THE ELECTIONS.

Globe, Volume XXI, Issue 1714, 18 August 1879, Page 3

THE ELECTIONS.

SIR GEORGE GREY AT WELLINGTON. WELLINGTON, August 16. A very large meeting was held at the Arcade to-night, for the purpose of hearing Sir-George Grey address the members of the Liberal Association. Mr Q. V. Shannon was voted to the chair, and in a brief speech disclaimed the idea that the association was in any sense an electioneering committee. If it was thought that it should be made one, he for one, would have nothing to do with it. In coming there that night they merely came to hear Sir George Grey as a member of the association. Sir George Grey, on rising, was received with loud applause. He said the great question was, should certain great Liberal changes bo made at once or not, and in that connection the association was formed at a most important epoch. It was said now that they were all Liberals now-a-days. But he assured them that the state of representation in New Zealand was now worse than in any other British colony, owing to such a large proportion of the population being disfranchised. Sir George Grey then went on to indicate the inequalities of tho electorates, contrasting Taranaki and Wellington. The result of this inequality was to place enormous power in the. hands of certain families. The party now endeavoring to obtain power would, if successful, prevent them having triennial Parliaments, and tho evils under which tho country suffered row, and which ho endeavored to remedy, were the result of tho party that had governed the colony for 25 years. When these men now professed Liberalism he distrusted them, because they scoffed and jeered and called him a lunatic when ho first proposed triennial parliaments. They also professed to be in favor of a revision of taxation. But bow long had they preached that doctrine ? Why they attempted to remedy tho representation of the country, and made it a great deal worse, and created at least another pocket borough. This party now so anxious to bo thought liberal in their policy proposed as a revision of taxation that each man should be taxed according to his means. But that doctrine was incompatible with Liberal institutions. The real and only true basis of taxation was that people should be taxed in proportion to the sacrifice they made. By this means tho rich man would bo made to contribute more than he would if taxed only according to bis means. Those who would have every man taxed according to his moans, ■would make tho small farmer pay a land tax. Under the present system tho small farmer •was exempted from taxation, but tho great landed class, which had grown up under the fostering euro of these Liberals, were now compelled to contribute something towards the maintenance of Government. Sir George Grey hero dilated upon the advantages of subdividing the laud, and instanced the case of France after tho FrancoPrusaian war. They were told they must do nothing that would frighten away capital. But there was such a thing as having too much foreign capital, and ho urged that by means of foreign capital many poor men had been induced to buy laud v/ith borrowed money, and the result was that very few of them had ever recovered themselves. Another question was economy of administration, and tho Government had been taunted with being a Government of broken promises and unfulfilled pledges. But be could assure them he had endeavored to make more reductions than tho public were aware of, and gave as an instance how he tried to reduce tho salaries of Ministers, but the House resisted it, and beat him by a largo majority. Another cry which those hostile to him made one groat feature of their policy was tho construction of tho West Coast railway. But he would remind them ho was the first man who made a road to the West Coast, and tho first act of his Ministry when they got into power was to propose that that road should bo made into a railway. Could anything be more shameful than such a barefaced attempt to rob him of the credit which was his duo. Then they talked of keeping tho surrounding land from the speculators. But it must bo remembered that these men wore the very men who had mopped up all the choice bite of this land at 5s per acre. While crying out that the land should be kept for tho people, his opponents knew very well that if his Government remained in power none of the speculators would bo allowed to get hold of the land. Coming to the question of capital, as represented by tho land, ho said hitherto men’s thoughts had been directed towards making the land yield so as to make those who held it richer and richer ; but, tho true hopes and ideas that should animate men in the future ought to be how best to work

mother earth in the interests of men and women generally, so that they might become more happy and prosperous. Sir Goo. Grey then proceeded to discuss the question of free trade in land, which was not free trade at all, but a system by which the Natives wore deprived of their lands by means of liquor. Much of the hostility which ho encountered in the House was owing to his endeavours to put a stop to operations which had so long been going on. The Crown only should obtain land from the Natives ; otherwise poor men had no hope to acquire any of the land, and if they could not purchase the land from the Government after being acquired from the Natives, there was no hope for them. The mass of the people could never become possessed of land. It was perfectly futile of them to go into the market to acquire Native lands with the enormous capital that was being employed to acquire the land that ought to go to the people, instead of being the heritage of a few. In order to achieve what he hoped, they would have to organise themselves into Reform Associations. He asked them to think of the history of England and what Reform Associations and the Corn Law League had achieved. He fully believed that after the election the Liberal party would come back to the House with a large majority. Daily bo received telegrams from ail parts of the colony that convinced him of that fact. [Tremendous applause.] Mr Marks moved the resolution, which was to the effect that the association should receive the earnest support of all parties in Wellington, he explained that if the committee of the Liberal Association had done wrong in bringing forward the two candidates they did, it would be in the hands of members of the association to say whether they had acted rightly or not in doing so. The resolution was carried.

The Chairman explained that on Monday or Tuesday a meeting of the association would be held to consider the action of the committee.

Mr Fisher made a statement to tho effect that ho found that, according to the Act, he was unable to stand for election in consequence of his being an officer of tho House. He was not aware of this when he announced his intention to contest the election.

The meeting broke up with three cheers for Sir George Grey.