MR F. S. CANNING AT WAIKAIA.

Otago Witness, Issue 1704, 19 July 1884, Page 9

MR F. S. CANNING AT WAIKAIA.

Mr F. S. Canning, a candidate for the Hokonui seat, addressed a meeting of the electors in Bell's Hall, Waikaia, on Friday evening. About 100 persona were present, aud Mr Colin Robertson waa voted to the chair. Mr Canning said he a was sorry the meeting had been called at such short notice, but it was only two days ago that, he had decided to contest the election. He offered himself at the request of a number of the electors, and was an old colonist of 25 years' residence. He first dealt with the prevailing depression, which had been caused to a great extent by over-importation, and augmented by the low prices ruling for produce and by the stoppage of public works. Several remedies were advocated, the principal of which was the development of our mineral resources, assistance by. way of bonuses to mining enterprise, and the judicious expenditure of public money in the future. Every inducement was offered the pastoral and agricultural farmers by way of agricultural shows, ram fairs, grain shows, &0. , and prizes and bonuses given for the successful competitors; but no attention whatever had been given to mining enterprise, which was dying a natural death. Borrowing must be continued to a limited extent to' complete unfinished public works, which in many instances were a disgrace to the Government, as, for instance, the Uiversdale-Waikaia railway, the Otago Central railway, and several other lines. — (Hear, hear.) The Waimea Plains railway should be taken over by the Government at a fair price — in fact it ought never to have been constructed by a private company. The present rates levied were an extortion, and ruinous to the settlers within the railway district. A great injustice had more especially been done to those settlers who purchased sections from the Government and settled upon them in ignorance of the powers given to the Company by Act of Parliament to levy a rate of 3s 4d iv 'the pound upon the rateable value of their' properties. If returned he would do his b^st to 'get the "line taken over by the 'Government*, ang ha'ye the Riversdale - Swit'zers" branch qoipnleted.— (Hear, hear, aqd, appla.Uße.l The question of , a State bank might receive fa.vourabia coni sideration, and tha amounts lent by .the Goi vernmentj Vo pnva.te, companies from the nucleus of a reserve, for which paper money might be issued. It would also be a safe repository for trust funds and other moneys, In regard to the settlement and disposal 0 \ our lands, the. question was a very bx'oad one. Every inducement should be offered to small capitalists to settle upon the agricultural portion of the waste lands of the Colony, $pd the Governmont should tissiat tho farmers 'with small loans at a reasonably xaee of interestsay 5 per cent. T^'6 were three systems at present by^yiiioh our lands were disposed of — , viz , tho deferred-payment, perpetual- lease, I and cash eftlas. The deferred-payment he con- | aidered a very good system, and one which had been the means of settling a great m\m.ber of farmers upon the land. The p^rpatual-lease was also a good system, for the simple reason I that men with limited capital could obtain up to (i^Q acres at 5 per cent, per annum upon its cash value for a term of ,30 years. If desirable • he could make it freehold after six years' residence, and use his capital in the interim for ! improving his land. — (A Y&I08: "The purchasing clause does not refer to the goldfields.") The candidate thought it did refer to the golafields • if not it ought to do." The pro. i perfcy was fair and equitable, although it had been the means' of driving a. great deal of [ capital from our shores, The exemption was at present 'too high,, and should be reduced to ;£IOO or fi^OSX A large humbpr at present ; evaded the tax who, ought to pear their sbare of ' it k and this coi^ld only, be effected by, reduping | the exemption. A lan'd;ta^ w.oujd, hj9 thpught, i have to be' impose.^ but improYenjentß shpuJd. \be exempt— -na man %hou"ld, bj Ijaxed. fpj; jmproviug 1% property.' An, inepma (a\sffi|ga* ; yet be intr.odu.ced, but he, djjj %$ &»-• ; jjoujd, bp. necessary for, afe skw»*~ .^ it 'Insular Beparasipjju"ojJ % W* 1 "" -•» to come. '< Island, w/Md/ n^ j*»- ' . o rnment for each Ihe w,ould &v*>»- jw eive his support, but I $y» ftf **' . financial separation. The I »»* ' centralisation was simply a farce, _ a carried out would lead to endless confußion and expense. Extended powers should be given to county councils, and the counties themselves very much enlarged. Our railways should also be managed by a non-political board; at present there were two departments, the construction and management, and these did not at all times work together in harmony. He quoted a case where a siding waß required at one of the stations. The workmen were ordered by the construction department to lay the rails in one place t and by the management in another j the workmen • were compelled to follow the orders of the construction department, and when the work was finished it was pullgd up again and laid down where required. There were, m fact, too many headß of departments. Our education system was a very good one, but far too expensive. Primary education should be continued, but the cost of higher education should be borne by the parents and not by the State. State endowments for higher education might be allocated for primary education, and children under six or seven years of age prohibited from attending the State schools. At present many of our schools were i merely day-nur.serieß for indolent parents. The i Licensing Act was' most unworkable and uni satisfactory, and should be amended. The old i system of nominated commissioners gave every • satisfaction, and should be again reverted to,

