PRE-SESSIONAL ADDRESS.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 9382, 4 May 1892, Page 2

PRE-SESSIONAL ADDRESS.

MR MuGUIRE AT HAWERA. On Monday evening Mr McGniro addressed his conHtituenta at Hawora, wlien the Mayor occupied the chair. Mr McGuike, who was received with applause, after congratulating his audi nee on the revival of property in the district, spoke with regret of their late member, Sir Harry Atkinson, not bciog yet restored to his usual good health. He hoped that the lion, gentleman soon would be, beciuiso, although ho differed from him politically, he looked upon him as a most distinguished politician, and as n man who hud done {■•eat service to the country. The following arc a few of the subjects dwelt on by Mr McGuire, which wo take from the llawera Star :—: — r.AN'D AND INCOME TAX. Tiro Land and Income Tux, which hud now become law, was, ho thought, a step in the right direction, and lie also thought the Government was to be congratulated on having succeeded in currying ths measure through both branches of the Legislature. No sooner had the Liberal party succaeded in changing that pernicious flystem of taxation known as the Property Tax than it had to face all the opposition which prejudice, uciillh, and influence could brin: to bear. For years from all pints o£ New Zealand iho cry from iho bona fide settlers was that the Property Tax was n<t only unfair, but also that it was unjust and injurious to the best interest of the colony. If the present Government 1 ad doDO nothing else thiin abolish the Property Tax, they should by that one act earn for themselves the gratitude of every bona fide farmer, for they had taken .the burdens from tho shoulders of tho weak and placed them where thoy can bo more easily borno. lie rejoiced to bee that the Liberal party had at last succeeded in removing the tax, which had been like a blight upon tho prospeiity of tho colony, and which had done more in tho past to impede its progress and prevent production that perhnps any other cuuse. Tho amount of taxation levied ou property of all description in this country, which thoy hoard so much about in a portion of tho Press of this colony, only produced about A" 350,000, agi.inst a bout* £1,500,000 levied through the Customs, but not a

woid was heard from that portion of the Press with regard to the Customs tariff, which pressed bo heavily on the small farmer with a large family, but they could not too strongly denounce the £60,000 or £70,000 which h the only additional impost on land which it was estimated would bo raised by the graduated land •- tax. As all well knew, large estates in 1 tho colonvhavo been enormously enhanced in value by tho expenditure of borrowed money and by the construction of public works, the interest on which was borne by tho whole body of taxpayers. Suroly.it was not unreasonable that the large estates (which had been increased in value tenfold at the expense of ovevy man, woman, and clvld in New Zealand) shouid contribute something in proportion towards the benefits they had received. He would candidly admit that the present Government is not infallible. He would a'so I freely admit that there were, no doubt, weak points in their systems of taxation, and that the heaven -born financier has not yet appeared in this or any other country who had been able to devise a tax which had givei satisfaction to all classes of the ebairnunity. He feared he would not appear in O'ir time. Tho Treasurer would soon havo' before him a return which will enable him to know how much the new taxation will produce, and Bhould the tax press too heavily on any one class of the community, Parliament, he felt sure, would see that justice was done. Speaking for himself, he would leave nothing undone that will have for its object justice and equity to al 1 , as he had no sympathy with class legislation, which pressed too sever Jy on any portion of the community. (Applause.) He, however, believed that the revenue raised by taxation should not be measured by what tho people can afford to givt", but what they ought to give. ABSENTEES. Dunng his recent visit to New South Wales and Victoria ho was struck by the lact that tho wealthy people of that Con tincnt hal got into the habit of visiting Melbourne and Sydney for a few months of each year, and sponding a portion of their income there; but those who have made money here, luve got into a very bad habit of leaving the c untryaa speedily as they could, and spending their income in London. This was the very class of people a porti' n of the Press aro making such a fuss about. CAPITAL NOT LEATING NEW ZEALAND. Now, it was said that capital is leaving the colony. He did not believe it in tho sense that it appears in tho Conservative press. This was the cry sve used to hear when the property tax was in force, and we