MESSRS SCOBIE MACKENZIE, SLIGO, AND HAYNES AT THE GARRISON HALL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11598, 5 December 1899, Page 2

MESSRS SCOBIE MACKENZIE, SLIGO, AND HAYNES AT THE GARRISON HALL.

'There must have been 3000 persons in the Garrison Hall last night, when the " Triple Alliance-"- met the electors of Dunediu for the last time before election day. His Worship . the Mayor occupied the chair, and briefiy introduced the ■ candidates. Mr Scebie Mackenzie was received with enthusiastic applause and continued cheering, and had to; pause for a considerable time after rising before the demonstration allowed him to be heard. He began by saying that he had. been not cjuite sure of being able to be present that night; and he had, in fact, re; ceived instructions from a very good friend of his (whom he called into his house as seldom a3 pbssitjjef that on, no, account was he to bo at the Garrison Hall, that night, as liariii might come of it. There was going to be harm of it, but the.harm was not coining to liim, but to his opponents. He was sorry/for having missed speaking at several places, but he was certain that his colleagues—Mr Sligo and Mr Kaynes—had said what he had to say quite as well as himself. They would remember that on a: previous occasi6n he. had given them facts and figures to show that the claim of the'other side to a monopoly of progressive legislation was notlyng elee than an iimoosture. —;(Cheers and counter cheers.) He only mentioned that now for the reason that not one solitary figure that he had given them had-been questioned by any of his opponents. —(Applause.) . Taking Mr Seddon and all the other Ministers—(Here three cheers-for Mr Seddon were called for and responded to by a section.'of the audience in brie corner ,of the hall.) Now, supposing he were to call for three cheers for Mr Scobie Mackenzie what would be the answer?—(Loud and prolonged cheering),-—and if he called for a few more cheers for Mr Sligo and Mr Haynes what would be the result.—(Loud and continued cheers.) They would see therefore that two could play at the same game. Mr Mackenzie went on to refer to Mr Seddon's " eagle, eye",!' .and the allusion was received with uproar in the corner of the hall referred to/ Mr Mackenzie said that he would not have missed this for anything, and was glad that he had decided to come down. When he said that none of his figures had been questioned, he had forgotten Mr Barclay.—:(A Voice: He's not worth remembering.) Well, he was accustomed to treat his opponents with resnect. Now, Mr Barclay had said that he (Mr Mackenzie had been 16 years in Parliament —that was a mistake, for he hail only been 12— : and was not a Minister yet. He could apply the same argument to Mr

Barclay, and point out that he had been in the law for 12 or 16 years, as the case might be, and he was not a judge yet. In travelling round the electorate during his campaign, one thing which had impressed him was his own value to the community.—(Applause.) This, he submitted, was proved by the continuous demand to " keep Seobie out." If he had never done anything, as some of his opponents^ stated, why should there be this anxiety to keep him out at any price. Referring to the methods of the other side, Mr Mackenzie mentioned that there were two Liberal candidates fighting the election in Otago and Southland who had both been supplied from 'Wellington with the same typewritten speech, and they had not even Jir.d

sufficient gumption to mix the stuff up a bit. He then weut on to refer to his attitude in regard to the railway servants. (At this stage a facetious member of the audience ejaculated

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" All right. Scobie, you'll get a 30b at the Waxworks.") Mr Mackenzie replied: "My friend says I shall get a job at tho Waxworks. He means that 1 shall be- speaking there; he will be exhibited there himself." He pointed out that he had been instrumental in the removal oi the barrier that had existed preventing men from rising in the railway serviceGiving his reasons for being an Oppositionist, Mr Mackenzie said everyone ought to be one who took notice of the extent to which, by

