THE HON. J. GAVAN DUFFY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2241, 11 February 1897, Page 53

THE HON. J. GAVAN DUFFY.

AN INTERVIEW. The Hon. J. Gavan Duffy, Postmastergeneral of Victoria, is at present in Dunedin, and yesterday morning a representative of this paper waited upon him and requested him to state his opinions upon certain questions into which he has been making inquiries in the colony since his arrival at Auckland about three weeks ago. Mr Duffy courteously consented to the request, and the following is the conversation that ensued :—: — I believe, Mr Duffy, part of your mission to New Zealand is to gather information concerning the question of old age pensions ? Yes, that is so. This is a question which has been ventilated in the Victorian Parliament; indeed it has come up in several other Parliaments as well. We discussed it last session, and, on behalf of the Government, I undertook to appoint a Royal Commission to inquire into j the whole question. In my tour through your i colony I have been gathering information as to what has been done hsre in the matter and as { to what is now being done, and I have also inquired into the grounds upon which the Government aro acting. The Hon. Mr M'Kenzie, the acting-Premier, and Mr Mason, who has the matter more immediately in charge, were kind enough to give me all ' information and to collect all the authorities

• for me. It is a very difficult question to deal with. In Viotoria we have uo plan at present lor coping with it, but the Royal Commission will take all the evidence they can gather and Lu ike suggestions as to tuture action. Have yon also studied the New Zealand charitable aid system P I have. I was glad to have the opportunity of making inquiries into the system, and Dr MacGrcgor placed a large quantity ot informa1 tion at my disposal, for which I am indebted to I him. In Victoria we drafted a bill last session | founded to a great extent upon the New Z?aJand acts, and for that reason I was glad, as I I have »lready said, to get aa much information as possible as to how your system worked out and as lo where lay the difficulties aud th^ weakneftfle*. Our system at present is not rbfbest. Different people aoout the country raise funds for the various hospitals by means of bazaar?, concerts, hospital Saturday ami Sunday, aud »o forth, aud the Government give £100,000 a year, which the treasurer, who is generally the Premier, distribute* as he plea.si' 3 among the :M*eitnti'>jas that require help. He fulfils h ■» fa-ik fairly enough, but there ia no | system for him to work by, and nobody can tell why any particular hospital receives any particular sjim. We are anxious however, to I systematise the method of distributing the i Government aid, aod «c desire the money to be spent to the best advantage To attain thin cud >t is prormble thai- we. shall localise as muoh a? possible, v/va bo..r.is to supervise the local cbii.ut.eci.- ■ - - You have also, I beli«ve, inquired into the question of Government life insurance ? ~ That is not so pressing a 'question, but having [ had a number of papers put before me in Australia, I decided that when in New Zealand I would take the opportunity of looking into the | matter. In Wellington I *aw Mr Richardson", who kindly explained everything to me, and | gave me all the uecetsarv papers. We have a system of compulsory insurance in Victoria. We have no bonures. Every man who has joined the service since 1881 has entered with the knowledge that he will reoeive no retiring allowance, and to make up for that we compel all the nnblic servants to insure for certain sums. The Government point out to them certain offices in which they may insure, and they ohoose any one of thsm. It has been suggested, however, that the Government might with advantage take the management of the whole thing, as is dona in New Zealand, but we have made no actual step in that direction so far. Might I ask you, Mr Duffy, to briefly explain the present position of the Federation movement? I will gladly do go. All the colonies except Queensland have agreed to appoint delegates to the convention. That is a practical step in advance, though it is greatly marred by the fact that Queen«land has not consented to send delegates, and we all teel that Federation without Queensland would hardly be thst perfect federation that we desire. But we hope that even yet Queensland may come into tbe Federation, notwithstanding that her delegates may not be present at. the convention. Western Australia is sending delegates, but I am greatly afraid she will not immediately come into the Federation, though it is hoped that ultimately she will do so. Though Western Australia is on the 'mainland, it >s practically as far from Eastern Australia as is New Zealand, and it is much farther .away than Tasmania, which is separated from us by the tea. The election for delegates will take place this month in the eastern colonies; Western Austral : a, "being engaged with an election for the Assembly, will