THE ASHBURTON SEAT.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1626, 3 August 1887, Page 2

THE ASHBURTON SEAT.

MR W. 0. WALKER AT THE ODDFELLOWS' HALL. Laßt evening Mr W. C Walker ad dressed the directors of the Rangilata constituency m the Oddfel'owa' Hall These was a fairly numerous attendance, and the Mayor (Mr T. Scaly) occupied the chair. The Mayor introduced the rpoaker, referring to the magnitude of the issues now before the country, and the duty that devolved on the electors of returning £ood and true men to deal with the situation. Mr Walker agreed with the Mayor that the present was a very serious crisis m the history of the colony, when it behoved all electors to return the most suitable representatives- in the words of tha Mayor, good and true men. It was for thorn to judge whether his conduct m the past justified a renewal of their confi Jenoe ; n hjm, and it was for them to consider whether ho had acted as a good aad trae man. All that he could olaim was that ho had acted up to his pledgee, and that He had done hia best to represent them and their interests. All men were liable to make mistakes, and he could only shelter himself, for any mistakes that perhaps he had made, under the conviction that he had always endeavored to aot m their best interests. He hoped that he had done nothing to forfeit their good esteem. He had kept the pledges given to them three years ago. They would remember that it was then probable that a Government would be formed, led by Sir B. Stout and Sir Julius Yogel, and that he had promised to give such a Government hit support. He had supported that Government consistently along with many other Canterbury members, who saw m it a better chance of justice being done to all parts of the colony— Canterbury included. They would remember /that at. the time he referred to Canterbury was exceedingly sore at the action of the Atkinson Government m raising the grain rates, and that was mainly the reason why a strong party was fermed, which had stood shoulder to shoulder and supported the present Government. They had every reason to be satisfied with this Government. It had stood loyally to its promises, and had carried into effect many measures which would greatly benefit Canterbury — mea Bures which, although the full benefit* o f them was not derived as he hoped they would be, only needed time to work the good which he had not the smallest doubt would accrue from them The task which the Government, which was formed ia 1884, had to fulfil was not tin easy one. They took office, when the financial year had nearly expired with a deficit, left them by their p-edocessors of £150 000. The colony was m a stata of depression, produce was bad, and trade bad, a state oi affairs which, he was sorry to say, had continued since. If the poop'e were In i beeter condition to-day than they wen then it was because they had been thrifty and hoped the c'oud was passing ovei them He was oonfident that with thrifi and hope and hard work on the part of th( people, New Zealand had better days h store for it than it had ever setn yet Among THE DIBTIODLTIBS Government had to contend with wai that of having a Parliament not thorough!] disposed to help them, and he thought i vrai a pity Ministers had not resigned h 1885 when beaten and have allowec Parliament to try the effect of otha hands In managing the affairs of th< country. It was. always a great mlstaki to have a weak Government, and hi thought it was a pity the Ministry di< nc fc do what they wished to then and no have listened to their supporters and pre tended supporters. However, the Gov eminent carried on nnd their proposal were last seßslon defeated, and thi brought abont the present appeal to th oountry. Mr Walker then went on fr refer to the proposals on which the appea had been made. He said that th revenue had fallen off. and that there hai been a deficiency of £92,293 m additloi to £104,000 which had been met by windfall, as it hai been termed, Tha deficiency, m ep!to of rotrenohmeut which they had made and further retrench raents which they said wora possible, thi Government thought would have to b nvt by further taxation, and this the] accordingly proposed ; first by an inoreaai m the Customs duties, m the directloi m wbloh the Custom* tariff had alwayi been aimed, v'z., the protection o1 !oo»l industries, and reoondly, bj an Increase of the property tai on the prlnc'ple of the equality oi sacrifice. However, the Government were defeated, hardly so nauoh on the lssaei themselves as by reason of the fact thai the last. Parliament had been against them. The Ministerial proposals had never been dlaoiißsed m detail. Majoi Atkinson who proposed the vote of want oi confidence m the Government said little against theiradmtnlatratlon or proposals. In f*ot, Major Atkinson, himself at Ha were., only about a week before Parliament met, when it was evident to ail that the revenue woa'd fall short, said that