MR GARRICK AT FENDALTON.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6033, 15 September 1887, Page 4

MR GARRICK AT FENDALTON.

1 . a Last night Mr Garrick addressed the St Albanß electors at the Fendalton school, which was fairly well filled. On the motion of Mr Garrick, Mr H. J. Hall was voted to the chair. The Chairman briefly introduced the candidate, prefacing his remarks by impressing on his audience the great importance of the coming election. He would Bay that he always set his mind against votes of confidence, as the proper time and place was the day of election and the ballot box. (Applause.) Mr Gabbick, who waß received with applause, explained that he had come there in compliance with the invitation of ~ib _y of the electors. He would be brief, as he was abont to repeat something of what he had already said, and as he had been suffering from severe illness. Since he last addressed a public meeting the Government had changed their attitude in lespect of the question of retrenchment, a matter which he had for four years considered of very great importance. The Government had stated in Parliament that they had given retrenchment the most earnest attention, and had come to the conclusion tbat there was no necessity for a reduction of the existing services, but that what was required was a more economical management. The Treasurer had since then stated that the public were not in earnest in the cry for retrenchment. Mr Garrick here quoted from Sir Julius Vogel's speech at the Theatre Eoyal, laying particular stress on the words " I can say that I am prepared to introduce a very mnch less extensive system of Government in the Colony. No Government cau do this, however, unless it is supported by the good sense of the community." It behoved the people then to speak with no uncertain voice on this question. It was the some with the Colony as wi*h a private household, in each case no greater danger existed than debt with its surroundings. (Applause.) At Ashburton Sir Julius Yogel had repeated: "I will now say a few words on a question which I am almost afraid to mention, for you must be heartily sick of it, the question of retrenchment, and I will say merely this, that the Government will be willing to introduce a rigorous and severe measure of retrenchment, if the House is willing that it Bhonld be done. (Cheers.) I have yet to learn that that ■will be the case." Then in his letter to the Press on Friday, Sept. 9, Sir Julius had written: "That it haß yet to be proved whether the representatives of the various districts are willing to make sacrifices on behalf of their constituencies, for if not it is evident that the aggregate renunciation wonld be very Bmall." Thus it wonld be seen that the responsibUity was thrown on the public and their representatives, and that Sir Julius expressed his disbelief in the sincerity of the cry for retrenchment. He (Mr Garrick) hoped that whoever waß sent by the St Albans electors to represent them would be instructed to insist upon the fullest retrenchment. (Applause.) He would Bay no more on this subject just now, but might say something later on in reference to what had been said by his opponent. As they were aware, he had not before referred to his opponent, but must say that his opponent had not exercised the same forbearance towards him. (Hear.) He (Mr Garrick) was well known to be a Freetrader, and had never changed his opinions; bnt he had not "been in his youth a rabid Freetrader." (Laughter.) The speaker enlarged upon the subject of Protection. In the course of this he said, " there was no part of God's earth in which a more disastrous condition of things prevailed than America." (Cries of "No" and "Hear.") He respected the opinions of those who differed from him, but the result of his reading had confirmed his belief in the truth of the statement he had just made. Mr Garrick here quoted from a letter from Mr John Evans Brown, who spoke of Protection as "the death -knell of the Colony." No more keen observer, or practical exponent of what he wished to speak about, could be found than Mr John Evans Brown. (Hear.) What Mr Brown had here said was confirmed by an extract from the liondon Standard, published in the Lyttelton Times, of Sept. 1. The speaker referred to Victoria and New South Wales, as showing that in the long run Protection, which he declared wa3 baßedonselfishneßß, was a failure. After characterising the Lytt&ton Times as hia "very tender and gentlemanly opponent," Mr Garrick criticised at some length the Tariff proposals. EXPLANATIONS. There were some things to which his attention had been drawn, and which he mnst refer to in order to satisfy some of those present. One of these waa the Midland Bailway. All he could say about that was that if he had sold himself, as the Lyttelton Times said he had, it had been for the Midland Bailway. (Applauße.) He had joined the nnited Canterbury members for the purpose of carrying out the Midland Railway, and he did not think any one could accuse him of being a renegade, i (Applause.) . He believed the railway waa j on a thoroughly sound basis, on the "no j cure no pay " system, which he believed J to be the best in the present condition of - the Colony. (Applause.) As he had fought for it in the past, co he would fight for it in the future, and would especially try to induce the Company to begin work at this end. (Applause.) And he would try his beat, whatever Government there was, to make it a success. (Applause.) He had been charged with shifting his opinions on the Property-tax, but that was incorrect and absolutely untrue. He had always maintained that the exemption ought not to be more than .£3OO, as he thought that if a man had _500, assuming the tax to bo Id in the £ , he could afford to pay 16s 8d towardßtheexpensesoftheColony.Hehadsaid thia from the first, and had never wavered from it. On one occasion he had said that the exemption ought to be reduced by the Bum of —200, and it waß made out that he had said to £200. He had never in any speech used the word four in reference to thiß subject. Whether the _300 exemption met the views of the electors or not, he still expressed the same opinion. (Hear.) It had also been said that he at one time had declared that the Ministers worked very hard, and were not overpaid. Well, he said so now. (Applause.) So far, at least, a3 regarded Sir Julius Yogel, Sir Eobert Stout, and Mr Ballance, and all honour to them for it. (Applause.) Bub he did not say that the Ministers should be exempt from a proportionate reduction in their salaries, in common with all the others. He had be<?n accused of saying that several of the Ministers might be dispensed with, but he had only said tbat one, the Minister of Justice, whom he called a political toy made to please Auckland, waa unnecessary. He had felt that retrenchment in the expenses of the Legislature should not be in the hands of the Speaker of the House of Representatives. He denied that it was, but if it was then the law should be amended at once. (Applause.) Some person had charged him with attempting to bring about a reduction of the number of men employed in the different workshops of the Colony, but he had never said anything that could have the slightest bearing on the subject. "What waa wanted was a reduction in the huge expenditure in Wellington, and not merely the sacking of a few men. The charge was not true, and he felt tbat he would be believed when he made this statement to the electors. (Applause.) In the matter of what waa called Party Government, he had not been half a bad fellow when he belonged to the Government side. Even the Lyttelton Times had not thought him such a bad fellow. (Laughter.) But directly he wanted to be free, they saidTon must always vote at your party's coll ; t ou muit never think for y ouraelf at all. ! Though he had said he was independent, and he said now to them, " Don't return me, except as an independent," he waa put down as an Opposition candidate. What right had anybody to say that he was on one side or another. He. wa3 as averse to Major Atkinson's policy as any man in the House — (applause)— and he had left no Btone unturned untU ihe Atkinson Ministry were removed from ]

