THE WAKANUI ELECTORATE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4342, 24 March 1882, Page 4

THE WAKANUI ELECTORATE.

Mb Sauhdbbs at Bakaia.

Mr Alfred Saunders, one of the candidates for the Wnkanui seat, addressod the Wakanui electors at Bakaia on Wednesday evening last. There was a large attendance. Mr C. N. Mackie occupied the chair, and introduced Mr Saundora in a few flattering remarks.

Mr Saundbes, after thanking the Chairman for his kind introduction, went on to speak of Bakaia, in which, though living near it, it had. not been his fortune to speak often. He had once spoken there, when a candidate for the Provincial Council, and another time when he proposed Mr Tosswill. Tho*e were in the young dayp, when the township could not lay claim to any very great importance. Now, it was the chief town in the Wakaoui district, which returned a member for itself tinier the new Act, instead of having only a third of one, as under the old. Mr Maunders than paid a"" compliment to the Ashburton Guardian, the Lyttelton Times, and the Christchurch Press, all of which had very fairly reported him, and saved him the trouble that night of going over much ground previously traversed. Oharges of egotism had been brought against him, and he had been sneered at and ridiculed for speaking about himßelf in his ABhburton speech. Those who so sneered would perhaps remember that he began by saying he intended to speak much about himself, because it was upon what he had done that he intended to rely for proof of his fitness to represent Wakanui, and not upon wbat he intended to do. It was to explain to the electors how he considered himself fit to represent them that the meeting had been held, and as all the newspapers had not been straight in dealing with him, he hod been thrown baok on' giving his own version of his career. None of the newspaper?, however, had charged him with' Baying in that speedk what was not correct. As to the egotism and vain glory with which he had been charged, he did not see there ] was much in an old politician recapitulating the doings of his past history.' It was impossible to judge of a man unlesß you knew about him, and you could not know about him unless the information were somehow obtained. No one would choose of two labourers to build a fence, the man who had never fenced in his life, and leave the one who had several well-built fences to point to as his handiwork. So it was right for an old politician to point to a fulfilled record, instead of to one that had yet to be written. When young, he used to think that much time was uselessly spent in deciding who should fill the chairs of the Ministry. As he grew older he changed bis mind, and he now considered the office of a Minister of the Crown as the most important that could be held in the Colony, and his appointment the most important political question of the day. Last session the general estimates had been run through the House in twenty hours or so, and the Publio Works Estimates in a single night, and neither with any very material alteration. This showed how important it was to see that men were chosen who could be trusted with the preparation of these. The preparation of the estimates for the year, and their due consideration was, to his mind, far tnoro important than making a few alterations on any minor Biil that may be introduced. There were many candidates who came forward, and could at once announce what Ministry they would support. He was not in that happy position. His long experience of Parliament had made him acquainted with all the men in the House. He knew all the leaders, their good and bad points, their weak and their strong oneB ; but he did not know what was behind them. In ordinary life they had to take men as they found them— the fast, the Blow, the clever, the dull, and make the best that could be made of what waß obtainable. So witb Governments, and those who formed them. There was good in th? Government, and good in the Opposition, and it waß the duty of the people's lepresenfcativea to exorcise their best wisdom in selecting men possessed of the best qualifications that go to make up rulers. The speaker then went on to refer to the personnel of the present Government. The Hon John Hall, he said, was a man than whom, if you search from one end of the Colony to the other, you would not find a more active and wellinformed officer. He allowed nothing to go slack ; he was at Committee work at half-past ten in the morning till one in the afternoon. He was hard at work again till the House adjourned at half-past, two (as often as not) in the morning, and then he took a blue-book and read himself to sleep. The present Premier would make an admirable second hand, but he did not think it was altogether desirable that, as a Premier, he should demote so much energy to such work, and that while he did so he was not the best man to lead the destinies of this Colony. Major Atkinson, again, had none of the Premier's power of work, had nothing like his ability, nor his knowledge of the Colony. But the speaker feared Major Atkinson was too muob the Premier of the Colony. He was a man who could make the Colony believe very much what he liked in the natter of finance. He knew very little of the Colony, except as he saw it in Taranafci and Wellington, and thought the Southern farmers were so very wealthy that they were fit to stand any amount of taxation. Mr Saunders thought the Premier ought to be a man who could stand alone, and not be led about by any man, especially that man a weaker and inferior one. John Bryce was no great orator, but he was thoroughly honest and independent. He out down expenses everywhere, without eating whom he offended, and he had ruthlessly exposed some transactions that were disgraceful in the highest degree. The Colony possessed no better public servant than John Bryce. Speaking of Mr Kolleston, he said he was apt to neglect the interests of Canterbury. In this he was not like the men of the South, who were very conservative of Otago's welfare, and Canterbury got the credit, in Mr Bolleston's name, for far more than she deserved. Mr Dick was a thoroughly honeßt man, and that was all that need be said about him ; and the greatest recommendation in Mr Johnßtone's favour was that he was an excellent entertainer at his own house. Summing up the Opposition, Mr Saunders said that one of the weakest points amongst them was that there were not many able men amongst them. If allowed to select the six best men he would choose, first, Mr W. Montgomery, Mr Barron, and Mr Thomson from the South, and Mr HutchiBon, Mr Tole, and Mr Mobs from the North. He did not yet know what new blood was to be in the House in the new Parliament, and how far they were fit for the position ; but it waß generally considered that experience in the rank and file of Parliament wbb : necessary before a man could take position as a Minister. Mr founders then repeated what he had said at Ashburton regarding the amount and duration of the support he would give to the present Government, and he had never been a middle party man in all his experience, and .would not be so ; but though he had opposed Government's unwise measures, he would not throw the men over until he was satisfied aB to where better men wore to come from. In speaking of the Opposition he had neither mentioned Sir G. Grey, Mr Macandrew, nor Mr Sheehan, simply because by their reckless extravagance they had forfeited for ever all claim to place, \ and were not fit to be trusted with a £10 note of the Colony's money. Touching on the Premier's proposed reconstitution of the Upper House, and his promised prevention, if possible, by legislation, of persistent obstruction, such as occurred last session, the speaker went on to deal with education, which he urged should be free a<:d altogether beyond the control of the paid teachers of religion. Universal suffrage would never be any real übb to the people until everyone of them could read, and was able intelligently to follow the doings of the leaders of the Colony. He waß opposed to any aid being given to a higher education than the State schools supplied, and if the rich wished their children to obtain such education, why, then, let them pay for it. Protection was the next subject touched on, and condemned. The matter was treated at considerable length, in the course of which the evil results of Protection were dwelt upon, and the speaker urged that th" cost of bringing tbo produce j of the land from the point of productioa to I the port of exportation should be so reduced

