Mr Macarthur's Address.

Feilding Star, Volume VI, Issue 102, 12 February 1885, Page 2

Mr Macarthur's Address.

Mr D. H. Macarthur, M.H.R. for Mauawatu, addressed a meeting of his constituents in the Town Hall on Tuesday evening last. There was a good attendance. j His Worship the Mayor occupied the chair, and introduced the speaker in a few suitable remarks. j Mr Macarthur said that this was I the first time a post-sessional address ; had been delivered by him, and also i the first time they had to listen to one from their member. As long as he was thoir representative he would take care that this duty or courtesy was never omitted. He alluded at some length to the commencement of the session, and the first three weeks of chaos in political life when- Ministry after Ministry was turned out. The Stout-Vogel Ministry at first stood on sufferance. Vogel's Financial Statement, however, changed the aspect of affairs entirely. Its leading idea was the abolition of the sinking fund,- but the word " abolition " was misleading, as the fund was established by law and could not be abolished. Sir. Julius Vogel's proposal, however, enabled them to avoid the pressure of the sinking fund, and relieve the country to the extent of £244,000 a year. By this he was enabled to remit half the property-tax and still have £60,000 surplus. The speaker alluded to the statements made during the election in regard to the deficit at the end of the financial year, and pointed out that in his Financial Statement Sir Julius Yogel gave the same figures as Major Atkinson, viz., £152,112. There was a deal of debate in the House as to whether it was proper to relieve the property-tax instead of the customs, but Sir Julius Yogel was strongly opposed to the tax and believed it drives away capital from the country 1 As to the " abolition " of the sinking fund, and the manner in which it was to be accomplished. Sir Julius Yogel showed that on many of the loans they were paying sums equal to interest at from 8J per cent down to 7 per cent. They were in fact paying in more than was required to wipe off the debt, and more than the bondholders could demand. Sir Julius Yogel, in the Consolidated Stock Act, proposed to remedy this by issuing short-dated debentures to anticipate the conversion of loans into stock, and by this process, when the debenture-holder takes up stock in exchange, the sinking fund to that amount is set free. This was just the difference between Sir Julius Yogel and Major Atkinson; one would wait for and the other anticipated the conversion into stock. Mi Macarthur alluded to the policy bills in detail, and to the manner in which he had voted on them. The District Railways Bill was a scheme for buying up certain railways, aU of which, with the exception of the Rotorua, were in the South Island. In regard to some this would be a legitimate undertaking, but not in regard to others. He voted for the second reading on the ground that if the railways could be bought as bargains the country would benefit, but if in committee it could not be arranged that ligitimate undertakings were entered into he intended to vote against the BiU. It graduaUy leaked out that there was one company in which Sir Julius was concerned owed £3000, and the claim for remissiou of rates would largely relieve the company. In the case of the Duntroon railway there was some reason for relieving ratepayers, as the land had been sold to them by Government without informing them that they were liable for rates. The BiR was eventually thrown out by the Upper House, and Government were empowered to deal with the matters during the recess, but their action would require to be ratified by Parliament. The East and West Coast Railways Bill was introduced to enable a company to construct a railway across the South Island, and to aid the company by grants of land. The BiU served one useful object : it made the ministry quite safe over the Canterbury members. It was only through the Upper House that this Bill was thrown out. In the Westport and Greymouth Harbour Bills the Government guaranteed loans of £2.10,000 at 6 per cent. The royalty on coal and the railway freights rendered it certain that Government would be perfectly safe in these matters, while the improvements would benefit the colony by fostering coal mining. The Insurance Association BiU was another policy Bill. There were two divisions on this BiU. He voted for paying tho elected directors, but not for paying those nominated by Pariiament, as it would open the door to bribery. There were two private Bills to which he wished to refer. One was to amend the machinery of the Education Act by abolishing the system of cumulative voting, which often resulted in a clique getting control on a committee. Out of 350 committees written to by Mr Stewart, who introduced the BiU, 218 condemned the cumulative system under which they had themselves been elected. He supported the BiU, which was not carried, one of the arguments used against it being that if a commencement was made in alter, ing the Education Act, it might pro. oeed till its main principles were tampered with. In regard ta the Licensing Aot an amending BiU was also intro. duced, but petitions poured in from both pubUcans and Good Templars praying that no alteration be made. The Beet Root Sugar Bfll aimed to create a new. industry, but he thought the colony was unlikely to grow sugar so:cheap as it could beimported from Mauritius. The Civil List BiU provided for paying the Governor a certain sum out of the ConsoUdated Fund, and also for the appointment of an eighth -Minister, yyiz., V a Mroister of Mines. JChojce , were. seventeen members . repre. senting gold - mining constituencies, and others, with an eye to this portfoUo. It j was pointed out as a curious faot that Government managed to ruh«ioug

