PARLIAMENT OUT OF SESSION.

Timaru Herald, Volume L, Issue 4868, 13 June 1890, Page 3

PARLIAMENT OUT OF SESSION.

MAJOK STRWARD AT WAI-ITI. Major Steward met tbo doctors at the library, Wai-iti, lost evening. There was a very good attendance, and Sir Wooljtein occupied tlio chair, and briefly introduced Major Stoward. Major Steward opened his address bj stating that, ho always preferred speaking to them directly before tho session, for then thoy could cbat übout tho past, tho present, aud tho future. As to the past session it liad been r. very disappointing one. 'Iho record with regard to measure* was very email, and with regard to their vnliio not very much. He would touch lightly on a few of tho measures passed. Mr Hutchison's Criminal Evidence Act introduced an entirely new depart uro m iho practice of the 1», and was an experiment and Whether it would work out as Mr Hutchison intended nv.ist bo left to time. The Triennial Lieensiug Bill had been introduced by him (Mr Steward) and. ho bad been sncccesful with it. During tbo lust few ywra members had recognised m poUt of fact that the country had outrun the ocetnMo, nr.d rccjgnised that the passing of this Bill would sive the colonj thousands of pounde. Ihe electora would also pee tins when he tuld them that each licensing election cott the country £7000, bo that tho faot of an elect-ion taking place once m three years would saro the colony about £14,000. It would ulao allow a committee to see that their directions, with respect to, say, enforcing a licensee to build new promises, were carried out properly ; a tbing they could not always see to when electod for only ono year. Altogether the election of a committee for tho period of three years would result m the Liceneiog Act being more ably administered, and at the same timo would save the colony a very comiderable amount of mosey. A very useful £511 introduced by the Government to tho Selectors' Land Revaluation Bill, tho object of which woa to help those persons who at auction had given absurdly high rentals for land. Their cases were discussed by a board, and the prices or rentals given were considered, arH where necessary reductions were made. Tho Eill bad beep' found to bo very useful, and its provisions had been availed of to a great extent m Otngo. Another Bill carried on the work formerly governed by the Chinese Restriction Bill. Chinese were generally vary harmless m a community, but he held that it would bo exceedingly disastrous if the Chinese were allowed to enter this country m such numbers aa to Beriously affect the labour market and bring down the standard of wages to something corresponding to the few pence per day on which Chinamen could live. Major Steward next touched on reform of the Legislative Council, and slid that ho was one of those who held that it was not absolutely necessary to have a cecond chamber at all. It was argued that such a chamber put a check on hasty legislation, but bis experience was that m nine cases out of ten the interference of the Council had rather been m tho direction of destroying the usefulness or crippling the measures pis?ed bytheHoiuoof Hepresentatives. Ha advocated reform as being preferable to abolition, and would lite to see Iho upper chamber elective ; two thirds to bo elected by the local government bodies, and one third by the Crown, to put m individuals who might have been overlooked. Tho wholo matter, however, was ono greatly open to argument, lut on ono point they were all agreed, namely, that Legislative Councillors should not be placed m tho chamber for life. The weak point vms that a man, no matter how old or how unfitted he might be for legislative dutiee, had as much right to vote and discuss matters m the council, as the best and most talented man they might Bend there to repreBent thorn at a critical period m the colony's history. A proposal had been made to limit Lho term of offico to 6 years, and this was likely to be accepted by tbo Council itself, and this departure would pare lho way to more extensive reforms. Referring to the Hospitals and Charitable. Aid Bill Major Steward aaid its provisiona wore bad, for under it the majority of the contributing bodies hart no say m tho expenditure of the money raised. This large question was, however, likely to come up again next Bcasion, and there was every likolihood of tho Government bringing clown a Bill that would prove to be very good and useful. As to the Asees3mont Act Amendment Bill, ho admitted that it* was very desirable to relievo industries ns much aa possible, but tbo Bill introduced did not go far enough. He and others held that