iaoreaeed taxation would be necessary and ; that he would be prepared to discuss the means item by item. But he said very little, exenpfc what would show that the main thing be desired was to get the Government out of office ; though he strove to score a point against tha Government m regard to the question of the rabbit nuisance, Thta was a very strange complaint to come from him, because the colony had lost thousands upon thousands through the mismanagement of the Colonial Secretary In Major Atkinson's Government falling to deal effectively with scab. If Majur Atkinson's Government had crushed out scab among the flocks of the colony »b the present Government had done New Z?al *nd would have been many thousands better off than It was now Rabbits were just as numerous then as they were pow !u Otago and although they did not exactly threaten Canterbury then It was evident that thoy would do so before long, If vigorous measures were not taken to cope with them. The proposals, then, of the Government, having bean rejected tho issues were now before the country and it' was for the electors to decide whether Government was worthy of a renewal of confidence or whether the management of the State ship should be entrusted to new hands, RETRENCHMENT One cry— perhaps It was hardly right to oall it a ory bociuie if sincere it was worthy of a very much bettei name— one demand that had been made from end to Bnd of tho colony was that the Ministry at the day ahould begin to seriously retrench. Tho present Ministry claimed bo have done as muoh m the way of retrenchment as they were able with an an willing Parliament at their back. They lad passed a Civil Service Reform Act irhioh would be the means of considerable lepartmental saving. Last session, the Creasurer claimed that the Financial Statement showed a saving of £150,000 ts compared ?|t|i the year before. Ulowlngthat some of the items daubed as avlngs could hardly be called ouch till it was" apparent that the Ministry had nade a commencement m regard to eoononistng and they would have aooompllshed nuoh more In that direction had the louse allowed them. The Premier had mblloly stated that' with" a ttrong party n the House to assist the Government heycQuUl retrench t<s the extant of another 5100,00!). That retrenchment WAS t!} a first re&t Question no y occupying the at tenion oft the colony p^admijjted by nearly veryone and he thought that m carrying t Into effect they should commence at he top of the ties and proooed right own to tha bottom. The Governor's alary could now " reduced while the

pre en* Governor remained here, but M regarded hia successor the oountry wai justified m demanding a considerable reduction on the amount of salary and allowances paid him. With regard to Ministers, their ■aUriea should be cat down by at least 25 per cent, and the honorarium of members of the Legislature should likewise undergo a redaction. A sum of £160 at most, would be quite sufficient for members of the Lower House and £100 for members of the Legislative Council. The fact of the bgis ature thus commencing the printing -" opentlm with itself would sbow the ooun rjr that members were sincere m tieir desire for economy 'and;'. their^ professions of . anxiety, to see it prac' iaed m all departments of the Govern- . raent service. Another matter which had come into prominence because of the consideration given to this question of retrenchment of late was whether ife was advisable or otherwise to reduce the numbe * of members of the Legislature. In regard to tho Upper House, he was of opinion that something should be done to limit the number of members that might be appointed to that Chamber. He was of opinion that the number should bear some direct proportion to the number of members of the Lower House— for instance half or perhaps even less. He was of opinion that such a ohange was a desirable one, for he did not think it right that the possible number of members of the Upper House should be an indefinite one. Opportunity should also be taken to alter the tenure ef members of that Chamber. At present they held their teats, for life, but he wub of opinion that whether nominated or elected they should hold their seats for n certain fixed term— say five or seven years. As regarded the question of the desirableness of redaolng the number of members of the Lbwer Howe, his opinion still remained as It was when he addi tjsed them previous to latj session. He was of opinion that it WM unwise to reduce the number to 77 off below the number they" now had. The country might fool satisfied that the last Parliament did not increase the numbev of representatives. Hitherto with a new Representation Bill the camber of members was Increased m proportion to the Increase of population. The number of members was inserted m the Act of last session as 91. and as that Aot would I remain m force till repealed, the number -*. of membe s wes accordingly * fixed thing for that