MR T. TANNER AT WAIPAWA.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 4045, 9 July 1884, Page 4

MR T. TANNER AT WAIPAWA.

Mr T. Tanner addressed the electors of Waipawa in the Oddfellows' Hall last evening. There was a crowded attendance, Mr McGreevy in the chair. The Chairman briefly introduced tho candidate, and said he had done as much to improve the condition of working men in the district as any man he know. Mr Tanner in benefiting himself, had also benefited others, and ho asked for a fair and impartial hearing for him. Mr Tanner, on rising, waa received with loud cheers. He said it was with grant pleasure he had come there to address them on the questions of the day, in which they must feel deeply interested. They might think it curious that, as he had advertised he would speak first at Waipawa, as being the centre of the district, he should have spoken last night at Kaikora. That was done in answer to the earnest solicitation of some friends there, who thought they might not have an opportunity of hearing his opinions without going to a great deal of trouble, and he considered it was the duty of the candidate to take trouble and not the electors. They were put in. an unfortunato position by the sudden dissolution; it was an unfortunate position for the new candidates, and the old members had not been slow to avail themselves of such an advantage, and adopt the old saying that all was fair in love and war. It was said that some members were in favor of the sudden disso - lution, as it would be much in favor of their retaining their seats, they would be safe to return if they got a dissolution at once. That was a plan he could only stigmatise as political corruption, for men who devoted themselves to tho affairs of the country should not make it of pre-eminent importance whether they were returned or not. It was a difficulty to which representative institutions were liable.. The session only lasted eleven working days, and yet those who had the power to vote sums of money took very good care to vote money _ for themselves to assist them in thcr electioneering. He said, with groat distinctness, the men who did so were not deserving of tho suffrages of any electorate. That brought him at once to the question of the honorarium, and it was a question which was exercising the minds of most mon by the unusual course which the Opposition took on that subject. Ho was afraid it had dono the greatLiueralpartya'deal of harm, though with their views ho. had a great deal of sympathy, and many things in common. When they saw the Liberals voting to themselves such au amount for so littlo work, they could only come to the conclusion that their' liberality was for themselves. There was no such thing as Liberalism and Conservatism in the Lower House. The parties were so mixed up that they could not be defined by such terms. Major Atkinson, the Premier of the Continuous Ministry, ho should say was the greatest Radical in the House. He was a man fond of taking tho wind out of Sir George Grey's sails, and when ho brought in bills for manhood suffrage and triennial Parliaments he claimed Sir George Grey's vote, because he had initiated them, but tho latter would not vote for- them under Major Atkinson. There was a feeling of general progress, and there should be one of general desire for the best interests of the country, and he hoped when they got tho new Parliament that men would devote themselves to get the country out of its difficulties rather than siding with this party or that. THE HONORARIUM ' A late speaker, when asked his views on this question, said certainly he was in favor of the honorarium, it was a working man's privilege. He would like to see the working man who would not be satisfied with less than two hundred guineas. The workin" - mari should be put on the same level as the 'man of property, so that a man of ability and with the confidence of the electors should not be debarred from representing them by pecuniary reasoria. There should be sufficient honorarium to pay a man's expenses, and he thought £100 was sufficient for a-man's expenses during a

session, which seldom lasted more than one _hundrod days. A workmgjnan who couhi riot'live bilT'one pound* per day would be a curiosity. The other £110 was voted out of the taxpayers' pockets, and; when the country was in a depressed state, as at present, and when the leaders were looking round to see; how they- could reduce expenditure, members might begin with themselves and thus show their sincerity. Let them consider how "tho present depression in the country was brought about, and how it might be relieved. One of the causes of the depression in the country was the extremely, low price of the- produce of' the colon)-, such as the wool, the grain, aud : the carcasses, which were the three chief products. Some two or three years, when the grain market was in a more flourishing condition than at present, there were enormous quantities of grain grown down South, and money w;as available for expenditure and for further breaking, up and improvement. ~Now the grain trade had fallen so low that it was doubtful if it paid men to cultivate. That of itself was enough to. cause depression. The consequence was the labor'was not employed, and men had not the some spending power. Another cause was the'great drain 'of capital of money from the country in the shape of' interest upon public loans, amounting to' £1,500,000 per annum, on private loans amounting to about the same, .and there was in addition the money that went Homo, a largo amount, some two or two and a half millions, for luxuries in the shape of wines,-spirits, beer, and tobacco, thus '-'altogether making fivo millions of money. When they considered theso five millions were being drained annually out of a country that only numbered half a million of people, they could see at one© it was a severe -drain on their .resources, and: that money was going to enrich the old coun try. - : Unless the produce .brought.back to, thp country the money it was being constantly drained, of, there must be a veiy diminished" supply for working purposes. That .was natural. It was a v.cry simple experiment, if they went on draining and did not supply, they would soori come to an empty vessel,/ arid they had to take into consideration tho reiriedies proposed. The country' should endeavor by :public and private e'conoihy to reduce the ■'.'' "! -'' GEEAT EXPENhITUEE '-..',,.. they had "been indulging iri: That.'expenditure had been commenced"when' the country was prosperous." A country or an individual that'gave way' to extravagant habits found itdifficnlf/ to' giveup those luxurious habits.. A private. T-riian if die': found his incomes reduced would r reduce. his expenditure. ' The country should: do the? same, and he hoped some one would take tho lead in the matter, who had.a thorough knowledge of finance, and a deep interest in the countryj .someone- would come to the front to show-them tho best way out of its present difficulties.: : There were many ways in which they could havo retrenchment. If they noticed as he had done as a member of the Chamber of Commerce the different appropriations of the loan, they would see appropriations for' .buildings much, beyond what the' country in its depressed state was entitled to vote. There was £200,000 voted for puhlicbuildings arid it was not necessary' that such an ambunt should be expended in public buildings or that they should bo made in"''such' s an elaborate way as they had .been : in tho ' past and then cry out there \vas- a- la'clc of means, and yet never once diminish their expenditure. They must have beautiful buildings with parapets as in the Customs House-building, iv Wellington costing £35,000, that was quite unnecessary. Enormous sums-had been expended at .Dunedin on , the Public Works account, What they wanted to see was men who would do what was necessary, without going into extravagance of that sort when they said they did not know where to look for finances to carry on the country. In "Civil Service reform there was a way in which retrenchment could .be made by amalgamating offices. Not as was dono before by reducing wages by ten per cent, that was a false move which the country soon saw, but by reasonable retrenchment which wonld not impair the efficiency of the service of the country but rather improve it. • Some time ago there was a "Civil servant for every thirteen of the population. The Civil Service was large enough and strong enough for five times the population: they had and could do tho work. There was another ground for retrenchment with such a small'

