POLITICAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 1704, 19 July 1884, Page 8

POLITICAL.

Mr W. J. M. Larnach at South Dunedin.

Mr Larnach, one of the candidates 'for the representation' of Peninsula district iiji the General Assembly, addressed a large meeting of the electors on Friday evening in Naumann's Hall, South Dunedin. His Woiship the Mayor was elected to the ohair.

Mr Larnach said he had so recently addressed the electors that he would not again state his political views at great length. He had no idea on that occasion that he would bo called upon to address them so soon again. When he was first elected, 18 months ago, he told them that ho would go up to Wellington not pledged to any party, and he had carried out that promise.- He had given the Atkinson Government a qualified support, not because he was pleased with what they were doing or had done, but because there was such a want of cohesion among what was termed the Opposition that he thought he was serving tha interests of the electors best by not disturbing the then Administration, — (Applause.) When he got to Wellington recently a no-confidence motion had been passed, and tho Government wore hors de combat. Even then he was in hopes that a dissolution would not be necessary, ihat the Parliament might bs allowed to v/ear out, nnd that tho Government might even continue in power until the business of the session was over. He would have preferred that, because it woulu uave saved the country great expense, However, tha Opposition differed in that respect, and ha was now before the electors to ask for a renewal of their confidence. If returned, the first point in his programme would be, not the rehabilitation of the present Government, but to U3O his influence and vote to depose them from power, and to support a strong Administration to be formed from the new Parliament, possessing the confidence of the people, and pledged to the following policy :— l. Such a thorough practical financial reform as would bring the State expenditure within its revenue, and better equalise the ! incidonce of taxation. 2. To lessen the present ' .great extravagance and cost in tho matter of education, and place its management in the hands of tho people.— (Hear, hear, and "Oh! ") 3. To strengthen and increase tho powers of local governing bodies, and localise all revenue derived from local taxation, 4. Energetic development of the resources of the Colony, and " assisting the growijj of industries. 5. The promotion of settlement upon the lands of the .Colony, unfettered by leasing ajj'd residential fads. G, ■Non-political management $f the railways. i\ The -management of national insurance by hoards elected by its members throughout "theCcd*u£|/> 8. Judicious construction •of *aii- \ roadß fchj<j|<g#jbout the Colony where required, and after caro^ consideration of their .future value, so that ip us v&^o could they burden the country to a greater ex't^ than 2 per cent. S. fo support aecentralis%jfrott £i? much as posettjia^ so that the people Jnigfctf have more gova£»m# power in their own bawds i in future. Thota jvas plenty of room fop bring- \ ■jng the State ex:p«fcw£fcure within its revenue 1 if many of the offices #* the Civil Service wera amalgamated.' Than & vjary large saving could Ue effected in the Armed t3ooa£abulary. Directly tho State found it could not' keep jta expenditure .within its revenue, certain work; that the .State ,tiad been doing ought to be' lopped off and given to tiie people to do. The: electors ought never r to .allow the State, in a 1 country like this, to resor'6 to direct fixation to keep up its revenue. Directly the ,State found it could not keep up its revenue from, customs and stamp duties, but had to resort to direct taxation, the people should Hay; "T-Jl9 State

is doing work that we, the people, ought to do for ourselves." That brought him to fV >n important question of the cost of educat OH Ho maintained that evon leaving tho system ..a it was, if it wore relegated to tho people thoy would carry it on for nearly one-half its pro ,sent cost. When tho people found they had to pay taxes to keep up a certain expenditure, and were brought face to face with that expenditure, depend upon it the people would economise better than the State. At the same time they must not suppose [that ho was illiberal with regard to education, or would impose greater burdens on tho peoplo. He would support the State in maintaining and compelling education up to the three it's. — (Applause.) But he would place the system in the hands ot local bodies, so that the people could control and manago it. Then they would not havo the cry, " Let tho Bible be road in schools." The peoplo would decide that for themaelvos. And why should not the Bible be read in schools?— (Appluuso.) Poll the country all through, and he undertook to say five sixths of tho parents would cay they wished the Bible to be read in schooln. They would understand irotn that that he was in favour of the Bible being read in schools. — (Cheers). A Voice : Which Bible do you want read ?

