Tuapeka Times AND GOLDFIELDS REPORTER AND ADVERTISER. "MEASURES NOT MEN." LAWRENCE : SATURDAY, 19TH OCT., 1901. THE MEMBER FOR TUAPEKA.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4901, 19 October 1901, Page 2

Tuapeka Times AND GOLDFIELDS REPORTER AND ADVERTISER. " MEASURES NOT MEN." LAWRENCE : SATURDAY, 19TH OCT., 1901. THE MEMBER FOR TUAPEKA.

The re-production of Mr Bennet's speech in the ffouae of Representatives daring the coarse of the debate on the Financial Statement should remind the farmers that they are represented in Parliament by a man who has a thoroughly practical and sympathetic understanding of their position and can put forward their case in a manner all the more effective because of its severe plainness of style and expression. Brilliancy of style, it is needless to say, is not one of Mr BenneS's gifts, but it is very questionable if there is another member of the House who could put the farmers' case as he did in the speech which we have just published for the information of the hon. gentleman's constituents. It was the speech of a man to whom the interests of Mb con* stituents was the first and chief, if not the only, consideration, and nowhere in it is the Blighty tendency noticeable to minimise or modify the legislative or administrative offences of the Government at the expense of the country settlers. There was a good deal of strong sense in Mr Bennet's suggestion that the railways, up to a certain point, should bexun on commercial principles, so that they might be made to contribute to the construction of branch lines '

and feeders for the railways or in making railways into the interior. " "In this way," Baid Mr Bennet, v we would give assistance to those who are helping to construct the railways, bat who at the present time are getting no benefit from them." This exactly describes the position of the very large tttaßS o£ ibe settlers in Mr Benoet'B electorate though, it must be said, their case is no harder, if even so hard, than that of thousands of small farmers in the fastnesses of the back blocks throughout the colony. The freight charges on wool carried on the railways can only be described as extortionate, and during periods of low prices, such as the present, press very heavily on favcagpu. But ii eeenas as if strong pressure from outside will be required to give the necessary efficacy to the protests of Mr Bennet. Mr Bennet made a very telling point relative to tbe duty of 22 per cent, oharged on machinery used for industrial purposes while the goods manufactured by them are protected to the same extent. Id the removal of such anomalies as this the N.Z. Farmers' Union should find useful opportunity for the exeroise of its activity and strength, and the most effective way to accomplish such a purpose is by increasing the oamber of country members in the Honse of Representatives. Until that is done and the political strength of town and country has been more equalised the heavy burdens which the tariff imposes on the country, and especially on country settlers, are not likely to be removed. While admitting that the greed of the retailers of coal in the large centres is responsible for the dearness of that article, Mr Bennet does not approve of Government interference and deprecates the establishment of State coal mines on the grounds that coal as a motive power is likely to be supplanted by the introduction of oil for that purpose. Thiß we regard as a very remote contingency, and is entirely wanting in force as an argument against State intervention in a matter of such urgent importance to so many people. That portion of Mr Bennet's speech devoted to last year's legislation for the relief of Crown tenants is essentially sound 'and practical, and so also are his remarks relative to the helpless and dependent position of the farmer in connection with the price of his produce. There is, perhaps, no member of the Legislature who has so large and comprehensive a grasp of county government affairs aB Mr Bennet, and his remarks on that subject show that he is using his experience in a manner thac muse be of value to the Souse, to tae country, and to his constituents.