THE CITY ELECTION.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXVI, Issue 3110, 30 January 1871, Page 2

THE CITY ELECTION.

♦__ We were compelled to hold over in our last issue the following report of Mr Hunter's speech at the Princess Hotel on Friday evening last. Mr Hunter complimented the meeting on the decorum with which Mr Pearce's remarks had been listened to, and as he did not intond to detain them very long, he trusted they would vouchsafe a similar courtesy to him. In order to be brief he would avoid as much as possible going over the same ground as Mr Pearee, or dealing at length with subjects on which he had already given expression to his opinion. He could not agree with Mr Travers in thinking it would be better for the colony to be placed in communication with the East than with America ; but before praising or condemning any scheme ot the kind the ulterior consequences that would be likely to follow from it should be taken into consideration. Manifestly the firsb duty of the G-overnment was to give subsidies towards providing for the speedy delivery of mails from England. That was the principle recognised and acted upon in the old country. It would bo rodiculous to expect great advantages to result from any traffio that could possibly be carried on by means of one steamer a month. By the new lino we should be put in communication with England and the United States earlier than any of the Australian colonies, and tliis would be found to be a great advantage. The new route would encourage peoplefrom the United States to visit this country in order to make themselves acquainted with its resources, and from the advantages it offered for settlement larger numbers from the mother country would also find their way here. The question would soon solve itself whether the cost of the enterprise was> money wisely or injudiciously spent. They must recollect that the present scheme was brought forward by a representative of the people, and supported by the other representatives of the people. When the question came under discussion it would again be decided one way or another by the people's representatives. Mr Travera, in his remarks on the manufacture of beer in the colony, said he believed we could export beer at a greater advantage than could be done from the mother country ; but thia was a mistake. As far as the relative positions of the two countries went in that; matter, we were both free traders, and the best beer would be found to be the most saleable ; the brewers were relieved from the excise duty paid upon it when it was exported elsewhere. Mr Hunter then proceeded to quote from a speech made by Mr Travers in the House of Representatives when the financial statement was discussed, wherein he said that the labor* ing population of Nehon sought to hold a monopoly of employment, and were constantly opposed to immigration on the ground that it ! would have a tendency to lower the rate of wages. And further, the same speaker said — " Ifc was well known that the voice of the mob precluded the Nelson G-overnment from endevoring to increase the population by means of immigration." These were Mr Travers' expressions in reference to immigration at that time. He even went so far as to say that so long as men could get six days' pay for two days' work .they might expect nothing else but false reports and attempts to monopolise the labor market in order to pre* vent population coming into the country. (The speaker was at this point subjected j to considerable interruption.) ' Mr Hunter protested against being thrown out of the thread of his argument by questions foreign to the point, and unfair interruption ; as he claimed tbe privilege of selecting his subjects in what order he chose, and of treating of them in hit own way. Quiet having been again restored, Mr Hunter proceeded to speak on the question of immigration. There was a great man who at one time lived and afterwards died in Wellington — in using the term great he made no misapplication of the word. There were, of course, different classes of great men : one man made his name famous as a free trader, another as a slave emanoipator, as a Catholic emancipator, as a reformer, as a general or an admiral. The man hei referrod to was Mr Edward Gibbon Wakefield— than whom no man who ever lived, he believed, had conferred a greater amount of benefit upon his fellow-creatures. Mr Wakefield's name hud become famous throughout the world for his ideas on colonisation ; and to the* subject of immigration in particular Mr Wakefield had devoted a great deal of his time, and bad given |it the most profound consideration. The fruits of this was first seen in the work he published bearing the title "England and America" — a work that created a great sensation at the time. In that book Mr Wakefield dearly pointed out the different position of each country. America's position was marked by want of capital and an absence of people ; while in England there existed a great surplus of population and a great superabundance of capital. To balance in some | degree this great inequality, and to counteract I its injurious tendency, the whole of Mr Wakefield's efforts were directed j he sought to make what was an element of weakness to each, a source of strength to both. It was | after working out this idea that Mr Wakefield took steps which led to the foundation of the ! colonies of South Australia and New Zealand, j and with it numerous settlements. Wellingtou owes its parentage to him, and was mii debted to the constant work and attention that ho had always bestowed upon it ; here i ho fixed his residence, here he died, hers his remains lay amongst the to. (Applause.) . Ho was really the first mau who took up the subject of immigration, carefully studied it, aud practically carried it out to successful results. The fruits of his work in colonising were to be seen . in South Australia and in every province in New Zealand. As to the success of immigration in New