MR JAMES ALLEN AT MILTON.

Otago Witness, Issue 2360, 18 May 1899, Page 18

MR JAMES ALLEN AT MILTON.

J [By Telbgbafh.]

( From Our Special Reporter.) MILTON, May 9. Mr James Allen, M.H.R. for Bruce, addressed a meeting of his constituents at St. .George's Hall,' Milton, to-night. His WorBhip the Mayor (Mr W. Moore) presided, and there was a good attendance, the hall being be mutual respect and fellowship. Sir Allen, who was received with applause, | expressed his gratitude to many of t*hose pre- | sent, and to mauy who were not present, for i the hearty sympathy shown to him at a time ! when to a large extent he needed it. There were some, it was true, who cavilled at his absence from Parliament at the early part of the session, and some felt aggrieved that lie had not been seen oflener in the electorate seeing he had come back. Well, the reason he had not been often in the district since his return was that his own private affairs had occupied his attention so much that he really coulc^nofc come into the electorate as much as > he desired. Regarding the cavilling of those | who spoke about his absence from Parliament, he had this to say^hat while in Rome he actually wrote out his resignation and was on | the point of forwarding it to the Hon. Cap- i tain Russell. Acting, however, on the advice | of his better half, he tore up that notice ri resignation, and in a few months' time he would ask the electors to say whether he did right or wrong in their interests. — (Applause.) That night he intended to criticise to a large extent the speech of the Premier in Milton recently, and to express his opinions about certain legislation and about the conduct of Parliament. The Premier in his tour through the country complained that the Opposition did not like his travelling about and expressing opinions Eo the people through the district; but he (Mr Allen) did not know of any member who did not welcome the Premier to his district. For himself, he would be only too glad to see* the hon. gentleman at every election, knowing full well that the common sense of the people would not be led astray by platitudes, that they would not be deceived by misrepresentations, and that they would not be coerced into any actions that they themselves did not approve of. — (Applause.) iWhat the Opposition did object to was that the Premier utilised these visits, not to find out the country's needs, but to prosecute his electioneering tactics, to retain his seat in power, and to retain all the emoluments of power, and all that power gave him — and it gave him a good deal. — (Hear, hear.) He did this, too, at the country's expense, which was another grievance. What was the expense? Returns placed before Parliament showed ' that in 1896 the amount of Ministerial expenseß and allowances was £2159, in 1697 £2086, and in 1898 £1979. It was easy enough at that rale to go about electioneering. The /Opposition, it had to be remembered, had no power to do that. They had to pay their own expenses if they went through the country, and it came to a very heavy item. There was reason, too, for saying that the public were misinformed. The speech given by the Premier in Milton contained as many misstatements as any man could have made in the time that was occupied by the hon. gentleman. But what did the Premier care about misstatements? Nothing at all. His object was to create an impression, and he did not care how it was created — whether it was through right or wrong means. He went on the policy that the old Latins knew well, the policy of suggesting that which was false and the policy of s'jppressing that which was true. — (Hear, hear.) He would explain by a true story what he meant. In an electorate in New Zealand not long ago a very prominent member of the Ministry was speaking. At the meeting was the member for the district. The two were at breakfast in the hotel next morning, and the member said to the Minister, '' What in the world did you mean by speaking as you did laot night? You know I shall get up at the next meeting and say that what you stated was without foundation?" Upon this the member of the Ministry leaned back in hir chair, laughed all "over his face, and said : *" It hao got the start, and you won't catch it." (Laughter, and a Voice, "Good enough.") That night he was going to cntch up on soin6 of the falsities that had gone abroad. He might be late, and these false ideas might have the start, but he was going to put his facts on their track mighty

