Mr Macarthur, M.H.R., at Feilding

Feilding Star, Volume X, Issue 146, 15 June 1889, Page 2

Mr Macarthur, M.H.R., at Feilding

Pursuaut to notice Mr Macarthur, the member for Manawatu, addressed a meeting of tbe electors on Thursday evening, in the Assembly Rooms. Dr Moockton presided and ma.An tbe following introductory remarks*. — '' As your Mayor I have consented to preside in thi9 or any other public matter of interest to the ratepayers, but I cannot allow the opportunity to pass without expressing a very strong opinion upon the matter of viva voce addresses by either members or can didates. I wish to point out that it is opposed to the principle of the ballot. In one, the legislature protects voters in privately holding and expre&sing their opinions, while in the other they are invited personally to expose their hearts on their slievea, and by applause, abuse, show of hands, &c, controvert the intention of the ballot. £ believe that in Feilding there is no likelihood of misconduct or rowdyism but, in some places I have been in, these opportunities are seized upon for partisan manoeuvres or ruffianly rows, which are alike discreditable and demoralising. With a certainty that those I see present will accord Mr Macarthur a patient and dispassionate hearing, I will now leave him to speak for himself, and as the night is cold I trust he will remember that brevity is the soul of wit." Mr Macarthur said he would endeavor to follow the advice of the Mayor, and as the latter had already told him that he (the chairman) would go to sleep if Mr Maearthur was too long he would not keep his audience too long (laughter and apjlause) He had no fear of disorder with the present audience or with any audience in Feilding and he did not anticipate they would depart from the general rule on the present occasion. It was a new doctrine to him that candidates should not address their constituents. He thought the electors should have an opportunity of hearing what the views of the candidates were both before and after entering Parliament. As they already knew he went into Parliament as' a supporter of Sir Harry Atkinson, but on the Free Trade ticket. They defeated the StoutYogel ministry, aad ir H. Atkinson formed a government on the basis of retrenchment, which he had effectu ally carried out by reducing the expenditure by £233,000. He had also shown a surplus. At the opening of the session there were a number of new members, who although pledged to some ticket or other, were all equally determined to prerent the return of Sir Julius Yogel to power, even although many of them had spoken against Sir Harry Atkinson from the hustings. It was hoped by many that Mr Bryce would be returned aad in him a possible leader be found, but as they -all knew that hope was disappointed by his defeat. There then only remained tbe StoutYogel combination or Sir Hariy Atkinson for their choice, and as the least of the two evils they chose the latter. It was thought his Got eminent would not last but it existed, as they all knew, to the present day. The party to which Mr Macarthur belonged hoped for a Freetrade policy on account of the presence of pronounced Freetraders in the Ministry, and because the Premier had promised a Customs Tariff to suit both Protectionists and Freetraders. Instead of keeping that promise he had brought down a strong protection tariff. On the grounds of their pledges to the electors, and their principles as Freetraders, he and the others holding simiar views could no longer support Sir Harry Atkinson and gave him notice of their secession. The fact of 17 or 18 members leaving their party caused the Ministers to hold a cabinet meeting, at which it was debated whether they should not resign their portfolios. They resolved to carry on and as the Protectionist Opposition joined Sir Harry to pass the. tariff, he thus secured a majority. The Premier always declared the tariff was not Protectionist, but for revenue purposes only. Atkinson, hak challenged them' to suggest an alternative policy, but j that was a mere trap which his party were not likely to fall into. It was the duty of the Opposition to criticise, not to find a policy for the Government, whoever they were. All taxes were burdensome, and had they suggested any which were adopted by the Government, the former would have had to bear the odium. After having referred to the imposition of the Primage duty. Mr Macsrthur w< ut on to §ty that after the secesssion of the Freetrade party from .the Government, side of the House, things became rather mixed. When the tariff was got rid of those who had helped the Ministry again became the Opposition, and approached them seeking their assistance to put Ministais out of office, but they decided not to join any party except on principle. They hal been deceived befce and might be deceived again. They supported the Government in their Native policy and their land policy becauee they agreed with them He told th meeting this because the Special Correspondents of several newspapers had said the Freetrade party had wanted to turn out the Government, but such was not the case. He (Mr Macartiiur) drafted the resolution and moved that the Freetrade party would not join any party except on principal. There were 10 or 12 members who would join neither the Opposition nor the Government. They were numerically too small to take office but they could hold a strong position in the House. He thought tbe next parliament would even be more Protectionist than the present; And Mr Baliance with his party wanted even heavier duties imposed than those which now obtained. Mr Macarthur then gays an exposition of the effects of Protection on labor and the rates of wages. He showed that the present rise in wages was not on account of Prptftctioh, "but on account of the increased demand for flax and wool. If the Protectionists could prove that a high tariff increased the rates of wages he would become a. believer, but not until then. As soon as wages riae for a particular kind of work more moil engage in it and the price of labor comes down to a natural level, all efforts, by Protective duties must therefore fail to keep them high. He compared America and England, and showed that America system of collecting and expending the