but the local-option clauses might be retained. The Act was also expensive to administer. The boundaries of the present licensing districts should also be altered, and large towns or cities should be one district. Mr Canning thanked the meeting for the very attentive hearing they had given him, and resumed his seat amid great applause. Replying to questions, Mr Canning said he was in favour of the first section of the Waikaia railway being finished and opened for traffic as soon as possible. It was the duty of the Government to complete it. He was also in favour of reducing the grain traffic, which at present pressed heavily upon the farming community. He would like to see Messrs Vogel, Stout, Macandrew, and Atkinson in the new Ministry.

In reply to the question by Mr J. Davies, " H&3 the Atkinson Government acted constitutionally in spending money for a purpose other than that for which it was voted by Parliament ?" the candidate said he was not in a position to answer that question. He was not suie that money had been misappropriated by the present Government. He was not in favour of Bible-reading in schools. If the ballot system was shown to be an improvement upon the /present system of disposing of our deferred- payment and perpetual-lease lands by tender, he would favour its adoption. As other candidates were in the field, some of whom had not yet been heard, a vote of confidence was withheld, but a hearty vote of thanks was unanimously accorded the candidate for his able address ; and the meeting broke up with the usual compliment to the chair.

Regarding the contest for the Bruce seat; the local Herald says :— " The position of affairs at the present moment is not Driver v. M'Donald, but Driver and M'Donald, the local men, v. Gillies, the city man. We are glad to notice that a meeting is to be held to discuss the auestion whether or not it is desirable 'that our representative should be a resident in tKe district, and we trust that the electors then present will, after carefully considering which of the local candidates has the best show, decide to throw the weight of their influence and record their votes in favour of that one. As we. said before, our main object ia to see the district represented by a local man. Mr M'Donald has proved himself a useful member, and if it is found that he has to all appearances the best chance, then let his return ba ensured. If, on the other hand, Mr Driver has the larg6Bt number of adherents, then let him be so amply supported as to leave bo doubt as to the result." Mr O. J. Hodge addressed the Peninsula electors at Porfcobello on Thursday evening, when he received a vote of thanks. A Tapanui correspondent informs us that Mr D. M'Kellar has consented to contest the Dunstan seat with Mr Pyke. Mr J. Wells addressed a meeting of electors at Sandymount on Thursday evening, and bad a favourable reception. Mr S. N. Brown addressed a large meeting at Cromwell on Thursday evening, . He was well received, and his, address and views nsst with general acceptance. His late appearance is likely to injuriously affect him, otherwise his chance of success is' very good,. Mr V. Pyke addressed^ $c Dunstan electors at Ophir on Monday evening, and received a unanimous vote of confidence. ' Mr Laroach] addressed a meeting at Hooper'B Inlet 04, Monday evening. About 6ft settlers were present, and Mr Tfoung officiated as chairman. Mr Larnach addressed the meeting for an hour a,ud a-half, and, after answering a number of questions, waa aooorded a unanimous v.ote of confidence, A strong committee waa formed to seou.ro his election. Mr HodgQ addressed a large 'meeting at the Ander*aa*s Bay Schoolhouse on Tuesday even»g. m After the address he was subjected to a running fire of orosa-examination. A vote of confidence in the candidate was carried by a large majority,