POLITICAL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5168, 29 January 1895, Page 4

POLITICAL.

; . •■'■''' THE HON J. G. WABD. [Peb Pbkss Association"!. INVEECAEGILL, Jan, 23. About two hundred attended the complimentary banquet to the Hon J. Gi Ward in the Theatre to-night,, and the circle was well filled with auditors.. Beplying to the toast of his health the Colonial Treasurer spoke about an hour, his- remarks being almost entirely on the lines of the Dunedin speoch. "They were to the. effect that the Scotsman stated that the : shareholders of the Bank of New Zealand ■ were justified in the action they were taking, because the Government was secretly borrowing money from the. bank. Mr Ward said that while he knew the statement was absolutely untrue, he tele- ' graphed to the Secretary of the Treasury, who replied: "Tou will be quite right in [ saying that nothing is borrowed' from the bank. There are large credit balances of public money with the bank, and have ; been- for some time past." He- did not blame the Scotsman, but the corresponpondents who, disregarding the truth in : their eagerness to damage the Govern- ' ment, disseminated erroneous information which injured the whole colony. The proceedings, which lasted till nearly mid- < night, were very enthusiastic, and were marked by great goodwill towards the ' guest of the evening, - ;

I NAPIEE, Jan. 28. Captain Eussell addressed a public meeting at the Theatre Eoyal this evening. The theatre was crowded in every part, and his Worship the Mayor (Mr G.. • H. Swan) occupied the chair. After some "chaffing" reference to a recent attack made on him by Mr Carnell, Captain Eussell went ou to deal with the recent . speech of the Premier, whom he accused of inexplicable ignorance or wilful misrepresentation in stating that Hawke's Bay was not so prosperous as the rest of the colony, and that its population had not increased so fast in proportion since the last census. He quoted from official figures and the journal of the Labour Department to show that proportionally the population of Hawke's Bay had increased faster than that, of any other provincial district and that . labour was ' in greater demand. Eeferrihg to the Premier's accusation that he (Captain Eussell) had denounced Sir Harry Atkinson as worse than a highwayman and a footpad, he quoted at lengtfy from Hansard to show that the words had no reference personally to Sir Harry Atkinson, being applied first to the Stout- Vogel Ministry when they proposed to largely increase the Customs duties and only repeated in general terms when the Atkinson Government proposed similar duties, and he and others left Sir Harry inconsequence. As to the Premier's charge that he, as representing the old family practitioners, were responsible for bleeding the people, he pointed out that Sir Harry Atkinson only carried the increased duties by the aid of Mr Seddon and tho party now led by him. He contended thac however taxation was imposed it muat eventually fall en the workiug people. The people of New Zealand were taxed through the Customs 25 per cent on the value of all imports, while the figure for -Victoria stood, at 13} per cent, for New South Wales 12f r.er cent, and for South Australia 8$ percent. All those who heard the Premier the other night must bo prepared for a further increase. He condemned the Government for sending over emissaries to Australia to advise that work wbb plentiful in New Zealand, for tbe purpose of increasing the population. The co-operative system introduced by tho Government, he contended, was only a big engine to secure work for men of the "right colour," especially when election time was coming round. On the question of land monopoly, he said he was fu!ly alive to the importance of smaller holdings, and quoted a long list of official figures to prove the inaccuracy of the statement of the Premier with regard to tho large holdings held by a few people. The inevitable tendency at present was, bo aaid, to destroy the large estates by division among families as the present owners died off It was the -terrorism of the present Government with regard to large holdings that kept tho large army ofunemployed parading our streets at the present time. .Captain Eussell then went _ on to contrast what ho denounced -as the, "spoils to tbe victors policy ■ ot the Gove>nment with that of Sir Harry Atkinson. Ho mentioned, aa. an instance, quoted by tho Pw? ier -5 ga,B JC -« Mihistor, that Mr Mobs, who waa appointed resident of Baratonga, was

r- — .mi j my '■■''■■I'MfWi^'i^.B^vai'jrjwifiwinwj-i opposed to the Government at that time; and Mr Gillies, when made a jndge of the Supreme Court, wao alao politically opposed to Sir -H. Atkinson. Captain Russell then alluded to the purchase of tbe Polbill Gnlly rifle range-, and contrasted that transaction with the present purchase of tbe Pomahaka block. The Po^biU Gully range, ha eaid, was the only practical rifle range in Wellington. When the lease wa3 falling due the officers of his department came to him a_d advised the purchase. Inquiries were made, and after considerable negotiations through a firm of solicitors it was acquired for £3000, and not £3600, the price which it waa valued at by Mr M'Donald. Mr M'Eay, the Land Pnrchase Commissioner of the Government, advised that the bargain was a good one, an- if the land was put into the market at the present time and a road put through the section it would fetch £200 an acre. In contrast he would take ' the Pomahaka block. He then reviewed ! varioua transactions between Mr Douglas, the bank manager, Mr Ritchie and Mr Barron with regard to the petition for the purchase, whioh was got up and paid for by Mr Douglas, and it did not reach the Commissioner until long after the ■ land was purchased. Mr Stephenson, the owner of the adjoining land, on oath- stated that the land was not worth more than £1 to £1 10s, while the Government paid for the land £2 10s. While he (Captain Russell) bought Polhill Gully at £600. less than the amount wanted, the present Government paid £1fr,560 for which the bank thought was bad'value for £8000. Captain Russell then •reviewed Colonel Fraser's appointment as Sergeant •at-Arme, whioh he characterised as a jbb perpetrated to reward political support. The indebtedness of the colony was then -touched upon. The Premier had stated that the taxation per head had decreased, but that had only been brought about by swamping the colony with a number p_ outsiders whom we would have better been- without. However, notwithstanding the decrease pe. bead of indebtedness,, the public debt had risen by £1*,587;_73S and* although the Government had not gone into the English market, he had no doubt a large amount of sly borrowing was going: on under the Act, which gave power to borrow £1,476,000 on Treasury bills, which did not mature for five years. Captain RUsßel. then' touched on the amount of borrowing proposed by the Government last session, which he contended amounted to £7,368,250, a far greater sum than wbb ever attempted by Sir Julius Yogel in initiating hia publio works- scheme. Captain Russell concluded by hoping that the day wasck>Be at hand when the people would speedily call for a change, and resumed his seat amid' loud applauße. A hearty vote of thanka for his able and statesmanlike address was carried with acclamation,

CAPTAIN EUSSELL AT NAFIEfi.