MESSRS REYNOLDS AND BATHGATE, M.H.R.s, AT THE MASONIC HALL.

Evening Star, Issue 2807, 15 February 1872, Page 2

MESSRS REYNOLDS AND BATHGATE, M.H.R.s, AT THE MASONIC HALL.

We continue our report of Tuesday’s meeting : Mr Bathgate referred to the promises he made twelve months ago, when returned as a member for the Assembly—viz., to support retrenchment iu the public expenditure, where it could be judiciously carried out; to secure the adoption of a liberal land law for Otago ; to see that p the question of education Otago should, not he interfered with ; ’ to support a measure having for its object the protection of working men in the matter of contracts ; and to support reproductive expenditure for the promotion of railways. The session had passed, and he met them boldly and fearlessly, as he conscientiously believed that he had faithfully performed ail his pledges. He also believed that when be gave thetp au open, candid, honest account

of bis stewardship, he should meet with a generous verdict. On his arrival in Wei* lington he sought an interview with the leading Canterbury members, to see if the connection which should exist between Otago and Canterbury could not be strengthened for the common interests of the two Pro* vinces. The overtures he made were exceedingly well received—the truth of what he said was admitted; but the sequel showed that whilst those gentlemen were quite willing to admit the fairness of what he stated, they [ referred to limit their efforts to further the interests of their own special Province. Ten days after the delivery of the Financial Statement—the ability with which, whether agreed with or not, it was prepared and laid before the General Assembly must be recognised—Mr Creighton, of Auckland, Without first communicating with any other member, so far as could be ascertained, moved that the expenditure of the Colony be reduced by L 50.000. Having promised to c irry out retrenchment, he stated he was prepared to support the motion, not from a mere spirit of factious opposition to the Government, but because he was certain that L 50.000 could be saved. The Government accepted the motion as one of want of confidence, and on a division the vote was 43 to 15, and he was oua of the fifteen. The fifteen who voted for the redaction were afterwards invited to attend a caucus meeting, and then it was found that one or two had given their adhesion to the Government scheme, and it was suggested as desirable that those who supported Mr Creighton’s motion should see what could be done towards forming Her Majesty’s opposition, in order to regulate, as far as possible, the expenditure of the colony. That cerr tainly seemed to be a desirable proceeding, but he soon saw that the Opposition could not possibly do any good service. It was composed of many different elements ; there were High Churchmen ar,d Low Churchmen, aristocrats and democrats, squatters, and evea supporters of liberal land laws; in short, they were not a happy family at aIL It required a great deal of cautiou to even bring about a bond cf union ; and, finally, it was resolved that no attempt should be made to upset the Government coach. It would, of course, have been utterly useless, for a minority of fifteen, to attempt to form a government. It was decided to give the Government fair play, to watch very narrowly the public expenditure, and it was agreed to act under the leadership of Mr Stafford. Itctmichmeut being their card, he desired the meeting to note what followed. Fourdays afterwards Mr Macandrew brought forward his resolution, proposing that an effort should be made to amalgamate offices, and to cut down as much as possible ; that as regards all salaries above L4OO a-year a reduction of 25 per cent should at cnce be made. He resolved to cordially support that resolution. Where were his backers, and what the result ? It was lost by 37 to 24, and instead of all the Otago members and the whole of