SIR GEORGE GREY AT CHRISTCHURCH.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1248, 8 May 1884, Page 2

SIR GEORGE GREY AT CHRISTCHURCH.

The meeting held in too Tuam street hall, last evening, under the auspices of the Working Mens Political Association, to hear Sir George Grey b lecture on political topics, was one of the largest political gatherings held in Christchurch. The building was densely crowded, over 2,500 persons being present. The Mayor occupied the chair. On the curtain rising and showing Sir George seated on the platform, loud and prolonged cheering burst forth, which was renewed when Sir George Grey rose to speak. _ Sir George Grey said that for the hrst time since a memorable election he bad the honor of addressing those who then rendered him so great a The universal opinion of those who fairly considered the question was that he was truly and justly the member for Christchurch. ''Cheers.) The loss of his seat had not deprived him of his place in the House, nor impaired his power to do them good. The time would come when the record of that transaction would be expunged from the records of the House. (Applause.) None of the speeches yet delivered on the political situation touched the real point at issue, so as to impress it on all men a minds. The Government in particular had greatly neglected their duty in not laying before the people a full and clear statement of their policy. In order that the people of Canterbuty and the working men might understand their real position, he would lead them back to far distant tmren considered the way in which this d fee that at that time the seeds of many future vils had been sown. Before that, when great misery prevailed throughout .England and Europe, and there was a ’deep sense of the evils of the system of s’land tenure, people were striving their "uhnost to emigrate to new [lands. Those evils were now greatly augmented, and people more than ever were pouring into new countries. British statesmen then took a “fad” to found co’onies like those of ancient Greece, but those colonies consisted each j of only one city with a little -land around it, and there were only two classes—freemen and slaves—a fact these statesmen overlooked The Greeks were a very religious people, and in point of all things, except justice to slaves, their religion whs "ood. When Canterbury was founded, the chief men saw that they had no slaves, and so they made laws whereby laborers were to continue laborers for a certain time in order to supply the labor done in ancient Greece by slaves. This was done by fixing such a price on land that no poor roan could get land for a considerable time and until he could re--p’a e himself in the labor market by another slave whom he brought out. When the colonists first came to the Middle Island it was almost depopulated by the raids of North Inland na'ives. He was then Governor, and the Brit ah Ministry about 1849 announced to him that a great opportunity had offered for benefiting the British peop’e, and that they would get a vote from Parliament of lilo,ooo This was to be spent in buying a block of land, which was to be cut up and sold, and the proceeds applied to buy another piece, anything left over being spent on publi ; works. This was to be repeated till the whole island was bought. This money came from the people—the British taxpayers—and therefore it belonged by right to the people. The rich men of England, who believed that they were the class born to rule, devised a plan for colonising Canterbury in the interests of their own class, and made the price of land as high as possible, and so as to keep the labor market supplied, they fixed the price at L2 perfac ©, and then said, * ‘ Weare going t o found another England with rich and poor, and with an established church. ” They made an arrangement that no man should buy an acre of land unless he gave LI to the Church. The Canterbury Assjciation got 250,000 acres granted to them for the Church, and were able to keep the poor out of the land they came to seek. The Association having got this advantage obtained another concession It was that the Secretary of State might grant any amount of land in New Zealand to them to be used in the colony. When he (Sir George Grey) heard of this, it seemed to him a m:>st dangerous thing, for by it one-third of the revenue was to be appropriated to support a particular church. He made a desperate resistance against this, for he thought it wrong to other churches and to the favored body itself, because the possession of such vast wealth as would have been obtained, and has been, was sure to lead to mismanagement, and he believed also that that church was in the best position whose priests were supported mainly by the love they inspired in their people. Ha was successful and so no land was granted to the Association, and the grant of the 250,000 acres was stopped by the people on the spot, though the burden was, to a certain extent, left resting on the colony to the present time. Many leading statesmen and bishops of England supported the Association, and he had to undergo great odium in consequence of hia action. The friends and relations of those persons who bought large blocks of land in the province naturally thought they were the true governors of men, and for a time occupied every legislative and executive post. They followed the example of their class in England by legislating for the benefit of themselves. Continued possession of power led men to become arrogant and eventually to arrogate to themselves the rights and privileges which belonged to the community at large. Unless every person had an opportunity of filling any position, even the highest, in that community, so as to lead him to develop all his powers, that community would be one of a very inferior stamp- One set of men —ha would not say party—for would to God there were no parties hete—had long held all the power in New Zealand, and as a consequence they had become somewhat like other men who had long had all the power in their own hands. He saw that the Premier, when addressed as to the rise in the railway rates in Christchurch, had said that he could i.ot believe a charge of Id a bushel would be equal to 2s fid per acre, and would ruin the trade in grain. If Canterbury people could not beir this, in consequence of being mortgaged up to the eyes, the sooner they cleared out the better. Was that the wiy to speak to persons in misfortune? Would they clear out for men who said such things ? (No) Banded together in one brotherhood they would make those men clear out. (Cheers). This treatment of the Canterbury people reminoed him of the treatment of the Jew Philo by Caligula, and showed him that tyranny did exist in this country, against which it was time to unite. (-Applause). The present position was founded on the past. Every laborer prevented from getting his land at once was prev nted from getting a choice of good land. What was the result of preventing a man from getting land till he could raise L 3 an acre ? Could he go to a Government j 'tank and get an advance on that land ? No; but a person of position could do so-, and then he could sell the land to the poor, but not for L 3 an aero, but at a rate which compelled j;he latter to mortgage hisproperty heavily in order to pay the purchase money. The poor m-iif was thus involved in toils which made him almost a slave, for he had to borrow money in order to try to get a farm which he would not have had to borrow had land been solcj. on a fair system. This was one great cause of the pi.esent t'oublc in Canterbury. Another consequence flowing from that was this : the public i works system was introduced. It was noj

