THE POLITICAL SITUATION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6134, 22 March 1898, Page 1

THE POLITICAL SITUATION.

A CMT WITH THE PREMIER. Before the Premier left for . Dunedin yesterday 'morning, to take part in the jubilee .celebrations in "the southern city, he fownd time for a few minutes' conversation with a 'representative of this journak It was impossible, of course, in such an. interview to touch upon more than two or three ol tlie.po'nticn\ topics ofi. the day t but doubtless some of Mr Seddon's allusions to these will foe of general interest. The first subject 'that occurred to the newspaper representative was naturally the Wellington by-oleobion, which seemed to justify a few 'words .of commiseration with the leader-of the Liberal Party. But the Premier took quite a different view of tHe matter, i "TherJß iis.no .need/ he said, " for our friends to be -discouraged by the, voting at iW.ellingtdh; v jn facti;;we;<iid ■wonderfully well .uiicler 'the , circumstances/and much better than, our opponents at first expected, I They :got;a long start m the contest owing to ( the delay in selecting the Liberal candidate, and managed to detach a considerable section of the labour vote. 'Then we had other -disadvantages to contend against. . The Land Tax Department had just -sent out notices of fresh valuations, which— thanks largely to the prosperity that has been promoted by our policy — showed increases of from 20 to 30 per cent, and many of the electors were simple enough to 'be persuaded by the Opposition canvassers that the additional itaxation,. wh^ch ithe increases involved, was instigated by the Government. Then the prohibitionists and the publicans, or, at any rate, the great bulk of them, appear to have agreed, strange as it may rseern, that they had most' to expetft from the Conservative candidate. I The former had their usual stock of t grievances — whioh.are mainly of a personal and purely of an imaginary kind— and the latter 'had taken offence at our vigorous administration of 'the licensing laws. If we had .followed the tactics that are so often^attributedto us we should have delayed 'the issue of the land tax notices and the prosecutions instituted by Mr Tunbridge until the election was over." Would that have altered the result ? "It's impossible to say, of course, and in any case it would have been a most improper 'thing to do. I mention it only to give -you some idea of the disadvantages our party ;had to fight against. As it was, we gave the 'Opposition a terrible fright. At first Mr Duthie laughed at the idea "of requiring assistance — and as the strong iman of the party in his own electorate, he ought <to 'have managed without it— but when Mr Kirk, a young and untried, man, got fairly in the field, the Conservatives beat .sup- all )fche he]p ; they could gather from ipn^.'pnd.of the colony to the other.*' .'. / ■ It' was reported; in one of the Wellington -papers,; by the -way, that they secured a number of pledges. ■ ; . v, j "Yes, and the report is. perfectly true. Men and women canvassers were <sent all •over the. electorate to obtain signatures to ! papers promising to vote for Mr Duthie. SHere is one of these precious documents; you see there can be no doubt about the. I .proceeding,, and it is a fair assumption that the canvasser were paid for their trouble, .probably at ;a pretty liberal rate per head. >But,iin spite of this shameful abuse of the spirit, of the ballot, our party, as I have already .-said, did remarkably well. The ■fiolid.Liberal poll -was larger than ever, and the steps that are now being taken to .remove dissensions ought to strengthen it by ."800 or .1000 votes and make the three seats securefortthenextgeneral election." "What was the cause of the labour •disaffection.-? • " Well, it is not always easy to trace these things, but it is safe to say that a large section was. disappointed by the result of the (preliminary ballot, and that another thought that labour legislation had not gone along quite fast enough. It was not. a 'very happy proceeding to express their displeasure by voting for . a candidate who will r give them nothing at all ; but I dare aay by this time ithey realise that as well as I do. Akany .rate, there can be no good in'exchanging recriminations now." Do you tbink>you will be able to satisfy the >malcontents -with regard to labour legislation.? "il can hardly .promise as much as that ; butilfhope todoaigood deal.. The Master and Apprentice ißillwill be re-introduced and sent on to ! the Upper House. If the Council should again obstruct the measure we. shall have to. consider the best means of removing the obstruction. The Eight Hours Bill will, il think, have to be made merely ; a -declaratory measure, and first applied to .factories, and mines. It- is the question of exemptions that presents the real -difficulty.; butithis might be overcome if the (members of the.House of Representatives -wouldlonly /apply themselves to-the\ 'construction of a .practicable measure instead of to the .manufacture of political' and party capital." What do you propose to do with the Old Age Pensions Bill? " I shall .introduceit.directly Parliament meets, in the shape it left the House last year. •If the Counoil throws it out again, we shall have to see who is to be master. I am quite .prepared to go to the country with the measure ; but there is anotiber means. of bringing the majority in the Upper House to its senses, and it will be our duty to itake the speediest course of getting the Bill on to the Statute Book." Is there any iruth inihe report that you intend to call Parliament together earlier than usual this year ? " None whatever. I suppose our Conservative friends imagine that I should like to get the Address-in-Replyand Financial debate over while Captain Russell and Mr Duthie are away. But I shall be very glad to see those gentlemen in their places and to receive their congratulations upon the Budget 1 shall be able toj>laoe before the House." The Budget, then, will be a pretty favourable one ? " Probably better than any we have yet presented. The Opposition will complain that I am luckier than aver. Railways and Customs, notwithstanding the bad harvest and alltho terrible things wo heard of during the Wellington election, have done splendidly, and the surplus will reach between and .£500.000." So there in no ground for the statement that you will have to borrow to carry j on? "We can carry on, if thai is nil the country wants, well tmoitgh u« wo have been doing during tho past six or Hoven years j but miuiy pooplo on both «idoa of politics are urging that wo oughfc to tako more active steps towurdw tho completion of the throe groat railway work* wo imvo in hand." Does that moan a Jmim f "Well, thore is no oliiior way of completing the- North Iftlaml 'IViinfc, Midland Railway and Otugo Cutttrul within a reasonable time, v wo roly nofo\y upon grants from tlio Corisolldalml Fund, tliiwo works will not bo uorii|il(t(.(i(l wiUiln Mm next twenty or thirty yoiu'H. TJio Noi l.li lulniul irunk could be iiniitliod toy lifioul) Mmio--8 of a. million, MU\ Would nl. onoo v*Y interest on tlto niorioy Utah I'/ih Ihwhi j t^^Pou it. Half v million would curry I™ 9 fca go -Central an fnv mit will Ij» ,3 lred to.go for ytmvH to mm, and it Jgf 1 ? 11 *- sum S p On fc „,«,„ tlio Midland ihiT w «°? ld ">duco t»m joiirmiy ImLwomi H™.J* P , ooaßtß to 'n nitwit) <\nytLvW 8 Bhoul<l bo miuh In I-lilk <llr«oQa£i!« uld bo inclined lo lHfllml» ft, H ** of » milliou for irrigation tvorl<»on I