agricultural improvements up to lho value of £2000 should be exempt,in additioa to certain classes of machinery, and ho was very sorry when the Bill was withdrawn. As to tbo property t»x he wss ono of thoie who would like to see it got rid of altogether, but it was absolutely impossible to do this. lie ntlinilted that further saving? should be made, but m their present state it followed that if tho property tax were repealed something eleo must be put m its place. He was m favour of a land, income, and property tax — that they should retain the latter tax to got at certain proporty that could not be reached by tho other taxes. On land ho would allow deductions amounting to £1000 and tax on the remainder. With regard to property ho had spoken of he would allow tho £500 exemption and tax lho rest; and, finally, with regard to income ho would allow £200, or any other sum agreed on, and tax tho rest. Ho would, however, allow only ono dorluction to be made m the cuso of ono party, and under that ocheme he thought they would get all fairly into tho net. Thero woro many and various objections to tho property tax as it now stood, not lho least of which was that many professional men m receipt of largo incomes escaped taxation under it. He know of lawyers making £4000 and £5000 a year, who really had no property, but who were ablo to pay their sharo of taxation, nnd certainly ehnuld not be let off. After naming Die Railway Employees' Insurance Bill, the Bill for the classification of tho Civil Service, and a few others as having engaged tho attention of the UoußO.he had a fow words to Bay on tho Representation Bills. As to tho Hare Bill it needed almost a lecture to itself, being of such an abstruse, character ; but ho would content himself by just touching lightly on it. 'Ihoro were two reasons why he voted against it. He felt sure that tho electors would not be satisfied with a »sfltem of things which did not givo them immediate results, and which did not clearly show them how those- resull« would work out. But bo soon as the electors all agreed that they would have it, he would bo quite willing to accept their decision. Ho had voted for a reduction of members, for tho reason ho had named when spunking of lho Licensing Bill — i\ saving iv tho colony's expenditure. But such legislation was nn experiment ; one, too, he ventured U> Buy that tho eleolora would ere long not bo satisfied with. For ono thing tlie way the electorates had been cut up had destroyed community of interest m many of them. Tho second Boprosentntion Btlfhnd been introduced to Bottle tho question of the quota, and on this a now memorable fight hud taken place between tho town and country members. In tho end tho country members won the day. Touching next on party government ho said that it was an utter 1 failure. Under the preient system a momber mi eternally placed ia a false poeilioo, Be

1 would very often like lo cast his voto with thonots or tho ay«j, but ho could not do this un'ess ho went with his party. He would like to 6co them get into tho position when the nholo Uouso could me its judgment to tho best of its ability on any particular piuce of legislation that might bo brought before it. As an instanoo of what ho meant bo would refer thoni to Switzerland, a country pretty well on all fours with the oolony of >'ew Zialand. Iv Switzerland both tho governing Houses wore elected for three years, and at their Brat meeting they chose "■even members as the Government or fixocutivo of the couutry, and no matter whnt occurred they remained m offiuo till the next general election. The result of this was that measures were voted upon their merits ; each member 111 st Ilia vote quito independently. This ho held wa3 v distinct and marked contrast to the war government was conducted m the colony, where the proceedings of turning out nnd forming Ministries were only too well known, and whero mon belittled their neighbours and imputed motives of a questionable kind to political opponents. It was his full intention to table resolutions on this subject and have them discussed when the House met, and he hoped that all the electors would fully consider it, and that the newspapers would writo upon it, so that tho pros, and cons, might he fully discussed, nnd that beforo many yeara havo elapsed, a chaDgo iv this direction be made. One of tlie most important raattora that could oooupy tho House m the upproaching session as a matter m which immediate reform was required, was the administration of the land. It was evident th»t something was wrong m this department when, though the cloud of depression' *as passing