THE Southland Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. TUESDAY, 1st MARCH, 1892.

Southland Times, Issue 11983, 1 March 1892, Page 2

THE Southland Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. TUESDAY, Ist MARCH, 1892.

Mr Thomas Mackenzie, the member for the Clatha, has been addressing his constituents recently in several parts of the district, and a few erenin^H ago. delivered in the Waikaia a most'able and comprehensive address, in which he traversed the whole conduct of Ministers and made some excellent points in illustration of the pretentious humbug which would appear to be their leading principle. He proved to demonstration how utterly reckleßS they are iv their assertions, not B^ruulin^ to throw dust in the eyes of the people by wilful mis quotations from Rtatistics, and m j kin^ the " worse appear the better part " by an utter disregard of veracity. A great portion of the subject mutter of the Tapanui speech was identical with what the honourable gentleman said at Balclutha earlier in the month, and which was reviews • in our columns at the timp. The truth, however, cannot too of;pn be rciu'ia! ! ; and it is indeed essential, in tho public interests, that the real sev.pe and is-. 1 , ntion of tho Ministerial poli.y s',ou!l '>•• clearly understood throughout the country. It will be remember'"! that Mr Mackenzie, speaking at I>ale'ut ! .n, referred very specifically to t'.o gross mi--statements made by Minister-*, mul quoted as an example Mr B.illaiici 1 ai Auckland, where, in Bupport uf hia con elusion that the land iv New Ze»hm<i was in far too few hamlp, th it honourable gentleman asperted that "' 84 persons held 84,<>00 000 acrps," tU<total area of the colony being U6, 000,000 acres! This was poonibly intended only for a city audience — the object heintr tv *' tickle the ears of the groundlings,' 1 but beiDg reported all over the c»!ony became properly subject to comnvMit. Tiie I'rmier finding himself " in * hole." has endeavoured to wrii^le nut of i: hy causing the affirmation to i>u undo on his behalf that "Mr Mackenzie or the " newspaper from which he quotes, has '* made the mistake of substituting acre;; " for pounds." It may bn conceded that the statement, which there is uo reasonable doubt that be did ma.kc, does derive some colour from the fact that 84,54:7 persons in the colony own land in the aggregate valued at L 84 ,208,230, but what then becomes of his argument. in support of which this was the most important premise? Mr Mackenzie points this out very forcibly. The Premier, he said, according to the report in the local papers expressed himself mfollows : — " He wished to call attention •' to the large areas of land held by few <! persons and he then said that £4 p.^r"sons held 84,000,0^0 seres." That, Mr Mackenzie continued, was a " distinctly logical position. In his ex"planation, he asser^'l that 84, 'too " persons held more thm 1.8 4,000. u00 " worth of land, which pra' v tici ly gave " no indication of area at -ill hrn l did not "in the least show a m mopo! v of land "in the hands of a few, inasmuch as i *• was demonstrable. The 84,0u0 people, " which was equal to half the male " adult population of fie co'ony, beld " land, or more than oue mm out of *' every two held land in N r ew Zeiiland.' This instead of proving, went fur to destroy tho case he was sttemptitg to establish. Then again, Mr Mackenzie proceeded to say, that by altering " acres " to " pounds valm " the Piemier gave no indication as to tha area held by the few, because it so happened that the man with the largest area in ]S T e< Zealand owned 139,240 acres, the value of which was L 38.219; "whereas a " settler who had only one am c for i very " eight or nine which that 1.-.rge ''monopolist held, had, o.vinL,' to tie "great improvements he hal put upon " his property, a value of L I;>J, oon on " his land." Then, taking the Im.est companies in #ew Zealand ; the Bank of New Zealand had 29,000 acres more than the New Zealand and Australian Laad Company, yet the total value of the landed property of the Bank was set down at about the value of the land of the Comp»ny. Mr Ballanco in taking value and not acreage made the settler reftrred to with his 17,800 acres valued at L 139; 00, a bigger sinner than that large and monopolist, Mr Grabam, with his 139,246 acres, valued at L 38.219, and the New Zealand and Australian Land Company a bigger sinner with its 24,000 acres less than the Bank of New Zealand, because it had land and improvements valued at 1 1,055000 as against the Bank's larger area, but whose improvements did not bring the land to the value of more than half that of the Company ! To indicate, says Mr Mackenzie, how utterly misleading was Mr Ballance's now assumed position as to area, it has to be considered tba the value of buildings in the cities, valued at L 16,500,000, is included in ;he

L 84,000,000 ; &a well as all the farm buildings L.9,000,000 anl all oth'\r classes of iaiprovements valued at L 19 ,000,000, "so that m re than half '' tbe amount he set down fir land was " mude up of actual expenditure on iniu provemeuta." Mr Ballance, howevor, he declares, " fre.juently made state- " rnents to suit bis audiences ivgardleHS <; of thej facts of the case." For instance, recently at Wauganui, he told his constituents that f>2B persons held half the area of New Zealand, and that the area sold was not more than 14 or 15 million acres. " As a matter of fact " f)2B persoi s did not hold half the area '• of New Zealand and the area sold was " 19,700,000 acres, and Mr Ballanco " knew that well, when he spoke.' It was evident however, he continued, and something of a hopeful sign, that the Premier had been " brought to tho stool "of explanation " and perhaps ho would vow explain why, in September 1890, at Wauganui, on the eve almost of the general election, he thus ex pressed himself : " With regard to the " Crown lands, people now had no " opportunity of getting land in small " pieces — land for farms. They could " get it in blocks of 3000 acres, but not "in sections of 200 and 300 acres." By a singular coincidence, bays Mr Mackenzie, ou the day following-, tl»e Government held an extensive sale of lauds — from eighty to ( ne hundred farms — and only i two comprised more than 300 acres, i their area being 817 acres. All the rest were Ruiall. '' This sale iva.-t adver- " Used in the Gazette, a public paper ' sent to all morubers, six weeks " before Mr Ballance delivered his "speech, aud as an ex- Minister of Lands " he must have read those advertisements " aud become aware of the true position "of affairs. A public man was like a " town clock, to which a great number of "people looked. if the clock was " wrong, numbers were led astray." This disingenuousness, or worse, was however, he implied, characteristic of the Promier, as witness his withholding the information of which he was possessed —as be has since acknowledged — that the charges made by Mr G. Hutchison against the late Sir Frederick Whitaker were entirely groundless. It is sufficiently evident that Ministers do not stick at trifles in order to commend their policy and themselves to the people of JNew Zealand, who, unfortunately, h*ve to bear for a time the double infliction. Misstateraents of fact — to use a polite euphemism — have, however, a tendency to " come home to roost," and by no means encourage c nfidence in the perpetrators.