THE HON. J. MAKENZIE AT PALMERSTON.

Otago Witness, Issue 2200, 30 April 1896, Page 21

THE HON. J. MAKENZIE AT PALMERSTON.

(By Oxtb Special Bhpobtbb.) Paoibrston, April 24. - The Hon. John STKeaaie addressed a large meeting of the Palmerston portion of his conitituents to-night, the Town Hall being crowded. Mr Gill (the mayor) ocoupied the" Chair. Mr M'Kenzie, who was cordially received, ■aid the meeting would understand it was imiwssiblo for him in the time at his dis{foeal to fco into mil the questions of great importance to the people, bnb he would briefly Tefer to those he considered of the greatest importance. He did not claim to be perfect, nor did he claim for the Government that they were perfect.^ They were Imann beings, like everybody else, and were liable to err, and all they omld do was in be careful and err as little as possible. There were only one or two people in the colony who Bet themselves np as being perfect. None of the Ministers claimed to be perfeot, neither did the leader of the Opposition, nor his late opponent, Sir Bcoble Mackenzie, and he would &! low the meeting to gness for themselves vho the perfect individuals were. When Ministers made mistakes they honestly admitted them, and when assailed by their opponent* they took opportunities of defending themselves as often as possible on the -public platform. The leaders of the party opposed to the present Government were doing their level best to show the people their worst features and their worsfe sins of omission and commission. The Government had no objtotion to this, and, in fact, much preferred tb^-b their opponents should assail them on-fch*, public platform, instead of in the, press of the colony as other people did. He supposed it would be admitted that the worst these people had to say had been »aid, and he thought bis oolle*gues and himself bad fairly answered these cbargea in various part*, of tbe tx>k>ny. Tbe Government were at a dieadvautftge in that the prers of the colony as a rule were opp;««d to the Liberal party. Even the Press Ageooy was now mnde a political machine, and he took the opportunity of saying boldly that it would be the duty of Parliament to Bee that the Press Ageccy did what was right and Just, and did net ran tbe show for one side only. .Most glaring missbatefßtnta were being sent forth through the Press Ageacy, which had advantages from the people of the colony, and it waa its duty to tell the pt-ople the truth and give fair and houest reports of wk»t took place. Bub it did nob do 10, for it ooloured its reports egait»t the present. Government, and to atsiat the Opposition. Be upeuly charged the Frees Ageooy with that, and when tho House met next session he would be able to prove it. At the present time there wr:ct> in the colony TWO PAiyrißS "OPPOSED TO THB GOVBBNMRNT —

the Conservative party, whioh found fault vritti everything the Government had done eiaoe they went into office, and anuther patty wbich thought the Government did not go far enough. Tbe Conbervative party, or what was now called the National Association parky, {ctuu-i fault with the system of taxation, with the iutriduction of the land and income tax in place of the property t*x, with the enactment of certain land laws, with land for settlement measures, with the Native land administration, and with the labour legislation. That party also accKiedthe Government of ' borrowing mon«y without giving them credit for the use they made of t.b&t money. ' Than there was the > party wbo thought the Guvettiment had not gone far esoogh in labour legislation. It waa pweible there might be a combination of these sets of opponents to onat the Government out of office. That was the one platform on which these parties could unite. But if tbey succeeded in putting the Government out of office he thought their terra of office would be very short — that vras to say, if each tried to carry out their views as to legislation. The class who thought the Government had not gone far enough aocused them of having done no&iog for the working people, for the farmers, for the squatters, or for the commercial aud industrial classes of the country. It would be fer him that night to' show what tbe Governm*rrt h*d dose,' and it would be for the meeting to" 6»y whether, in giving his support, to tfei* legislation, ho nai complying with^tho request of tbe constituency whan last it elected him. He pointed out that it was impossible to cany great reforms all at once, and it was no Tim of any Government that might be in office to try and force public opinion by bringing forward reforms that people were »>t prepared to aco> pt. The potation the Govertxaeiit h*d occupied dating the time thoy, bad been, in «>fflee waa this : they had entie»You>ed to tbe best of their ability to carry out certain refctma, and he did not pretend tfeat they had done all hs eonld wieh ; but he did «ay they had gsne as fax as public opinion wm prepared to go. believed, 'feowerer, c fchat it would be as f utile to attempt to «fcop tbe eea coming in on our fchores at it would be to prevent' Liberal legislation. Bub that vrould have to be introduced gradually. They did not viant by any and den reforms to cause an upheaval. What was to ' be demt most be done in gradual progress— to pave the way so as not to cause any upheaval. All wise legislators aod staAe«inon felt the tine might co'tno nhen it vrould be necessary for them to give nay to public opinion in regard to reforens, and sometimes it was found that people who wtre opposed to reforms being carried out recognised that it was useless to oppose them anj longer, and consequently gave way. His own opinion was that when the time came for the present Government to go out of office they were more likely to be torned out by genttainen tvho held more liberal opinions than themrelves than they were likely to be turned