time. . RBPBBfIBNTATIOK- AOT. - That Aot was one which be could not say that ha looked back to'wlth pleasure. However perfect theoretically, the measure wb/«, It had been found m praotioftl effeot to operate most unfairly la regard to certain portions of the colony, particularly Canterbury. He con>d -red the gt&tlemen who composed the Qjmmisilon were man who, it might safely be assumed, were eaoh fitted for the position they oooapled but directly they met together they seemed to have lost every good quality which they were previously .supposed to possess. Some constituencies had bten treated ia such na arbitrary manner as to almost defeat the object of representation. Coming again to the question of tha KDMBIR Or MEMBBBS , He was oonvinoed that Parliament acted rightly m deciding to make no red notion. To reduoa the number would be to increase the power and influence of a Ministry. It would make the electoral dlstrlots so large that tho interests m them would be so conflicting that it would be impossible for one man to represent all sections of his constituents as they should be represented. In large districts, sach as ft reduction of members would entail, canvassing would be almost impossible for any but old and experienced politicians, and more power would be thrown into t&t hands of the rich who could afford to canvaßS. A reduction of members wouM give relatively more power to the large townß, and detract from the power of the scattered country districts . In the towns and their immediate vicinity the interests of the larger body of the people were identical, and they might be efficiently represented by fewer members m pro* portion to the population than m- country districts. Looking at the matter m all its aspects, he felt convinced that it would be an unwise proceeding to reduce the number of members. EDUCATION. That of Education, like every other department under Government control, must stand on its merits, and the pruning knife applied wherever possible. But they must take care and not outran their discretion . m their anxiety to reduce expenditure. So great and important a factor m building up the greatness of a democratic country was education— that they should do nothing to impair the efficiency of their system. In most points their system of education was satisfactory, and on the whole they could not complain of the cost; This certainly increased anna* ally, because every year more children w« f> admitted into the schools ; but compared with other countries the New Zealand record was good. It was worth while to soe how this colony did compare with others m regard to the. cost of education. In New Zealand the cost per head was £§ 5s 3d ; m Queensland, £5 7s 6d { m New South Wales, £6 15s lid ; m Victoria, £$ 3s 2d; and m California, £5 5a 2d. In the caße of California the cost of buildings was not included, whereas m regard to the other places he had mentioned it was so. Education was not only a matter of importance to them as individuals, bat also as a nation. It was b y education that they would hold their own against th? world, and the best educated nation was that whioh would come to the front. He ■ referred to the alarm whioh was being felt In London by English clerks, beoauae of German taught youths driving them off their stools, and supplanting them, and he hoped that all would endeavor to keep oar national syat^h as perfect as possible, and that pupils at the primary sohools should have the chance oi availing themselves of the High Schools and Universities. It had been said of Frenoh soldiers that eaoh one carried a field-marshal's baton m his knapsaok. By this it was not meant, of course, that eaoh soldier would beoome a field marshal, but that eaoh one who bad the ability and the Industry to work himself ahead had an opportunity of ascending to the highest positions* It .should be the/same with regard to higher eduoation here. He did not suppose that every pupil who attended the primary schools would take advantage of the High Schools and University, but he maintained that all children who possessed the ability should have the opportunity of taking tha advantigeo affordedj>y these Institutions. Othets of the colonies had a system of scholarship whereby successful pupils wore sent Home to the Universities, but he thought our system a better one. Many people thought economy might be effected by devoting the revenues of the reserves set apart for higher edooitlon towards the maintenance of the Primary system, and letting those who took'advantage of thß secondary system pay for ij;. All, however, conld not afford to pay for it, and he thought It well! there* fore* thtft the; State should maintain Jt among us. There was also 1 anottosr reason why ha objeotod to 'the changing of thtt purpose for which these reserves were intended. Iv Canterbury and Ofegb these resorven had been set aslope In thi old days of Provincialism. If an 1 alteWtfoti wore made no*w they'bigh't depend upon U that the revenues fcoald go tifto'lht common pot. They did not amount tb very inubh m the aggregate, en 4 v devoted to that object would makg no sensible reduction m th,e annual ofyafge m connootion vjrith, primary edupaUcm, and W* would lose them ; bat as they weft 9ow the two provlnoes derived twjt iafe«