...I.JIIII I- ..o— >-r-p aM | | ■■■HIM II II I I i quick. — (Laughter.) He would put the matter of the expense before the people more clearly. The travelling- expenses of the Premier -were so much a day as allowed by law, and from those expenses it could be calculated what his ordinary expenses amounted to per day. In 1896 his expenses came to £4 10s a day, in 1897 to £4 13s 9d, and in 1898 (when he was in London most of the time) tc £45 12s 2d. — (Laughter.) Were the people prepared to find any member of the Opposition that sum per day to enable them to. go .travelling about for fcheir own benefit? The speech of the Premier was largely a speech of compariI son between his own Administration and preI vious administrations. It was, too, a speech j of statistics, and consequently he (Mr Allen) ! would also have to give some figures, and ! though dry they might be, he thought they were of sufficient importance to put on the track of the other statistics in the hope that they might soon catch them. Before he did this, however, he might say he did not as1 cribe the prosperity of the country to any one I Ministry. The prosperity depended on the class of men he saw before him that night, and on the class of men who tilled the land. To the "energy and ability and determination | of the people themselves was due the success of the colony more than to any legislation J that had taken place. — (A Voice : " John | M'Keime.") Yes, he would give them I plenty of John M'lCenzie before he was done. I — (Laughter.) Ministers claimed that* owing I to their action and legislation a great development of agricultural products had taken place. What, he (Mr Allen) said about that was this: If they gave to him, or to any other reasonable man, £54,408 a year for the Agricultural department alone, they would guarantee to do not less than what had already been done, and he might safely say that they would put the Agiicultural department in a position ten times better than it was now. — (Hear, hear.) How was that money spent? Was some of it not wasted? With an expenditure of that amount the position of the Agricultural department should be ten times better than it was at present. — (Hear, hear.) Speaking of the Continuous Ministry the Premier said at Milton : " Then no sens and daughters of working men and others in the country districts could obtain situations in the Government service. " The impression the Premier ] intended to convey by that remark was that j in the late Sir Harry Atkinson's rtme'iHTgoiv j and daughters of. working men could find : these situations. But did the Premier refer to Sir Harry Atkiuson? Why did he not? Because he knew he coulct not dc it with truth. He referred to the Continuous Ministry — a Ministry of the past ages. At any i rate the impression was that he was comparing his own Administration with the preceding Administration. Wh.it was the position today? In 1886 Parliament recognised the great evil that might arise from the clamouring of the friendß of Ministers and the friends of members to find thcii way into the public services, and a law was passed dealing witii the civil service, which made entry into the 1 service by competitive examination alone. Up to the time the present Ministry came into office that law was observed. But what had since taken place? The act had been disregarded altogether. If they turned up a return presented to the House in 1895 they would see that iv 1892 _ two persons had, without examination, been appointed tc temporary cadetships, and 1 in 1894 twelve. Then in 1892 two persons 1 who had competed in an axamination, and who failed, had been appointed to posts in the civil service as temporary clerks, or other1 wise. In 1893 there were again two, and in 1 1894 there were four. If he mentioned the ' names of some of these persons "they would ' be recognised, but he would not give the ■ names. It*wa? a well-known fact, too. that outside the civil service the crime, if orime it " be, had been iepeated, and that positions in ' the public service had been given to the ! friends and anpointees of Minister.* and their T (supporters. Everybody knew that as well as C he did. — (Hear, hear.) On that very- point t Mr John Hntcheson, senior member for Wellington, had something to say. He complained I that the unworthy, the mean-spirited, the , time-serving, and the sveophantic gravitated * round Ministers and honourable members. , and he also said: "Let us amend this system. ; Let us secure piomotion for those who deli serve promotion. Let ue secure for those who * are q\ialified for admission, to the public sers vice that admission without regard to Jlifir r ' politic*! or religious beliefs or creeds." Mr

