THE CHRISTCHRUCH ELECTION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5485, 10 February 1896, Page 4

THE CHRISTCHRUCH ELECTION.

ME LEWIS AT THE ODDFELLOWS' HALL. Mr Charles Lewis gave a political address at the Oddfellows' Hall on Saturday evening. His Worship the Mayor occupied, the chair, and there was a good attendance. Mr Lewis, who was applauded on rising, said that during the last few days, and since he had previously addressed them, some fresh developments had cropped up in connection with the political situation. Ministers had come down in force for the purpose of assisting the Government candidate. He could have had any assistance he wanted from any_ part of the colony, and had a letter in his hands from Captain Eussell, in which that gentleman, said he was sorry to see one of his friends attacked in such force, and that he was willing to come to his assistance. But he (Mr Lewis), while thanking Captain Eussell, had told him that he was fighting on his own merits, singlehanded, and that he was going to win. (Applause.) Moreover, that he was one of those who gave the people of Christchurch credit for sufficient intelligence to make a selection without any outside assistance, and he felt that if he was not good enough to fight the present contest, he was not fit to fight for their interests in the House, in the presence of seventy of the picked men of the colony. They must remember that the. Ministers were not here to fight the electors' battle, but to fight their own. He wished to speak .of the opposing candidates with the utmost respect; he had always done so, and had not even found it necessary to mention their names, and did not expect to have to do so. When he addressed them on a previous ocsasion his remarks had been largely of an introductory nature, and while he had stated ' that he would be going into Opposition, he had chiefly confined himself to placing before them his opinions on matters occupying the public attention. He had given no particular reasons why he was going ' into opposition. It had been said that, as he agreed to a large extent with the legislation of the past five years, he ought to be a supporter of the Ministry, and in the same voice it had been said that if he went to Parliament stagnation would at once ensue. He would explain his opinions under two heads — One, what a Government should be judged by ; another, what would be his duty as a member of the Opposition. Because he agreed with a good deal of the legislation of the past five years, it did not follow that he ought to be enrolled among Government supporters, because the Ministers must not be gauged by the legislation as passed by Parliament, but upon the measures as introduced by the Ministers, and the manner in which they had introduced them. As illustrating Mr Seddon's extravagance of assertion he quoted the Premier's statement that the great Liberal Party was to be credited with the most advanced licensing law in the world, and yet, when the Bill was introduced into the House, he had said that every man in the House could vote as The liked upon it. It seemed to Mm that the laws, as they now existed, were not the laws the Government introduced, but as trimmed into Ishape, first by the Liberals ; and Conservative, and then by the Legislative Council. (Applause.) The function; of the Opposition, he considered; might be: described in the words .of. Cicero, "To watch lest, haply, any .harm should befall the State." The term Opposition was a most unfortunate one, and could only be applied in its technical sense. It was the function of the Opposition to simply act as watch-dogs, and when' the Premier claimed that the great Liberal Party was alone capable and willing to legislate in the interests of the people, he was making claims he could not maintain. He (the. speaker) thought he could work for their interests in the Op- \ position quite as fearlessly and quite as , unselfishly as if he were a member of the [ Liberal Party. It was universally recog- | nised that one essential of good government was a strong Opposition, and he thought he could do as much good in the Opposition as out of it by watching what went on, and fulfilling the functions of a watch-dog, rather than by being a member of the Govsrnment and always voting as he was wanted.. The Minister of Lands had made a statement some time ago that he had been in the House for a good many years, and had never, voted against his party. If he were elected he should be ashamed to make such a statement. (Applause.) It seemed to him that if Captain Eussell could vote for and helped to trim the Labour measures, if Mr Eolleston could walk into the same lobby with Messrs G. J. Smith and Earnshaw, finding that they could best serve their country in Opposition, then he also could. He was "more inclined to go into Opposition in view of the tendency of the present Ministry to limit the power of members, >and of Opposition members, in particular. The Standing Orders were now so framed that if any member of the House wished any information or any returns, that information or those returns could be withheld if the Ministry chose. Ministers should also be judged by the manner in which the laws were administered, as in that they alone had control. Mr Lewis then went on to criticise the speech delivered by the Premier in the Opera House Eeferring to the sinking funds, he said there was one very significant feature about the whole proceedings, and that was that Mr Ward had been so extremely reluctant to give any information on the subject. The present Ministry had taken office as a nonborrowing Ministry, yet the Premier had not denied that they had increased the ptiblic debt ,£2,250,000, had borrowed .