MR W. A. MURRAY, M.H.R., AT MILTON.

Clutha Leader, Volume III, Issue 135, 9 February 1877, Page 3

MR W. A. MURRAY, M.H.R., AT MILTON.

Mr W. A. Murray, M.H.R., the rer preventative of Bruce in_.the General Assembly, addressed his constituents in St. George's Hall, Milton, on Friday night. The hall, especially towards the close, was well filled. On the motion of Mr Hay, Mr W. J. Dyer, Mayor of Milton, took the chair. The Chairman said it would not be necessary for him to make any remarks, as Mr Murray was so well known to them all. Their representative had come that night, he supposed, to give an account of his stewardship. He regretted that the attendance was so small, but doubtless, others would come in before the meeting was over. Mr Murray said he had no doubt that before the meeting was over the attendance would be considerable. Owing to the inclemency of the weather, the attendance was not so large as it otherwise would have been. He had been rather later in meeting them than usual, partly on account of the necessity for attending to his private affairs, and illness consequent upon his close application to his studies. As they knew, the session lasted five months, and this was chiefly due to the amount of business that had to be transacted.

Another cause was the increase in the

number of members, which was agreed /to during the previous session, much against his will. It would have been much better to have taken away the representatives from some of the smaller constituencies, and from some of those which were over-represented, and to reduce, instead of adding to, the number- of the members of the H ouse. The length of the session was also due to the changes in the administration, and to the existence of a spirit of factious opposition, which was unproductive of good, either to the persons themselves or to the country. The session, however, was not a barren one, for they passed one hundred and four statutes, but he did not mean to say that those statutes were altogether beneficial to the country. It would have been much better if their number had been smaller, for the duty of the members was not so much to act as legislators as to pass practical measures for the development of the resources of the country. This continued legislation not only took up a great deal of time in Parliament, but wasted the time during future sessions in remedying hasty legislation. He regretted the hurried manner in which Bills of the greatest importance were sometimes rushed through all their stages. A great deal had been said upon the question of Abolition, but he might say that the Abolition of the Provinces was not unexpected on his part, as he believed it was a necessary consequence of the policy of Sir Julius Yogel. He would read them an extract bearing upon the subject from a speech delivered by him in Bruce in the year 1872. Upon that occasion he said — " The whole policy of the Government is to concentrate all power, wealth, and patronage in the Ministry located in Wellington, and in that Ministry is the person of Mr Julius Yogel ; to reduce our local Governments to a uniform impotency, incapable alike for usefulness and of resisting the grasping rapacity of a vast central bureaucracy, which, like a political octopus, was draining the extremities of the Colony of their vital powerswould make Provincial government an impossibility, and indeed render all

honest government by honest means < -tl impossible in New Zealand." Sir Julius • Yogel stated in one of his speeches that the Provinces had broken down i because of their coming into contact with the Colonial Government upon many points — particularly on the point of finance ; and that their doom was only a question of time. L 1,500,000, 500,000 had been spent to buy Provincial support to Sir Julius Vogel's scheme. The breaking down of Provincialism was not due to the inherent weakness of the system, but because it interfered with the carrying out of the Yogel policy. He did not approve of the change, or of the manner in which it was brought . about, and he had the highest authority to support him when he asserted that such changes should he well considered and gradually effected. Freeman said : " The witness of history teaches us that in changing long-established forms, of government, the more gently and warily. the * work is done, the more likely it is to he lasting." They could form their own opinions with reference to the hasty manner in which Abolition had been brought about. During the last session of the previous Parliament, when some question of forest trees was under discussion, Sir Julius Yogel was annoyed because he was not allowed to : have his own way, and that was the excuse for introducing, the question of the Abolition of the Provinces. The measure was hurried through the last days of the last Parliament, and he did not think that a moribund Parliament had any right to decide such an important question without first of all 4 s Hing the people. The Constitution , that had been destroyed was not the one which Sir George Grey originally drafted, and be had no doubt that had the Imperial >■ Government not interferad in an unwarrantable way in destroying the Constitution, many of the defects in- the Provincial form of government j would never have existed.! His' opinion was that it would have been much' more

