PARLIAMENT OUT OF SESSION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 3904, 21 October 1880, Page 3

PARLIAMENT OUT OF SESSION.

MR 0. C. BO WEN AT KAIAPOI. Mr C. 0. Bowen addressed his constituents last night at the Oddfellows' Hall, Kaiapoi. The attendanco at tbe opening of the meeting was nofc large, though the hall filled before Mr Bowen had concluded hia address. Mr G-. H. Blackwell, Major of Kaiapoi, occupied the chair, and introduced Mr Bowen to the meeting. Mr Bowen, who waa received with cheers, after a few preliminary remarks, aaid he wished to impress upon the electors that the one question before the country was that of financial economy, and he ouglit, perhaps, to say how it had come to pass that the country was in such a position that it had really to devote all its energies to the question of economy. Ten years ago tbe country embarked on a system of public works, and, necessarily, those public works were carried out with borrowed money. He was not one of those who were inclined to croak or to complain of tho course which had been taken. Although mistakes had beau made, he thought that on the whole it was a wise policy, and that New Zealand bad very largely gained by it. He had been sometimes amused, now that they had come to the period when there was a pinch, which it wa9 known must come sooner or later, at hoaring complaints of being mado to pay taxes for those public works from men who, but for those public works, would have had no property to tax, because they all knew what a stride the country had made through those public work?. The traffic throughout the country bad been immensely developed by the railways. Where would tho grain traffic of Canterbury have been if it had not been for tho railways ? They had advanced one generation in civilisation and progress through the railways, and they should not cast stones at the men who inaugurated the Public Works policy because they were now at the time of pinch. The pinch must come when they had expended a large sum of money, the interest upon which could not bo paid by the public works, and when it was clearly advisable that they ought not to borrow any furthor. They had hitherto had an advantage in paying the interest on an expenditure, which was still going on, from money coming into the country through loan ; but all men who were not utterly reckless saw that they must stop this system, that the time had come when they had borrowed enough, when they must face their position and make both ends meet without trusting to borrowed money. (Cheers.) He did not say that they should never borrow again. It might bo that the lime would come when they might borrow for somo particular work which, might bo shown to be reproductive, but ho was not prepared to vote for borrowing another penny to be simply handed over to the Government for expenditure upon public works and immigration. (Applause.) He hoped the country would face this crisis manfully. .There was no doubt the Government had an invidioug task, because they had to face a deficit of nearly a million. The late Government left a terrible deficit, and went on without making any provision for the evil day. The present Government found that they had to tackle the question at both ends. They had to add to the taxation of the country and to diminish the expenditure. No doubt they would make mistakes, they had done so and they would do bo, and they might sometimes have to go back on what they had done, but so long as they were honestly trying to do their duty in this unpopular work he thought they ought to be supported in doing it. He should recur presently to tha question of the administration of tho railways. He was now speaking of tho general expenditure of borrowed money, and he would repeat that for the present they must dismiss all ideas of any large extension of public works, except in so far as they could carry them on from land revenue, which he thought should bo set aside entirely for such purposes. There had been in the country a very large number of people who were prepared to acquiesceinthereasonablenesa of putting a stop to expenditure, and so long as it did not touch themselves they were ready to shed tho last drop of their brother's blood. It had been a very common thing to hear people cay that they approved of amalgamating the postal and telegraph departments, and of doing away with such luxuries as a few trains more or less, or a better timetable, and so o*n j but the moment it affected their own particular district, they found reasons for asserting that it was a monstrous piece of injustice on the part of tbo Government, and that they did not know what they were doing when they attempted it. That was the kind of thing that would meet the Government on every side. When the electors called to mind what was the position of the Colony a few years ago, they would see that there were a great many luxuries in the country which a young community could hardly have expected, looking to the manner in which young countries progressed some 30 years ago. They had railways to their doors, post-offices in every small settlement, a telegraph system throughout, the country, and they felt seriously a slight depri ration of those conveniences, but they had to pay their way ; they had to find a million and a half to meet the interest on their leans. Tfce railways