MR MASKELL AT LEITHFIELD.

Globe, Volume IV, Issue 346, 22 July 1875, Page 3

MR MASKELL AT LEITHFIELD.

The following speech was delivered by Mr Maskell, at Leithiield, last night. Mr Maskell, who on rising was cheered, said that he hoped that no elector in the district was biassed either for or against the members on public questions. Before going nto the questions which it was necessary him to speak on, he felt it necessary remark on the way in which rv c -meeting had been called, because “r r u Ser and himself had been accused of snai p in calling this meeting before tne k? Son which, it was said, had been fVi, COD T* ihtion, had been forwarded to a tplpa- -v.v'ten said that he had received *“■?“-? 01 i*’ the forelock. town to take time by days back he had fa< * wa3 f tba * s ° mß 6 " meeting md to see to £ Br °™ 3 and he had also writte?^^^ on subject. to arrange ±n, g h, f “ so that he taught they co^ l^o^ 1 '' u , ent . 8 ; him 011 .Ojr.&p p,M,ir2 LCheers.] Lj was not goin fe v> inaict a long speech ol them that even.™ no i vafl he going to with a written spteo, already prepares and handed to the importers _ for pu» ca ti on> Nov he dio. not think it to do this; but some members c the Council who professed to take la, e •yi evs r 8 G f political matters, were in the v b it of doing it. He did not think it a pour, jjgjjt or justifiable tor a member of th tdistrict to take> [Cheers.] He thought ba t a man having prepared his facts and u and havin ° hem already handed to tlu ’ ers for b B lication, had a great advaf£, hia opponent, who might have t£® . * paredly and on the spur of thl p^ a „ . n P* e did not intend to do this on t? menc ‘. e but to give them a clear and straim^f® account of the views of himself 1 ' d Government on the measures of imp? I which had been brought before the Prov,°: a i Council during the last session. He state that he desired to mention sou e facts about the railway line to Araberley. Mr Wright had told him that within a very few weeks he would have the railway open to Baicairn, and to Amberly about the end of the year, or a very short time afterwards. [Cheers.] He also desired to congratulate them upon having so good a room for public meetings, particularly in connection with the Library at teithfield. [Cheers.] There was one question which he should like to make a remark about, which was important, inasmuch as it would override the legislation of tie Provincial Council, and hence he thought it his duty to speak at once. It was

the question of the abolition of the provinces of New Zealand, and he wished to state clearly what his opinions were. Before the provinces were done away with there wer« two conditions which it was absolutely necjssary for the welfare of the colony, should be fulfilled. They were these—First, the opinions of the electors should be taken at an election before the abolition was decided upon. Secondly, it was absolutely necessary ttat there should be no loophole left by which the revenues and property of the province of Canterbury should be taken for the purpose of meeting the liabilities of the bankmpt provinces. Provided this were done, 'ae did not think it mattered whether Canterbury was called a province, a county, or a distiict, but they should most distinctly see that their revenues and property, which had been carefully kept by them, should not be robbed from them. [Cheers.] This was his opinion most decidedly, and did not think they would disagree with him in this. He should now go to the questions which had been decided in the Provincial Council, and the first one he would speak of was the most important of all, and one wHich had the greatest possible bearing upon all he had to say, forming, as it did, one of the links in the chain of argument which he should use. He referred to the financial state of the province. The Government had been charged with having said that the province was bankrupt, that it was in an alarming state, and they had .been charged also with having alarmed and startled the province by saying that it was insolvent, Now he had most emphatically stated in the Council that this was untrue, and he now repeated it. What they did say was this, that during the fortnight in which they had to make up the accounts of the revenue and see how matters stood, they found that the revenue fell short of the expenditure by some hundreds of thousands of pounds ; and they said in the Council, and he repeated it there, that it was not a satisfactory state for the province to be in when its revenue was exceeded by the sum of hundreds of thousands of pounds. The revenue of the province was nearly a million and its expenditure about £ 1,270,000. The actual figures were that the revenue was exceeded by about £335,000. They told the Provincial Council that they must draw in their horns, that they must be careful or they would come to very heavy

