POLITICAL

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4593, 15 March 1893, Page 4

POLITICAL

Mr B. Meredith at East j : •' ,T ;■•■ Oxford. j Mr B. Meredith, member for Ashley, ; addressed a meeting of. his constituents at the East Oxford Town Hall on Monday night. Owing to the inclemency of the' weather the- attendance was limited to ; ' about fifty. i Mr B. H. Parish presided, and in open- t ' ing the proceedings referred to the fact ] of the re-arrangement of the electoral dis- : triots having divided Oxford between the ' Ashley and Kaiapoi electorates j conse- ' ' quently at the next general election many : of those present would not have the privi- j ' v Mr, Meredith opened- his address by , ' thanking those present for attending in < ' such inclement weather. He had to apolo- j ' giae for not coming before his constituents ! ! immediately after the close of last sesaion, j--; but the fact: was that he was anxious to • • look into what was known as the Native i : question, and, with the view of making ' himself thoroughly conversant with it, had ! spent a fortnight in the North Island. . , THK NATIVB QTTJSBTION '' was a very important One, embracing ' local and general taxation of Native land, the individualisation of Native titles, and ; the validation of titles of Native lands' acquired by. Europeans, not through, the ! Government, but by private treaty. Of ! the 42,000 Natives in the Colony 40,000 j lived in the North Island, consequently the question, was one that was of more importance to that part of New Zealand. During the time he spent in the North Island, he visited the Bay of Plenty and the East Coast, where the Natives were moat numerous, particularly Whakatane County. There the Europeans had a real grievance, as the Natives, though very numerous, paid local nor* county rates, although four-fifths 6f the traffic on the public roads was contributed by the Natives, while 'the Europeans had to bear the burden of taxation. This state of things could not remain much longer. The Natives were, wealthy, either cultivating their own lands or receiving rent: for them from Europeans. No doubt in the past there were difficulties in the way of taxing Native lands, and there were difficulties still in those parts of the Island, such as the King Country, where the Natives- were numerous and powerful, and retain their anoient modes of living. He also desired that before lie spoke the small farmers might have an opportunity of fully realising the nature of the obange in the incidence of taxation when ca'led upon to pay the tax lately. 188 LA6T eBBBION was ft protracted one, lasting nearly sixteen weeks.- Each day's sitting., averaged rather more than 7f hours, attd to this might be added 2$ hours in Committee, making rather more than ten hours a day. I No leas than 741 petitions were dealt with during the session. . He was a member of the Public Petitions Committee, and assisted to hear evidence and report on two hundred and eighty-nine petitions ; also, as member of the Waste Lands Committee he reported to the House on fifty-five petitions. He mentioned this to show' that the position of a member was no sinecure. The House met on June 23, and the FINANCIAL BTATBMBNT ' wae delivered seven days after. Never in the history of the New Zealand Parliament was a Financial Statement submitted so early in the session. The Statement showed the Colony to be solvent and in a thriving condition. The actual expenditure was less than the estimated expenditure by £26,884 13s 7d. The revenue ■ actually received exceeded by £87,287 16s 6d the amount estimated, and the credit surplus I on the year's transactions 1 amounted to £165,573 18a sd. £117,282 was paid in the reduction of the national debt, and the charge for interest and sinking fund for the current year was estimated at £1,885,770, or £67,159 less than for last year. This saving had been brought about mainly through the con-, version of £589,000 6 per cent debentures into 3} per cent inscribed Stock, the annual' saving thereby effected being £23,571. (Applause.) But the best was still to come. Through all, the key-note pi the Government had been no more borrowing — (applause)— but a policy of self-reliance. The Government had. economised in every possible way, and its unauthorised expenditure was tbe smallest for seventeen years. (Applause). The Premier and his Ministry had made tip their minds that there should be no further increase in the public debt. The Hon Mr Ballance had taken the course adopted by Sir Bobert Peel when he -came into office in 1842 and found the public debt of England so large. He {Sir [Robert Peel) said that that state of things would have to be put a stop to, and they must keep their expenditure within their income. This was precisely what the Hon Mr Ballance had declared. (Applause.) When the Financial Statement was delivered, the Press of the Colony, including the principal Conservative papers, ro3e to the occasion ; and the latter, forgetful of their being in opposu. tion, joined in congratulating the country upon having such a satisfactory Statement submitted, and congratulating the Premier. (Applause.) The debate on the Statement lasted