with high Protective duties did not sufter so much because men could get on the land, and therefore the labor market could never become congested while that means of relief existed. In England it was different because the area of land was so limited. Protection, if it was intended to keep up the price of wages should keep labor out of the colony. He put the cardinal points of Freetrade strongly before the meeting. With reference to the surplus this year, he had heard it said it was the first any Government had had for many years. This was not the case because Sir Julius Yogel had a surplus in 1884 and another in 1885. With reference to the surplus of th&present Government Mr Fisher had said there was no need to enquire where it came from. Mr Macarthur held that if a surplus did exist it was only the result of a windfall. Although this could be fairly looked on as revenue yet it was only fair to deal with Sir Harry Atkinson as the latter had dealt with Sir Julius Yogel under like circumstances, who had been reproached for taking credit for windfalls. Sir Harry Atkinson had done the same and the speaker would deal with him in the same way. While criticising he would ; at the same time give the Government I credit for retrenching to the extent of £233,000, but how it had been done he could not tell because the house had not been taken into their confidence andtbeGavernment refused to give details. Again this year the expenditure had been reduced, which was the cause of the alleged, surplus and not from increased revenue.' It was diminished expenditure which caused the surplus to exist. Sir Harry Atkinson did not expect a surplus but has actually been able to pay off .646,000 of" debt. The Government deserved all the. credit the colony could give them considering the many sacrifices they.would have to make in reducing or discharging; old and faithful servants. ?■ ■- On the subject of borrowing he felt that the colony had already borrowed enough. More borrowing meant more interest to. pay, and more interest too often meant more taxation. He did not obi ect to the unfinished railways being completed to a paying point, but he objected to borrowing more money to complete the North Island trunk railway for some years to come. He referred to the clause which provided, the Government should not borrow for 3 years, which had been framed in such & way that the Bill was inoperative until ' next session. The member for Te Aio had spoken a short time ago, and had been severely taken to task by the newspapers for making a doleful cry, but he thought Mr Menteath had been hardlytreated by them. Mr Menteath had been blamed for unnecessary pessimism, bnfe the whole tenor of his cry was to wake the people up to a consciousness of the : crashing weight of taxation that was being put upon them, and if he painted the matter in darker colours than usual, and had thereby directed attention to the subject, he had done a good thing. Mr Macarthur said it was more than probable there might be a combination of members interested in the North Auckland, Otago Central, and the North Island Main Trunk Line for the purpose of borrowing money to complete them. This- would put a. crushing weight of taxation on the people, and would force any Government to take any direction this combination of members chose to give. Although the question of further borrowing had not beeii officially mooted by ministers it might I c mooted in the country and H* question stirred up with the object rf£ making it popular. In place of spending money on railways it would be better tomake roads to open up the country. ; The i'uUO.OOO of loan bal nee in hand should be spent in purchasing native land for settlement. He would not join in a new borrowing policy. He gave an account of the land grant system in connection with: railway making, and preferred it to bormoney for the purpose. It was true that strong political influence could be brought to bear on the Government to purchase these railways if the owners could hot make them pay, and the colony had already had experience of that, but still they land grant system put off the evil day and it was batter than borrowing. He was glad to notice that the Government proposed to extend the period for the expenditure of the remainder of the loan over it period of 4 instead of 3 years. He was glad to notice there had been no difference in the affairs of the colony by the reduced Government expenditure and the tapering; off policy of the Government was approved of by all classes. The Government also deserved credit for charging several large items to revenue instead of loan. The revenue of the railways was now only 2£ per cent, on their cost, whereas it was 4 per cent, at one time. The reason of thiswas that the lines had been extended beyond the requirements of the existing population. But that objection would soon cease to exist and in the meantime the whole colony was being benefitted indirectly. With reference to the Loans toLocal Bodies Act, which he considered* the most valuable among the Statutes of the colony, it was proposed to raise the rate of interest now paid by local bodieß from 5 to 6 per cent He thought this would be a mistake. The old system was the best, and he had suggested that if it was desirable more should be paid.the period for repayment should be extended from 2&?to£3S years. Posterity would then pay a*share of the cost of the work done. He promised when the proposal came before Parliament to endeavor to give effect to his opinion. The Land Act was the most important passed last session. , He explained its general provisions^ and mentioned he would suggest an alteration of the title of the so-called perpetual system which was a misnomer, because some people thought there could be nochange of tenure. He saw a number of local bodies were pressing the matter of obtaining loans on the security of deferred thirds. He was the author of this idea and had published a draft of it in the> Feiu>ino Stab. He wished it known ha had originated the scheme. It was well known he had always favored opening up* land by making roads before selling i£ and this would be a kind of extension of j his scheme, if the Government could find the money to make these roads. HeY alluded to the question of the sale of land by auction or by ballot, and experience had taught him that the ballot was the lesser evil. The latter was abused, by tha dummies, which could be prevented by •• legislation, but in the case of sales bvauction men became excited and bid higher than they could afford. After wards, when they found their error they came to the Government with a' Fair Bent Bill, which, although a relief to them, was unfair to the buyer who had paid cash for Ins land. He said the Manawatu Railway land sales were not a feir comparison, because a private compamr could do with impunity what the Govern aaent done not. Tha former could mak* * joan stick to his bargain, which was not always the case with the latter, as noliti " calpressure could always be brou|ht c to bear Se had been ; requested by Sua local bodies^ bring m a bill in coime C ! toori with expenditure of deferred thirds buthe would now remind them that na " private member conld bring in a bill deal ing with waste lands or taxation Ha said a bill .would be brought in to aiaendthe Hospital and Charitable Aidfim whereby the principle of the pnesent Bill yoroldbe alAerea altogether and a ferite*

