THE ELECTIONS.

Globe, Volume IV, Issue 443, 15 November 1875, Page 2

THE ELECTIONS.

MR W. B, TOSSWILL AT COURTBNAY. Mr W. B. Tosswill, one of the candidates for the representation of the district of Coleridge in the General Assembly, addressed the electors at the schoolroom, Courtenay, on Saturday evening last. There was a good attendance, the room being well filled, and on the motion of Mr Tosswill, Col Brett took the chair. The chairman briefly introduced the candidate, stating that they all knew Mr Tosswill, who was now offering himself as a candidate. All he asked them was to give Mr Tosswill a fair and patient hearing, and after that, Mr Tosswill would only be too happy to answer any questions, in a manner which he (Col Brett) knew would be satisfactory. [Cheers.] Mr Tosswill said that it was not many weeks ago since they had met in that room to discuss a question of paramount importance to their welfare, viz, the abolition o£ the provinces. The question for discussion at that meeting was, whether the Parliament should pass the Abolition Bill, brought in by the Government, or allow the electors to decide the question. On that occasion he had expressed his opinion openly and at once, that so large a question should not be decided by the then Parliament until after the electors had had an opportunity of expressing their views upon a question so very important to them, aud with which their best interestd were bound np. Practically, this had been the result of the discussion in the Assembly on the Bill, which would, by resolution agreed to, not come into force until after the conclusion of the first session of the new Parliament. This, they would see, was to a great extent relegating the decision on the question to the electors, whose representatives in the new Parliament would have to deal with this question. He stood before them that evening to ask them to return him as their representative in the new Parliament. He would now say, and at once, that he was not an advocate for the maintenance of provincial institutions, as they had been in the past. [Cheers.] For some few years he had been coming to this decision, and one great reason that had led him to it had been tha action taken in the Parliament of the colony by the Superintendents of provinces and provincial officers. Their action had been, it seemed to him, more to get all they could for the provinces they represented rather than studying the interests of the whole colony—| cheers] —and thus they had been leading them into financial difficulties. If this were to be continued, something like bankruptcy for the whole colony would set in. But while he said this, he did not think that the Ministry had been right in yielding to the cry for money to be spent in the colony which had been made on all sides, and he must say that he was surprised to see that Sir Julius Vogel had said that a large sum of money—he believed a million and a half—had been spent in purchasing support. For this remark he had been very properly rebuked by Mr Montgomery, who said that any Government should have resigned their seats rather than have done such a thing. [Cheers.] Having said so much he would now refer to the Bill called the Local Government Bill, which, however, was a mere misnomer, as no local government was distinguishable in it at all. The fact was that the Government proposal in this Bill was centralism pure and simple, and he did not wonder that all sides of the House coudemned it. Still it was useful in so far that it shewed the views of those who had brought it forward, viz, their wish to establish centralism and govern the provinces from Wellington with a nominee agent in each of the provinces. He did not think they in Canterbury would agree to this. [Cheers.] The evils of provincialism had been many—he did not deny it—but he' thought pure centralism would be worse [Cheers]— and that they would find before three years were over that they had lost by the change. | Cheers.] They would have either their local matters dealt with by some thirteen or fourteen men in Wellington or by the whole House, two-thirds of which could by no means understand or enter into their wants. [Cheers.] Besides this it would open up the way for log-rolling and place-hunting to a large extent, and already they had plenty of men who

