CAPTAIN RUSSELL'S ADDRESS.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3204, 5 October 1881, Page 2

CAPTAIN RUSSELL'S ADDRESS.

Captain Russell, M.H.R., addressed a very largely attended meeting of the electors of Napier last night at the Theatre' Hii Woilshijj the Mayor was iri the" chair. In introducing Captain Russell to the meeting his Worship said he hoped he would receive a fair and impartial bearing, so that y~ the electors might be able to understaifl/ the present position of affairs. Captain Russell, on rising, was received with considerable applause. He commenced by referring to the. result of the Triennial Parliaments Bill, which was to send back to their constituents all the members after last session. He had told them on a previous occasion that he did not believe triennial parliaments .wbuld ariswer the anticipations of many of its. suppdrterS; He had alsd told them he did not think it a really liberal measure, and did not agree with it, but still he considered it his duty to bow to the will of the majority and vote for it. He hoped that the bills introduced last session having reference to the regulation of elections and the prevention of bribery and corruption would strengthen the hands of the advocates of triennial parliaments; but up to the present time the bill had been anything but successful. (A voice': Two to one on Sutton. Captain RusSell j All fight; I'll take 1 you after' the' rtiße'titig is over.) He went on to refer to the bills passed last session, the most important of which were the Licensing Bill, the Gaming and Lotteries Bill, and the Chinese Immigrants Bill. (Loud laughter.) He was glad to be able to inform them that he had fulfilled the promise he had made at his last meeting to support the latter bill. There was also the Property Assessment Bill, wliiph he yrptild hot then 1 refer to. The Licensing Bill caused a fearful amount of debating. The. election of licensing benches waß one of tho chief features of the bill, which enabled the people themselves to decide who should sit on the licensing bench (Applause.) He nexfc referred to the G-aming and Lotteries Bill, by which it was actually proposed not to allow a man to make a bet and note it in hig, pocket-book. He had tried to modify absurd proposal as much as he could. The Corrupt Practices Prevention Bill, he hoped, would have the effect of lessening the expenses of candidates at the coming election. He had been told he would be closely watched, and that strong endeavors wbuld be made to upset his election if he did not keep within the limits of the bill, but he would strive to avoid that, and he had also instructed those working for him not to do anything coming within the prohibitory clauses of the bill. (Hear,, hear.) The Regulation of Elections Bill clause providing that the poll was to be kept open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. which would enable the artizan clasß to record their votes without interfering with their work. The Chinese Immigrants Bill provided that no vessel Bhould bring more than a certain number of chinamen in proportion to the tonnage of the vessel carrying them, and a poll-tax had also to be paid by every Chinaman on landing in the colony. He might say in connection with this bill that one of the most pleasing things in his political career was that he had been able to dispel the cries raised against himself about the Chinese. He had given an unqualified denial to the libels cast upon him in reference to that question during the last election. The Property Tax Assessment Bill was also a measure of great importance j by that bill property to the amount of £11,000,000 of money held by people outside the colony, would be subject to the same taxation as the property held by those residing in the colony, and by this means, supposing the tax to be a penny in the pound as at present was the. case, no less than £45,000 woisld be added to the Treasury. He next went on to refer to Mr Ormond's no-confidence motion of last session in connection with the scheme ©rX local government brought in by the Ministry, the Crown and Native Lands Rating Bill. He considered the Ministry very injudicious in dropping the Crown and Native Lands Bill after the second reading. The bill was in many respects a good one, though to some extent it was faulty. Under it Crown and native lands within towns would he valued at £30 per acre, agricultural land at 20s an acre and pastoral land at 6s 8d an acre. To show the absurdity of this proposal he might say that quarter-acre sections in small country townships frequently sold for £30, but that Crown and native lands within such a borough as Napier Bhould be valued at the same rate was altogether absurd. He was strongly of opinion that all Government property should be subject to rates the same as private pro-, perty. as it benefitted equally from th* expenditure of rates. Take for examphj}" * the town of Napier, which had a railway station towards which led several main roads. There was heavy traffic'on these roads, making them very expensive to keep in repair, and although this traffic