THE PREMIER AT INVERCARGILL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2206, 11 June 1896, Page 54

THE PREMIER AT INVERCARGILL.

(By Oub Special Reporter.) Invercargill, June 3. The Premier, Hon. R. J. Seddon, arrived by this afternoon's express, after making a record time trip from Wellington, and was met by a large crowd ab the station, which he had to address from the carriage which was awaiting him before he could get away. He nexb drove with the Hon. J. G. Ward, the mayor, and members of his Recaption Committee bo bhe A. and P. Association's winter show a 4;a 4 ; the Zealandia Hal), where he again gave another address of half an hour's duration perbaining to mabters agricultural, • pastoral, dairying, fruib growing, &c. The theabre, where he commenced a political address ab 8 o'clock, was densely packed by 7.20. The Hon. bhe Colonial Treasurer and a large number of ladies and citizens occupied seats on bhe platform. The Mayor (Mr J. Sinclair) who was in bhe chair, expressed the Rei-epbion Con>mitbee's bhanks bo the Pollard Opera Company for poetponing their opening night here so thab the Premier could address them from that platform. The Premier, on lising, received a warm reception. He said however hostile bhe Conservative press mighb be, they would have to admit bhab this was the record meeting of Invercargill. As Premier he was delighted to meet them and the people of New Zealand in every place to explain to them the true state of affairs of the country. He thought ib was more important bhab Ministers should bravel about and meet the people in this way face to face than thab they should stay in Wellington and sign «« R. J. 6." or "J. G. W." to a number oi papers placed before them by undersecretaries. If the ptople depended upon the press of tbe colony putting tho true state of public affairs before them they would nob get ib, because 90 to 95 per cenb. of the press of New Zealand were bitterly opposed to him and his Administration. The gallant capbain who addressed them bhe other nighb bold them he was warned on his way down nob bo try humbugging or misleading the people of Inverca>-giil, thus condemning himself by his own words, because ib showed bhab his friends thought ib necessary to warn him. Nobody ever warned him (the Premier). This becaute they knew he did nob need ib, as he always told them bhe truth and no humbug. Despite this warning, CAPTAIN RUSSELL, he would show them, did deliberately humbug them. Here was an instance. He was quoting from bhe Southland Times, which musb be accurate: — "A. W. Buxton asked him if returned bo power would he be in favour of bhe compulsory baking of land for settlement, bo which he replied bhab he had no inbenbion of repealing the present Land Acb." Now, there was no more connection whatever between the Land Acb and the Lands for Settlement Acb thau between the two poles. Did they nob see by his answer bhab he was evading bhe quesbion and humbugging them and Mr Buxton P And he (Mr Seddon) h&d no doubb two-thirds of bhe captain's audience went away with the impression that he was in favour of the compulsory taking of lands for closer settlement. Yet they knew he was nob. Captain Russell told his audience at Hastings and other places in bhe . North Island tbab he was strongly opposed to it, and they knew bow he bad always opposed ib iv his place in bhe House and elsewhere. Again, did he nob condemn himself when he bold them the Government had no policy, and a lifcble laber on eaid the Government policy had harassed capital and industries and driven capital into other channels, and then finished up by saying there -was very little difference between the policy of the Governmenb and bhab of the Opposition ? On bhe Opposition they had on bhe one side Capbain Russell, who said the only satisfactory tenure of bhe land was the freehold system, while his friend Sir R. Stout said the land must be nationalised. And bhey were directly opposed on the liqnor question. Captain Rusfell advocated a "go and drink as you please " policy, while Sir R. Stout said " You shall only drink cold water." Captain Russell told them they (bhe Opposition) were weak in numbers bub nob in intellect. And when speaking of the blind followers of the Government did they not obs-rve he was insulting them?