HON. MR STOUT'S ADDRESS TO THE ELECTORS. {BY TELEGRAPH—PRESS ASSOCIATION.) Dunedin, Oct. 23.

Te Aroha News, Volume III, Issue 126, 31 October 1885, Page 4

HON. MR STOUT'S ADDRESS TO THE ELECTORS. {BY TELEGRAPH— PRESS ASSOCIATION.) Dunedin, Oct. 23.

The Hon. Mr Stout addressed the electors of Dunedin East this evening. The building was filled, His Worship the Mayor presiding. The Mayor, in introducing Mr Stout, remarked that he was the first Otago representative who had occupied a position in the front rank of politicians. The Hon. Mr toTOUT was oordially received. He said he had had some difficulty in determining what subject he should deal with, as it would be impossible in one speech to deal with the past session and the future intentions of the Government. He had, therefore, determined to deal with the last session, and then to briefly refer to the future intentions of the Government, reserving for another occasion what he conceived should be the policy of any Ministry who had the confidence of the people of .New Zealand. He referred to the chaos and confusion that existed in Wellington before the present Government took office early in the 1884 session . A coalition G overnment had necessarily to be formed, and a majority of the House determined that the ooalition should be formed from the then Opposition, He admitted that members of the Cabinet were not all agreed in political feelings or political principles, but they had shown sufficient reason to prove that they were able to carry en the government of this colony with effect. (Cheers). He next referred briefly to the odium cast on die Colonial Treasurer, and said that certain membersof the Opposition, who now objected to that hon. gentleman, last year objected to him taking in with him Mr Bullance and the speaker. It appeared to him that with these members party ties and political principles were of little consequence so long as they were in the cool shades of Opposition, and that the country could never get along till they were called on to administer its affairs. (Laughter and applause.) His Government had done what no other Ministry had dared to do hitherto. They had boldly come down at the inception of the session with the whole of their policy measures, without waiting, in politicrl phraseology, so see how „" the cat jumped " He now confoesed that in the programme they had sketched out the Government had attempted too much, seeing that Parliament was only to be in session three months. The question of taxation had to be dealt with, and they recognised that additional taxation was necessary. Borrowing waa being continued, and every additional million borrowed meant £40 000 a year additional taxation, because whether the money was for reproductive works time musi elapse before those works could return any interest Then another thing, the number of children in the colony was continu ally increasing, and that increase meant an additional cost of £4 per head for every child that went into our schools. The Educational vote was yearly increasing. As our population was increased the demands on Government increased. Demands were being continually made for post offices, telephone stations, and the hundred and one other things that the Government were suppesed to look atter. This meant an additional expenditure of the public money. Then, as the industries of the colony increased the imports necessarily decreased. The use of intOXicating liquors had bee« decreasing—(applause)—and.of couree,as their use diminished there was a loss in the I Uustoms revenue, and that loss had to be met in some way. But there were some people who said that while the Customs revenue had been steadily increasing, the Customs taxation had been increasing. In one sense that was true, but in another it was incorrect. The Customs revenue had increased, but the amount per head that the people were called on to pay had not increased In 1870 it was £2 13s 7d, while now it was £2 6s 6d per head, a decrease oi 7s Id. How did the Government propose to increase the taxation ? By distributing the taxation equally all round. He said that the additional taxation of 2d per pound has been opposed by some members on the ground of sentiment merely. He was not afraid of any vote he gave, and he held that the tea duty was a fair tax. It was legitimate, and would not harm any person in the colony ; and a Ministry dealing with the tariff had to look at the fact that there has arisen a number of industries, aud any Ministry that overlooked that fact neglected its duty. (Cheers.) Indus tries must be fostered and not injured, and it was on those lines that the Government had framed their Customs tariff, and any Minister who had to deal with the tariff in the future would take the same view of it. The speaker then explained the causes which led to the loss of the tariff proposals. There were come members in the House who called themselves free traders. He believed they were in a minority. There were some who called themselves free traders, but they were not consistent free traders. The leader of the Opposition was a declared protectionist, and many of the Opposition who followed his lead were declared protectionists, but there were two or three Oppositionists who were declared free traders, like Colonel Trimble. A few members from each side of the House had met together and called themselves a great free trade caucus. How did they act? They came to the Government and asked if the Government were willing to modify their tariff. They considered the request, and agreed to modify it in some respects, but the free traders among the Opposition party would have no modification. For the sole pur pose of injuring and defeating the Government those who were avowed protectionists had voted against the tariff. He (Mr Stout) ventured to affirm that if the Government were defeated next year and went out, the succeeding Government would have to introduce an amended Customs tariff, and it would be on the lines of the one they voted against last season. The depression was caused by the fall in wheat and grain, arid because frozen meat had not come up to expectations. As far as the Land Act went, he held that no more liberal law had ever been passed by any Legislature in the world, and his election promises with regard to the land system he had been able to carry out. Let him say this — the country was indebted, the House was indebted, to Mr Kolleston for the great assistance he had given in carrying this measure. (Applause ) He did not think the homestead system would succeed where there were settlements close by. Coming to the Native Land Bill be defended Mr Ballance's " One Policeman Policy," and said the Maoris recognised that they were being treated righteously, and had come to love the Europeans. The eon of Te Whiti had been soen coming into Court seeking for justice. That had never happened before. Notwithstanding the recent scare, notwithstanding the creation of a permanent artilleiy force, the Government had to reduce the Armed Constabulary to .400 men, and they hoped to be able to still furthur reduce them. (Hear, hear.) The tribes and napus which had hitherto" been discontented were now looking onus with ft, favourable eye. The reason the Government had been