away, though the ciports hud largely increaeed and tho credit of the o?lony was greatly improvod, there was neither increase of population nor of settlement at anything like tho rates there ought to be. The" year'beforo last tho colony lost 10,000 pre[''-*, and the exodus still continued, nnd to extent, ho thought, than tho ollicml figures 'bowed. It was not onough that the culuny was producing more wool nnd mutton, and bigger dividends for lho big companies and owners of large estates. True progress could ouly be shown by the increase of small holders, loan Jiile ndtlers making themselves homes on the land, by tho increase of farmers aud of employmcut on farms and m tho various handicrafts tho firmors keep going. Of this sort of progress there web very little to be seen, not a litho of what thero should be. 'lho Minister of Lands had been boasting of tho amount of land ho had disposed of. It was truo no doubt that he bad sold the land, but it was notorious that the sales did not represent a proportionate amount of Beltloment, but m lho majority of cases only enlargements of existing properties. It was also notorious that where this was not allowed to be case under tho law it really was 80, through the system of " dummying," through sons ivnd daughters and eietera and cousins and aunts. lh;re was a great deal of this going on, and ho doubted whether 10 per cont. of the- recent land salea represented so many additional settlers. And this was allowed even m Canterbury where, out of 3} million acres only a quarter of a million could be found fit for settleire t — and hardly tit, to judge by the official descriptions of the Bections. The whole business was most unsatisfactory. Something must be do do to stop tho acquisition of large blocks by dummying or any other means, aud to secure the actual occupation and improvement of the land. It was well known to them that he had done bis best to get the Government to take up the question of forming labour settlements m centrea of agriculture, where the land wants labourers and labourers want land, nnd that where necessary the Government should acquire land for the purpose. At a meeting of mombert (convened by hiniielf a deputation was appointed to wait upon the Government two sessions ago and ask for a vote for the purpose; £10,000 was placed on tho Estimates and passed by tho Committee of Supply, but it was afterwards lost by & narrow majority on a voto of tho House. Last year he and others urged that the proposal should be renewed, but at ths last moment tho Government Eaid they could not ceo their way to agree to it. A» Mr Fergus had recently spoken approvingly of this schemo, and had gone further aud spoken of acquiring land for small farms, they might hope that thie year tho Government would make »uch a proposal and stand by it The worst of it was (hat it was impossible to »ay whether Mr Fergus indicated the intentions of the Cabinet or not. Tho administration of the railways was highly unsatisfactory. Tho so-called change made by the appointment]of tho Commission was no change at all ; do ono expected any real change, when the very man against whom the action taken was chiefly directed, was retained, and therefore no one was disappointed. He was not satisfied that tho railways were being made the best of, even if the; did pay 3 per coot. He believed they would pay bottor under Mr Yaile's Byatem, the passenger traffic would to enormously increase if fares were largely reduced that the not earnings m this direction would be much greater than at present. In the same way the adoption of a low tariff for the conveyance of agricultural and pastoral products would make it poasible profitably to work furmß at long distances from market or pott, and this would Dot only ensure the extension of settlement, but tho increased aolumo of freight would mako op, or go a long way towards making up, any deficiency from decreasod charges per ton. Even if there woro somo deficiency on this head, it would bo very much more than compensated by the gain to the consolidated revenue m other directions. It was also obviously necessary to reduce the rates fur short milagca over which road traction ia now taking tho placo of traction by rail. Tho whole tariff, nnd still more tho present red-tape regulations, needed a thorough overhaul by men guided by business and common-sense principles, as these are full of absurd anomalies and vexatious provisions wliioh are absolutely inimical to the development of traffic. Ab to the proposal to Bolvo the railway difficulty by aollirg th(££ linos ho regarded it as tho most impolitic possible ; but he need not