POLITICAL NOTES.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXII, Issue 12845, 1 December 1905, Page 6

POLITICAL NOTES.

MR, AT SMITHFIELD. The Hon. Wm. Hall-Jones addressed, a. meeting, of electors last night at the residence of Mr J. Fox, near Smithfield. Theie were about fifty persons in the room, which. was filled ; and manyrjmqre stood outside.' Mr T. Pox was appointed ,to.; the chair. Mr Hall-Jones's address was. •similar in its general lines to those he bad delivered m neighbouring meetingplaces. In speaking of measures carried oat by the Government, Jlr Hall-Jones spoke of the old age pensions. He coupled this matter with that of the Customs duties, which he said would be regarded as the general contributions towards the pensions; iind_ everyone should be glad to make contribution towards the funds. He pointed out that- the Opposition, who now said they would not repeal the laws of the present Government, were responsible for determined stonewalling on many of these, measures; it was far more likely they would not properly administer- those lajrs. It was,a great compliment to the Govern-* ,ment: that, after prolonged opposition, they had got these beneficent measures passed, that they stood law, and that the Opposition , candidates now said they would not repeal: those laws. : He spoke of the various business undertakings taken up by the Government* the lands for settlement, ; advanoes.,; to settlers, Bank of New Zealand investments, -: and said these had all r been most-successful. In the lands for settlement there was hot a transaction on which a shilling of loss had been suffered! ' These movemnits were said to be socialistic; but if this was socialism, it was very satisfactory. He said there wece'a -?great -many people who'did notvkno-w how.the 599 years' lease came into operation! The late Sir John McKenzie ' brought in a -Land Bill providing for a lease of 40 years. He was.desirous of seeing the land's let o-at to the benefit of the people, and the lands leased were to be revalued after 40' years.; and tenants desirous of doing so could continue in their occupancy by taking another 40 years' lease, and so on. Bat the feeling of the House was so stroco■against these leases, so many in favour of the freehold that Sir John McKenzie rather than sacrifice his ideals with regard to the leases, proposed, and" it was accepted by. the House, the 999 years' lease Large numbers, of the .Opposition voted f©r this system, which had been in operation «ver since m..connection with the lands for-settlement. :; He referred to reflections cast by some Oppositionists on the character of some of the District Judges and Magistrates, the appointees of the Government, statements that they were not independent, ? He. said they wera men- of integrity and honour, above any interference irom the Government, men who did their duty fearlessly and well. Anyone- who reflected upon them was doing wrong, and was wrthout moral fibre. In the future, Mr Hall-Jones said it was Joped that before long a married man wculd -be deemed insured, so that at his death without payment of any premiums, his widow would receive £IOO, and each child jmder 14 years old £5. He had worked * oV * h \ ifc , COu!d be d ™ tor £IOO,OOO. He spoke for an hour and a halt to a most attentive audience, and was heartily applauded at ; th e conclusion.' Unly one question was put; it was whether a State coal depot would be made £'? mB JV, The yes, and be hoped before long.. One with the coal had been to get iaVS 5 that th f would *ave to get some of their own, as they i?L%°™ to *>■ Timaru would. 'be lh-i '^ 6 T e ° the *«U«t-places at whicn a depot would be opened : Mr F, Waddell moved, and Mr McCofmick seconded, a motion expressing thanks to the speaker and confidence inthTTi ?JL ? the motlon was carried by hearty acclamation. The audience, inside H m ' then *™ *£ ioi M%*s and thre « more 1% M , r , Sedctan, and finished up wit h For ne s a joUy good fellow." Mr HaU bneflpexpressed his thanks, s^eSSy SSent? present, and th- chairman bavin? been his unices, the ***&*%£

M ROLLESTSX. AT BROWN ~-tMp Ronton held meeting m the Catholic Brown street, last night, ; Atajfc aS were present, J. Wallace was moved to -tie chair. One J*rso n caused a little annoyance- by-kfer ««*««. but otherwise ■&£&s% iearfcjy receded, commenced with defining the posatxons of the political parties* 1! 4h,s fame there was but one legislative policy claimed support-the £ard and reforming policy of the ; Opposi& tion It was because he was absoWv and of the ey,dent fact that the Government were only tinkering with the laws of +he colony so as to rerr a i n OD tbe TrPf(svr . (hat he ,or«rht their f „ff rage s credit—-nd got it f rnm the short-sicrhte-'-i----rot orly for all anw iorntir-,, thr ■ «t,f,t e v,n 0 l- n'so for provHen + raised the price of cur produce, successful seasons, and direct heights. It was some-

