POLITICAL ADDRESS.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 5019, 29 May 1889, Page 2

POLITICAL ADDRESS.

ME A. E. G. EHODEB AT TEMDKA

Mr A. E. G. Rhodes, Member for Gladstone, addressed a meeting of his constituents in the Volunteer Hall, Temuka, last evening. The large room was 'well filled, some 490 people being present. Among those in the front seats was Mr Buxton, M.H.R. for Rangitata. Mr K. F. Gray, Chairman of the Temuka Town Board, was voted to the chair, and briefly introduced Mr Rhodes, saying that whether their representative had or had not anything now to tell them, it was a pleasure to meet him and have a friendly chat about matters of importance to the district, or to the colony. Mr Rhodes, who was warmly applauded on rising to speak, said this was the second lime it had been his duty to give the people of Temuka an account of a past session, and a forecast of what ha thought was likely to happen in the next one. There was nothing very novel on the political horizon at the present, and as ho had met most of them since last session, perhaps be would not have come before them, but that, as the chairman had said, it was advisable for a representative to meet his constituents for a friendly chat over events. At present there was a more pleasing outlook for the country than there was just before the last session. The colony’s finances were certainly in a much bettor condition. New Zealand stocks wore now quoted in London about 10 per cent higher than they were a year ago. This was very satisfactory, for if they wanted to get cheap money into the colony, of which so much was heard last year, the main thing was to keep up the colony’s credit in London. If that were done, ho had no doubt that capital would come here for investment. Reviewing some of the chief features of the last session, Mr Rhodes referred to the correction of the error in the Loan Act of the previous year. He had apposed that Act in its progress, but, it having been passed, and arrangements made for dealing with the proceeds of the loan, he voted, in a practically unanimous House, for the correction of what was clearly a technical error. When the Treasurer brought forward his Financial Statement ho announced a deficit of over £528,000, but the previous session provision had been made for £400,000 of this, leaving £128,000 to bo provided for. He (Mr Rhodes) had no idea the finances were in such a bad condition as they really were. Then the Government proposed to pay for school and other buildings out of revenue in future, instead of out of loan, and also to pay part of the subsidies to local bodies out of revenue. These were steps in the right direction. Every one tee wbata Qwweiel