go into that, as thero waa not the slightest chance pf its bring done. Reform of (ho land administration and lho railway mantgemont were, m his opinion tho two tubjecls which preeminently demanded the attention of Parliamoot, and if thoy were not properly dealt with next session, the electors should mike them cardinal qurelions at tho next olection. Turning to the question of borrowing, Major Stoward gnvea few figures showing tho prcfiont loan debt. This was now, m round numbers, 87 millions, equal to £R3 per head of the population, and the annual chjrgo fur interest was £1,883,000, equal to about £3 per head of (ho population. The not earnings of railway*, tolograpbs, etc., ahonld be taken into account, aud ns tbceo prpyided about one-third of tho annual chargo, this nott amount required lo be paid by taxation to make up tbo interest ovury year wo« about £8 per head. This was heavy enough, and tho House neither would bo nor should bo willing to incroaio it by further borrowing. Thorn werp somo publicworks, however, which ahuuld bo further prosecuted, but thore was nn unexpended balance of tho last loan which should provjdo for minor works, loaving throe greater ones to bo olhorwiso provided far. These were Iho Otago Oontrnl, Ihn North Island Trunk, and the Hokitika Greymouth railways. As to first, lie preferred Mr Pyke's land concession eobomo, and failing that the proposal made by tho Government laßt session. As to tho tho North Inland Trunk iine, that might very well be hunt; up for somo years, nnd the balance of tho loan applied to the purchase of native, lands, tho proceeds of the resale of thoso to be apont on tho railway later on. Aa to tho third lino montioned, arrangements might bo made with tho Midland Company to push that. If these threo lines vrero thus provided for, thero would bo nothing to borrow for for boiiio years. Major Steward concluded bis nddreas by slightly criticising tho way lho now electorates" had been slicod up. Ho had to bid (hem good bye m a political aonso for now Wai-ili hail been tacked on to Tinmru. It had always been n pleasure to him to address thorn, and he trusted that they would ever ktop up tho deep Interest thoy had evinced m politics, Ono thing ho would advise them to do was to at onoonot about haying thomaelvoj put on tho oleeforal roll for Timaru. It wub said that such would follow ac n matter of course on tho inclusion of Wai'iti m Timar^, but it wds far lho eafo»t to personally aee'that

I their names woro on the roll. Mr Steward once more thanked them nnd resumed his In reply lo Mr Apliu Mr Stoward said thnt nn doctor under the- residential qualification must bco that his uumo was on tbo roll of tho district m which he wished to voto; lhat if he Bent a letter to him (Vfr Steward) when ho got to Wellington ho would send copies to MrAplin, or any elector, of the pamphlet on tho Haro systom. In reply to Mr Aplin Mr Steward also shortly explained tho provisions of tho proposed Private Schools Bill ; eaid lhat ho wns quite iv favour of the Eight Hours Bill, and would support any aaaondmont m it likely to be of bonofit to tho agricultural labourer. He did not cousider that tho colony had anything m lho world to do with tho Now Plymouth harbour loan : it woo an unfortunate mattor, but be cculd not soo that thi) colony should interfere with it. Tho £10.000 ho had asked for would provide for at leaßt 20 labour scttlemonU, nnd if he succeeded m getting it, nnd the aettlomcnta wore a success, ho was Buro that there would be no difficulty m getting a further turn if required. Ho would do his best for the " poor ewnggor," he had not heard that etation owners owners had combined to boycott them. Of oourao tho Legislature could not force a I man to ontortain another man unless he ohoae to do co, but nt tho aame time, am m could not leuvo another out of his houso m 'sororo weather to die. Be hardly thought any Britisher m this country would do that. He thought charitnblo aid should step m where swaggers were absolutely penniless. Ac to tho nccommodalion'fur employes on station) he waa nware that m some cases it wns wretohed. Ho did not think a Royal Commission should be appointed to onquiro into it : it was more a branch of subject for tho Sweating Commission to onqutre into, nnd ho waa quito willing to vote that thoy ulioukl do bo No other questions being asked, Mr D. Fyfo moved that, » v.'to of thanks nnd confidence bo tendero;! lo Mnjor Slovvard. This was seconded by Mr Aplin and carried unanimously. Major Steward brieUy returnod thanks, and the usual compliment having been paid the chairman, the meeting clo.-cd at 10 20 p.m.