were not paying interest on the money expended, and they would not have a flood of borrowed money comiDg into tho country. They had not yet reached the greatest pinch, becauee there waa still a balance of the loan being expended, but when the whole of that loan was gone and there was no more money coming in, they would feel the pinch. He hoped that when that time arrived they would remember what he now said, that the moment the pinch came a body of pubic men would arise in the country who would clamour for a loan, and say that it -sraa unpatriotic not to go for a loan, and they would be backed up by public opinion in the large towns. Ho hoped that those who looked carefully into tho question would support the men who declared that they would not vote for another loan. (Applause ) He did not wish to be understood a3 saying that when the time camo he would not support a loan for a specific purpose that could be shown to be a paying one, but ho should certainly oppose any four or five million loan for expenditure on still unvoled railways, or for any other purposes which tho Government might danglo before Parliament. The last session was greatly spoiled by talk. There was an unlimited supply of that article, and a good deal less work than talk. However, tho country did awake, and the Houße awoke to tho necessity for financial reform. That was one great gain. A certain number of Bills which were useful to the country were passed, but there was only a ha' porch of bread to an intolerable amount of. sack, and the bread had to be fished out from a flood of waßhy talk. Ho thought this evil would be greater as time went on, because tbe country had determined to have triennial Parliaments, and the tendency of new members was to take up a great deal of the time of tho House. It was altogether in vain that older members tried to giva them a hint; many oftheni regarded the silence of tho older mec.bors a3 a tribute to their superior oratorical tongues, and the effect waa that a great deal of good business had been talked off the floor of the House. After a time the new membors found that they could do more by attending to Committee work, and endeavouring to understand the business of the House before they tried to enlighten the country upon it. Tha business of tho House was chiefly legislation and finance. Therj bad grown up a disposition to look upon useful legislation for social purposes — Bills having for their object the amelioration of tho condition of the people — as comparatively inferior work, which should be Bet aside the moment that Boino great question as to tho abuses of Mr £o and So, or as to who should be in power camo on the tapis ; and any one was looked upon with contempt who said that ho wouH rather attend to the Licensing Bill and tho Charitable Aid Bill. There was a disposition to treat that as minor work, fitted for men of inferior genius. He was very sorry for that, bocauao he had always thought that tho measures for ameliorating tho social condition of the people were the most important whicii they wi-ro sent up to deal with. Ho had always taken a givat interest in such questions, believing them to bo the chief business which :i representative shou'rf isltend to. Unfortunately very little had been done during the last session, although a good deal more was done than was generally supposed outside. Tho Bills that wero passed wero not much discussed, but rushed through, after every tiling in heaven andeartli had been talked about ni^ht after night. Somo of them wero god Bills, and hud received careful attention elsewhere, and he must say that in tho oilier branch of the Logiilatiiiv, tho Legislative Council, a body which had goinetimcs cjmlnif.tecl grave error.-', more attention was paid to those Bills than in the Hou?e, which ouglit specially to sit tend to them. Thero weru two Bills which wero not. passed, but which were disciufct v good dual, and which ho wus very

sorry were not put on the Statute Book, one was tho Licensing Bill, and the other the Hospitals and Charitable Aid Bill, both measures of very great importance. The Licensing Bill was on the whole tho test Bill in that direction which had been submitted to tho House for several years. Men from all parts of the country were there, and men on all sides were inclined to look upon tho Bill as one of great benefit to tho country. It was discussed a good deal, and a certain number of clauses were got through, but in tho end it had to be dropped. The Hospital and Charitable Aid Bill, a most important measure, without which they could not set their house iv order, had to bo shelved, although it was appioved on the whole, and they were now going on with the usual make-shift grants. Another Bill was brought beforo the House by the Government, which was discussed and eventually dropped, but which he could not say he approved of, namely, the Native Lands Bill. He could not have supported it had it been proceeded with, because it adopted a system of dealing with the Native lands in the North Island which would have had the effect of stopping settlement there for some years to come. The Natives would 1.