POLITICAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 1784, 30 January 1886, Page 7

POLITICAL.

MR J. M'KENZIE, M.H.R., AT PALMERSTON. Mr J. M'Kenzie, member for Moeraki, addressed a crowded meeting of his constituents at Palmerston on Friday evening. Mr E. M, Smith occupied the chair. Mr M'Kknzib at the commencement of his remarks apologised for not having been able to address the electors during the recess last year ; but the fact was he had not time. This might be thought a frivolous reason, but it must be remembered that the electorate was large and wide, and to do justice it was necessary to travel all over the district and speak in every centre, which meant 14 days' work. There were, moreover, two sessions and a general election last year ; and finding it was impossible to visit every part of the district, he abstained from speaking* not wishing to make fish of one and flesh of another. The Speaker, in recapitulating the events of the last two sessions, reminded them of his pledge at the general elec* tion to do all in his power to pfeyeut Major Atkinson's Government holding office, and explained the position of parties in the then new House. The party to which he belonged, and which had been follow* ing Messrs Montgomery and Macandrew directly Parliament met, recognised as their leader the present Premier (Mr Stout). On being asked by Sir Julius Vogel to join him in forming a Government, Mr Stout consulted with his party, aad they agreed to his doing so on the condition that Mr Stout was to hold the office. Tile reason this was insisted upon was that in the event of a break-up in the Cabinet the resignation of Mr Stout should carry with it the resignation of the whole Ministry. It was se<jn at this time that parties were so mixed up that without a coalition of some sort it would be impossible for any Government to hold oflice. If they had not in some Way sunk their personal differences for the benefit of the Colony, the speaker considered it would have been a disgrace to the Parliament of New Zea« land. There was no necessity for him to defend the Premier, who was better able to do that for himself ; but he had seen during the last two years the Premier, and those following him, repeatedly accused of having sacrificed their principles for the hake of office. Now, he was satisfied in saying that the Premier was at the present moment himself making a personal sacrifice in holding his position; and if the people of the Colony thought Mr Stout had in any way foregone his principles, it was a great mistake. He (Mr M'Kenzie) could assure them that the time would come when the Premier would endeavour to get his principles carried out, and perhajis they would then have matured with age, and bg better than if they had been carried out at an earlier stage. He claimed, then, to come before them that night as a member who had faithfully fulfilled hia pledges as far as any mortal representative could do. It was impossible to have one's own voice given entire effect to, and the only way to have any voice at all was to do exactly as he had dor c. There were only two lobbies into which a member could walk. Referring to the important measures which had been carried during the 1884 session, Mr M'Kenzie mentioned the Consolidation of Stock Act, which, by the abolition of the Sinking Fund, -would, it was estimated, eventually save the Colony two and a-half millions of money ; and he passed on to defend the action of the Government during the recess in appointing 11 new members to the Upper House. In doing so, they simply filled five vacancies, and sent six members to fill the place of absentees. Of the remaining 34 mem- | bers, no fewer than 12 belonged to Wellington, | and he held the Government would not have done their duty if they had allowed the Upper House to sit not representing the Colony fairly. One of the best Acts of last session— the Land Act — would certainly not have passed the Upper House but for the action taken by the Government to check the influence of the Wellington members.— (Applause.) After further upholding the action of the Government as regards defence expenditure, the speaker passed to the session of 1885. The Financial Statement disclosed the necessity of increased taxation, and told the House that to meet liabilities out of annual revenue an increase to the tune of £250,000 was wanted. That, no doubt, was a very disagreeable thing to have to do or to support ; but the Government discovered that no lesb than £1,800,000 had been up to 1882 added to the debt by a system that was called " funding the debt." This sum had been spent out of borrowed money to support annual revenue for ordinary purposes. The Government also discovered that the Colony had raised £2,700,000, which had been spent upon unreproductive works — roads and bridges, and also that they had been left a legacy of £150,000 in the shape of Treasury bills falling due the following March. That was to say, Major Atkinson had during his term of office added largely to the debt of the Colony by from time to time issuing Treasury or accommodation bills, which the Bank of New Zealand discounted, and when due were taken up out of loan. The present Government iv.mii to the conclusion that such a system of luiauce was not right, and determined it must be i'.u l a stop to. Altogether nearly four and a-half millions had been added to the debt to assist what should bo looked on as the ordinary expenditure of the country. To this sum, too, was added £180,000 for interest. The Government simply told the House it had been living in a fool's paradise, and asked it to grant further taxation to I.N- extent of £250,000 to put an end lo if. "'ivy proposed to raise thin m two wjys — .CIPOjOf'O from property and £70,0110 from eiistrius. N<>w *thu purposes fur which Ihoy leijuind the money were— 1(J 1,000 for paying hums due on varioua hums from the previous, year ; £50,000 to pay off a third of Major Atkinson's Treasury bills, which they intended to pay in three years ; £75,000 to pay subsidies to local bodies (this waa to take the place of £300,000 given to local bodies the pre\ious year, all from loan); and ioO.OOO for defence purposes. This left a balance of only £11,000, which was little snough to come and go upon, seeing tbat the Treasurer had to make his calculations upon the value of property as it then stood, and could not say j what it might, be under the new assessment. Now, if the whole, object of the Government hod been to make things pleasant, they could have said there was no need for increasing taxation—that they coul' 1 simply borrow the money. As everyone knew, the House refused to grant Uio momy. Tl<e propoL ty tax was carried ; but i he £70,000 from tariff was refused, and therefore the Government hail to come down and my thai the- .