Mr LaUNACH: According to taste — according to the necessities of tho case. — (A VoiCK : "The Koran?") Why should not; the people have tho control of tho education of their children ? Whatever taxation was raised for the support of education ought to be controlled and spent by the people. — (Hear, hear.) But Ihe would always go this far : that the State j should soe that tho children wero taught at, i any rate up to tho three It's ; and he would say' j that where a youth showed extraordinary talents and wa^ fond of learning, let tiie State feed him and give him encouragement by means of pcholarships, or anything else of that kind. With regard to local government and localising of revenue derived from direct taxation, where direct taxation was necessary it should be raised by local bodies for local purposes, and the State should be relieved from those bur- ! dens that required taxation. No one would then object to a laud tax, or any direct tax, He looked upon tho proparty tax as unjust and unfair. It was a I tax on industry ; it was a class tax ; it was a tax on manufactures, machinery, and improvements. Therefore it was a tax unworthy of thia country, and that could be well done without. Far too little had been dona towards developing the resources of this country.' Take for instance their excellent coal-measures. As Mr Macandrew had said, they were sufficient to pay the national debt of this Colony. Yet £150,000 or £200,000 per annum was sent out of the Colony every year simply because the West Coast harbours were not improved so as to admit vessels of 1500 or 2000 tons burthen. A few thousand pounds would do that, but the Government had spent comparatively nothing in assisting private enterprise in that direction. Then what had been done in assisting native industries ? A great deal had been said about Freetrade and Protection, but those who held strong opinions on Freetrado many years ago were fast changing their views to what was now termed, fair-trade. • If this country was Burrounded by and traded with countries like America and Victoria, which wore protective, and these countries were pouring in— in spite of anything we could do— things that we could manufacture ourselves, the necessities of fair trade required that we should protect ourselves.—(Hear, hear.) To that extent be was a Protectionist, and to the other extent he was a Freetrader. Regarding the settlement of people on tholaud, he thought far too many "fads" had pertained to the' late Administration in referenco to th at question. He thought those perpetual leaseholds and those deferred payments, hemmed round with such absurdly strict residential I clauses, did more harm than good to settlement. He thought a vast saving could bo made in the management of the railways it they wero placed under tho control of a non-political board composed of good business men. In Victoria tho experiment in that direction had |so lar worked remarkably well. He was also i in favour of a great change in the management I of tho Government Innurance Department. | L\to disclosures had brought the country and j everyone connected with the management of that Department into disgrace. The sooner that Department was placed under tho management of boards in different parts of tho Colony, elected by thoso who hud insured in the Government Office, the better it would be for the country. As to | further borrowing, he was in favour of moderate borrowing, sufficient to finish lines of railway now unfinished, and to undertake, after full consideration, lines which were shown to be useful feeders to the main lines, and nsetut in opening up the land. He would support decentralisation bo as to cut off from the Central Government such powers as could be judiciously given to tho people. — (Cheers.) I They had been a long-suffering people, and had allowed power after power to be taken away from this part of the country and car ied up to Wellington. Tbo last act of that kind was the removal of Mr Blair and the Public Works staff, and he thought that would prove to be the last straw which broke the camel's back. j In the matter of immigration he was in favour only of bringing that class of immigrants to the Colony who had & certain amount of capital. He was not in favour, of bringing artisans or clerks ; but there were certain classes of labourers and small capitalists whose assisted immigration he was in favour of, because he thought it would help the prosperity of the country. It had not been his intention to refer to either of his opponents, but he sawthat one of them — Mr Hodge — had taken some trouble in making frequent use of his" (Mr Larnach's) name. Mr Hodge called himself a native of New Zealand. — (Applause.) Now he was very fond of the Natives of Now Zealand, but this was a white aboriginal. Thiß gentleman was a native of the North Island, and he thought the electors of this part of the Colony had had enough of ,the North Island. — (Applause.) After referring at some length to Mr Hodge's address, Mr Larnach went en to say that he iwould give his opinion about the Trades and Labour Council. That Council, he believed, consisted of three or four men. He had too much respect for the real bone and sinew of New Zealand to think they would link themQeJtfeß with such a twopenny-halfpenny body as "tiie tye&Bß and Labour Council.— (Laughter, loud 'appjause, and uproar.) He would like to have Eis J cay about this Council, \ because they had the pre&jftpftojs to dictate to him as an elector. He wa?)' je^ectsr of this district, which • was more '#$», Mr Hodge was. They had the lmparti-1 fteiwe to come to tho intelligent electors! of the iJea^ißula and tell them whom they were to Vote for. Heii^d^oomuch respect for the 'electors to think thoy w&uW be parties to such 1 twaddle.— (Applause.) Ho defied the Trades 'and Labour Council, who we*e Bimply fchiep or ,&ur men who set themselves up as the!/ Trades and Labour Council of Otago simply on tiia gullibility of their hard-work- 1 itfg fellow men, ,He was independent of them,' "kfid his friends 'here had fyao much wisdom to ; regard any Buch'nlanifeßto.— (Applause. 1 ) The' oooner the" Trades and Council dis-' *Bolved the better.— (Loud" laughter".) ' They' jvsre only making honest dignified labour 1 look