a new thing, as it had > een in force on a diffirent plan in South Africa for 15 years. In New Zealand all Crown land belonged to the public at large. Still the people had not opp rtunities given them of getting freeholds out of that land, which was instead cut up into large es'atea, some of which were sold for comparatively very little Public works were begun, on which the poor were taught it was a blessing to be employed, and which gave an enormous value to contiguous properties. These works were done with the people s money, and yet the poor people had to piv as much for them as the rich man had, who’e properties were so greatly benefited. The poor men had worked and made the railway, and got nothing more than the right to pay a certain sum annually. Why did they make the increased value of the prop rty which was enhanced by those works a present to the rich owners while they themselves remained poor 1 If the people asserted their rights they would soon become landho’Jers'themselvcs, but if not, they would remain poor all their lives. In the North Island pe >ple understood that in the South Island people were wild with the Ministry because it had raised the railway rates. What did that matter to the masses, who had no produce to be carrie 1 on them 7 If they had a land tax put on the unearned increment, which belonged to themselves, they would have the use of the railways for a comparatively small sum and they would not feel the tax. At the present moment the interest on loans was one and a half millions, and was paid annually by the 500,000 people in the colony. It was jest L 3 a headland was paid to make other people rich. It seemed to him incredible thatamairiad man STioutH pajj Lip a year, for that was what the average afflount -would be for such a purpose fhe people were robbing themselves. They must unite Was Auckland, Southland, or Dunedin, to be set fighting Christchurch about things of comparatively no importance 7 What did it signify who was in office 7 Let them put men in office pledged to | pul this land tax on. (Applause.) The Government talked about the bounteous pay given to the railway servants and poire, but if they took away from that pay what each man gave to pay the interest on the debt to make others rich the pay would not seem very large then. These truths should make all of them unite to get what they were entitled to. People were always either advancing their condition or sinking lower. The people of New Zealand would sink into the position of the English poor first, and then because the estates here were larger, and the land better, they would sink deeper and deeper, while the power o? the rulers would increase. The energy and vigor which should characterise dwellers in a new country, seemed already to have been almost lost by the ‘people of New Zealand who permitted such things. People had said to him, “ Why don’t you go in for nationalisati m of the land 1 ” He would answer, “ Take the unearned increment first; if you wish to nationalise land afterwards, well and good." He believe! it would come to that with a more educattd race, but he believed also that the desire to possess land to transmit to one’s posterity was still strong in New Zealand. It was said, why not buy up large estates and nationalise them 7 But would the people in addition to the unearned increment agree to give the landholders a large sum for their land and thereby add still further to their own burdens 7 Why was a nation to consent to pay a little more per year for holding their land than they should do merely because they had been wronged in the first instance 7 ' Let them out on a laud tax first. (Cheers.) He had vainly pressed the Government year after year to publish a Doomsday Book, giving pa>ticulars of all the land held by every man in the colony. When that information was made public he would bo ready to see if he could work out a scheme for land nation ilisation. (Loud cheers.) It was all very well for men like himself, who had had no suffering from want, to say that they could bear poverty, but the question was how could those who really felt its terrible power do so ? How could anyone realise the suffering he caused to another under the present system ? Let those who agreed with him unite vrith their fellow-workmen throughout New Zealand to insist on relief from the burdens they lad no right to bear. (Cheers.) Let them say that within six weeks a decrease should be made in those burdens, so that their wives and families "should not suffer the deprivation they now did. In many re-, spects freedom did not exist in this country. Members of Parliament had not their rights. At the end of last session members were not allowed to speak their thoughts, but were restricted in a manner