net' bo able to elect delegates at the same time. As far as I could learn before leaving Victoria, and as far as I have learned since leaving, I think the principal men in the four colonies which hold tha election thi« month will stand ; at any rate, there will be a sufficient number of the leading men to ensure ,the representation at the convention being a real representation of the peoples oi' (he colonies ; fo that, for tbe first time, we will have a thoroughly representative body discussing Federation from a practical point of view, witu the knowledge that their decision his a fair chance of becoming law and founding tbe Dominion of Australia which we all wish to found. At the same time everybody must admit that there ie not that popular enthusiasm about the question which, generally, has been tound necessary to carry any great constitutional reform. Speaking of Victoria, which I know best, the leading men of all I shades of politics there are strongly in favour of Federation, though from * purely selfish, local point of view it probably will be rather a loss ! than a gain to us at first, New South Wales ' being a Freetrade colony and Victoria a Protectionist colooy. In spite of that, however, the leading meu of Victoria, as I say, are in favour of Federation, but there is not that enthusiasm in the matter which one would like to see amongst the electors as & whole, and it is to be hoped that before the i elections actually take place some enthusiasm ; will be aroused — it could be dune by platform utterances by the party and by tbe newspapers throughout the colonies, — &o that; the people , will take an interest in the matter and return the best men The colonies will act as one electorate on the occasion, and we are afraid that in tbe country districts the polling will not be as heavy, and therefore not as representative, as it would be at an ordinary parliamentary election, or as it ought to be, to bring about an important change of tbe kind. As regards the other colonies, tbe leading men of South Australia, have always been in favour of Federation, aud the same may be said of Tasmania ; but as legards New South Wales, we I have been to a certain extent — and nob 1 altogether without reaton — suspicious of the ' thorough earnestness of some of their leading i men. Others, of whom Mr Barton is the most i prominent, have been as ardent Federationists ! as anybody else in any of the colonies, but I am ] happy to pay that the recent action of Mr Reid showß he has now, if he has not always had, I a live iulereat in Federation, and is using I his very best endeavours to aid the other ! colonies in bringing it abont. I am in great hopes, personally, that the couvention will result in such a bill being submitted to the electors of Australia, or of the colonies who ! come into the Federation, as will be accepted I fey them, and will actually become law. But I ; can see there are great difficulties in the way — ' difficulties fiscal, difficulties concerning revenue, ; difficulties concerning State rights, difficulties concerning the subordinate position that tbe local | Parliaments will have to take up under Federat ion, numerous difficulties of all sorts — and I feel that to overcome those difficulties the people will have to display an enthusiasm about the question that they hare not hitherto displayed. However, it it should unfortunately happen that the convention prepares a bill which does not ultimately become law, still we will have made a great advance, and will hare some standing point from which we can make a further advance when we are driven by actual necessity to federate, if we should not federate on this occasion. In what light do you regard the fact that New Zealand is standing out P Well, we all feel that at preient New Zealand could not fairly be called upon to federate ' with üb, as she ia an island separated io fai

from us and having so many independent desires of her own ; but wo know that every year she is coming nearer and nearer to Australia, on account of the steamers that are put on being much superior in speed to those of pus!; years, and we look forward to the day when, uuder some form of federation, she will be joined to Australia. We do not look on New Zeal&nders as foreigners at all, but as mends and brothers ; and wo regard it somewhat curiously as the leading colony in making experiments — some of us looking on you with a little awe and wonder and some with admiration, but all of us curious to see what the practical outcome of your experiments will be, ready to jump eagerly at those that are successful, aud to take as much credit for them to ourselves as we possibly can. f may say I have been trying to take notes as to tho effect of the women's franchise movement here, and I am greatly interested to see that tho House of Commons has carritsd the second reading of a similar measure. Of course , there is the usual <iifferer.ce of opiniou about thf> question, but as far as a traveller who listens to everybody's opinions oau