-jivb nono of it. If settlement were prevented in the North Island the effects would have been felt all over the Colony, because a large number of people would have been debarred from creating an industry which would help us to meet the public debt. Many years ago, as they would remember, the right of pre-emption over Native lands, in favour of tho Government, was given up. That was ho thought, the first; wrong step that had been taken in regard to those lands. If the Government had miiinlaincd that right, they would not havo haii tho land-sharking in tho North Island, of which they had heard so much ; they would j have had the Natives anxious to sell to the ' Government, because no one else could have competed with the Government;, and tho Go- | vernment would have been bound to take care that the Natives had a sufficient amount of inalienable reserves to keep them in prosperity and comparative wealth. After that, there were many attempts at Native land law making. Tho last attempt was unsatisfactory, as it was neither one thing nor the other. The Government might proclaim a district, which proceeding would prevent any private individual from purchasing, but where negotiations with private individuals had been goiDg on, which was the case with a great deal of the land in tho North Island, many complications would arise. Last year it came out that there was about a million of money still to be paid on account of negotiations entered into by the Government with the Natives. Tho House was alarmed at this, as a great deal of the land was poor, and in fact useless, and tho House said that the Government must get clear of the business, as so much had been already wasted in that direction. Tho Government brought in a Bill which was a eort of betwixt and between arrangement, and would havo satisfied no one. It provided for the Natives disposing of their lands through the Waste Lands Boards, the Government making a charge for doing so. Tho Natives would not submit to it. It was seen that it would hang up the lands, and ho did not wonder that they objected to it. They could have understood the old law of pre-emption, because that was definite; but when they had been selling their lands outside of the Government for a considerable time, the. Government proposed that they should only sell through . the Waste Lands Boards, who would make a charge for the work. No European would stand that, and he did not see how they could expect that flio Natives would do so. The Bill was in:■>nded to put a stop to land sharking, but it *ould have stopped settlement iv the North Island altogether. A very curious complication bad arisen through the House refusing to give more money for the purchase of Native lands. They had all heard of the Patetero block. A cry had been raised against tho Government that they were throwing that land into the hands of the land sharks. The Government were under instructions from the House to get rid of the purchase of Natife lands. They found themselves hampered with half-mado bargaine, where a little money had been paid on account. Mr Bryce went into the question of the Patetere block, and determined that it would not bo to the advantage of tl.o country to go on spending money indefinitely for the purchase of the block, because the Natives would not conclude it as they were negotiating with private individuals. Mr Bryce said that he would not take the proclamation off that block unless he could see the Government money back which had been spent there, and that if private individuals were prepared to pay tho Government tho money they had expended, the Government would withdraw the proclamation. That wa3 carrying out what the Government had previously announced as their intention. A great outcry was raised during last session. Sir George Grey accused Mr Bryce of playing into the hands of land sharks, and Mr Bryce's explanation was received by the majority of the House as a most satisfactory and straightforward one. For himself, he hoped the Government would not go on except where they had nearly completed the purchase ; that they would not waste any more mor>ey in the Nortn Island in trying to acquire blocks of Nativo land. He would rather zee the land thrown open to the public, and tho sooner it was in the hands of private individuals tho sooner it would be divided and occupied. Let the Government take care that there was a sufficient amount of inalienable reserves, so that the Natives should not bo pauperised, and then tho sooner every acre was in the hands of private individuals, when it would be distributed by the law oE supply and demand, the better. (Applause.) There \va9 another Bill of very great importance which waa introduced last ees3 : on, but carried no further by common consent— the Redistribution of Seats Bill. He thought the Government were wise in not pushing it farther, as tho Parliament had another year to run, and a census would bo ttikon next year which would probably disturb tho calculations on which this Bill was founded. The Government had promised to bring down tho Bill, and they were right in doing so ; they were also right in not proceeding farther with it, as the census of 1881 would be the last triennial census, thereafter there would only be a quinquennial census. (Applause.) The question of railway management, which was a very Eerious ono, was involved in tho question of finance. It was very important, both for the finances of the country and for tho development of its resources, that tho management of tho railways should be satisfactory, and he was bound to