never before heard of. Again, from the first establishment of New Zealand Parliament to lasi session two days a week were set apart for Private Members’ Bills. Now there was one most obnoxiom private member, who wished every man here to have the same chance of becoming a lawyer as a man had in England and other colonies, and who wished to abolish oaths in Courts of Justice, so that the truth could be spoken there without an appeal to a Deity, whose name it was irreverent to use in connection with such matters. To repress this member one day a week was taken from the private members’ days, and yet no remonstrance arose from the country. Many measures devised for the people’s good were thus stopped. The present Government had taunted their opponents with having flumped the country, but they themselves had since followed their example. The Premier in one of his tours had come to Christchurch and told the people that if they taxed themselves still more from their earliest years, they would remove all fear of his friends having to support the poor in their old age. Everybody was to be compelled to contribute in a certain manner. They were not to be allowed to invest their savings how they liked, so every old man was to get 10s a week, a sum which he could spend in having a drink with a few of his friends on one day, and would leave him nothing for all the rest of the week. The Premier had then said that nothing was to be said to him about politics, and so nothing was said, and the Premier no doubt went off laughing at them. Major Atkinson had come a second time to Christchurch, and had told them really nothing. If there was anything to be got out of the people the Premier would come round again. With regard to the Federation Conference the New Zealand delegates had made the Governor perform an unlawful act, and appoint them by his own authority. The people should have chosen those delegates whose action was to influence the colony for all time. These delegates when met together in Australia had drawn up an enactment about which the people interested knew nothing, and had sent it home to England with a request for the Home Parliament to make it law. True, it contained a proviso that this law should not coma into force in any colony till assented to by the Legislature of that colony. By' this means,- however, the colony might hare become fettered by the action of a simple majority of Parliament at any hour. He would show how vety undesirable that would be. There were men who wished that colored labor should be largely introduced. If they doubted it, let thenj read jthe records of Parliament. Now, a great part of Australia could only be cultivated by c dored labor, therefore it was quite right such labor should be imported there. His experionci had shown him that where colored labor prevailed the masters got the franchise extended to their laborers, and mile them vote for them and their own mea r

a urea. Many very objectionable laws h prevailed in such countries, such as flog- I ymg for many offences, and a passport t system, whereby any man, no matter r what his color, was kept under a kind of s surveillance. A great falling off in wages r would also result from importing colored i labor, therefore it. was most. undesirable ‘ that this colony should be united with a t country where the white race was likely 1 to be in a minority. Their cry should i he “New Zealand for the Europeans" * (Loud cheers). Lot them found a free country in the Pacific, where the evils arising f*om a colored population would not be known. A great wrong had been inflicted on the working classes through the preemptive right system, In America and elsewhere the natives were permitted to sell their lands to the Government only. When he was Governor he had formulated a scheme by which it would have been possible for small farms to, have been obtained by the natives. This had not been accepted, however, and many very wrong things had been done by persons getting possession of the Maori land, some of which he might bring up again at a future time. Many land speculators had taken advantage of the right of pre-emption to acquire large oj tales, often with the assistance of Government given unlawfully. His remedy was this, that the natives should sell the lands through the Government in small blocks, and at a fair but not exorbitant price. By this means the valuable land unsold in the North Island would pass into the hands of small holders. It should be sold ] in the open market and fairly. He asked them to support him in this. He wished them to consider the words of John Bright, who found that 41 per cent of the families of Glasgow lived at the least in a single room, many of them living more than onaJamily in one room. 37 par cent lived with two rooms to a family. He believed that less than 10 per cent of the families had more than three rooms each.' Let them consider what a few people were benefited by this mass of human suffering. Their present state of civilisation permitted such things as men, women and children having to pass the night under trees, aye, he had seen them just outside the Palaee of the Queen herself. Among the Ancient Britons these people would at least have had some hut. Even among the Maoris such things would not be. Ho. asked, seeing these things, what had civilisation done for England 1 What had been done by the system of taking the land from the people f>r the benefit of a few 1 He held that there was no nobler object than trying to gain for the whole of God’s creatures the benefits he had bestowed for the use of all, but which were being used only by a few. Let them therefore unite, not setting settlement against settlement, or island against island, but banding them' selves together for what wae really a religious duty—the securing for all the biesings they should enjoy, and the removal of those causes which now prevented their obtaining them. ■ln answer to a question as to whethei he would follow Mr Montgomery, Sii George. Grey said since he had resigned the leadership of the Opposition ho had never sought it again, but no mau should compel him (Sir George Grey) to come tc terms with him to secure that man’s co operation. He would have what ho be lievect to be right and just, or nothing a< all. He was able to walk alone. He answered a number of other ques tions, and on the motion of Mr|G. Dorney president of the Working Men’s Politics Association, seconded by Mr F. Gluinnesthe following res elution was carried amida a storm of cheers, only four hands being held up against it—“ That this meeting having heard Sir George Grey’s opinion, on the present political crisis, heartily approve* of them, and considers that th< future welfare of the colony depends ot the carrying out of the principles thereit expressed, and reoognres Sir George Grej as the most fitting leader for the purpoai of doing so." Sir George Grey thanked them ■ moa heartily for the kindness extended to him and said that though he was getting oh and could not serve much longer, the; might depend upon it he would work fo the good of the people of New Zealani as long as he could. | The meeting, after passing a vote c thanks to the chairman, broke up.