ridiculous in the eyes of an intelligent community. He wa,& very glad ho had an opportunity of giving his opinion of the Trades and Labour Council ; and now they could go and vote against him. He would rather be out of the House than go in upon their paltry ■ icket. In, conclusion, ho said he felt aure he still had the confidence of the electors.—(Applause.) He had tried to elaborate the principal questions o£ importance at the present time, and if he had omitted anything .he honed they would thoroughly catechise- him. He hoped, however, they would do so good-humouredly. He remembered that they got a little too warm last election.— (." Ah ! ah!") He had been told that some words he had used in the heat of defeate had offended the feelings of certain members of the community. Now ho could only say that he would be the last man in New Zealand to wilfully offend the feelings of anyone ; but if ho had done so it was a lapsus lirtgum-Q. slip of the tongue, and not done with the view of offending any of them ; and he was sure he would not wish to offend them. —(Applause.) j In answer to questions, Mr Larnaoh Baid he wrote hia own addresses. The paper he held in hia hand contained his notes, and was not supplied to him by a Dunedin barrister. He went to Wellington before the no- confidence motion was canied. He was not in favour of churches, schools, and post-offices being taxed half rates by local bodies. Ha considered the system of electing school committees wanted remodelling. Mr Downie : Are you aware that Mr Hodge is a pupil of Mr Stout, who is bringing him up as a political agitator ?— (Hissing.) Mr Larnaoe said he was not. Mr Larnach said further that he would try to get the land at the back of the Immigration Barracks as a site for a cemetery for the Flat boroughs. He was not prepared to give an opinion hurriedly as to the expediency of the Government issuing notes in the same way as banks. He would be inclined to support a bill to enable the Government to take over the Waimea and other district railways. Ho had no objection to the Eight-hours Bill, but -he did not see the utility of it. It waß not right for the Government to provide houses for schoolmasters while men working on the railways had to live in tents. He would be inclined to vote for the honoI rariura again, "if the law allows it and the I Court awards it." He was &■ supporter of the I canal scheme, and wished there were fewer difficulties in the way of carrying it out. ' He believed if Lesseps came here he would say it was the most practicable scheme which could j be adopted for securing a good harbour for Dunedin. Mr Wobthington : Do you not think it a desirablo thing that men of ability and character should be encoiiragod to enter Parliamentary life, ao that politicians might be secured for the future? Mr Labnaoh: Well, it is a question of degree. I should not like to see the Parliament of _ New Zealand fillod with young men, and it made a training-school. Ido not think it would do good. I would far rather, see the friends of young men subscribing to send them round the world to educate them for it. Mr Worthington : I would like to know how aro we in the future to raise our politicians ? Mr Larnaoh : Whom do you call young men ? A man is a young man when he is 40 if he has taken care of himself. He is sometimes ! young at 50. Now I consider lam a young man.— (Laughter.) Mr Larnach continued that he was in favour of cheapening- the' present system of education so long as its efficiency was\unimpaired. They might do with fewer teachers, and the children should not ba sent to school so young as they were at present. He did not repeatedly try to buy a '* cockatoo " out at Croydon for the purpose of carrying out the Waimea railway scheme. He was not in the country when the line was made. He was opposed to the present Licen- ■ sing Act, preferring the old system. He would rather see denominational- education in vogue than the present system carried out with the present extravagance— (dissent)— than the present system with the Biblo-reading ' ignored. If the Bible was ignored much longer they were bound to get denominational education. He did not aae why totalisators should not bo used for the amusement of the j people. Acts of Parliament for the purpose of trying to make people moral were all nonsense. He did not believe in woman suffrage, Aij Elector : Did you not say at the last election that the last thing you would do would be to touch the present educational system ? ! Mr Larnaoh : If I did I am quite at liberty to change my mind in six months or a year. If I see the country spending more money than we can afford, I have a perfect right to change my mind.

