Mr John Stevens at Bulls

Feilding Star, Volume IX, Issue 33, 3 September 1887, Page 2

Mr John Stevens at Bulls

Stevensf^ad a good mooting at -Bulls on We^esday night to hear his irsp address^ ; H£ commenced by a^eepmgi &wtis cerj^itt^insinuafaons which haa been made ag|iast him to the effect there hacL-been collusion between himself and Mr Ballance in ■oonftectiQi^witktto--Wakna«a<y-€i>nd Purchase. He explained the whole transaction) which v^as perfectly legitimate from beginning to end. The come to^wasthat ha*toiild have ,this. 2o\ an acre for every aero thai; could be acquired along the Central line v Mr Ballance made no arrangement as to price,. but k>ld him I that was a matter to be fixed, or rather recpmmended, by Mr T. W. Lewis, of i the.^Native Department^ ' ; who ■ was to Jbe in! Wanganiu in the course of a'few <|ajß aiter the interview,. Mr Lewis having authority to fix the,priceu '?\ 3suß was the manner in which the contract was entered into, ? (Applaus^.) ;Bej ferring to bor^wed money and its results, he considered they should cease borrowing as' quickly as possiblo consistent with the due completion of the main trunk lines of New Zealand. He was opposed to the present expenditure on the Permanent Force, as they could not. afford it at present, and he thought it would 1m better to> do away with _&,; and _give; greater encouragement to the Volunteers in the towns where the batteries had to be manned. On the subject of Education, he was opposed to the State expending anything on secondary education.: He held it to be the duty of the State to see that every child was taught reading, writifrgiliind anthmetic, and got sufficient education to enable it to start in life. Anything more than that tended to swell the ranks of the unemployed, of clerks and of civil sertants. He belieredin providing" scholarships for children of exceptional ability, ' but to compel every 4iild to learn something about astronomy was a mistake. With regard to secondary education, he found thai in Canterbury and Otago there ' were hundreds of thousands of acres of land set apart, from which bj^ge reTenues were received, whiob. Were applied to education in tnose provinces alone. He considered this : unfair. Wbeu provincialism . was abolished the ' General government 'tcffitimfbi» ! whole of the liabilities, : l: arid ihej; ought to hive taken over these ateefa. The cost of primary education would hot bear so aeavily on the* colqity if they were to colonialis* the wfioto of the assets. The Sta^e was undeitaking tbj»*much; and to leered tiiat not a little of the larrikinism previleirt was due to the fa«ttn|it i» large niinaberof children ; |m not placeduhder proper tuition in their in^ncy, and for this reason he would favor eQeourag^ in^T private industry, bjuth > in pirimar^ and secondary edu<^jouv 0^ tke question of Freetra^eii^Pit^tion, l»e,waa;-a : lV»^dw'e^ v aa^<|rt.-f^ ■-■ they wanted 'Freetrade, they -- have federation of the whole ttivi^w v world with which commerce B^gljyt mI ; interchanged. H they had^iiskHp^ : change of commerce with any cougtry ' and the imports were admitted freest© • -• each country, that, to Mr Stevens 4 mind, was Freetrade. He next re^ f erred to the Native question. He held these was only*" one solution to tKe difficulty under wMchl tLe colony ! had labored so many years ; it Was to treat the Natives just as they would Europeans, give them same facilities, same freedom, and same opportunities. Then, he believed, good citizens would . be made «£ them. The Natives ought to be able to dispose of their lands as they wished, with the same restrictions they would haveL with respect to areas in the ; disposal of the Crbvra; . Care should be taken to reserve sufficient land' for the /maintenance Of their families, so that tHey should! notib«b> come paupers on the Btato. It they wanted to ruin the Maori, kill him with kindness; it Wa^veiydin^ult to kill him any other way. With regard, to the Native land laws, while he gave Mr Ballance very great credit: for his honesty of purpose! and bis desire to do good, he considered the only good Mr/BaUance had done (that^ probably, . might have been his object) was to secure . the pre-emptive right of the Crown to purdhase Native land. He ■ spoke favorably of Mr Ballance's village settlement scheme. He was opposed to the Land Acquisition Bill as such Bill would be the first step to break faith with those people they had induced to purchase and settle on the land* J He Reclined absolutely to support that Bill. He would give as much inducement; tbicapital to enter the land as to labor. Qa the subject ' ef retrenchment -there was a simpla and easj way to mtrtnch thousands. He would do^ away wiA ttte : Saa Francisco service and encourage the direot service. In '■ conclusion he claimed while in the House to have fairly and honestly done his duty. Mr Stevens-^rtts in.good f orm and ' spoke well, even his Btromgestopponentf recognising the fact. Eeplying to questions is generally the weakest part of . a meeting, i>ut Mr. Stevens was quite at home in this respect, and answered the queries put to him in & manner that showed that hehadcbnsidered the matters •beforoitand. The vote of confidence ai tke conclusion o£ ;<&e" address r w,a^ acc^p^S§d bjr loud - and continued stppjausef. s '