MR ROLLESTON AT RICCARTON.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11399, 17 April 1899, Page 5

MR ROLLESTON AT RICCARTON.

(Pb* United Prbss Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, April 16.

Tho Hon. W. Rolleston, M.H.R. for Riccarton, addressed his constituents last evening, and spoke virtually as the mouthpiece of the Opposition. About 100 were present, and although he had an attentive hearing, the meeting was somewhat lifeless, there being little or no enthusiasm. Mr Rolleston prefaced his remarks by referring to his recent accident, which had kept him Irom ■ moving about the constituency, and took exception to the newspaper paragraphs whicli described him as getting old and decrepit!. He said he felt younger than ten years ago, and announced his intention of contesting the seat at the general election. He was glad to say that the country at the present time was in a most satisfa-ctory condition; in fact, it had never been bettor, and there were fewer unemployed than at any previous time. But, although the Government took the credit, thoy had nothing |o thank them, for, .as the prosperity was entirely due to the energy and enterprise of the people, and he was surprised to see the claptrap talked by the Premier on tho subject iv the long, speeches ho was making all over the colony. The success was in great measure due to the expansion of the frozen meat industry, which now gave an income of one and. a half million pftr anniim, and to the progress of the dairy industry, which now represented an output of £600,000 per annum. Neither of these industries" was made by the Government, but owed their position to the industry of farmers. The fact was the people were moving on ' the Government, and not the , Government moving on the people. The gold industry had progressed through the introduction of English capital. Cheap moftey was also a great factor in the success. Mr Seddon attributed the cheap money to the Advances to Settlers Act, but this was not a fact, as money was cheaper in.. Australia. The Government had merits in moving on the dairy industry, and in following up the land policy enunciated by predecessors. In reference to the opening -of Parliament, there were certain forms which had their roots deep down in the past. Many were good and others were more honoured in the breach than in their observance. The debate on the Address-in-Reply had usefulness, and for not wishing to interfere with these forms he had been described as an old Tory; but did not _:nOw whether he was or not. Speaking of what he described as paralysis of parliamentary government, he said the Opposition,,'-by its.- fighting qualities; had done a great deal of good. It had challenged the proposals of the Government in order to see what good was in them, and it was a sound guarantee of good legislation that the Opposition should take the action it did. He had' always 'been a fighting man, and' felt that the part he had taken had assisted to prevent mischievous legislation. Mr Seddon's idea of his position was not satisfactory. He was always racing about the country in trains and steamers at the expense of the people. He was not as particular as he should be in what he' said, and not careful of facts. He went on the principle that if you give a lie 24 hours' start Ht is pretty hard to catch it, and repeated statements which he knew to be wrong until he actually believed them. For instance', Mr Seddon said the private wealth of the country had increased £250 a head, which he knew was all bosh. He said value .of land had in- , creased by 27 millions, while his own documents showed it to he only 16 millions. Ho claimed to have settled the question of freights with the Tyser Company, but in this figures were against him.. Mr Seddon had spoken of the Opposition as having a breeches-pocket policy; - but the Opposition, when travelling, had to put their hands into their own pockets, not into' other people's. The speaker was so disgusted that he had given up looking into the statements of the Premier, having found them quite unreliable. The Premier claimed that higher wages were the rule under his policy, while he knew that under the' co-operative system wages were as low as Is 6d per day. Mr Seddon had charged the. Government of 1887 with housing their people in sheds which. they would not put cattle and sheep into. Thi) facts were^ that none of the, Administratkm at that time were stockowners. The .Premier was fond of abusing those who were elected by the people, but his utterances could only :be described as twaddle and bosh: It sickened him' to read the Premier's speeches, for the manner in which he distorted- facts was appalling. Mr Seddon ' claimed credit for setting up the Police Commission, while its appointment was due to the ■' persistence of Mr T. E. Taylor. The policy of the Opposition had been to check ■• maladministration and prevent jobs,, arid had been the means of , keeping Ministers off syndicates. They . would have done more, but the Premier's powers and persuasive eloquence had got men elected to the House on personal pledges tp. support him, and having done, so, he made every question one of want of confidence and compelled them to support 'him. Thus was New Zealand being manipulated for party purposes, and the Premier was becoming an autocrat. Mr Hall-Jones bowed to him; Mr Thompson stooped to him; and even Mr Cadman allowed him to take the reins of his department. By his manipulation Hansard . had become a record of what was not said in the House; committees had become the mere tools of the Premier; important bills were kept back till the expiring hours of Parliament—a notable instance being that of the Industrial Arbitration Bill, brought down too .late to be properly digested. Committees were dominated by the Premier, and but of 92 petitions referred to the N to Z Committee he had taken cave that no. recommendations were returned in 64. The returns placed before the House were not worth the paper they were written on. '. A return of £1700 for the Premier's Jubileo expenses was allowed to he laid on the table without being signed by any authorised officer, and when the departmental returns came up it was found that the-salary of one of the Premier's secretaries had been charged to the Post, Office department while he was in England. The civil service was subject to the personal control of Ministers, and Tammanyism was becoming rampant. The AA rrigg ol ) S e was the standing scandal of the day\ but the N to Z Committee managed to'shelve it, and no evidence ever came before the public, the committee being baulked in reporting to Parliament, and the matter was hushed up till next session. Then there was the Allman scandal, which at present he did not know much about beyond the fact that the Premier had accused the Grand Jury in that case of political bias, which was quite unjustified. If Mr Seddon were allowed ho would make short work of .anything that stood in the way of his ambition. He endeavoured to shelve the report'of tho Police Commission by proposing to refer it to the Public Accounts Committee, and prevented a division being taken on the amendment to remove the service from political control. There was room for great improvement in Iho management of the railways, and the Minister "was -wrong in declining to make tbe reductions in the frozen meat freights. There was much to be done in connection with education, -and the Premier had placed the question of technical education in a- manner not creditable to him. The present system of education was good, but further legislation was required to keep it abreast of the times, as - they were not giving the youth of the country an opportunity to further their own interests. He was iiot favourable to removing the duties from the necessaries of life and making up the loss by reducing the £500 exemption under the land tax. The incidence of taxation should fall equally on all concerned. The present land tax proposals in several particulars were a distinct violation of. this principle, and the proposed exemption was one of these, as a person would have to acquire property before he could participate in it. If they were going on with a vigorous public works policy there was little chance of a reduction 'in the customs tariff. The old-age pensions required £250,000 to £300,000 per annum, and the money had to be found out of consolidated revenue to compensate owners of stock destroyed by the Government. The Premier said he' had £230,000 set aside for old-age pensions, but tho statement was. misleading, for the speaker knew of no such sum. He, sympathised with small settlers who had the burden of customs taxes and local government charges on their shoulders, and was not prepared for a change of the fiscal policy tn increase their burdens. Public works should be locally financed by means of loans to local bodies. It was not right that £300,000 should be taken from the ,