ontb> Conservatives. — (Applause ) He thought the time of the Conservatives in this colony was g<. ne. They had ab present nothing to guide them as to the polioy of their opponents if they got into office. That was a considerable drawback, for ib was impossible to criticise a polioy that was not disclosed. The Opposition did, however, accuse the Government of doiog things thab h&d lDJared the colony, .and it was to be assumed that if they got into office and held the reins of government they would bring about a different condition of things. Wtll, if they really oould do better .for the colony than the present Government he, for his part, would be most willing to give way to' them. Bub the one great plank upon which those in Opposition relied was simply that they were to get the Government out of office. They also •aid that they objected to the legislation and administration of the present Government, bub as a matter of fact they fouud that Captain Bunell asserted that so far as the land and income tax and tha labour legislation were concerned hewaspreparsd to leave those things alone if he got into office. How very inconsistent -that was. Thess wexa the very things concerning which the Government were accused of baling gone so far astray. They h&d been told over and over again that the taxation proposals bad driven, umTwm driving *>mar oat o£ tho

I colony, and that their hbonr legislation prevented people from employing labour and injured the labour markab. These were the chief sins of which they as a Government had baen accused. And now the leader of the Opposition said he was prepared to aooept thorn. The opponents of the Government varied their statements in different parts of the colony and opposed the Government from opposite platforms. Mr Richardson, his predecessor in office, had issued a manifesto, from whioh it mufet be inferred that if he got into power the existing land polioy would bo knocked on the head. Mr Richardson asserted that before purchasing land for settlement they must first utilise Crown lands, and he (Mr H'KenzM would like to kuorr where they would find Grown lands suitable for small settlements in New Zealand. As Minister for Lands he could not flad it, and he thought the task would be a diSotalfc one for anybody else. The fact wag that there was no large area of such Crown land left in any p«t of the colony. Most of it bad been takeu np, and tha statement that they eonld get sufficient Crown lands to meet the demands of the people was nonsense. One of the things that gentleman would do was dearly to slate the land for settlement serutn.9. Upon this point Captain Russell waa silent, but it was a well known fact that he was deadly opposed to the present land polioy because he held that to find land for the people a» the Government was doing was to reduce the value of land held by individuals. Mr Richardson also averted that the Native titles to land should be revised, and that the Natives should then be granted the right of sale possessed by Europeans. Now, thab was the very thing the Government had done away with in the interests of the colony. It had been found necessary to prevent private dealings in Native lands, for in the pwst too many large estates had been created in the north by that system of land jobbery. During his recent trip in the north of this hlxnd he had passed a number of Natives springing up who were landless, and who only occupied lands because of some distant relationship with other Natives. If the Maoris becam« landless, the time would come when the people of the eolnny would have to provide for them ; and he fcb/ ughfc it would be a crying shame to allow speculators to monopolise the land or the colony, and then to compel the people of the colony to provide for the landless Natives. It was evident, however, that one of the planks" of the Opposition was a return to the free trade in Native lands which had been stopped by the present Government ; but he wo* satisfied that even if they got into office they would nob bo aWeto t-ffecfc that change. Ths opponents of the Government, he complained, hit below tbe belt and made fake accusations, end stated things that were not true. There waa a strong party in Opposition, with the command of wealth, that were doing their utmesfc secretly, silently, and sarrrp&krasly to traduce tha Government. They had their agents in every tt&tmboab, in railway?, traaus, and in every conceivable place, and they guaranteed the newspapers with sufficient funds to circulate 10,000 copies of a pupsr every Saturday gratis for the purpose o? rnnnirg down the Government. They had now also a gentleman stationed in Wellington who sent a circular to a great number of papers stating iho.t he was prepared to supply them with information respecting the Governmont gratuitously. He read the circular, wfaioh stated that the writer would act as correipjndent gratis, and that the object was to keep country settlers and others fully acquainted with particular questions largely affecting them, and that the information would ba orginal, up to date, and reliable, and that this scheme of supplying news in tibia form meets with the approval of tha leaders of the Opposition party. Did they, Mr M'Kenzie asked, for a moment^believe that this gentleman was going gratuitounly to supply the Opposition papers of the colony with news — that no one was to pay him foe it ? They might take it for granted he was well paid — well supplied with the sinews of war by some wealthy merchants in the City of Wellington who were bitterly opposed to tha present Government. He considered this sort of thing was rather low down. The party opposed to the Gjvernment might think it very smart, but when the people of the colony found out that • this was tha way information was manufactured for them, they must admit it was not likely to be very reliable.

