GENERAL ELECTIONS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7008, 12 November 1890, Page 4

GENERAL ELECTIONS.

Mr W. B. Perceval at the Oddfellows' Hall.

Last evening Mr W. B. Perceval, formerly M.H.8.. for Christchurch South, and one of the candidates for Christchurch city, addressed a meeting of electors in the Oddfellows' Hall, Lichfield street. There was a large attendance, and several ladies had seats in the gallery. .Upon the platform were Messrs W. P. Beeves and E. M. Taylor. His Worship the Mayor presided, and briefly introduced Mr Perceval. Mr W. B. Perceval, who was received with loud applause, spoke as follows : — Mr Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, INTBODUCTORY. I have postponed asking you to meet me until the issue of the writs. The elections are now definitely fixed for Dec. 5, which falls on a Friday, so that you have three weeks from next Friday to make up your minds about the candidates. It was a difficult task enough when you had to return only one member ; now you have to select three. lam afraid you will find this a somewhat invidious and difficult task if you consider the merits of candidates as individuals. The first thing you ought to make up your minds about is— Which party in the House represents your views? Having decided this point, the next thing is to select three candidates who will give the party you favour a loyal support.

A PRONOUNCED LIBERAL. I am presenting myself as a candidate opposed to the present Government, and in the Liberal interest. I don'b ask you to vote for me only, bub to vote for mo together with two others. There are three Liberal candidates; three men who have worked together in the Liberal interest during last Parliament, and I hope all my supporters will vote for the three. (Applause.) No in an is a true Liberal who jeopardises the interest of his party, and I can only admire the spirit which has led men who were invited to stand in the Liberal interest to withdraw. This shows they are not seeking self-glori-fication, but the good of their fellows. Messrs Eae, Sykes and Sandford are deserving of the greatest credit for. their disinterested conduct. I hope, therefore, that the people of Christchurch will sink their differences, and work together to strengthen the Liberal party in the House. You should remember that you are voting for your party, more than for any individual candidate. Please remember this, and DO NOT WASTE YOTTB VOTES. If you want to really disfranchise yourselves, give one vote to a Government supporter, one to a Liberal candidate, and the third to an Independent, and then you will have wiped yoaraelf quite out of the political world. (Applause.) Surely it is plain aB a pikestaff, that in this election you must vote party and nothing else. You know the coaches that go through town, drawn by three horses abreast. You have to horse the political bus. Choose three horses that will pull together, and don't put in one that will jib, and capsize the coach. (Applause.) BETKOqPECTIVE AND I'KOSrECTIVE. It is, of course, almost impossible to get two men to agree on all points, and I don't hope for a moment to find you all agreeing with everything I say. Thero are questions of great import and minor questions. If we are agreed on the essentials, we can agree to differ on small matters. One thing lam quite decided on, and that is to be frank and honest in stating my opinions, and this without consideration as to whether you hold my views or not. During the last three years I have been a consistent opponent of the present Government — not in a factious way, however. The Government have proposed certain economies in the public service. These proposals I have supported. I believe if you search through Hansard you will find I have supported every voto in the direction of economy, except when those votes were contrary to my election pledges. The present Government have brought down emigration proposals. These I have opposed, and will oppose so long as we cannot retain the population we have got. The present Government have introduced policy Bill after policy Bill, which they instantly dropped as soon as they found there waß a majority of the House against them. The present Government have made an ill-timed appointment of an additional Judge to the Supreme Court, and they have not had the manliness to ask the House to confirm the appointment, leaving a Judge of the Supreme Court in the unconstitutional position of being dependent upon Parliament tor his salary. CLINGING TO POWEE. The present Government have clung to the Ministerial benches with the tenacity of limpets sticking to a rock, when their leader, the Premier, was unable through illneßS to take his place in the House. The present Government have allowed their