three weeks, quite ,two of which were wasted in recapitulation and reiteration. The Hon W. Bqlleston led the attack. His speech was a feeble effort. Thia was not so much the fault of the leader of the Opposition SB^of the circumstances. He had nothing 'to base his criticisms on. As he (Mr Meredith) remarked in the House, they might as well expeot General' Sir Garnet Woleeley to display his great military genius in suppressing a row at Donny brook Fair aa expect the leader of the Opposition to distinguish himself in attacking the carefully-entrenched and unassailable position of the Government as set forth in the Financial Statement. A number of the Opposition thought they knew more about the figures than the Premier, and one went so far as to say that Mr Ballance had no more knowledge of figures than a fourth standard boy. Replying, the Premier spoke for two hours, the speech being the speech of the session, and completely pullp.d to rags the criticisms of the Opposition. (Applause.) , APPOINTMENTS TO THK LEGISLATIVE -:'■:■ COUNCIL. , They were aware that in the recess before last session it was generally understood that' the Government intended to make several calls to the Upper House in consequence of the scant support accorded to its measures during the session of 1891. The Opposition, as usual, railed againßt the Government for proposing to do Buch a wicked thing, forgetting that the late Government placed seven members in the Council when the country had declared againßt its policy in the election of 1890. He understood that the objeot of a Government in putting members in the Legislative Council was in order to give the_ existing Government a working majority to carry ■ • out its measures. Why, therefore, did the late Government put the seven men into the Council ? It was simply to blook the legislation of its successors. The present Government, finding how little the support it received in the. Council was, recommended the. appointment of twelve members, but the Governor 'would not agree to the appointment of more than sine. An appeal to the Home authorities resulted in the Governor being recommended to take the advice of the Ministry. This was a great victory, and it was gracefully received. It was to the honour and credit of the Government supporters that when the cable message was read in the House there was no demonstration, the feelings of the Governor being respected. He felt sorry for the Governor. The,.fact was that he had been surrounded and advised by those opposed to the Government, and became the victim of misplaced confidence. The general opinion was that the selection of members for the Upper House was satisfactory. THE LAND BILL was one of the most important measures passed last seesion. It was largely a consolidating measure, embodying the provisions of the Land Act of 1885, and the amendment Acts of 1887. and 1888, in addition to abont fifty new clauses and amendments. Altogether it was the most liberal Land Act ever passed in the New

Zealand Parliament, the tendenoy^ of the ■ measure being in the direction of < the equal distribution of we-ilth. pre- '. mention of speculation in Ctf own- land, ' the settlement of people on the land and patting an absolute stop to the aggrega- ; tion of estates from Crown land. (Applause.) One of its principal provisions was i one man, one run, the carrying capacity ; regulating the size of the run, and the i maximum being 20,000 sheep or 4000 head : of eafcfcle. No person •or Company could bow hold from the Crown more than one '. tun, except when the carrying capacity i did nob equal 10,000 sheep or 2000 head of i cattle. In that case two or more small i tuna could be held by one person. Of " course the present tenants of the Crown would be allowed to continue their holdings, no matter how many runs they held, i until their leases terminated, when they i must drop down to the one-man-one-iun ' Bystero. (Applause.) The New Zealand ; i Loan and Mercantile Agency Company, for i instance, which now leased twenty-seven : runs, would have to submit to bhe pro* visions of the Act in this connection. The quantity of Crown lands to be taken up by one tenant must not exceed 2000 acres of second-class, or 640 acres : of first-claes land. The forms of tenure were— (l) Freehold for cash tinder settle- j ment conditions, improvements to be made \ within seven years to the amount of £1 and 10a on first and second quality land respectively, certificate to occupy being first given, and subsequently Crown grants when conditions are complied with. (2): Bight of purchase or optional system, with a twenty-five years lease under im- \ provement and settlement conditions, or I permission to convert to a perpetual lease. j(3) Perpetual lease in the most complete sense of the term, the lease being granted for nine hundracl apd ninety-nine years, **fc a rental of four per cent on the capital value. Mr Meredith quoted figure? at considerablelength, showing that the perpetual . lease was the favourite mode of acquiring the land, seventy-eight per cent of all the land taken up in 1892 being under this system. He also quoted figures to show that a farmer holding land by perpetual lease