easy A have made the Provincial system of government work satisfactorily than to attempt to make the present Counties Act work satisfactorily. — (Hear, hear.) He had heard the great expense urged as one reason why the Provincial form of government 'should be done away with, but in his opinion, rhe.expense would' be increased by these new local governing bodies. It was true that we had no Provincial Council now, but we had County Boards and Road Boards, in fact, a multiplicity ot governments — sixty-three Provincial Councils instead of nine. He did not think that Abolition would have been accomplished if other measures had been introduced and carried by the General Assembly. Had the representation of the country been properly adjusted, and if the statements brought forward by the Government had not been misrepresentations, the change would never have been carried into effect. One of the reasons given in favour of Abolition during the last session of the last Parliament, was given by the Premier, who endeavoured to show that the Provincial Governments could only give a certain amount to the local authorities, while under the proposed scheme they would have much higher revenues! The Provincial over-estimate of expenditure was about L 215,000, but the Colonial Treasurer's over-estimate of expenditure was about L 506,000. By the promises that were made, the Government was able to carry out the Abolition scheme, and the Government succeeded in passing the Counties Act, the Municipal Rating Act, and the Financial Arrangements Act, which measures formed the new Constitution of the Colony. Those Acts, he repeated, were carried by misrepresentation, and by promises which never could be realised. First of all, the Colonial revenue had been over-estimated— as he said in the Assembly [see below], the Customs revenue would not meet the Treasurer's estimate by L51,000A He had said that that would be the case some months ago, and now he found that he was quite right. Taking the half-year returns as the average of the whole, he found that the Customs revenue would be fully L 55,000 under the amount estimated by the Treasurer. Under the Stamp Tax there would be a deficiency of L 13,000, and altogether there would be a deficiency of L 74,000 on the estimate. That was not all that would have to be made up. The railwayswere estimated to realise L 690,000, but if that sum was to be realised, the railways of Canterbury would have to yield L 443,000 for the year, and he had just received a telegram from that Province, which showed that the amount would never be realised, and that the railway revenue had been over-esti-mated by L 203.000, making a deficiency of upwards of L 600,000, which would have to be met by the issue of Treasury hills, or by the sale of land. The land revenue, which had been estimated at L 605,000, would be upwards of L 1,000,000,, 000,000, a very large surplus under that head, so that there would only be a deficiency of L 213.000 to be met by Treasury bills, if the land revenue of the Colony was taken, which he believed would be the case- According to the Premier's own statement, a very small margin of the land revenue of Otago would be left to the Province if ever the General Government got the handling of it. There was one way by which a saving might be made, and that was by withdrawing the sinking fund for the retirement of the public debt. If that could be arranged, there would be LIBO,OOO more to spend in the Colony. He thought that these sinking funds were a mistake, and he was glad to see that the Government had come to see the fallacy of them. If the bondholders would agree to cancel the sinking fund, the money would be available for use here. If that was not done, he was afraid that the payments to Road Boards and Municipal ties would not be continued, and he thought that the question deserved very serious consideration. On that point he held the same opinion as Mr Donald Reid, but he did not know how that gentleman would be able to reconcile his strong views on the question with the views, of the Government. Mr Goschen, a member of the British Legislature, and an authority on financial matters, stated : "To continue to look more and rhore to the Consolidated Fund will have the certain effect of increasing the aggregate taxation raised year by year by the tax collectors of the country. I think that the House would commit a grave political error were it to add to the sums annually, voted by the ; House." The question was simply this — " Will yoii tax yourselves, or will you let the General Assembly tax you, and only get a portion of your money back ?" It appeared to him pretty evident that there could be no additional taxation in connection with the Customs Revenue, and it was probable that if a deficiency had to be made up, it would have to be by means of an income and property tax. Sucha tax would have its advantages and disadvantages. It was not a good thing to place a tax upon capital, and thus prevent its introduction into the Colony, but yet those who had the good things should contribute a fair proportion to the revenuef~ !i Adam Smith said — «' Govern-r metft'Should never lay on such taxes as would inevitably fall upon capitalj since by so "doing- they impair - the funds for the maintenance of labour, and thereby diminish the future production of ' the