were assured that if that tax were repealed, capital frightened away by it would return at once. As a matter o£ fact, no capital was frightened away by that tax. Capital is nover frightened away by a tax, if after paying it there is still a sufficient profitable margin. Two and ahalf and 3 per cent, is the rate of interest in England. Tho difference between that rate and the rate offering in New Zealand is quite enough to enable us not to fear any withdrawal of capital from this country owing to any such taxation as has been imposed under the Acts passed last session. There is a tax on capital which is invested on unimproved laud in large areas; but he felt convinced that every right thinking man and woman will agree that it was not a healthy sign in this or any country to have tho land unimproved and locked up in largo blocks. History proved that whorover this course has lieen adopted, poverty to the people and decay to tho nation was sure to follow. Becauso a giaduated land tax was put on these large unimproved estates, they were told by a section of t o prebs that capi'.al is leaving tho country. If thoy only lost that class of capital, which has built up large estates, and oncour.iged tho owners to live in London, then New Zealand had liLtle to fear. He knew from his personal knowledge that it was a difficult thing to get capital invested at tho present timo. As a proof of this there were upwards of £3,000,000 h, ing in tho banks not beariog interest ; about two millions in the Post Office Savings Bank ; £1,000,000 in Government Insurance, besides a vast amount of money in the hands of private people, building societies, loan companies, and other institutions. Capital was not leaving New Zealand in the sense that it appears in the Conservative press ; nevertheless money was leaving with a vengeance, for over £300,000 had to be lemitted to London every month by way of interest on public and private borrowing. The most of the private borrowing had been for the purpose of building up largo cstat- s, and half of tho public borrowing had been spent in railways, roads and bridges, and improving largo estates. This was tho class who made such a noise, becauso they would bo compelled under the present taxation to pay interest on about £1,750,000. This class wanted the general public to pa}' their taxes iv the l'uluic as they have 'louo in the past. The people were prepaied to pay an equitable proportion ; but they must respectfully decline to pay other's share any longer. (Applause). j LIKEUALS. The true Lilieral party in Now Zealand, liko the true Liberal party in any other country, contain many who differ in matter of details It sometimes happened that thobe views extend to important details. Such had been his position. Although desirous to work with the great Liberal party in this country, ho had often found himself in opposition. He knew that to carry great measures of reform, co-oper-ation was essential, and that great measures cannot dm obtained with out compromise. But for l)is own part, while having a seat in Parliament, ho would never allow the Liberals or Conservatives to do the thinking for him — (applause). They would have to excuse him, as ho purposed doing tho thinking for himself. tJowever, ho would be found i supporting, to tho best of his ability, a progressive Liberal Government ; and although not agreeing with tho present Government in every detail, he nevertheless believed that thoy had tho true interest of tho colony at heart. Therefore they would havo his support, so far as ho could conscientiously give it to them. Party Government was the gieatest curse of tho colony, and if we could get its business men to conduct the affairs of tho colony, and a man could support what was right or wrong, according to his own judgment, without reference to party, it would be much better for the colony. However, ho intended to vote for measures which commended themselves to his conscience, whether they came from Liberals or Conservatives. With reference to LAND SETTLEMENT, j it was very depressing to see our population miking up their minds to leave a country with sucH liuvf, resources, and climate as we possess. Those who havo been leaving us in tho past for the most part are tho young, intelligent Now Zcalandor, c 'ucatcd at no small cost to the celony, and brought up to hard work and country life — iv fact, the very class of men wo most want to retain. In his humblo opinion a large percentage of those who have formed tho exodus of tho last few years have done so owing to tho difficulty of getting suitable land upon which to settle. The host proof bo could give of this was to state what had come under his own notice during a visit to Canterbury and Otago. Ho met many men who said that there is good land in Taranaki, but thoy further said that if you go north for tho purpose of securing land, it coats £10 or £15 before you are ablo to select a suitable block, and that other persons besides themselves, many of