was, in many instances, much better off than a farmer having a mortgaged freehold. There was no doubt amongst the Colonists a great liking for freeholds, and in forming the Act this had been recognised. Bef erring to the. subject of TAXATION, the initiatory stage of the new form oJ taxation had been passed. The taxes had been collected, and the taxpayers knew precisely their position- under the Land and Income- tax— which position must be one of general satisfaction, except to the large land-owners and wealthy classes, and if there wa3 less selfishness and lesß individualism they would have no objection to the change in the incidence of taxation. Under the Property tax improvements, stock, &0., were heavily taxed,, and thereby an embargo was placed on making improvements, and therefore on the employment of labour ; and every encouragement was given to the aggregation of unimproved estates, as the more unimproved land a man had the less taxes he paid in proportion to his holding, while a small farm, being highly improved, paid much more taxation in proportion. The change in the incidence of taxation had quite reversed this. The total number of land-owners in 1891 was 91,501, and by the change to the Land tax nearly 20,000 small farms would be. altogether exempted from taxation* and 17,638 holding -from 100 to 1000 acres would be considerably relieved. (Applause.) They must not hold the idea the Government was reUeving the ; tdwnß tat the expense of the country/ £92,000 . being' collected as Income tax.' The large landowners had had their land enhanced in value by the expenditureof the borrowed money, and it was but' jUßt that- they should pay a fair amount of taxation towards the payment of the interest. The interest and sinking fund on the public debt of the Colony for 1892-3 amounted to .£1,835,770. The' amount of direct taxation was about one-fifth of the annual charge on the public debt, or JBlout of every £5. Where did the other £4> come from ? Out of consolidated revenue, Customs duties, &c, and therefore out of the pockets of the people. • RAILWAY MANAGEMENT. In reference to railway management, the term for which the Commissioners were appointed would expire in 1894, and it would be necessary to do something in the matter next session. He was distinctly in favour of the railways being managed by a non-political Board— (applause) — on commercial principles consistent with the development of the resources of the Colony. (Applause.) The Board should consist of practical men, thoroughly conversant with the management of railways— men who could feel their position perfectly secure from political bias, and at perfect liberty to act in the best interests of the Colony. If a Minister of the Crown shared the duties of the Commissioners he would necessarily assume the position of a dictator, and would soon be boss of the whole concern. It might be said that other departments of the public Bervice were under the control of Ministers, but, as a matter of fact, the Undersecretaries were the actual rulers, being conversant with the working of the departments. As far as the Bail way Department was concerned, it would be impossible for a Minister to gain sufficient knowledge of the working of the railways during the short term he might be in office to be of any practical use. The present Commissioners had, <sa the whole, done very well. They had made several reductions jn the tariff of the passenger, parcels and goods departments. From a tabulated statement laid on the table of the House, it was shown that these reductions were made on about one hundred and fifty items. The Commissioners were now better qualified to perform their duties than when they first took office. The fact must be recognised that they had the spending of about half a million of money annually, and he felt that, this being the case, the Board should not be placed entirely beyond the control of the people's representatives. The people made their wishes known to their representative?, and some provision should be j made for the House to approach the Commissioners with the wants of the people. (Applause.) There was still much room' for improvement in the management of the railways. Bevenue was, no doubt, an important matter, but it was not everything. Helping the people to develop the resources of the Colony was quite as important as a good balance-sheet. (Applause.) A readjustment of the tariff, especially in the heavy goods department, would be beneficial. At Oxford, for instance, there were thousands of cords of wood rotting for the reason that the rail charges prohibited tbe carriage of it, yet trainß were running on the line daily with empty trucks. (Applause.) Sidings might be let at a lower rental, and in many other ways an improvement could be effected. The railway employees should be classed in a similar manner to the officers of the Post and Telegraph departments, and promotion should only be by length of service, good conduct, and aptitude for duties, and not by favour. (Applause.) He was of opinion that a considerable reduction in expenditure might be effected by the amalgamation of offices amongst the high pffidiala. (Applause.) Dealing with the LIQUOR