r went into public life asm.-re po.siical adventurers—not men who wnnt in I < -fir v, cause that was legitiru ILO am ;; :..n~- ou; men who supported a Ministry with the hope of being provided for by thorn. (.'Jear.] He would now state what form of Government in his opinion was b-st suited for New Zealand. At present there was no doubt they had got beyond provincialism, but it was better for them to take a step at a time, and not have to go back, as they would in evitably have to do if they accepted the proposal of the Government, which meant nothing more nor less than centralism. Now, his idea on this point—aud he desired at once to state that he did not claimoriginality for it, as in matters of this kind that was impossible—was to divide the two islands, already naturally separate, with a Council for each and a Federal Government for the whole. [Cheers.] By this means he contended they would have a fair chance of their local wants being attended to—f cheers J—and their interests looked after, as they would not, under the proposed Government scheme. He thought it was a wise step in the past—in the early days —the establishment of local government in each province. Had they been governed centrally in the past New Zealand would not be the great country it now was. [Cheers.] No doubt, by-and-bye centralism would be the proper thing, but at present it was not, in his opinion. I Cheers.J His plan he considered feasible, because the circumstances of each island were so dissimilar, but if he could not get this he should try, if elected, to get Boards of Works established in each provincial district ; elective Boards of Works, to whom the money should be given, and whose duty it should be to allocate the money for works within euch districts. If this were not done, and the spending of money left in the hands of the General Government, a large amount of log-rolling would inevitably ensue. [Cheers.] He did not intend on that occasion to sound any doubtful note on this subject. He would give his opinions freely and frankly [cheers] and he said that he should prefer a dual form of government such as he had sketched ; but failing this he would endeavor to get elective Boards of Works. [Cheers.] He would now pans on to the subject of education, and here he might point out that an Education Bill, which would suit this Island would not suit the North Island. The question, he might gay, must be grappled with by the new Parliament ; and he thought he might say that no one had the cause of education more at heart than he had. In 1870 a move was made to establish a national system of education, and a Bill was brought in by the Government which was simply a consolidation of other Bills. On this he had given the following notice of motion—" Mr Tosswill, on the motion of the Provincial Secretary moving the second reading of the Education Ordinance, 1870, to move—' That in the opinion of this Council, the Education Ordinance, 1870, ia inadequate to meet the requirements of the province." He looked around at that time and saw that the question wanted to be dealt with far more comprehensively than was then proposed, and the fact was that he felt that the Bill did not adequately meet the requirements of the province. After some discussion, he was induced to withdraw his resolution on the understanding that several members would support him in making the Bill a good one in committee. After some time the Government went out, and one, of which he {Mr Toss will) was a member with Hon John Hall and Mr Kennaway, brought a Bill in, but they were unable to carry it through committee. They, however, before the Council was prorogued carried the following resolution moved by him :—" That instead of requiring a contribution of one-fourth of the estimated cost of the necessary buildings from the respective districts one-sixth thereof shall be required." A short Bill embodying that resolution was carried through the Council, and in pursuance af a pledge made by him an Education Bill was introduce I by the Government of which he was the member in the next session. He was requested, as he had taken a great interest in the matter, to take charge of that Bill, but he. that Mr Kennaway's position as Provincial Secretary entitled him to this, and he had therefore waived any honor that might be attached to it in his (Mr Kennaway's) favor. Accordingly in the session of 1871 an Education Bill was brought in by Mr Kennaway, which was the Bill which had been in force up to now. He said, and he did so fearlessly, that this Bill had done an immense amount of good in the province—[cheers] —as it had established schools in every part of the province. Charges of extravagance had been made, but he thought this did not apply to the country schools, but as regarded the town schools he was not prepared to go so far. [Hear, hear.J But while saying this he did not think that the Board was so much to blame as the committees, who had only one sixth of the cost to provide—not that he thought the one-sixth was not a sufficient contribution, but the committee got extravagant ideas, and when one district went for a large sum they altered their estimate, which had been sent in, and went for the larger. Again, beyond this, he thought that their ideas as to education had gone too high. What he and those who worked with him wanted to do, was to place it within the reach of every child in the province to get a plain; English education—[CheersJ —and everything beyond this he held should be paid for by the parents. [Cheers.] He would rather see the public money expended in providing scholarships for boys who might .compete for them— [Cheers] than spent as it had been. He was aware he was speaking rather of provincial subjects. but this subject would be dealt with by th< Assembly, and he also wished to put himself right with the public as to the way in which hi had voted on this question. He thought they would give him credit for having voted as he thought right, even if it had not been so, a thing he was by no means prepared t( admit. If he had erred in this matter, h< had erred in good company, as Mr Tancred, than whom no man had worked harder foi the cause of education, or had it more ai teart—[Cheerßj—had also voted for this ncrease. They must remember that then laud revenue, upon which to a great extern \\iqj had to depend to meet this expenditure, oould not be looked upon as a lasting source,