Hutcheson was a Laßour member, but a rightminded Labour member. He also said that Parliament had been duped over the new building, and that the promises given by the Government respecting this new building, and regarding the control of officers of the House, had been broken. Mr Hutcheson did not believe in a Government that could act in this way. If Mr A. E. Barclay were present he would recommend him to read" Mr Hutcheson's speech, and he would then see if there was not something tc be answered from the other side. Another remark made by the Premier was that between 1887 and 1890 there was a decrease of population of over 14,000 j souls. — (A "Voice : " They never came back.") ! Yes, in 1892-3 thay did. Although 14,000 j went away in the three years, 15,000 came . back in 1692-3, as Sir Harry Atkinson prophe- j sied they would. The Premier also said that during the present Government's term of office there had been an increase of population of 125,000._ That statement was absolutely false, and'he (Mr Allen) said so with a full sense of his responsibility. The fact was that between 1887 and 1890 there was no decrease of the population, but. an increase of 22.147 person?. There was no increase of 125,000 during the present Government's term of office. During the present Government's term of office there had been an increase of 109,000, but that was not 125,000. Therefore, in both instances, <he Premier's statements were absolutely wrong. What further did Mr Seddon say? " Before the present Government took office the sons and daughters of the settlers were being driven from the j colony because there was no land available j for- them to take up." He (Mr Allen) had spoken to the people of Bruce before about the land settlement, and had proved uncontestably that the land settlement during the previous Administration was greater than j during the term of office of the present Ad- j ministration. It was a fact he did not make much of, but when the Premier made such a statement as the one quoted, he had to refer ;to the matter. He had other evidence to ' prove his assertion. He succeeded in the I House in getting, after some trouble, a table that showed all he contended for: that the settlement in Mi .Richardson's "time was i gi eater than during Mr M'Kenzie's time. Of I course as time went on the available land of j the colony was growing less, but Mr M'Kenzie | had had this advantage : that owing to the purchase of private estates h.e had had more land to deal with than Mr Richardson, and yet, with all that, he had less settlement than his predecessor. He had more convincing proofs than that that the statements the ! Premier made "was absolutely without foundaI tion He had a table showing the acreage of land held between IRB6 and 1891 and 1891 and i 1897. The table was a<s follows: — Acres of Land Held in 1886, 1891, axd 1897.

That table showed that more land was occupied and more acres taken up during the previous Administration than during this. Now he was on this question of land settlej monl, he might say tbat he did not think j that the back country was being settled as ' last as it should be. Surely -we should settle , ilie back country as fast as we could? Better I delay the purchase of private estates than ! leave the back country unoccupied as it is j now. It might be hard for the settlers to have j to go to the back country, but it was good for the community. There was another thing with regard to land settlement to which he would like to refer. Those who had taken up land recently had been paying too high a | price for it, and there had been very ques- ; tionable dealings with regard to the purchase of private estates, and witli regard to the levyi ing of certain land 3. As to the rents being I too high, he did not know whether the Go- ! vernment had deliberately made them too high or not, but in volume 103, page 80, of Hansard they would find this in the report from the Waste Lands Committee on the petition of Kemsley and others : " The committee • are of opinion that the values originally placed on the sections are excessive and should be reduced. They suggest that some means of lelief should be made in an amending Land Act." Then Mr Rolleston said: "The Government valuation now is one-third of what i it was originally when the department gave I the leases." Was that fair to th& settler ? When ho took up his land he was charged .t-rto-thirds more than the value of it. It was not fair. He (Mr Allen) would now read what Mr M'Nab paid in regard to settlement : " In reference tc the petition of settlers in the Waikawa and Mokoreta districts for a reduction of the rental of their holdings, the committee of the board reported as follows : — ' We have to report that we met a number of settlers at Tokonui, Quarry Hills, and Mokoreta, and heard their statement as to the disappointing nature of the soil. We inspected many of the holdings, and found that the crops of oats, turnips, potatoes, etc., were very poor. The settlers appear to be frugal and industrious, and are desirous of retaining their selections at a fair rental. We consider the land generally to be poor and inferior in quality, and we recommend that the Government be strongly recommendetl to take these 1 circumstances into favourable consideration mid afford substantial relief to the peti-