THB LBADEE OF THE OPPOSITION bad told tho people t'aat the polioy of the Government was one of bounce, bluster, bunkum, and banquets ; that the Government was despotic, autocratic, aod dramatic; and then ooaapkuned tfa»t tha Premier of the colony was not suflicently courteous t« him when addressing his constituents. How could th«y expect anyone to be courteous to a gentleman who used Ungruge of tha* sort when speaking of his opponent* p Tbe Hon. Mr M'Kenzte tfcaa referred to the charge made against the Govecame&t of withholding information, and detdarcd that, as tha Blue Books would show, ev«ry poetiMe return ( had be*n furnished in a straightforward manner. Tha only returns thai had. been refused had been such ai bad bt*a asked for short period* and would have been aitleaiiing. Then as to the^Goveroment having prevented ducnoeioa, a. reference to the long speeches in Hansard made by the gentlemen who eoaiplained that they bad sot been allowed to discuss the questions would completely answer that charge. Besides this the diicuasions were not regulated by the Government, but by the Speaker under the Standing Orders. . The Public Work* Statement might hava been discussed, bat time was wanted to prepare lengthy speeches, and when the opportunity for discussing it arrived, the members of the Opposition left the House in a hurry. The fact waa they , did nob want to disenss it, because there were votes for their districts, and they were afraid to go back to their constituents and say that they had voted ag*inat the expenditure of thesa moneys. But as it was, the Statement waa discussed until daylight by the supporters of the Government. Another charge against them was that of roaming about the country— and he in particular was accused or this, — and of addressing the people" at every opportunity. Well, he did nob think it was possible to administer the Landa department properly without going about the country, and so should continue to do so no matter how much those opposed to him might cry out. As to addressing the people he was frequently called upon to do this, but he did not force himself upon the people. Tha Government were accused of having a subservient majority, but what did people mean by this ? The people of the colony had returned, certain members to support the Government, and what the Opposition wanted was that those members should break their pledges, and voto against the Government. The majority must rale, and so long as the people sent a majority of members to support the Government, the Government were to be supported, and he supposed the Opposition would just have to put up with it. When men did what they had promised to do, and what they were elected to do, he could not see why they should be referred to in insulting terms. The reforms which it had been claimed had bten carried by the Conservative pasty bad

been forced on that party, and carried in order that they might retain office. The man to whom the people were above all others indobtet for tho ballot, manhood suffrage, and triennial Parliament was cerfrsiuly Sir George Grey. The prophecies thifc had been mode about TUB LIBERAL PARTY by their opponents had in the^past all signally failed. They had not galloped to a defioit, bub had met the Honse with^ a surplus year after year, and would this year meet the House with another handiome surplus, whioh he bslicved would amount to upwards of £150,000. And this would be the sixth year in euoooHsion that the Government had met Parliament with a surplus, and he did nob think any other Government bad done the name thing. Of oonrse they would be told that it was a bogus surplus, but if the surpluses were not genuine, how was it that the money was expended on public works P That was the real answer tint could be given. Bat in addition to that there waa the faot thab the Audit department certified to the fact that these surpluses were corrtot. The Best evidence of the sucoess of the present Administration was to be found in the fact that the oredit of the country had been maintained and that its im ports and exports were in a favourable conditionIn 1890 the imports were £5.930,000 and the exports £9 570,000. Last year the imports were £6,116,000 and the exports £8,550,000. j When they remembered that during this period the downcome in the price of wool alone made a difference of a million and a-half, and that in 1890 the colony was exporting large quantities I of wheat and getting a grand price for it, while I now the export of whtat was very *mall indeed, they would see that the exports showed grand management on the part of the Government of the colony. Another way in which the prosperity of the colony could be judged was by reference to the public dt-bt. Iv 1890 the net debt of the people wa* £59 lls lid per head, and last year it was £57 9s 9d, showing that it was less by £2 2a 2d. Then the gross debt in 1890 was £62 per head and in 1895 £60 10 a per head, or 30i less, so that they had not increased the indebtedness of the colony. The New Zealand debentures at the present tiraa held a high position in the London market. All the prophecies of evil concerning the Government that had been made in the past had been falsified, and so he believed would be those which were now being uttered so confidently. The purposes to which theBORROWED MOKEY had been applied by the present Government were very different from those to which it had been previously applied. This Government had borrowed to buy land fer settlement, or to bay native lands. If land was to be acquired for settlement it mutt be purchased with borrowed money or with money from revenue, and as the countcy was sufficiently heavily taxed it was better that they should borrow for this purpose, seeing that they were able to digfosft of the