THE PREMIER AT WOODVILEE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1518, 28 March 1887, Page 3

THE PREMIER AT WOODVILEE.

Woodvillb, Maroh 26 The Premier addressed a meeting here to-night. There was n crowded audience Mr W. O. Smith, M.H.U., mi 1q the chair. The Premier first dealt with thr land question, adv >cving State ownersnip, aod £uly explaining the nature o land nationalisation. He claimed to have livid tha earns viewa ever ninoe he fir«t entered political lifa. la 1878 he urged that if land w«s sold to private owners, ai all events 11 wai right to plaoa reatrto tions on the quantity to be held. Criticing the Marton speech, the pspors h»d said thit more land waa hoW in ' tho speaker's administration than any other Well, when he firtt oame Into office hi 1878 he Uiued a proclamation preventive of farther diskosal of lands as grants to aid railway oonstruotion, thai withdrawing hundreds and thousands of acres from sale. The resalti of that pollcj,. together with the general depression and | panlo following the failure of the Glasgow Bank was that the Grej Ministry met the house with a deficit m 1879, but the colony had Blnco beon independent of tho ■ale of land. The Government had intr"duoed a Bill for perpetual leases m 1885, and Mr Kollestou had previously Introduced a similar measure; only that of 1885 had the olnuso prohibiting the Crown from Belling the freehold, and since that period there had been more leasehold Hottlement than previously. The speaker contended that the English land laws recognised a difference m landed and other property, tenants having certain distinct rights and privileges The Irish Land Act also contained evidence of the enmo prinriple, tenants being; protected m I spite of the land being private property, and it was the same m Prussia He declared that those whb maintain d that the ownership of land wus similar to thfe ownerfihipof other pioperty, were laying the foundation for a sybtem of communism. The perpetual le^ein? Hystem was fully exp ained, also the proposed measure to enable the citato to resume poasesaion of certain lands where it was considered necessary for settlement. He then referred to the cr ticism of the papers on the Mar on speech, m which they twitted him with having parted with the frcohold of Crown lands to tho East and West Coaßt Railway Company whil« advocating a, reverse policy. He asked who had first proposed giving grants to companion to encourage construction of the railway. Tho Act which his Government piißHed giving land to the above company wns smply an amendment of another Hinilar measure alioady existing. ? n 1879 tho colony was unable to undertake now works owing to tho wavo of depression. However, the Grey Q vernment had begun the construction works on the VVellington-Mmawntu Railway, and part of the line ; was marfe whon the Hall Government came into power, and raised the cry about the bad position of the colony and ita inability to oompleta the railway, and also promised grants of lttnd to any private oompany willing to oooiplete the work. The q darter of a million acres given to the VVolllngton-Miaawatu Railway com* pany wai ten times more value than the two million seres proposed to be given to the East and West Coast Railway Company. He maintained that the system of Government giving away froah >lda under those conditions must be abolished. Kir Bubett Stout replied at some length to oritio'sma made m the papers m tho district, just as he did last yoar when specking m Napier. Ho remarked the absence of population along the route of the railway line through K*wWa Bay, and CDmbated the statement that freeholders did more with land than tenants, in^tino ing Sootland, and holding Ireland as an example of bad administration of land lawa. He claimed that Sir Edward Stafford, a decided Conservative, had In 1860 first enunciated (he proposal for giving Government power to resume tho ownership of land when it was considered be-efiolftl to the State. Sir Edward Stafford said that land alongside a railway should be available when wantid for •ettlement. Ai for the alleged inconsistency between his utteranc s at lave--otirglll and Mar ton it was quite true that he had eaid at the former place that Crown lands should be settled on before private estates were resumed. But he always considered that, where it waa sperlally desirable, it should bo possible to enforce settlement on private land, even when plenty of Crown lan is remained. He had not been Inconsistent, and the principal of the proposed bill were distinctly disoernab'e iv the measure alredy passed enabling Government to purohase private estate* for village settlements, In apeak* in^ of tho Native question he eu'o^iaed Mr FitzGarald'a ptllcy In 1862, and regretted it had not been adopted. Hir Robert Stout considered that Native lands should be on the same footing as land belonging to the Europeans, and if it was wanted, power should be given to Government to o impel the the Natives to ■ell. He referree th« audlenoa to the rre^rda of the enquiry Into the Hawkas Bay Native land pnrohass held before Mr Jmtioa Richmond, and evplalned the nature of the present Aot. The Representation Bil[ wai also referred to, the Premier stating that representation mu»t go with population Retrenchment must Ho faced, and the Civil Service reform id. The speaker reoefved A unanimous vott of thanks.