•iud then they would have to come ■ >u -dm people even heavier than was now proposed under the additional iimou'ii of contribution. | Hear, hear.] A jfti'i. another reason why he had voted for the :«ddiiional payment for education, was that tt'.>y wrre told that the general revenue was falling, and besides that, When the plains lii.nl wis sold they would iiave to pay themse for education. Therefore, it was that ha thought that the charge for education should he borne first by the parents thems Ives, and secondly, by a tax upon the property of fh-j country. They must remember that I hey had been spending a very lars;e amount of money on education. Last year the amount raised by land revenue was £IIO,OOO, and they had voted some £90,000 for education. The Superintendent had sent down a memorandum, and a very able one, to the Council, in which he recommended free education, paid for, partly, by means of a land tax. The latter, he felt, was a most impolitic and unjust tax. because it taxed those who were working to make the country, and because it allowed a large number of persons to go scot free. A combined income aud property tax would reach all classes, and would be the fairest. There was, he desired to point out to them, a very large proportion of persons, men who held a large stake in the country in the shape of shares in various undertakings, mortgages of property, &c, who would escape paying their fair quota to this vitally important cause under the proposed land tax, while they were equally as interested in it as any other portion of the community. It did not seem to him fair that mortgagees should go free, while the men who were working to make the country, and had perhaps to toil early and late to make up the interest on these mortgages,should be taxed. Therefore he had come to the conclusion that a combined income and property tax would be the fairest for all parties. [Cheers J He was quite in favor of liberal grants for education, and more especially that the grants for public and district libraries should be kept up, as they were an essential part of their educational system. [Cheers.] Another important question was the tariff of charges on the railway, which would have to be decided by the Assembly when provincialism ceased to be. Now he thought that a high rate of tariff on their railways was a wrong policy, especially when the railway was exteuded long distances from the centre. When the farmer found that the carriage and cost of growing oats and wheat came to what he could it for, he would put his land down to grass and keep sheep, and what would then become of the traffic on the railway 1 They must recollect that they had undertaken the colonisation of the country, and they had committed themselves to most gigantic public works. If they had high rates of traffic they would find that people who came to the colony would not be able to carrj on the work of opening up the country, hence the colonisation of the colony would practically be at a standstill, or very nearly so. He had always been an opponent of high rates of charges for carriage and storage, despite considerable opposition from a certain class. A committee had been appointed by the Provincial Council to consider the question of storage, aud they had reported, fixing a maximum rate, on which a Bill was framed and passed. Those concerned in the wool interest went to the Government and told them the charge was too high on wool, and the Government had reduced the charge, leaving grain, however, at the same rate. When he (Mr Toss will) found this out he went to the Government, and tried to get this matter put right. He failed, however, during that session, but next session when Mr Montgomery came into office he did get the tariff reduced somewhat. Last session, however, despite his opposition, the rates were again raised. He was of opinion that if they had been allowed the cheap rates to have had a fair trial it would have been found that the railways were paying well. It was useless to expect railways to pay immediately ou their construction. They must first open up and settle the country, and then the railways would soon pay. | Cheers.] Another very important question was water supply for the plains, and he should give his earnest support to any scheme which had for its object the carrying out of so desirable a work. He now came to a most important question, viz , the mode of dealing with the waste lands of the Crown in the year 1880, when the present pasturage licenses expired. First, he would say that he would a:low a very liberal discount on the amount of land estimated to be sold by that year, as it was very difficult to estimate land revenue correctly ; and he would estimate the amount of land to be sold between now and 1880 at 70,000 acres a year, or 350,000 acres in all—and then would attempt to show what the residue would bring in. He held in his hand a return obtained at the Land Offiie, showing the amount of land held under pasturage licenses as existing on Ist August, 1875. From this return he found that on that date 4,682,973 acres were held under license, producing a rental of £43,517 7s lid. Now, taking these figures as the basis of his calculation, he would show them how the matter stood. If they sold at the rate of 70,000 acres a year, they would have to deduct 350,000 acres from the amount of land left, which left 4,332,973 acres of land to be dealt with in 1880, and they would see that it was of great importance that this land should be dealt with advantageously. If the land were let only at 66. per acre it would produce £108,324 ss, which they would see was a large amount. It was estimated by Major Atkinson that the amount spent iD Canterbury, when their railways were com pleted, would be two millions, and the amount he had spoken of would represent £BOOO more than the interest on that two millions at 5 per cent. Now he would tell the meeting what he thought should be done with this estate. A few days ago he met an old friend of his, who said —" Well, Tosswill, I can't vote for you, you are dead on the squatters." He did not quite understand what that meant. If it meant that he was ■roing to oppress one class, he said that he was not dead on the squatters ; but if it meant that he would see that the public go' i fair price for their estate, then he was dead >n the squatters. [Cheers and laughter.] le was bound to say that he should always ;ee that this estate was fairly and properly idmiuistered, irrespective of class. Anothej candidate for their suffrages, Mr Wason, ha u

