MR BUCKLAND'S ADDRESS AT WAIKOUAITI.

Otago Witness, Issue 1848, 22 April 1887, Page 11

MR BUCKLAND'S ADDRESS AT WAIKOUAITI.

Mr J. C. Buckland, M.H.R., addressed a meeting of his constituents at the ' Mechanics' Institute at Waikouaiti on Friday. The mayor (Mr Reid) occupied the chair, and there were about 80 persons present. Mr Buckland, after expressing regret that there was not a larger audieuce present, said he would give a slight sketch of the HISTORY OF THE PAST BESS ION, and then refer shortly ,to what was to be done, so far as was known, during the comiug session. Before actually showing what was done, he should like to call attention to Sir Julius Vogel's Tuapeka manifesto, in which he promised to give the colony another chance of borrowing' ten millions of money. He (Mr Bucklaud) thought there were people at that time who believed that the borrowing of ten millions would give an impetus to the colony, and that money would be plentiful ; others viewed a proposal to borrow with alarm, and the general feeling throughout the colony and in the House was that we had had too much of borrowing and too much wasteful extravagance. The Premier's utterances on several public occasions, and later on his attitude in the House, did much to nullify the effect of the Tuapeka manifesto, as the feeling that at last he was about to assert himself kept several members in a state of uncertainty who otherwise would have been hostile. During the first three or four weeks, the Ministry acquired support by a method known as consolidating support. When Mr Montgomery moved that the Estimates should be reduced by £75,000, the motion was moved in a hasty manner, and was lost by a considerable majority. By that time very few measures had been introduced, and his (Mr Buckland's) own opinion was that the Government thought they were iv a minority, and were prepared for a defeat ; but the result of Mr Montgomery's motion was to strengthen the ranks of the Government supporters, and from that time the Government was safe. Then the real work of the session began. It was not at all an | exciting session, and the work done was what is called consolidating work. Some of these consolidating measures were a greatigain to the country. These were the acts relating to ! counties and the Municipal Corporations Act. During the session there were passed the Government Loans to Local Bodies and the i Government Powers and Finance Bills. These bills provided an easy way by which counties and local bodies could get money on easy terms, and he thought that if the county which he represented wanted to get money upon easy terms now was the time, as he believed the act which gave them the power to do so at present would be repealed before long, as it entailed a large expense on the colony. The acts dealing with Native lands and Native affairs generally were very important, aud the consolidated acts were such as might have | been expected from the views which MrEallance had always taken of Native affairs. They possessed some new features, and one of these was extreme kindness and humanity. In that respect they differed from Mr Bryce's rule, which was very stern. He did not mention this because he objected to Mr Bryce's rule, as he thought the colony owed a great deal to him, I for during his term of office he had settled the Native difficulty. Anythiug, however, which brought masters to a successful issue, and which was on the side of humanity, always enlisted his (Mr Buckland's) sympathies immediately. Quite a feature of ladt Parliament was the attitude of the Government towards freehold land. Every tax that was possible was put upon it ; and next session thtre might be a bill introduced to make it impossible to hold freehold land. Those who agreed with the nationalisation of th" land would have all tho charges put upon land ; but for his part he believed the truest interests of the country wonld best be consulted by allowing men to hold freeholds and not overtaxing them. He would oppose any attempt to increase the burdens on land. One of the most important measures of last session was the East and West Coast Railway Bill— now called the Midland Railway Bill. During the time that bill was in committee and before the House he assisted so far as he could in opposing it, because he thought jit was injurious to the country. He maintained in the House and felt now that it was an under- | taking which- was vory unwise for the Government to go into, and must result in disaster and failure. He felt the railway could never pay. It was being made under the impression that the Government will take it over at cost price, and they were going to give two aud a-half million acres of freehold laud as the price of the railway being made. That impression had pot abroad, and was prevalent among the shareholders. With that impression they were unwilling to look into the matter as they should. Great efforts would be made to get the colony to take the railway over, and it will lead to serious trouble. It will be the duty of the Government to prevent anything of the kind being done, however serious the loss may be to the English shareholders. That was an aspect of the question which was not pleasant to look at, as it wonld bring some discredit on the colony. He should like to refer to another bill introduced by the Premier, which gave trustees power to deal with any land. This bill rnp. v >V'l trustees to sell any land which had bt-en left- and to reinvest the money. He believed the tendency of this legislation would be to make the transfer of land and the subdivision of laud easy. The bill was one he heartily approved of. He also thought the First Offenders' Probation Act, which was honorably associated with the name of the Minister of Justice (Mr Tole), claimed our sympathies, not only from a humane point of view, but also from an economical point of view. During the last session 1 there were the usual number of measures brought forward by the Government which became law, and private members also indulged their law-making propensities. Someone