-CiO.OOO for Treasury bills uhirh they intendul lo pay would have in bo vt ncwrd for a:iolh<» two ye:u-., and that th..) would havi'iotiKc £20,000 o! the money intended to 1 c paid for cVfe>ie.e nut of Joan. The speaker supported the ima>irial prcposds for Unce lxaMins :—: — FnsHy, 1- cau'e I>,. hml himself come fo the conclusion that it was impossible

for a country to he successful if it went on year after year adding to the debt for ordinary arevenue purposes ; secondly, because it was the jfirst honest attempt he bad seen to make both •ends meet ; and thirdly, because he thought the increase was fairly distributed over the various Interests of the Colony. As property already Jiad to bear such a heavy strain, he considered .£70,000 from the customs would not be out of the way. He himself deplored the necessity of increased taxation, especially taxes on the necessaries of life, such as tea ; but we had to be just before we were generous. He might give them some idea of why the Government finance "was defeated. One reason was that a large number of the members of the Opposition were much opposed to the repeal of the Roads and Bridges Construction Act. This was one of the planks of the Government finance— that they would not be called on for £200,000 or £300,000 a yea? to make roads and bridges out of borrowed money. In three years one Wellington county had £47,987, and another £65,000 from the Treasurer for this purpose ; and in all, the North Island had £500,00.0 in three years for roads and bridges ; while the great province of Canterbury, which contributed so much to tb.e revenue, only received £47,000. It wouldbe Iseen, therefore, that it was 'to the direct interest of the North Island members "66 prevent the Roads and Bridges Act being repealed, and they were prepared to do anything for that object. But they were ftttt strong enough by themselves, and they discovered a party in the House calling themselves Freetraders whom they persuaded that the Government proposals were strongly Protective, and who joined them, and in that v?ay the finance of the Government was destroyed. The curious thing connected with the matter was that some of the members of this, Opposition, including Major Atkinson himself, were strongly Protective. Some of those who supported them as Freetraders had Jio other object than to deal a blow to the Government, hoping they would resign, and that the Roads and Bridges Construction Act would not be repealed. His own views on the subject were that a great deal of buncombe had been written in the Press and talked about 'the question. So far as New Zealand was concerned, we had no guarantee that- because England had been successful as a Freetrade country we should be successful too, as a Colony ; or that if we went an for Protection we should be so successful as America. His own idea was that England never went in for JPreetrade until i<s was necessary for her to find cheap food for the people. Therefore Freetrade suited England ; but we wanted a Colonial policy Xo suit ourselves. With the rapid changes that were taking place in trade and commerce year by year, there was no certainty what would happen within the next nine or ten years. We should, he thought, try as far as possible to foster those local industries that were natural to vs — viz., those for which we could provide the raw material. He would never go to the extreme of protecting industries that were not natural to the country. If that were carried to the extreme, the Freetrade theory of purchasing everything in the lowest market and selling in the dearest might be applied to labour, and we should import Chinese and coolie labour because it was cheaper. If the customs tariff were abolished to-morrow, it would mean that every industry we had would be closed in three months, and there would be thousands out of employment. — (Applause.) , Referring to the East and West Coast railway, the speaker said anyone would have imagined that it had been heard of during last session for the first time, but the fact was that so far back as 1878 the construction of the railway was authorised by Parliament. In the Public Works Statement of 1878 it was provided for, and every Government that had held office since that time had taken some steps to try and construct it. The Hall Government actually spent between £200,000 and £300,000 in constructing a railway to North Canterbury for the purpose of eventually carrying it to the East Coast. They extended it northwards into a country where it would never pay to put a railway if there were no other object, and the Atkinson Government were actually in negotiation to get the line made ■when the present Government took office. After tracing the steps that had been taken, Mr M'Kenzie said he had heard that at least 17 members who had voted for the Act of 1884 authorising the construction of the line had last year voted against a committee to inquire into the matter. What consistency ! A great deal had been said about the cablegrams sent by the delegates at Home, but he could tell them that Sir Julius Vogel or any member of the Government never communicated with the contractors or the syndicate. The whole correspondence was carried on between the Government and the Agent-General, not the syndicate. The Government knew nothing about them in any shape or form. So all the talk about jobs and swindles, &c, was not worth the naper it was written 1 upon. The fact was the GoVernmenb were desirous of meeting