■Untial benefit from them. The nex department he came to was that of THE RAILWAYS. This subject was a sore one with mos of them. He believed that the Depart nent might be vastly improved, and hi was not at all satisfied with thing! M they at present were. Even the Minister himself admitted tWs, bul urged that matters were gradually im proving. Mr Walker then quoted from M* BUohardsou's recent speech. T<ic total reoeipts for 1886-87 was £998,768, •s against £1,045,712 for 1884 85 ; the total expenditure was £699,072, a« Against £690,026, and the total tonnaee carried 1,747,764, as against 1,74<>,856. I* would be seen tbat for the two periods the tonnage was the same and the •zpendlture the same, but the receipts bad dropped ; but the number of mllce open was 1727* against 1396. Tbe difference la the receipts the Minister claimed to hava been oauied by reduction of rates, which was consequently so much money retained In the pockets of the producers. But, comparedjwith the railways of other colonies, bur system did not return the percentage oi profit which might have been expected. 01 course, the other colonies were somewhat differently titu■ted. They had praotlcally only one ptlrt each, while we had sjx rr seven. Itlll tht laot wmaln«d that the railways bore newly thewbolelntereaton the amoant expended, whereas here It was hrgely supplemented out of the general revenue. Muoh loss had been caused 3* • unwise expenditure In the past. net whloh might have waited for very nany years were constructed, and not only did they not produce their share but were actually ran at a loss. The present Government could not be oharged with hiving added to 'his mistake, they having only completed lines whloh had been left nefinUhed; Another question In connection with the Railway Department had to be answered, and that was : Why was tbe reilfray management so unpopular He thought that It wa« because the department did nut endeavor to meet the complaints or suggestions made by the public m a fair and reasonable manner. The department did not seem to regard themselves as only managing the railways for the publio who were ■hareholders, but they seemed to look upon •II suggestions— and many of these suggestions would be productive of maoh good If oarrled into effect— as Insults. That itate of affairs, it might be said, oouid^be altered without the Intervention of a Board, but he was entirely m favor of a Board being established. A Board would act as a sort of a buffer between the Department and the public, and they would find that the railways would be managed much moce satisfactorily, and be apart from politfdi^One thing which It had been said gave rise to much of the unpopularity of the Hallway Departtoent was that " No " had to be a»id' so often. The Minister stated that nearly all tbe profit would have disappeared if all the requests made had been acceded to. He did not think it was the refusal •o much as the manner of refusal which made the Department so unpopular. He hoped they would soon have a Board as m Yiotorla, and then they would get better results from the railways than if thaw remained under tbe control of a Minister. Then he came to the question of DEFENCE And would consider whether any great reduction oould be expected. He knew that some gentlemen had said that there oonld be large reductions m that departinsnt. The whole vote was £181,000 which wm appropriated as follows:— Police £102,0(10; Volunteers £44,000 ; Permanent militia £29,000, and the remainder of the vote was made op of sundries. It could not be said, that they were paying excessively for the police, for the oost per head of population compared very favorably with that of the other colonies. Here It was 3i 2^d ; In Viotorla, 4i 4d ; In New South Wales 5j ll^d ; In South Australia, 6s Old ;In Queensland, 9a Of i. In regard to the £44,000 for Volunteers, that could not be considered too much. If they were to maintain vhe Volunteer force In a state of efficiency to that it might be relied npon In time of need they could hardly do It cheaper than at present. Of course they oould do without the permrnent militia if they chose, but would It be wise having now spent large sums on fortifications and big goes to protect our shores from any attack which might be made by a foreign enemy, to dispense with the men who were to fight these guns and whose services, he understood, were necessary to construct certain portions of the fortifications ? He did not think t> very ?reat deal of saving oonld be effected In this direction. The Government had made a saving by being able to do away with the large bodies of Armed Constabulary which were formerly maintained tn Native district, though that they were able to do this so quickly was In a certain measure due to the firm action of the previous Government. However, these large brdles of Armed Constabulary bad now been done away with and as they had lately seen tbe arm of the ordinary law bad be?n able to effect all that was required In .suppressing any turbulenoe among the Natives. 