— (Cries of "No.") Well, gentlemen, if you permit anyone to tell you thab you send representatives to Parliamenb without brains, I say you cannot easily be insulted. If Capbain Russell had said bhe Opposition had more cash bhan the party he (Mr Seddon) had the honour to represent, bhab would have been stating what was nearer the truth ; and they were going to use ib to try and get back into power ab the nexb election, for he was bold they had already collected a fighting fuud for bhe. coming election of over £5000. Bub he was sure, with all their expenditure, they would not succeed in bribing the intelligent electors of New Zealand, and thab gave him good hearj; to fight on, as he would do to thn bitter end. Last year, in Dunedin, Capbain Ru'stll likened himself and Mr W. Mitchelson bo the heavenly bwins. Now he had bhrown over Mr Mitchelson and allied himself wibh Sir Hubert Stont. He also told them that the Colonial Treasurer and bhe Premier had used very improper language when speaking of their opponents, and thab they had used in referring to him an ugly word containing four letters. He (Mr Seddon) denied bhe charge, bub bhe captain, speaking in several places up north, said he (Mr Seddou) was the partner of Sf quah and an impostor, and thab he possessed a brass tongue and leather lungs, while the Government policy was one of bounce, bluster, bluff, and bunkum, and that he (Mr Seddon) was the head of the seven devils of Socialism. Now he considered he should not be worthy of bhe position he occupied if he had used the language and terms he was accused of to his political opponents. Capbain Russell likened him on Monday night in thab theatre to a hunted old boar, who had set his stern against bhe hill, snapping and snarling at everybody and everything. Now he would ask them bo say who was being hunted and who was doing the hunting. The capbain was there on Monday night, and he (Mr Seddon) was there thab nighb. Captain Russell would be ab Christchurch addressing bhe elecbors on Thursday nighb, and he (Mr Seddon) would bebhere on Friday night. (Interruption.) He (Mr Seddon) maintained thab he was entitled to bake the speech piece by piece — (dissenb)— and poinb oub ibs inaccuracies.—(Cheers.) If he did nob bhe Opposition press would say he ctuld nob of was afraid to, and therefore he should not miss a single item of ifs. He w?s following Captain Russell up north, and at Hatings, hi-s own elec v orate, he got an almost unanimous vote of confidence in his Government Now they had sent Sir R Sfcoub to apeak there this week, and he (Mr Seddon) thought thab was a bib unfair. It was double-banking, and was like bhe little boy eending for his big brother to come and do bhe fighting for him. They would be sending down to Invercargill a big brother, he expected, in a day or two. Capbain Russell told them ib was nob the same parby in power as they elected to power six years .9 go, He. (the

Premier) said it was, and that the last eleotions showed that was so most unmistakably. Captain Russell bewailed the loss of Mr Ballance, and shed a crocodile tear over the loss of this great and good man ; bub when alive the Opposition bad hated him as much as they did him (Mr j Beddon) now. When that good man was dying they had to send one-of their Ministers to one of the Opposition press in Wellington asking them to suppress their venomous writings about Mr Ballance for a few days, and let him die in peace. In the same hypocritical style did they refer to the loss of Mr Beeves, Mr Montgomery, Sir W. Perceval, and others. The Opposition said they were confident of success at THE COMING GENERAL ELECTION, but he (Mr Seddou) would' not be surprised to find the gallant captain missing at the nexb roll call, as their previous leader was after the last elections. Again the leader 0! the Opposition said that tbere were 1318 less babies born in New Zealand last year than there ought to have been, and that the Government were responsible for it. Here he would tell them that during his term of office there had been an increase of 7500 souls to the colony's population, while during the three years of Captain Russell's and Major Atkinson's administration there h«d been a decrease of 14,000 in the population. Last year, he was told, was the best lambing season the colony had had for years. Well, why did the Opposition nob give the Government .credit for that. Ib would bs quite as consistent as some of their ■other statements. — (To a Queßtioner: "I am giving you what Captain Kussell gave you.") Why did you not ai»k him for politics ? The good old Tories say, Let there be the small farmers and the big farmers, and the unfortunate man to work a3 they had at Home. He (Mr Seddon) said they would never have this state of things in this colony if they stood true to themselves and the great Liberal cause. In reply to Captain Russell, he (the Premier) denied that he had a single written pledge from any member of Parliamenbtosupporthim, and asfortheacousation that the Government had treated the member for Inveroargill with discourtesy because he had on certain occasions voted against them, he was positive they had never done such a thing, and he appealed to Mr Kelly whether wbab he was stating was true or npt. — (Mr Kelly, from the body of the hall, said : "- 1 acknowledge that.") Mr Seddon : There, gentlemen, I knew Mr Kelly would do me justice, and he has done so, and I always remember that if I am rude to any member I am rude to the men and women who sent that member to Parliament. Continuing, the Premier said tbe colony was in a much more PROSPEROUS CONDITION now than it was in 1890. If they took a few statistics of Southland only, he thought he would convince them on