MR. MONTGOMERY AT AKAROA.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1942, 15 May 1880, Page 3

MR. MONTGOMERY AT AKAROA.

A public meeting was held in the Oddfellows’ Hall, Akaroa, on Thursday evening, when Mr W. Montgomery, M.H.R. for that district, addressed his constituents. Owing to the severity of the weather, the attendance was not so good as had been anticipated, but a fair sprinkling of the electors were present. Mr Waeckerle, Mayor of Akaroa, was elected to the chair.

The Chairman, in introducing Mr Montgomery, said that gentleman had come forward, in accordance with hia usual custom, to give an account of the manner in which he had fulfilled hia trust as their representative in Parliament, and he knew the meeting would give him a patient hearing. Mr Montgomery, on coming forward, was greeted with warm applause. He began by saying that it was a matter of great regret to him, as well as to many of his friends, that the weather had boon so remarkably inclement during the day and night, as the high wind and cold rain had no doubt precluded many from being present who were anxious to attend that meeting. Had circumstances been more favorable he ventured to believe there would have been a much better attendance of his constituents than he saw before him. He was aware that a long speech must seem rather an infliction on a night so cold, but he hoped they would bear with Mm, and he would endeavour to be as brief as possible. Since last he had the honor of addressing them very many things had occurred in the field of politics, some of them of a pleasurable kind and some of a character the reverse of pleasurable, but nothing had given him so much pleasure as the spontaneous expression of opinion from the electors of this district, upon one occasion when he was in Wellington, and when a few discontented men wished to get up a demonstration which would to a Targe extent have interfered with the usefulness of their member. On that occasion men came from all parts of the district to see fair play, and a resolution was carried expressing a vote of confidence in him (their representative), which left him entirely unfettered. He need hardly say that he was [gratified beyond measure by