mistake it was to pay for perishable buildings like some of the school buildings throughout the country, entirely out of loan, and without making any provision at all for depreciation. The Government estimated that if the revenue and expenditure were maintained at the rates then current, there would be a deficit for the year of some £58,000 j they would require £60,000 besides, to pay for school and other buildings ; and £64.000 for subsidies. There was, therefore, altogether a deficiency of £IBO,OOO to be faced in addition to the deficiency of £128,000 from the previous year. The latter the Government proposed to pay by a primage duty of one per cent on all imports. There might bo many objections to this, but the measure had the merit of being only a temporary one. It would only be in force two years ; till the old deficit was paid off. It was certainly better to pay off the deficiency in that way, than to fund it, as had been the habit of the Government. To provide for the anticipated deficiency for the year, £IBO,OOO, extra Customs duties were imposed, which were estimated to produce £207,000, and thus give a small surplus. He and other freetraders in the House who up to that time had given the Government a qualified support, sent in their resignation as followers, and gave notice that they would oppose the tariff in every possible way. Nearly the whole of the Opposition, however, gave their votes to the Government, and enabled them to carry their tariff in its entirety; the freetraders were overwhelmed by the protectionists. The tariff having been passed, the freetraders who had seceded from the Government declined to support either party. As stated (he other day by Mr Lance, who was their chairman, they did not care to go in, and they could not have carried on if they did go in. There was no chance of any’ party being' formed to carry on the Government, if the present Ministry were turned out; therefore the seceders simply voted on each measure brought forward according to its merits, and he was pleased to say they were able to give the happy dispatch to some objectionable measures. Practically those seceders kept. together for the rest of the session, The Customs tariff passed last session was practically as heavy as that of Yiotoria, and the consequence was that the cost of living must be very much increased in New Zealand, and eventually it must be felt to be a very great burden. However, they were defeated, and there was no use in showing any factious opposition. Mr Rhodes next spoke of the Pair Rent Bill, introduced by the Government. This went far beyond what was really wanted or expected. There was some need to reduce the rents of certain Crown tenants. Local bodies were enabled to reduce the rents of their tenants under an Act of the previous year. The Waste Lands Committee cut down the measure to what was wanted, and proposed to make it merely • a temporary measure, for the reduction of rents at the present time, and to deal with certain Maori reserves. These amendments " were, ho wever, rejected. The Bill passed the Lower House, but, he was glad to say, was lost “up above.” There was no necessity for such a measure as was introduced by tho Government, to provide for a troublesome re-: consideration of rents every three years. The Minister of Lands, speaking at Wyndham, said that r.o severe measures would bo taken until an official re-valuation of the . Crown Lands had been made. The conse- [ quenco was,' that a good many tenants stopped paying their rents altogether, and these were not men who had taken land at high valuations, at low ones. The. official valuation bad since been made, and he supposed the Government would now insist on the rents being paid. He would have supported a temporary measure, and if it ever were needed, another temporary measure could be passed at any future time. Figures given by the Minister of Lands showed (hat there was about- twice as much duo for arrears of rents in March last as in the previous December, 1 the sums being; £43,526, and £27,537. This ought not to have been the case, for if there was ever a time when a tenant could pay his rent, it was during the .first quarter of this year. They held back, hoping to see that Bill passed. Last session a Land Act was passed which made a liberal concession to deferred v payment settlers, by enlarging the area which could be taken up under that tenure,(from 130 to 640 acres. Why the deferred payment settler was so restricted in the first instance he did know. Abolition of compulsory residence on swamp lands; and a few other points of interest to the North Island chiefly, were also included in the Bill. The most interesting to South Canterbury were the provisions relating to the rale of the runs;'.: Mr Steward convened a meeting of the Can- ; terbury members to discuss those clauses, and; ;: three or four of them waited upon the | Minister with suggestions, and he practically' accepted them. Iho chief of these was that the runs should be classified, and ■ the classification that bad been made was the practical outcome of that action of the Canterbury members. He, and so did others, sank some differences in opinion in order to get what the majority thought best for Canterbury. Practically all the land which the Commissioners thought suitable for settlement at all, had since been withdrawn from - the sale, to be dealt with permanently at the expiration of the present leases. It was unfortunate that there was not so much of this class / of land as one wonld like. Hi. til one went over tho ground one could hardly believe bow high freeholds already 'extend up the hills. There were about 230,000 acres to be dealt with in this way, and some 30,000 acres more were to be let on short leases terminable at one year's notice. All the other country was to be let for fixed periods of 10,14, or 21 years. An alteration had been made in this respect, that', the hill runs would now include the barren hill tops, which had been hithoito left out. .. This was in order to make some one responsible for keeping down the rabbits or any . other nuisance in the back country. There had not been much settlement effected on : Grown Lands in Canterbury lately, but in other parts of the colony (here. had been a great deal. Returns showed the .following results:—

1887-8 . 1888-9 ; f v Selectors for pash 350 464 . Acreage so taken up 28,229 63,644 ' Selectors on deferred pay»

ments 319 836 Acreage 41,100 47,441 Selectors on perpetual lease ... 349 1 828 Acreage ... ... ... 71,966 210,863 Total Selectors ... ... 1008 1620 Total Acreage 141,298 321,948 . The great increase was under the perpetual lease system; the settlement under that - system last year was three times as much aa it was the year before. The Government had . really been settling the country at a fast - rate, and, leaving town lots out of account, theaverage area of the new holdings was 165 acres, so there bad not been much disposed of ' in largo blocks. The Native Land Lawi - passed last session would lead to a good deal' of settlement in the North Island. He was," as averse as any body to allow the Maoris to part with their land to become paupers, but it was absurd that so much land should be shut' : up from settlement in the North Island. The Maoris themselves wished to' open it, and the only man wbo seriously opposed it was Sydney Taiwhanga, who stonpwailed the Bill for some days, and nobody else under* stood — even if he understood himself —why he did so. Mr Rhodes next referred to Mp • Fyke’s Otago Central Railway Bill, which ha opposed, particularly the proposals to sell to the projected company the existing railway, and to give them a third of the cost of the now line in laud grants. The present railway , . would be sacrificed, and the Company would ... make a profit out of both parti of the line. It seemed to be in*, evitable that whether the country made a . useless railway or it was made by a company,. the taxpayers would have to pay for it In (he . end, and if there were a few more of tbeee railway syndicates they would rule the country. They were continually coming for . some fresh concession. The .Wellington* Manawatu Company now wanted to get off paying property tax, and if a few more such companies were represented in the House - they could carry almost whatever they liked. Judging from the triumphal tour of the Premier through Central Otago recently, the Railway Bill would be before the House again next session, and if carried, the eon* pany would get wpetbiDg like half a „.