customs and used on roads and bridges. Last year the money spent on public works in the country came to os 6d per head, while in the Premier's own district of Westland it was £3 10s. The colony had been steadily borrowing at the rate of a million a year for colonial works, while very little actual work had been done. But he did not see how this could be stopped. A good deal had been lost by the construction of portions of rail-

ways and bridges which were rotten before trains ran over them. The money' should be spent in continuing the trunk lines, not only from Auckland to Wellington. The manner in whicli the money had been frittered away in the last 10 years was not creditable to the Administration. The remedy was to put the money borrowed for set purposes in the hands of such a body as the sinking fund commissioners.

The Main Trunk line to Auckland hod been stopped, the Otago Central crawled along slowly, while that from Christchurch to Blenheim, which he had advocated in 1882, had not yet been begun. It had always been his opinion that the third lino should be made in conjunction with the resumption of . land along the route with a settlement clause, and he presented this idea to the Government, which had often appropriatedibits of his policy. Mr-' M'Kenzie had his heart in the work of land legislation, and had, carried it out to the best of his ability, but there was still room for improyement in his department. Legislation for putting people on the land should be safeguarded against speculation. Two hundred thousand acres o! land had been acauired for close settlement, and the rentals, which gave 5 per cent, on the outlay, were satisfactory. The speaker had advocated a policy of resumption 12 years before Mr M'Kenzie's bill was introduced into Parliament. Such a policy was sounder than the purchase of Nativo lands, and by putting people on tho land they would create a key to national happiness. The initiation bf taking lands should be in the hands of Parliament, and the prices should be fixed in open court. The Cheviot and Aro-

whenua settlements were a credit to Mr M'Kenzie, and Starborough was a good purchase; but other blocks in the same district' ought to be procured. He preferred the perpetual lease with a revision in rents to tho lease in perpetuity. The money accruing from the. sale of land should go into a land purchase fund. Although a good deal was said as to the preference for freehold tenure, it was evident from the quantity of land taken up that the public were not averse to the leasehold principle, but the freehold tenure must not entirely disappear. .It was nonsense to. say the Opposition were going in for the, aggregation of property. All liberal land measures emanated from those now dubbed, Conservatives.' He did not believe Mr' Seddon was a Liberal. . The Legislative Council had been demoralised by the Qo-

vernment cramming it. It was Mr'Seddon's plaything, and he did not mean either to destroy it or to reform it. The speaker thought it required reforming on the lines of the Canadian Upper Chamber, and should exist as a check on hasty legis- 7 lation. In reviewing the legislation of last ' session, he said the Stock and Slaughtering Bills came down too late to be.properly discussed. The Dairy Industry Bill, whicli he thought well . considered, also came', down late. The Immigration Bill of Mr B. G;' Wright was an exceedingly good iriea- , sure. He • did not think the Old-age Pen-.' sion Act satisfactory, and if the principle was accepted the only logical solution was universality. 7 The present act was niggardly and pauperising, and allowed -many: to get a pension who were not.entitled to ■ it. With,regard to labour legislation, the Government should be placed on the same footing as other employers. Concluding, he said the progress of the country was not tp be1 interfered with, by any party, which might come into power. With the present franchise people would not allow a stand-still policy. When the party with which he was associated came into power, it would deal with the interests of the colony with less political bias than the: present Administration. He had faith in the future, but at present popular government was in danger from the autocracy of. one man, and the first thing to do was to turn Mr Seddon out of power. They must' put in men who could rule "but who dare not lie. Ministers must be servants and not the masters- of the people. ....-.■- A vote of thanks and confidence was carried. ■•'■_'.