estimates of expenditure to be torn and mangled by the House, when, according to their view, the services of the country were to be crippled thereby. The present Government have allowed the time of the House to be wasted over measures they had no intention of passing. The present Government have thrown themselves into the arms of the Protectionists to get their tariff supported, and then into the arms of the Freetraders to remain in office. The presnnt Government have allowed our population to drift away from our shores in thousands These are a few sins of commiasion— things they have done ; and their sins of omission, or things they should have done and have not done are just as numerous. They, despite the fact that dummyism is proved to be rampant in New Zealand, have failed to introduce legislation to prevent it. They have told the House that our bankruptcy laws required amendment, and there are no amendments. They have pointed out defects in the Hospital and Charitable Aid laws, and have not persevered with the reforms they considered essential. They have failed to amend the Property tax or to repeal it. They have failed to put a tax on absentee landlords. They have failed to correct glaring anomalies in the tariff. They have failed to introduce any measure of local Government reform. They have failed to do all these things, and they have failed to show ■"

me how it was possible for me to support them. Their cup of iniquity, to my mind, is just about full to overflowing, and their fate is in the hands of the people of New Zealand. What that fate is to be is for the electors of the Colony to decide. The Opposition has been too weak to displace them, but the country can rectify this by . strengthening the Opposition. I RETURN THBEE lIBRBALB ! ) I hope Chriatchurch will return her ; three members opposed to the present ! Government. (Applause.) It is little use returning two Opposition aud one j Government candidate, for that means ; partial disfranchieenient. But in order !to return three men on the same i side, the electors of Christchurch must : make some sacrifices — they must conI sider their party rather than the : individual candidate, and they must not I split themselves up on side issues. You will be told the present Opposition is too weak to form a Government. So it is, but you can rectify that. You will be told that the Opposition would, as Boon as they got into power, introduce such radical changes in our land laws, and in the incidence of taxation, as to frighten people and capital : from our shores: Changes would no doubt j bo made by the Opposition on these points, j but with a due sense of the responsibilities I cast upon them to do nothing to injure capital or lessen our population. THE OPPOSITION'S POLICY. The stoppage of dummyism— (applause) ; the prevention of land being acquired in large holdings ; the resumption by the State, on payment of a fair value, of any I block of land which was urgently required i for settlement ; the minimifaiug of the j cash Bale system, and the bringing the perpetual lease system into general use, the carrying on of a vigorous policy of land settlement, and the roading of Crown lands, the discouraging of absentee landlords and speculative land purchasers, the passing of .Bills securing fair treatment of factory hands, the using of the railways as a means of developing our farming and industrial pursuits rather than as a taxing machine, the establishment of scholarships from our primary schools to our secondary schools and to our mining and agricultural schools, the inauguration of technical schools, the repeal or amendment of the ; Property tax. These are some of the I Kadical measures which would frighten away capital and drive away our people. These may be deemed Eadical measures, but they are what the country wants, and I hope means to have. These reforms will be more as aids to progresH and development than the means of bringing about sudden prosperity. The prosperity of a country depends more upon the development of the resources, the thrift of the people, and the prudent administration of Government than upon any legislation. Our resources are abundant, crying out .for , development. We must turn our attention to them— our agriculture, our mineß, our manufactures. It is through these that vre must prosper; but our land laws, • railway administration and Bystem of , finance and taxation must be so guided as ! to develop instead of handicapping these industries. (Applause.) LAND AND LAND LAWS. Before going on to discuss the position of our industries, I desire to Eay j something about our land and land laws. • The question of all questions is the land ■ question. The area of our Colony is, comparatively speaking, so Bmall that the land question must always remain a prominent question in New Zealand. The total area of the lands of the Colony is 60,000,000 acres made up as follows :— Acres. Sold 13,000,000 Reserved under Special Acts * ... 