SIR GEO. GREY'S ADDRESS

Waikato Times, Volume XVII, Issue 1471, 6 December 1881, Page 2

SIR GEO. GREY'S ADDRESS

The above named gentleman addressed a public meeting] in the Volunteer Hall, Hamilton, the evening of Friday. The attendance was very large, and the proceedings throughout of a most animated character. The Mayor, Mr John Knox, was voted to the chair. The speaker was accompanied on the platform by the following :— Messrs McGregor Hay, P. Corboy, Jones, Johns, Bradley, tVCcG-arrigle, Teasdale, A. Scott, and Dr. Beale, in addition to whom a number of ladies were also accommodated with seats ou the platform. Sir George who was received with cheers uud counter cheers, said that it ifforded him the utmost satisfaction in meeting a Hamilton aurbence. He had ill along taken a deep interest in the place, and he had marked with pleasure ltsprogr-ss. (Cheers and dissent.) He supposed he had known the place longer perhaps thau any person in the room. (Applause. ) He had al ways endeavoured to forward its interests . (dissent and laughter) and had otherwise devoted himsrtlf to it-* progress and prosperity. (A voice : What about the rotten borough ) He was ajb a loss to understand what was alluded to by the romark. (Loud applause aid hisses.) He would now proceed to direct their .houarhts to a few subjects, with which he conceived the continued progress and prosperity of the place was intimately associated, and in doing so he would bespeak their kind attention to what he had got to say. (Cheers and groans.) [n the first place lie propose! dealing with the question of railway communication. Questions of great importance to their welfare as a community hung upon that point. He desired to point out to them that the prosperity of the district lepended not only on the facilities with which it was provided for communication >ut, to a very great extent, the cheapness with which that communication was conducted. (Applause.) fhe speaker then proceeded to contrast the tariff charged for conveyance of wheat produce from the United States to Liverpool and that paid for the conveyance of such produce on the New Zealand lines of railway, showing that the cost in the one case was quite equal to that of the other. So long as this state of things existed it would effectually bar New Zealand entering upon competition in the foreign market. The remedy he suggested was the imposition of a land tax, and in argument pointed out that there were many landed estates which had been uenefitted by railway communication, their acquired values having been raised from £1 or £2 per acre to £8 and £10. He further argued Waikato was specially interested in this question, as the continuation of its railway line to Taranaki and the through system to Wellington largely depended upon its satisfactory solution, Alluding to the customs duties, he said he was quite sure they paid much more towards taxation in the form of customs duties than they were at all aware of. Not being an impost in the shape of direct taxation, they did not see the direct effect of its operations. It was a tax which applied in this way : They found their incomes year after year diminishing — their money did not seem to go so far as it had at one time gone, and they could hardly tell why Without any apparent reason they felt that the expense of maintaining their children and families had increased so mucli that, whereas they had once felt themselves to be in, com* iiaratively speaking, easy circumstances, they now found their circumstance, without any apparent cause, to be very considerably straitened. The real fact was, that a gradual increase in the customs duties produce a corresponding mcicdse in the cost of living. That was the secret of this apparently inexplicable state of their affairs. Lately these 'luties had been largely augmented. The land tax had been abolished — those that leld enormous properties had been allowed to escape, and their customs i e venues made to supply the deficiency. That was the real cause of this apparently inexplicable difficulty which had arisen in their means of living. (Applause.) What they should aim at was to return men who would carefully consider their interests and legislate for them accordingly. (Applause.) As things stood at present one man was enabled to exercise any given number of votes. To some extent the operation of that abuse was curtailed by the provision made that all the elections should take place the one day. Still, the evil existed, and he would tell them how. In Auckland, for example, there were eight electorates, and one man might have a vote in each of these, which would enable him to exercise eight votes in the one day. The way in which these votes were secured was this : The law as it stood provided that every man who possessed property in any electorate of the value of £25 was entitled to a vote in that electorate. That provided for the man with property of the value named a vote in all the electorates in which such property was situated, over and above any vote he might have by and in virtue of the residential clause of the act. He would ask them was such a state of the law just ? — (Cries of " yes" and " no," and confusion.) He heard a voice say " yes," but he said it was irrong. (Applause and uproar.) It enabled one man to exercise a power equal to eight men in the legislature and could that be said to be just ? (A voice : " How many votec have you irot?" Uproar, cheers and confusion.) He had only one vote, -and, what was more, he would scorn to exercise more. (Applause.) If he exercised more than one, he could not face* his fellowinen as he did. (Laughter and uproar.) v He would feel he was .doing a great and a burning wrong to society. (Loud cheers and confusion.) Let them think -for a moment how .these eight votes could be acquired : The man who owned property worth not more than ,£240 distributed throughout eight electorates wasjjunder this, iniquitious law, , enabled to exercise _ just eight times the ; influence, in , the legislature of the man who, had only his residential qualification. (Ironical cheers and applause.) .;Not .only .that,, but Jfc, allowed the man of wealth 1&, manipulate his property iv such, a way aa to cu»Wq