the wishes of 148,000 of the population, for the district held that many, and the syndicate wanted a guarantee of £97,000 a year over and above the land in the shape of interest. The Government then said if the district raised £60,000 by way of rate the Colony would find the rest, but would require to be relieved of certain other charges, which would really make the sum the Government was guaranteeing less than £10,000 a year. Statements were made in the House by members that the timber traffic between Canterbury and the West Coast would amount to 15,000,000 or 20,000,000 feet a year, and coals for the same district to about 86,000 tons a year; and by calculations it was shown that the railway from Springfield to Brunnerton would pay 2 per cent, at least over working expenses. The speaker voted for the Committee (fairly nominated from both sides of the House) to hear the petition of 148,000 colonists on the subject, and he thought the least that could be done was to hear their complaint when they came forward, and see what could be done to assist them. — (Applause.) This was the reason he voted for the appointment of the Committee, and he voted against the proposed expenditure of £150,000 because to vote that sum towards a railway which they were told distinctly would dost two and a-half millions would be a waste of our means. If the railway was to be of any benefit, it could only be by making it right through. As to the amount of our Public Works debt and the comparisons that were made with that of England, Scotland, and Ireland, a large proportion of the works in the latter countries were being made by private companies which here were done by the Government, and the debt was not shown as national debt at all. We had built 1477 miles of railway equipped for traffic, on which we had 6pent £12,000,000, and the net result last year, after paying all charges on them, was £3 0s 3d per cent., so that railways were the best-paying asset we had, and if we could get this return, and at the same time derive the benefit of opening up the country, he should think we had made a very good investment. He had no hesitation in saying that for the railways upon which we had spent £12,000,000 we could get £15,000,000 any day

in the London market. But we Were £30,000,000 in debt, and the nioutiy had been squandered upon other things not reproductive like railways. That was why the burden was felt so by the Colony. He wished t6 say with regard to borrowing that, in his opinion, we should borrow enough money to finish the railWays in hand Up to a paying point. It was no use to leave money lying waste in uncompleted lines when, by spending a little more they 'could be made payable. But he would go no further than that, and was distinctly opposed to borrowing money for new railways until those in hand were finished. His opinion was that the Colony should for the next two or three years only borrow enough to complete the present lines. The Otago Central he had always believed to be wrong — it should have gone up Shag Valley ; but the line would open up new country for settlement, and although it might not pay at first, it Was bound to in the long run. Even in making railways to open up Crown lands, when they went through private properties first the owners should, he held, be made to pay something towards their construction. After referring to Captain Russell's motion, which he considered it a great pity was carried, the speaker passed on to the Hospitals and Charitable Aid Bill, pointing out that Otago* had hitherto been receiving 4s lid per head less than one other part of the Colony, and was the lowest of any by Is 3d per head. Bills had been brought in by every Government to try and rectify this unfairness, but not one could carry a bill through, and he was surprised the present Government had been able to. He had seen in the Press that the measure was one which no fellow could understand ; but people did not know the trouble there was to get it through the House, and how much those who were receiving 6s 9d per head were interested to stop it. He thought the Government deserved great credit for the measure, which, although not perfect, could be amended. Another measure was the Local Powers and Finance Bill, which gave certain powers to local bodies which they had not got before. In one case the bill gave power to bodies to grant sums for building schools^ and the result had been a storm of abuse, merely because the Government had said that they should be allowed to do what they were not allowed to do before. The whole thing was that before the abolition of the provinces a great deal had been done in Otago and Canterbury in the way of building schools ; but there were other parts of the Colony where the same work had not been done. In some cases local districts had asked for power to give subsidies for this purpose, and the Government nqw made it permissive for local bodies to , contribute if they chose. There was nothing to force them, and he was surprised to find the way in which the measure had been criticised. Referring to the Land Act of last session, he was quite sure it was the most liberal ever passed —he believed in the whole of the Australasian Colonies. — (Hear.) It was to a large extent a consolidation of previous measures, but there were some important amendments, and one of them was the homestead system. If this was not liberal, he did not know what was ; and another good thing was the provision for small grazing runs. Therewasanother feature, however, about the measure — viz., that the clause in the Land Act which he introduced in 1882 had been repealed. It was extraordinary that it should have been introduced by a M'Kenzie and repealed by another Mackenzie. It might seem strange that it should be repealed after only two years, but on analysing the matter he found that when carried 50 members' supported it, and that when repealed 27 of these had ceased to be members of the House. The House was not now nearly so liberal as it was then ; and not only that, but three members who originally supported the clause had since changed sides, while four other members