land the momeul tbey got it, and to get a return of 5 per cei'.t from it. It would be admitted that it was impossible to allow the colony to stand still and to havo no more public works, roade, or surveys, and that was what it would mean if they were suddenly to stop and Ray they must get thin money from revenue. But this was not borrowing under the old syttem : it was borrowing for parposes which immediately yielded profits. In times gone by money was borrowed to purchase the district railways which had been made by private people to open up their own lands, and relieving the proprietors of the responsibility in connection with them. The net revenue from the?e railways since they had been taken over by the colony amounted to £27,500, while the interest on the capital invested in their purchase amounted to £181,815, leaving a deficiency of £154,315. The present Government set its ' face against borrowing for expenditure in that way. Bub when the money was spent in reaching drawn lands, buying Native lands, or lands for settlement such disastrous results to the colony could not follow. This should satisfy them that the Government borrowed for different purposes to those for which their opponents would to-morrow if they got the chance. The Government had had to deal with THE BANK QUESTION. ' and had done so entirely in the interests of the people of the colony. An investigation I was made by a committee of both Houses, who i were eh' sou quits irrespective of party colour, and the report, after a fortnight's investigation, had been unanimous. Even those who had opposed what had been done previously for the baak ftdmifcfcod that there was nothing for it bub,, to face tho matter boldly aad go to the assistance of the bank. The closing of the doom of tfce Bank of New Zealand would have meant the collapse of the monetary institutions of the c&lony and the infliction of muoh loss and misery upon the people of the colony .- About 7000 people were directly or indireotly interested in the bank. There were 35 110 depositor*, representing £5,032,900 ; 13,595 advanced in New Zealand, represMating £5,428,222 ; 1050 shareholders, liable for £403,000 ; 115 branch banks ; 28,58* cuiTent accounts, and the bank had dealings with 3 education boards, 43 hospital aad charitable aid boards, 24 barbour boards, 7 benevolent trustee boards, 128 town boards and borough councils, 212 road boards, 216 friendly societies, 3 saving* banks, 72 county councils, 633 school committees, 127 sundry local authorities. This showed _ a total of 1468 local and public aubhoritieo, apart from depositors aad other customers of tbe bank, as concerned with tho bank. If the Government had failed to take the matter in hand other institutions must have followed and the calamity would have been great and widespread. The matter was a national one, and the action of the Government had prevented the ruin of hundreds of colonists. — (Applause.) The bank must be properly managed, and then he felt sure the colony would not lose anything. Bub even the loss of a million or two millions would be small compared with the disaster that would have followed if the colony had not come to the rescue of the bank. He wished to directly contradict the statement that the members of the Government knew anything or could know Anything about the accounts kept in tho bank. Suoh information would not be given to them if asked for, and no Minister would ever think of asking for it. When he had stated that he could give & list that would chow how the bank had made ita losses he referred merely to information that was open to everyone in the list of globo assets which showed the estates on which losses had been made. THE MIDLAND RAILWAY question was a very serious matter, respecting which the Government had been required to act promptly and firmly to prevent serious conBequences to the colony. For this contract the Government were in no way responsible further than that they were in office when the directors of the company made very serious demands upon the colony," The Government had acted promptly and firmly, and the matter had come out right. When the line wai seized they were told the consequences would be very serious to the colony ; bat when e»Ue4 anon to act the Government had not

wavered, and the result of their action had been successful. Had it been otherwise, their opponent! would never have dona talking and writing about the folly of the Government ; bnt as it had come onb right, whas had the Conservative press said about it P Nothing — simply nothing! Anyone oould have done the game. Of course they could, af tar it had been done. The action of tbe Government in oonneotion with the Midland railway ought to commend the Government to the people of the colony. Concerning the PASTORAL TENANTS' BELIEF BILt he desired to give some explanation. The winter of last year was fco severe that the losses caused in stock amounted to what he considered a national disaster. He thought his constituents would admit that, so far as he was personally concerned, ho owed nothing either privately, publicly, or politically to the people, whom that act was designed bo relieve. Those people had always been much opposed to him, bub he looked upon it ar his duty as » Minister of the Crown to do justice even to bis enemies. — (Applause.) He set aside apy feeling he might have, and prepared the Pattoral Tenants' Belief Bill, and he admitted that Be would have been un- I worthy of his position if he h*d allowed priv»te spleen to interfere with public duty. It had I been stated lately that the Government were not in unison as to this measure. That statement ho desired to contradict. He had the cordial support of his colleagues in this measure, and especially the candid support of the