Mr Leary at Cotyton

Feilding Star, Volume XV, Issue 126, 27 November 1893, Page 2

Mr Leary at Cotyton

Mr J. P. Leary, a candidate for the Palmerston seat, addressed the electors living in the vicinity of Colyton, in the Hall, on Saturday evening last. The attendance was good, including several ladies. Mr R. L. Pudney was voted to the chair, on the motion of Mr Pleasants, and introduced Mr Leary, who explained his reasons for contesting the seat, which were that he had been asked by a large number of electors. It was impossible for any candidate's views to agree in every respect with those of all electors. He was pleased to see the great interest being taken in politics all over the colony, as evinced by the large number of candidates contesting the different seats. In this district we have not only the Radical and Conservative interests represented, but there is the middle man, and they need not go to extremes. He was not standing as a Conservative or as a Liberal in the general acceptation of those terms. It seemed to him that New Zealand was in the van of progress, and she would ask, through the ballot box, for greater freedom. The women's franchise would be of great benefit to the colony and he believed that the* votes of women would be on the right side. He did not profess to be a professional politician, but had always taken an interest in politics and could see that certain reforms were necessary. He wished to be useful to the electors of this district. His party was the party of the whole colony and he would adopt the course guided by his ouscience. He did uot believe in party Government. It should never have been introduced and should now be abolished. The House was like a jury, and we insist that men on a jury shall bo kept away from side issues and be unbiassed. Party Go verament lcds to class legislation and Bets class agaiust class without benefitting either. It was necessary that Parliament should be pure and not be swayed by party issue. 6 . At present there are 74 members in Parliament and these elect a Speaker; the remaining 73 elect a leader, who chooses his colleagues from the House. But the Government thus formed has no fixed tenure of office. They are liable to be turned otft at any time, and in consequence of the insecurity of office a road is opened up to corruption, as the Government were often compelled to hedge itself about ao as to make it difficult for the Opposition to turn them out. His idea was that when the House meets it! 'should elect an executive for a fixed tenure, say for tho term of a Parliament. They would by this meaus be able to devote the whole of the time to devising measures for the benefit of the colony. A change was necessary in the Upper House. He thought that if new councillors were elected by each Parliament as vacancies occurred it would to a certain extent meet the difficulty. The railways were at present managed better than when under control of the Government. Satisfactory reforms have been effected and the railways were paying better. It was not true that concessions were refused and he had personal experience that, if properly approached, the Bail way Commissioners would consider any request, and he would say leave well enough alone for the present. They would see by his published platform that he was in favor of the fullest control of the liquor traffic being placed in the hands of the people by means of the direct rote, without compensation. He was not one of those who believed in abusing the men and women engaged in the traffic. There were respectable men engaged in the trade and there were also bad men in it. The traffic itself was a curse to the land and was a social question that effected us all more or less. The people seould have the control in their hands and the community should have the right to say whether they will have it in their midst or not. He advocated the reduction of duties on the necesaaries of life. It had been estimated that the working man paid one-third of his earnings in duties. The duty on tea and sngar amounted to £220,000. If half of this were reduced there would still be a surplus of revenue of £173,000 according to the statement of the Government. There should he a heavy duty on large legacies, as the rioh man derived greater benefit from State protection, and he thought it only legitimate for the State to collect duties from large properties. He did not believe in collecting duties from small legacies. He would support the present system of education, introduced in 1877 by the Hon. C. C. Bowen. He believed the system was a good one although it had many defects. Some wished State aid to be given to denominational schools. It seemed to him to be impolitic and almost impossible to give to one denomination without giving to another. The effect of the two systems was that they would overlap each other and both would be useless. The State school attendance would fall off and schools would deteriorate from what tiiey are at present, The opinion has been expressed that it would be better to stop at the fourth standard as the attendance falls off rapidly at this standard, and it has been found it is principally the children of the working classes who leave. Should it be cut down, scholarships should be provided for those children of the working classes who could go higher. Primary education cost last year £479,114 or about lis per head for all the people in the colony, paid chiefly through Customs by the working classes towards the education of others in a better position than themselves. However, the money has been used for a good cause and he would not like to see the vote reduced. The prosperity of the colony depended ou the land laws. He approved of the present system with modifications as there was still room for progress. Land boards should be elective and its members should be in a position to select the man who was most capable of working land successfully and not the man who took it up for speculation purposes. The ballot system should be abolished, and when a man applied for fin piece of land ho should be ex(^Qed by the board to see if he was a,"'bonn fuk settler. He was in favor of freehold, btit did not object to the leasehold for those who desired it. In the lafitar case provision should be made by the Government for lending money on their improvements to those with small means. Nothing stimulated a settler more than

the hope of possessing the land ; and with this idea he was in favor of the deferred payment system. There was a system that might be introduced into New Zealand of allowing men of small means to use land for a term of, say three or five years without paying any thine. A value could be put on it at the outset, and at the end of the term the man who had worked it should have the first chance to purchase it, or if he did not care to do so he should receive the full value for his im» provements, and the land could be sold to someone else, plus the value of improvements. All wealth has lo be extracted from land, and he would assist those who are on it, He advocated arbitration to settle disputes between capital and labor. If working men are to prosper, labor and capital must go hand in hand. It was to the interest of the working man to give what was right to the monied man for a fair rate of pay, and it was to the best mterosts of those with capital to mete oul justice and give fair ploy. He advocated the maintenance of the present system of taxation with the exemption of j all improvements. Hospitals and charitable aid should be provided for by endowments of land. The bankruptcy laws should be improved. He did not believe in doing away with them altogether, but they should be made more stringent. He believed it was only for New Zealand to move and the other colonies would follow. It was most important. to send good men to Parliament and he would ask them to act wisely and well and according to their consciences. If his life and character were not good he would not have stood. Mr Leary having invited questions sat down amidst applause. Numerous questions were asked the candidate, who apparently answered them satisfactorily. Mr Leary considered Mr Pirani's views were extreme and con« tradictorj. A man could not be a partisan and vote against party Government. He was standing from a sense of duty and not to split votes. With regard to certain officials being away on a holiday on full pay, he thought it only right that if a man went on a special mission to get information be should be paid. It was quite necessary to refer to agitators, some of whom had done good, but as a class they did more barm than good. He was in favor of giving every man and women every liberty in voting on local bodies. He was never offered a bribe to retire and never stated so. It was a false statement that his advertise* ments were inserted in tho Manawatn Times free of charge arid was not aware overtures had been made to the Standard for tree insertion. Be had never made any. As to clause 21 being surreptitiously inserted in the Licensing Act he only knew what was made public. Would only support Sir Boberfc Stout or any man so far as his conscience would admit and would not bind himself to any party. He wa9 in favor of monej being spent on roads in preference to railways and would do what be could for the farmer, If the colony could do without it he was averse to borrowing. There was at present a sufficient nnmbor in the Legislative Council, but as vacancies occurred they could be made up from the House and he did not think there should be an in* crease at present. Mr Shortall moved a vote of thanks to Mr Leary for bis very able and clear expression of his opinions. This was seconded by Mr Pearco. Mr Goodey wished to test the feeling of the meeting and proposed a counter motion expressing dissent with Mr Leary's address and that this meeting had perfect faith in the present Government. Mr Ashworth seconded the amendment, which was lost on a show of hands and the motion was carried. Mr Leary thanked those present for their attention and moved the customary vote of thank to the chair and the meeting closed.