MR SHANKS AT APPLEBY.

Southland Times, Issue 3291, 7 January 1879, Page 2

MR SHANKS AT APPLEBY.

Last night Mr Shanks addressed a meeting of electors at Appleby. Mr .Finn occupied, the chair, and there Avas a fair attendance. The Chairman said they were all aAVare of the purpose for which they were met together : that night. A vacancy had occurred :iri the representation of the constituency owing ; to i their late member, who discharged his duties so far as he was aware satisfactorilyrto.his ebristituents, having "been elevated to the;Upper. House. There^were-nowtwp.candida.-tes before them soliciting their suff rages, and it would be "for them' to decide for .whom they -would record then* vote at the coming election; hardly remind them that they had. now arrived at, a very important crisis in the ;history 7 of the. colony. They had nothing to do Avith the appointment of a Governor, or with -the creation of ; members of the Upper House, and all their strength and poAver therefore : depended on their electing a fit and proper^ person to represent ehem in the Lower House, They had, in the;;colony,'one of the finest lands'on the sea, and in "many respect they were ahead of all other Australian colonies. They were riot' behind them in education, arid in the exportation of agri- ' eultur: 1 produce they were before them". They "were, going along, very well indeed,, and were,; increasing] in every form of national greatness. They had tAvo candidates for the vacant seat iri the representation of Mataura bj^pre them, and he kriew that fibm the sense of justice AYhich at; aU times characterised the: people of TAppleby, they would accord to every man who came before them, whether they differed from him or., not, an impartial bearing. He concluded- by introducing Mr Sbaxiks.^;^^:. 7. -Mr Shanks said he would much rather that sbirie other man had been required to 7tahe his position' -there, and. that was their late member, Mr Wood. He regretted very much indeed that Mr, Wood had resigned, and he assured 'them, that he. stilly ; with all. his heart, wished, he was member. He did not profess,: in. coming forward to solicit their, suffrages, 7 to. know aU their waiifs and. all about them. THe did not profess to .be so weU np in poUtics that everything was within his pwni knoAvledge ':'. but one 1.--- thirig-; lie did - profess, :. and :tbat,was7 that if theyr sent ;- t him to the Assembly he wovdd endeavor to the best ."of ; his abUity to represent their interests and carry theiri but ; The first question, to. which he would advert was that of thesettlementof the land under deferred payment regulations.. That system Avas one which he for a long time upheld as much as he possibly could. Mr Wood,- their late member, he supported thoroughly, and more'perh'aps ] on this than any other point. But there were one or two things in the system which he did think might be altered, and the alteration of which would be conducive to the prosperity of the colony. Under' the existing; arrangements a deferred payment settler on going on to his land sank his cafiital and labor, the latter possibly for many years, and then in consequence of Ul health of a bad season or two, he Avas to the position that he was forced into the market to borrow money. A man who was forced into the position of borrowing money without being able to offer reasonable security might not be able to obtain it at all, .arid consequently he was ruined. He Avould Uke to see this man able to borroAV on the security of the improvements on the land. AU the restrictive clauses should still remain in force, but he should be able to pledge the labor and capital he had sunk to obtain the necessary means to go on. If these amendments were adopted they would greatly aid the settlement of the country, and help materially the deferred payment settlers. He. had long advocated the land tax, for he thought every class should bear its reasonable share of the burdens of taxation, and further than that he would like to see an income tax joined to it. There Avere those who drew large profits out of New Zealand but contributed nothing to its taxes, but let them all be treated alike, and let every man contribute fairly and equally. He Avas aware there was one matter on which he was slightly unpopular, and that Avas the electoral question. He believed thoroughly in manhood suffrage as a theory, but they Avere aU aware that a theory might be perfect, and yet the practice of it very imperfect. They might possibly have an influx of strangers. Take the Chinese, for instance. How would they like that they should be poured on their shores to govern them ? He Avas a firm believer in this : that every man had a right to a -voice in the government of the country,, but he did say that every man should be educated to a certain point, and to a certain point havehis interest conjoined with theirs, in order to qualify him to exercise electoral privileges. As to the question of immigration, he would be very sorry indeed to see the number of immigrantf very large, but at the same time he was convinced that their prosperity lay largely in inducing a considerable number of immigrants to come and settle amongst them. What was the value of the deferred payment system if they did not get people to come and settle ? Let them therefore adopt all reasonable means to promote an increase of population. There was another question Avhich very likely might be asked him, and that was in regard to educational matters. He thought the majority of them would agree with him that for the present it was practically settled. They were not sufficiently well acquainted Avith the present system to know where amendment should come in. He was in favor of allowing the question to drift over for a little while, untU they had some experience of the Avorking of the present Act. The great fault to New Zealand had been that they Avere overgoverned. It Avas not for want of laAvs, but it was the excess of them where the difficulty arose. He cared not who the man was whom they elected, but , if Mr Kinross was returned by them, he believed he Avould be able to say right heartily and sincerely that he hoped they had chosen the best man. After the conclusion 'Of his speech, Mr Shanks was subjectecLto a rigorous questioriihg for upwards of an hour. On several of the matters about which he was interrogated^ he had stated his opinions in his speech, Avhile others; of the. questions were merely of an': harrassing nature, and eminated from prominent adherents of tiie ... other candidate. In his replies he said tie Avouldlbe in favor, of lowering the price of deferred payment land to ; 10s, and disposing of it by auction as at. present. He was not .opposed to them giving the land to. the man Avho was prepared to settle on it for nothing if they liked, but do. not let them encourage speculation. He was in favor of . disposing, of the land by auction for a reason-which; he would give them. If they sent a government official to- value the land they had to .depend . ori the fairness, justice andknowledgeJoFoneTnian, biitif they left it to the settlers themselves who warif ed to use: the -, land, and possessed the requisite knowledge 7 iqf ite, ,capabiUties,7they would find that as7-a rule : they. would' not give too much. There irii^ht be 'One or two: cases* in which they had' done so, but these were exceptional. H the land 7 was disposed of by ballot, specuiatqrsAybuld isnter into the ballot . first on the risk : of .getttog the land, re .: 'spect^fq trie 7 Coiihty /Council, 7 "he: said it was very well.. krioAvri ; that -when the County .system was. ;first he opposed .it determinedly and did? the very best : he could, to prevent ife '■- adoptipii. But they .must tvj to 7n>a'ke;the best- oifevery system Avhen orice,- it came into bperation,7 arid-he now believed" there had been ma,ny mistakes made by the friends of the Road Board system ! > in 7 getting sovmany roads ; declared 7 County ones. :; Every ,7i;pad: that w.as taken .over strengthened the County Council^ and weakened the Road Bpards.? He was riot in f a.yoi- ; of abolishing ' County Councils- altogether, as; they filled the position of connecting betAveeri the Road Boards: arid Wellington.. It would perhaps be best if : the Road: Board districts \veve, turned into Cpunties. ". He did riot see '■ the use of making a -public hoUday.ori elec. ; tiori d ays. unless employers: Avere going to, pay - the wages. 711 the working men , Avere prepared to lose their day's pay, there Was no reason to declare the. day a holiday. He couidriot see his Way, blear to support a measure.trarisferring thCcihanagement of a ha.;, : bor fi-piria THarbpr Board tb.the MunicipaUty in- which the harbor lay, for, tbe whole eoun- : try Avais "interest^ iri the7deyelbpmerit arid, proper rnanagenient of any port. To a moderate extent, he was in favor of indirect taxation,: but- there was rib doubt. whatever, tbat jdirect taxation was the fairest. He was eritireiyTto Myqryol manhood suffrage, pro-, vided the r^trictibtt of two or three years' resider^cewasimpbsed. He did riot think they icbuld 7 eritirely prohibit r the~ immigration '•". of Chinese, as therlaAvsof the Empire \vbuW vent them doing, so, but it was probable that tbe Home' Government would permit the imposition of a heavy poll tax, perhaps to the extent of £50, and that would effect the same object. Such a course he would certainly support. He would support secular educational legislation in preference to that -of-' a_ t denominational character. He would not be in favor of the Scriptures being read in schools. He would be glad to see steam oora-