Premier, who, notwithstanding the fact that he had plenty of work of hi* own to attend to during the session, gave him assistance in putting together the Pastoral Tenants' Relief Bill, and always said he hoped he wonld take sufficient power to deal with the 1 matter in a statesmanlike .way. The Liberal party and the Labour members of the Housa, to their great credit, supported the measure in the most friendly mtnner, aad he hoped this would in future be remembered by those who had spoken so disparagingly of the Liberal party and particularly of the Labour members. The way in which this matter had been treated ought, he thought, to create a better feeling between the clais referred to and the Labour members. The Crown had an interest in- this matter. No Minister and no member of Parliament could overlook the faot that the Crown reeeired at tbe present time from the tenants comisg under the o&tegory of pastoral tenants referred to ia the bill £100,000 per annum in the shape of rents. If relief had not been granted large areas of country would have been abandoned, ultimately to become rabbit warrens, and as such an expense to the colony. He considered thab the commissioners of Crown lands and members of land boards deserved great credit for the manner in which they had gone into the matter, whioh involved grave aud intricate questions. He might aleo mention that the Government had made it a condition ef granting relitif to pastoral tenants thab the financial agents carrying them on should r*ko make some concessions, and he was glad to say thab they had been met very fairly. In many instances they had reduced the total indebtedness to a reasonable sum, and in ev«*ry case they had reduced the interest. The Government had insisted upon something being done, but he thought it right to tay they had been met very fairly. The result was thab these people who were almost ruined were materially relieved, and that the act was a success. The colony of course would suffer to a certain extent directly, but he was sure there would have been far more loss if this bill had not been passed. The losi of sheep in the various parts of the colony, owing to the ununual severity of the winter, was found up to the present time to be : — In Neleon, 35 656 ; Marlborongh, 5066 ; Canterbury, 347 242 ; Ofcago. 26^,516 ; -Southland, 24,717 ; and Westland, 2723, making a total of 679,921. The way in which these figure* were arrived at was to take the previous average loss, deduct that, then take tbe shearing tallies and calculate the loss. The loss this year directly to the reviwue would be, he thought, somewhere about £13,000. The exact amount wata not kn6nn, but ib would not be over £14,000 at anyrate. When they took into consideration tho fact that the colony received £100,000 from pastoral tenants it would be admitted that the Government had got out of it fairly well, and thab they had dove what was best in the intoreits of the country, and saved the ultimate loss of a large sura of meney. He felt that whatever seotion of the community might be concerned, as a Minister of the Crown he oould never allow his personal feeling to interfere with his political duty.— (Applause.) He thought they would adroit that the action of the Government in introducing THB ADVANCES TO SETTUBBS ACT ] was a good one, and that a large number of settlers, in the colony had been benefited by the opportunity of getting money at a lower rate of interest than they had paid before. He admitted that tbe machinery of the measure was rather defective. It was a completely, new m&ehine, and wanted a little oiling before it could run smoothly. Notwithstanding all disadvantages, howtyer, ib had been'a benefit to tbe people, for it had redacted' the price of money, and a large number* of persons at the present time were getting money ab 5 per cent, from original lenders because the latter knew their clients could get money oa those terms from the Government. Lately a leading politician made a statement in Wellington that it was a great mistake to encourage farmers to borrow on mortgages. That was true ; but it did nob get rid of the mortgages. Of the money which the Government were now lending, 65 per cent, was borrowed to retire mortgages previously in existence. If the Government had not come to the relief of those borrowers they would have had to go back to the money-lenders, lawyers, and finance agents. Besides reducing the price of money by that act, the Government had reduced the cost of valuing land for mortgages and the cost of preparation of mortgages, and had done away with the procuration fees altogether, so that there was no wonder that lawyers had a certain amount of " down " upon the act. If bhe act had not been administered so well, perhaps, as it might have been, that was not the fault of the measure itself so much as it was the fault of the len 'ing board. No doubt the meeting had seen in the papers how the Miuister for Lands had attended meetings of the board lately, and how he had been accused of all sorts of domineering over the members. The "position was that the act provided thab the Colonial Treasurer should be a member of the board when he could attend, and in the absence of that member of the Government the Minister for Lands was supposed to take his place, so that in the absence of Mr Ward from Wellington bhe speaker had to attend the meetings. He h&d never gone to any of the meetings prior to the time in question, and had known nothing of what wsb doing there, but he found it necessary to attend because complaints were coming to him privately and as Minister for Lands from a large number oV people in the colony who did nob believe that the Minister for Lands was nob running the show. The faot was that one of his clerks was kept busy continually replying to people who sent their com«

