MR SEDDON'S TOUR. Adelaide, Fabruary 23.

Otago Witness, Issue 2244, 4 March 1897, Page 19

MR SEDDON'S TOUR. Adelaide, Fabruary 23.

I The Speaker of the .u-££is!attve Assembly entertained the Hon. Mr Seddon at lunch. Mr D. Gillies, ex-Ac'ent-geaeral for Victoria, who was on his way back to Melbourne, was j amongst those present. Mr Seddon has left for Sydney. Melboubnb, February 25. i- The Hon. Mr Seddon visited Ballarat, and was suitably entertained by the citizens and ; Amalgamated Miners' Association. Speaking at the luncheon given in his honour by the Victorian Labour party on the 16th inst. Mr Seddon, who was very warmly received, said that one very*- important result of the legislation which had been carried out during six yean the Government of whioh he was now head had been in power bad been a surplus of revenue ov.er expenditure every year, varying from- £50,000 to £500,000 p«r annum. The figures of the Finanoial Statement which be would have to lay before Parliament on his return to the colony had been submitted to him before he left New Zealand, qnd he was able to state that there would thic year be increases in the revenue as compared with the previous year of £100,000 from railways, £100,000 from customs, £100,000 from the Post Office and Telegraph department, and £50,000 from the operation of the land tax. These statements went to show that what had been called experimental legislation had benefited not only the labouring classes but also the commercial and every other class in the community. Following in the footsteps of. his late lamented chief, Mr Ballance, he considered it his first duty to look after the interests of the working classes, for in their prosperity the progress of the whole of the rait of the community was bound up. He would particularly urge the colonies of Australia to adopt similar measures to those which had been put in force in New Zealand for tha exclusion of pauper labour. He could not gee upon what principle the colonies should be expected to allow themselves to be made the dumping ground for the pauper labour of other lands. Paupers should be made a charge upon the people of those countries where they became paupers, for those ! countries had received the benefib of their labour whilsb they were able or willing to ! work. A deterioration of the health of the i population must accrue if persons suffering frem chest complaints, for instance, were to be admitted without any check. They might get benefit from the milder climate and a partial recovery would take place, which would enable them to marry and hand down their weakened constitution to their offspring. The legislation which dealt with such persons was not experimental, for there was a law in operation in Great Britain which compelled the captain of a ship who landed a passenger not fit to labour to give a guarantee that that person would not become a charge on the people of Great Britain. The compulsory conciliation and arbitration measure which was in force in New Zealand had prevented at least four strikes from taking place which would have involved a 1038 of £1,000,000 to the community. That aot simply extended the principle which all the colonies believed in when applied to commercial disputes — namely, that they should be referred ho the Supreme Court. It extended that principle to disputes between capital and labour, and its operation had been most successful. He would urge the Labour party to ally itself with the advanced Liberal party in every community for the purpos* of carrying measures in which it concurred. It had been owing to such an alliance that advanced legislation had boon passed in Now Zealand. The

i party should not demand all it wanted at once, I but should take what it oould get from any party in power — their mofctc, in fact, should be measures, not men. It had given him great pleasure to ba present, and he thanked them heartily for the compliment they had paid him, and for the opportunity afforded of enunciating his views. — (Cheers.)