had calculated that it cost £30 an hour for every hour the House sat. He (Mr Buckland) thought it was rather an expensive luxury to indulge iv this propensity to dabble in law-making, and he would heartily support a measure which provided that whan a member introduced a bill he should do so with a rope round his neck, and if the bill did not become law he should be run up to the roof. Before referring to the proposals of the Government he must express a feeling of great disappointment at the result of the last three sessions. The' history of the Parliament which was coming to a close was the history of unfulfilled promises, and he felt that from the (time j the present Government took office the colony was very much in the position of a virtuous girl who, on applying for relief at a home for fallen women, was told that she could not get any relief until she qualified for a week or so. He thought that was the position of the colony. It ! appealed to those men to pat iv in the right way, and with the best intentions they bad let

the country go on, as it were, qualifying. He waß not going to say that the present Government had acted from any want of humanity. If there was anything he recognised in all their doings, it was an. earnest desire to do what was humane and right, and a desire to further the interests of the colony. He, however, fancied that the men to whom our affairs had been entrusted did not know what was best for our interests. They made as much clatter as possible to attract attention, so that they might lead men to believe that here at last there was something that would.do some good. s ■ MEASURES OF THE COMINa SESSION. With regard to the measures the Government were about to introduce next session, he felt that we could not expect any relief from them. Such a measure as that relating to woman's suffrage would have a great effect on the affairs of the colony, and ij> was fair to say that leading thiukers and politicians at Home could see no reason why women, as well as men, should not have the full franchise. He, however, thought that it might be discussed seriously by a man who took a different view of the matter, and he held that the question was one which might very well stand over for more pressing questions, and be considered in times of prosperity and ease. He had no feeling that he would vote one way or' the other with regard to the measure. Another bill which it was proposed to introduce was one to put the Supreme Court under the heel ot the Parliament. He thought such a proposal was monstrous. About two years ago Sir Julius Vopcel promised to give us a bill to make money cheap, and the proposal was very warmly received in Canterbury. He (Mr BHckland)^ pointed out what he thought were the difficulties in the way of the proposal, and he was complimented upon the arguments he brought forward at that tin>e. The Mortgagees Debentures Bill to give effect to Sir Julius Vogel's^ proposals to obtain money was tak -n an active interest in. by members of the House, who .endeavoured to make it as workable as pos hiblp, but he was inclined to think that not a siugle operation had taken place under the act. At anyrate it had been a dead letter up to ast Parliament. It vias now proposed to introduce another bill in somewhat the same direction. He *hould now state the views he h Id as regards the bill to be introduced for the resumption of private land. He sympathised as much as any man iv New Zeala d with the desire to see the country settled, and settler* under holdings as small as could be conveniently and- profitably occupied, for only in that way could we expect to have a settled population in New Zealand. A great portion of the country must, however, be held by large holdings, and he should like to see, as was generally the case, the towns divided into small allotments to admit of the erection of buildings, and a little further out, holdings upon which cottages might be erected; small farms beyond that; and the large estates beyond the farms. When he saw large estates close to towns he was struck with a very great difficulty. Whether the bill which the Government were going to introduce to subdivide these estates would meet the difficulty or not was quite another question. If that land were' to be taken up in time it would breed a seuse of insecurity, and there would not be much enterprise. Our credit abroad would be injured, and it would prevent people who wished to take up land from coming to the colony. The Government proposal to give the power to a small body of men to step into a man's estate would not only give a sense of insecurity to all classes, but would also lead to a large number of swindles. Men would seem to be acting in their own interests when they were acting in the, interests of the proprietors, aH they did in the Stark purchase. There were suspicions that some members of the Government put money in their pockets by the transaction, but he ( Mr Buckland) discarded that idea. The Government gave £17,100 for the piece of land which Mr Stark had been unable to sell for £4000, and the last time Mr Stark was seen he was going away on board a steamer smacking his trousers pocket. He (Mr Buckland} defied any Government to deal satisfactorily with private individuals in negotiations of that kind. He only instanced the Stnrk purchase as one in which the Government had acted fooli-hly. There were other instances in which they had acted quite as foolishly and extravagantly. Now the difficulty of the Government in purchasing land would be the difficulty which would be fatal to the act. He thought his hearers also would agree with him that one tendency of the act would be to keep up the price of land. At the present time we are on the verge of a great change in values. Large monetary companies had acquired possession of some of the grandest estates of New Zealand, and held them at a great loss, and they hoped that there would be some change to enable them to get rid of them without a great loss. The effect of these companies holding these estates