THE MOUNT IDA SEAT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2779, 19 June 1907, Page 25

THE MOUNT IDA SEAT.

ADDSR&3&-BY MR J. A_ MAO ; -' PHERSON, \,(Bx Opt'-JSptocsu. Ri*6*t«*.) ! Mr o. As. Maepheraon, member for Mount | Ida, addsgssQCh* meeting of the electors at j Naseby on- Thursday, June 13. The 'attendance was. fairly" large, though in view of' the col*-Weafber it was confined -principally to townspeorjfer XAx- J. R. ELirk (Major 0% N*«et>y), "occupied the chair, and briefly introduced-, "the: „ speaker, % - who, he said, was wsdel£*and favourably known. Mr MacpnVrtDip, %ho met . with a cordial reception, a*iid> the time had come round when b^ -ihowL a«'morf members did,, give ao^Sccbjiiit^)! riiis •tewardship, and eltow as as possible, without being figotitical, th* part he-had taken In some of the more important measures affecting the welfare of the district. . THE- PAST AND PRESENT PRIME MINISTERS. Before, however, doing so, he would like ta refer for a few momenta to one or two important matters that had occurred daring the put 12 months. Twelve months ago they had been mourning the lose of a great statesman, the late Prime Minister. It was not his intention to go into the matter to any extent, but it was necessary to refer to it owing to the many changes that had taken place in consequence of it. Many years would pass and the name of the great statesman would still be revered and respected the- British Empire. Every mark of the respect and esteem the late Mr Seddon was held in had been shown at the time of his death, and since that time, -which he (the speaker) thought was. only fitting in the caee of so great a man. In this life of hurry and bustle even the greatest; must go, and the loss they had sustained through the death of Mr Seddon was one of the sad and hard changes of that life. The reference to Mr Seddon's demise naturally brought him to the subject of the new Government that had taken up the administration of affairs from the point where they had been left so suddenly and so sadly. It was needless for him to en-large-upon the merits and capabilities oi their present chief administrator. His capacity for the work was s« well known - that it would only be a repetition of what one heard from day to day in every newspaper to' recapitulate it. It was freely admitted by the public, irrespective of the question of politics, that in .Sir Joseph Ward they possessed an exceedingly able statesman. No further evidence of his ability was required than the brilliant work he bad done at the recent conference at Home, where he had exhibited such distinctly nigh qualities as a statesman. At that brilliant assemblage of notables from all parts of the British dominions they found the Prime Minister of New Zealand had had the honour of suggesting and propounding subjects that were now enjoying the attention of the Mother Country, and which would assume practical form. WTiat Bad already been done would be of incalculable benefit in the direction of bringing New Zealand into closer touch with the Motherland, and would put it in a better position than it had hitherto been. Nearly 12 months ago Sir Joseph Ward had taken up the reins of Government, and :n so 'doing had imposed upon himself a task requiring the most careful consideration. He had come into office at a time when the colony had lost a great master mmd, and that had made hi« position all the more difficult, because the country had looked to him, not only to maintain that progressive and humane legislation that had been • introduced by the late Mr Seddon, but expected at his hands an improvement on it. -Sir Joseph's task was not a light one ■n selecting a Ministry, and he (Mr Macherson) thought he deserved the greatest credit for tho way he faced this important vork. While many had been sorry to see old Ministers, who had done capital work, amoved from office, it would be admitted that the Prime Minister was justified, and had the right to select such men to support Vim as he considered best qualified to carry out 'his policy and advance the best interests of the country. - There had been a diversity of opinion -with regard to the w-lsdom of his selection, but in the minds cf those in a position to know the qualifications of the Ministers now supporting him each of these gentlemen had special knowledge in the department that belonged to him, and as time went on he (Mr Macphercon) felt satisfied these gentlemen would not only prove themselves eminently suited for their offices, but would reflect credit upon the Prime Minister's selection. THE PAST SESSION had been notable for one or two important innovations. Shortly after the House met, under the leadership of Sir Joseph Ward, he brought his business knowledge to bear upon the question of early closine for the House It was admitted throughout the length and breadth of New Zealand that Sir Joseph possessed extraordinary capacity as a business man, and he had realised that it was just as essential for members to have rational hours in the performance of the country's business as those men connected with private business concerns. He had recognised that to deal with matters of -vital importance it was only right and fair that men should not be triefi beyond physical endurance, but should be in their best condition to transact the business of the colony. Throughout the session this rule as to the House rising early was adhered to, and many important measures were placed upon the Statute Books. While the members admired the Prime Minister over the early closing' movement, he had unfortunately the habit of early rising, whioh did not meet with the same favour. They were all, however, satisfied that it was the beet method of dealing with the affairs of the country. Al£hougn u>d session was a short one, the number V hours spent ia. the consideration of the