was mainly caused through the station being ithere, the people in the borough had to keep the roads in good order. He regretted that the .bill was dropped because it affirmed the principle that Government and native lands should be rated, and in committee it might have been put into fairly workable form. He next referred to the Roads Construction Bill which he considei'ed one of the best local government measures introduced into the House. A sum of £50,000 a year was to be taken out of the loan for three years and expended in opening up roads in lands for sale but which had not been sold. By this means intending purchasers would be able to take up blocks cf land without thfiV difficulties usually attending the occupation" of new country having no means of access. There was also a scheme by which £150,000 was to be taken from the loan and another £159,000 from the land fund, and invested in a board of trustees. Thus £300,000 would have been available for the making of main roads where they _ were urgently needed. This was a vast improvement on the plan of giving 20 per cent of the land T fund back to the localities in which it was raised in addition to subsidies. Ho would instance the Patea road, to show |how it would have affected Hawke's Bay. The Patea trade in wool was now a very considerable one, and it was of the greatest importance to Napier that they should secure that trade. (Applause.) The West Coast settlers also wanted to secure it. His colleague and himself with Mr Studhol me had waited on the Minister for Public Works, and got a vote of £2000 put on the estimates for the the Patearoad, but thpt was not sufficient to get into Patea. If the Roads Construction Bill had passed the County Council could have got £4000 to complete, the road, and the county would only have been called on to pay £100 a year for ten years.. Captam Russell then referred to the advantages which would have been derived by Road Boards by the passing of the Roads Construction Bill. Any Road Board requiring money for bridge or other important work might have applied for a loan, which would have beenT met by the payment of £100,000 over to the same board of trustees and and the £100,000 was to be borrowed from the Public Debt Commissioners or savings bank accumulations. In cases where a Road Board required a special work it could have borrowed the money at 3 per cent, interest making half-yearly repayments, so that if a district borrowed £500 for the purpose o£ erecting a bridge the loan would be paid in half-yearly instalments of £45, until the whole was repaid. A had been heard lately, both in the House and the country, to the effect thai' some radical change in the system of local government was required. He did not agree with that opinion. Local government did not consist simply in municipalities, counties and roaflN districts. The Education Boards, the Harbor Boards, the Waste Lands Boards, and Hospital Boards, all dealt with the local questions, and were all dealt with, locally except the administration of the waste lands. He would ask those .who urged that we should have some distinct form of local government to bear in mind • that sohool

committees were elected by multiple voting, and the committees also elected the boarJs by multiple voting, which was altogether different from any other election. The County Councils and Road Boards generally consisted ,of nien haying considerable pro•ber'ty iri the district, arid it would be agreed by all that where prdrJe'rty was, ratpd those administering the rates should be" elected by those paying them. The question of the administration of waste lands had been gone into at such length by his colleague Mr Sutton the previous evening that he would not detain the meeting by going into it in detail on the present occasion. He would frankly admit that he agreed with much of what was said by his colleague on that subject. The wasfco lands, he considered, Should be placed, in the hands of the people, •who we're ditfectiy interested in administering them. He went on to say that under the existing system it was possible for two or more counties to amalgamate, or if it were thought desirable a county could be sub-divided. He did not cay that the system was perfect, but neither the House of Representatives nor any other body of men could perfect a constitution suitable to the wants of a growing country. He would carefully weigh any scheme of Ideal self government that might bo brought trp\ arid would to the! best of his ability make such modifications as were suitable to existing circumstances. (Loud applause.) He considered a great mistake had been made many years ago by repealing the New Provinces Act. Had that Act not been repealed there would have been no necessity for county government at all. It was repealed by Mr Macandrew, a thorough going protincialist. There was no doubt the_ large provinces had been an absolute evil .in the colony, as the Superintendents of these provinces possessed such power in Parliament that it was impossible to put a stop to their extortions. Had the New Provinces Act remained in force the