unable to pass the Deposition Bill was because the people in the South Island had not taken the trouble to considerjwhat the native land question meant, and the consequence was, instead of a liberal settlement of the lands, they had passed into the hands' of landsharks Hviug in the North. The Bill had been shelved, bub the Government intended to try again to get it passed, and he hoped that all those who wished to see justice done to the Maoris and Europeans would support them, and no longer look upon it as a North Island question, but as a colonial question. As to the public works policy in the past, he had been opposed to it, in that it allowed considerable moneys to be spent on roads and bridges, instead of on our railways, which would have been reproductive. The Atkinson Government for the five months they had held office during 1884-85 had spent £781,217, or £126,000 more than the present Government had spent in seven months. So much for the extravagance of which they had been charged. Alluding to the Bast and West Coast railway, he said that as the work had to be constructed as a colonial undertaking, he thought it would be cheaper for the colony to construct it under some guarantee system such as had been proposed. The colony would in time have to make this line, and not, so»far as the colony was concerned, under such favourable terms. (Hear, hear.) He believed that the line would pay one per cent. Ihe proposal of the Government to appoint a committee was only fair to the people of Canterbuiy and Nelson. Those from Otago by their action in this matter had stopped the union between Canterbury and Otago which so many wished to ccc, and would live to regret it. He was glad to say that ho was not one. do far as Captain liussell's motion went, it would not affect the district of Otago so much as it would affect Auckland and Wellington, and adoption of that motion might mean the raising of the North Island Trunk loan for general purposes. Unfortunately, while large reductions had been made in the railway vote, the roads and bridges vote had passed almost intact. The District Purchasing Bill was next alluded to, and the purchases made under it's provisions defended. A pledge he had made was that he would see that as much iron work would be manufactured in the colony as possible, and this pledge had been carried out. (Hear, hear). Personally he believed in a land tax, but a majority of members in the House did not agree with bim. As the nearest approach thereto his Government had proposed the exemption from taxation of agricultural machinery, but in that respect they had been unable to get the Assembly to agree with them. They had, however, passed la ws giving encouragement to the fish and forests industries, and to the mining industry. The question of cheap labour was also dealt with, and they proposed in that respect a Moitgage Debentures Bill, which would enable companies to borrow money in England, and they thought that the more money they got the cheaper it would become. As to education, if the syllabus he proposed were carried out, children would be trained not to look to a clerkship as the highest thing in life, but to look to scientific pursuits. He regretted that more had not been done with respect to the North Island. Alluding to the depression he said he had noticed in a newspaper that there were still 23 racing fixtures for the season, and at each of these meetings £2,000 or £3,000 was spent. X the depression would rid the colony of these fixtures, it would do good, but the depression here was not as bad as in other countries. Those who remembered the hard times in 1869 ought not to be depressed because there were hard times now. Depression moved in circles, and what they had to consider was how the depression was to be got rid of. fie believed that, our staples would rise in yalue, and the creation of the village system would provide against future depression. In the post one of the curses of this colony had been the anxiety of farmers to get large settlements of land. The speaker briefly doalt with immigration, and referred to the critics of the Government. With respect to the latter, he denied that there had been any criticism of the administration. There might have been personal dislike to individual members of the Ministry, and objections may have been urged to their measures, but so far as their administration was concerned it had been subjected to less criticism than any other Government had to submit to. He touched briefly on the conversion of loan scheme, and in doing so gave every credit to Sir Dillon Bell for his able management of the Agent Generalship. At the conclusion of his speech Mr Stout was warmly cheered. A few questions were asked, and then a vote of thanks was carried.