An Elector: Supposing we introduce denominational education, what are we to do with the school buildings 1 ? Are we to divide" them among the different sects ? Mr Larnaoh : It is time to cry "wolf" when it comes. The people would get the benefit of the buildings on an equitable basis. It would be no use for the State to keep the buildings. Of course they would be distributed on a fair basis.

Mr Houston: Did you not at your first meeting here say you were in favour of the property tax and object to the £500 exemption, agreeing, however,' to the exemption afterwards ? Mr Larnaoh :• No ; I was against it. • An .Elector : Will you follow Sir George Grey if he forms a Government ? Mr Larnaoh : At present my inclinations are not much that way ; but I would not like to bind myself that I would not do anything of the kind, because Sir George Grey might posl sibly form Buch an Administration that I might see it was for the benefit of the country. , If he formed an Administration and I was prepared to follow him, I pledge myself I would not take office with him. • Mr Carey : Did you not give a subsidy of £o0 for the first road that was formed here ?— Mr Labnaoh : I am inclined to think I gave £100.-(Applau Be.)8 c.) - - Mr Downie: Did' you not give a piece of land for the first public bcKool?— Mr Larnaoh : I did.— (Applause.) An Elector : "Will you do your beat to have the 10-acra endowment block reclaimed ?— Mr Larnaoh: I will. I- have used my best endeavours m the past in that direction, and tf the Government had carried out their pro«iisea'iha would have been at that work now." $ (uavaty much annoyed at the Government disappointing, jap & tfcat matter. r ,4,' Smith proposed, and P* "Qwosp seconded— *» That this meeting expresses iijs approbation of Mr Larnach's past services to the district, and considers him the most fit an'di Proper person to represent this electorate in the Honseof Assembly." Mr Scott propound and Mr M'Mubray seconded,' 1 as .an" •• amendment— " That this meeting has no confidence in Mr Larnach, -owing td his- having broken- faith with i;he ■ electors on_ the education .question"." ; }. ;: - . T . he . motiojj was parried by an overwhelming ■ ■ • ,°

Mr Fulton at Mosgieli

Mr James Fulton, ex-M.H.R., one of the candidates for the representation of the Taieri district, addressed a large meeting of the electors of Mosgiel at the Garrison Hall there on Friday evening. Mr R. Dickie was^ called to the chair, and briefly introduced the candidate.