tioners.' '* That was another instance that men had been placed upon lands at rentals which were too high for them to pay. Again. Mr M'Nab said : " The question of the reduction of the rents of Crown tenants is a subject which will have to be considered this session or during the recess. I hope the Minister will see his way clear to do something in connection with it, because widespread dissatisfaction prevails in regard to it throughout a portion of the Crown lands of the south. In fact, wherever Crown lands have been settled during the past few years considerable dissatisfaction exists as to the position of the rentß, and I consider it is the business of the Minister to see if some form of relief cannot be devised for these settlers." If they wanted other instances he could quote from the speeches of other- Government supporters. Mr Symes, the member for Egmont. said : " One hon. gentleman had referred most graphically to the fact of his land having been valued some time ago at £2000, and, after several years of work and improvement, it now valued at something like £800. Well, he said, at the time that was nothing. He had several settlements of this description in his own district. He referred to the famous Tanner and Wilson special settlements, where, after six years of labour and improvements, the whole thing was valued, including improvements, at hundreds of pounds lees than the original price of the land.'*- Was that enccuraging settlement? He held it was not. After the settlers had been induced to go on the land by means of false pretences they found themselves in the position that had been described — (A Voice: "What about Cheviot estate? ") He believed the Cheviot estate was a fair success, but it was not purchased under the Land for Settlements Act. — (Hear.hear.) There had been questionable dealings with regard to the purchase of private estates, and tho history of them had yet to be written. They knew the history of some of them fairly well, but there were some recent purchases | the history of which "had yet to be written. j He was not prepared to make any statement about them that night, but he would ask them to keep their ears and eyes open, and if they did not find out something in the course of a ! few months with regard to some recent | purchases then his opinion about them as I sharp and intelligent people was wrong. I Then as to the leasing of some of these lands, j there was something very fishy about that. | What did Mr Tanner, the member for Avon, i who was a Government supporter, say about j the leasing of some of our Crown' lands? He I j paid: "When in August the famous or rather | infamous Fruitgrowers' Association Bill wa£ i 1 distributed to the House, and its second readI ing was moved by the Minister for Lands, he (Mr Tanner) did not remember having spoken more strongly or more pointedly upon any ! matter than he did upon that bill on that I occasion, but he believed everything 1 he had j at that tinie said was fully warranted." Here was something more : "If they were to have ! measures introduced by stealth by a victi- ! mised Minister, their progress accelerated by ■ a second reading a few hour? after printing, and quietly and hastily passed in order to aggrandise a few people who seek to benefit themselves at the expense of the community j by making use of a popular formula, and who 1 traduce a sacred principle by masquerading under the guise of co-operation in order to ! enslave their lesa fortunate fellow citizens." j That Was Mi Pirani upon the bill introduced ! by the Minister of Lands. Now what about j the pet schemes of the Minister for Lands? j The special settlement associations, the vil- ! lage homestead settlements, the leafe in perpetuity, and the improved farm settlements. They could write it up in ono word, " Failure." The special settlement associations had dropped from 838 holdings taken up in 1892-93 to 5 holdings taken up in 189798. Was that success? The acreage had dropped during the same periods from 157,381 acres to 432 acres. Was that success? Then the number, of holdings under the village homestead special settlements dropped from 118 taken up in 1893-94 to 9 taken up in 1897-98. The acreage had dropped from 1550 i acres in 1893-94 to 42 acres in 1897-98. Then 1 the village settlement leases in perpetuity dropped from 208 holdings taken up in 189394- to 92 holdings taken' up in 1897-98. The acreage dropped from 3593 acre 3 taken up in 1893-94 to 1426 acres taken up in 1897-98. As to the improved farm special settlements the number of holdings taken up dropped from 315 taken up in 1895-96 to 77 taken up in 1897-98. The acreage dropped fr0m' 28,348 I acres taken up in 1895-96 to 9007 acres taken lup in 1897-98. Now the Premier, speaking at j Milton, made some remarks about which he (Mr Allen) had something to say. Mr Seddon said : "As compared with 1890, the output of coal last year was 200,000 tons more; in gold there was An increase of over £307,000 worth ; in exports there was an increase of 46 per cent." If the Premier wished to give them a false impression he had succeeded. The increases were not from 1890 to 1897, but from 1887 to 1897, as would be seen from the folI lowing table : —

He (Mr Allen) admitted that the increases ' that Mr Seddon had referred to were great, but no Ministry had a right tc take credit for such increases, which we owe to the industry : and energy of the people of the colony and 1 not to any legislation. Then Mr Seddon said: "As compared with 1890 there was an increaso of manufactures 3f 41 per cent." Now he (Mr Allen) had tc say the same about tbese as he had wud ahaub the increasies he

had already referred to — Mr Sedaon na4 created a false impression. The increases were not from 1890 to 1897, nor yet from 1887 to 1897, but he had gone back to the periods from 1886 to 1896, the term of two census returns. The following table showed the increase and decreases in the value of the principal industries for the periods 1886 to 1891* and from 1891 to 1896, as disclosed by the census returns: — Comparative Table showing the Increases or Decreases in Value of the principal Industries for the periods 1886 to 1891 and 1891 to 1896 as disclosed by the Census Returns. (See Registrar-General's Report otCensus 1896, p. 103.)

