MR.GRIGG AT THE TOWN HALL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1308, 19 July 1884, Page 2

MR.GRIGG AT THE TOWN HALL.

At the invitation of Mr John Grigg, a large number of farmers and others met that gentleman at the Town Hall this afternoon to hear his views upon the political questions of the day. Mr D. Williamson, the Mayor, presided, and said that the importance of the subject was sufficient excuse for calling them together at a busy time of the day. fie would not detain them, however, by a speech of his own. Mr Grigg was received w th applause, and said he had been very much encouraged by the reception which he had received since his determination to contest the ' seat. At ' his Rakaia meeting last night, this had been particularly noticeable, and of the five hands held up then in opposition to him, the owner of at least one had since declared his determination, to support him (Mr Grigg). Referring to an article which had appeared in the Ashburton Mail of this morning, and parts of which he thought he might take as his test, without troubling them to listen to the whole of it, Mr Grigg said his policy, private and public, had not been to lock up vast areas of agricultural land, but he must confess to having expended time and money in reducing a large impenetrable swamp into a locality which could support a large number of h ippy and prosperous people. It was the policy propounded by Sir George Grey which had resulted in largo blocks of laadjjeing locked up beyond the reach of enterprising agriculturists. It was a true specimen of a Liberal who had nothing, to give it away in the manner referred to by his text as a Liberal policy. He (Mr Grigg) would be as liberal as any man in the colony in making provision to enable the settlers and their children to occupy the land upon liberal terms, but he would not consent to the estate of the people, being thrown to whomever the Government might choose to import from the streets of London. As regarded the claptrap offered to his farming friends that the property tax penalised their horses and plant, ho oilled their attention to the fact that they had exemption up to LSOO, which would amply protect their stock-in-trade, and the land tax which the soc Hod Liberals proposed to introduce would weigh upon every acre of land they possessed, and the residents in towns, tradesmen and professional men in good circumstances would [ escape much of the taxation they now contributed to tho revenue. This difficu'ty his opponents suggested should be met by an income tax, but this would result in the farmer first paying a tax upon his land and then a tax upon the result from the land. Mr Grigg then referred at some length to the report appearing in the Mail of his answers to questions at his Rakaia meeting, pointing out the deliberate mauner in which he had been misrepresented. As an accurate report of Mr Grigg’a Rakaia meeting appears in another column, we not follow his remarks, which were received with repeated applause, in reference to our morning contemporary’s characteristic account. One accusation had been made that he (Mr Grigg) would interfere with their religious liberty . This was another wil(ul miljinterpretaUoi} of an answer be had made to a question in reference to the blasphemy laws. He wo aid give every one perfect religious liberty, but he still said that he would bo favorable to put soma check upon the blasphemy which some degraded people used so in diacriminatelv. Mr Grigg invited ques tions and resumed his seat amidst ap plause,

Mr Grigg, rising again, said that he had omitted to refer to a mistake which he made in bis first address, and which had been noticed in a letter to th q Lyffafton Ttmes, appearing that morning. H« must confess that his figures, which he had received from what ho regarded as a reliable source, were not qnite accurate, but the principle was the same and his argument was not affected. Replying to questions. Mr Grigg said that he thought that the honorarium was certainly an unearned increment.— Je would certainly offer the Borough Fite Brigade the same privileges as those an* joyed by the Volunteers. ' He .thought the public spirit and value of xtae Fin Brigades deserved some substantial recognition. Mr G. Lesdley proposed a hearty vote of thanks to Mr Grigg for his address. This was seconded by Mr B. Hughes, who said that Mr Iveaa. had remarked atthe nomination that he coaid' stand on his own bottom. He (Mr Hughes) thought that would be just about the place that he (Mr Iveas) would stand on the polling day. (Laughter and applause.) The vote was very heartily carried amidst loud applause, and a similar compliment to the Chairman terminated the proceedings. Between 300 and 400 persons had assembled in ilia Uall during Mr Qrigg’s address.