Zealand, he could express his thorough and conscientious opinion that ninfcy-uine men out of every 100 of those who came here were benefited by doing so ; and in the scheme about to be initiated for the settlement of the country would be found embodied the principles that had raado the name of Wakefield illustrious. If we brought out immigrants we must also bring out a certain number of employers or capital which was the very thing we were going to do. In England money was remarkably cheap, here it was very dear. It was a curious thing, that in times of depression, and when you would think that money was wanted, it was not ; and although there might bo a superabundance it was yet difficult to get. The reason was that people wore disinclined to invest were they were without confidence. Money was like every other commodity, and controlled precisely by the same influences — the law of Bupply and demand. This brought him to the subject of borrowing, about which a great deal had been Baid. Now, he could repeat what he said the other evening that if any of them borrowed £100 and paid 10 per cent, for it— whioh, by tbe way, he considered too high a rate of interest — and traded with it so as to realise 15 per cent, from it, the borrower would be £5 the richer by the transaction. This was true of an individual, and no less true of a country. (Cries of "It can't be done.") He contended that it could be done, and he spoke with considerable experience in the natter; the development of the scheme propo»ed by the Government was calculated to lead; to the introduction of capital into the country. If that capital was judiciously and profitably expended ifc would benefit the position of every man in the country. There was no denying the fact that our greafc want was an expenditure, of capital, in order to opon up the country and give employment to the people already here, as well as to those to come j and there was plenty of men in the pountry who would.be

very A glad to A UnVt^e undertiWif|,^ andtfnvedfc thejr;Me'ansj faSi\, "^fe * ha^ii fil^i lately a visionj of pfOßpflri^vn toe flat \fatitifif--an3 a good instance ii tyta* ofj jirhab jrojtid ■; result from an industry tblfe^eqnjirea tbepiitlay of capital and thp empfoymenivtf a : greafc deal of. labor} be was sorry'to^Bfty it had , re* ceived a oheok. However, he felt satisfied '■-:• that ifc would only prove a partial cheok, and they would find out; one of these days what > was wanted, and that the fibre wottldyetbe appreciated at its true value a 9 a useful and ser* viceable commodity that would command * high price and be the means of employing a large portion of our population. These wera hia ideas of colonisation, and he could not conceive any person being insane enough to pw* . pose to bring out people without first mak^g certain that there was a fair.prospect of giving ; them employment. This country possessed immense natural resources, but they had been i considerably impaired by mia-governmenfc, and it was only fair that they should look a little closely at the acts of the men who bad held a position in the country that made them partly responsible for any disadvantages we at present labored under. That position had been occupied by both Mr Travers and Mr Richmond, and they were therefore proportionally responsible, as it had been ie their power to do the colony either aome good or some evil. He had been called to account for certain re-' j marks he made concerning Mr Richmond in ' his capacity as Native Minister ; but though he had no wish to breathe a word against Mr Richmond in his private character, he could not separate him. from his connection with the Government . during whose administration those grave mistakes had occurred- Mr | Richmond had been more or less connected with the government of the colony for a. series of years, in constant receipt of public money, assisting in acts that had a great effeofc ! in moulding its future history, and it seemed strange that he should all at once discover the colony was hastening to ruin. (Some interruption.) Ho was speaking of past acts of administration, and was not responsible for Mr Richmond and other men who bad a share in the government of the country. When constitutional government was originated, Mr Richmond was one of those men who thought a Cabinet Minister ought not to receive less than £1000 per year. For his own part he had doubts on that. It would be a different thing if the country was ■. rich and Ministers bad to do a .great deal, of work ; but when the times were hard and incomes small, a little less surely might be found to suffice for some of them at least. On thalt point he thought himself and Mr Pearee were , agreed. The colony could not afford it. He told them so at the Odd Fellow's Hall, when he said that great reform and great retrenchment were needed in many directions ; and in carrying that idea out they should begin at the top and work their way fairly down as far as those salaries that would admit of a reduc- > tion. As far as he could see, that did not relieve Mr Travers and Mr Richmond from the imputation that with all their desire for the public good, they had never, offered any opposition t* the system of large salaries,. — they never brought forward any proposition to say (bat the salaries of Ministers should be reduced. He bad also been blamed for alluding to the disasters which had occurred in the colony in connection with Mr Rich-' ' mond'e name ; but surely no one would for "a moment suppose that by those .remarks he wished to fasten on Mr Richmond the horrible guilt of having destroyed his fellow oreatures. Still they could not wholly exculpate a govern-, menfc whibh had sent off suph an expedition as he and many ot them had seen leave the . wharf in this town to put down the Maoris on the West Coast, and no man could consider ' these the acts of statesmen. Mr Travers, in I speak- ing of this matter, gave a great deal of credit to Colonel Whittnore. Well, he had no wish