acres of land, swamping the pastoral revenue, and, it was declared, ruining the gold-mining industry. There were politicians who objected to an individual owning a moderate amount of land, some who even ob jected to a deferred payment settler having more than 300 acres, vet they did not object to a' company having two or three million acres to do what they liked with. During his first session he asked the Government to enable holders of land orders, given formating plantations, to make use of them, and under an Act passed last session provision was made for enabling these orders to be used. (Applause.) They must be used before the 30th of June. Turning to Hospital and Charitable Aid matters, Mr Rhodes mentioned that there were several tough fights iu the House over the wishes of small districts to split off from largo ones, so us to avoid the heavy rates they had to pay. There was a good deal of dissatisfaction throughout the countrv just now, at the cost of Charitable Aid, and the Government had promised to bring in a bill to deal with the matter. Ho supposed the House would continue its acrimonious discussions on this subject. If the Hospitals were not to bo maintained out of the public revenue, entirely or nearly eo, it was absolutely necessary to have large hospital districts, so as to enable large and efficient hospitals to be kept up, with outlying hospitals if necessary, and to distribute the rate fairly according to the wealth of the people. Referring to the San Francisco Mail question, Mr Rhodes said he considered it altogether too costly for the few benefits the colony derived from it. (Applause ) It was all very well to say that most of the subsidy was received back in postages. colony would get the postages if the mails went only by the direct steamers. From a trading point of view the American line was almost useless to New Zealand. Returns supplied to the House showed that the trade was insignificant, compared with that done by the other lines of steamers running, and during the last few months the San Francisco steamers, subsidised by this colony, had been bringngdown wheat to Sydney tothe detriment of this colony and really at the expense of this colony.—(Applause.) If communication could be got with either Americaor Canada,fora small subsidy, it would be well to have it; but at present too much was paid. He did not believe the service would be lost, though the subsidy were reduced. If New Zealand ceased to pay any subsidy, New South Wales and America would carry on the service. He hoped too that no large subsidy would be paid to any line of steamers for many years. The present lines were keeping fri ights, and the colony might want to use its postal subsidy to aid competition, to help the farmers to get their produce exported—-(Applause) Turning to education Mr Rhodes condemned as a waste of time any further discussion by the present House of the proposal to raise the school ago and abolish the highest standard; the matter had been well threshed out, and dismissed, last session. Mr Fisher had just drafted a bill dealing with education, and he understood that it was rather popular with many of the teaching profession, but he did not think there was a ghost of a chance of it getting through. The Government, he was informed by the Premier,did not intend to introduce any amendment to the Education Act at present, and no private member could possibly carry such a Bill if the. Government opposed it. Some of the now clauses were satifaotory, but school districts made the same as the constituencies would bo quite unworkable. Some of them would be ridiculous Gladstone, for instance, would include Temuka and Burke’s Pass, but not Milford. An educational matter sure to come up was the report on Lincoln College. The report had not yet been made public so it would bo hardly fair to go into the charges against the present management. He certainly would oppose any proposal that it should, as had. been suggested, be managed by the Government. That would mean the first step towards handing over all the educational reserves in Canterbury. He believed the institution could be worked so as to benefit this and other provinces, and he would support any reform in its working. One thing brought against the institution was the enormous cost of the buildings. It was hardly fair to make that a charge against the management. There had been enormous waste there, but that was years ago. He anticipated that the subject of the number of members would be brought up again, as many members felt very ‘strongly on this point. Still he did not think there was any chance of another alteration being made next session. If any change were made, and larger electorates formed, the country residents ought to be given a larger share in the representation by increasing the “ quota ” allowed the country. Personally he was in favour of the Haro system, but he did not think the present House would carry it. Nor would it be right to carry it until the matter bad been inquired into by the country. He < would oppose very large electorates under that system ; for instance, the country between the Wftitaki to the Rangitata would be large enough to allow minorities to be represented. Mr Rhodes next referred- briefly to the need for amendment in the Rules of Procedure of the House, in the direction of stopping waste of time by stone-walling. During his first session he urged upon the Government the need for an amendment of the Chattel Securities Act, to simplify bills of sale and other like securities over personal property. The Government approved of his suggestions and next session they would introduce some simple form of security which would enable people to avoid the difficulties that at present made it almost impossible to draw a bill of sale that would stand a test, and for this risk people had to pay.—(Applause).—lf this bill were passed it would be as easy to give a mortgage over stock and other personal property as over land. A new Bankruptcy Act was promised but os he know nothing of its provisions he could not go into that. Referring to the Railway Commissioners, Mr Rhodes said that Mr MoKerrow had been a most successful head of the land department and his loss would be much felt there. He also thought Mr McKerrow would eventually give satisfaction as head of the railway department, he being a man of considerable ability, and likely to manage the railways as well as any imported official. His first change in this disdistrict however, in the Christchurch and Dunedin expresses, was about as unsatisfactory as one could possibly imagine, (Applause). There were only five or six through passengers a day on an average, and the Commissioners were looting after the comfort of these five or six at the expenses of all the country districts. He would do all he possibly could to get the trains put back to their old table, or the present one considerably modified.—(Hear, hear, hear, and applause).. He did not think the present service would be maintained when its inconveniences were pointed out. He must compliment the I Temuka Leader oa several articles on this subject recently. Ho did not understand why the Ximaru people had not taken more interest in the subject than thay seemed to have done. He was certain the present arrangement must be against the trade of f J imaru. In conclusion Mr Rhodes expressed his gratification at the general outlook. It was very satisfactory that the Government would be able to meet the House with a substantial surplus : they would not have to ask for fresh taxation. It was some years since there had been such a surplus, about £70,000. (Applause). It was very satisfactory, if it was true, and no doubt jt was true. The burden of taxation had become so heavy of late years that he hoped something would be done to decrease it, and if the revival in business continued the revenue must show up in like proportion. Trade lias been wonderfully brisk of late. In the last quarter some 600,000 people exported three and a half millions worth of produce, about double the imports for the quarter. At the last election ho was asked how the exports were to be made to exceed the imports. He had then no idea that such an increase would so quickly be shown. If; was true the exports for the year would not keep up to the rate of the past quarter, but they would still show a good increase for many months to come. There was a bright outlook for wool, there would be a larger amount of land put under grain, there was a revival in the frozen meat trade, and flax (not much heio, but from other districts) would swell the total, so that the exports must keep up. On the whole then things were looking as bright 99 wy one could have hoped for a short time

