THE PREMIER AT DUNEDIN.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1436, 22 January 1885, Page 2

THE PREMIER AT DUNEDIN.

Dunedin, Yesterday. The Hon R. Stout addressed his constituents of Dunedin East at Dunedin this evening. The Premier having referred at some length to the consistent opposi tion he had. received from the press of Dunedin, which he did not consider altogether a misfortune, said ha would refer in a very cursory way to a review of the session. When the House met they found there were four patties. 'There was a compact body who recognised Major Atkinson as a leader, another compact body who recognised Sir J. Yogel as a leader, another party who followed Sir G. Grey, and a fourth who looked to Messrs Macandrew and Montgomery. Amongst the followers of Major Atkinson were Liberals and Conservatives. So it was with the followers of Sir J. Yogel. Those who followed Sir G. Grey were all Liberals, and those who followed Messrs Montgomery and Macandrew were alsr almost entirely Liberals. The Premier then detailed the circumstances which re suited in the formation of the presentGabinet. Messrs Macandrew, Montgomery, and Whitmore, »11 agreed to stand out, anc he had to say that he exceedingly regretted Mr Macandrew was not a Minister. He knew that gentleman was accused oi having an eye solely to Qtago interests, but he asserted that there was no fairei minded man in the House, in a Cabinet or out of it. His sole desire was to push the oniony ahead, entirely apart from the petty provincial jealousies of which he was accused, and as for Mr Montgomery, it was only when at close quarters with him that his sterling worth could be thoroughly discovered. He recognised that the Liberal party in the House had acted towards him in the most generous spirit. Many of them had fought loyally whilst he was out of the House, and they had claims to office he certainly did not possess, but it was at their request that h< accepted office, and so the Ministry wai formed. While criticising the actsof thelasl administration, he referred to what happened during the term of office of tbt shortlived Atkiuson Ministry. In remitting money Home to England that Governments had caused a loss to the colony of L 2.00 0; so that by the first StoutVogel Government being put out of office the colony lost L 2,000. People had been told that things were so bad' that they had lost confidence, and it became their duty to set about the restoration of confidence. They found that of the million loan to ba raised in January this year there was actually available, so far back as August, 1884, only the sum of L 439,414. It had been explained by Major Atkinson that this was owing to the large expenditure on oped lines of railway, but that was no excuse for it. It should have been the duty of'the Government to tell the House the state of affairs in order that to enable it to make the necessary arrangements. His Government found they had to provide money to carry on the public works of the colony. He referred to the Bills passed during the session on measures of social reform, including the Married Women’s Property Bill, the Workmen’s Lien Act and others. The Government found that Mr Polleston had prepared an amended Land Act. Most of that Act be ((he speaker) cordially approved of, and he had to say about Mr Rolleston that though he was unpopular in some quarters, he was sincerely desirous to do his best' for the settlement of the people npon the land, and for the liberalising of their land laws. He want on to refer to the clauses he had had inserted in the Act with the view of preventing any single person becoming the licensee of more than one run, and'contended that these were calculated to secure the very largest area possible to bo occupied by a good class of grazing farmers. There were several blocks of land which had been set aside, especially in the North Island, which could only ba taken up by small farming associations, with no man holding nv>re i han 150 acres, and it was provided that each such holder should settle on at least one half of his holding, and if he could not do so he must find a suhs'itute who would. By this means effectual settlement would be provided, and of i far more satisfactory nature than under the p esent deferred payment system. His views with respect to the Legislative Council had not altered or changed one whit. He had long held that two Chambers were unnecessary. At the same time we had two Chambers, and the colony was not ripe for oqly one. Therefore it was desirable that the Legislative Council should be made more efficient, and he believed one way to make it more efficient would be to elect the members for five or seven years instead of appointing them for life. If that were done new blood would be got into the Chamber, and he hoped better legislators. He referred to the appointment in connection with the Railway Department of a Board of Supervisors, to whom the men might appeal if wrongfully dismissed. A Board of this kind had been appointed in Christohurchj and in two or three weeks he hoped that there would be similar Boards in Dunedin, and the various parts of the colony. These would be benefiting to the Government as well as to the men' A guarantee would ba afforded that good man and good workmen would not be dismissed except for ato >d cause. The Government encouraged the manufacture in the colony of all the work which