plaints to him. Be was advised by his col« leagues .to take bis seat ab the board, and when he aid so he soon found bow things were being dealt with, and how little the board know of tbe requirements of the' colony and about tbe valuations of property. 'He did nob wish to accuse these gentlemen of anything wrong, hut they had not the training or kaowledge to administer suoh a measnre. They were a!! oivil servants, who were good officials, b»t whwn they valued property they had no knowledge of what they were doing. Then the speaker told them a bit of his mind.' . He could M«wre the meeting he used no bad language — (langbtor)— bnt he told then very plainly what he thought of thorn. The papers of the eolooy were saying now that all safeguards had b«cn thrown, to the winds, bat he denied that was to, and said that all the applications for money which had been advanced by .khe board had been carefully looked into. He did not regret anything he had done in the -Matter. He thought id his duty, in the interests of the people, to comply with the law and take his seat at the board. Passing on to refer to THE TARIFF, he said (hey bad heard a great deal about the various deteats the Government had sustained while the tariff w»# under consideration, and about how they were knocked from pillar t< post. His experience of Parliament in New Zealand was that there never wae a tariff whici had not been treated in the same way. Mem« bera did on the last occasion what had been don* almost every time a tariff was before tha Honse. A great deal had been said to the effect that the tariff was opposed to farmers.' interests and in favour of other classes* bat he asserted that' the Government had endcaroured to bring about readjustment that would benefit all crasres without unduly pressing any. Some of the proposals the Government made to the House were defeated, bub ha thought farmers and the working olatwes ocnla not complain. He read a list of articles, including fencing wire, barbed win, theep shears, woolpaeks and pockets, and binder twine, which were now admitted free, bat were formerly subject to duty, and a&id it was impossible to carry these proposals without granting a quid pro quo protection to the workers on articles manufactured in the colony. The tariff was, however, now fettled, and he hoped there would net be another one in the time of the present Ministry— (laughter),— for h* could awure them it was one of the ' most trying things they had had to deal with. Respecting lAHD LBGI9LATIOH, he said he had great difficulty when the Government entered into office because their predecessOts in power had iitposed of all the good land with the exception ef a ceifofu amount of remnants, oat of whitb the present Government were exjn<t«d to create great sett'emeat. Large estates had been erected in all parts of the colony— m Canterbury by gridironing, in Ot*go by free selection, in Mariborongh by a system of pre-emptive righfr, and in the North Island by Native )a»A legwl*' tion under wbroh in the past private put* chasers were able to get large landed estates from the Natives. la Canterbury in particular Government did not know wher« to pat a settler who wanted laud, aud in Ot«go there were only a few scraps. The Government taw it was impossible to make great settlement under tteee cirrutnstancee, and so tbey first liberalised tbe general laws of the ooioay to such a degree that he thought they were the most liberal in the world, and then they went on to buy land for settlement. They created several syntems of land tenure, which were more suitable than had previously obtained for bush tenure in the Noith Island. They also created the association sjst-em, about which a great deal had beeo heard lately. On the fkabday that system opentd about 2000 perßons applied for land under it. That was all'uniurveyed and onroaded land, and in many oases it was 40 or SO miles from a road. It took some time to open up that country and make it aeoewible to paople who had applied to get on to it ; arid it was only last year that a large number of associations we're able to reach tbe land by means provider! for them. When the time came to pay rent and complete the leanes about 200 oat of the total of 2000 backed out. He bad s»id before thab if 75 per cent. of the 2000 went on the land and complete d thwr bargair* and improvements it would be a great (success. Baft the defection of that 200 waa stized upon by the Opposition papers, which declared tke whole thing was a ghastly faitar*. What, however, did the Government tie ? Tbey put the sections belonging to those 200 people o« th« market under the ordinary land laws, and almost all were taken up on the fir»t day cm wkioh they were opened. Sioee tbe Goveruaoeat te«k office they had purchased Nadir* l*&d« fco th« value of £358,000, the area bei»g 1,609,960 acres, and d great portion of that lead had been settled upon by EurojpaMß. The money that wm put into' Native land was, he ventured to say, tbe btsb investment that tho people of the colony oould possibly hart, fer, as a rule, they bought lab 4 from tbe Native* cheaply, paying as low as 4» per acre for some and as high as 5s 6d for ether. They wen not, however, taking advantage of »the Natives in that, for a large amount of this land would be valueless to the Natives until the ooioay »ade roads on it, and it w*« his duty to see that the colony got the land iftst and put the expenditure on it afterwards, so that the people of the colony would bare the benefit of t«e expenditure. Moreover, the Natives who sold to the Crown retained large blocks for theaiMlves, which would increase in value after the exp*nditure had gone on. Ai to the gene**! land policy throughout the colony, the Government had since