ago, when everyone was lost in the depths of depression. Mr Rhodes, who had spoken about 50 minutes, then invited questions, and sat down, amid warm applause. Mr Newberry asked—Would you be in favor of amending the Town Board Act to give any one rated at £lO as much right to sit on the board as a man rated at £2OO ? Mr Bhodes replied that if no one else did so ho certainly would introduce such an amendment nest session.

One inquiry as to the member’s opinion of the Deceased Wife’s Sister Bill, humorously replied to ; and another about repairs to the Oxford Temuka bridge, with a reply to the effect that such repairs were not and never would be contemplated, completed the catechism. Mr M. Quinn proposed a vole of thanks to Mr Bhodes for bis address and of confidence in him as the member for Gladstone. He remark.' d that there were some three years ago, who said that if Mr Rhodes was elected they would not see him more than onco a year. These people had found since then, that whenever there was anything important going on in the district, any large social gathering, their member was there to assist them, and he had assisted them very liberally in another way, by putting his hand into his pocket to help many useful movements. (Applause.) Mr Rhodes had been called a new chum in politics. Well, they were all new chums when they came to the colony, and he felt confident that in years to come Mr Bhodes would go to Wellington every year one of the foremost members of Parliament. Mr A, Grant seconded the motion and it was carried by acclamation, and unanimously by show of hands. Mr Bhodes returned thanks, and proposed the usual compliment to the chairman.