thought it necessary (or his agents had) to post up a certain division list on the Education question with regard to the increase of contributions to the schools as a reason why the electors should not vote for him (Mr Tosswill). Now he (Mr Tosswill) would not have said one word about Mr Wason had this not been done. However, he would now give them a reason why they should not elect Mr Wason. His friends had industriously circulated the report that he (Mr Wason) was a farmer. Now he (Mr Tosswill), on turning to the return he held in his hand, found that Mr Wason held a run of 13,179 acres. [A Voice—" A large farm."] It was true that Mr Wason had large freeholds, but still he did not think he could with truth be called a farmer. Besides lliis. he (Mr Tosswill) had heard ofa letter sent by Mr Wason's paid agent to a squatter in that district, in which he said that, it was of the last importance to the squatting interest that he (Mr Wason) should be returned. [Cheers.] That hardly looked like Mr Wason coming forward in the farming interest. If it was to the interest of the squatters to return their candidate, so much moie so was it to the interest of the farming community to return a farmer, when he offered himself as a candidate. He (Mr Tosswill) had been many years in Canterbury, twenty-one of which he had been a farmer, and he had been some fourteen years in the Provincial Council. He had not spared himself in the service of the public. His best services had been at their command, and he now asked thorn to return him as against a gentleman whose experience had been nil. In saying this, he was perhaps rather egotistical, but he put it to them as farmers, that it was of the utmost importance to them to be represented in the new Parliament, particularly with a nominee Upper House. The other interests would be well represented, and it devolved upon them as farmers, with a deep stake in the welfare of the colony, to see that their interests did not suffer. He trusted they would elect him as their representative, because he came forward directly in the farming interest, and if they did bo, he could promise that he would do his best to represent them fairly and honestly, and to the best of his ability [Loud cheers.] In answer to questions, Mr Tosswill said that the question of dealing with the runs, in 1880, was a most difficult one, as it had been held that they could not be put up to auction. He would, however see, if elected, that these runs brought their fa'r value, which was the main point to be looked for. He might say that he was not a centralist, a separatist, or a provincialist. He was of opinion that the best way would be to have the two islands separate, with a Legislature in each. That was insular separation, with a Federal Legislature. The North Island could deal with their own land, which would also be done by the South. They would have to help the smaller provinces ; there was no doubt of that, but he thought they should take a larger view than the £ s. d one of this question, and look at it from a broad stand point. In reply to a question from Mr McLaren, Mr Tosswill said that the number of children receiving instruction throughout the province was about 12,000 he thought, as near as he could recollect without having the figures before him. As regarded the amoiiat spent on education, they must recollect that only about £15,000 of this represented the direct contribution of the people, and the £90,000 spoken of included the house tax and child tax.