•*' The decreases are indicated by the minus sign. Total approximate Value op Makufacmirbrs. (See Registrar-General's Report 1898, p. 97). April, 1886. April, 1891. April, 1896. Total approxii value ..£6,711,379 £8,773,837 £9,549,360 Increase ISS6-1891 .. £2,062,458 = 30T % „ 1891-1896 .. £775,523 = 8-8 % i v ,, from 1830-1396 = 42 % Now what was the reason of these decreases? : He Coped they would all take the table into serious consideration, and if they did so ha knew the conclusion any sensible man would come to after reading it. Mr Seddon also opoke about the private wealth of the colony, claiming that it had increased during the las* 10 years by £52,435,855, making it £252 per I head of population. " Here, again, he was j wrong, as he was quoting the years 1888 to 1597 — nine years, and not ten. He had led the people to believe that the increase waa £252 per head, but in reality the increases were these : —1888-1891, £4- 13s 4d per year, and 18914&97, £3 13s 4d per j'ear. Then Mr Seddon said this : "In 1887 the then Government was-offering able-bodied single men 2s'6d a I day and married men 3s -6d. Let them comI pare tho country to-day with, what it was I then." It was not his-, (Mr Allen's)' purpose to • defend the wages that were paid ; it was* a> ■necessity of the time that in order to keep men from starvation that low wages should [ b9 offered to .them. Tt was all the country I could afford fit the time. That waa a poor j time of the history of the colony, but since I then we had bee_n rich and well-to-do, and how had the working man been treated during this thriving time? In the Blue Books they would find a return of the wage 3 paid to the co-operative labourers in Taranaki. It went down to Is 104 d a day. ' In the Dimedin district they got Is lOd a day, which was the lowest wage. The average wage fell as low aa 3« Id. That, however, did not take place everywhere. There were some favoured districts, as there always were favoured district 3 with the present Administration. In "Hokitika there was no Is lOd. On the Qhristchurch road the lowest wage was 6s- 3d, and the highest 9s. On the Grey-Hokitika road the average was 9s s£d a day in one instance, and 10s 4id in another. — (A Voice, " Who is the member? ") There was no need to ask him that. — (Laughter.) On the Westport-Ngaka-wau railway the wages of the 'co-operative labourers were 12s Id a day. That was pretty good a scompared with Is lOd. Why wa3 there that difference? In the public* 1 works expenditure the same thing took place, and I in that case, too, the West Coast had its share. — (A Voice: "Are your figures correct?") Yes. they were quoted from a return supplied to the House in 1893. Then he had a letter from a man who signed himself " Casual," , who wrote about the Bailway department and its treatment of casual hands, and, among other things, r-aid this : " The department may say that unless the men are willing to accept the conditions they can look out for- other e'niployment; but this excuse is also open to the worst of sweaters, and it is certainly not open to any department under a Liberal Government to make use of it. To compel men to work eight hours without a. meal is not only cruel but shortsighted. To compel them -to work after the regular hours without extra pay is niggardly and unfair." That might be true, or it might .not. Mr John Hutrffeson, speaking in tho House, said : " The artisans ..of this town have received a lesson in co-operative work and in the administration of co-operative work, that will last them for a lifetime. I will not tell how the Minister in charge of this department senfc his personal friends up, and insisted on them being put on as they were on his committee at election times." Were the working men really satisfied with a Government aboufc whom such a statement as this was made ; with a Government about whom " Caßual " wrote as he did? They would find honester and truer friends on the Opposition side of the House than they would in a Government about whom such statements were, made. — (Hear, hear.) As to the administration of the Government they had all heard about Wrigg. If there were any volunteers present they would know about the case. He got a medal foi performing a duly that deserved no medaL If volunteers won a medal for honourable service they felt proud of it, but naturally somewhat ashamed of it if they found that another man had one put on his breast for political purposes on for political reasons. That waa shortly the pistetry of the Wrigg medal. The Ministry had an opportunity to refuse to give the medal to Wrigg. It was true that Wrigg sent in his application, supported by Beveral testimonials, but it leaked out that it Was going tc be given, and several persons asked the Government to delay the giving of the medal. Tho blue books contained several letters from thoss who were interested in the matter. It had actually been decided thafc this question of medals jhould not be reopened, but it was opened again for the sake of obliging a political supporter; opened again after the receipt of the letter he referred to and after the receipt of b, letter from ten or eleven old soldiers, who said they were willing to be examined on oath before any commipsion, and, after hearing their proofs, they were sure the Government would reconsider the position. Waa the action of the Government then an absolute prostitution o£ tha xAimda for honourable service?. But