country.' One thing- in connection with this local taxation was the valuation, which to him seemed a preparatory step to an income and property tax. It seemed that a decree had gone , forth that New Zealand should be taxed/ and that would be one result ofthe improvident expenditure that had been going on for the last few years. Me found that as soon as this expenditure ceases there would not be such prosperous times as are now enjoyed, but he was not one of those who believed that New Zealand would be depressed permanently. As soon as the public works, now in tlie course of construction, were finished, and the people had settled down upon tho land, there would be a large increase in the wealth producing power of the place. It was his opinion that the Government should not take from the poorer classes to increase the wealth of the property-holders — the necessaries of life which the poorer classes could not do without should not be taxed by the Customs, and the money given to improve property. He thought that was unfair and unsound in its political principle. The Government should not bribe those districts where the voting power was the strongest. He would give them a practical application. There was one County nearly owned by one gentleman, who got the land at a small price. Now he was in a position to tax himself to improve his estate, but he levied black mail on the industrial classes. He got a share of the Land Fund from other parts of the Colony to improve land which he bought for ten shillings per acre, and which was now worth L-l per acre. Before he left the question of the Counties, he would make a few remarks as to the advisability of adopting the whole of the Counties Act or not. He would suggest to the County Councillors that they should see what the defects of the Act were, so that when Parliament met a more satisfactory measure could be passed. He was afraid that the Counties were not able to join together for any large public works, but he thought that the Chairmen of the County Boards should meet tegether, and then that would be a modified form of Provincial Government. — (Hear, hear.) In this district he was of opinion that it was not so necessary to adopt the Act as in other districts, as they had their Road Boards. With regard to the Matau district, he might say that many persons believed that it should have been included in the County of Bruce, but he was told that that would have been poaching upon a neighbouring preserve. Mr Thomson, the representative of Clutha in the General Assembly — a very worthy man— would have felt it keenly if any portion of his district had been added to the County of Bruce. Fie thought the County system might take something of this form. Let the County Councils of Otago and Canterbury meet and form one Board of Works; tho Counties bordering on Cook's Straits another, and Auckland a third. Last session the gentlemen representing the pastoral interests of Canterbury seemed to have a reason for supporting the Government in consideration of favours they were to receive. It seemed as if they had some secret understanding with the Government, that if they gave it their support the leases of their runs would be renewed. It would interest them, although the matter did not affect them immediately, to hear something about the Native question. They were aware that the late Sir Donald M'Lean had long taken a prominent part in the administration of Native affairs. That gentleman had passed away. Personally, he was a genial friend of his (Mr Murray's) ; but publicly he strongly disapproved of the policy of the Native Minister, which led to the loss and squandering of enormous sums of money. When that money was exhausted he feared that serious complications would arise. He had always opposed the policy followed in dealing with the Natives, and he thought he was right in this matter. They would be astonished to hear of the sums spent by the Native Department. Up to the 13th of June last the Native and Defence Department had expended out of land and revenue the sum of L 5,207,840, and in addition to that sum. there was an amount of L 1,100,000, 100,000 for land purchase and roads m Native districts, making a total of L6,307,840-AL3,000,000 . of which had been spent during Sir Donald M'Leari's administration. It would thus be seen that the late Minister had a great lever at his back to enable him to purchase peace with the Natives. In addition to.themorieypayments,793,ooo acres of confiscated land had been returned to the Natives, and LIOO,OOO a-year was spent upon the North Island Volunteers and Constabulary. L 20,000 had been spent upon the education of the Maoris, and he thought that that amount had been wisely laid out, This penalty which we had been paying through the Native Department must be paid at the peril of our lives, and he felt that the Government was placed in a difficult position in connection with this question, for tlie Native expenditure could not be kept up with the funds' at' the- disposal of the Government. He did not place much : -reliance in the rumour .that existed- with reference to any 5 present ' Native difficulty, but he looked ii'pon the attitude- of the friendly • Natives as ; more •" dangerous than A that ' of' the .King "party.- The Arawas; the' pets 7 of the - late Native