£1,500,000 under the Advances to Settlers Act, and that the Colony had undertaken the responsibility of <*0,000,000 for the Bank of New Zealand. He thought a country should be judged not by the increase in its population, but by its prosperity and the elasticity of its trade. If he went home and found twins in his house he would not be much richer, but that was much like Mr Seddon's argument. He thought that the increase of population had been largely of an undesirable kind, persons in a destitute condition coming and entering into competition with our labourers. It was a fact that at ';he present time wage 3 were much lower than •they had been, more especially with females. The Premier's figures ! relative to the increase in the private wealth of the colony had been largely taken from the land tax tables. These taxes had been greatly increased by the present Government, and that was where the increased value came in. In the case of his own property Mr Seddon had increased its valuation fortaxation 25 per cent, whereas its letting value was really 25 per cent less than its former assessment. The Government was every day refusing to buy properties at its own valuation..The purchase of Cheviot was a good illustration of his point. Cheviot had been assessed at ,£320,000, and bought for £260,000. If it had not been sold at its proper, worth it would have been placed on the tables as worth .£320,000. Everyone knew that the price of land had fallen very much in past years. Mr Seddon had said he was perfectly safe in saying that the rates of interest on mortgages had been reduced by 2 per cent.' The best answer to that was an article from the Lyttelton Times of Jan. 3, which said that it was too much to claim that

the operation of the Advances to Settlers Act had reduced the interest from 2 to 3 per cent. His own organ told him it was not fair to claim it. His (Mr Lewis's) opinion was that money was cheap because it was lying idle, and that fact was very laro-ely to be attributed to the Government and many of its supporters adopting an attitude which made capitalists unwilling and almost afraid to invest in any kind of industrial enterprise. The Premier had quoted some figures from the North Otago Times, showing excessive rates of interest as though they applied to New Zealand, whereas they really referred to England— probably some young fool in the hands of Jews— but nothing of that kind obtained in this colony. The Premier had shown that we had^3o,ooo,ooo out on private mortgages, and that this money being so cheap was an evidence of prosperity. The facts of the case were that the price of money here was regulated, not by Government legislation, but by the price m England and elsewhere. "When Mr Seddon said that this 29£ millions on mortgage had been out at l\ percent, he was speaking on a subject on which it was impossible for him to give information, and he had been misled by Government tables. Many of these mortgages were very old. Some had for some time been out of time, others had been renewed with their original registration unaltered. It was not a fact that the average rate of interest of this .£30,000,000 was 7£ per cent, or that money could now be obtained, except under very exceptional circumstances, for 5 per cent. The Government could scarcely take credit for the good harvest or the favourable prices, as the latter were dependent upon the London markets, but he would like to point out that the revival in trade in England had dated from the time the Conservative Government took office. According to the Premier _319,000 had been lent under the Advances to Settlers Act— in itself an admirable Act. The total advantage the settlers received was one per cent, representing .£4OOO a year. Against this were the expenses of an army of lawyers and inspectors. But ■what had the Government done with the' other million? Was Mr Ward using it to bolster up his finances, or was it lying at deposit in the Bank of New Zealand, and so helping to bolster up that institution ? The Premier had said that the Tariff about balanced, but the fact remained that the Customs revenue had realised considerably more under the new tariff. The Premier had argued that the increase of revenue from importations was a sign of its being an improvement, but he looked upon it as merely a sign- of increased taxation. In referring to the Premier's remarks on the Land for Settlements Act, Mr Lewis pointed out that the Cheviot estate had not been' acquired under that Act. Mr Seddon had not in his figures in regard to Cheviot made any reference to the fact that the Government had lost .