There being no further questions to be asked of Mr Toss will, Mr Anson said that he quite agreed with Mr Tosswiirs yiews, and would support him during the election. He trusted the farmers would support Mr Tosswill, as his actions had always shown him to be the farmers' friend. [Cheers.J He would now move—- " That this meeting tenders a cordial vote of thanks to Mr Tosswill for his address this evening." [Cheers 3 Mr M'Nae seconded the motion, which was carried amid acclamation. Mr Tosswill returned thanks, expressing his intention if elected to do his* duty thoroughly. His interests were theirs, and he would do all he could to forward them. [Cheers.] The meeting then closed after a vote of thanks to the chairman. MR PILLIET AI AKAROA. [By Electric Telegraph.] Akaroa, November 13, [We are indebted to Mr Duxbury, chairman of the meeting, for the following report of Mr Pilliett's address."] Mr W. H. Pilliett addressed the electors of Akaroa this evening, at the Town Hall. Mr Duxbury, chairman of the Akaroa Road Board, was voted to the chair. Mr Pilliet said he came forward in reply to a largely signed requisition. He felt the great importance of the political situation of the colony. He was in favor of the abolition of the provinces, but if what would be proposed as a substitute proved unfair to Canterbury, he would support the financial separation of the islands, with a Federal Government at Wellington. Some significance was attached to Mr Stafford opposing the extinction of the 25 per cent of the land fund hitherto enjoyed by the Timaru and Gladstone Board. He spoke strongly against provincialism, which in Canterbury had shown the very greatest extravagance, as instanced by the museum addition vote of £14,000; the educational overdrawing of £16,000 in one year, created by Mr Montgomery's provincial administration, which also at the same time withdrew Road Board allowances to the amount of £15,000. This led to Mr Montgomery's executive being thrown out, when nil the four Peninsula members were found in the same lobby. The Peninsula had been greatly deprived of its share of the expenditure, as returns showed. The mismanagement of the survey department had led to deplorable results, which the pro vincial Executive were unable to check. A new system under central control was absolutely required. The Peninsula, as shown by Major Palmer's report, was the greatest -mfferer in the province. The chief surveyoi recommended the Peninsula land holdings to be re-surveyed as fenced in, as a last resource. Whatever new policy was intro-

duced it should localise the revenue of the Road Boards. He was in favour of Sir J. Vogel's policy, and favoured nominated emigration only. The country should not fear the largeness of the colonial debt, as half of it was incurred for reproductive works, while the English national debt was incurred entirely by war. The multiplicity of the provincial laws was an increasing e"il, almost baffling the judges, and an uniformity of the laws was desirable. The property of absentees should be taxed, as they derived equal benefit from the borrowed money. The Legislative Council only represented wealth, and not education, and should be an elective instead of a nominated body. He would support the free education of the people, but would substitute a poll tax on adults instead of a household tax, as cases were numerous where the landlord paid one pound, and his lodgers escaped payment. He was favourable to a scheme of education somewhat near to the Nelson educational system, as advocated by the Hon Mr Stafford, where certain benefits were allowed to private schools, certified by the Government inspector to attain the Government standard. Mr Montgomery had not kept his promise made at last election, to work for the Peninsula. When at the head of the Provincial Executive his power was great, and last session he had failed in supporting the four Peninsula members in advancing Peninsula interests. He characterised the opposition in the Assembly against the Abolition Bill as fostered mainly by provincial office-holders. If elected, he would especially watch the interests of the districts neglected for so many years, and to the utmost of his endeavors develop the harbor resources and promote the railway, for which he had already obtained £SOO for the survey of the line, in the Provincial Council.

The following resolution was proposed by Mr Meech, seconded by Mr Johnston, and carried unanimouslv, amidst great applause : —"That Mr Pillfet be thanked for his address, and that the meeting is of opinion he is a fit and proper person to represent the Akaroa district in the House of Representatives."