to detract from the merits of that officer I but if any one would go to Wangamri* would see the last blockhouse put up by our forces,_in an open and clear country on Taylor & Watt's farm, four miles from Wangariui, they might differ with him. That was the last position occupied by our forces, and where they had actually been driven back to. What was the cause of that but thtough incompe* tency of commanders or. Ministry ? They all knew that that was not the way to make war against the Maoris. He need not refer them to the Wairau massacre, , or, other instances, that in conducting offensive, operations against the Maoris whatever we did we must be bold ; and old settlers were well ,a ware of that, and in olden days showed that they were not afraid; The Patea settlers were ofthi\opinion, and were prepared to make a stand, and would have made a stand, but they were refused the privilege, and . were ordered off. They could also go to Taranaki, ' and ask what occurred at the memorable time , of the . White Cliffs murder. Without saying the slightest word personally against Mr Riobniond, he must be held responsible as a member of the Government. (Some noise). Mr Richmond deplored the financial position of the country, but they must remember that that embarrassment was brought about by the carrying on of this very' war that he had referred to, and of the extravagant way in which it was oarried on. These were his views, and he felt bound to express them. Turning again to the immigration queation : tbo immigration he should like see introduced into the colony was the same kind that was introduced into the colony in the first instance, something like the immigration that goes on to Canada and the United States ; and it was perfectly possible and practicable to divert a portion to this country, men with money and means, of whom there were plenty of people in the old country ready to seek a home in a new one, and who only wanted to be satisfied that life and property were secure. There were a great many anxious, and desirous to emigrate; but the impression must first be removed that this was not a safe country to, live in. It had been advanced against himself and Mr Pearee that they were actuated solely by an anxiety to add to their own . wealth. He could not say he was one of those men of great wealth, or that he had bought over the "Advertiser" with the "almighty dollar," and he thought there were other and higher incentives than tbe mere acquisition of wealth— a something inherent in human na- , ture to do and be better than we are. If everybody was satisfied to stand still there would be no such thing as progress. It was a great mistake to suppose that people of means would not emigrate • and he need ouly refer them to the settlomentß o{ Canterbury, kelson, Otago, and they would find that gentle*, men of very large capital emigrated to those places, and that that capital was invested in the country. Again, he must repeat that , the great want of the country was capi- .- tal j and by its introduction everyone would be benefited. And this land whioh it was said so many gentleman occupied to the prejudice of intending settlers, could possession be got of it, and there was nothing to , prevent it, there would be ample employment . for everybody. The simple fact was .that this ■ cry of the land was being made political capital of; they were asked to believe that so and- so was ocoupying more land than he had any right to. Any one acquainted with the,, regulations of Canterbury and of Wellington, „ and with the price in each province, knew , exactly how the matter stood. Besides, if .' any one was responsible for m,ismanugement of . the lands, it was the representatives of the : people of those provinces. Anyone could go! V on those runs in Canterbury which were |^-;, cupied to the prejudice of the people, ra|ff~ with the exception of the email pre-emptive right, could purchase any part of them over the head of the occupant, without : him even knowing that such a thing was being done. All that w«8 reqaired was tp pay the dß2,peip ?■ aore at the land office, and -.,thV land was taken '•:■> from the 80-oalled sqifatter at once! Mr Pearee j had told them that the .-area -of ; thißiprovin^e: j •-, was about seven or eight; millions of^apre|fi|| and that not more .than a seventh of : that jy^a s|h disposed of. They all knew that^=P»T.t-of '$$jg£ Government sehems ; was thftfc ) * j go^wii •■^f,]^ the money proposed to be'xaiwd

used for the purchasing and extinguishing of the native title to this land, bo that it should be thrown open foroccupation. Ho thoroughly believed in this, and he had said so a hundred times, as it was transparent that the country could not become a great country or a deeirable home for the working man till we had a larger population occupying it. To attain this object the system of making cheap railways would bo found the most speedy way. What was the process in America ? A company purchased from the Government a large block of land and construct, a lino of railway to it ; it is then cut up in allotments and sold, the line of rail adTancing simultaneously with the Bettlenifiit of the district. If our GovernBlent were to take proper means, we should 3pid pec pie as ready to come here as they are to go to the United States or to Canad*. All we wanted was to lefc them know that they could come here for the same amount. They liad positive evidence that the people who emigrate to those countries had bettered their position by the amount of money they remitted for the purpose of bringing out their friend? ; ho only was stating that which hud been published by the Board of Immigration in London, and they hud the very best means of obtaining information through banks and other channels. This was nob nonsense, and tho truth was apparent to the meat limited comprehension. No country in the world possessed greater resources, and offered 6uch inducements to immigrants as New Zealand. Here they had all the