POLITICAL NOTES.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXII, Issue 848, 2 December 1905, Page 6

POLITICAL NOTES.

MR HASjL-JONES AT THE CATHOLIC . .SCHOOL.

The Bgn. W.-isH-all-Jones addressed the] .; -electors- Timaru in . the Catholic Boys I ; evening. Mr. J: was vote*}-: tprthe) chair. Mp? ■ Hall-Jonesi

■, said that': the, ; electors had io decide "be-! ; tween to power an administratis .-; of which had materially assisted .• "in bringing• the' colony out of the slough ■ of Desp6x|dj in which it was when, they -took the present happ^i.condjftiba; of asair9 f ;Or. a party which was; in,es:peri.enced in the affairs of State and' the t : bers of had never been in office with that of Sir William . Russell ihad held for -some. IS

j,. months, i jifhey ,' yious evejuoig of the. courageous -statesmanship of Sir. Sarxy Atkinson; and he (the Speaker), iasfeed if-they were to jtas as-an instance of that coura-; -.-geous statesmanship. - be3jb|ging to >^aria, : the rvalue of all made .-thereon as'well .as was taxedi •. T It. was • & tax >that was * a . penalty ( party. Ajiother instance of this QOuragft- ' ,9°? statenfenship/'. was when in 1888 ! -the thatHhe";r^ilway's.' .-too much ■fcif'theiiito handle or ■ administer, they handed theffl oyer"to - , commissioners;-'' Sfeew the restdt of this and^fKa' done to the The ililwayi ;|*%fe'never "^® ; people's'^^reftes.enti'Ety^i reduction in radWay'^fares. • rind ia casions to farmers" were. "contrasjej^ what existed under the regime of'the commissioners. ' A further instance of cou-i

argeous statesmanship was the soup kitchr ens. Sir Harry Atkinson's mastry of finance had also been spoken of. Such was this mastery of finance that men were pair 2a 6d and 5s 6d a day wages and coupled' with this and the soup kitchens, was the increase almost simultaneously on -all the necessaries .of -jife, so t'fcat the bard struggling lives that" Were then' being' .lived - b'v • the- people were made harder and "more difficult. Mr Hall-Jones quoted from the "speeches of the late Mr Scobie Mackenzie and Mr McCarthy, members of the At 1 kinson party in which both stated : they had no confidence in fhe fir>ar< ial nolicy or statesmanship of Si: Harry Atkinson. In spite of the borrowia"-

of over millions yearlr- there was- acute depression and the party then in power dm not seem to have the ability to cope with tiie difficulty. If instead, of cutting aown wages and increasing taxation they • ad gone settling people on tie land I much of the misery that was endured would have been overcome; Mr Hall-Jones next dealt with what the Government had done to assist all classes of the community. He quoted from a speech from Sir Gilbert Anderson, - director of the Christchurch Meat Company, who had stated that Sir J. Mac- ; Kenzie by placing people on the land had done much towards bringing about the success of the freezing industry. With the cutting up of the big estates Mr Anderson had said, more sheep .were Taised and it was the settlement at Wa-ikakahi tfiat had been directly responsible for increasing the works., Sinithfield. It had also been said, that- the Government had been tinkering with legislation. If increasing the old fage pensions from 7s 6d to 10s a week [ Whereby thousands of old people had' the remaining years of their lives made lighter if settling people on the land, if advancing money to settlers at -a cheap rate of interest, and if bringing. about a reduction of o0 per cent, on fire insurance charges I were tinkering with legislation he was still further prepared to go on tinkering.. Mr T. Harney prp-posed a vote of thanks to Mr Hall-Johe>s for his address and of renewed confidence in him - and -in the Governments ."The motion was seconded by «evera!'-gentleman, and the of the' motion.: was followed by- cheers and the waving. -of handkerchiefs. - / ROLLESTOX AT WAIMATAITAI.

Last night Mr F/ J. Rolleston, candidate . tor the. Timaru seat, addressed a meeting of electors at the Waimataitoi School. There were about 250 people present-. Mr C. H. T. Stemdaie occupied the: chair, and introduced Mi' Rolleston, who was received with prc-longed and hearty applause. In commencing; his address, Mr Rolieston made a on party governinent, ahd- said? the legislation, but of administration ihe Manhood Suffrage Act. and the Education. Act, passed by the predecessors of tlie present Government,. among, the most .liberal measures ever passed in the colony : and the Government, when it came power inawsno attempt to repeal them, rio more would the Opposition party of to- % power, attemut to repeal the laws made by the present Government, w;ere .good ; laws; "there was no ones-