QUESTION, Bills were introduced during the session providing for prohibition, the direct veto and compensation to publicans. The two former were read a first. time, and were printed, but nothing further was heard of them. The Licensed Victuallers' Compensation Bill reached its second reading. It contained the principles of the continuity of licenses, compensation and an appeal court. This was looked upon by many members as a down-grade movement. There wa9 a vigorous but short debate, which suddenly collapsed, the, Bill being lost on the voices without a division. Ac the time those most interested were not in their places in the House, but were supposed to be liquoring in Bellamy's. The question of the extension of local option could not be kept in abeyance much longer. In reference to the question of .-.,.. women's pbanohisb, - Sir, John Hall again introduced a Bill to grant the franchise to women, and he was supported by a petition signed by 20,(X30

women. The Government, fearing a miscarriage of the Bill, embodied it' in the' Electoral Bill so as to ensure its passing the House and becoming law; : After vigorous opposition to the clause the Bill passed, bnt in the Upper House the clause was loaded with electoral rights, in which form the Government would not accept it, and consequently it had to be again shelved. The whole onus of the matter rested with the Legislative Council. THE IiINCOIiN SCHOOL OP AGBICXTI.TUBK had come before the. House during the Session, a Bill having been introduced dealing with its financial affairs. The sohool was at first a Provincial institution* but it now belonged to the Colony. It had beena white elephant, andit waslamentabla that such a lack of. interest should be shown in the institution. The sohool should be placed on a sound basis, so that the class of lads for whom it was intended should make use of it. There was a scheme of a similar kind in Australia, where the annual fee was £25, and he could not see why the fee for the Lincoln College, now £45, should not be reduced. He was pleased to notice that Mr Harley, in a speech made before the Chamber of Commerce, last tronth, spoke to the necessity of a revision of the tariff to induce . RECIPROCAL TEADB with the other Colonies. The Chairman of the Melbourne Chamber of Commerce also had recently advocated a reciprocal tariff. If there was any Colony killed by Protection it was that of New South Wales, : and it wbb now loaded with a deficit of £1,000,000. He hoped the day was not far [ distant when the important subject of reciprocal tariff would be taken up and a ;-baais of freetrade amongst the Colonies. i established. Protection contracted and crippled every industry, it was supposed to be in the interest of. Everything the farmer produced had to go into the world's market, and take its chance. There was no protection or subsidy in the export of grain, wool, frozen meat, butter and- cheese, flax, kauri gum, and notwithstanding, these industries had gone ahead with leaps and bounds, while the woollen manufacturing industry protected by a 25 per cent tariff, had made little headway. The exports of the Colony to Australia for 1891 amounted to £1,705,651, while the imports were £692,012 less than that amount. The value of the seven principal articles of export, as given in a return placed before the House, showed the immense expansion of the trade of the Colony and the development of its resources. During the last few years, growing grain had been' a loss to farmers, except in a few favoured localities where there was the best land. Farmers would have to direct their attention to the manufacture of butter and eheeee, and the growth of wool and mutton. The attention of farmers had been largely given to this matter within the past three or four years in particular. The attention being given to the improved breeds of sheep was evidenced by the great stud Bheep sale which took place at the Agricultural and Pastoral Association's grounds a short time since, THS BTJRHAtr OP INDUSTRY AND LfflSOtTR founded in 1891 had fully answered "ttte antioipationß of the Government. '(A.^ plause.) The number of persons who found employment up to the beginning of June, 1892, tras 2974, of whom 2000 went to private employment, and 974 to public works. The number of agents, mainly amongst the police, was 189, and the total cost of the department had been £2318, oufc of which £1700 was paid for railway fares, and would return to the public exchequer. The average cost, therefore, of finding employment for 2974 persons was the small sum of 15s 7d each* (Applause.) The working classes had recognised the value of the department in preventing the depreciation, of wages through congestion of labour in the cities and certain districts, and had cordially co-operated with the Government in making the Bureau a practical success. It was j the intention to establish State farms in connection with the Bureau, where men out of employment could be set to work instead of being charged as vagrants. (Applause.) He could not close his address without referring to the CHEVIOT BBTATE. The acquirement of the estate was the first fruits of the Land for Settlement Bill. (Applause.) He