taxation. The members in opposition started by saying that there was no such deficit, they attempted to th''w that they had made a mistake in their figures in one case by some £4OOO or £SOOO or so, and in another by some £12,000, but not one of them, though challenged to do so, could point out how the difference between the revenue and expenditure could be met. They had kept this line for three parts of the session, and then they turned round and said why have you let us vote this large sum of money beyond what the revenue is. But the answer of the Government was this, and he asked their attention to it—that the amounts thus placed on the estimates were almost all legacies from the late Government and the Government which had preceded it j liabilities which had to be provided for, although they knew and stated that the revenue did not reach the expenditure by some thousands of pounds. In his financial statement he had said as follows : “ It only remains for me now to briefly summarise the results of our inquiry into the financial position of the province. First then we find that the ordinary revenue is not sufficient alone to meet all the requirements of the ordinary expenditure, especially when this latter is increased by the debt which weighed upon it at the close of the last financial period. We find also that the prospect of improvement in this respect is not such as to allow of our continuing the separation of the schedules as heretofore. Next, it appears that our available balance for public works is reduced considerably, on account of the heavy liabilities handed down to us from last year, whilst the land revenue at the same time is also diminished. The profits from railways would probably not be so great as they should be, owing to the loss in working the new lines and the reduction in the rates of carriage, and we are therefore compelled to increase the public burdens in this respect. The requirements of the various departments are, on the other hand, steadily increasing. Police, gaols, hospitals, education, surveys, all these require large sums, whilst public works must go on, Road Boards and Municipalities must be assisted, and the railways and harbor works must be extended and perfected.” That was a fair statement of the position of the province at thr present time. They must remember that they depended almost entirely on their land revenue, which might drop at any time, and they must economise as much as possible to meet the requirements of the present and the engagements for future years. Having now given them the state of affairs, he would just state to them the exact financial position of the province. When they came into office in April they found a cash balance in the bank of £350,000, heavily weighted with liabilities; since then they had received £40,000 of pasturage rents and large land sales; yet, at the present time their cash balance was only £317,000, which would show the heavy amount of liabilities which had been met by them out of the cash balance. He now came to the railway ,profits, and he might say that they were only nimated at £4OOO for the current year on a la-r e estimated capital. This, they would see, v aa a very small balance of profit to be made ,_ Q a capital of so large an amount, and he thought that u> unfair to the districts had not railways, - - - should onlj have so small a portio or in order that those which had * e fernment reap the benefit. Hence, the w had thought it right to bring » ™ nance which would‘ make a fab sh arcTof 3 profit, thus districts those which g!ve a J a ".f" OP° 0 P° a rtl ° n p He now came had no r 7 • L t 0 municipalities tothe question of gr^ y would r | collect Sat the late had stated that they were unable to W over to the Road hJ rda the amount oftheir vote, but at the same-- me they propped to expend £14,000 for a mmeum in hnstchurch. The present Government o 1 coming into office at once set to work ' P a 7 over to the Road Boards the amount^ o6 to them, and also to intimate to ther that in future the amount of their ? °t e would be handed over to them qp'terly. [Cheers.] With respect to this ieQ he thought that the electors would nr have anything to reproach the present [Cheers] As regarded the r&tter of endowment for municipalities, *O, the could not see that inustice to the country districts they could sgpe to the proposition made. If, however, th.' provinces were not abolished during the ear, and they were in office, the Governmen intended to see how far they could helpciunicipalities in this matter, but they wouhsee that no injustice was done to the outlyng districts of the province. | Cheers.' He would now go on, having touched ipon these important matters, to one upm which there was considerable differeme of opinion between the people and tht Government, and that was, as regarded tducation. He was going to speak plainly and clearly, and not to shirk any inquiry into his actions or votes. He asked them not to forget the financial position of the province as laid before them by as it largely affected the of education. As regarded «•*. part of his address, he m \ s that some very strong statements had been made both in and out of the Council, and he might say that great misrepresentations had been set abroad. The Government had been charged with all sorts of evil intentions, and he did not know how black they would appear if they appeared in the colors attributed to them by their opponents. The line that they (the Opposition) had taken was the cry that the present Government were attempting to destroy education. There was nothing more absurd, they were not attempting to do, nor intended to do anything of the kind. It was a very good partycry, and a good manoeuvre ; but he kad always treated his opponents fairly and straightforwardly, and he thought they were entitled to ask thesamefrom them. [Cheers.] The present Ordinance did not interfere in any way with the system of education established in 1873. In 1873 he had stated fairly, and at once, that he did not agree with what had been called the secular principle of education, and he had endeavored to carry a resolution to put the system on the basis he thought it should be. In 1873 he had been beaten, andinlß73 he said thathe would not interfere with the Ordinance of 1873 as passed. It had been said in the Provincial Council that they intended to do so, but it was perfectly untrue, and such a thing never was contemplated in any way by the Government. In the new Bill it provided that the Board of Education should be abolished, that the rates for school buildings should be increased, and that the school fees should