6,000,000 Native land and land sold by Natives 13,000,000 Still in the hands of the Crown — Open fern or grass ... 15,000,000 Forest 10,000,000 Mountain top and barren country 9,000,000 66,000,000 Of the land already disposed of, viz., ' 13,000,000 acres, more than one half, or j 7,500,000 acres, are in the hands of two i hundred and fifty persons and Companies, j and absentees own three and a quarter millions worth of land. This, to my mind, is a most startling state of things, and reflects no credit upon the various Govern- ■ ments who have been administering the j affairs of the Colony. It has been a great wrong, and it is no easy matter to suggest a remedy which will meet the evil 'without injustice. These two hundred and fifty persons have acquired their property fairly, and if they are to have their land taken I from them it must be on fair terms. la every new country the land is first used for pastoral purposes, and only as population becomes denser does agriculture take the place of grazing. We want to see that the land is turned to the best possible account, and made to produce that for which it is best suited. A large portion of the lands of the Colony are only adapted for the purposes of grazing sheep, and the poorer of such lands must, to be worked at a profit, remain in fairly large holdings j j but the men who are doing the Colony an injury are the few who hold large areas of I land suitable for agriculture and will not t cultivate themselves or allow others to \ cultivate, but grow sheep on unimproved I land which should bo turned to mere profitable use. These are the men who must be made to pay, by increased taxation, for their dog-in-the-manger policy. (Applause.) Unfortunately, we have examples of this in Canterbury. I believe the simplest and fairest method of dealing with such estates would be for the Government to take them at a fair valuation, and subdivide them for the purposes of settlement. The stoppage of the sale of our Crown lands for cash, and the forcing selectors to occupy and improve their holdings, would go a long way to bring speculative purchases to an end. The Waste Lands Committee of last session held an enquiry by direction of the House into the practice of dumtnyism, and the I facts which were then laid bare go to show that dummyism exi3ts to a considerable I extent. The Government failed, however, to introduce any legislation dealing with the subject, and the Colony is exposed for I another year to the repetition of such j practices. The report of the Waste Lands Committee on the subject of dummyism was as follows :— " The Waste Lands Committee report that the evidence adduced during the dummyißm enquiry havinsr shown conclusively that the Land Acts have been in a number of instances evaded | by false declarations made with a view to dummying, the Committee is of opinion that it is the duty of the Government to enforce the law, and recommend that offenders against whom a charge will lie, be prosecuted, with a view to putting a stop to the like practices in thef uture." (Applause.) Yet the Government have done nothing. The most popular tenure for selectors ia the perpetual lease system, and this is the system most suitable for the settler of small means. Ho pays a rental of 5 per cent on the value of the land.and iiis little capital remains in his hands for stocking and improving. This is much better than buying for cash and then mortgaging to raise money to Btock and cultivate. During last year 47,000 acres were sold for cash and 237,000 acres granted under the perpetual lease system. I£ we could find out who were the purchasers of the 47,000 acres of land sold for cash, we should find, I believe, that the greater part was taken up by men who already held large areaß, and by speculators; because, as I said before, the genuine settler does not buy for casb, as a rule. I shall therefore, do all I can to discourage cash sales, and to give every prominence to the perpetual lease system. VILLAGE SETTLEMENTS. You have heard me speak before on the subject of Village Settlements, and at the risk of repeating myself and wearying you I cannot refrain from referring to the question again. These village homestead special settlements were originated for the purpose of enabling working men of small means to acquire blocks of land in the country districts, to provide a home for themselves and their families, and which they could work during their spare time. When labour is acarce, the tendency in for all the men seeking work to collect in the towns, and congest the labour market.