? & legisintion, and the only policv admissible to-daywas a.progressive one,'. He spoA«_of tfie land question, as one in which -au.ty administration was evident, , and made reference io the Land .Commission*. , f w . as supposed to have been set -up to aeal with importeDt matters.; but just the other day the Premier said at Christchurch that iie " thought it had been a piece of good generalship.'' When the speaker read that lie • thought he would prefer: the Premier to exercise nis good generalship •without inflicting a tas of £IO,OOO on th& colony. (Applause.) ' But. when the Government were cornered over this the Premier »>aid it- was a very profitable investment anyhowc He Hoped that the Premier had aot made , any bad investments for the colony. It -n&c very evident- that there wus •nouseful purpose in: the CcSiimission, wlien the- Government. had its reports 6a the taWe for three months of Q»e iession; - and wade, ns ; -attenipt to put ony of them into l«w..- He fayouied . tie -Civil* Service Board system, which "Jiad. forked in Australian States for up to 30 years, which was ample proof of its success. The present system in this colony was He dealt-' trtbh the education system and other departments. In the latter part of his speech he strongly defended- the Atkinson Government against the attacks no<w:- r made % >( >u v it by t-He members of the party in jJower—many of. them mea who had voted ivitli the Atkihson Government on. the veiy •measures' for'-which they now reviledrthem. "At : the end of his speech, the audience moat heartily : for a considerable : .W** chairman invited-questions. ' •Tin-reply Mr Rolleston said the public debt t-olony had increased during the SeiMon administration bv £20,000,000. The argument that some of* that debt was directly Dot altogether because the x source of revenue, the rent-,o£ .sett-led -lands;; might "fail; "and - the" burdvu of. the ■ interest' on loans- borrowedthe lands would fall on the general'

Ia any- case the whole of tie to, go out of the colony.. _Jf GppogMon's land: policy was adopted, .the tenants would be paying) off the v capi£«l aaij by ajid bye there would be no interest to Pa-y-r—He, thought ,th*t a surplus. wouldbe ™«ch better in. the pockety of the people than in the hknds r <>£• t the Government j. it., ebosild- be wiaitted' by lightening .the 1 ' Customs duties-on necessaries.—The present Government bertairily brought about the : Arbitration Court. He gave them full credit' for this among other excellent laws. If the Opposition bitterly opposed, the Court in 1890, he was not responsible for their actions, though he was ready to answer for could not, having no figures hiai,. giye of the wages.oh -lie Government co-operative works. —r Ha was not in favour, of Bible-reading in, the r?ay schools. He thought the system prooosed would he likely to foster disrespect ■"ather than respect for religious matters. -did r.ot think a man could claim to hove "■rees cut down'by a neighbour because they shaded his propsri-r. In the case of shading -a ro;;u, the pub'ic might be inconveni-

©need, and it was right in such cases. Mr A. Beck moved, and ]VIr T. Hawkes seconded, a vote of thanks to Mr Rolleston for his speech, and of confidence in him as their representative. This was greeted with ; appause; and there was no amendment. ■ The motion was carried on a show of hands, ■ nearly all voting for it-, axid none against j land when it- was declared carried, the audience applauded vigorously, and cheered. Mr Rollestor. briefly returned thanks, and was again cheered. " He moved a vote_ of thanks to the chairman, and this terminated the meeting. THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE. Mr Rolleston commented last night on l the proneness of the present Government Ito claim credit, if not for all, at least for a large part- of the prosperity of the colony at the present day, and referred to the immense influence on the colony's wealth, of the frozen meat industry. But what had the present Government ever done to help the frozen meat industry? By " digging in the political cemetery" it could be seen that in 1882 or 1883 the business was started by a few publicspirited men who took the risk on themselves, without the slightest encouragement from the Government. Later, one of the shipping companies asked for a subsidy in connection with the trade, and amongst those who opposed the granting. of\ the siibsidy was Mr Seddon. In deciding the idea, he said that the export of meat would increase the prices of meat in the colony; and if the freezing process increased, as it would do, it would cause a'revu'ision of! feeling among the electors. It- would befar better to encourage industries such as would employ .people who'would consume the meat it was proposed to export. He voted against the granting of any subsidy. And yet, Mr Rolleston said, the Premier would ask them to give them credit for the whole frozen meat trade. After his speech, Mr Rolleston was asked if he could say when and 1 where Mr Seddon claimed credit for the frozen meat trade. " Mr' Rolleston said lie could not answer that in so many, words; ' but the Government always claimed--credit for prosperity. The freezing industry wa-s a-s alrge a factor as any in that prosperity, and in claiming credit for the whole, they probably claimed credit for that industry. In reply to another questioner,, he said it was very unlikely they would claim credit for the increased cost of living.

Mr W. S. Maslin addressed the electors of Waitaki in the Oddfellows' Hall, Waimate, on Monday last, about- 250 elect-ors being present. The chair was taken, by Mr R. Meredith. The candidate had a good hearing and at the close answered, questions put by ; three persons. On the motion of Mr Buckingham a hearty and . unanimous vote of thanks was passed to the candidate. On Tuesday Mr Maslin addressed about. 40 electors at the Redclifie School, and had a very attentive hearing, and on, the motion of Mr Goodeve was accorded a vote of thanks. Mr Henderson presided at the meeting. On Thursday Mr Maslin addressed the electors at Willowbridge, when there was a good attendance, who gave the candidate a very, cordial The chair was taken by Mr.Cheversoa..-.At the close -.liesrtyand v vjote: of. thanks was •

: ' THE SHIELD COMPETITION. ' Per Press "Association. / : AUCKLAND, December 1. i Proceedings were taken against a. number of well-known stationers before" Mr R. W. Dwyer, S.M., at the Police Court to-day for selling slips., to u chief detective entitling him to compete in the Ptrriiamentary shied competition upon the ground that the competition was a* lotteryMr Mays, on behalf of the Crown i>rosecutor, submitted that it was purely a. matter of guess-work tt> foreicast-successful candidates, .and- he pointed out that even Mr Massey or Mr Seddcn coiild not do it. ■ •Mr Cotter,, for the defence, suooiitted that it involved skill and judgmeut to estimate . correctly. The Magistrate's .decision will be given to-morrow;