affaire of this colony compared favourably with the hours of the longer sessions, and a good deal of practical work wae done. No less than 181 bilU were dealt with by the House, and- no less than 105 acts were placed upon the Statute Book/ of the colony. • This wag sufficient evidence that a good deal _of work wae done during the session, and he hoped the practice adopted last yea-r would be again carried out, and if it was there was little doubt that the result would be to the benefit of each and every member of .the Hou6e, and to the of the colony, which would receive much better and more care-fully-considered legislation *s a consequence. HIS STEWARDSHIP. Coining to an acount of his stewardship', he would only refer to a few of the more important matters he had been privileged 4o be associated with, and some of these he had very largely promoted and been concerned in bringing to a successful conclusion. While speaking at Naeeby at last election one of the matters he had made reference to was a reduction in post and telegraph charges. He indicated at that time that for a considerable period he had thought, even, with th© reductioaie made, there was room for still further concessions. It always appeared to him that the charge of sixpence for 12 words and an additional penny for every other word in telegrams, was utterly opposed to business principles, the thirteenth word and those following it costing relatively more than the words comprising th© • first 12. That, to his mind, was not true business principle, and not calculated to increase the volume of matter sent through the Telegraph Department. He .used such information as he had, -and brought the matter under the notice of the proper authorities, and showed that it would be simpler if a uniform charge was made of a half-penny per word irrespective of any rate after a given number of worde. That, together with a reduction in postage that would take too long to explain, he mentioned as one of the things he had interested himself in, and a thing that had been brought about. He thought it was a step in the right direction, and if there was any temporary loss, it would only be for a very brief period. He had also been 'able in many instances to get Government experts to go out to various parts of the electorate and give the benefit of the knowledge they possessed, and this had been beneficial to the people. Before the House had risen last session he had interviewed the Minister of Lands and made a special request on behalf of those in the electorate that he should consent to open his land campaign in the Mount Ida constituency, and after some little discussion the Minister had agreed to do so. However, in the interval circumstances arose which compelled the Minister to somewhat alter his programme. Nevertheless he kept his engagement, and Naseby had the honour of having the head of the department come to it and present a clear and concise interpretation -of the new land policy by the present Government. This had been very pleasing to him (Mr Maopherson), because it showed the importance of their electorate, and it was pleasing to him that the Minister had been considerate enough to listen to his representations, and had met him in the kindly and considerate way he had. At that time the Blackstone Hill Estate was very much in evidence, and before the House rose he had asked the Minister if he would agree to the Commissioner'of Crown Lands going up to the district and indicating generally how he intended to out the Blackstone Hill and other runs connected with it up. There had been considerable feeling in the district that the run was not going to be cut up to the best advantage, and the Minister of Lands agreed to the proposal, and asked the commissioner to make arrangements to go there. The commissioner went up and indicated to the people what the intention was with regard to the land. The meeting was not, however, so successful as was hoped it would be. In mentioning this he only wished to show that he had done the best to bring about a satisfactory system of close settlement, and to bring the commissioner and local residents together in order that they might be of mutual assistance to each other. Later he was able to persuade the Minister of Lands to visit the spot and see how the proposed cutting up of the run was going to affect the people, and to bring about an amicable understanding. Certain proposals were made which the Minister was prepared to grant, provided the machinery of the act gave the power. On looking into the matter it was, however, found that the Minister had not the power to make the alterations, and consequently they were not -made. The next matter of importance to the electorate was the closing of the Otekaike Estate. Negotiations were -protracted owinar to many difficukiej being in the way. Ultimately many of these difficulties were removed, and two months ago the estate was purchased by the Government for closer settlement. In the same district he was enabled to impress upon the Government that it should purchase Logan's Estate for village settlement and other purposes, and this was opened up most successfully last month. The demand for land in this district was very great for a particular class of settle- | ment, and at the present moment negotiations were under way with a view of purohasing some more land for close settlement near Kurow. The r*>rt matter of importance to Naseby and Maniototo was the passage of tho Vineent-Maniototo Hospital Bill, which, without egotism, he might fairly claim to have been successful in carrying through, particularly in face of t-he fact that at the same time there were two other bills dealing with matters almost identical, both of which failed to get upon the Statute Books of the colony. There was also the widening of thf Government race at Naseby, just completed. He. as their member, had supported this and had done a great deal towards getting the necessary funds to accomplish what was a most necessary work. With regard to local bodies, he had no less than fj\e County Councils to consider, and outside them a large number of important townships in a wide and scattered electorate. He need not dwell upon this subject further than to say that if the records were looked up for the past year it would be found these bodies had got a larger proportion of public money than many other electorates in the colony. OTAGO CENTRAL RAILWAY. In connection with the extension of the Otago Central railway he claimed to have done good work. It was a matter that, as they knew, had his full sympathy, and ho had made an appeal to the Acting Prime Minister in its favour, and bad predated