hat was. not the worst of it. Either at Caitangata or Milton the Premier said a comlittee inquired into the matter and it turned ut that it was an open question whether the istinction was merited. But; when he said hat the Premier knew the committee had not sported and that the Government blocked, the eport because the evidence that was produced ra.B overwhelming. And at Milton, and also t Kaitangata, the Premier left the people to elieye that it was only a, medal that was in uestion. He did not say anything about the lension that attached to the medal. The peaker recounted the well-known facts of he Jones case, and went on to say that not nly in this department, but in every depart- | lent of the civil service, the reign of terror | ad been so great that Captain Allman hardly ared to refuse what he knew to be the wish f the Minister; and in this case he knew the iinister's was that Jones should get the cerificate. At any rate, Jones got a certificate hat the court had since decided hould be taken from him. And he Minister must have known of he issue of that certificate, if not, he negeoted his department and allowed a shameful prong to take place. He believed they would ■et find out that the Minister knew of it, and pinked at it, 'and encouraged it. — (Hear, iear.) Regarding the railways, he said it was ortunate the grain had not been coming at , rapid rate or the administration must have iroken down completely. It was absurd to ry and get big returns out of the railways rhen they were not kept up to the mark. le did not blame the Minister for the accient at Eakaia, but he said that the honourable entleman took a great responsibility on himelf when in the face of a report from one f his departmental officers advising the doption of automatic continuous breaks he [id not come boldly to Parliament and ask or the sum necessary to carry into effect a ystem of brakes that would prevent accidents. As to the rolling stock, he was quite irepared to admit that the railway coministoners were - to blame in the same respect. ?he Minister himself in the House said this : 'We have had fovir locomotives in the last | hree years, whereas we should have had j 4." Why did he not tell the Home that 54 j fere wanted? The House would have granted i he money, or, at all events, a large portion j >f it. Why had h& not provided them while j ie was in office? He had provided them ">vilh j our instead of 54- as he -admitted he should i lave provided. He (Mr Allen) proceeded to ay that there was a glut in the grain traffic 11 over the country, and some industries j vere being ohoked out of .existence alto- j ;ether owing to the insufficiency of the supply : »f railway trucks at the present moment. I flTas it right that industries should be starred ? It was not right, but who was to >lame for it? Between 1885 and 1895 the onnage increased by 352,705 tons, or IS per jent., and waggons increased during that period by 315, or 3.8 per cent. During the i jeriod from 1895 to 1898, Mr Cadman's term j >f office, tonnage increased by 505,403 tons, i >r 23 per cent., and the- waggons increased py 457, or 5.4 per cent. Mr Cadman, therefore, showed worse than the railway commissioners by 3 per cent, in regard to the injrease in waggons and tonnage. Was it bemuse he had not the money given to him to nake things better? It was not so. From LBBB to 1895 there was £50,000 a year spent >ut of public works money foi additions to >pen lines and permanent way. During Mr Madman's term of office there was £125,000 i yeai spent for the same purpose, and he Mr Cadman) would have to explain to the ;ountry how, with a large amount of perma- j lent way money and with the large earning I jower of the railways, he had only been aole 0 increase the rolling stock by four locomo;ives, 45 carriages, and 457 waggons. Now, ;vith regard to the Public Works expenditure. Che amount per head spent in Westland was G2 9s Id. in Otago 11s 9d, in Canterbury Ls lid. Westland, it would be seen, did very well, and they might rely upon it that in everything they could put their hand, upon Westland came out first. He believed that when we came to know the facts with regard to the Old-age Pensions we would find that bhe amount given in Westland was greater than that given anywhere else. Coming now to the question of legislation, there was only one very important act passed last session, and that was the Old-age Pensions Act. He believed in the principle of old-age pensions and the justices of the principle had been impressed upon the people of the colony long before the Premier took the matter up. He did not, however, believe in the present Oldage Pension Act. An old-age pension ought to be claimed as a right by any man 01 any woman, and if it could not be claimed as a right it was not an old-age pension, but oharitable aid. He believed both the civil service and the Legislative Council wanted reforming. Since the life system had been done away with and members were appointed to the Council foi seven years, the Council had degenerated into a chambei of party politics of the very worst kind, and unless members voted as the C4overnment wanted them to, they knew they could not expect to be reappointed to the Council foi another eeven years. That was why the Council must be reformed. What about the appointments tha£ had been made during the last few years? He did not blame any of the gentlemen, but the great object in life of some of them seemed to be to write letters to the papers in defence of the Ministry, and they got £150 a year for it. He. however, would not demean himself by doing it, and he was sorry that any member of the Upper House should be placed in such a despicable position as that. We had been legislating for all sorts of people, but we had omitted to legislate in the direction of separating the criminal class of children in our industrial schools from those that were there simply on acount of their poverty. There was great need for legislation to prevent that. 'At the Caverßham Industrial School twothirds of those there were criminal children, and they were mixed up with one-third who ■were not. He wanted to separate the two classes, and to place the criminal children in reformatories. Mr Allen concluded by oxpressing a belief that there were elements at .work in our political life which tended to national decay. He felt called upon to point out what those elements were, and said that if we wished the nation to grow great we must preserve all that was righteous in tho nation. — (Loud applause.) Mr H. M. Driver moved a hearty vote of thanks and confidence in Mr Allen as the member for Bruce. The motion was seconded by Mr W. Hewitzson, and carried unanimously. News has been received of the safe arrival in San Francisco of the Hon. J. M'Kenzie. " Soilence in the Coort ! " the bobby cried, And I really thought I should have died, rVVith th*> coughing hero and the sniffing there, Till tho Judge, enraged, said: — "I declare, (This row no longer I'll endure, Juat send for Woods's Great Peppermint Cura"