was to prevent a very large number of bonajide sales, and one effect of that bill would be to enable companies to get rid of their estates at a ye- y fair price. He thought the act would not be a workable act, and if he voted for it it would only be because he thought that there was a general popular feeling that it should be tried. It was not a point upon which a member should take a very strong stajid. The act, he thought, would be a dead letter, and the greatest present injury to us would be that it would cast discredit on us abroad. If it was found unworkable, it should speedily be repealed. He would now refer to the question of VYV V PROTECTION AND FKKETRADE. The Government this session would introduce some measure to increase the duty upon all articles which we imported, but he' should resist any further increase in taxation upon clothes and food and machinery for mining and agricultural purposes. He believed that if there was one thing that would deepen the depression and delay the time when we would see ' a better day, it would be the introduction of some bill ■by which the prices of all commodities would be raised. The idea tßat it would keep N the money in the count- \ v.as a very foolish one. Those who entertained that idea did not mean that the sovereigns should be kept in the ' colony. They meant that certain things which we imported should be made by ourselves, and that employment fahould be given in our towns instead of sending the money out of the country to pay for those things. Now, if wo paid money for the things which we imported, there would be very great reason in the contention. But money only served the purpose of exchange, and in all civilised countries a certain amount of money was required for currency — about £2 per head of the population. In New Zealand we had something more than a million of gold to the population, and about a million of notes. Now we did not pay our debts in money. We were actually sending out of the country for ourpubUo and private debts— he could safely say three and a-half millions a year. If we paid that in money we would only have a million left in the country, but we paid to the ' outside world out of the produce of our land and country. This also held true of the goods we imported. If we imported manufactured articles from Home we paid for those articles with raw

produce or manufactured articles, and the whole question was one of whether we we're prepared to pay more for our labour" and for all we produced in order to give employment in the towns and to lessen it in the country. There was no question of keeping the- money in the country. In all interchange between nations there was no question of money, except to square small accounts. All that, we' imported was paid for by what we produced ourselves, and if we produced what we were best calculated to produce, we would get a better return for our labour than if we produced what we were not calculated to produce. What Ec wanted in this country was to see us go on producing ithose things for which we had special advantage— and we had special advantages for many things— and leave off producing things which we could not well produce. It was said if we do not encourage manufactures in to wus we .will have no industries. That was all nonsense. . In all countries when they went ahead there were all sorts of industries, and some' things' were made in Dunedin of such splendid quality that no imported articles could compete with them. Our woollen goods would^hold iheir own against the outside world, and we could make as ' good machinery as they could elsewhere. Reid and Gray's machinery was second to none, and could >compete with any made outside the colony. On one occasion that firm' sent a man up to Wellington to say if duties were put upon certain articles which they could not well make here they 'could not compete with the imported machinery. That was their only chance of carrying on business. There were certain things they could make, and they had to buy other things to complete their machines at the lowest possible prices. In New Zealand we were in the position of a country which had been conquered by some other country and had every year to send away a large amount of tribute. We were sending away three or four .millions a year interest out of the produce of our country and got nothing for.it, and with an increase in the cost of production we will have to work harder and at greater expense to produce those articles/ which enabled us to pay our debts as honest men. This was a matter upon which he felt strongly, and whenever the question came up he would steadily oppose, as 'he had don*» in the past, a large increase on the burdens of the people. He believed that some members of the Government — perhaps all of them— were making these proposals to increase the duties from an earnest desire to do the country good, but they must have an underlying feeling ih&t after all what they wanted was more money to spend. He had not seen any remarks made by any of the Ministers who had spoken about THE DEPRESSION of the present time, and that seemed to him the most important of all . the questions that could be broached. It was a question which should not be slighted, aud any suggestion which might lead to wl at might be called a cure would be listened to with interest. He attributed our depression, in the first place, to our public and private indebtedness. In the next place he considered we were very .seriously and extravagantly over-governed,' and thdn he thought there was a great want of enterprise m everything that was being done. To those things might be attributed our present depression. Now there might be a way out of our difficulties if there was a return to the old prices. If we got back the prices on wool and wheat, he fancied that enterprise would start up afresh and we would hear little of hard times. But he was going to ask his bearers now to give up the idea entirely of a return to those high prices." He thought if the present level of prices could .be maintained it