this ecora. The number of post office savings bank accounts in 1890 as 3791, in 1895 5688— an iuorease»of 1897. The deposits in 1890 were £54,300, in 1895 £103,710, an increase of nearly £50,000. The withdrawal! in 1890 were £48,401; in 1895, £81,001. The income tax for Jnvorowgill in 1893 was £1357, but in 1895 6 £1620 The population of Southland in 1896 wa5' 43,876 In 1891 it was 36,988— an increase of 6888,— 50 thst the shortage of babies ca^ot be charged to Southland. The income per head of population, was £41, or the h'ghesfc of any country in the world. He would now tell them how most of the land was held in New Zealand. In Hawke's Bay there are 78 owners of blocks of labd of 1000 acres and upwards, who occupy 290,360 acres, of a value of £1,037 914, or an average for each owner of £13.300. Forty owners own 10,000 acres and upwards, • occupying 1,145,038 acres, of a value of £3,269,360, or an averajie value for each of £71,000. The total was 124 holderp, who owned 1,435,398 acres of a value 'of £4,307,274, or an average of £34,736. Amongst these 124 persons was Captain Russell, the leader of the Opposition. To come to Southland, there are 112 holders holding 1000 to 10,000 acres', being 278,754 acres of a capital value of £634,500, th«j value for each holder being £5665. There are nine holders who hold 10,000 acres and upwards in all 158,312 acres of a capital value of £367,268, the average value of each holder's interest bdng £40,807. And he might here state that ib was quite true what had been said by the late Mr John Sbeehan, once Native Minister, that some of the titles in the Hawke's Bay district were smearei with blood and rum. He had seen one of them biuiself. The compulsory taking of LAND FOR SETTLEMENT purposes wag next referred to. There was nothing unfair in its proposals. They gave fair value for the land tiken. Arbitration Boards were provided for under the acb, so that justice might be done to all parties concerned. If they increased the indebtedness of the colony uuder this acb, ib was no leis true that the colony gob ample value for the increased outlay. — (Applause.) It was a policy of wisdom and foresight. If they doubted that for one moment they had ouly bo refer bo the condition of certain older countries, suoh as Ireland, and to a great extent Scotland also. Alluding bo the former, he said that bhe wanb of land for settlement purposes was direcly and indirectly responsible for the loss of at least a million of its population, and did they wish a similar state of matters in this young country P No man left his native land if he could possibly live in ib. Ib was bhe absence of bhe means of livelihood that drove them away bo other lands. To some extent the same thing had arisen in this colony. In bhe year 1890 he himself had seen men forced bo leave ■the colony for wanb of work. It was a painful sight to witness fathers and brothers driven away to other lands in search of the means of livelihood. He had witnessed these scenes on the wharf at Wellington. It reminded him of scenes he had witnessed many years before in Liverpool, and ib left a sbrong impression on his mind. The Highlands of Scotland furnished another notable example of the effects of this depopulation. There a few of the favoured ones required for their own amusement and the entertainment of their friends large tracts of sountry set apart for deer fo-ebts. 'To gratify thab artificial requirement hundreds of men, women, -and children had to clear oub at a moment's notice, and give up their homes and their kindred in order thab bhose great ones mighb enjoy their favouribe pastimes. There was no consideration given to humanity. Humanity had to be sacrificed to mere personal gratification. Deer were wanted, and men and women had to give place to deer. Their policy as a Governmenb was to have none of these things reproduced in New Zealand. New Zealand did not require deer walks, and they were determined that; the lund sbou'cl bs kept and employed for the higliar, the nobler purposes of humanity. — (Applaufle.) With a proper adjustment and distribution of the land for the people these evils would be averted, and peace, happiness, and prosperity would reiga in their midsb. — (Applause ) Ib was the prosperity of the country districts tuab wits mainly depended upon. If the country districts were prosperous, prosperity must of necessity extend to the towns, and ib was largely in recognition of thab facb thab the Lands for. Settlement Act 'had been sussed, for the