Minister, would probably exhibit a considerable deal of discontent when the supplies were stopped, and that would injure the Oolony.considerably, as people at Home who knew very little of the geography ot the, place, would be afraid to come out to any part of New Zealand when they heard that there was any trouble between the^ colonists and the Natives — no matter where. While the the Government "was wise to stop what was called the "sugar and blanket" policy of the Native Department, he did not approve of its action in reducing the Armed Constabulary by two hundred men. That was a matter .for very serious consideration, and many gentlemen, both in the North and 'South, were of opinion that the Government had acted unwisely in paying off a body of thoroughly trained men, when ,the critical moment had arrived for stopping the supplies which the Natives had become used to receiving. The same false feeling of security prevailed just- before the escape of the Native prisoners from Chatham Island. Six weeks before that event, someone said that it would be impossible to find sixty hostile Natives in the whole of New Zealand, and yet not long after, the massacre took place, and the North Island was involved in war. He hoped the Government would not discharge the Constabulaiy until the policy of stopping the supplies of sugar and blankets had been attested. He would now refer to the San Francisco Mail Service, which he had always regarded as a costly experiment, and a hobby of Sir Julius Vogel's. He did trust that the House next session would try to get rid of what was merely an incubus to the Colony, especially now that the steamer only called at Auckland. The Union Company was powerful in this Colony, and two members of the Ministry were strongly identified with Auckland interests, which, might account for the fact that Auckland was the only port of call for the vessels engaged in the San Francisco Mail Service. If the service meant simply -the conveyance of letters, we could send our correspondence by the Suez mail at L 20,000. a year less. He would now refer to local matters, and would commence with the construction of railways. He regretted very much that the line between Balclutha and Clinton had been so long delayed, and he believed that that was partly due to the engineering staff, 'ihe settlers in the Clutha district happened to have minds of their own, and to believe that one line of route would be better for the district and the Province, than the one selected by the engineer. The late Minister of Public Works, as was generally his practice, supported the officers oi his department, and although the matter was considered in the House by the Petitions Committee, and a resolution, which he (Mr Murray) moved, carried od the subject, the servants of the Government had over-ridden the decision of a Committee of the Legislature. To punish the settlers for having an opinion of their own on the subject, they had been deprived of their line. The delay in the construction of this section of the line would have the effect of diverting a great deal of the traffic to Invercargill, and it would be a very difficult matter to draw it back ngain. Then there was the Blueskin line. Why that section had not been completed was a mystery to some people, but it was no mystery to him. The Minister of Public Works was strongly identified with Canterbury, where all railways had been made. By the noncompletion of the Blueskin line, all the traffic would be diverted to Christchurch, whose merchants would be enriched at the expense of Dunedin. — (Applause.) He had heard that one of the contracts on that line would not be completed for fourteen months, and another section of fourteen miles had not been let. He was told that the section last referred to was reserved to afford employment to the indigent people of the Colony, if there were any. The late Minister of Public Works had been lauded for his administration of the railway policy, but he (Mr Murray) could not join with those who admired him. He had it upon the most reliable authority thatLl,ooo,ooo had been wasted in rolling stock and permanent way, and he thought there would be a great additional loss from the foolish way in whioh some of the way had been made. Some, of the railways would have to be abandoned, and tunnels would remain high up in the mountains as monuments of the great policy of the Minister oi Public . Works „and Sir Julius Yogel. In one part of Napier he saw a portion of a line that had been abandoned because the engineers thought it would better .-to take it another way: He had seen the same thing at Moeraki. These were instances of the' trials and experiments.that had been made by the engineers for the purpose of learning their business at the public expense.— (Hear, hear.) \ die would now deal with the retirement of Sir Julius Yogel. It had been said that when' Sir Julius Yogel had got the Government. into a mess, he would retire ; md he (Mr Murray) must say that it as a most unfortunate thing. that the it . Agent-General died at the moment he did. Just •as Sir Julius Vogel's popularity began, to wane, the Ageht-GeneraL for the^Colony died,- and the ex-Premier was appointed to the position. Pie did not know whether what he had to say would be considered to have a political * bearing,, but as Sir Julius r.Vogel was a public man,., he deemed it his duty to

