THE CAVERSHAM ELECTION.

Evening Star, Issue 2954, 7 August 1872, Page 2

THE CAVERSHAM ELECTION.

Mr Robert Stout, one of the candidates for the representation of Oaversham in the Provincial Council, addressed the electors there last evening, in the drill-shed. Considering the weather there was a largo attendance, and Mr R, Rutherford occupied the chair. Mr Stout commenced his address by referring to the retirement of Mr Cantrell, which he regretted very much. 1 he district could not have been better represented, for Mr Cantrell, though he did not make long speeches, always voted conscientiously for what he believed to be the best interests of the Provinces He hoped to see Mr Cantrell soon restored to health and again seeking the suffrages of the electors. One question might be asked him (Mr Stout) —Why he, a resident of Dunedin, should seek to represent Caversham. In answer, he would say in about three weeks he should be an elector of the district, for he was on the new roll; and he thought so far he hud some claim for their suffrages. He might also state that he came forward at the request of many who were no doubt present. The first question a Provincial Council candidate should ask himself, or invite the electors to discuss, was—What should the duty of a Provincial Council be ? The time of Provincial Councils and of the General Assembly had been frittered away, and a vast deal of political energy had been wasted in discussing the vexed question of Centralism v. Provincialism, while many questions of greater importance had been ignored. He believed that there were a great many things with which Provincial Councils ought not to meddle. He did not think it necessary for them to have nine or ten law-mak-ing bodies for New Zealand. He would confine the 'legislation of Provincial Councils purely to making necessary bye-laws, leaving it to the Assembly to look after what might be germed the general legislation of the country. But there were a great many things which the General Government were seeking to control which could be managed better and more efficiently by Provincial Counoils. He would therefore not advocate the lessening in any degree of the control of Provincial Councils over purely local matters, believing as he did, that there were many matters of administration which Provincial Councils could carry out much better than could any people resident in Wellington. It had been urged against the Provinces that they could not manage immigration and public works so well as the General Government. He would like to point out what had been the result of General Government interference. He would take first the immigration proposals, brought out with so much eclat by the General Government, and see what had been the result. The net result of I)r Featherstou’s mission to England, so far as Otago was concerned, was this—that the continuous stream of immigrants here had been suddenly stopped, and immigration to the Colony retarded. There w r as no longer any immigration, so far as Glasgow was concern-d. Dr Feathorston had thought it would be much cheaper to contract with a Loudon firm, overlooking the cost of passage from Glasgow to London He (Mr Stout) agreed that the Colony as a tie d for immigration should be open to people fro n all parts of the world, and he certainly did not see why the claims of Glasgow should be ignored. If Dr Featherston had been anxious to do so, no doubt he could have made terms as advantageous with Glasgow' shipowners as with shipowners at other places ; and it should not be forgotten that Glasgow was not only the commercial capital of Scotland, but also the most convenient port for immigrants from the North of Ire-