t&e facts as forcibly as he could, with the ' result that the Acting Prime Minister had said he would give instructions to commence a sectional survey from Cromwell to Clyde. In that matter he had been assisted by the member for Wakatipu, Mr Fraeer. He would not touch on many minor advantages ha had secured for the district. It had been stated by several who were inimical to him that the work he had done for the district was practically nil, but he thought he had clearly shown the fallaciousness of such a statement. One statement he wished to contradict, and that was in connection with his visiting the various parts of the electorate* It had been" stated that he < had not done his duty in that respect, but, as he had within the last 12 months been four times through his electorate, he claimed to have done as much as any member in the House and to have far exceeded a very large number of them. If the electors preferred him to neglect, their business and spend time in going round talking to them, he had no intention of doing so. He considered his duty lay ia the direction of attempting to accomplish what was for the real benefit of the electorate. He had done this fairly and conscientiously, and was_ satisfied that the facts he could bring be-* fore any reasonable individual would <,be ample evidence that he had had a busy and useful year. THE LAND BILL. ' The Land Bill wae undoubtedly a most important matter. At the present time he did not propose to go deeply into it, as they, had already had the Minister of Lands recently in theix midst. He was in sympathy with the general principles of the bill, but recognised that, in its present form, it required modifications in many respects, and these modifications, he felt sure, would he introduced. There was just one item he would like to refer to, and that was the clauses in the bill giving the privilege to the Crown tenant of paying off the 90 per cent, of capital value. For many years he had held the opinion that this was desirable, but believed that better terms could be given to the tenant with regard to that privilege than existed in the present bill, and yet retain the land and leading principles which Government believed to be in the interests of the colony. He had advocated for a long time that the Crown tenant should have the right to pay off 100 per cent., the full capital value, while at the same time provision could easily be made to give the State as perfect and as large a hold upon the land as under the present bill. To put it shortly, to hie mind all that was required — and in this he had the approval of a large number of competent judges — was a clause that the Grown tenant, when he went to sell a property, must submit his deed of the property to the secretary of th« Land Board for the purpose of showing that the purchaser did not at that time hold more land than the law allowed him to hold. In this connection he might say the bill provided for 6ome limitation, and if this machinery was created whereby a transfer of property from one to another could be safeguarded, he was satisfied it would remove a great deal of the misapprehension that prevailed, and a great deal of the opposition shown to the bill regarding the question of freehold versus leasehold. He wae in hopes that something of this kind would eventuate. He knew that something - would be done with regard to this in the coming session, and if Government could .see its way to adopt this modification, he believed it would go a long way towards removing a large amount of the opposition now existing. He would simply say that he intended to the best of his ability to support the bill with such modifications as he considered right and proper to the interests involved, and would endeavour to assist Government in bringing to a successful issue a settlement of this, problem with regard to the land question. IN CONCLUSION, he ventured an expression of opiaion as to whether he had realised the electors' expectations. Whatever the opinion might be, he was fortified by the knowledge that he had faithfully and" conscientiously discharged the duties that had devolved upon him. He announced that it was his intention to again contest the seat when the time came round VOTE OF THANKS. ' On the motion of Mr Robert John6ton*> a unanimous vote of thanks was accorded to Mr Macpherson for his address. ELECTORAL BOUNDARIES, Etc. The Chairman moved—" That this meeting pledges itself to suport any measure having in view the retention of the existing electoral boundaries, together with their present appellation, and also declares itself favourable to increasing the menibers for the North Island if deemed desirable, instead of reducing the representation of the South Island, as recommended by the Electoral Boundaries Commissioners." Mr Robert Johnstone, chairman of the Maniototo County Council, seconded the motion, which was carried unanimously, and a vote of thanks to the chair closed [ the meeting.