say that it had been anything but satisfactory of late. (Applause.) He attributed a great deal of the necessary mismanagement of the railways to the arrangement made by' tho late Government, whereby they provided a separate management foi 1 each island, by putting tho head in tho ono case at Auckland, and in tho other at Dunedin, thu3 taking the control altogether out of tho hands of the Minister, and, therefore, out of tho hands of tho people. The Commissioners became too autocratic, and managed things their own way. The Government took tho right course in detcrminin? that the administration of the railways should be under their own eye, administered by one man, co that they should bo directly responsible for everything that was dono. Ho hoped that good would como of it, but he thought thero would be many attempts made before a satisfactory adjustment was come to ; but, so long H9 they siw that tho new administration were endeavouring to put things right, every forbearance ought to be exereis?d. A good deal of difficulty always arose from the management of railways by the Government, becauso political influences wero brought to bear which prevented them from taking a purely commercial view of tho matter. Pr litical considerations soiietimes came in, not from any desire on tho part of the Government to lean favourably to any one part of tho country, but from the" very fact of its being a Government that was administering tho railways. He hoped they should sco a bsttcr adrninistra tion than they had had hitherto, but he wiis quite sure thero would l:o a grea*. many complaints bsforo things were put on a satisfactory footing. He niiglit mention a local matter to show how oddly, to say tho least, the administration of tho railways had been conducted. They all knew that from the timo tho ' railway elation at Kah'.poi was built, it was a great inconvenienco to tho place. (Applause.) Ho had tho personal promise of three succe.'sive Ministers for Public works that it would be altered. He knew that they gavo the orders to havo it allnral, but it remained thero to this duy. A stito of things like t'"iit was wrong. (Applause.) Tho Minister was astonished when lie was told that it had not been dono. He should certainly not rest until he got to the bottom of i!, and found out where it, hii 1 stuck. Ho believed his friend tho Mayor ha! heard the order given by tho MinhLtr tor

Public Works- [Tho Chairman: Ye=>]— and he (Mr Bowen) saw it given in writing, and read tho order again thia session, so they might imagine hiu surprise at finding nothing had been done All he could say was that no one would believe that tho administration could be on a proper footing, when orders given by tho Com-mander-in-Chief were not attended to, or were put off lo the Greek Kalends. They were all aware that tho country had had to submit to a good deal of extra taxation. Ho might say that lie had heard lVely from Wellington that the revenue was keeping up well this year. The Customs had exceeded the estimate up to this time, which was a very satisfactory thing in itself, and a very satisfactory sign of the state of the country. But the railway returns had not come up to the estimate, which w»s an equally uns tisfactory thing. However, up to the present time the revenues of the country on the whole had come up to the estimate, and there was every reason to beliove that they would continue to do so. (Applause.) Tho Property tax had been a very unpleasant pill to swallow, but was as necessary as it was unpleasant, and the country would have to bear it until the railways were made to contribute a good deal more than they now did, which meant until there should be a much larger population in the country. They had no doubt heard something about the Government scheme, substituting for the local subsidies a scheme for local finance. He had not liked the scheme which was proposed, though it was an ingenious one, but he did not think it would have added to our resources. It was a political system, and perpetuated still that terrible system of double accounts which was now going on. Tho only division which ho could eec between tho general and local finance, was that the Government thould manage all general funds raised by means of stamps and things of tliifc sort, and that the land revenue should bo devoted to publ.c works, end that they should hand over to the local bodies the power of direct taxation. It was idlo to cay to public local bodiea " You may tax," while the General Government was also levying direct taxation. He believed the proper thing would be to have no double accounts ; that the General Govei nment should give up the cower of direct taxation to the local bodies, and let the local bodies raieo what they thought necessary themselves. The people would check it better when this was tho case. He believed this would be the wisest scheme for tho assistances of local finance, because there would, they might be sure, be no more subsidies. He thought there was no doubt about that. A beer tax had been aUo put upon tho country, and ho thought it was a very fair tax, but he thought (hat the Government had at fiist proposed to put on too heavy a tax at once on any one industry. They had proposed a tax of sixpence. Now that was a matter on which there had been considerable difference of opinion, and was one which ho had