VICORIANN POLITICS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XVI, Issue 5434, 26 March 1889, Page 3

VICORIANN POLITICS.

Melbourne, March 25. Ml- Moloney, solicitor, who is opposing the Premier, Mr Gillies, Ims sued the Age for £5000 damages for alleged libel in connection with his candidature. Mr Gillies, the Victorian Premier, did not issue a manifesto as to the Government's intentions, as lie had at first intended, l>ut enunciated his policy in a speech to the electors at Kew (which i 3 included in tho Eastern Suburbs constituency). Mr Gillies got anything but a favorable reception, and notwithstanding his unqualified denunciation of the stock tax, he would have been more likely to get a respectful hearing in his old electorate of Rodney. The meeting was at first so rowdy that the Premier had to exert to the uttermost his clear and powerful voice to enable even the reporters to hear it above the din which prevailed. In course of time, however, he succeeded in talking the noisy electors down to some extent, and in a three houra' speech dealt with the past and the future. The retrospective portion of his address was of course very uninteresting, and his constant refi ixnce to what tho Government had done gave those \v\-o were inclined to interrupt him an exclamation quite foreign to election meeting-). "We " have done this; "wo" have done that, said the Premier. And very soon lie found his tormentors, at regular intervals, crying out in chorus ; " Oui, out, monsieur." On the question of the atock tax, which is a question of tho hour. Mr Gillies was most pronounced. No gren! advantage, he said, could be obtained bj increasing the atock tax, and on the prin ciple of the greatest good for the greatesi number the proposal for increasing the ta> must be resisted. Not only would the greatest number not be benefited, but i the tax were increased a great evil woulc be wrought. "I do not," he said, "belie\< in the principle of doing all you can to injuri your neighbor when it does not do yourse! any good. If we increase the stock tax w will pnrsue not only an unwise course, but ; course which is bound to lead to reprisals— a course by which, in the unl, we will lof.< more money than we will gain. To increasthe stock tax would deprive; Victoria of tin proud boa.-. i that it \v«s ( n,o >>f t!.;>. first li in l\\? i-.ui*-> uf ]'■ ■■:)•.,: ;<>:j, ;m.i would be ona of the last to ivt;r:> from t!. work. We have more to gain -.y pcauo i!k. by war; at any rate, we can" have pen. with honor." the other matters which m engaging public attention ai tho presi.. time, and on which Mr GiIIJ2B was unco;!; promisi ig, were an absentee tax, the ex ten sio^ of the principle of local option, and th initiation of woman suffrage. He repeated*; length the budget proposals which wer proposed by the Government last sessior

and wove sot aside, but in doing so ho madt n, palpiblo blunder in auppoaing that tin K'}\v and Yiirr 1 . Bend Asylum sites can b< satisfactorily disposed of now that tho land l)oom is over. He expects that £900,000 .vili bo obtained by the sale of t 1 - hud in question, and proposes to devote i:.o sum to sarli works sis additions to the Parliament Hoim-3, thi! Public Library, and National Gallery, and tho Working Men's Colic.'"" ';e establishment of agricultural colle^o and farm schools, ay well as the military college. The surplus of this year, which promises to be very large, he intends to devote to paying 0ff '£277,000 worth of 6 per cent, debentures, which shortly fall due, keeping Unbalance for tho construction of irrigation head works. Referring to the claims of tho farmer*, he spoke of the necessity for encouraging them to cultivate new products, and of the bonuses proposed to be trivon them to do so, referring particularly to the great development awaiting the dairying and wine industries if judiciously fostered. He pointed out that everything was asked, but what was offered. Tlm farmers asked for impossibilities, but left the possible behind. They uaked for a bounty on wheat and a reduction of runway freights below the paying point, yot they knew that if those were granted one day they must be discontinued the next. After all, the reduction of tlio railway flfeignts by 50 per cent would only mean an average concession of four guineas per head to each farmer. On the other hand the Government not only proposed means for encouraging new farming industries, but it was prepared to liberally assist irrigation schemes, which would increase the value of lands a hundredfold, and make cultivation more certain. Those inducements would result in the accomplishment of a marvellous work, and in prosperity to a degree which it was impossible now to foresee.