This leads to the unemployed difficulty, which we have seen so much of, and the men once collected in the towns, rather than wander about the country seeking work drift gradually away to seek better fortune in the adjoining Colonies, or become vagrants. This process has been going on steadily during the past few years, and we have seen some of our best artisans, and especially the young men of the Colony, leaving in thousands for Australia. It is true, of course, that in the Australian Colonies people will drift to and fro, according as one Colony or the other enjoys prosperity or depression, but the chief reason for our population leaving us in such large numbers, is that no facility was given for men to get on the land. (Applause.) It aeems strange, but it is too true nevertheless, that an intending settler in New Zealand has to go to a vast amount of trouble and expense and wait a very long time before he can get a chance to get a piece of laud, and then it is only a chance, because he finds he has to enter into a lottery with the speculator and the large landed proprietor, both of whom have more friends or dummies than he ; so that after his trouble and expense and waiting, the intending settler sees the piece of land he wanted pass into the hands of men who have acquired it to round off their run or to hold until they can sell at a profit. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that people leave our shores, and our country remains unsettled. If the village homestead settlemfents had been in existence during the last two or three years they would have been the means of settling many and many a family on the soil, instead of these families having gone elsewhere. The system should be familiar to you. Blocks of land in suitable localities are formed into homesteads. The tenure is perpetual lease, and the rent is 5 per cent on the capital value. No rent is paid for the first bix months, which gives the settler the chance of getting things in order before his rent day comes on, and .£2O is advanced towards the erection of a dwelling. The selector has to reside on his homestead and work and improve the land. These village settlements have been the greatest possible boon to many a poor family who have been able to raise from their piece of land food enough and to spare, the head of the family getting work in the neighbourhood when it offered. You have heard a lot about the extravagance of the last Government over the'ee very village settlements ; but, speaking generally, I believe it to have been the best work the Colony ever did, and the present Government have a lot to answer for in having stopped it. Mistakes were made in the location of some of the settlements, no doubt, and in the land selected ; but on the whole I consider the scheme has been a pronounced success, and should be started again at once. Given good land, suitable men and a proper locality, such settlements cannot rail to be a great success. Surely these three conditions are not difficult to ensure. There are thousands of suitable men ready and eager to go on the land and well qualified to work it. There are localities where settlements could be established without congesting the lftbour market of the locality ; but in Canterbury, unfortunately, the main essential — the good land — has passed from the Crown. There is no Crown land m Canterbury fit for the purpose. Land must be got, nevertheless, for such settlements. The Crown must acquire the land by purchase, or, if necessary, take it com pulsorily, paying the owner a fair price for it. In Canterbury we have twenty-two village settlements formed out of Crown lands, and therefore not in the most favoured localities. These twenty-two settlements cover an area of 5170 acres, divided into 198 sections. I believe with a few exceptions, where the sections are exceptionally poor, all these sections are occupied, and the settlers are doing well. The total amountadvancod to these 198 selectors for buildings is £2200, and this amount bears interest at 5 per cent. During the holidays I visited one of these village settlements to have a look at it for myself. Ifc is known as the Hurunui settlement, and is about five miles from the Medbury Eailway station. Every section, except two in the hands of the Midland Eailway, is occupied. The area of the settlement is | 691 acres, nnd there are eighteen allotments. The total amount advanced to the settlers is J8220, so you Bee that many of the settlers have done without the .£2O. • I visited almost every homestead, and went into many of the cottages, and I was more than pleased with what I saw. The men had their holdings all fenced, and nearly all in crop, and I didn't hear a growl from one. It was apparent that the men were gradually improving their position and making a comfortable home. Now, listen ; .£220 has been advanced to these men, and I am satisfied that any valuer would assess the value of the improvements at the very least . at .£IOOO. The land, when Government land, was priced at £2 10s an acre. The whole block of land, C9l acres, would bring £5 an acre readily to-day. Is that a bad investment tor the Colony ? Land valued at J22 10a converted into land worth £5 per acre, and i 5220 advanced for improvements worth £1000 at the least— G9l acres of tussock converted into ■