could be done at anything like a reason* able figure. In thia respect the present Government had done m're during their short term of office in the manufacture of iron work than had been done for five ' years previously. Then as to Mr Balance's department, Native Land. Armed Constabulary or Defence, and Immigration, there would be shown a saving next session of something like 'l-60,000 to LBO,OOO. Of course in effecting a departmental saving of that; kind Government might be said' to hsVe~*'acted harshly towards certain individuals, bnt unless something untoward happened before the end of the year a departmental saving of LBO.OOO would be shown. = The Government had treated the natives humanely, but with strict justice, and in the same manner as they would have treated Europeans, and at the end of the session it was found that no Special Peace Preservation Act had been necessary. Thia was the first session since 1879 that no such measure had been necessary. At the same time the natives had been found to be friendly, and Mr Ballance when ne visited Wanganui was well received. Never daring his administration had he signed any document with greater pleasure than that which prohibited drink being sold to Maoris over the greater portion of the North Island,. unless by special Act of Parliament. By this means of entirely prohibiting the .natives from obtaining any alcoholic liqnofs, they were doing something to preserve, and were showing something more than sentimental love for their brown brothers in trying to save them and their children from the curse that had cursed them, and was curang the Europeans also. On the question of education he said those who talked loudest about education had done nothing whatever in teaching morality or religion in the schools, and he would like to know how many members of the Bible in Schools ■ ssociatien spent their Sundays as he did in teaching children morality. He wished to get our I syllabus altered, and the first step in this direction would be the introducing of technical education in the primary and secondary schools. The reason only one million of the loan had been floated was that Major Atkinson had pledged the colony only to borrow that sum at present. . With reference to confederation, he must admit that he had modified his views since he had met them on this platform. He had then looked forward to New Zealand being confederated with the neighboring colonies, and even in time with England and the United States, but he now thought that this idea of Australasian federation was premature. As to Samoa and Tonga, the. present Government felt that they should be under British rule, and it was desirable that New Guinea should be so also. It might he a«ked, What was the objection to German or French colonisation in the Pacific 1 He would take up this position, that it meant that if England were entangled iu war the seat of war would be changed to the Pacific. They all knew that when there was fear of war with Russia, men-of-war belonging to that nation were found in Japanese, Chinese, and nearer waters, and if they allowed such colonisations to spring np the result would be that these colonies would experience all the horrors of War. It was with tfce Government no question of lust for territory, nor did they object to German colonists. They had paid the passage here of German colonists, and assisted them in every way to settle : dOwn hero. They had never raised the question of the nationality of any colonist who ciine to there shores, but if they provided coaling ports and naval stores for foreign nations, they would be inviting something against themselves which would necessitate the presence of a large fleet in the Pacific. The duty of the colony liras to have done everything to prevent such a state of things. A good deal had been said about the New Zealand Government sending a steamer to annex Samoa, but all they really did was to arrange to send the Hinemoa to ascertain the state of feeling in Samoa. They did not disclose what they were doing until they received from Lord Derby on answer to a message which they had sent him Stating the position of affairs. His reply was that seeing that Samoa was :an independent State New Zealand could not interfere; but Lord Derby did more than this, though it had not been made public till now. He had sent H.M.S. Miranda from Sydney to Samoa. The English Government ought to have long ago annexed Samoa and Tonga, as they did' the Fiji Islands, and It was to be regretted that English statesmen 'had not looked far enough ahead. It would have been for the advantage of the whole Pacific if those islands had been welded in one confederation which should ultimately include England and America. Though the : New Zealand Parliament objected to federation at present, he considered it was not their duty to stand aloof . from the rest of the colonies, but to unite with Australia 'in a sort of legalised which would enable the colonies to unite on things on which they needed union. The problem of Lootl Government was just as great a difficulty in England and elsewhere as they found it themselves. What be proposed was not to do away with existing institutions, but to tskd them and utilise them as necessary. He would not do away with ridings, boroughs and counties, and ha would not have all institutions throughout the colony moulded on one pattern'. The present system could not possibly continue, and, as an instance, out of the last ban 6? L 1,600,000 they found that L 700.000 only was devoted to railways, while up-‘ wards of L 620.000 was devoted to roads, bridges, etc Many of the things he had spoken about they might deem radical/ bat he would warn them ef the rising that was taking place all over the world, the democratic tide which was rising everywhere, and he would oaution them that if they wished their individualism preserved intact they must carry out their necessary reforms quietly and calmly. No questions were asked, and it waa unanimously resolved — ,r That thia meeting pass a hearty vote of thanks to the Hod. the Premier for his able address, and that the electors of Dunedin East continue to entertain the fullest confidence iu him as their representative."