3-AXATION. He had shown that It was a diffionlt task to effect much retrenchment m the principal departments, bot by keeping Sown extravagance and refraining from asking for luxuries from the hand oi the Government, a good deal could be done. However this would not meet all the deficiency and furthei taxat'on would be required. The Government proposed an Increase of the Custom^ duties, It was worth while rememberlpg what a great ohange there hai been In the revenue, derived fronj the Customs, This had during th« last few years shrunk m a etrlkIng manner. The value of th< goods imported had great'y decreased and of ooursQ the ad valorem duties leviec bad decreased In proportion. If valnei had kept up the revenue tbls year woulc have been largely m excess of the tmoun that had been detived. In 1882 tht revenue derived from the Customs wa £1,515,000, whereas, now it was onl; £1,311,000. Therefore the proposed add! tion of £186,000 would still have lef them below the amount of 1882. As h bad said before tbe Government now ha< annonnoed that If the country were li earnest and Bent up representatives rend; to support the Ministry In a consli tent scheme ol retrenchment, the could see their way to further reluc tion and they woald not require tb whole of the £186,C00 increase of th eostomi duties, but still there would hay to be tome extra taxation and the quei tloa was what form should it take. Son Eple thought there should be a rease on taia and nugar. There w« an adf wjoran fluty on these an ai they m common with other con modUles had shrunk m value the were now In - reality taxed a grei deal higher tban they were a few yea ago. Be had thought that if there wi to be any alteration it •hduld be 1 mike the duty an t>ese articles an c viwem'one then the hidier. classes < tea- wMch the rich man consumed woo have to pay more than was paid by tl Boor man, Instead of tbe duty on b6i Seingfthe same. He had been tol haweVer, that ttils was Impracticable, as was Tery diffionlt to discriminate betwei the various c'a«esof tea. He was pc feotly 'satisfied that the tariff ahoqld 1 adjusted so as to render encouragement \ *'■ " tftCAL }NDUST«I?S. He knew this was a doctrme somowh „.haioi{oa!«. but m sp!te of the deolaratio ' of professors on the subject had 06 ' fiaotiieol by nearly every "nation In t. *orld with the betet of teauHs. In t; Old • Country, m the very, cities wh,e Eceetrade fipi 1 . tprung into exjaten the Chambers of Qommeree were n< foniteiriog whether Great Bii'ain h

not gone too far. It wbb only the ohe week that a quaei-threat was made b] Britain m consequence of which Frauoi and Germany announced their readineei to treat on the Bubjeot of the sugai bounties. This wan ve> y (suggestive, ftli Walker went on to deal with the statement! that had been made that if this colon; levied protective duties other natiom might be Induced to retaliate and ho c mi batted it. He said that a system of protec tion might be selfish, but it was not seißih. ce*a of the lowest kind— it was natirni eeifiahneßs, without which no nation would ever beoome a great one. He was sorrj when he heard of British ship's not beicg manned by British Bailors, and of mai subsidies balng paid to foreign firms. National selfishness was not a vie& ; it was a virtue And people at Home were now beginning to realise this. The fishermen m the North of Scotlatd and farmers In the Midland districts were now wanting to know why they were noi plaoed m a position to compete with Dutch and American competitors. He was glad to notice this tendency, because he was sure it would lead to tbe ultimate good oi the nation and the individual. LAND SETTLEMENT. This was a question of very great importance. In any new country the settle | ment of the isnd ought to be the first consideration of any statesman. In connection with this question was one point on which he could not agree with his leadess. They were not ia favor of the freehold tenure, bat apart from the question theoretically whether It was the best tenure or not, they themselves must admit that it was that irhloh was desired by neatly everyone, and they were striving against a natural tendency m trying to do away with it. He oonsidered that while it was advisable to try various tenures, to give small settlers a chance, he thought they shouM also have the privilege of securing the land for tbelr own as aoon as they were able to pay for it. They had not muoh to fear from the great evils m regard to land. The two great evils that had destroyed all tbe nations where they exist d were large