make out the effect appears to have been not unsatisfactory — apparently sattep factory. The polls appear to have been conducted with every decency to allow woman to go there without being uusexed, as the opponents of the franchise said they would be, and the women appear to have conducted their own voting with great moderation. In Victoria, the preseut Government passed a bill through the Lower House to give tomale franchise, but the measure w:\s thrown out in the Upper Houee. Wo ivgard the matter only as an experiment, however, and we ■ are anxiously watching both New Zealand and South Australia to sea bow the innovatiou works. We do not think that the change will result in the salvation of society ; we regard it as a just thing that should bo Carried out, and ie probably will do good. As far as the experience of the two colonies goes — New Zealand and South Australia — it has not done any harm, but the contrary. i In further conversation with our raporiier, I the Hon. Mr Duffy sajd he took a great interest; I in tho working or the Conciliation and Arbitra- ! tion Act of this colony. It; dealt with a matter concerning which there had been great agitation in Australia, as everybody desired to avoid ' strikes as much as possible In Victoria tho [ Industrial Disputes Act had bef-n passed, bub , it had been a dead letter, it bad never come to anything "We have always," says Mr Daffy, " been struck by the difficulty in enforcing au award against either side, if the party against whom the award was made was not forced by public opinion to abide by the award. I presume that public opinion would be- a powerful factor in compelling either party to abide by an award. Therefore I am interested in seeing ! what you actually do here, and I intend to watch how (he oase now before the Conciliation • Board nods, and how any award given will U,> j eDiojrctd." ,' R-2speci,ias the scenery of New Z t aland, tr Hon. Mr Daffy is load in ibs praise*.' " I ieaiembu\" he says, "the Marquis of No'mauby telling me years ago that he had been ia Norway and Switzerland, aud that the scenery of New Zealand compared favourably with tbaS of both places. [ thought he was, perhaps, nob quite acLurato whan he said that, but singe I have had the opportunity of viewiDg somo of the scenery I say tbat if Switzerland and Norway are superior to New Zealand in this raspect they must be vary wonderful indeed. I may say, too, that I have now visited tho fpur , chief towns of the colony, and I have been j struck with the air of prosperity about thfui . i It i«, of course, impossible for a straogev ; passing through to judge whether the proeperity is real or nor-, but as ftr as one can judg=» there seems to be a real sir, not of ostentatiou i \ wealth, bub of genuine prosperity. Auckland, I think, is the prettiest ciby of the colony, but as between Auckland and Dunedin there is not much to choose; for beautiful, drives Dunedin cannot bo surpassed by any city in New Zealand or Australia, so far a« my experience goes. If I might venture to say so, you New Zealanders do not make, enough of your scenery attraction*. For instance, I wanted to go to Mount Oook the other day — not; to climb it, for I always admire mountains from the foot, — but I got so mixed up with the train and caach arrangements, and the difficulties of getting there, that 1 abandoned the idea altogether. And I uiu{ in travelling through the ; country that you do not lay yourselves out 'o I give travellers the best information, and you do i not arrange your trains and coaches so that; access may be obtained to places in the easiest and cheapest manner. As the Yankee said, [ 'there is money in all these things.' Everybody who comes here spends ao much money, ! and it is to your interest to exploit yourßceucry las much as postible. If we had the chance iv Australia wa would soon do it At Rotorua I was struck with the tupenny-ha'penny charges that were made whenever you. put your foot inside any fence, and I was pleased to, bf. peesent a. 1 ; the opening of the Whakarewacewi i Reserve, to which admission is . free; i Tourists do not mind spending a. few 1 shillings here and there, but when the tbiug ! is cartied too far one- gets the idea he ii ! being ' done ' In Dunedia I find the same thing obtains In the Leith Valley you have «, lovely waterfall, but when you go to visit ifc someone at once deman ds a silver coin from you — by what authority ifc is hard to learn, — and in return you get only the right to enter the ground ; one has to find for oneself the way to the waterfall, for there is not even a guide-post !to show the way. One would think the municipality might step in in a case of this sorb, and if there are any legal rights compensate the owner and make conveniences for the public visiting a beautiful spot of the kind. I can assure you, if we bad that waterfall within 10 miles of Melbourne we would put things on a j very different footing." j The Hon. Mr Duffy, with Miss Duffy, leaves \ ia the Mararo* on Monday for Melbourne.