xnoL-ruvi us Columns Together = Crown Includirtg Pastoral S S g e» t- t-i en" rt" to" CO <«H Ol rH* CO* CO rH r-l rH 00 «" in rH of Is IS Occupied Crown Pastoral. i ri S 00 <rf oT t>T §_ -w_ •*_ H IS O) I eld TH* is gOvf Oecbpitd Crown Not Pastoral I IO H3 CO T-l t» »-l ul_ t- CO O w CO * « -*^ t~_ I 1 o o g" Acres Leased from Natives. J on «© o 00 -^i t» !«_ co co i~T of ir? s s §. of eJ i-T a t-l §5 I* Acres Leased from . Private and Public Bodies. | 1 O us m f <o a> r^ r-< *-* ci** cT s s § of co of I Acres Freehold CO OJ M CO -* r-t (N M 00^ off o" cf t~ 5 <n ■r* cm" in" I i g 1 . g i" °4 Acres Total Holdings. Sin a o i— to ■•* c? t-T o* O JO <g H_ 00 O^ S 53 «" i O of - s i-l I-I of I i c s I »— oo i-i s ! s : U0 § 1 2 : at R I \A tH " I I i

18S6-1891 1891-1896 Meat Freezing : Preserving and boiling down Fanning, fellmongerins:, and wool-scouring 3rain mills.. Dlothing : Boot and shoe factories .. . . •• •• Butter and cheese factories Printing establishment (not including Government Printing Office) [ron and brass, boiler-making, machinist (not including Government works) . . Woollen mills .. ... .. Soap and candle works „ Ctoach - building and painting works .. . . • .. Biscuit factories Agricultural and implement factories Fufniture factories Rope and twine works . . . . Hat and cap factoriej . . .- Fish-curing and preserving Other industries in respect of. which the value oi manufactures was less than £8000 . . & 920,781 j 391,434 236.952 55,809 i 107,803 80,673 34,716 .84,864 , 24,069 £ 187,613 210,903 -117,156 45,843 350,317 84,565 i -100,820 • .23,248 —3,416 9,^09 -sacs 11,314 79,363 82,649 -3i,oer 19,698 7,933 7,355 -42,418 —45,987 - 24,311 -10,726 -9 245 145.00S I 83,743

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