Mr Fulton, who was received with applause, said ho was very glad indeed to see bo good an attendance. It was a good sign to see electors taking so keen an interest in politics as they were doing at the present time ' throughout New Zealand; for, aB the people were, bo would the representatives be, and as the representatives were, bo would be the Government, That they exhibited bo .watchful and keen an interest as they evidently did in the Taieri was a sign that they intended to see that their representative conducted himself fairly and straightforwardly, and -properly represented the wishes o^ his constituents: The firßt subject he would deal with was tho depression, for that was really at the bottom of the present position of affairs in the political world. Thia depression was not confined to New Zealand, but there seemed to be a wave of depression all over the world. ' Wool and grain were, somewhat strange to say, both . at low prices at the same time. The loss on wool and grain by bad prices had been ' estimated at about half a million, and what, affected the producers was bound to affect all classes of the Colony. Then another cause of the depression was t^fe diminished expenditure of public money ; and the interest due to the Home creditor had also greatly increased, which intensified it. But he did not think a too glootoy view need be taken. The people in the Taieri had seen times of greater depression. — ("No.") Well, at any rate the oldest settlers could remember that during the first few ye"ars of the settlement there were actually 1 no prospects ; grain could be grown only to be' eaten, for there was no market for it, and it was the same with wool. Yet they managed to struggle through. And five or six years ago they passed through a I period of even greater depression than now. — ("No.") Well, he thought so; but at any rate he hoped to see all classes pluck up I courage, and not sit down and whine. — (ApI plause;) He thought they would Boon recover from this depression. He would contrast the t state of affairs now with that existing when he first went into' Parliament five years ago. I There was then a deficiency in the Consolidated ! Revenue of about' one million sterling. The 5 ; per cent, loan stood at 96 in the Home market, and the 4 per cent, at Under 80.;'. The preeent I Government had been accused of making too much of the unfortunate condition the country had then drifted into. But this truth-tell-ing had had its good ~ results, and bad gradually restored confidence in the Home money-market; and he quoted the price at which the last loan bad been floated to prove this. He did not blame any particular Government, but he stated the position of things as they then were. Still, at the present time there wa's^a deficiencyof about £152,000, but remembering' the falling-off in customs, railways, and land fund receipts, the surprise was that the deficiency was not greater than it was. Therefore he held that, in spite of everything, the position of affairs was actually better than when he was first sent by them into the Houbf, He would like to contrast, also, the position <i Native affairs now and then.- In 1879 a Native war was actually imminent: on the West Coaßt, and one resident there had told him he waß in dread every day that a shofc would be fired and the whole country thrown into bloodshed. People were apt to forget that that waß only five years ago.— (Applause.) Native murderero were then protected, the Waimate Plains could not be utilised, and the King country was closed. What did they find now ? The Armed Constabulary had been reduged by one-half, and though Mr Montl gomery and others said it could be done with* out entirely, he, living in peace in Otago, could not express an opinion to that effect, but must leave the Native Minister to be the beßt judge. — (Applause.) The state of things onfche West Coast was peaceful;* Tawhiao and Wahanui had come in; and as for the King country, a line of railway waß actually being surveyed through it.— (Applause.) He thought the country Bhould be proud of thia record being placed before them by Mr John Bryce, and his name would go down to posterity with honour.— (Applause.) Then were they no ! better politically during the last five years?— (" No.") Well, he thought so. There had been important amendments in the Representation Act effected,' by which the constituencies were equalised ; the franchise bad been extended, and no less than 400 names additional had been placed on the Taieri roll alone, and no less than 3000 people had been settled on the land during the last three years. —(Applause.) Were theße things nothing? And now alao we' had a liberal Licensing Aot* and the people themselves now settled how many public-houses they Bbould have in their midst. And yet with regard to this subject of local option, which -the present Government had carried into effect, some gentlemen thought it was dangerous ; and though they clamoured for local government, they urged that we should Bend. to Wellington to have our licensing 1 committees elected there. They wished nomE native benches.— (Hear, hear.) He did not agree with this, for he thought it only right the publio , Bhould have the voice they had in this matter. He made these contrasts without blamiDir any Government ; but he thought it well to show what was the position as he stood before them now and when he first come forward for their suffrages. Referring to the cause of the dissolution, he considered the depression, as he had said, had a great deal to do witkJhe defeat of the Government. Somebody mfljfce blamed, and ■ let us therefore blame The Government, was the general cry. He wae^ sometimes asked why he blamed the Government occasionally and yet gave them a general ' support. Well, when a member got to Weilington he had to choose the party he would support ; but it wouldbe a bad day for the conBtituencied when, a member went up to Wellington to swallow every measure of his party, good or bad. ! ' He would'never be agreeable to give this kind of support to any Government.— (Applause.) But what were the direct causes of the defeat of the Government ? Firet he would refer to the raising' of the railway rates. He thought a mistake had- been made in originally lowering the rates, and he had told the Government they should -have reitnpoaed them before the wool season 'came on.' But at any rate the Government had had the courage to do it, knowing it would lose them very considerable Bupp'ort.— (Applause.) Another cause was the proposed alteration of the law with regard to Native lands. Because some members or their constituents, were afraid their fdqsiing with the Native lands was to be put a ,etop tjo, t&eypigrflßjd with the Canterbury memt bers— he-, was going, td, »»# that Jbhe G o vernment ,were too pifre for, them— Tout atatiy r^ta - tnafc they could nb,t support a Gfoverninent which was going to do this. '.'Sb'ithatf in Ihis mitter, too, the Government were losing their' Beats because -th.ey, Ijad,. been honest andhad'dared to do right.— (Applause.) * And another cause 'was that they had been too long in office, and *p«yhftps .they would-be better for a Kttle spell ■on-the Opposition benches, One of hja'fyronglaft