, <*ighteen homesteads ! (Loud applauee.) i This settlement is the only green i patch for miles — an oasis in a desert : f uncultivated soil. Tou may think lam • romancing:, and do not know what lam i talking about. I challenge contradiction i of my statements and figures. Let anyi one who doubts me go and look for him- , self. This good work must not be als lowed to stop. I regret to say that the . Government, as a Government, has little , sympathy with small settlements, and . we have never had a Government, cxi eept thu Sfcout-Vogel Government — (apl plause)— which had. Do not be gulled i with figures which are put before you to r prove how much, the present Government . has done for settlement. It i 3 not to be found, that is, the settlement you want. A SUGGESTION TO UXIOXS. j It has occurred to me that the various l Trades Unions throughout the Colony : could not do better than invest their j accumulated savings in blocks of land, , which they would throw opan for \ settltement on some such plan as the ! village homestead system. (Applause.) , If judiciously managed, the investment , would prove an extremely, good one?, and \ they would be doing a real service to tbo ) Colony as well. The accumulation of reserve , fund 3 is the best work a Union can en- , gage in, and what better use could it be j put to than to promote land settlement ? ! In the event of the money being required the Unions would have an asset which would be as good as money — and the members of Unions would naturally be given the first choice of going upon the land which was to be settled. EDUCATION. Ib has been said of me, I know, fiat I am opposed to the education of the people, and that tny sympathies are all with the capitalists. Both these statements are absolutely false. If you will examine my actions during the last Parliament, you will find that I have opposed the various attempts made to render the present system of education less efficient. You will see that I have opposed the raising of the school age and the cutting off of the higher standards. (Applause.) This I will continue to do, and this is where the attack is being made upon the present system of education. If you read the speech of the Acting-Premiar in Auckland, you will see the Government propose to save £75,000 by increasing the school age. This would mean closing many a country school. I have always maintained that so long as the present State system exists, the teaching in the State schools must be secular, and for this reason. I have opposed the reading of the Bible in schools, for to my mind Bible reading without comment is useless as a means of circulating moral teaching, and with comment it must become sectarian. I have, however, the greatest sympathy with those who desire religious and moral instruction to be combined with secular teaching, and I have always said, and I say still, that if the just demands of the minority can be satisfied without interfering with the rights of the majority, it ought to be done. I do not favour any one religious denomination more than another, but would treat fchein all alike. I do not advocate that the State should pay for religious teaching at all ; with that the State need not interfere, but merely for secular results. With this object I voted for what is known aa Pyke's Bill, which cannot be deemed an interference with the present system of education, and is calculated rather to atrengthen than weaken it. LABOUR ORGANISATIONS. To the Trades Unions, I say that I will do my best in the future, as I have done in the past, to improve the social condition of the working classes. lam a thorough believer in Unionism, and it ia to Unionism that the working classes owe the bettering of their condition. (Applause.) Legislation is required in the interest of the working man, and the Labour Bills of last session, with any reasonable amendments (for that was never objected to), I shall do my best to see passed into law. There ia nothing to be alarmed at in these Bills. Almost ; every section is a copy from existing ; Victorian or English A*cta, and many of ; the provisions are much less stringent than the American laws. I look to Unionism to find a remedy for strikes, and to open ' its doors wide to every efficient worker. ] It will take time to work out, but the true , principles of Unionism are founded on the i highest law of all — the Christian law. Such Unionism does not seek to grab any 1 man's property; suah Unionism does not desire to form an aristocracy of labour, < and keep all the good things for a chosen ' few ; such Unionism does not seek to discourage man from earning his bread by the sweat of his brow, but to promote the welfare and happiness oi the masses t of the human family. (Applause.) As for my sympathies being with capitalists more than the workers that is not true, my sympathies are with the * Colony, and my interests aro wrapped up in the prosperity of the Colony. Ido not believe you will condemn me because I can pay 40s in the pound. I am long-headed .' j enough to see that the future welfare of £ the Colonies depends upon the welfare of the mauy, and not of the few. (Applause.) No progress can be made

unless our lands are worked, and our working classes thriving. OUR INDUSTRIES. The only thing I would favour borrowing for, would ba to promote land settlement and road crown landa. This can, I believe, be done by borrowing and financing within the Colony, bo that we may thoroughly re-establish our credit in London before going to the English money lender. IN CONCLUSION, I thank you for your hearing. I Bnall address the electors in other parts of the electorate, and by Dec. 5 I hope you will be in full possession o£ my opinions, and I hope- the result of the poll on that day will show that I ana in sympathy with the majority of the electors, and that the Liberals of Christchurch have enough faith in their principles to sink their differences and return to the nest Parliament three men who will be true to the Liberal cause, and a faithful reflex of their opinions. (Loud and continued applause.) Mr E. Clarke proposed — " That the voters comprising this meeting accord a sincere and hearty vote of thanks to, and confidence in Mr W. B. Perceval, for his lucid and manly expressions of opinion upon the political questions of the Colony, and pledge themselves to occurs his return to Parliament aa one of the three candidates in the Liberal interests to represent Christchurch city." Mr T. Attwood seconded the motion, which was carried with only one dissentient voice. A vote of thanks to the Mayor for presiding concluded the proceedings.