went to the estate about a fortnight ago, and spent a week going over the land. The estate was a most compact one of 86,000 acres. He rode over it, up and down, to and fro, in all directions, and after seeing it he had come to the conclusion that it was the finest estate he had seen in the whole of his thirty years Colonial experience. (Applause.) The' soil was a rich, black loam on a subsoil of a friable nature. During his wanderings over the land he never, saw a bunch of gorse, broom or briar. There were thirty miles of the finest quick fences he had seen since he left the Old Country, round one paddock the quicks being quite fifty feet high. There were three or four miles of the most substantial fences and gates he had ever seen, and aU in good order. He never saw a rabbit on the place. Five rabbiters were employed to look after the fences, but when the land was settled they would be no longer required. The country consisted of plains, rolling downs, and hills, and there was no place where a shepherd could not ride on horseback. He caw one flat of 5000 acres equal to the fine agricultural land at Woodend, Waikuku and the Eaiapoi Island. There was not a square yard of the estate but what was covered with clover and cockßfoot. There were silver tussocks from three to four feet high growing right to the hilltops. He considered that there was not an acre worth less than £3, and the average value was more like £5 than the £3 5s paid by the Government. He had it on good authority that the Government refused an offer of £40,000 on its bargain, and no doubt it could get £100,000 if it wished. The Government had bought it in tbe interests of the people, and would keep it for the people. (Applause.) If any of those present were anxious to apply for some of the land he did not think it was necessary for them to form an Association juet at present. Undoubtedly the Government would have to frame a special Act dealing with the estate; therefore, it would be some months before settlement could take place. They need not think that the Government intended to settle the impecunious and thriftless upon the estate. To give some idea of the class of men likely to take up the land he might tell them that he lately sent in an application from a district lower down the country which bore the names of fourteen farmers having capital from £500 to £1500 each, eight farm labourers who had saved money, and six thrifty artisans. No one could take exception to such Bettlera. (Applause). In reference to the MIDLAND RAILWAY he was not in favour of granting any more . concessions to the Company. The Company bad disposed of the best of its land, and was now asking the Government to take that of inferior quality, and in return become security to the London money-lenders for funds for the completion of the line. It bad previously been granted concessions, and the Government very rightly refused to assist it in the direction it now asked. (Applause). IS CONCLUSION, and to sum up, they had the rednc-' tion of the enormous debt by £117,282 ; charge for interest and sinking fund for 1892-3 £1,835,770, or £67,J59 leas than for 1891-2; the actual revenue exceeding the expenditure by £87,287 16s 6d; the actual expenditure less than the estimated by £26,584; a surplus of £165,577; the smallest unauthorised expenditure for the last .seventeen years ; accumulation in banks, £15,811,729 on March 31 last ; exports exceeding the imports by £3,063,548 ; influx of population exceeded the exoduß ; money plentiful, and the rate of interest lower than it had ever been ; settlement on the lands of the Colony on the increase; a more equal distribution of wealth, and the resources of the Colony being developed. Altogether they had a solid monument of retrenchment, economy, progress and prosperity, reflecting in the highest degree . on the people and Government of the Colony. Loud applause). QUESTIONS. In reply to questions,; Mr Meredith said that he believed the principle. o« co-

operative contracts LWas a step in the right direction. He did not consider it was reasonable for the Government to withhold payments for Bleeders twenty-eight days after they were passed. He was not in favour of the" ten commandments being taught in the public schools. Although valuing the Bible, he did not think, under _ existing circumstances, it would $c fair 'or wise to introduce it into the schools. He must be consistent, and being^ opposed to giving grants to denominational schools he could not favour anything being done that would interfere with the religious convictions and liberties of parents. (Applause.) The Truck Act was passed to prevent employers forcing their employees to take goods from them in lieu of wages. If the employer supplied goods to his men he could not deduct the cost from their wages, but woiald have to pay in full and make a demand for the price of the goods. Mr F. Garlick moved a vote of thanks to Mr Meredith for his address, and renewed confidence in him aa their representative. - The motion was seconded by Mr E. Cole, and was declared carried unanimously. Mr Meredith expressed his thanks, and closed the meeting by proposing a vote of thanks to the Chairman.