was quite as much as we could expect. Now the maxim that Ministers and others who were comfortably drawing large salaries, and who knew very little about the life of the people in New Zealand, was tbat they should be thrifty. His experience of the 'New Zealand settlers was that they were thrifty, careful, and energetic. That was the. conclusion he had come to after travelling ' all through the land, and to tell them that they, should be more thrifty was absolute nonsense. The people were living in as thrifty a way as they might be expected to ' live. It we wanted to be successful we must be able to produce^ more, and we would have to turn our attention to many things which up to the present had been neglected. The first thing we must do, as Carlyle said, was to do the 'duty which was nearest to hand, and other duties would follow. He thought the first 'duty here was to cut down the utterly unnecessary and extravagant expenses which attached to ow country. — (Applause.) When he' gave utterance to that sentiment he felt that he \vas only doing what would be done in every partof New Zea* land. It was a curious thing to see how, slow the Parliament of the country was to follow the wishes of the people. IJis experience led him to conclude that the parliamentary exp°nditure was simply outrageous. Some time ago a commission was appointed to inquire into PARLIAMENTARY EXPENDITURE, and they reported showing how a saving .might .be made. He endorsed every clause of their report. When tr c question of the honorarium was before the Hoase he voted for a reduotion.- He did Hot believe men should go in for making a living out of their fellow men. If members of the House were paid their expenses or a trifle more, it was quite sufficient. He held that £150 a year was a very handsome rp*T~> for anything a man did whtt went up to Wellington as a member of the House. Now thab the large amount of money which had been borrowed was expended, he thought that. we,could do with a very considerable reduction in the number of! members in Parlia- . ment. We should not jjo in very largely for borrowed money, arid f^hab we do borrow should only b& amongst ourselves, and for national railways _ qr", , national works. He sincerely wished we.:- were in , a position to do . our borrowing within the colony, but fear that the. day is still far off: At the present time it would be impossible to do so to any great extent, and we must be content to purchase out money where we can obtain it "at the .lowest price. His experience was tbat, the , Govern- * ment expenditure in every, direction. ' was very much beyond what it onghtto bp, The public prosecutions he thought , cosif 'far too much. He beUeved that on one occasion the Crown prosecutor got from £160 to- JSI7O in one day for drawing up indictments. - Now it rested with the people of the colony to send men to Parliament who would cut down all that expenditure, and in that way relieve the country of further taxation. He was a little afraid that there was a feeling abroad that if a saving were made in the direction he had referred to all our troubles would be over. That, however^ was only one step, and would relieve the colony of a certain amount of immediate taxation, but they should not think all their troubles were going to end if they had their government'eonduoted upon the most economical principles. Bat if they took the right step first, the nest; step would appear easier to them.... Another step which would restore confidence to a very large number of people would be * rtstfiea*

this eternal law-making. If there was any direction in which our laws could be made more liberal, he was only too willing to give them support," but he thought we could do without any law-making for a good while. TUB I?UTUKE OF NEW ZEALAND. He. thought that with the saving which he had suggested in the government of the country in every way, and by taking advantage of the natural wealth of the country, without trying to foster industries for which we have no special advantages; with the energy of the people of the country, and the liberal institutions we were living under, New Zealand should have a great and glorious future. He did not fear for the future, but he did fear that we might do things which would delay the happy consummation. Although he felt hopeful about the future, he looked at our present position with a great feeling of discomfort. We had overrun the constable to a great extent, and at Home our credit «as leaving us. People there considered that oar affairs had got into the hands of men who were not sufficiently safe to be trusted with the affairs of the colony. If, however, the people of New Zealand were true to the traditions of theic race and the breed they sprang from, they would »work with energy, and he believed that if they did that the future of the colony would be safe enough. In concluding, Mr Buckland said if the sentiments which he had given expression to were such as met with the approval of his hearers, he hoped he would appear in bhat hall in a very short time again to ask them to put renewed confidence in him as their member. — (Applause.) QUESTIONS. In answer to questions, Mr Buckland said that he would not support an isolated case of reduction with reference to Ministers' salaries, but he would support a general J scheme of reduction. — . (Hear, hear.; He thought all the Ministers' salaries were grossly more than what they ought i to be. He did not think the Governor of the colony got too much. It was well-known that his position was one out of which money could not be made. He thought there were plenty of men iv the colony who were fit to occupy the position of governor, but it was advisable to have someone at the head of affairs who was not biassed by party politics. A VOTE OP CONFIDENCE. After answering several other questions, Mr J. A. Townsend moved and Mr Daly seconded a vote of confidence in Mr Buckland as the representative of the district, and after the cus- ! tomary vote of thanks to the chairman for presiding, the meeting terminated. •