dut against party government now, only a short time ago wera speaking most strongly in favour of it. What had caused the outcry ? It had been caused for this reason not because there was any initial fault with1 party government—for party government was built upon the evolutionary plan he had been speaking of—but because party government had been not ÜBed but abused. Had party government been used aright there would not be the cry against it there was now; but when the Premier in power chose to call upon his followers upon tho most trivial things to follow him, and applied the party whip, he was abusing the power placed, in his hands. The Premier had no ' right to call upon his followers as a party to support him except upoa large questions that had been developed throughout the country and talked about on the public platforms. When upon some paltry thing like the privileges of the House or the appointment of officers of tho House the Government whip was sent round, and all the Government party had to come tinder the lash, it made those under the lash.disgusted as many ot them were. Ib was not the Opposition that was crying out so much against party government aa members of the Government party themselves, and that was the reason.

CONCLUSION.

If a change was to come it must come from within—from an alteration in the kind of man. Unless they could alter the man—unless they could alter the typo of representative—they would have party government abused; any other kind of government they liked would also be abused. They might replace party government by any system they chose, but if the men were not what they ought to be, he did not care what the system might be, they would find the same abuse. Replace party government by a select committee of the House, and they j would still have what was taking place now — political intrigue and improper influences. Until they could pub into tho House j men who were of so high "an intellectual and of so high a moral character that they could resist all intrigues and look down upon them with disdain, they would have no improvement of government. He would say, finally, that if they were to improve, if they were to progress, they must begin with themselves. The constituencies must see that they selected men honourable, upright, and just—men who could be trusted, and whose word could be*, trusted without the shadow of a doubt. If that should be dove, ha had uo hesitation in saying that a vast improvement would tuke place under our present system of party government. Ho would once again thank tho Bruce constituency for the honour they had done him in sending him back to the House. He hoped to be able to do his duty, and he certainly would endeavour to do it to the best of his ability. It was a very high honour to ba returned without opposition, and he felt it very much indeed. He desired to thank everyone of them and all friends throughout the constituency for having placed him in that high and honourable position; and ho could assure them that so far as his ability and time wore concerned he should do what seemed to him to be his duty iv the position in which they had placed him.—(Applause). After Mr Allen had replied to a few questions, Mr Jambs Elder Bbown said, as one of the only two who had the pleasure of voting for Mr Allen, he would move that the meeting give him a vote of thanks and confidence. Mr Roßisjtr Murray seconded the motion. He congratulated their member on being re- | turned m the prevent election without opposij tiou, although ho would have preferred himself to sse a little opposition.—(Laughter.) The motion, on being put to the meeting, was declared to bs carried unanimously. Mr Allen, in returning thanks for the vote, said he did not know that he should have asked ; for it, for on the previous day the constituency

was practically unanimous about; the matlei However, one was always glad to kno' thut he possessed the confidence of hi constituents, avd h" thanked them ver heartily for turning out -when there was no es citenient over a contest. He was glad to se the ladies turn out so well, and ha hoped h might have them many times to speak to anc their support at many eieoftions. He was, a; any rate, going to do his best to earn ifc -* (Applause.)