revenue instituted. He spoke against the reduction of members, and considered diminution of members would place too much power in the hands of the Ministry of the day. He also gave a general idea of the electorates on the coast. He considered the towns were over represented as compared with the country, and the town members had a better system of organisation. They also had more influence with the Government. At present there was a majority of country members in the House, and the quota might be altered to the advantage of the country. He referred to the new Electoral Bill proposed to be introduced. There were too systems — the Victorian and the Hare system. There was a good deal to recommend the latter, but it was too cumbrous, and he gave Iris reasons for thinking so. It would also make elections more expensive, and therefore only rich men would get into Parliament. With reference to the Education Act there were several of its provisions he would like to see amended. For instance, the Inspectors should be general Government officers so that the system should be universed, and a child should be able to pass tinder one as well as the other. He would pay schoolmasters direct from the Treasury, and give School Committees more power, and let them do the work now done by | the Education Boards. He concluded his address amid lond applause. . . The chairman invited questions. Mr P. Bartholomew asked anent the surplus of Sir Julius Yogel, whether it was from revenue Or loan. Mr Macarthur replied it was from revenue. Mr Gosling asked if Mr Macarthur was in favor of the 'Frisco Mail Service. Mr Macarthur said he had voted against the continuance of the subsidy and would do so again. It is true the line is self supporting, but the letters which went that way now could easily go by the direct lines of steamers. Whether we subsidise the Frisco line or not the Americans will continue it to keep open communication with Sydney. Mr P. Bartholomew considered men like Mr Menteath, and other public men vrh.o were always crying down the country, should be paid off and cleared out bag and baggage. Mr Macartmir said Mr Menteath had spoken like an honest and patriotic man ■who did not want his fellow colonists to live in a fools paradise. Mr Sherwill proposed, and Mr John Bartholomew seconded, a vote of thanks and confidence in Mr Macartlmr, which was carried unanimously. Mr Macarthur proposed a vote of thanks to the Chairman, which was carried with applause. . Mr MacartTmr addressed a meeting of hia constituents ■at Ashurst. last night. There were sixty or upwards present. A yote of thanks and confidence was unanimously passed. Mr Macarthur will speak at Haicombe on Monday night.