they came into office, up to 31st December last, in one way and another put 10,902 settlers on 2,404,925 acres, giving an average of 228 acreß each. That was, it would be admitted, a fair average, very different to that of the previous Government, who disposed of land at the rate of thousands of acres to some individuals. It was now gettißg very difficult to meet the requirements of the people in the way of getting land for lettlemenb, for Crown lands were getting less every day. All the Crown lands had been disposed of up to the foot of the mountains, and if they took any more of the low-lying lands at the edge of tha mountains, then the back country mutt be given np by sheep-farmers. It was % big question as to what was to be done with that high country, for the Government could only expect to get rents from it by leaving a fair share of winter country to be leased along with it. The only possible way to meet the demand for land for tettlement in future was to buy land back from the present proprietors ftt a price at which it would be profitable to pub settlers on it*. In connection with tbe land for settlemeut scheme, a great deal had been said that wan not true, and perhaps a few things had been said which had a portion of troth in them. The Government had not been able to do much nntil the compulsory clauses were enacted, and they had only been in force for 21 months. During the short time the act had been in operation 20 estates had been purchased, and those had been dispoted of and wer« yielding 5 per cent. Other seven estates had been pot* chased, but tbe date for the payment of par* ohaie money had not yet arrived. For another large area the Government were at the Dreara*

.Sme In negotiation. The Bum of £271 80 J had be«n spent in that way, the area purchased being 194,207 acres, and for an area of 33,004 acres neg< tiatiors were now prcoaeJlog. This year the Govern ment would be able to do a great deal more in the way of the purchaee of. estates, and thus they hope! to be able to meet tbe demand for land for settlement. A great <3e»l had bcon said aboat tbe Blind river estate in Marlborough, wfcich was recommended, fctrongiy to the Government by the board Whose duty it was •to report on all estates prior to purchase. Ths Conservativa ! papers in tbe disttiob ma down the estate in j fench a waj that nobody went near it, and of 22 i sections only five were taken np on the first day the property was opened. After these five selectors got on the land tbey induced five more jfco take up sections, and at the beginning ot the year these 10 persons threshed oat such a mognificcnt crop that when their^wheat was taken to Blenheim the estate was rushed, and only three sectioss were now unlet and the property was yielding 4$ per cenb. To show his audisnee what infernal lying statements were made reipecting some of the estates purchased by the Government he read a criticism by the Evening Pest upon the Pnketapn purchase, and ask«d whether anything ceuld be more absurd than that. At Gisborne, a local paper published a bogus balance sheet of the Cheviot estate,, and when he gave the true balance sheet at a public meeting at Giaborne the paper in question never' mentioned the Cheviot estate in fts report of his address. He cautioned his audience when they heard statements about estates bought by the Government to remember what had been said about the Pu&etapn estate. The Government had lately been doing a great deal in putting people on the land under the land improvement farm system. Over 500 people had, since that system was started, gone on a piece of land, being paid for folfiag the timber on it and grassing itaudreoeivingaasistanee towards putting a honss oa it. He ventured to say if the people of the oolony and Parliament were prepared to give sufficient money there would be no end to tha good they could do in that way, and to the number of people they could put on the land. Since he had taken office between this system and the village settlement - system he had put 2000 working mea with families, or an estimated total of 10,000 persons, on land who would not have got there if it had not bean for these systems. One thing W6S ihovrn by experience to be necessary, and that was that land boards should have a right to select settlers to keep out the iudifferent acd only allow bonajide working men, who^vore in earnest, to go on the land and take up allotments. The Government had been accused of doing nothing for the working men, but the first year they were in office they expended £99 554 on roads, aud for the next three years these sums inrreasrd. Tho amount expended last year was £219.129, and for nine months of this year it was £180 000. ao tha.t by the end of the year, about £250,000 would have i<eeu expended on the roads and bridges of the colony. Out of tbat money they h&d found work for 2§53 men in the first year, for 3874 in jthe second, for 3371 in the third, and last year for 3125. It had been complained that Ihe Government bad dona nothing living its teim of office, but he replied thit th«y had completely revolutionised the incidence of taxation. They had created a live land policy. No one could deny that the Maerewheuua and Cheviot purchases and others were a great success. This year the Government h»d received 14,500 odd sovereigns out of the Cheviot for rent, or over 5 per cent, on the purchase money. He thought it a shame and a icand&l that Conservative paper* should be continually picturing Cheviot eettlers aa person* who did not pay tlieir-renb. SeetDg that these settlers paid their rent regularly, he thought they had a good case for libel against these papers, and he would strongly advise them to go for them. In the Maerowhenua there were already signs of progress.. Several houses were