considered very seriously before he had given his vote upon it. The conviction that the Government had made a serious mistake had induced him to vote against their proposal. Now they had heard a great deal about the Royal Commissions. There had been a good deal of fun made of the Royal Commissions, but he could ray for himself that he believed one of the wisest things tho Government did was to appoint those Commissions, which had justified themselves by their own actions. The system of Commissions was borrowed from the Old Country, where they were appointed to enquire into any subject on which fresh legislation was intended. Now what were thp*e Commissions ? First of all there was the Royal Commission for enquiriug into the affairs of the West Coast in the North Island. By the unanimous content of all parties, it was admitted that no more valuable paper was ever laid before Parliament than the report of that Commission. They had been able to mako enquiries on the spot, which no Government, however able and erjergetic, could have made for themselves. It was a wi9o thing, and the Government had exercised a wise discretion in the choice of such men us Sir Francis Dillon Bell and Sir William Fox, and he would 6ay that the result had fully justified them. He would like to point out one thing. The Government were now carrying out one policy, and this was sure to tell upon the Native mind. The Commissioners said that the mistake which had been made was never sticking to one policy. As soon as one policy had been inaugurated by one Ministry, another Ministry came into office and drew up another policy, and the Natives never believed in tho Government's intention to stick to any one system, till it reached a conclusion. Ho thought the Hon the Native Minister, Mr Bryce, was entitled to great credit for his consistency. Ho (Mr Bryce) had told the Natives that every Bhadow of a claim on the part of tho Natives should be investigated — that they should get more than justice done them; but when they had got that they should not bo allowed to do anything illegal, or to obstruct the progress of the country. He (Mr Bryce) had carried that out consistently, never flinching or wavering, and what had been the effect ? They saw that ib was beginning to tell on the most stubborn Native mind. He (Mr Bowen) did not say that the policy now adopted was better than come which might have been adopted before, but it was being steadily pursued, and would, he thought, bring an end to the Native troubles. The Government deserved credit for that. Now, let them take tho Railway Commission. He thought that bad done more than anything to do away with political railways. He thought that tho stoppage whioh it had put to certain railways, which would not have paid for three generations, had been of good service, and that the Government had doao well becauso tho Commissioners had inve-tigated on the spot matters, which the Government could not inveetigato. Then, again, there was tho Commission on the Civil Servants, which had met with great complaints, and had had to do very unpleasant work. He was not going to cay that theso Commissions had made no mistakes, or had always done tho most judicious things but they had tried to get at the truth, and had put their finger on blots, and had enabled the Government to make considerable retrenchment. Ho said again they had done good service. Tiion there was the Local Industries Commission. He thought the report of that Commission was a most valuable one, and would lead to fresh inquiry as to how far disabilities can bo taken off local industries. The exhibition which had been held not long sgo in Christchurch, had opened people's eyes more than anything else could havo clone to what can be done injthia country. He hoped that it would raise further enquiry, and would lead to tho withdrawal of some of the trammels which might exist on local industries. Ho could not leavo_ this subject without congratulating the meeting on tho great start of their own industry— on the rapid progress of the Kaiappi Woollen factory, which had drawn to it the attention of other parts of the country, and which, he believed, would bs second to no industry established in New Zealand. (Applause.) ' There was another Commission which had been appointed sinco the House rose, or at least just at the ri-ing of the Houae, one of which 'ho was himself a member, and one which wa-3 of considerable interest to every on?, and that was the Commission to enquire into what reforms can bo made in legal procedure. They all knew that legal procedure was, lo* a certain extent uncertain, expensive, and dilatory. How far this could be remedied was an important question, and he thought the Government had been right in having as much inquiry as possiblo made during tho recess, with a view- to improvement. There was one other subject on which he would say a word or two, and that was the subject of education. During tho discussions whi'-jh had taken phco a3 to ro I notions in expenditure, there had been in borne quarters a great outcry against tho extravagance of tho Education Department. He thought there had Vcn extravagance in some parts of the country, but they should not for that reason strike' at a pood f-ystein which was only beginning to take root. He fclfc that (ho people of (lie country would net consent to economise by facrificiDg tho education of their children. They were aware that in the Education Act which lie h:ul originally ml rod mvd ho was in favour of tho old Canterbury rufrs, a small payment by parents, which acted m a semi-compulsion. This led parents to take a very great interest in education, and mv not burdensome It would have prevented to a largo extent, the outcry which was now ruisnd against the expenditure of Iho department. But lie must tell I hem that lit: wus very much opposed to miy p.iyinrni of fees, which wus a very different qin'rtiou from an cduciiion rate, bec.iuse ho believed that it had :i lender ey to make tho very in n, who-e children if w:i's moat tleuied should !k< pei.t to jyliool, c mi.omiee by keeping their children away. TLoio