with one Minister less than they conld ! legaßy appoint, and yet wanted power to appoint another. The. Bill was jockeyed along till the policy Bills were made pretty Xbaie, and Yogel did not then press for a division. It was quietly dropped, but had served its purpose with vie goldfields members. On the Annexation Resolutions he had voted with Jthe Government in the proposat-te-defer the matter tiU next session. There was a great deal to be said on both' sides of the subject. In many peace matters the colonies wbuld^gainjby federation, but in war this would not be the case. Defence was an importe— fc *- question and it would have to De provided for. Sir W. Jervois estimated the cost of efficient defence at £400,Q(1 L 0 ~ ; and he thought it would be a cheap insurance. We are at the mercy of affairs over which we have no control- . Our coal mines would prove useful to an enemy's cruisers, and the whole of New Zealand might fall into foreign | hands. Mr Macarthur went on to describe the. results which would qnsttft from this and expressed his opinion " that the expenditure of £400,000 on defence would be a judicious one/ Mr Macarthur explained his action with reference to the North Island Trunk railway route, and his efforts, to hare the wishes of. the settlers in FeiHing and this district generally carried out with reference to having a thorough survey made of the Kiwitea route. On the question of the Northern Railway route he voted for and ' took some action in the direction of getting the matter referred to a committee of South Island, members. In the Special Powers Act He had arranged a ntttnoer of small mattersfor the local bodies. Mr Macatthiir * sa|& he had advocated the endowment of local bodies. A majority of the House were in favour of the proposal, and he b'oped'to seeitcatried. He fufiy agreed with MrßaVf lance in his intention to give every popfribU . encouragement to Volunteer movementj-u, He would not feel d_poeed,to vote againtt the present Ministry so far as their, , past, . policy was concerned. But— and tnei**^was a good deal in the " _dt"- ; - i they new" Eroposed a local government scheme', i_d'< c mtended to hold himself perfectly free* > The whole of the members of the Ministry, [ are residents of large cities. Theyknpw ; , nothing of the wants of the country, ,and he distrusted theorists. Wehadtoo^uct machinery already. Muiucipalbodie^'for. instance, might be left to deal with edu- ' cation and licensing matteta. If a nuin- : ber of petty bodies were created the bestmen would, not be induced to come f«K ward, as each would be unimportant. , I rlir Stout's scheme was a sort of return to, th«V provinces without legislative powers. This would not suit, as __nawatu. would* not,". for instance, submit to its road making" being carried on under direction frtrtl" Wanganui. With half a dozen exceptions" all work could be managed by the local bodies. These exceptions were: Hospitals, Charitable Aid, Sheep, Rabbits, Po iceand> Wa-te Lands. The police should be free from local influences, and remain uunderr r the central Government, and the administration of the Sheep and Rabbit Acts, should not be placed in the hands of those who might themselves be affected by them. Mr Ballance had liberal views on : the matter of dealing with waste lands) o( -' the crown, and he went with him.' Hie believed it would pay even to give away ; the land on strict, settlement conditions,, rather than let it remain' idle. Mr Ballance's idea was to put a price on this land, give back a third ol the money for,, roads, and make the buyers pay the coit' : of survey ; and associations are now being" formed to take up land nnder the new regulations. In Native matters Mr _al- ' lance had his path made smooth, by Mr : Bryce, and Mr Ballance had himself given Mr Bryce full credit for this. The statement had elevated Mr Ballance in' the opinion of the House. Mr Ballance pror posed to make a reduction of £60,000 in this department, and this was a strong card. The proposals for managing the' railways by two Boards, one in the South '' Island and one in Auckland, were scarcely satisfactory to this portion of the North Island. Inhere was a growing feeling ia-. favor of colonialising the endowments for ' secondary education, and as soon as the party were strong . enough they would have his hearty support. As to denom- ' inational education, he oould assure tbsm that in tiie present House there'waftnot the slightest chance of it .being,: introduced, even in a modified form. In reference to the Legislative Council he had on a previous occasion rooken rto abolishing the honorarium. Tbia was, however, impracticable, as the Bill to do : it would have to receive their sanction. 1 He had asked whether Government would bring in a Bill to limit the time for which Councillors should hold office, and at Dunedin Mr Stout had suggested this should be five or seven years. . However able a man might be, a time came when he was incapacitated for. publio. duties, and he would support a proposal to limit the time. Mr Macarthur concluded by thanking the meeting fer giving him such - a patient hearing, and then took his seat * amid loud applause The Chairman said Mr Macarthur would be ham>y to reply to any questions, Mr Lethbridge asked him, "What about the South Sea Scheme P" ! Mr Macarthur replied to the effect that this was looked upon by the House as a Utopian affair altogether, in fact a verit* able " South Sea bubble," and nothing of course came of it. Mr Sherwill asked if any promise waa given to the Bunnythorpe settlers, when they took up their land hatthe junction of the Gorge railway should be made there, Mr Macarthur explained that he h*. lived some promise of the kind was made, but this was by the then Provincial Government. Any such pledge oould not bind the General Government, and they had not felt under any obligation to carry it out. There being no other question, Mr Kirton moved, and Mr Gosling seconded, a hearty vote of thanks to and confidence in Mr Macarthury This was put to the meeting, and carried unanimously, fei* ' lowed by acclamation. • - A vote of thanks to the o^fM'^um oon* eluded the meeting.