municatiph: with home if the colony could afford it. He was in favor of a stream of people being attracfed'to their shores, for he believed the more .densely populated the j country was with the right kind of settlers the more they would prosper. He would .prefer nominated immigration, but would rather see too few than too many coming. If he went to the House of Assembly, he would sincerely and honestly support the Government, but he Avas not prepared, if Sir George Grey took and flong taunts at Her.Majesty the Queen, to say that he or any man, Avhoever he might be, should be entitled- to cut them adrift. (Applause.) He believed triennial Parliments would be an improvement, and he was distinctly in fiivor of both Houses being made elective. He was in favor of members of Parliament being paid fairly for their services, as non-payment would tbiw' the representation into Tthe hands of one class. - HeAvas in favor of the abolition of the system of grand juries, for it had been an absurdity for many years. He was in favor of pushing, forward the Seaward Bush railway. He was glad to -sec that the land tax was an acreage one, and that improvements were exempt. At present opulent men got land and effected no improvements whatever upon it, but waited uritU the labor of their neighbors increased its value. He saw 'ho objection to the' Permissive Bill, but.at.the same time he was in favor of compensation. He did not see that they should deliberately take and ruin a man let him be what he liked. He was in favor of a. second representative being secured for the Mataura district. There could be no question on the subject from the simple fact that, as any man^acquainted Avith theMatauradistrictkhew; fflkr were :■ .unfairly represented at present. Mr A. Crisp then moved and Mr : Domi"an motion:-^-" This meet--ing7thanks Mr Shanfe for Ms address, but as the electors present are thorough supporters of Sir George Grey's policy they ; considered that Mr Shanks is not a fit and proper person to represent- the Mataura district, as it has been clearly shown, from the article, in this "morning's Southland Times that he is now the candidate of the land monopolists, and the opponent of Sir George Grey's Government." ' Mr John DeAye proposed anc^_Ux Ford seconded the following ariieridment: — " That haAang heard, this evening, the political vieAA^s of :-Mr Shariks that he is a fit-and proper person to represent the,Ma,taura r district in the General, Assembly." The:- mover said that after .the straightforward 'way to which Mr Shariks had addressed therii; 'it would be an • undoubted failure if they returned the other .man/ : . '- ".-;-■ ";' .■'/. ;..'..'; ;- ; -V.'-Vv-- .• - ) Mr Dalrymple, amidst ironical applause and, laughter,' shortly addressed' the meeting.';;;"- :" 77:7-7" -.""''" yX- -'•■---:- 77 Mr Shanks said, with respect to the motion, that he had seen the article alluded to, and he must say that he regarded it, 'whatever Mr Kmi-oss'.' friends might donas' a very left handed compUmerit. If that was support he wouldrather be Avithout it. '.- --S ':.;;'' The Chairman then read the airticle re-ferred-to. : . ; r7 ; Mr Crisp said they all kneAV what the suppoiters -Of the Times were, arid. drew attention to the fact that at: the bottom" of the article they asked the moderate party to support Mr Shanks. The amendment was then put, and lost by 15 votes to 5. On the motion being put, someone moved that all but the words "this meeting thanks Mr Shanks for his 7 address" should be omitted, but the ameridmerit not being carried,|the motion Avas put arid adopted amid some little, corifusion. A vote of .thanks to the Chairman concluded the proceedings. _ .... -..-' -y...,.