reasons for supporting the Government was i their wonderfully successful administration of i Native affairs J and he would be sorry to Bee this in the hands of any- other man than Mr Bry cc.— ' (Applause.) And he supported them, again, i because he believed' in the property tax against - a land tax, and he was surprised that any i country constituency could advocate- a land | tax. Now we were told that we were to have a land tax and an income tax, because, it was i Baid, a property tax was a tax on industry. . But was not an income tax afcax on industry?-- < (Hear, hear.) • Another reason of his support . of the Government- was that there was less ; chance of- Rpeculative finance in the hands of : Major Atkinson tha& there would have been in the hands of any other man in Parliament, i He referred'to the criticisms of Mr Dargaville, i Mr h3E£{ and others in the House on : finandal niatters, .which were turned maide , out by -Major Atkinson, than whom no man in : the country was better fitted to take command i of the finances. J&till another reason was the j disorganised state of the Opposition during the 1 past few years, and he referred to their dis- . cusaions and to the split-up of the party J under the D leadership of Mr Montgomery , and Sir George Grey. .He did not < feel justified in supporting either of ■ Sum leaders; but he. asked whether they . Xc likely to agree in the future.-(Ap < plause.) • Speaking as to the future, he thought ; one bar to the progress of the country had been found in our land laws. He believed these had been more satisfactory and more liberal under the provincial councils. He did not think .that nerpetual leasing was calculated to entice aattierß from the .Home Country, and he objected to it for that reason. He did not obiect to the principle altogether, and he said bi all means allow it to go on alongside the other methods -but'he did object to its being made, the only method by which the land should be dealt with: in the future.-( Applause.) When the, last land measure was passing through' the House Be urged on the 1 Minister of Lands ttiat pastoral country should be.retained ia the hands of the Crown ; lor the experience of the past had shown them that what might be' regarded as pastoral land' at one time might soon come 'to be regarded as excellent agricultural land, and it would be bad "policy: to dispose of it whilst it was considered only ' fit for pastoral purposes.--(Applause.) He had been opposed to the* Koada and Bridges .Construction Act. Claims had been- manufactured agunst the Governmtmt, "and the money improperly expended, .'under this Act. He had expressed the op&iion that 'the claims which would be made under 'tKe^Act.-vjould be.so large that they could never be met ; and the result had proved go". Now' he would come to that burning question, the Otago Central. -(Applause.) He was told that he would not be returned just because of , .this question- (laughter) -but that somebody would -be,,got to fill his place. He did' not defend the Government for the smallness of .the'expenditure upon this line: indeed a farlesa amount;— quite one-half less— had been expended on it than should, have been. , But they must remember that information as to the expenditure upon the line was only available to' the end of the session Just past; and what was' any man in his position to" do before he knew-tntf exact state of affairs in regard to it ? (A Voids : " Go over to the other side of the House/'^nd laughter.) How could he go over to the Otipoßit'iori before he knew the Government; We in fault? He had telegraphed to' Major Atkinson asking what he was to ijay about' "the reported misappropriation of the funds if or this line, .and he hadtgot the "reply that such a report waa not true, and referring him to table 7 of the Financial Statement lor the proper particulars. But there,, was one thing he could assure them of j and that was that he, if returned, as would every other Otago member, would see that the Government did set about the expenditure of the full £300,000 allocated to this line. Another question he wished to deal with was the local government question. " They had at present the power" to. amalgamate road boards with counties 1 , 1 and to amalgamate counties, yet the tendency was to split', local bodies up, and reduce local administration to the very smallest degree? H*. did- not know why the county counQils.'if there were large oounties, should not'have- control of the.police, charitable aid, and other such matters ; and why should not . $hb' < cptraty councils be " the Land Board fpy i'tbo district— (applause),— and why Dot, "> lndeed, the Education Board .also? He thought in this way a great saving of . expense might be effected ; but they could not' "give -every small road board such extended'powers,— (Applause.) He thought a reform- of .the Legislative Council was eminently desirable. The members of it should certainly not be nominated for life, and perhaps, the best plan would be to h'avs'it's ' members elected Dy the House of Repf esenta- '• tives. He thought a railway-imp/roved land [ bill ahduid be'brought intp'force.by whioh the Mntt-Bedefi,ted 'by 'a railway was made to contri^ru^e to the cost of. its construction. He had nad the necessity of this forced upon his attention whilst he was on the Commission in regard to the route of the Middle Island Trunk. Railway; a'ud here he would' take j occasion to contradict a report that he had been t)aid £§or £10 a day for his ' services on Chat* CommißMon. 'All that' members of such Commissions got was x their personal expenses. • ' The route proposed for this rafltway'' was" 'through large tracts of private foria, 1 and' it would have benefited only their owners : and he took some credit to himself for , having stopped the "prosecution of this line. — I f Applause. 1 In regard to the 'question of pendohVhe bag asked 1 the Colonial 1 Treasurer, wHb' \yas'a ; ''grea'^ believer' in' compulsory insurarJce, ,whwn ! $ "(the speaker \ thought would nevs£ be asked' for by tho country, 'as M,ajor Atkinspn believed,' why did he 'not begin wltti $c Cjvil TBervants'^-fHear,' hear.) If they Vefe'(jo careless aß 'not to insure their Uves, let' apportion pf their salary be taken, and !hu8 t ea / ch ; h,aYe. a pension contributed by fc.imfle" provided for hi»n. He referred to the advantage of < this system as exemplified in r the East India. Civil Service. He bejie^ed $hd .Pensions' Bill' intepded to be jntroddoßa;hy.the.Gpverproent was weaatto have' thH object, and -he tbdvigWi it »•-•'» •-•' proper mbasure. He caw no ~- women should not bejri"— -=-"'• • » e * v matters. v Th-^*"- reason why v ifk — "••"" ' * •" a voice in political •';,~.'t i-y' were intimately concerned ..^ such subjects as the licensing laws, education} and others, and he thought they should be educated up to exercising a voice in the public affairs of the Colony, Speaking of Sir Juliuß Vogel, he expressed the fear that . be would initiate Bk.regime of extravagance, and that? some of hia proposals, as for instance taxation > ' from customs duties were not calculated* to benefit ' the „C olony. In conclusion, Mr Fulton said he claimed the support of the Taieri electorate for several reasons. He had lived amongst them- for 33 years, and he continued: to -live amongst them ; he bad not become an absentee and. gone to England $o spend his money.' He did not want the sup-port-of j those; who, .could believe that he . would prostitute' the profession he made aa a Christian man to do what some accused him of doing in regard to the recent honorarium— namely, voting for the