the so-called Opposision being found in the ranks of the retrenchment party, y s he thought they would be, to his astonishment there voted against it —Messrs Collins, Creighton, Curtis, Ingles, Rolleston, Wakefield, White; while Messre Gillies and Stafford did not vote. If those nine had supported the resolution, it would now be the law of the land. The singular proceeding of these men on that occasion was rather a staggerer to his faith. It was true Mr Creighton said he would not vote for the motion because he regarded it as a sham; but had he voted for it, he would have made it a reality. He could not understand the conduct of these gentlemen, because he held that in the altered circumstances of the Colony, with cheap liviqg, &c., persons in the enjoyment of salaries of LSOO a year and upwards could fairly stand a reduction of 25 per cent, on iheit salaries. —(Applause ) Conrng to the Appropriation Act, he moved a reduction of the vote for the Government Domain at Wellington, and there voted—ayes, 26; noes, 46 Among the noes were Messrs Curtis, White, Rolleston, and others. His faith was still further weakened. On the second reading of the Otago Laud Bill, the ayes were 29; noes, 24. Amongst the latter were Messrs Curtis, Ingles, and Rolleston. Mr Collins did not vote, and Mr Stafford reserved his opposition till the third reading. Log-rolling had been noticed from time to time; he had noticed some very respectable elderty men, who used to be members of the House, secreted in the lobbies iudefatigably buttonholing members. Those were the senators of the New Zealand University. They wanted a little job perpetrated; they wanted a peripatetic body—to be called the New Zealand University, without any local habitation or name—to be formed, and that cue of their number should be appointed registrar at a salary of L 560 a year, with other nice little pickings. He (Mr Bathgate) took the bull by the horns, and give notice of his intention to ask for leave to introduce a Bill repealing the University Act. To his astonishment there was a great row, and Mr Rolleston and sonic of his High Church friends opposed him. To their great grief he carried his point by 46 to 17 ; and among the minority were Messrs Creighton, Curtis, Gillies, Ingles, Stafford, and Rolleston. In short, it appeared as if Otago smelled very badly in the nostrils of some at least of the gentlemen whom he had mentioned. Referring then to the determined opposition shown to the Bill introduced by the Government for legalising the setting aside of reserves in the Pro vine 3 for education, hospitals, Ac., he said after that he could not stomach being associated with the Opposition any longer, and at once wrote a note to Air Stafford, about fourteen days prior to the prorogation, stating that, during the remainder of the session, he intended to vote and act independently. From what he had said, he thought it would be admitted he had kept to his programme, and persistently supported retrenchment. After describing at length the bitter opposition of Messrs Stafford, Rolleston, Collins, and others to his proposal to repeal the N. Z. University Bill, he explained that the reason he had moved that the appropriations should be extended for eighteen months, was merely to enable the next:meetin of Assembly to be held in Dunedin ; because without some such provision he did not sec how it was possible that Parliament could meet here. Instead of the question being meet on its merits, it was made the vehicle of most unmitigated abuse. Hq hoped never to hear sucH language again used. Mr Stafford made one of the strongest speeches of the session, characterising the proposition as unconstitutional, and threatening, if it was carried, that he would remain a member of the House only so long as he might be occupied in writing his resignation, At the time he (Mr Bathgate) did not know all that had taken place ; but since be ascertained that when Mr Stafford