hi3sons, brothers, and other relatives, |to duplicate these rights in a similar way. Would any man stand up and tell him that was just ? (Cries of yes and no ; cheers and confusion.) It was not, he contended it was not. It 'enabled one man, together with his friends, to rusii about from one poll to another and vote in as many electorates as they.could reach on the one day, and yet he was told that was right. . (Laughter and uproar.) Now was the time for them to see to the remedying of such abuses. Now was the time before arrangements could be made for the purchase of these votes. (Uproar, hisses, and applause.) If true to themselves and their own interests, this evil "VTould be remedied in the next Parliament. .If they lost .that chance, they would have another long fight before them ere they succeeded in getting it again. (Applause.) A man worth £20,000 in one electorate could only exercise one vote, and yet another man with £240 worth of property distributed over eight electorates could secure just eight times the voting power., Nothing could be more unjustifiable. (Roars of laughter and applause.) Nothing more repugnant to the best interests of society. (Continued uproar.) When the point came before the House of Representatives, he made an effort to get that state of things altered. ' It was said of a certain class that they were only equal to the ninth part of a man (laughter), and finding that in the New Zealand legislature they were being counted not more than the eighth part (continued laughter), he made an effort to get the proportionate part reduced as much as he possibly could. (Lond laughter and applause ) FiwJ, he succeeded in carrying a motion tlAit no one elector should be enabled to exer3i3e more than two votes, viz., one in respect of property, and one on the residential franchise. The question was, in accordance with parliamentary practice, brought forward again, and that motion was rescinded. He then intimated his determination to go on from three, four, five, and upwards, until he found out the limit of voting power which any one man had a right to exercise. Eventually a majority of the House decided the limit should be three, upon which the Premier withdrew the bill altogethe. That was done when it was ascertained the limited number of three votes was certain to be carried, and, of course, the bill having been withdrawn, the abuse remained as it was. (Applause.) Although it was sure to be carried in the Lower House, it had still to be dealtwith by the Legislative Council, and even had it gone on, there was no saying what would have befallen it there. These facts showed the great importance for exercising care in the selection of men they returned to the forthcoming Parliament. (Applause). The Affirmation in Lieu of Oaths and the Law Practitioners Bills were next referred to and discoursed upon by the speaker, and he complained of the conduct of the Legislative Council in throwing out these measures. This led him to remark that his advice to them was that they should have no second chamber at all. (Applause.) In support of that argument, lie alluded to the good service rendered by the Provincial Councils, the constitution of which was embodied in the one chamber. If an Upper House was insisted upon then by all means he contended that it should be elective. He cautioned them against confounding his ideas on that point with those advocated by the hon. Mr Hall. He (Mr Hall), although in favor of an elective chamber, also favored a property qualification in the persons to be elected. It was not from amongst the propertied class that the most able men sprung. Robert Burns, Isaac Newton, and George Stephenson were named as examples of the fact. (Applause.) Referimg to the education question, he advised them at all ha/Kird to maintain the present system intact. He dwelt at length upon the importance ol a sound educational training being provided to the rising generation. It was only the day previous he had been -witness to an incident which showed the great importance for maintaining the educational system in a state of complete efficiency. On that occasion an Auckland gentleman of considerable wealth and social position— a member of the Education Board of this province— but who had been brought up in the colony without much education, proceeded to make a speech to those in the room. The thing was done in such bad taste and utter want of precision that a number of the schoolboys who were present burst out into titters of laughter at the man's mistakes. It was a lamentable exhibition, and one which it should be their great aim to preserve the rising generation from. (Applause and hisses.) It was m truth a lamentable sight to see a man of wealth and social position standing rebuked before a lot of school lads in their own room. (Applause.) Having dealt with the waste lands and other questions. Mr Win. Jones proposed a vote of thanks and confidence in the speaker as leader of the liberal party in New Zealand. (Applause and hisses). Mr Kennedy Hill, amidst great uproar and confusion, rose to propose an amendment. He said that while willing to accord a vote of thanks, as a simple nutter of courtesy, he begged to state a few facts with lespect to the other part of the motion which he believed would justify them refusing to pass it. What he had to say would be found verified by the public records of the colony, and which he could produce at a moments notice. He would remind them of the fact that Sir George Grey was the man, who in 1879, when the catony was going through a financial crisis.id when ho himself was stumping the ccfcntry professedly in the interest of the working classes — many of whom were then aueniployed, was actually in com- | municcition with the authorities in England by cablegram, informing them. New Zealand was able to absorb 6000 of the distressed people of England.- He ■would remind them Sir Geovge was the man who paid £300 of the public money to a pet lawyer of his, named Eees, who was at that time a member of tho House, and an avowed supporter of the Grey administration. That payment was made contraiy to law for, no useful service rendered, and without a vote of the House, although the Legislature was then in session, and when his (Sir George's) Government had just been defeated by a majority of 14 votes. At this stage the cheers, counter cheers, and howls, were fco completely defeaning and presistent that the speaker was forced to address himselt to the reporter'stable.theromarksso made being as follows:— "I will call to your recollection the fact that when the railway from Hamilton to Te Aroha was authorised by Act of Parliament and a vote passed for its construction, he took £63,000 of that money and spent it amongst bis constituents' at the Thames without any authority from the House and contrary to law. Nothing was spent on the part nearest us, for which the money had been expressly voted and yet he has had the audacity to tell us this evening that he has done all he could for Hamilton, all the harm he could, perhaps. I would also remind you that it was he who spent thousands of your money in the vain, foolish,-and fruitless endeavour to obtain an interview with, the Maori king, in order to bring- about a solution of the king] difficulty, whereas the present Government settled the matter satisfactorily", and c with little expense. In conclusion, such is my confidence in the good-sense of the/settlersand waking mu ol tbia -oobuduo&7» tijat X

feel certain* thSt when it r ia also borne in mind Sir George Grey 1 was the head of that reckless and extravagant administration, which brought the colony to the verge of bankruptcy, you will not express your confidence in him as leader of the liberal party, oi in any one_ nominated by him aa your representative. I .therefore name it aa an amendment, that while this meeting thanks Sir George Grey for his address, it has no confidence in him as leader of the liberal or indeed any other party." The amendment was seconded and supported by Mr McPherson. A goodly show of hands was displayed for the amendment, although the preponderance held up was decidedly m faVor of the motion. The result waa announced amidst tremendous cheering, after whioh the meeting separated.