PRE-SESSIONAL ADDRESS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7424, 10 June 1902, Page 2

PRE-SESSIONAL ADDRESS.

MR A. L. D. FRASER AT NAPIER. [Per Press Association,] NAPIER, June 10. Mr A. L. D. Fraser, M.E.R., addressed his constituents last evening. In deali&jf ] with the question of representation) ike said he favouredi a second ballot ooi the lines obtaining in France. He thought no member should sit in the House who did bob represent an absolute majority ; of 'his coa&tituenfcs. With regard to electoral rigthts be considered an ametadtnezit was needed mak- ■ ing it possible for an elector to vcte ia j any part of the colony lie happened to , be, and tihus prevent th« disfranchiseaient of electors temporarily absent from their electoral districts. He spoke in terms of the strongest cond'emnatioai -of the way in which the Land for Settlements Act had been administered in. Hawke's Bay. He knew personally of many estates very suitable ior close settlement, and' which 'hiadi been offered to the Government at prices considerably below what they had subsequently been: sold for, but which the Land Purchase Commissioners had refused in. some instances even, to report on, while nearly all the properties which had been acquired had been taken almost at the point of the bayonet. H« was in favour of the compulsory clauses of the Act being given effect to only wften it was absolutely necessary foT the progress and development of a district. But while there were other properties equally as, or evenj more, suitable for settlement boiirg: offered; to the Government he deprecated the acquisition of lands by compulsion. He hod,; carefully prepared a table showing th« estates for a distance of twenty miles on eitfoer side of the railway line from T!fapier to Takapau, and he had suggested to th« Premier tbat portions of these estates im-.-mediately adjoining the. railway and not exceeding more tha,a 6000 acres from any one estate should be acquired for close settlement. This would give the small eetfclers the advantage of contiguity to the railway and would enhance the value of the remainder of the block for the present holders. The Premier was favourably impressed with fthe suggestion, but tie Land Purchase Board refused to entertain it. The system recently adopted of balloting for the sections in groups had proved a complete failure, and would' have to be repealed next session. He emphatically condemned the excessive expenditure for coastal dfefence. He was fully alive to the necessity for encouraging Volunteering and shooting, but the amount of expenditure on- forts, etc. tc« protect the 3000 miles of coast' 'line was, in bis opinion, absurd 1 . He contrasted the £267,354 expended on defence last year and th© £471,861 voted for Hhe same object thds year whihi the £353,121 voted for opening up the country and building roads amd bridges. It was monstrous that £118,740 more should be devoted to keeping up a small standing army and acquiring costfly weapons which would probably never be used, than to so important a purpose as developing the industry and settlement of the colony. He spoke in stn-ongf terms ©a the Native lands qutestion, averri«g the* the system of Government traffic in Native lands inaugurated by the Premier in 1894 was iniquitous and illegal. Although the Act of 1893, brought .dfcwn by th© late Sir J^hn M'Kenzie, was still unrepealed, under Mr Seddon's Act the Government had purchased 2,163,910 acreß ate an average of 6s per acre with ad! expenses. ~~Had this land been sold under Sir John M'Kenzie's Act and .the value fixed by arbitrators a more equitable price would have been given. A vote of thiants was passed to Mr Fraser for 'his address.