that the Colony would be able to continue to grow wheat at a price that would command a market in England. It would hot do to raise railway fares until the old bullock and iray transit cauld compete with the railway lines. The speaker then went into the Civil Service question. Eleven thousand persons were employed ( o the Commission found) by Government at higher rates of wages than were being paid by private employers. Those private employers and the people they employed were being taxed to find salaries for those 11,000 people, and he (the speaker) could not shirk his duty of pointing out to the Colony the etate of affairs. A Voice : Why not strike at the head ?] That was just the very thing tht> Commission did. Here Mr Saunders ran ovor a list of the upper officials who had been dispensed with, and the other reductions effeoted. He then went on to speak of the franchise, saying that no men ought to have more than three votes in the Colony, and those of course for different constituencies. He thought a two years' residence should be the qualification for a vote, and that, whetner the vote was exercised on a properly or a residential right. Mr Stout had wished a two years' qualification, but on residence only, and this excellent piece of Conservatism had been lost, because of the other piece regarding the land. Mr Saunders concluded with an invitation to the electors to sorutiniso every vote he had ever given, and was quite prepared to stand or fall by the legitimate result of that scrutiny. He had ever been the champion of the working man. He had gone to prison for such championship — sent there by the Nelson squatters ; but the farmers and labourers had taken him out of prison again, and sent him to the General Assembly instead. (Loud applause.)

In answer to questions, he said that the Canterbury railways, though paying from seven to sine per cent, represented only a small proportion of the money borrowed and spent by the Colony. A very large proportion of the borrowed money paid no interest at all. He was opposed to borrowing at all, and all the paying railways in the Colony could have been made out of the land fund without borrowing a penny. Present legislation on the Chinese question waß sufficient for the Colony, the Chinese in which were Bteadily decreasing. The honorarium was too much by half for the Lower House, and the Upper House ought to have none. He would oply give the Lower House members £100, bo that working men, who might be returned, would be able to live in Wellington during the session. The whole Auditor General's department was rotten, and he believed that the work could be done by a good man outside the eooial influences of Wellington Civil Bervice society, and with only £250 a-year, aB well as by the present staff that cost £10,000. He would rather improve the quality of hotels and reduce the number of purely drinking shops, than > increase the number of hotels. A reduction of the railway tariff, he thought, would also increase traffic and revenue. It would have been better had the two Islands always been financially separate, but accounts would now be difficult to adjust were financial separation to occur. He would not abolish swaggers ; he had been one himself, and liked to see a man with a swag really seeking work, but hated to see loafers at public houses pretending to seek work, and really not wanting it. The local government system was thoroughly had. The money was doled out by Parliament, and the getting of it was not a question of any system of justice, but was simply one of votes. The beer and tobacco duties were as high as they well could be, without causing a temptation to smuggling. He was sure no Government would sanction, if they were aware, any system of injustice in the lower courts of law to labouring men suing for wages due. The Native questioa was settled for ever, and it would be cheaper, taking no higher ground, to be just and generous to the Maori. He would not advocate the purchase by Government of the Bakaia and Ashburton Forks Bail way — Government had enough liability already ;— though he might be persuaded to do bo if circumetances, of which he was not at present aware, showed him that it was for the Colony's benefit to buy the line, but not if only for the Company's. He would not favour the borrowing of money, even to complete such a desirable line as that to Mount Somers, He would again introduce the Small Birds Bill, if returned.

Mr J. 0. Wabon moved— "That in the opinion of this meeting Mr Alfred Saunders is a fit and proper person to represent the district of Wakanui in the event of the seat being declared vacant." Mr Wason spoke for some time, and very highly of Mr Saunders, Baying he had al trays found him in the House a firm supporter of the right, and an equally firm opponent of the wrong. The motion was seconded by Mr Littelton, and carried unanimously amid great applauße. Mr Eaunders thanked the meeting for their expression of opinion, and moved a vote of thanks to the Chairman.

The meeting then closed