district north of Auckland would have seceded from Auckland and Poverty Bay, and Tauranga would doubtless have done the same thing. Wanganui would have seceded from Wellington and so on throughout the colony. He believed the feeling which brought about the destruction of the provinces and the passing of the Counties A.cfc Would have been amply satisfied, and all that Would hare been necessary would have been to take legislative powers from the provinces. There was another important subject _ upon ■which he wished to say something j if not 10 interesting, it was more important than personalities. He alluded to the Representation Bill. His conduct in reference to that bill had been challenged by his colleague, but he still thought he had taken a course for the good of the district he represented. Under the bill there would be 91 European and 4 Maori members ; under the old bill there were 84 Europeans and 4 Maoris. The new bill gave ono representative to 6537 votes in towns, and to 4903 in the country. He did not think that population should be the sole basis of representation ; if it was so, was not a town voter as good as a country one? Then why make the difference? He did not object to an increase in the number of representatives ; it was true it would increase the expenses, but that was not a sufficient argument. An inoreasod representation would reduce the speaking power of the House. Few members had the pluck to be silent, and if a member were asked why he repeated what others had said he would reply that he was speaking to his constituents. If there were a greater number of members in the House the talking in the House would decrease. It had been stated on the previous night that he had given no notice of his intention to oppose the Representation Bill. (Hear, hear.) He thought he knew the voice that cried "hear, hear." He would ask the gentleman if he remembered a caucus held in Wellington at which tbe bill was referred to. (Mr Sutton: Yes.) Then he would perhaps remember that he (Captain Russell) said at that caucus that he would oppose the bill on account of the injustice proposed to be done to the North Island. He would repeat that he did not think that population should be the sole basis of representation. In the country districts there was not the same active political life as in towns. That was seen from the ease with which it was possible to get an audience to listen to political matters in a town. Wellington had three members —exactly the same number as the whole of Hawke's Bay, and it was proposed to give it one more. There were eight members in the House who resided in and whose interests were identified with Wellington. There were also eleven members of the Legislative Council residing in Wellington, thus making nineteen in all, and the additional member would make twenty. The bill was injurious to the North Island because Otago and Canterbury would tinder it return 45 members, while the other seven districts in the colony only returned 46. The result would be that the expenditure of the loan which was about to be raised would be absolutely controlled by these two provinces. These provinces had public works which they were anxious to nave done ; these would be pushed forward, and the other provinces which were divided would be powerless in opposition. It was perfectly well known that public money would be expended where the voting power was, and the result of the passing of this bill would be that the Otago central railway, and the Christchurch and Hokitika railway, would be carried through, and tho whole colony would have to pay the interest upon the money expended. Another reason against the alteration proposed was that in the North Island there was a population of 235,268, including Maoris ; this, divided by 37, gave a quota of 6300 for' each representative. The quota proposed was 4903. The population in the South Island was 290,000, which, divided by the representatives, gave 5700 for each representative. Thus the North Island would be placed in a much worse position than at present. He thought, to avert the placing the balance of power in these two districts, almost any course would he justifiable. He knew that he would be charged with a desire to secure the Maori vote, and that he had little chance of carrying the proposal to place the Maoris on the same footing as Europeans, but he believed the course to be right, and he would take the same course again. He held that the trade of a place should be taken into account in apportioning the representation. An active producing district, contributing largely to the revenue of the country, should have a proportionate roice in the House. If he was right in this, Hawke's Bay was entitled to special consideration. In 1879 the exports were stated at £370,000, and only the district of Westland did such a large trade in proportion to its population. It was said that universal .suffrage was justifiable on the ground that those who were taxed had a right to representation, and on the same principle this district had a right to representation in proportion to the taxes it paid. He