found it necessary to walk out of the House. The whole credit of the repeal was due to the member for Mount Ida, who was strongly supported by Mr Hislop and Mr Buckland. But the credit was due to Mr Scobie Mackenzie, who took great pains, and who no doubt had received the congratulations of thesquatting community throughout Otago. The speaker's position was this : He had no personal interest to serve, and was simply doing what he thought best. His opponent was personally interested as a squatter and the tenant of a holding carrying more than 30,000 sheep. Another matter was that the gentlemen who succeeded < in repealing this clause were placed in a very favourable position to carry the point, as they were sitting on a rail,anditwasmost important to the Opposition not to offend them. That was the reason four members walked out of the House. They were afraid of offending these people, although in reality in favour of retaining the clause. One of these members told the speaker that so far as the member for Mount Ida was concerned, if he had known he did not intend voting with the Opposition to turn the Government out, he would have taken good care he did not strike out the clause. This showed how slight causes sometimes decided important matters. He had no doubt the time would come when these people would consider the'monopoly of large tracts of Crown land worthy of attention. It had been proved before a Committee of the House that no less than 610,000 acres was in the occupation of one company or firm, and carried no less than 300,000 sheep. We knew such owners only just spent enough money to keep a manager and a few shepherds and to take the clip, and sent the rest of the money to shareholders in England. Of course at present squatting pursuits were not profitable ; but he should like to know anyone who was making money now. Speaking of the future, he thought the Government should go further next session, and attempt a drastic reform of the Civil Service of this country. This could only partly be done by reducing salaries, but a great deal could be done by amalgamating various departments. Regulations provided that Civil servants dismissed for reasons for which they were not responsible should be entitled to one month's pay for every year of service, and therefore for the first year or two there would be very small saving ; but nevertheless a beginning must be made some time, and the sooner the better. Having said so much on public matters, he wished to make one or two personal remarks. They knew he never attempted during the whole of his career to reply to anonymous letters, and since he had been" their representative he had been subjected to a good deal of ,this sort of thing, especially in one paper — the Otago Daily Times. But he wished that night to disabuse their minds of statements — untrue fabrications and falsehoods — which were being circulated for the purpose of damaging him in their eyes. He had been accused of having too much influence by the very people who four years ago told them it was no use sending him to Parliament, as he would have no influence there. When he came before the electors four years ago he never told them he was the owner of a large station and property mortgaged up to the hilt and in the hands of a finance company, but that he was an independent settler who could go and vote independently of any finance company. He had been able to carry this out, and so far

had in no way milled the electors. He had to say now that during the time he was absent in Wellington statements were got up, he believed in Dunedin, to the effect that he was going to leave his seat and take a position in the Civil Service. He told them distinctly that he could not occupy such a post even if he desired to, by the f aci of being their representative. The Disqualification Act would prevent him holding any public post for 12 months after his resignation, except that of Agent-General.— (Laughter.) Now he had no pretence to the qualifications nece? sary for that high office, and was sure no ore imagined he had any such ambition. Another statement had been circulated recently that he had accepted a position in i.ie Insurance Department, and he knew it ny is got up for the purpose of damaging him. He had been unfortunate enough to incur tlio enmity of a certain class of people in the community by doing his duty faithfully, preveming the monopoly of land, exposing dummyism, &c, and he knew all these stories were fabricated in that quarter for the purpose of getting him out of the House if possible. But if they thought to get rid of him they would simpl/ have to fight him at the ballot-box next eluction. He distinctly denied the statements as fabrications and falsehoods, without one iota of truth. He had never asked the Ministry for any position, and no one had offered him one. 1 1 was 15 years since he was returned to the P* ovincial Council, and during that time he defied his most^ bitter opponents to show one vote he b id ever given against his own opinions.— (Applau se. ) Mr M'Kenzib tlien replied to various questions. He would not support a ten million loan. He distincMy said he was opposed to borrowing more tLan would finish the present railways or make a railway which it could be shown clearly we could get 2 per cent. from. He did not think it was possible to do that to the amount of 10 millions, and put a policy before the Colonj to borrow 10 millions right off. They would i -lderstand he was opposed to borrowing that sun 1 . The questioner ( Jr Gilmorb) asked whether he was in favour ot borrowing any more or less. Mr M'Kenzib i=:.icl if it was meant was he going to Wellington to advocate no borrowing at all, he distinctly ..tated he would be in favour of borrowing enou ;h to bring our railways in course of constriu ion to a paying point. But he would be oppo ed to such a scheme as had been hekl out in ' he Press as emanating from Sir Julius Vogol— ■ lthough of course they did not know if it ever !iad emanated from him. Mr Gillespie proposed and Mr Craig seconded a vote of thanks and confidence to Mr M'Kenzie, which was declared to be carried unanimously.