more beneficial settlement of their lands; Under the operations of bhe properby tax theie lands and country settlements had generally been most unfairly dealt wibh. Ib operated as a tax on thrift, and the more improvements that were made bhe heavier the impost bec*me. Captain Russell was one of bhose who were responsible for having placed that ,tax on thsic -, shoulders. So much enamoured was be of it that he actually wanted the last eleotion to ba ran on ibs lines. Now that he found ib waq'nob' acceptable to the body of the elector*, he coolly came before them and told them he was willing that THE LAND TAX should remain on the Statute Book. They had relieved at least 5000 bona fide sebtlers by the land tax of a serious and ab bhe same time a mosfc unfair burden. In effect, that was the crime they were to answer for at the ensuing election. That being bo, he was quite prepared to accepts his share of the responsibility, and as head of the Governmenb he was willing to appeal to that tribunal. — (Applause.) Captain Rn»sell had never said ib, bub still it was rumoured that he proposed, if he gob the opportunity, to make certain alterations in tha tax by abolishing the graduation and reducing the exemptions. Th*t was currenbly reported to be his intention, although he had never said so when he was before them tho other m'ghb. He (Mr Seddon) wished bbab question had been pub to him ;, in faob, if he had thought of ib he would have sent them a wire so as to offer an opportunity for the real faobs of the caie being elicited. The Government had no intention whatever of interfering wibh this acb. If ib was found that more money was required, what- they would do was to increase ibs application, and by thab means pub the burdens on those who were besb able to bear them. Despite their aversion to the act, ib was a notorious facb that these gentlemen kept on increasing their holdings. Hawke's Bay afforded numerous instances of that fact. He gave particulars of one case in point, thab of a settler named Hunter.— (A Voice: "Then why did the Government nob acquire his land if he was getting too much P") I Simply because the Governmenb had nob power to deal with all theie cases ab ones. Bub he hoped next session a law would be made which would enable him to do so. — (Applause ) Captain Russell told them thab bhe Opposition was weak, and thab bhe House had become a mere debating society. Now, as a mabter of facb, bhe great bulk of the talking was done by the Opposition. Had the Governmenb party followed them in that respect the business would never have been done; they might have lat the whole year round, and done nothing bub talk. If the Opposition was weak as regards numbers, they certainly were strong in lung power.— (Applause.) Another grave accusation made by Captain Russell was that THE TREABURBR had made a trip all round the world on his own private business ab the cost of the colony. A more ungracious remark could nob possibly have been made. Had the Treasurer looked after his own affairs wibh anything like the same amount of effort he made on behalf of the public business, certain announcements now being made in the public press would nob have appeared. Ib was, as he said, a mosb ungracious remark to make, and no man could possibly have deserved it ~ less than their Tc>'imiror.— (Applause.) He noted with grave apprehension a tendency of this kind creeping into the politics of the colony. Whatever their political dissensions might hitherto have been, they never descended to an attack upon one's private character. Now, for bhe first time, they found thab wholesome rule bciag departed from, and the private affairs of motnbera ruthlessly assailed for political purposes. Ib was a common thing in America, and ib grieved him very much to find it imported into bhia place. In America a shorb plan had been found bo deal with the abuse, and he would very much regret the necessity for similar measures being resorted to in this colony. All he would say was thab ib ill* became those who lived in glass houses to throw stones. Come whab mighb, he had nob"" the slightest doubb but bhab b&6y would stand true to bhe Treasurer politically. — (Loud applause.) Capbain Russell also bold them of two abortive treaties entered into by bhe Treasurer. As a matter of fact ib was no fault of his that thosa treaties had proved abortive. The complaint was bhab New Soubh Wales had been left oub. The truth was tho Treasurer did his besb to get New South Wales to establish a reciprocity treaty. The Premier of th»t colony would not have ib, and bhab w«s why New Suatb Wales was lef b oub. Then as regards the South Australian treaty, ib was so very good in the interests of the colony that the Parliament to South Australia refused to ratify it. A. very great deal had been made of the speech delivered by Mr Ward at the London Chamber of Commerce. Ib seemed as if they were never bo hear the end of it. As a mabter of faob thab speech was delivered to men who were intimately acquainted with the finance of New Zealand, and they were not at all likely to be misled by anything that might have been, stated if the intention was to mislead them, Mr Ward was perfectly correct in whab he stabed. The securities were theire and they were pledgeable, bub only pledge&ble in bhe evenb -of dire disaster or panic arising. Thab was all Mr Ward stated or desired them to understand. An Opposition paper in Chrislchurch — the Press — now admitted what he had just stated— viz., tbab theie securities were pledgetble in the event of a panic «uch as he had mentioned arising. Ib was nonsense to say that these securities were solely responsible for the savings bank deposit on, life polioie*, &o. The real reason w»s that the land and the people were securities for these. — (Ap« pjause.) The Treasurer's visit to England