the Government benches. He had re* sisted every overture made to him to join them, and surely that was some proof that he did not intend to join them. People , talked of the "Continuous Ministry," bnt L what he waa afraid of was a continuous L Eeeves, a continuous Lyttelton Times, which was beginning to ride the country to death. No matter how bad the character of a man , might be, if he was on the Government , side he was bepraised, but if he ventured , to stand alone then he was a rascal—(applause and laughter)— and was branded as unworthy of the country's support. His opponent had said they should elect the baat man, he (Mr Garrick) eaid the same: If they thought Mr Beeves was the be3t man and elected him, he (Mr Garrick) for one would not complain. Mr Eeeves, in one of hisspeeohes, had said that he had no. more personal feeling againßt him (Mr Garrick) than he had at tbe outset. But the question was— -What personal feeling had he at the outset? He would like to show some of Mr Eeeves' windings in and out. Sometimes he was a poet and sometimes he descended to prose; sometimes, he gave them, ""The lady riding on a tiger." (Applause and laughter.) Then the Lyttelton Times published letters from " our correspondent at Ashburton," or anywhere else, he oould not tell them how' it was done, who made out that he (Mr Garrick) was about the biggest rascal in Canterbury, and that if that was the class of men they were going to return, God help Canterbury} (Laughter.) This had all been brought about, because he happened to say in a speech in the House that the Ashburton "WooUen Company had caved in before they turned a wheel. Now he had sent a clerk to search and had found that the Company was incorporated on June 23, 1882. It shut up by going into liquidation on December 4, 1884, and the liquidator filed his report on Oct. 13, 1885. What he had meant was that the institution shut its doors before it had turned a wheel. It had subsequently been sold for something like half of what it had cost, and was now being run by gentlemen as the private owners of a very prosperous concern. Therefore he had neither been exaggerating nor stating what was not true. (Applause.) Mr Eeeves had said in that very room that he. would abolish the Upper House ; but. this he must have said before consulting with his father, for after being put across the paternal knee he had retracted thatstatement. (Laughter.) [It is only fair to Mr Eeeves to say that he was misunderstood by the Times reporter, to whom he pointed ont the error j on the morning of its publication.] j Then Mr Eeeve3, when asked if he would j consent to the borrowing of two millions '■ for the Otago Central Railway, &c, had : eaid, " I will exercise my discretion," and ' that was all he (Mr Garrick) wanted to do. ! But they must not run away with the idea that he (_ tr Garrick) was going to vote for that loan, fox he would oppose it tooth and nail. (Hear.) At Eiccarton Mr Eeeves had said : "If they did him the honour to elect him he would go to "Wellington to give a fair and general support Ito the Government. He would not go tied . to any vote, because he thought a man ought to give a f*— c and honest support without being tied hand and foot." \v hat, then, w»3 the difference between Mr Eeeves and himself s> That was all that he wanted ;to do. (Applause.) He had said that if the Stout- Vogel Government proposed a I policy with which he could agree they should receive his support, and so they ; would. (Applause.) He would oppose such measures as Sir Eobert Stoufs nationalisation of the land and Mr Bal- | lance's Land Acquisition Bill, but he ! was not identified with any man. TTia sole desire was to prevent the country in which he bad his family and all his interests, being tax-ridden. (Applause.) He thanked the meeting for the attentive hearing they . had given him, and concluded by saying he | did not attach much value to votes of confidence. (Applause and laughter.) After Mr G_ bbick had answered two or three questions, Mr Connal moved a hearty vote of thanks to Mr Garrick ,f or his address. Mr Spackman seconded the motion. The speech had been a very nice one, ; and had been applauded by the gentlemen Mr Garrick generally carried round with him. ("Oh, oh!" and applause.) He (Mr Spackman) only regretted that Mr Garrick had thought fit to make so exceedingly gro3s a personal attack on Mr W. P. Eeeves and his father. (Applause and dissent.) To speak of those gentlemen in the way Mr Garri-*; had done was beneath the dignity of that candidate, and could do him very little good in that district. (Cheers and interruption.) If it did he would think very little of the people ! of the district. (Interruption.) He could' I only say for himself that he would not vote I for Mr Garrick. (Laughter and interrup- j tion.) In Mr Garrick's speech there had I been too much " blow." (Interruption.) ; If Mr Garrick had told them more about New Zealand and less about New South Wales, &c— (interruption)— the meeting would have been better pleased, ] and perhaps would have had more confi- : dence in him. He would be very happy to ; | givo Mr Garrick a vote of thanks. j (Applause.) j The motion wa3 carried, and acknow- ; lodged by Mr Garrick, who said that with ' regard to his friend Mr Spackman no one had ever applied more offensive terms to him than that gentleman had. I A vote of thanks to the Chairman, carried j by acclamation, closed the meeting.