bo'.dinga and abeei • teeism. He did not think tbey had muoh to fear from either. The law had provided for that. Moreover the tendency of large proprietors now-a days was to realise. Those who did net do so to-day would do bo m a short time, and if tbey did not tbeir successors would. There was more land In the market to-day In New Zealand than there were people to buy it. As regarded absentee proprietors, they bad bought to sell again and the same reasons applied to them. Mr Walker referred to Mr Ballanoe'a Land Acquisition Bill, which did not come before the House, His remarks were to the same effect as those made In a speech delivered by him shortly before last seßßton of Parliament. He defended Mr Ballance's aotion m regard to the Village Settlement vcte aDd said, tbat considering the fraportance of the question and the fact that the unemployed bad disappeared out of two of the largest oities m the colony Mr Ballance was not only jaeffied but deserved the thanks of the oolony for his aotion, Of cooree it was not likely all the village settlers would succeed, bat wbere was the walk of life In which all were successful ; and If on'y h»lf succeeded Mr BaUance would have performed a good w rk. IHB OPPOSIIION. Mr Walker having referred to the need of the electors returning good men said that the Opposition seemed to have only agreed t) differ on! every subject nndor the son and he gave Instances of Berious discrepancies m tho avowed opinions of the leaders of that party. COKOtiUSION. He thanked them for the patient hearing he had been accorded and expressed his hope that the election would result m a strong »nd united party beginning sent, to support the measures the country now needed. .Mr Walker announced his readiness to answer any questions that might be pat to him. Mr Fickfcrd a*ked if Mr "Walker would lend his support towards getting Mr E, G. Wright, should he bo returned, the office of Minister for Publio Worts. Mr Walker said the question was a delicate one. He had no doubt Mr Wright would do his duty should he receive the appointment of Minister, as he bad done m every capacity m which he (Mr Walker) had kn?wn him. In reply to Mr Brown Mr Walker said he would lend all the assistance In bis power towards any proposal for securing a non. political board of management for the Railways. In reply to written questions "Mr Walker said that he was not m favor of two millloDß being borrowed for the Otago Central and Helensvllle Railways. ! Because be gave the Premier a general support he was not bound to follow him In everything and he had a perfect right to exercise his own jadjsment on this matter. — As a progressive property tax might have the effeot of frightening away some capital, he was not m favor of it— He did not think tbmt the Increase of duties would cause the mother country to retaliate by imposing a tax on our wool grain, and frozen meat. She would be only too glad, to get our raw material (MrD. H. Brow i asked if the position were not the same m regard to the sugar bounties. — Mr Walker did not see the similarity.) In reply to a written question asking whether he was In favor of tapering off as proposed by the Premier or of giving the oolony another chance by borrowing several more millions as asked by Sir J. Yogel, Mr Walker Baid tbat Sir J, Yogel was not proposing to borrow any more millions. When he addressed them m Ashburton some three years ago he hardly grasped the real position of the colony bat Blnoe then he had taarnt a great deal and .though he was popularly supposed to be an extravagant adminis trator he compared favorably with those who now sought to criticise him. The oolony owed many of its advantages to hint and If things bad been over done I was not by him but by thos< weaker and feebler men who tried t< wield the rod be had coDJured with. HI experienca of Sir Julius Yogel was tha he was one the most careful and economics administrators the * colony ever hid [This statement .ovoked a prolongs nigh of astonishment from a gentlemai Dear the front part of the hall whfc' amused tbe audience very much] Of conrs Sir J. Yogel did not spoil the ship for co*t of tat — that would not be eoonomybnt he was a oareful and prudent ad ministrstor. A gentleman asked if Mr Walker wa m favor of cremation, because of th heavy charges of the Cemetery BoardMr Walker could do nothing m regar to the Cemetery Board, but , personally he saw no objection to cremation. Mr O. VV. Andre *s asked if Mr Walkc was m favor of Bible reading In schoolsMr Walker said the matter, rested entlrel with the people. Mr Purnell^ m a lengthy speech whic was hot audible from tbe platform, bi which met!' 'with considerable applausi proposed 1 a vote of thanks to Mr Walke Mr J. Kelil'seoonded. Mr Plokford proposed an amendmei that a vote ofthanks and ponfidenoe 1 accorded, Mr Walker. This wai| «.ecoade,d by Mr Friaby at parried almost unanimously. A vote of thanks to th,e Mayor co eluded the meeting.