say that for weeks after he had' ceased. t,o be a^ember'of the House he hunted; the lobbies, and "was. employed in a wayi that did not fend to raise the credit of the House, or benefit the country. ; At that time he was drawing a high salary, and he (Mr Murray)- had been told that in a committee room up-Btairs in-the House; certain members were indulging in what members of the • Legislature' should not.induige in, especially .when tlie House was sitting, and they had been sent" to Wellington to attend to the business of the country; He had before referred to Mr Donald Reid joining the Ministry, and he might say. that he had often been. asked. whathe thought of this matter. He regretted that .Mr Reid should have seen his way to join that party, because, to all intents and purposes, the Ministry now in power was a Yogel Ministry, He did not know how Mr Reid could have seen his way to join that party. He and Mr Reid, except at the time when the Canterbury runs were under discussion, had acted in concert upon almost every question, and he (Mr Murray) would not have acted as Mr Reid had acted in joining the Government Mr Reid's services w.ould, ro doubt,, be very valu : able to the country; but. he thought it was subversive of all Parliamentary Government when member after member, and especially members of influence, who commanded the respect and confidence of the people, went over and joined the ranks' of their opponents. Mr E,eid should have remained until the next session of Parliament, and then taking the position he ; had a right to : take, should have endeavoured to turn out the Government, and then, free from tbe taint of all such transactions as the sale of the Piako Swamp,- he could have come clown with his policy for the good government of tho country. If he was morally pledged to support his colleagues now he could not do so. When Ministers retired one by one, and their places were filled in such a manner, and when no one called such actions in question, there was an end to all political responsibility and to sound Constitutional government. — (Hear, hear.) Referring again to local matters, lie might say that he had been successful in carrying through two Bills that affected the township of Milton — the Bill for the extension of the Municipality and the Athenseum Crown Grants Bill. They had also succeeded in passing the Dunedin Wharves and Quays Bill. The City Council of Dunedin tried to secure the Harbour Reserves, in order to reduce taxation in the city, bnt the matter was considered in a committee of which he was a member, and they came to the conclusion that these reserves had been set apart for the purpose of making a hai^bour for Dunedin, and therefore for the benefit of the, whole Colony. A resolution was passed in the House, and the reserves were now for the benefit of the whole Province, and the whole Province now had a voice in the election of the members of the Harbour Board. When the harbour was made, settlers would be able to get their wool and grain shipped at

he lowest possible price, and therefore he whole of the Province would be

benefited, instead of the money being applied to the reduction of taxation in the city of Dunedin. In the Assembly he had frequently been very much grieved to see a gentleman who had done so much for New Zealand opposed in the way he was by members of the House who should have known bptter. The gentleman he referred to was not always in the right, but he fought earnestly and zealously for what he be-

lieved to be the rights of the people, and he thought he had a right to expect

hat some consideration would be shown

for his years and integrity. — (Hear, hear.) Although that gentleman, and others who acted with him, might be

laughed at and sneered at by a certain section of the House and by a diminishing section of the Press — for he noticed that some of those journals had found their venom too strong for themselves, and had become defunct, or else had joined the opposite party — they had

taken up a position on behalf of the country almost as great as that taken up by Wallace and Bruce when they fought for the independence of their country and for , the good of the whole human race. Those, words "the whole human race" had of ten , provoked i a sneer when uttered by Sir George Grey, but; that gentleman had worked hard

for the good of the people, and he deserved more than to be sneered at. He trusted that some of our public men would always be actuated by some higher motive than place and power. It had been said- — 7 To place and power all public virtue tends j In place and power, all public virtue ends.

But he hoped the words" were not to be applied to New Zealand politicians. Perhaps he would 'be best consulting their wishes if be brought his speech to a close,' and offered to answer, any questions that might be put to him. — (Applause.) Mr R. Murray asked if Mr W. A. Murray would be in favor of an Income and Property Tax. Mr. W. A. Murray said he would much rather endeavor to reduce the public expenditure than have any increase of taxation. If more money was needed, he saw no other means of raising it than by an Income and Property Tax, and under those circumstances :; he would vote for it, but only upori that condition. — (Hear, hear.) If it was I proposed to reduce the Customs

revenue- upon certain articles, .and to substitute an Income and Property Tax,, he would support si c'\ a p•■ p sal. One or two other questions having been asked and answered,., Mr Geo. Lindsay said that those present seemed to be well .satisfied with what their representative had said and done, and as no one appeared to be anxious to ask any more • questions, he. would move a vote of thanks to; Mr Murray for addressing' them that night. -—(Applause.) . -

Mr Peter Cunninghame seconded the motion, and said he thought they were very much indebted to Mr Mur-. ray for the speech he had made. The more he came among them, he thought, the more they liked him. 'He had never listened to Mr Murray with greater pleasure than he-had that night. He was of opinion that they had a man of the right sort to represent them, who would not desert them in the hour of need like the Taieri "mariA-(Hear, hear.)

The motion was put and carried

Mr Murray said he had to thank them, for he thought the sixth time, for an expression of their approval of his actions. He was of opinion that the prosperity of a. state depended, in the long run, upon the people who composed it, and that they were sometimes disposed to put too much faith in systems, and too little in men. The prosperity. of New Zealand was, not so much due to the form of ..its government as to the energy of its people. He trusted that the wealth the people of the Colony might acquire would he the means of enabling them to do good in their generation. He was glad to see that the meeting was now a crowded one, for he saw that - political life was not at an end in the County of Bruce. A vote of thanks to the Chairman brought the meeting to, a close,.