was Prime Minister iu May 1858, lie prorogued the Assembly and rook two years supplies, and also had the s ending of one of the first loans the Colony went in for. a sum of L 150,000. It was not unconstitutional to do that then, but the provoking rart of th-’ thing was that if one man did a thing to-day which was regarded as being perfectly constitutional, and another did precisely the same a short time afterwards, his act would be characterised as highly unconstitutional. But that was not a solitary instance. A two years supply was obtained by the Prime Minister from May 1862, to June 1864 ; ami there was an appropriation on December 14, 1863, for other two years, ami Mr Stafford, a member of the Assembly at the time, did not send in his written resignation, i e left the meeting to draw their own conclusions from the facts. He thought he had shown that the opposition rust unfair and unwarranted. (Applause.) So far as Dunedin was concerned he did his best. He opposed the Bill brought into the Assembly by the Water Works Company. There was a good deal to be said on both sides. Mr .Reynolds said, fairly enough that private property should not be interfered with. He did not want to middlewith private property, but it was known that many of the present shareholders gave six or eight pounds for their ten pound shares, and it was they who made the row. He would not do a shabby thing. If a man made a bargain even to his hurt, he should Stick tq it. As Chairman of the Water Company, at the time he held that position he thought the members of that Company only held the property in trust for the community, and, if they ■were repaid the capital invested they had no right to expect moie. But sitting that as de, the view that he expressed in I'arhament was that as the Company wished to raise LIS,O'JI) additional capital, the power should he granted ; hut six years ago the citizens of Dunedin made a bargain, and authorised them to raise L 50.000, for which they might receive 20 per ' ent Then ho urged that if those men wanted L 15,000, let them have it, but t hey had no right to 20 per cent, on it. That would be L3OOO a year. He defied the most ardent supporter of the Company to gainsay what he was asserting, lb was only to guarantee DIO,OOO a year, and it was right to restrict the remaining L 1.5 000 to 10 per cent. That was hut fair play. (Cheers.) He did his best to put the City in a position to buy both the Gas .uni Water Works, and now 20 per cent need not he paid, as power was given to the Municipality to borrow LIOO.OOO for specific purposes. By that course the City would not be burdened, hut rdieved from a burden. He did lushest to secure the meeting of the Assembly in Dune Un. He much questioned whether it wonld take plac; next session ; but they would not cease agitating until it was accomplished.. He wanted the Northern members to see Otago, for as far as they were concerned, it was a myth to them—a land of glaciers and perpetual frost and snow. If they came down it would he better for the Province. He also did his best to get the Centre ctors Debts Bill passed. Mr .Steward, of Omnaru, supported him ; but to render the Bill effectual and put the working-men in a proper position, the moment a summons was taken put, he should have power to attach all iponies ip tfye hands of otbeg contracting parties. They all knew his views on education. He was one of the first to attack the denominational school clause. Ho repeated what he said before, and as far as Otago was concerned let it alone. At anyrate the people of the Province should he placed on one common platform. If he had his choice he should prefer the good old fa-hum of a chapter of the Bible being read daily in the jphool | hut if it stood in the way of a settlement of the question, he was quite willing to go in for a secular system. He said once for all, the day school was not the place to teach religion. None present acquired his knowledge of religion at school: they were taught on their mothers’ knees, or in the Sunday-school or church. He was prepared to remit instruction in religion to fathers, mothers, or those to whom it belonged properly, to give religious instruction. One word at to the future, and he had done. A great exp riment was being carried on. The Colony was committed to a scheme of unprecedented boldness and magnitude, hut from what he had seen, and froxi all experience he was convinced that money borrowed lor investment on reproductive expenditure, iu the formation of railways, was we|l ipeqt. Hp Was not afraid of pushing expenditure too far. It could not he done. Cue example was better than a bushel of argument. They would hardly believe that in 1871 the Southland Railway, in a district with only 8,000 inhabitants, was a paying concern. All the working expenses had been paid, every workman employed had received his wages. That railway was not a burden to Southland, but actuary, during the first year, there was a surplus of L 317, a thing almost unknown in railway history. The railways in Canterbury were also paying, although the tunnel cost 1/250,000. Vet they left a surplus above working expenses of 1^17,(100. He was perfectly satisfied for the government to go on with railways, provided the cost did not exceed L 5,000 a mile. The e.y perfcncc of tJae Sqiitblantj liiph/ay proved it to he the best and cheapest mode of conveyance, and it would have a most important effect in developing the country,- -(Cheers.) With regard to the future, be was of opinion parties were changing. Slowly, but surely, a democratic party has been formed. Such men as Mr Rolleston would never again have the opportunity of ruling the country. It was his firm belief that the next Assembly would be more democratic than the present. When he last addressed them, no alluded to the depression from whi hj the Colony had suffered, and stated that he thought he saw signs of daylight, and the tide of prosperity had dawned. He was glad to say that an advance had taken place in the price of wool that would add one million to the Colonial income; and, so far as the wisest merchants could see, it was likely to maintain its price for some years to come, especially since the San Francisco service had opened up communication with America. So important was this trade regarded in that country, that every effort would lie made to have the duty reduced, and then thorp y/onld be a large export from Nety Zealand. ‘ l't wqs impossible tluyt ijucfi large additions tp pur revenue’could" he grade without every ope lieing better off. Meat-preserving, fiix, and W any other industries wove progressing, and those could not fail to do good, If the colonists were true to themselves, and had the faith in their adopted country they ought to have, he was pirfecely satisfied the clouds that hung over it would pass rapidly away. If any had not faith in it, iu God’s name let them leave it; hut his firm belief was that those who remained would rejoice iu the sunshine of prosperity,

Mr Grant and Mr M'Laren put several questions, which were promptly and straightforwardly answered. The questions were not impoi taut. In answer to Mr Stout,

Mr Bathoate said the Ministry did not support Mr Macandrew’s motion in favor of retrenchment, nor the second reading of the Otago Laud Bill. Mr Stout and Mr Barnes spoke at some length. The resolutions passed were reported yesterday.