might be told that Otago and Canterbury would never band together in opposition to the interest of the rest of the colony, but he need scarcely remind his hearers that there was such a thing as log-rolling. It was clear to him that the next loan would be principally spent where the voting power ■was. Immediately after the passing of the bill Mr Macandrew canvassed the House in i favor of insular seperation. In Otago in par-' tioular there was a Btrong desire to get the land fund back, and to this end they would sacrifice the best interests of the colony. Again, it was important that the educational endowments of the colony should be placed on a proper footing. Large educational endowments had been set apart in the South, and now that the work of education had been undertaken by the State, it was desirable that these endowments should revert to the Crown, and not be allocated solely to those particular districts. Yet in the proBent session three bills had been introduced absolutely vesting valuable endowments in three particular schools in different districts. These sohools had full power to elect their own governors and control their internal

affairs. They were to afford genteel education to the children of the wealthy j and valuable endowments, which belonged of right to the colony as a whole, and ought of right to be scrupulously devoted to the secondary education of thepeople generally, were being diverted as rapidly as possible to the establishment of miniature Etons and Harrows. Last night they had heard some curiotis figure's quoted in illustration of the effect of placing Maoris on the roll. So far from the European element being swamped by the Maoris, he believed that, if the course indicated had been followed, in about ten years the Maori element would fade from the House. In Hawke's Bay, including Wairoa, there were 11,573 Europeans and 1635 Maoris—a proportion of seven to one. Wairoa would have had its own member, the rest of the districts would have had four members instead of throe ; and it would be strange indeed if seven European voters would have allowed themselves to be defeated by one Maori. His colleague had objected to Maoris being allowed to vote who did not pay rates, and yet he told them he did not desire to represent barren hills, but men. Was not a Maori a man ? He was discovered to be a man when it suited a purpose. He wished to avoid personalities ; he did not think it would benefit his own cause to belittle any public man. dap'taiil Russell having read several extracts from Mr Sutton's speCeh, said, in reference to the telegram from the Napier Corporation requesting him to support a bill giving a member to Napier borough, that he was quite prepared to do, but to support a bill which gave a preponderance to the South Island he was not prepared for, and his opposition did not in any way jeopardise the chances of Napier getting a member. With regard to the charge that he did not consult Mr Stittofl as Senior member as to his intention to contest the Hawke's Bay electorate, he would recall his colleague's attention to a conversation which took "place soon after a Foresters' fete, about which time, for some reason, his friend was in disfavor with the society in question. Mr Sutton said : " What are we going to do ?" He (Captain Russell) replied : " Well, I am strongest in the country, and yon are popular in the town." To which Mr Sutton replied, " No ; I am strongest in the country, and you would have the best chance in town." He explained that the Foresters were against him, and added, " Don't let us do anything for the present; the elections are a long way off yet." Soon afterwards he (Captain Russell) found an active canvass going on in the country for Mr Sutton, and said to one of that gentleman's friends, "Hullo, Bennett, I hear you are working hard for Mr Sutton." Finding this was correct, he allowed a statement to appear in the that he would contest the country seat against all comers. Up to that time he had no intention of opposing Mr Sutton, nor of standing for the town, though he might perhaps have been induced to take the latter course. But finding that Mr Sutton intended contesting the seat, he accepted the challenge, and believed he would beat his opponent at every polling place in the district. Had Mr Sutton stood for the town he would have felt it his duty to support him, but as matters were he would probably give Mr Buchanan all the support he possibly could. As to Mr Sutton's claim on account of his County Chairmanship, if that was a good claim they might have the House composed of Chairmen of County Councils and Mayors. When his friend referred to him as representing the "upper ten" ho was shocked. It was Mr Sutton wes formerly either proposed or seconded him as being a fit and proper person to represent this constituency. He was astonished to find one who had worked with him cordially for seven years representing him as one who desired to shirk taxation. His friend claimed to represent men; whereas, as Chairman of tne County Council he was the representative of property, and property only. The majority