prime necessaries of life at moderate prices, with a fine climate. (A voice : Hnw about the 500 working men in Auckland who are petitioning the Victorian Government to take them away P) He was by no means satisfied that if thpy ■were taken away their condition would be jnucli bettered. But the cause of that was the accidental discovery of gold at the Thames, and the natural result of a delusion that prevails in many minds, that you have only to find fiold in a country and that country must immt dinlely become prosperous. This was one of the greatest fallacies in the world ; people ran after the gold, but seemed to forget while they were obtaining it that ifc might cost infinitely more than it was worth. (A young man here seemed anxious to enter into tho history of the soup kitchens of Auckland in 1863.) He was sorry to say that the Provincial Government of Auckland, in their eagerness for population, had made a mistake in their scheme of immigration, and its failure ■waß entirely traceable to the fallacy of giving land away. They sent an immigration agent to England, and he went about the country telling the people to go out to Auckland, where they would get forty acres of land for nothing. That was the process used to decoy people to the colony, and a number of people swallowed the bait. The result was not; surprising. Ho would not support; any such soheme, and the beet proof was that he and others in this province had always stood out against any system of bringing out people on false pretences. Any Government scheme which did not ensure a certain amount of capital coming out at the earne time with the laborers, must just fail in the same way as tho Auckland scheme did. Any sound system of immigration must be moulded according to Gibbon Wakefield's leading idea — must bring two classes of immigrants. They might remember the attempt made by Colonel Peel, who purohased a large block of land at Swan River, and induced a few other people to settle upon it. The result was a sad failure. (Mr Hunter was proceeding to Bay that if we opened up this country by even the ordinary roads, when a voice called out — " Where are we to find the money ?") From England, where there is alwayß a superabundance of money 5 money was a drug in England afc the present time, although there •was a war on, the Continent. (Another voice : Would you lend me £100 if you knew I already owed £500 that I could not repay ?) He would reply by asking did the questioner take him for a fool. If that was meant to ! represent the postion of New Zealand the case was not analogous, for Dr Featherstongofc a million of money without any trouble. Capitalists in England would advance as much money as we wanted as long as the interest was paid regularly. The credit of the colony stood very high, and English capitalists received a much higher rate of interest than they could obtain at home. (Another person here wished to know if the great portion of the loan would not find its way back to England in the purchase of rolling stock). No ; that would absorb but a small proportion ; the construction and working of the lines of road could not be done in England. In reply to a question as to what Mr Hunter thought of the principle of land on deferred payments, he replied that he had supported that principle long ago, and though that it was a subject he did think it well to revive, he might say that he and other gentlemen of the party he was associated with had advocated in the Provincial Council a system of soiling land on deferred payments j but Ihb party was not successful, and failed to convince tho Government of the justness of their views. It was afterthat, that his party got up the Land on Deferred Payments Society, which advanced money to people to buy land, and as a society it was most successful. It was to that he referred in the Odd Fellows' Hall, for the purpose of exposing the fallacy of the arguments urged against the General Government scheme. Mr Hunter then adverted generally to the number of people who now held freeholds obtained either by means of that society or the various societies of a similar character that had been put in operation during the thirty years lie had been in the colony. He had been connected with them all, aod he knew that they had done a great deal of good. On the question of local Industries, lie held iden- j tical opinions with Mr Pearce. He could go no further in that direction than fostering by ! bonuses for a certain time Bucb. industries as gave promise of being able to become self-supporting without extraneous aid. By giving assistance in that manner they had at least the advantage of working in the light and knowing what they were doing; whereas if they sought to stimulate them by a system of dutiea they could not see what sacrifices they were making or what mischief they were likely to cause. In reply to another question for information the speaker explained the leading provisions of the Public Works and Immigration Act regarding the dispositions of the money. As to Dr. Featheraton's salary, he could Only Bay that it wa9 specially voted by the representatives of the people ; and it was not certain for some time who would receive the appointment. Some thinking that Mr Stafford would, and others that Mr Fitzherbert might. He supposed Mr Eicbmond at any rate thought that any gentleman who discharged the duties of that office would not be properly paid without a salary of J82.000 and had voted for that unanimously, he snld this subject to correction, as he only spoke from memory. Still it was a matter regulated by their representatives in Parliament, and depended entirely upon the House whether the Government for the time being was led by a Richmond, a Fox, or a Stafford. The remainder of Mr Hunter's remarks, with the exception of those on the subject of education, on which he enunciated similar views to those held by Mr Pearce, were in answer to questions, and went over ground already travelled by him that evening.