£4OOO a. year in land tax. : The Act in his opinion was an admirable one, but many of the properties Government had acquired had been unsuitable. He instanced Studholme Junction property, which in rents paid and accrued had given as a rate of interest 2£ per cent, Pareora 2.8 per cent, Pomahaka 2.18 per cent, Kapua 3.3 per cent and Blind Eiver 1.2 per cent. , They must remember that the money by which these estates had been acquired had been principally obtained at the rate of 4^ per cent, and about one-fifth at 4 per cent. He agreed with the Premier in many things, and the Premier agreed withhiniinmany. Speakingat Sydenham, Mr Seddon had spoken on many questions with the same, views, and, in some instances, almost the same words as he had ; and he (Mr Lewis) was entitled to point out that he had spoken first. Mr Seddon had stated that he never allowed any paper, to express his opinions — he did that for' himself. Well, that was the position he (Mr Lewis) occupied, and he wished to make it clear, as attempts had been made in certain quarters to seek to ally him with opinions that had. been found unpopular.He onlyowedallegiance to his conscience, and refused to be responsible to any but the people of Christchurch. Another instancie in which he would point out that the Premier spoke after him was when he stated that he believed in Labour Bills being submitted to the revision of employers as well aa of Labour and Trade Unions. Mr Seddon had stated that while the Conservative party was in power it would have been considered high treason to have mentioned such Labour Bills as the present Government had introduced, yet it was the Atkinson Government which, in the recess between 1889 and 1890, sent a Commission round the colony to find out to what extent sweating prevailed and the state of things in connection with labour. As a result of that Commission it was the Atkinson Government that introduced and read a second time Bills relating to the employes of shops and factories, • the iTruck Act, liability of employers, Building Lien Bill, and Mr Downie Stewart, a supporter, the Conciliation and Arbitration Bill, which was rejected because it was possible to make it a compulsory Bill. If there were any high treason it was with the men who opposed those Bills. In conclusion, he stated that if returned to Parliament, his great aim would be to assist in legislation which would lessen the great gulf which at present existed between labour and capital. ■ In answer to a question, Mr Lewis stated that he was in favour of a second ballot in elections, and would be especially so in the present case, as he felt he could beat either of the other candidates single-handed. At the conclusion of the speech, Mr G. Swan moved, and Mr W. Woods seconded, that a hearty vote of thanks be accorded to Mr Lewis for his address, and that we have every confidence in him as a fit and proper person to represent this constituency in Parliament. ■ . The motion, was carried -with only a few dissentients, and cheers were given for the candidate. At a meeting of Mr E. M. Taylor's Sydenham committee on Saturday it was decided to convene a special meeting of the combined committees of Waltham and Sydenham, for this evening, at 7.30, at the committee rooms, Colombo Street. Every member is requested to be present. Mr R. M. Taylor will address the electors in the Oddfellows' Hall, Addington, at eight o'clock this evening. The Foresters' Hall at Richmond was filled on Saturday night, when Mr T. E. Taylor addressed the electors. Mr Taylor dealt with the questions of the evils of party government, reform of the Upper House, education, Customs tariff, old age pensions, relief of the unemployed, establishment of State farms, State fire insurance, removal of women's disabilities, improved licensing legislation, &c. Councillor Widdowson occupied the chair, and after some questions had been answered, Mr C. S. Howard spoke in cordial approval of Mr Taylor's candidature, moving a vote of thanks with an expression of opinion that he was the fittest of the threo candidates to represent the constituency. The motion of thanks and confidence was seconded by the Rev Ashworth and carried turanimously. A special meeting of the members of the Progressive Liberal Association was held in the Druids' Hall on Saturday night. About seventy persons were present. The President (Mr T. J. Gledhill) explained that the Association had determined to express its opinion as to the choice of a candidate through the Central Council, which was being organised by the Trades Council, but unfortunately that body was not in working Qrder, and the Association must take some action. A ballot would be taken on the three candidates in the field. ', It was decided that there should be no discussion upon the merits of the various candidates, and that whatever the result of the voting that it should not be binding on the minority. The President announced the result of the ballot as follows:— T. E. Taylor 57, R. M. Taylor 3, !C. Lewis 1. Soveral abstained from votinoon account of not being electors of the coi£ stituency. The committee afterwards held ! a meeting, and decided 'to hold a 'meeting 1 •on the evening of the polling day. . ■ ( rt