Mr F. McGuire at Manaia.

Opunake Times, Volume V, Issue 232, 24 November 1896, Page 2

Mr F. McGuire at Manaia.

Mr McGuire addressed alarge meet-. M ing of the Hawera electors on Wednesday evening at Manaia,- when he made a forcible speech ia,aoßdermration of the Government. He stated that when the West Coast lessees delegates were in Wellington, he was absent from Wellington for five days, and during the time he was absent from the House he was either at his home at Okaiawa or in Hawera. He saw the deputation on the day they arrived, but they were evidently not very anxious to meet him, for they had a petition which should have been sent to him, but they preferred to come to Wellington and did not . want to see him. They could please themselves about that, but he objected to their coming back and circulating statements that would injure him. He denied there was any truth in the statement that Mr Major was to be allowed to stand for Hawera. He pointed out that three years ago although he was opposed to the present administration Mr Major gave hilar his hearty support. When he was first returned he had three planks in his platform—retrenchment, retrenchment, retrenchment. Mr Ballance was pledged to the same principles. The Seddon Government, however, had been a squandering one and he could not conscientiously support them. He stated that he had been agreeable to retire from the contest in order to obtain unity in the Opposition ranks and to get Mr Bryce to contest -the seat, but Mr Bobbins declined. He took Mr Bobbins to task for his change »f front at different places. At Hawera Mr Bobbins was an Independent Oppositionist, at Ngaire swamp he told the co-opera-tive men he was an Independent with leanings to the Government, and at Pihama he was strong for the Opposition. He (Mr McGuire) criticised the borrowing bill of the past session. The Government denied it was a Loan Bill and spent a whole *' afternoon fighting about the. name. They might'as well be honest and call - a spade a spade. The Government, times out of number, had stated that \ theirs was a self-reliant administration capable of providing means for all necessary works out of revenue. The bottom had fallen out of their finance, and they were obliged to Borrow to extricate themselves from the position they had landed the colony in. They now stood self-condemnedT Their surpluses were proved to have been froth—their self-reliance a sham. He contended that Mr Seddon's Bill for Old Age Pensions was only a sham. « Mr Seddon well knew that the finanoe could not be provided to give effect to it, therefore it was only an election dodge. He quoted particulars to show the injustice of the proposal and said - it was only a species of charitable aid. Mr Seddon never intended the Bill to pass. He dealt severely with the maladministration of the land policy. Years ago every inducement was offered to men with capital to come to the country and such men were looked oh as benefactors and very desirable immigrants. Now these men were looked on as social pests. If a man possessed unbounded wealth he was allowed to hold it, unless he was foolish enough , to invest it in land, when he was at once held up as an object of hatred and envy, and only held his land at the pleasure of the Government of the day. Wealth in the shape of land might be taken from him at any time, not at a fair price, but at a price to be fixed by creaturesjof the Government. Becoming a land holder was the only occupation in which a man was forbidden to excel or be thrifty. >x The man who by thrift and industry on land accumulated wealth was debarred from acquiring beyond a certain limit, whereas in other lines there was no limit to the wealth he might acquire.A farmer must only farm- ou a small scale and necessarily only be able to employ a few hands. Whilst the one hand the Governwent never tired of holding up to reproach men who had mortgages on their farms, on the other hand the principles of State mortgages were preached all over the colony by officers of the state. Where. was consistency ? He referred to the seizure of the sinking funds, and said that loans to local bodies were charged at an excessively high rate in order that part of the money so paid might be collared by the Government. The Banking enquiry he described as onesided and a farce. All- the influence of the Government had been used to get ancient history ripped up, but when they came down to their own time and deeds, equal efforts were made to hide all the transactions fcom view. The whole matter was only a fiasco, and the Minister of Lands taking off his coat to fight Mr G. Hutchison was a fitting climax. He showed very clearly how the present Government had unduly increased the cost of administering the government of the colony. They had incrtased the expenditure by £860,000 a year, and the question staring the taxpayers in the face was: Where was the money to come from to meet it ? Customs duties had been increased by £IOO,OOO, but that would not besuffi-' cient to meet the increased charge of £120,000 a year for interest and the £360,000 additional for administration. There was nothing for it that he could see but increased taxation. He felt sure no class would more bitterly repent the administration of the last three years than the working '~ class, whom it was supposed to benefit. He urged the young men of the colony not to lean on the Government for support, but to rely on their own honesty, perseverance, and industry. The co-operative system was a failure. The main principle of it was that the strong mau should help the weak one}\ but it was found it would not work' out in practice. It was against human nature to expect a strong man to work more than his weaker brother beside '■-. him and equally divide the proceeds.