the degradation of the public service, safeguards of every kind were demanded—nob by the Opposition,—but by the Liberal party. The speaker's reference to the attitude taken up by John Hutcheson;and John MacGregor was received with loud applause. He went on to refer to' the magnitude of the Premier's travelling allowances, bills of which ho account were-ever rendered; while, at tho-same time, a demand was made for a reduction ia, the wages of the railway servants; an 2 characterised the Premier's electioneering tours as "marauding campaigns against the* people of New Zealand." He concluded by saying thiit, in spiti of all the efforts of his opponents, he would be found at the top o£. tlie poll—(loud and prolonged applause),—or, if not actually in that 'position, it would be only because he had to give place to his friend Mr Sligo.—(Applause.^ , . In:answer to questions, Mr Mackenzie said he was not against the bill for the payment of girls. He knew nothing of the supply ofextra policemen at Maori. Hill; he himself was the bes£ possible policeman at;a public meeting.—-Asked whether he was in favour of dispensing with civil servants over 60 years of age, especially those in.the police, Mr Mackenzie said he was not in r favour of dispensing with ths services of any person who. was fit for his duty.—-He was always in favour of the reduction in duties on any article that was either a luxury or a necessity to a work-ing-man. , ... ■ ■ •''■ Mr Sligo was received with applause, followed by a complicated concatenation of sounds from the " malcontent corner." :" You know," began Mr Sligo, " you Liberals, thafc is the way in which votes are manufactured ,f or ihs Tories! " Who, he said, ever heard of a; Liberal meeting at which- the Conservatives, made a noiso and disturbed it? He wished to.. refer,to some stories that had beeu invented during the present campaign. He had found out that the wharf labourers were going to vote for him, so it was immediately said that; he had a ■■nephew on the wharf who had been doing,all he could against the wharf labourers.* That was* what a Scotchman would- call a "lee." He never had a nephew on they wharf. . Another " lee " was that he had said that 5s a day was enough for wharf labourers. He pointed out.that since he, entered Parliament he had supported most of the labour legislation. Oh.Mr Sligo proceeding to refer to the Premier's electioneering .trips as an. openly avowed electioneering agent, the ."corner'' raised another uproar. " You chaps don't like to have the truth rubbed into you," said Mr Sligo, who then proceeded to draw atten-' tionto the fact that the Premier last session frequently said that poor Westlaud did not".' get,its fair share of public expenditure. ;At thisi point the- "cornermen" provided a variety entertainment, lasting, for, a quarter of an hour or so, during which was heard a choral effort bearing some slight: resemblance to " Sons of the sea." During intermittent lulls in the disturbance. (which was produced • by the "persistent efforts of s6me. 30 or 40----oriW) Mr Sligo read the following comparative, statement, showing the amounts spent last' year in Westland and Otago, having pointed - out that the population of Otago was nearly 12 times greater than that of Westland:— • j ' Wekland. Otago. Public Works \ .. ..£19,041 £12,335' Railways —Construction and '' ■ ■ land ... ... :.. • ':'.." 40,870 . ,27,935.' Hospitals arid charitable aid 5,743 17.23SRoads on goidfields .. '•■;'■..■ 6,505 -5/791. Aids to prospecting for gold 2,129 ,143 Magistrates and' Warden's ', Courts . ..-;..... 3,096 , t,lbi) Development "of thermal : ..:. springs and natural scenery 3,839 -2,052 School inspections .. v;. 800 -, .-.2,275-Old-age pension; .... 14,636 ... '{, 23,7?4 ' Westland had therefore a total expenditure of " £96,C06, as against £133,993 for Otago. For. cacU' : head of population Otago received-in re- " apect to these items 15s'6|d, Westland received £6 9s 10jd per head—-over eight times more in-proportion to the population; The continued noise made it impossible for ■• Mr Sligo's remarks to be heard by the audience, , and,lie concluded by saying: "I want clean government in the place of dirty government. ;—(Applause.) I want straight governme.iit in place of crooked, government.—(Applause.) . I want; unselfish govermnent in place of purely selfish government^—(applause),—rand I want "■ patriotic government in. placeof party governjnunt.- Mi-, .., : :■'',. • ;.' - - ; Mr Haynes was received with applause, and 'the-'interest in a new "hand at the bellows" had a, somewhat quietening: effect on the noisy Mr Haynes expressed. regret at, the disorderly.-conduct at the bottom of .the hall, flb'lsiiid whether .'they were going.to. vote for ioiv-iYgaruEfc. the candidates,- they' sjiould: for * icoriiinon decency's sake, give them a fair lieM-: ■ing.—:(Applause.). There were,' he said, no' great burning, questions .before..the electors. The greatest question -as, " Are the present■ Government to remain in office.?," ("No! [no!.") - He, at any. rate, wanted ,to have a hand in-turning them! put.—(Applause.)' -The Jtim^ had arrived whim a change was de;m:>nded.—(Applause,. and cries.; of dissent.) Tie.believed the Governmeht had passed some gbbd'measures during their term of office, but ih'-the case of their administration it was^du"fercntj and the colony demanded purity in the administration' of/its affairs.—(At ; this, stage another little entertainment- took place at the bottom .of the hall.) Mr Haynesproceeded to ridicule the idea -that . the present Government was ths. only one that ever-passed,Liberal.moasures,. and instanced those introduced by so-called Gonservatives,: such as Mr Rolleslon and Sir John Hall, thaa whom there were no truer Liberals. A reference to scandals produced more ■" corner " business. In conclusion, Mr - Haynes,' reminded the audience of his 11 years' service to the city as moyor and councillor, and asked; them if they considered- he. .had fairly arid