whom will bo land speculators, will apply for land, and then there will have to l>o a lottery between the various applicants ; ho that in spite of their expenditure of money and time they may not get land after all, and this is the chief reason, and he thought accounted for many of our young New Zoalauders going to Australia. The pres-oot Government claim, he believed truthfully to be very anxious to keep such men in . the colony, and to promote the settlement of our people upon the land. But the expense of selection, and the uncertainty of ■ acquisition which he had already referred to aro beyond doubt two "very serious difficulties in the way of getting land. He therefore trusted that tho Minister of Lands would see his way to remove thoso obstacles which are, undoubtedly, a bar to settlement. A largo portion of the unoccupied land in this Island, suitable in every way for settlement in small holdings, was still almost in the hands of the Natives. If we wero to acquire thia land, which he thought was very desirable, funds would havo to be procured for this purpose, and the question was, how is tho money to be obtained ? He most decidedly would oppose going upon tho London money markets ; we had been there too often. Tho best, way out of the difficulty was to obtain the money required in Now Zealand. Notwithstanding what is said respecting capital leaving the colony, capital is undoubtedly accumulating here. Me believed, by an amendment to the Government Loan? to Local Bodies Act, the necessary funds required could be obtained in the colony. The money ao expended should bo a first charge upon the land . ROADS. Tho road ing of Crown lands, and tho oponing up land for settlement are wants no Government could long ignore, how much less a Government elocted to assist the people of the colony to settle on the landß No person could travel through ■ the Province and not see tho great work which has yet to bo done in the making of roads and bridgesi. Last session an amendment to the Government Loans to Lacal Bodies Act was passod giving tho Colonial Treasurer power to spend any sum not exceeding £50,000 in any ono year towards opening up blocks of land for settlement by tho formation or construction of roads or bridges, or giving access to such blocks, either beforo or after the sale. Out of any aura or sums so expended in respect of any block of land to bo a first charge upon the land, and shall be refunded from tho procee's of the sale. It had been applioi in the case of tho Mangamingi block. , Tha main road was to be metalled and the other roads were to be made at an expense of about 153 p r acre. Although the Innd might have been considered dear, with these reads it would be cheap. But, he thought, another step was necessary in order to further assist and aid settlement, which he knew thoy were anxious to do. They should offer the settlers the road making ; this would give them employment for the first year or two near home. If the Government accepted his proposal (which he believed thoy would \it will enable tho settlors to cam money at once, and thus enable them to meet their instalments with cash made on their own block to the Government. When not engaged in load making or bridge building thoy would find plenty of employment in improving tlicir own properties. He had done all ho could in the paßt, and would continue to do so in the future to settle the people on the Crown lands of tho colony. (Applause). NATIVE LAND LAWS. We were entering in this district from bad roads, but worse native land laws, and these arc two great obstacles to settlement, The latter would have caused a revolution in any but a B itish colony. If our Legislature would only remedy thoso two ovils, this provinco, and, indeed, tho whole of tho North Island, must progress, if not by leaps and bounds, at least with wonderful rapidity, and carry a numerous thriving population to shaio tho large burden of taxation the colony has to boar. To a person ignorant of the native land laws it seemed incomprehensible, that the native question should have bafHed all Governments for years past. A very largo number of our settlers on this coast were suffering from the evil effect of native land lawfe. This que-tion was too serious in his poor opinion to remain unsettled any longer. In tho present uncertain state of the law, enterprise was almost at a standstill. A great responsibility rested on those who have allowed, in the p.ist, native matters to drift i to such a muddle. It must bo apparent to ovory person that something mupt bo done at once. Tho time has arrived that if the Maori doctor's gordian knot cannot bo untied an Alexander must be found to cut it.