the Canterbury plains. This would make a total of two millions, which might be spread over three years, and would be represented by very valuable remunerative assets. Of course the details would have to be carefully considered ; just now, lam telling you what has been pressed upon the Government, rather than what the Government intends to do." Would the Government undertake the ! construction of the irrigation works ? " I think that would be better left to the local bodies. If the Government found a quarter of a million, of money it could scon be pub to such, use that "we slva\\l& get it all back in the way of Eailway and Customs revenue in a few years. "V\(hy, the difference between a good and a bad harvest on the Canterbury plains means in itself a great deal more than the sum I have mentioned. If practical men are satisfied that irrigation is the right thing. I should have no hesitation in recommending it to the House. My own opinion is that it would be a far better investment for public money than any railway that has ever been built in' the colony.? ■■'"■'* :'■'■■■' Talking of -railways, 1 see: that .some of the newspapers allege that you are neglecting the permanent way and railway stock in Order to show large returns ? " The purest invention ! The permanent way and railway stock have been far better maintained than, they were under the Commissioners. There has, of course, been a much larger demand upon the railways in consequence of the reduction of charges and increased facilities, but accidents have been fewer and less serious, and when all the new engines and trucks are completed, as they will be in the course of a few weeks, the lines will be better equipped than they have ever been before. The business on the railways has been toa gord to tempt us to run any risks by neglecting the plant. The accidents you have heard of have been greatly magnified by the newspapers, and are still below the average of those experienced in other countries." Perhaps the same agency is responsible for the neport that a clause in your Technical Education Bill was designed to secure subsidies for denominational schools ? "Probably, but it wa3 only the other day that 1 discovered that this clause was actually suggested to, my colleague, who drafted the Bill, by the principal of the Wellington Technical School — undoubtedly the best authority on the subject in the colony. I don't know whether the gentleman is a denominationalist or not, but I understand that his object was to utilise the appliances that exist in many secondary schools for the promotion of technical education. As for myself, it simply fell to my lot to introduce my colleague's proposals into the Lower House, and the extraordinary nonsense that has been written of my betrayal of the national system \of education is too absurd to bo taken Seriously; I shallintroduce the Bill again, but shall stipulate that grants must haye-tiie approval of the. Education' Board. /That' ought'; to ■remove every honest objection."- ';" •; •'■' ■••">■■ '■■■v"":v., : ; j"-. >/',;•.; '•■" •.:'.■....••■'■. . Would you be disposed to make provision for the inspection of private schools ? " I have seen the correspondence that has been going on in your newspapers about this matter, and entirely agree with those who hold that all private schools should be inspected. Parents, and particularly poor and illiterate parents, should have some guarantee that their children are being properly educated by competent teachers- and in suitable buildings. The difficulty, of course, is the popular aversion to disturbing the Education Act. But if we are to move forward at all we must be bold enough to remove the imperfections we may find on our way. There are several matters connected with our national system — the election of School Committees and Boards, the appointment and control, of inspectors, the method of inspection, and so forth — that are all capable of improvement, and I hope the time will come when Parliament will agree to go about this business without raising the bogey of denominationalism." What is your present programme with regard to the Midland Kail way ? "We shall push the surveys on at this end as fast as possible. There is bound to be a scarcity of employment in Canterbury this winter, and I want to have an outlet for the surplus labour. The House would doubtless sanction some additional expenditure for this purpose." What about the debenture-holders ? "They have not, so far as I know, made any move in the matter. So long as they repay the amounts we expend upon the line they enjoy, I suppose, the legal rights of the mortgagors. I have no desire to place them in an unfair position, or to prejudice their claim for whatever it is worth ; but this year we shall spend a pretty round sum on the railway, and shall probably bring things to a head." Are you likely to be in New Zealand by that time, Mr Seddon ? ; " 1 have iiot the slightest . intention of leaving the colony. There is time enough yet to talk about the Agent- Generalship, but I have no ambition to succeed Mr Beeves. While I retain the confidence of the party! my position is here, and when I lose it I shall have no desire to retire to London." The Premier then referred to several matters of minor importance, and finally released himself from the ordeal of croßsexamination by a cordial hand-shake and a laughing assurance that none of his friends need feel any concern about either his physical or his political welfare.