faithfully discharged his. duties, to record thgir votes for him. Whatever might be the result of'the election, he! would have a lively recol--lection- of the campaign,^many featurfe3 of. which he had enjoyed. "..' --In answer to questions, Mr Haynes said lift would support a bill to enable unskilled labour to enjoy the eight-hour , privilege;; ■he was in favour of unskilled labourers, t-rani drivers, and corporation labourers and domestic servants having a weekly half-holiday. '■£ Mr P. Hay moved—" That Messrs Scobie> Mackenzie, Sligo, and Haynes aremost fit and proper men to represent the City in Parliar ment." This was-seconded in half a dozen places. •■.'■•'" ■.- • -■.. '. ''■:■' Mr : Lee moved as an amendment^-" That the .electors have no confidence in the three candidates'named." ; '■ .. . . •/' •The amendment produced a. very thin crop' of hands, and the motion, producing a forest, was declared carried amidst much applause. - The chairman received the customary ebinpliment and the meeting dispersed. • * '%-'

MR MORRISON AT CAVER SHAM. : Mr Morrison addressed the electors at the Caversham Public Ha.ll last evening Tho Mayor of the borough (Mr Thomas Cole) presided, and there was a large attendance, the building- being crowded to the doors. ■ Mr Morrison, in his opening remarks, referred to the various scandals which the Op^ position had", he said, .rafced up against the Government, and which had been thoroughly refuted. He also .warned the electors not .to be led away by the.statements that appeared in the Dunedin papers bearing on the election. The public press was supposed to lead public opinion, but the press was like a barrel organ, 'the music emanating from which de^ pended very much on the man who turned the handle.' After referring to various other; question, the candidate went on to speak of technical education. Befre, dealing with the measures of technical education, he wished to.clear up a point.: As most of them wove aware, there was what was called a "bug" attached to the public accounts for last year by the Auditor-general. The speaker having quoted these " tags," which related to the sum of £1500 and the sum of £910 13s,7d,:'issued in coheetion with the technical schools, and- which the Auditor-general stated were v not provided by the Appropriation Act of 1896i'\ahd " not sanctioned by ; Parliament in the session in which such Imprest Supply was passed,'.went on to say that the Premier cony, plained that- the Audit department had":'unjustifiably' charged him, as Treasurer, with smuggling these moneys through without the knowledge of the House. Mr Morrison : '-.explained the whole of the circumstances "at: tending the matter when it was discussed ;iu the House, and concluded by maintaining that fill through Mr Seddoh was perfectly straight and honest vith the House, explaining the matter fully, as au examination of Hansard would show. A large number b£ people, the speaker went on to say, tried to 'make capital out of the Technical Education Bill, and said it was an insidious attempt to grant aid to denominational schools. He hoped, and hie was sure, he was speaking to "an intelligent audience, who would grasp a point as soon as it was thrown out. He asked them, then, if this bill wad an insidious attempt to undermine the national system of education, would not the Opposition recognise the danger and 'at-. tack it? He would read to them, what leading members of t.i Opposition said about the bill, and then tell .them 'the atitude of the Onnositio'i generally towards the bill .. The Hon.Mr Rollesion said:."l have great pleasure in seconding the motion for the second read; ing of this bill. It is really a great satisfaction to come at i-his stage of the session to a prao-