be increased from 6s to 10s per child. As regarded the first of these alterations, a feeling had gradually grown up in the province since the Ordinance of 1873 had been passed, that the system of administering the pnblic funds of the province by a Board of gentlemen not responsible to anyone was not a wise or economical mode of dealing with the funds of the province. This was felt during the previous session, and the one before that, and it was thought that the irresponsibility of the Board did not tend to an economical way of dealing with the funds of the province. Without for one moment saying that the Board had been extravagant, he said that the Board, though desiring to push on education to the utmost, yet from the fact of their not having to find the money, there must be a tendency, not to extravagant, but to expensive expenditure. The Government recognised the principle that the persons dealing with the money of the public should be responsible to the public from whom the money came. They thought that this was not to be attained by a Board irresponsible and quite beyond control of the Council, and they saw that the Board, with the best intentions, bad yet thrown away money like water all over the province where a less expenditure would have sufficed. This was why the Government thought it necessary to alter the system, and substitute an officer responsible to the Council. Now the department was under the control of the Minister for Education, an officer responsible directly to the public and to their representatives. Now as to the increased rate for buildings, about which so much had been said. With a large revenue coming in to the Provincial treasury, it might perhaps not be necessary to do this, but with a falling revenue, as he had plainly shown was the case, it became the duty of the Government to see that some more economical mode was adopted. The Board of Education not having to find the money did not care about the amount of expenditure, and hence on these buildings large sums had been expended, not so much in the country districts as in the central district, where pressure could be brought to bear on the members of the Board. In the central districts large and expensive schools had been erected, at a cost which it seemed to the Government was far too great for the results obtained. If the revenue were to increase during the next year, then the Government would not require to call upon the ratepayers for such large amounts of contributions ; and further than this, the large schools having been mostly built, or would be by that time, the amount to be paid would not be so large as in the past. The objects of the Government were to save the money of the people, to bring the control of the expenditure more nearly under the direct control of the people, so as to prevent any extravagance in the expenditure of the public money by those charged with its disposal. The Council considered these reasons satisfactory, and he thought the people also would do so when they saw the working of it, however much they might cry out now. Next he came to the alteration of the household tax, which had also provoked much comment. Some persons objected to this, and were in favor of a property tax. But he would, point out that this would be unprimary schools, and 'who' ‘were'ln&hfiy benefitted by the system, were those who lived in small houses, while the rich men who were able to educate their children elsewhere, and who did not have any benefit from their system, were to be called upon to pay the largest share of the cost of educating other people’s children. Now this, he held, was unfair, because it was the class who reaped least benefit that they wanted to pay the largest share. But apart from this, he contended that the house, tax was a property tax because the land fund was the principal contribution to the cost of education. The whole proceeds of the house tax was some £9OOO, and the whole of the very large balance of the cost of education came out of the land fund, out of which school buildings were erected. He did not say that this was the fairest system which could be found, but he did say that it was a fair a one as they could at present get. With regard to the increase of the school fees it appeared to him that there was some misunderstanding as to the amount to be paid. Under the new Ordinance, as under the old, no man would have to pay for more than four children, though the rate had been raised from 5s to 10s per head. He did not care to lay any stress on the argument which had been used that every person in the province could rot afford to pay this amount: but it was lis private opinion that there were very few men in the piovince who could not aford to pay 2Jd per week. If there were, aid they required their children educated, tin sooner they turned to and worked harcfer the better. [Cheers."] But it was not )n this ground alone that he went. In a :ountry like this, he said that it was not fairfor the interests of one class to beconsiderel more than another. It was not right for on class to say to another, “You shall pay hr the free education of my children.” The system of free education, he might say, lad cropped up in the message of his Honor tie Superintendent to the Council on the Eduation Bill—a message which, he might say, ;either the Government nor any one blamedhis Honor for, as he had’a perfect right to senl it. But while he said this, he also desiredto say that the opponents of the Governmen never raised the cry of free education a all until his Honor mooted it in his messag, when they at once adopted it, and made i a point in their arguments upon the Bill. le would now just refer to the reason whythe Government did not accept the amendients, which was that they did not conside it the right time, not as regarded his Honor, or he had no other opportunity of doing sobut as regarded members and the country, le (Mr Maskell) said at that time that the Gvernment thought that the time chosen by Is Honor was inopportune. They had been tvo months discussing that Bill, and they sid it would be a wrong thing t" come downat that time and ask them to upset the whte work. He had no objection to free educaion, nor to the children of the province gtting education cheaply, or for nothing al all, if they could get it. Free education aeant, to a man with a large family, hisihildren educated for nothing, but where was be money to come from. It was perfectly (ear that the money must come from someihere; and he said that it simply meant wht he had before said, that one class woul have to pay for the education of the chilcen of others. This was what free education neant, and though he had no objection i seeing children educated at as little cost is possible, he wanted to know where thenoney was to be got from. He quite agree with what Sir Julius Yogel had

