The Hon the Premier at Feilding

Feilding Star, Volume XV, Issue 91, 14 October 1893, Page 2

The Hon the Premier at Feilding

There whs a large assemblage of both sexes in the Assembly Rooms last evening to hear an address on political questions of the day by the Premier. The Mayor, Mr E. Goodbehere, was in the chair and introduced the speaker. j On rising, Mr Seddon was greeted i with applause, and said it gave him great pleasure to comply with the invitation to speak here. It was the duty of the Ministers to meet people face to face. He had always admired the late member for Rangitikei, Mr Macarthur, but it was only right there should be differences of opinion so long as they received fair play. They did not always get fair play at the hands of the press and theonly way tocounteract was to meet the people. Some press men think they are the only men who can save the colony. Any right minded person must come to the conclusion that the policy of the Government was to make the colony prosperous. It was said the Liberals were the means of driving away capital and popnlation, but previous to this Government coming into power people were leaving the colony as fast as they could get away, and 14,000 persons left these shores between 1887 and 1890 In 1888, 9000 went away, and this disastrous result was killing prosperity and causing depression. The previous Ministry said " Let them go and they will bring others back with them." What a thing to say ! It reminded him about the Little 80-Peep nursery rhyme. The statesmen or Government that permitted which should not be allowed to have power, and people did right in sendiug them about their business. They have the shocking example of the Old Country, and this state of affairs should not be allowed to exist in a new country like New Zealand. When the Liberal party came into power they promised to stop it, and have done so. The Property Tax was most iniquitous ; the more a man improved his property the more he had to pay and this was a taxation on thrift. The Liberals said they would remove the Property Tax and substitute a Land and Income Tax, which they have done successfully. To show how misleading statements made by Sir H. Atkinson were, he said that on a Land Tax basis the ratable value was £30,000,000, which, at Id, would produce £125,000, this was equal to the amount received by Property Tax. The total value of land owned in the colony other than by the Crown, natives and Local bodies amounted to £92,371,166, amongst 91,501 owners. The unimproved value is £54,427,175 ; value of improvements, £37,933,991 ; total, £122,225,---029 ; including improvements, before the Liberals came into power. The people said it vas impossible to do away with ths Property Tax under which a poor man has to pay more. He would say hang on to the Land Tax as it was their salvation. Farmers were not so dull and were beginning to realise that they had to pay less under the Land Tax. Under previous Governments land settlement was at a standstill, but the Liberal Government had settled upon the land two to one of their predecessors. At the present time land could not be got ready quickly enough to satisfy the demand, and the salvation of the country depended upon the settlement of the land by the people. The Conservative policy is to hold on to all they have, and get as much more as they can. The Liberal Party made no attempt to pull down, but wished to build up. The Conservatives say to the working man, remain where you are, but, they should say; here is a hand to help you out of the water. Hard names had been applied to the Government. He himself had been termed one of the seven devils of socialism. He was no socialist, but found the country in depression and had helped to remove it and elevate the people. When they asked for money lor road purposes, they were accused of sly borrowing, but that was not so. They had done more in road making than any previous Government, as well as in land settlement. Thanks to the Natives and the timber in the North Island, the Conservatives had been prevented from gobbling the lands as in the South Island. Thirty-three public companies in New Zealand owned 2,073,788 acres, yalued at £4,020,320 ; of theso 7 companies hold 1,389,664 acres, valued ftt £2,811,639; 232 persons owned between 10,000 and 50,000 acres, valued at £11,744,683 i 30 persons owned over 50,000 acres, each valued at £5,712,915 ; 37 persons owned between 100.000 and 200,000 acres, valued at £4,952,568 ; 11 persons owned 200,000 acres, valued at £4,835,562; 48 persons thus owned £9,000,000 value out of £122,000,000 of land in the colony. There is no reason why a fair share of taxation should not be placed on large owners. If they will insist upon keeping the land, they must not throw the burden on (he people. He instanced the case of a person or company owning 200,000 acres, the unimproved value £-2,655,678, and with improvements Jt'5,538,049, who would pay under the graduated tax £18,708, against which his estate should and probably does yield five per cent, or JE875.000, which would leave a net income of £250,000. There is no confiscation about this, if the Government wanted land for settlement purposes they should be allowed to take it with proper safeguards. In some districts it was more necessary to settle land than to construct roads and bridges. No man's land should be touched who hadn't more than 1000 acres left. This applied only to those parts of the colony where land was locked up. This brought him to the question of the Legislative Council. Councillors were not in touch with the people, but represented a certain class. The Land Settlement Bill had been sent there a second time but throw out. The Bill contained provisions for freehold and eternal lease at 4 per cent., and where was the confiscation ? They had now one the finest land laws in this colony in the known world, and they must insist on the rights of the people. There were, piovious to the appointment of the last 12 councillors, onlj 4 or 5 GoTernment supporters in the Legislative Council out of forty members. Now they rejected Government measures by twelve or fifteen. It was unjust to allow things to stand as at present, and tbe progress demanded by the people should not be stopped. Mr Seddon then road a list of Bills rejected by the Council, lv the Old Country, labour and capital were at each other's throats. He did not believe in strikes and be hoped they would never bave another in this cslocy. They should have oputte of