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tica.l measure. This is a measure which I think is largely called for, and I shall be ' satisfied -'with the work of this session if nothing else is done than placing this or some similar amended measure on the Statute Book:" Mr James Allen said: " I think this is a bill of so much importance that we should not allow it to go to a second reading without some remarks, even though these remarks are only in favour of the bill. And lam only too glad now to recognise the fact that the Government have brought down a bill which, ia some form or other, will be placed on the Statute Book. The Premier has told us that under this bill a sum of £25,000 is to be voted out of the public works, fund—that is to say, out of borrowed money, out of the capital of the colony,—for the erection of buildings am! appliances for this purpose. If every £?5,000 spent was going to do the good work this is going to do, T would like to see a good rt'any more." Mr Buchanan, another Opposition member, supported the bill in these words: " Sir, there is an old saying that time brings about its revenges, and that saying could nob have been more verified than by the bringing down of this measure by the Government. We on this side of the House have in former sessions begged arid prayed the Government to bring the powerful aid of science to; assist the pastoral and agricultural industries.". He further said: " I shall be very pleased to give the Minister all the assistance I can in making improvements when the bill is passing through committee." Sir. Robert Stbut also supported the bill; Mr Carson, of Wariganui, also supported it; Mr Hone Heke supported the bill, and wished it extended to the Native schools; Mr Monk, member for "Waitemata, strongly supported the measure. The Opposition, as a whole, supported the lull, and the second reading was passed on the voices. Could they tell him, then, that any bill dealing with technical education that covertly aimed at denominstionaliam would pass through the House without a division? Anyone who said such things were plainly endeavouring to throw dust in their eyes.—(Loud applause.) The speaker then went on to compare the differences between "The Manual and Technical Elementary Instruction Act, 1895," and Mr Seddon's bill of 1897. He quoted the clauses of both and compared them, and stated that the interpretation of "controlling authority" was exactly alike in each. In Mr Seddon's bill clause 6 provided for an increase of payments as compared with the bill of 1895 of from Is 3d per unit to ls-9d of the average attendance during the term, multiplied by the number of hours of instruction given in each week of the term. These payments were for manual instruction <or practical domestic economy. Technical instruction which was entirely different was to.be paid on the same scale. Manual instruction was defined to be " instruction in the practical use of tools, processes of agriculture, and, modelling in clay, wood, or other material," "Technical- Instruction" was defined as "instruction in the principles of science >and art applicable to industries and in the application of specific branches of science and art to specific industries ;* and includes such instruction in the use of tools and appliances as is-aiecessary to. the full illustration of the application of any branch of science . and art to any specific industry. It also includes instruction in such other branches of science and; art, whether applicable to industries or not, as the Governor-iu-Cqubcil-''from time to time specifies in that behalf." Then, it was provided that continuation classes were to be paid Is on-the same basis as the two previous classes. The Dunedin school was not really' a technical school, but was what was known as a continuation class. Then provision was also made fcr increased payments to the extent of not more than one-half for practical work in atiy special branch of technical instruction. The object of this was the formation of, classes to.: study special subjects in instruction, and the encouragement of experts to teach these special subjects. Provision was also made in the bill to enable the Minister to subsidise contributions to the extent of 10a in the.pound on bequests up to £500, and 20s in the pound for voluntary contributions. A subsidy at the rate of pound for pound could be .given on any contributions from a local authority, and such authority—the Caversham Council, for instance—rhad'power to .vote voluntary.,.contributions for; the purpose of encouraging or increasing the efficiency of classes under this act. The candidate briefly referred to other provisions in the bill, and described it as one of the best bills ever introduced into the House. It- meant that their boys would have an. opportunity of qualifying themselves and, perfecting' their knowledge in their different trades. Knowing, as he did, the advantages they had received from the technical schools in' Dunedin. he would have been wanting in his duty if he had riot: supported a bill whioh,: like this one, was going to equip their "lads and send them forth into the world with a skill which .would enable them to. compete with others who came fronu England, Germany/ or : any other country.^—(Applause.) The old sectarian flag, however,'was-raised; ; and then farewell to coriimon sense.- >The ' boys could live and die clodhoppers, drivelling, away in classes of instruction 50 years behind the times, whenever the sectarian flag was rim up. This bill had passed its second reading, arid Mr Taylor, of Christchurch, became very keen, and smelt out. some suspicioiis features —(laughter),—and he whispered his discovery to one who was a grand master of an Qrarigc'lodge, with the result that a vigorous sconeival' was set un. Eventually the bil) was hung Up. Afterwards he (Mr-Morrison) went round among those who had raised this cry in order to try and effect a compromise. 'He managed to get up a deputation to wait \ipoTi tho Prrfmier, and the Premier said if they thought there was anything in that particular clause that was going to introduce denominationalism, he would leave the whole thing in the hands of the education boards— let them be the controlling authority, and whatever they recommended would be complied v/itiv This they would not agree to, and he (the speaker) would let them hear what they said. He then proceeded to quote from Hansard of June 30, 1899, page 163, in which ho (the speaker) spoke as follows: — "Mr Seddon was perfectly willing - and anxious to put this vote on the Supplementary Estimates if those gentlemen would have come to a reasonable compromise on the question. What did the Premier offer in connection with the vote?'He said to the deputation, of which I was a member, I will leave it entirely to the education boards themselves." This was the amendment that the Premier proposed to introduce, into the Technical Schools Bill of . 1£96: —'' (1) If within the period of two months after receiving the application (for license) the board does riot, by resolution communicated to the 'Minister, object to the license, the Minister may grant the same; (2) if the board, by resolution, declines to concur in the grant of the license, it shall within the aforesaid period of two months intimate to the Minister its dissent, and in such case the Minister shall riot grant the license, but shall lay the application, the board's objection, and al) correspondence relating thereto before Parliament yithin 10 days after receiving such intimation, if Parliament is sitting, or, if not, then within 10 days after the commencement of the next ensuing session thereof." He (Mr Morrison) was prepared to say that there was no better friend to the primary education system than Mr Seddon,! and there was not a better friend to the present'system in New Zealand fronting nn audience than their humble servant. —(Applause.) The speaker then proceeded to refer to the beneficent measures passed by the Government. . Among- a number of questions asked was, " Is it correct that you have stated that as long as you had the Roman Catholic vote behind you, that you did not care a for the Protestants?" ' '" _ Mr Morrison said the question was an amusing one. Did they not think the asking of it \v;as putting a man in a foolish position? Did they suppose that on the eve of an election he would say such a foolish thing as that? Neither to lady nor gentleman, boy nor girl, had he ever said that so long as he had the Roman Catholic vote alongside of him, he did not care a for the Protestants. Mr Peddington moved, and Mr Taverner seconded, that a vote of thanks be accorded to Mr Morrison for his able address, and that the meeting consider him a fit and proper person to represent them in Parliament. ■ Three cheers were called for and given for Mr -Warren amid some hooting, and the motion, on being put, was carried with a few dissentients. - ■ ' ■ Thrqe cheers were then given for Mr Morrison, and the meeting closed.