np, and he was told a crop of turnips was most Bueceesfful. Then there were already 20 children attending school from the estate, and the number was daily increasing. — (Laughter.) The Government had besides cheapened the" price of money. They had opened up the country with roads to a degree which had never been done by any previous Government. They had given settlers the benefit of an organised Agricultural department, they bad restored the r*il«rays to the people, tbey bad saved the country from financial panic, they had extended the working railways as far as the money would permit, they had striven, to open up markets for prodnca, they had cheapened the public services, and they bad, despite, the depression, maintained a sound finance. These statements would/be disputed by no one who gave honest fair play, and if tbat were grafted he thought he had shown tbat the Government had done some service to the colony. It w&s their intention NEXT SESSION to introduce a Fair Bent Bill, whioh had paraed its second reading last session on the nnderaUndiug that it would not be pushed farther until the following session. He had no hopes lh.»t it would pass into law for he was sure it would be blocked in the Upper House, but the qaestion would be one for the people to consider »t the general election, and he ventured to say the pnblic would decide in its favour. Hia idea was cot to interfere with any conditions in leases excepting to review cents only, and he would make the review apply alike to landlords and tenants. They would all admit that it was very wrong to expect any man to give his landlord more rent for land than he cou'd get out of it, for if so he mast rob somebody else. — (Applause.) Another bill which the Government hoped to be able to introduce and pass into law was the F*k Interest Bill. At the present time, as it appeared from applicatioi'B which were made under the Advances to Settler* Act, as high as 15 per cent, was recently paid by some settlers on freehold security. If that was tbe case why could not the State say that it should not be legal for a man to sus for interest like that in a court of law ? It was Absurd 'to say that the colony should allow legislation to stand on the Statute Book which ■would allow any usurer to charge auch rates. Then the Government hoped to have a State Fire Insurance Bill introduced. He did not see why the fttatp. should not take fire insurance as well as life insurance, and' he saw no reason why local bodies in Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington, and Auckland should not have their own insurances for their people. He thought that with a little aid from the State they could do so without serious risk. A big contract which the Government had in hand for next session was the Local Government Bill, which proposed to reducn the number of local bodies and to do away with a great deal of official expenditure that was going on at the present time. .He was afraid it would be impossible to psss that measure in the coming session, bat be had do doubt it wonld- be a question for fchfi next election. No Government ever ia office did so much as the present Government had done to place the control, of * IHB LIQUOB- TRAFFIC In the hands of the people, bnt they were told they were sot going fas «BOUgh. The Govern*

ra«nt proposed to the portions of tbe bill which* were thrown out last session as to the control of clubs and giving the people a j. voice as to whether they were prepared to have | national prohibition. His own opinion was that | if there was to be prohibition at all it should be national prohibition, bo that there would not [ ba alcoholic liquor sold by the gallon in one co-ncr of the colony and none sold in another place. The Government asktd the public to be content with three-fifths majority before prohibition could be carried. A large number of "prohibitionists desired a bare majority, bub if that were conceded they mast also give a bare majority ; and he was afraid that if tho principle of a b*re majority were accepted there would be a continual see-saw, io that for one term of tbrea years they would have prohibition and then open publtctiouses for (she next three years. I'or that reason ho thought the threenfths majority would ba batter, so that there would be no likelihood of going; back on what was don^ CONCLUSION. It was only by efforts such as Government bad been making in the varioua matters hi had referred to that night and in other nutters that the country could progress, -and people could be made prosperous aad happy. We should avoid folio wing in the footsteps of the country from which many had come, and which drove the people away to make room for deer and sbeep, and we should avoid crowding people into towns, but should as much as . possible make them producers on the soil. He ', would say this to those who might be ' rich and prosperous, that they shou'd remombsr that 50 years hence their grandchildren might' be poor, and the poor of to-day might be rich ytt He asked them to remember when consisting legislation in a country like tbia. that tliKj should not place barriers in the way .of the poor, that they should let them have fair play, aud that they should let their indaitry i carry them to- the front if they could. It was '. only by legislation like that that any country 1 could become prosperous oc a great nation.— (Loud applause.)

Ia answer to a question, Mr M'Kenzie said tnat'itftex the experience he had had in Parliament he thought it would b* hnposaib-'e foe any Governme&t in. the colony to c«rry on onder the elective Executive system.

On the motion of Mr J. Atkle, seconded by Mr D. Bi'Leod, a vote of thauka to the Hon. J. M'Keozie- for bis address and confidence in him and tha Government was carried unanimously*