were the very people, and these were the very children it was deeired to get at, and theee men Ehould be encouraged to send their children to school. They must remember that the more the people took the government of the country into their hands, the more important it was that they should be educa'ed. As Disraeli once put it, "Wo must take caw to educate our masters." Ho (Mr Bowen) would endeavour to bring tho expenditure of Iho country do wn, but would consent to nothing which would cripple the present system of National education. (Ap. plause.) As he had said to thorn when he began that address,.the present was politically a dull time ; there was nothing to fight about, nothing to be discussed. It was a lime of paying their way. He did hope Hint all tho electors would support him, us \h> ir representative, in giving his vote for uny men whom he believed to be honourable and faithful in discharging their duty, and in er.fleavouring to put the country into a satisfactory position. Let them remember this, that if they faced their present trial liko men ; if they determined to accept the sacrifices whioh had now to be made ; if they determined not to listen recklessly to those who would have them go in for another hair of the dog that bit them j if they determined to see that they could pay for what they had already borrowed before they borrowed any more — then their credit, would keep high, and they would sco the tide turn, and their prosperity would be greater than before, because it would be founded on a firmer ba?is. Their funds would be higher in the market, and they would see capital coming out, not to be spent and wasted by the Government, but to be invested by private individuals wherever they saw an advent ageous opportunity. That would be far better for the country than all the expenditure upon public works. He did not know what tho future of the public Government would be— no one did; but no one who watched what wa9 now going on, could believe that the people of the country would bo satisfied in going on long with a system "of government which was not altogether adapted to their circumstances. But no changa would be made suddenly or hurriedly. Tho people would go on, as Englishmen always did, and make their institutions fit them by degrees ;.as they would if the people took care not to bo influenced by any sudden gust of passion in making changes. Above all things they must see that they intrusted public affairs only to men whom they would brust in their prvato business. He did not caro for what a man said, or what a man's opinions were,. on what were called party questions of the day. He had seen so many changes that ho did not care much about that, but the men entrusted with public affairß should bo those who could be trusted in private. If that rule was observed he had no fear for the country, but he had some fear for it if adventurers and men ' whose self assertion had carried them through — but who had no stake in the country, got themselves into public positions, when it was well known that the electors would not entrust them with their own private affairs. That, he thought, ought to be con--sidered, especially when they were about to consider the question of the representation of the people. And in New Zealand, where more than in other Colonies it had been attempted to keep this in view, he thought they could look forward with great sanguineness to the future of the country. He had now to thank them for listening to him so attentively, and had only to cay that he would, as he had hitherto done> endeavour to look to their interests as much as he could. (ApplauEO.) If he had not made himself sufficiently clear, or if ho could throw any light upon any particular subject, he would be happy to answer any questions. (Applause.) Mr H.. Wooduoed- said that every one present — whether they supported Mr Bowen at the last election or not — could not but express their thinks to him for the candid and lucid manner in which he had come forward to address them on the affairs of the last session. Ho would therefore move— "That this meeting accord Mr Bowen a very hearty vote of thanks for his address, and expresses confidence in him as our representative." Mr H. Einnis biiefly seconded this, which, on being put to the meeting, was carried with but one or two dissentients. Mr Eowen said he hoped and believed that, after next session, they would all meet on as good terms as at present. A hearty vote of thanks was accorded to the Chairman at the request of Mr Bowen, which was carried by acclamation, and the proceedings terminated.