population, th by required of a Civil Service than they had to do the work of; the country.' There was still another way to which they were bound to , bring their : minds, to stop at' all events for a time any further loans: It -was all very well to say if ■ they put a stop to loans it would cause further depression, but they would not stop at once. : Let them take the trunk lines of railway in thatisland, they must be completed The trunk line from Wellington to Auckland had a million voted to the completion of that trunk line, and the extension must be gone on with, but beyond that he said it was wise for them to refuse to borrow further, for every million borrowed meant an annual drain for interest of £50,000 a year, which was a large sum when they considered the smallness of the population. So he thought that public bodies—a country—a Government should act in the same way as a private individual. A private individual going on borrowed capital improving his property, finding the returns would not warrant any further loan, would, if a wise mari, cease borrowing for a time until he saw his way clear to go further into loans aud expenditure, and a public body should act on the same principle as the private man of sound business knowledge- and principle. There was another way to look at the question, was the country producing as much as it' could be made to produce—the settled portions of it. Largo sums of money were going out every year for the importation of articles which .they were not producing themselves. England's wealth came from malting all the things she consumed. England's wealth was made by her manufactures, and every country that was great and wealthy must devote itself to industries and manufactures, that even if they couldnotgctand export them thoy wouldkcep the money raised by the workers of the soil circulating in the place instead of being drained out of it. He could not fix their attention too much on that point. . They i must devote . themselves .to supporting industries .in the country, developing the resources of the country, and so keep the money circulating among themselves, instead of going out of the country, and' going to those who were more industrious, who made the goods and send them to them. He wished those remarks brought homo to the women, so that they would assist their husbands in patronising local industries, instead of buying an imported article, if they would encourage the localmade articles, either boots or shoes or whatever it might be, they would encourage the local worker. The effect of that would bo the local manufacturer of local goods consumed by the people themselves, would soon be able to employ such labor and sell their wares at such a price that would put the imported article out of the market. But if anyone had tho :deas that nothing could be g-ood except it came from the old country so long would they find the drain increased, and local industries would languish and die. They must look to themselves instead of looking, to protection to foster industries, they, had it in their own hands, and the only legitimate protection was what they would accord to the local makers by insisting on having their goods, and when they Avent to shops enquire for New Zealand woollen ..goods, or boots, or shoes, or shirts, and it would make a wonderful difference, and the money which drained.out for those things they would have to circulate amongst themselves. They should encourage cheese factories by every moans in their power. They had got a fine country for milk and butter, and there was no reason why thoy should not have cheese factories.in their midst, a market for tho milk, and a source of wealth to the small farmer, a rapid market for him, and which would help him in his struggle for life. There was another thing, sugar and sugar beet. People thought it a very expensive one. If thoy could find the soil—■ and the flats would produce sugar beet of the best quality, which would assist in the fattening of the stock, and a factory would give eighteen shillings a ton for- their beetroot; .they would get the offal back to feed the stock,.- wliich would assist their grazing. He believed this sugar : industry would bo a successful one if tried here. Men were diffident about trying; an experiment, but as the country went on,..it should not bo behind other countries .in endeavoring to do what could be done elsewhere, and so with hops, they ■would find them become a. lai-ge source of revenue. Then again there was fruit. Thousands of .pounds wont to California, Victoria and Tasmania for.fruits and jams. Why should uot those things bo grown here ? Why should not a man set apart on hir) farm uuiicro for that sort of thing, instead of being - content to buy fruit imported from other countries ? It was a shame,.with the fine soil and climate, men should not devote themselves to the keeping of that money in the country, i'here was no royal road out of difficulties ; they had to look them sternly in the face, and much depended upon the people of tho country, whether they extricated themselves from the position. Their wives and children could help iri sericulture. They could have a little plot of ground with mulberry trees, that would yield a few pounds. By every man doing a little it was astonishing what a : deal of wealth • could bo - produced, and kept circulating, in tho country.