said relative to the railway scheme, that giving people an important matter for nothing lessened their interest in if, and he felt that if education were made free the people would not take that interest in education, or look so much after the proper training of their children, as if they had to pay for it, hence he thought their present system would be fount! to be much more satisfactory as a whole than free education. For primary education he might say the Council had voted £96,000, during the past session, and he would ask them how much they were asking the people to contribute towards the education of their children ? At the date of last report of the Board of Education 10,000 children were returned as receiving education. He would assume that the increase up to now had brought them up to 15,000. Taking these at 10s per head, under the present Ordinance they were asking the people of the province to contribute £7500 for the education of their children, and he would ask them if they were requesting the people to pay too much. [Cheers.J It "had been said that they should have free education, but if they brought this in, why should they not subsidise private schools, or do so to reduce the fees at the College or other higher schools 1 Why should they only want the children attending the district schools to go for nothing. He considered that this would be quite unfair, and would be only taking a small proportion of the children of the province, and giving them free education. If education were not worth paying for, it was not worth having. If they could not or would not afford 10s per annum for their children, then it was not worth their while to have them educated at all. He might remark that, in London, under the School Board, the fee was 2d a week as against 2£d per week in Canterbury, and he would ask them if 2|d per week in Canterbury was a large sum when compared with 2d per week in London. They must remember that they must keep up the system, and educate their children ; hence if the revenue fell off they would have to raise the money somewhere, and it was better to have a tax such as this per head rather than a system of direct taxation. In carrying out the principles of the new Bill the Government were endeavoring to do the best they could for the cause of education, at the same time in an economical manner. They had for a Minister of Education a gentleman who had the cause at heart—a gentleman who was known for honesty of purpose, and he would see that the interests of the schools did not suffer. The Government intended in carrying out the principles of this Bill to give to local committees more power than had been accorded to them by the late Board. It was not the intention of the Government to interfere with the details of the local committee work, so much as the late Board had done, feeling it was only right that the representatives of the people, who provided the money, should have the fullest local control. He would say a tew words to them as the member for the district, and he might say he hoped that this would not be the last occasion upon which he would address them in that capacity, as he felt that the abolition of the province would be a great blow to the country districts. During the ten years he had repref/c?9_h§_,had, he_ believed, done his either publicly or privately, so far as he knew, injured one single elector of the district. [Loud cheers.]

Mr Haskell resumed his seat amid loud applause. [Owing to the great pressure on our space we are compelled to omit Mr Harper’s speech.—Ed. Globe.]