arbitration and treat strikers, and those, i who caused them, as wrong doers and ' punish them accordingly. They should be compelled to arbitrate. The bye law , prohibiting the Salvation Army band i from playing in the streets was an. infringement of the rights of the people, and such a bye-law should not be allowed to exist. A Bill had been sent to the Legislative Council to repeal the regulation in question, but was scoffed at. j He would ask the people to support him to prevent the Council repeating this. i The Railway Bill was touched on, and the speaker said there were £15,000,000 of public money in the railways and it did not reflect credit on a democracy to allow such an important estate to be placed beyond the control of the people. All departments except this one were tinder the control of Government. £732,000 had been appropriated to railways, and not a man in the House knew how it was to be spent. In this department there was an increase in expenditure, while in all others there had been a reduction. Laßt year 128 men and one foreman had been retired from cho railways, yet the expenditure was not reduced. A list of railway servants on leave of absence on half anil full pay was read by Mr Seddon to bear out his statement that the department was mismanaged. There wus also much discontent because the promotions were unjust, young men being put iv responsible positions over their seniors. The Government would not engage the Commissioners tor another year. Next January, when their engagement terminates, they or lome others might be appointed till Parliament could meet. This he thonght was the constitutional practice. Had the Commissioners been willing to hold a conference they might have compromised and saved all the bother. He had nothing against them personally, but thought the time had arrived for a change. With regard to the Women's Franchise there had been a lot said and written which hadn't the slightest foundation. When the late Mr Ballance pledged his word to make the Bill a Government measure, he (Mr Seddon,) was bound to redeem that pledge, which he did, with the result that it became law. Had he not wished it to become law he could have advised the Governor to withhold his signature ami thus delay the assent. The clause inserted by the Legislative Council last session requiring women to go to a post office was a serious blow at the ballot system t and the Government refused to agree to the amendment There was nothing said about the Government at meetings held throughout the colony when votes of thanks were accorded Sir John -Hall, although if it were not for them the measure ould not have become law. He was ceitiin women would exercise their vote in a prop r and judicious manner. This was the first colony to adopt a Criminal Code, that a J.P. could easily understand, and it was a most useful hand-book. The Workmen's Wages Lien Bill was a very necessary measure in the interests of workmen, who will have a first charge on work constructed. Native legislation was in the interests of. settlement as the large tracts of land locked' up impeded progress and the Land Acquisition Bill was intended to remedy it. A fair price could be settled by arbitration. It would have meant that the population would have been double had it been passed years ago. 7,000,000 acres were unsettled and 2,000,000 acres were under the process of law at present. The Liberal Government had done what previous Goyernments were afraid to do, in rating Native lands. The Natives at first objected but eventually gave way. The Legislative Council did not treat them fairly in giving the right to local bodies to exempt improvements to land. Referring to the Liquor Bill, Mr Seddon said that in the Direct Veto Bill introduced by Sir R. Stout there were no safe* guards and would have caused a revolution. The Government introduced a Bill which was not so drastic, but at the same time effective and gave the people, for the first time in the history of the colonies, direct control over the traffic, with reasonable' restrictions. The people had the power to say that no liquor shall be sold if a three-filths majority voted in that direction, and a majority can decide if the number of hotels be reduced. There are to be no increases. They must be moderate, and he considered one of the greatest reforms effected was the Liquor Bill of last session. It had been stated the Government gave preference to banks, but it should be remembered that the panic in Australia entailed an immense amount of misery in Australia. There was an urgent necessity for the Government to step in when the panic started in Auckland. They aoted promptly, and in one night passed a Bill, and the next morning the panic ceased, when it was known the Govern* ment legalised the bank-note issue. There was some talk about a Stale bank, but it did not appear to be generally known that postal notes could be used as a legal tender. Therefore, if anyone paid money into post offices and received postal notes they could use them as money. What farmers wanted was cheap money more than anything else. Power should be taken to give advances to lessees from the Government, who should lower the rates of interest, which would be in the interests of the people. The finances of the colony were never in a sounder con* dition. They bad a surplus of L 283.000 last year, and L773.00Q was available for expenditure on public works this year. Loan convertion commenced in 1884, and it was no new thing, and meant that in» stead of having to pay 6 per cent only 4 per cent was paid as interest. The money liberated by this process was now doing the same work as that recently borrowed, viz : making roads, which weie necessary in the best interests of the col* ony. There should be a reform in the Legislative Council, land settlement should be compulsory, acquisition of native lands must go on, land should be prepared for the eons of farmers to settle on, and they must take certain lands for settlement, with certain restrictions ; economy must be practised and trade encouraged, including reciprocity with other colonies ; the State must have experts in different districts to educate farmers in various branches, strife between labor and capital must be prevented ; the railways should be brought under control of the people, who ought to have a representative on the board of management. Iv * Betterment Bill introduced last session there was a provision to compel owners of large estates, whose land had increased in value by new railways, to pay to the Government, one- half of any loss that might be suss tamed in working such. The object of the Government was to improve the position of the people, to build up and not pull clown. He was a plain spoken man and would announce thafc^ the Government candidate for Rangitikei was Mr J. Stevens, and Mr Pirani for Palmerston. He would contradict the statement that it was the wish of bis late chief that none other than himself ( Mr Seddon) should be at the head of the Government. There was a clear understanding that he should take the lead, and Mr Ballance gave him certain papers previous to his undergoing the operation. He had been in Parliament since 1879* there having been seventeen sessions since then, and he had always stuck to his party. If this district were true it would return a man who would support the Government. Mr Seddon sat down amidst a round of applause, which was frequent ituriag his address. Mr T. E. Taylor said he believed the Government had the sincere thnnks and coulideuce of the people in what th«y did, and would propose a vote of thanks to Mr Seddca for his address. This

was seconded by Mr G. Wilk« and car* - rled unanimously. The customary rote of thanks to the chair on the motion of Mr Seddon, who thanked those 'present for the reception accorded him, closed the meeting.