times said tliat if the- Opposition came into power they would repeal the present labour iegislation; this ; would be a logical sequence if the,.present: Government whenthey canie iato power .had repealed the most liberal and progressive measure ever passed through our. legislature and, by the way by .a Conservative Government— manhood Suffrage. As,to the land question, how hopeless, .vacillating and shuffling were the ,G.overnment r about it, with no. policy and no fixed principles Why should a Government be retained that was false to .the tradiof our constitution, which insisted that the Ministry should lead.the House either one way.orvtife other on-all great national questions, and surely this was one, and whose W furthermore told his hearers at I ohristchnrch the other night that the! Land Commission wa s . a piece of aotfd generalship.'' Yes it was generluship, bnt i " gen , eralshi P but sound statesman-1 shipthat we looked for. in one that guided the destinies of/this young country. Every I a4ult.m New Zealand was a shareholder "in I the business of the colony, and when he .found careless administration and waste of public money it was time that the directors were asked- to/ render an account of their the disposal of the Public VVorks: Fund-there were serious causes of complaint, as; could be easily provided by thev reports of the proceedings of local bodies, pointing to the fact that this- important fund >F as not being. properly and justly The, Premier's own : admission. ; waß that the district represented % a K,7 ern . mdllt : su PPWt«r was looked after better than one that returned a follower of the Opposition: He was strong m favour of CM Service Board .to stoj the wire. puUmg; and political jobbery 'i! fwhich-be, quoted, that now went ihi e : °PP° sl fcon.'Party's; attitude on the old; agepensions scheme .was :w.6efully perverted.; they.; were not in favour of cu£ tailing but of enlarging the number of those who would receive the pensions by omittincr the penalty on those who by their thrift had accumulated a'little;! The great wave of depression which swept over this colony m 1887 we are now bemg told was due to Sir H. Atkinson's administration. If he.came into power only in that year and. had to make reductions and go in' for h?ayy,, retrenchments ■_ immediately, surelv this proved that he was not responsible for the rotten.state: of affairs, and % ££ ™:. ,3ust nor was, it reasonable to frame the [expert w'ho had taken over the case of a patient who: had: been almost killed by incompetence . and •mismanagement, and . who pj wuat ; appeared drastic: treatment led the way to perfect soundness. Was it liMy that any statesman would take an unpopular step unless he clearly saw that the best interests .of the country demanded it, and who in addition before he touched the sauries of others first reduced his •owpTby jabout one half and the other ministers' [stipends in proportion? We enjoyed the benefits of his courageous statesmanship /and thorough mastery ;of finance in the prosperity enjoyed to-day.' When we considered what it must have cost him to take .the! -stand he did and when we saw the proof I of his, thorough conscientiousness in the retrenchment of his own salary, it was hard to understand how a Minister of the Crown now-a-days with honorarium almost double; that drawn 18 years ago, could say "that Sir H. Atkinson was not worth more than the colony paid him." It did not seem in good taste, that those who were enjoying these, good times should speak disparagingly of those.- who -steered. the colony i through the heaviest storm that it had yet encountered: The Right Hon." Richard Seddbh in that faim\us session: stated that the i wiole House .and- not the Ministry was responsible for the measures passed. On resuming his seat Mr Rolleston was liberally applauded.. Questions were then invited, but very few were forthcoming; Mr J. Connor proposed, and Mr J. Toner seconded, a vote of thanks and confidence to IMr Rolleston, which was carried amidst much enthusiasm. ■ .. .!

Sir W. J. Steward addressed a meeting of Waitakr electors at Sandhurst on Wednesday evenings Mr Wain presiding. There were about two dozen present, half of them ladies'.. A vote of thanks for lite; address' was carried "■ A supplement-to~ ; thfe "Gazette" of November 16th; contains' full lists of the names of the'registrars of electors, and •of returning officers for the 76 electoral •districts in the colony (European),- and full *lists;:;tff-the polling places in the several jejjectorates. The polling places number 'about 2200. Auckland central is satisfied with the smallest number—four; the Bay jbf / lias -i the- largest number—7B. Other dectoratis -with 50 polling places or more are—Kaipara 65, Franklin- 59ji Wat ;katoU6s, TirinakiA6s, Hawera 52, Rangitikeii63- Wairau • 56, Waka- % M ' To the : o||tj*ie '"Timaru Herald." Sj of :^-our"leaders explain whyit-is necessaryVto?have three pol■Jing booths,.for the. general election so close together as' the Levels Council Chambers. Church street, Thomas Ferguson and Co.'s Coack Factory. Stafford street, and Guinness and LeCren's Yard. Strathallan street. I am, etc., ; 'ELECTOR. A NEAT EOBGE. To the Editor of the "Timaru Hera'd." Fir.—l way very rrnc'a S"rprised to see a local in to-day's p;>per that -"Mr Hall-

Jones had been instrumental in obtaining a special train for the picnic to "AsTiburtori of .the United Friendly Societies of Timaru." At"th©"last meeting of the committee-it was decided to send the application to the stationmaster, the proper course under the railway regulations, so I rather'fancy this local must have been inserted as a* votehunter. I am, etc., One of the Committee of the U.F.S. Picnic.