bad been a matter of very great importance to the colony. He had got a redaction in the iutsreat from £8000 to £4000. Captain Rnssell did not tell 1 them that. He then read a quotation to prove that Captain Rnssell had said capital had been driven out of New Zealand by their perpetual threats against capital and capitalist?, and. yet he told them; on Monday night he had never said so, and that he (Mr- Seddon) had, with his usual inaccuracy, charged afm with having made this statement. Referring to the CHUAP MONET FOR SETTtBHS, the Government were lending it at 5 pet cent., and not 6as stated ; the 1 pet cent, being- a sinking, fund, which paid off the whole loan, principal and interest, in 36 years. Again r they were, told' that only £450,000 had been lent out, but over £600,000 had been lent to settlers, and be was glad to notice thatf many of them in Southland were taking advantage o£ it. The captain, told them he^he Premier)' had' »afd the Government had saved over a million by the introduction of cheap money to the peoplo of New Zealand, but he could not see how. " What he (Mr Sedtfbn)' said" was that by the saving of interest/ by- 6ha cheap- money polioy the people of the colony who had private mortgages and overdrafts got reductions in rates which would: amount to a. saving of one million, Ho estimated this amount, in this way : Saving of 2 per cent, on £30,000,000 of mortgage money, and the Bam eon £30,000,000 of overdrafts and discounts. Referring to the 1 per cent, sinking- fundy he waff in favour, after conferring.' with, the Colonial Treasurer;, that it, should be left optional with, .the borrower whether Be paid 1 a I per centr. sinking 1 fond or not. If not, of course lie would get his loan at & net cent. With referenceto the £87,000 the captain spoke of as aulossiOnthe first year's working oi this department, it wonld not amouut to anything like that., There would be,, it was true,, some loss on the first year, but this had been all provided for from the very commencement by the Colonial Treasucer, who had' worked out the amount the borrowers pa ; d for tneir Joans over what the colony wan borrowing, so as to provide a profit which in tha end would, more than cover all costs of administration and tfae dieoouofrin floating the loan. He (Air Seddon) was charged with joining an JiNOEO GERMAN GOLD SYNDICATE 1 . When the hon. gentleman said this he thought he "(the Premier) was cafe in Wellington and could nob answer this charge just now. He eaid it was the. name of B J. Seddon, ' Premier of New Zealand, that was wanted, and not plain R. J. Seddon. He (Mr Seddon) had been offered since he had been -^Premier - eeveral offices with salaries of much greater value than what he received now, in one instance double that amount, provided be left the Government. So they wonld see he was worth something as plain R. J. Seddon, of Kumar*. He had refused several of these offers, but the post be dqw occupied' was simply one of advioer with a Mr Horfcon, owner of that Conservativt* journal the Auckland* Herald-.- They cosnpooed the Advising Board, and it was their, duly simply to advise on the value of properties offered to the company. These dulics would not clash: with Ms public duties. Ha tnooght in thid' position he could ba of service to the colouy and be a safeguard lo legitiraatejnv«stment. It wag jealousy which had largely caused these criticisms. Captain Russell thought bis party were the only people who could be trusted wifh capital. Now they saw ha. (the Premier) was trusted too, they called it a German company. The only thing lh.*fe was (JeiHian about it was- the manager. What would one of the leadiVg gentleman in 1 a certain syndicate at Round Hill say if because they employed Chinese we were to call them an Angio-Chineee company P THET CHARGED MINISTEH3 with having no other means' of~ a livelihood but what they derived from their political offices, bat these c&arges he hoped he had' proved to. them fc>'b& false. Then his friend end colleague the Colonial Treasurer had; been charged with leaving the details of his department to the- under - secretaries while t avelliiig round t&e country, yet Captain Rupsell, in the House, had said Ministers interfered too much with: these departmental officers. He would say tfrera hnd never been any previous Miuisfers in Now Zealand who bad done their work so faiih<uily and' attended to details as the members of the- present Government had done. It was, said they had refused, to give certain returns- These returns had often bsen used b°y their opponents to the- injury, of the colonyv therefore) they refused to supply them, , and should* continue to do so until