of the electors were not ratepayers ; but county councillors were returned solely on a property qualification. As to his friend's claim of being the senior representative, he should like to have a definition of what constituted seniority. Mr Sutton appeared to think it depended on the number of votes. He would take it to mean greatest length of service, and he was ready to challenge his colleague's claim of seniority on either ground. When his friend represented the" town of Napier in the Provincial Council, he (Captain Russell) represented uninterruptedly the country district constituency for a series of years, and maintained his seat in a number of contested elections. If the men who had supported him since 1869 were still willing to continue their support, as he believed they were, he had no intention of deserting them. As to the number of votes polled, taking the electorate as it now stood, cutting off Napier and the northern districts, he had on the last occasion polled 221 votes to Mr Sutton's 219, beating him by the magnificent majority of two ; so that if there was any seniority in numbers he was entitled to claim the benefit of it. Mr Sutton had taken credit to himself for originating certain measures which had been carried into effect by the Government. Some of them he had instanced, and the rating of Crown and native lands was the first mentioned. Of all absurd things this was the most absurd. The subject had been debated years before he entered the House, and the notion that Mr Sutton was the originator of the idea was preposterous. The next point was the suggestion of the issue of the Treasury bills to be taken up by investors in the colony. He believed this scheme to be one of the most absurd ever proposed. All the interest it was proposed to pay was five per cent. It looked well to say that a man who had a £5 or a £10 note to spare should be able to invest it in Government debentures, but he would scarcely do so at 5 per cent, interest, when he could get six per cent in a savings bank or seven in a building society, and eight and nine in safe investments of other kinds. Mr Sutton also claimed to have originated the idea of using one class of stamps for all purposes, when in actual fact that system had been introduced in England by Professor Fawcett twelve months ago. He (Captain Russell) went when he was in Wellington to the Postmaster-General, and asked him whether it was not advisable to introduce that system in New Zealand, and the reply he received was, " My dear fellow, what are you talking about ? That has already been arranged for long ago." Yet his friend Mr Sutton arrogated to himself the credit of having originated the idea ! He had given the meeting a sketch of the doings of the session, and he would now express his regret that this would be the last opportunity he would have of addressing them. He would thank them for the attention which they had given him on every occasion upon which he had addressed them. When he heard the rain coming down last night he said to himself, "Sutton, the heavens are weeping for you," and when he awoke that morning and saw the sun shining he said " Russell, what a glorious omen for you." He would say, in conclusion, that they might get a better member, hut they could not get one who would work more earnestly for their welfare than he had done. It would always give him pleasure to work for their interest, and he would always remember that, whether geographically, commercially, or politically, Napier was the Jcentre of Hawke's Bay. Captain Russell sat down amidst loud cheers. _ Mr Swan desired to ask Captain Russell a question in reference to the Napier harbor. Hi wished to elicit Captain Russell's opinion arjout a breakwater at the Bluff, as against a harbor at the Kidnappers. Captain Russell said it was a matter which raised many issues. His preference would be for Napier as against the Kidnappers, if the scheme was as feasible and as cheap as a harbor at the Kidnappers. Mr Swan wished to ask another question. It was in reference to the Meanee reserve. A petition had been signed by 1500 persons in favor of the reserve being vested in the Napier Corporation, and he would ask

Captain Russell why the reserve had not been so vested.

Captain Russell said it was through his efforts that the Mayor had been put upon the Board. He had gone into the matter carefully, and found that ifc was the opinion of the Law Officers of the Crown that the reserve could only be vested in the Jockey Club. Any private person could enter an action and try the matter in the law courts, and no doubt the - Government would give assistance to have the matter settled. At present the matter was hung up in consequence of the opinion of the law officers. Mr Leonard moved a vote of thanks to Captain Russell. Mr dwan seconded the motion, although he wished it to be understood that, in passing this vote, they were not endorsing anything their members had done, in fact they had done nothing for Napier. The motion was passed. Captain Russell moved a vote of thanks to the Mayor for presiding, and the meeting terminated.