land, except, of course, a vessel were sent Belfast. But that was not Dr Featherstou’s only weak point. Agents had been sent home to him. In fact, he had got so many that he did not know what to do with them, [Mr Stout here discussed the appointments of Messrs Friberg, Birch, Seaton, the Rev. Mr Barclay, &c.j These facts showed that if the Province did not manage the immigration business well, it had been managed very ill since it had been taken out of its hands. He next referred to the Brogden contracts, which he said were most injurious to the Colony. M. Brogden’s commission on plant, the arrangement between him and the Government as to the introduction of immigrants, and Mr Waterhouse’s speech in the legislative Council re the Auckland and Mercer railway were dwelt upon; after which Mr Strait said he referred to those questions of immigration and railway construction, not for the purpose so much of finding fault with the General Government as of pointing out that the General Government might make 'mistakes in managing public works as readily as—in fact more readily than—local administration He now came to some matters regarding which Provincial Councils might reasonably claim to be allowed to have a voice. A question had been recently mooted regarding special settlements, and with it he concurred, because he considered there was danger in looking to agricultural and pastoral pursuits as the sole productive pursuits of the Colony. If the Colony was to go a-head. we should do all we could to dcvelope the other resources nature had bestowed upon us so lavishly in this part of New Zealand ; and he believed that that could only be done wisely by founding special settlements in one part of the Colony. Take fish,' for example. —(Laughter.) We were importing a great quantity of fish ; and, if by founding special settlements along our coasts, even in Stewart’s Island, we could establish an industry which would not only supply our own markets, but furnish return cargoes for despatch to Mauritius and elsewhere, a great deal of good would be done so far as this country was concerned. The more industries we could create, the better it would be for us. He communicated long ago what he thought would be a feasible scheme; the Superintendent concurred with what he said, and the matter would have been carried out had not Dr Featherston thought it better to ignore Otago altogether. Coming to the land question, He (Mr Stout) might say that he had not seen any reason to change his opinions regarding it. He did not think we could do beeter than leave legislation in regard to that matter to the Provincial Council, hence the reason why he tried to get the Hundreds Act repealed. However, that matter was likely to be soon settle!, because it was probable that the Bill now before the Assembly would become law. He had advocated, with his voice and pen, the system of deferred payments. If the last penny vere screwed out of a man in purchasing, by charging him a high price for his land, or in any other way, he was not likely to be a very successful farmer ; not unlikely, in fact, would he be to get into the hands of his (Mr Stout’s) friend, Mr Leary. - (Laughter.) He (Mr Stout) was strongly opposed to the alienation of land in large blocks. There was a tendency—open to grave objectionmanifested in Provincial Councils, and especially in the General Assembly, to increase their government functions—looking to the Government to do everything for the people, instead of looking to local administration. Mr Mill wrote a passage in his work on “Liberty” which he thought very apt, and ought to be continually kept in mind. It was to the following effect“ If you increase the functions of Government—if you look to Government to do everything for you—you are simply destroying the liberty of the subject, and aiding the establishment of the cruellest tyranny and worst system of taxation.” There was another practice becoming very common in New Zealand. As soon as a politician did anything to aid a Ministry, or became troublesome, he was pensioned off with a public office—a system of Ministerial gratitude he might call it. He was glad to see that in America—where there had been too much of this sys tern —both Democrats and Republicans were determinedly opposing it. He found, by a recent American paper, that the Philadelphian Convention had agreed to the following resolution, which he hoped to see carried out in New Zealand : —“ Any system of civil service under which subordinate positions of the Government are considered rewards for mere party zeal is fatally demoralising, and we therefore favor a reform of the system, by laws which shall abolish the evils of patronage, and make honesty, efficiency, and fidelity the qualifications for public position, without creating life tenures of office.” Now he was sure that if any unprejudiced person would simply take up the New Zealand Gazette of the 24th May, and go over the list of officers in the General and Provincial Government services, he could not fail to be struck with the fact that there were a great many persons who had been appointed to offices under the Government, not for their fitness, nor yet for their ability to discharge the duties, but simply to pay them for favors already received by the political party in power. There was another question which had been termed a ticklish one—that was the education question. He thought he should know something about it, having been engaged in teaching ‘about nine years, both here and at home. His opinion upon eduoatioe was simply this : So long as the State interfered with education, it should have nothing at all to do with religion ; because, if they introduced ths denominatlol system of education into New Zealand, they would only be injuring the people of the Colony by forcing them to pay more money in the shape of taxes—making them establish three or four schools where one would be sufficient—and they would be rearing up children by different modes—under a sys;em of hatred and ill-will,-(Heai.) He should oppose—and had oppo.e I—and would never cease to oppose any system of education having for its object the establishment of denominational schools. He was strongly in favor of a national and unsectariau system of education ; yeb he must say that some iu Otago had made too much of this matter. He thought they were wasting thc-ir energy upon it, as they had upon the question of Provincialism v. Centralism. He believed the people themselves had sufficient common sense to see that education was absolutely necessary, and it was bound to be looked after. There was only another matter in regard to education to which he desired to refer. He thought that the principal question was not about sectarian or denominational schools, or unsectariau and undenominational schools ; the great aim should be to get good schoolmasters. If the services of good schoolmasters were obtained, there would be good schools ; the children would be well trained, the parents would be satis.

fied, and there would be no hitch, in fact, in the education machinery. If half as much time had been devoted to getting good schoolmasters as had been spent in connection with the aided clauses and other matters, more good would have been done for education than either the Council or Assembly could do for it. A cry had been raised because some of the Otago people did not shine in connection with the New Zealand University, and it had been said therefore that our education system was faulty. That was a grave mistake, for this reason : It was previously urged that we should aim at imparting a good, practical, English education, and not so much a classical education—because there were so few here who required the latter in late years. No doubt, if a classical education was required, the High School staff was competent enough to give it; but if a commercial or English education was required they could not expect to get a classical education at the same time. Referring to personal matters, he urged that so long as the Provincial Council had laws to make it would not be injurious to the Council nor to the Caversham district that lawyers should be asked to assist in making those laws. As showing the advisability ef asking those lawyers to take part in the making of laws, Mr Stout directed attention to what he called the absurd provisions which were to be found in the Impounding Ordinance and the Road Boards Ordinance. In this election his religious convictions had been already canvassed. He was not ashamed of them ; but considered that when lie simply appeared before them as a candidate for political office, they had nothing to do with them. It was mean and cowardly for men to go behind hia back and spread reports throughout the district as to his religious convictions. He appealed to the electors to put it down, because of the evil it would lead to. He asked them to canvass his political career; if they could justly tay that he had been inconsistent, or that when in the minority he toadied to the majority, they should not elect him. Much as he might wish to represent the district of Caversham in the Provincial Council, the consideration of the high honor, as he considered it would be, to be elected to represent a district in which he did not reside, would not induce him to change his opinions. In fact, he considered he should be acting a mean, dishonest part, if ho gave expression to views in which he did not believe merely to please the electors. If he should be returned to the Provincial Council, he wpuld do hia best for the Province in general, not overlooking the interests of the Caversham constituency.

Mr R. H. Leary moved, and Mr Fish seconded, a vote of thanks to Mr Stout for his address; and in acknowledging the vote, which was carried unanimously, Mr Stout said he was just as well pleased that the electors should not be asked to pledge them-; selves to any one candidate before they had heard the others.