satisfied a legitimate use would be made, of them. He instanced the ob&/ge tbat had baen made that &» trip- into 1 the Uri-wera country as Native Minister had cost the country £630, whereas 1 it did not cost, more- than £150. _ The larger; amount was .the total expense* of the Native department for th& year,, yet the Opposition Bad 60,000 pamphlets printed and* distributed to misrepresent aud injure him in this respect. He drew- a- camp*rfeoa wit& * trip made by the Hui. .Captain Russell, Mr Fergus, anji others, oyer the North Island Truuk railwsy, which' tori greatly- against tkem., la reference fo tne charge that the railway reveniis had fallen off, for his purpose Captain Russell ' had selected a year for unfavourable comparison,, in which, the- colony grew 2; 000,000) less buß&els.of wheat than usual, and a year m which the Government had made concessions to the travelling public,- fruit-growers, farmers, and others of over £40,000. The captain had said, our customs revenue a* compared' with 189J wourd show- a falling off this year of £95,000. It would surprise bim when the Financial Statement was laid before the House to learn' that the enstoms revenue had increased by £70,000:. In connection wiiJt their taking- '• tha' accretions, of the local bodies' sinkTcg'funds', he went? into a long explanation, stating tihat Sir Robert Stout sdmitte£ whsir they bad done was 1 quite- legal, but very improper. Bub he (t&a Premier) foot the view that future generations should pay their ■ fair share of tfne goad things- that this generation left behind them, and he expected they hod &>sr<J;tili&l*B<7of- these- charges against the Government;. He said they were prepared to _discoHH. thePublrc Works Estimates,, snd offered to'tuke a debate on the first two items, and have a general debate in Committee, but Sir Robetfc Stout had made an engagement to go to some musical party to make some presentation, and therefore moved a motion to report progress, which motion was rejected, and then, so tbat they mrgat< pose before the country as martyrs tb>y l'efb the House in a body— a- more ignoble exhibition it was difficult to imagine. The speaker next referred to the railway revenue, and showed that under the preient Administration' the returns had. been increased, besides which important concessions had beeamade-to tliepnblic. Indeal- , ieg with the tariff" question; he showed ttiat the increase aflud'td to by Captain Russell had not in any way operated prejudicially, and that the consumption of the various articles bad been, asr grfcafc aa ever. Ina- surplus for the year would' be not fees than £2(J0",0W. Referring to i

THE POMCT OF THE GOVEENMENT, he* said that they intended to retain the land tax, the taking of land compulsorily, and the cheap money scheme. The Chinese question would also be dealt with. A long exfcrncb was read from one of Captain 1 Russell's speeches to prove that he was in favour o? Chinese emigration. The Premier also indicated the desirability ofstep3 being taken to prevent consumptive patients from settling in the colony and .becoming incorporated in its domestic life. Many persons so afflicted came out here and, getting temporary relief, married, and the disease 1 again made its appearance in the offspring. At the conclusion of the- speech,, which lasted till 11.45 p.m., *. vote of tbawks and cowfitlsnce was passed on a show of. Lauds, only two bauds being held up against? It. ADDRESS BY THE TREASURER. The cheering att the conclusion of the , Premier's speech having subsided, there were : loud! and persistent calls for Mr Ward, who, ab the invitation of the chairman, rose to aidrojs the meeting, and received an enthusiastic Gv&lion. Mr Ward delivered a ehorb but vigorous eptech, in which he pointed out that while the leader of fehe Opposition decried the Government and condemned their action, he had made no attempt in all tha speeches he had recently delivered to lay before tha electora of New Zealand any form of policy whatever, bub, on tbe contrary, had admitted that, if returned to office, he would leave intact the principal measures which the- Government had, in the face \ of. the mesb determined opposition of himself and his friends, successfully pvsed, including the- present system 1 of taxation. Having discovered that it was impossible to overthrow the Government by attacking their policy, some , Opposition members had resorted to personal recrimination srg*iust three members of the Ministry, including bimeelf, whom, as they all .knew, they had nob scrupled to injure privately. But he prophesied that, notwithstanding all thi?, tha country would at the ' general 1 elections refuse to return to power men | whoso only aim seemed to. be to wreck the Government by tactics such' as these. They admitted th«y had no policy of their own, and even their prominent members sensned to be --divided as to which of the Government measures they would nurse if returned to power. I Mr Ward resumed hid seat amidit prolonged cheering.