smaller amount on the pretence that he was a great purist. It was quite possible that he had left undone some things he should have done. It might be sard he had not talked enough. Well, he might have sinned in this way; but he had held his tongue at the rate of £30 an hour. Would they have a man to represent them who would continually be getting on his feet to repeat what had been said over and over again, only for the purpose of glorifying himself, and parading before his constituents as a great man, who could fill columns of "Hansard" at a cost to the country of £30 an hour?— (Applause.) He intended always in the future, as he bad done in the past, to speak his mind, and would not hesitate to vote against the Government when he disliked their measures. He preferred to keep his independence — not pledging himself to any party, — for it was impossible to say what parties there might be next session. iFor these reasons he claimed their support, and h<s hoped and believed that on the polling-day they would show their appreciation of a man ,who had lived amongst them so long, and whose conduct and character were known to them all and could speak for themselves.— (Loud applauße.) ■ In answer to. questions, Mr Fulton said he did not think the bridge being built in Dunedin was to be paid for out of the money voted for thelOtago Central railway. He had Major Atkinson's assurance, which he thoroughly believed, that none of the' money for that line had been appropriated for other works. He was in favour of local manufactures being encouraged, even if the work cost somewhat more than it would do at Home. He would not support the present Education Act in its integrity, because he would like to see the Bible introduced in the schools ; though he would not advocate Bible - reading if it would lead to denominationalism. He was not in favonr of imposing school fees, because he thought everybody should be educated, and this could not be achieved if fees were charged. He did not intend to interfere with the decision of Parliament as to restricting Chinese immigration. Believing that the intention of putting a man into prison was to reform him, ne thought trades might woll be taught in gaol. He did not think it right that the inspector of the Wingatui section should form it and charge the Public Works Department, nor that.be should keep a groom and gardener at the public expense. If these were tacts, he would be perfectly willing to bring them under notice of the Government. He was not altogether prepared to try to amend the Licensing Aot in the direction of excluding billiard-rooms from hotels, because when Mr Green attempted an amendment of the Act no less than 109 other amendments were proposed. There was thus no saying where amendment of the Aot might be shopped. Mr P. Dax moved-r-" That Mr Fulton be accorded a most cordial vote of thanks, and a vote of confidence in him as the most fit man to represent the Taieri in the House of Representatives." This waß seconded by Mr Dodd. Owing to a misunderstanding of the full purport of the motion, and to the inability of the chairman to explain it, an amendment was moved, expressing a vote of confidence. It was then claimed that this amendment should be put, and a scene of great confusion and much. '. amusement ensued. The Chairman, after about 10 minutes had been spent in laughter, stamping, and attempts on the part of himself and others to, speak, declared the meeting -dosed, the motion aot having been put.