seeeing the noble manner in which they stood to him, and by seeing the noble manner in 1 which the constituents who had confided to | him an important trust, left him in the position of a free man so long as he did not depart from the principles upon which he had been elected. He repeated that he felt proud and grateful for the generous and spontaneous expression of opinion they had accorded him. He then proceeded to say that he would have addressed his constituents before that, but he had been waiting for a public statement of the policy of the Ministry from some member of that Ministry. Since the last session of Parliament had closed however, no one had spoken on the Government side who could be considered an exponent of the Ministerial views. Hence he had remained silent, and at the last moment came before them without any information as to what the Government proposed to do, to render an account of that which he (Mr Montgomery) had done as their representative during the last Parliament, and to state his opinions also regarding some questions which would, in all probability, be considered during the next session. In the first place, he would say a few words upon local matters, believing at the same time that the electors of Akaroa, however much interested in such questions, took a wider view of their responsibilities than to concentrate ail their interests on purely local concerns. First, then, with regard to the railway. He had been in hopes when he went to Parliament last session that the necessary appropriation would have been granted to commence that highly important work—the tunnel—and that the contracts would have been let before this, but he was disappointed, and they were not much further on now than they were last September. However, ho was glad to be able to say that tenders had been called for the laying of the first seventeen miles, and surveyors had been put or [to survey the line to hi! tie River. These tenders had come in, but whether any had been accepted yet he did not know. But he could not help expressing regret that greater facilities had not been given for pushing on this work, which, in his opinion, would be found not only greatly beneficial to this district but to the whole of Canterbury. He had also endeavored to got —and had every hope of getting—a post-office more worthy of the place than the miserable shanty in which the business of the department there was now transacted. Some few hundreds would have put up a suitable building, which would have answered all purposes for years to come. In reply to his request, he was told by the head of the present Government that they would spend something to patch up the present building, or, to use his own words, “ the people of Akaroa had had quite sufficient already.” Regarding land surveys, he could say that six or seven parties had been put on those sections, which had not hitherto had their boundaries marked off, and he had re. ooived promises from the Minister of Lands that more surveyors would be put on. With regard to the compensation claims, they were in a fair way of settlement, and they might rest assured that their interests had not been neglected. He would then pass on to the questions affecting them as a part of the whole colony. In treating of this ho would endeavor not to travel over the ground traversed by public speakers, and which had been in the newspapers for some time past. But there were certain things he must touch upon, as being of advantage for them to know. They were aware that the late election gave strength to the late Government as a Liberal party. The programme of that party, briefly summed up, might be described as embracing the extension of the franchise, triennial Parliaments, re-distributien of seats, taxation to be properly adjusted, and greater economy of public exponditure. When Parliament met, the respective parties were nearly equally divided, and the then Opposition were in hot pursuit of votes. New men who came up to support the Government were made very flattering promises from the opponents of that Government. He would give them an instance of this, so that they would be clearly able to understand the kind of practices resorted to in the struggle for power. Mr Masters, member for the Grey Yalley, came up to support the late Ministry, but was talked to by the other side of the House. In consequence of what they urged, he wrote to his constituents os to what he intended to do, and this was a part of his letter—- “ I have the most positive assurance of support to both railways, harbor works, &c., from most of the leaders, viz.—John Hall, McLean, Eolleston, Oliver, Atkinson, Bowen, and others. ... I have also had many hours’ private conversation with leaders upon harbor works and railways, with the view of obtaining a pledge before giving my support.” As a matter of fact, that gentleman deliberately negotiated for money for his district before giving his vote. Ho got eventually £40,000 for Greymouth harbor, as well as a railway vote, and although that might be considered a large sum of money, it was looked upon as a cheap transaction compared with many that had taken place of its kind. Now, the Grey Ministry were displaced by one or two votes, and shortly after they were so displaced the discovery was made that the Opposition had obtained some votes by putting into their want of confidence motion the words “The Ministry as at present constituted.” On this discovery a want of confidence motion was tabled by Mr Maoandrew. They (the present Opposition) objected to that Ministry on a number of grounds, one being that Mr Whitaker was a member of it—Mr Whitaker of the Pinko Swamp notoriety—Mr Whitaker, who brought in a Native Land Court Bill which, had it been carried, would have thrown the lands into the hands of speculators, [Hear, hear.] They also objected to Major Atkinson, because in 1877 he was tried and found wanting—in the matter of issuing Treasury bills, for instance, and not looking the financial position of the country in the face, and not keeping the expenditure of the colony within the income. They objected to that Ministry as numbering among them men who were, and had been, during their political career, in and out of the House, opposed to extension of the freedom of the people. They had for years opposed measures for extending the franchise and redistributing the seats on the basis of population. He would, for instance, tell them what the present Prime Minister had said previous to last session of Parliament. He said —“ The right of the individual was to be well governed, but not to possess political power.” Now that was a good distinct Tory doctrine. It was held by the Emperor of Russia, who did not want the people to have any power whatever. He (Mr Montgomery) did not object to any man having any opinion whatever, so long as he he held such opinion conscientiously. But he asked them if the man who held those opinions for years ; who, as it were, never moved except to move against the extension of the political liberty or power of the people—was such a man as they wouldjchooso to guide them in the future ? Were such men the class to extend the liberties of the people ? (Murmurs of dissent.) He thought not. The men who had advocated the rights [of the people for years, and had shown themselves earnest in all matters of reform, were the men best calculated to carry real measures of reform, and not shams. (Applause.) And so the present Opposition objected to the new Ministry for the reasons he had set forth, and the vote of want of confidence tabled by Mr Maoandrew would have been carried had it not been for the promises made by the Hall Ministry, to which he had already referred. But he would not delay on this matter, which had gone the round of the newspapers, and with which they were no doubt pretty well acquainted. Every one was aware that there were four men pledged to support the present Opposition, and who went over to the other side after making a written compact, which secured their votes. Two of these men had no political character to lose, but one had been a trusted leader of the Opposition, was present at every meeting that those leaders hold, took part in their discussions, and entirely agreed with everything that had been done for the past few days, and while these meetings wore being hold he was in treaty with the enemy. He must characterise such a proceeding as an act of the blackest perfidy that had ever been recorded in the annals of political life in New Zealand ; and he ventured also to hops that in future years, when these occurrences were spoken of, they would never bo referred to without invoking the scorn and indignation of all right-minded men. Ho had hoped better things of their Premier than that he would put his hand to a compact like that above referred to and make it confidential —that he would lower the dignity of the high office he holds by making a contract in which there was any mention of public money, for the purpose of gaining four votes to his side. There was not a friend he had— he had many—but must regret that act of indiscretion on his part. They were aware that there was a deficiency in the revenue of a very considerable amount, in consequence of their income not being sufficient to cover the ex«

penditure. At the beginning of the financial yesr the deficit amounted to £BO,OOO. Since that time, owing to the falling off of the land fund of Canterbury, it became very evident that additional taxation must be resorted to, and the question was what form should that taxation take. He said it was necessary to some extent. He also said that if care and prudence had been exercised, and these difficulties looked fairly in the face four years ago, the question now would have been of much less moment than it actually was. But it was necessary to meet the question presenting itself, being the question of taxation or repudiation. He need hardly say that Parliament chose taxation, and that the people must approve of such a course, as repudiation could not commend itself to any rightthinking men. There was the Customs Tariff Bill brought in, which raised the duties on spirits and tobacco, and also raised duty 50 per cent, on ad valorem goods. He supported that Bill, because he thought tobacco and spirits were legitimate objects of taxation, and because the increase in duty on ad valorem goods was a protection to some extent of native industries, such, for instance, as the Kaiapoi manufactory—in regard to blankets and other articles. Being in favor of the protection of native industries, ho voted for that Bill, but the [other Bill was one of a different character altogether. It was a Bill for imposing a property tax, and the Property Assessment Bill was the first measure bronght before the Houso. He had, during the past four or five years, been in favour of a moderate property tax, in order that those large landed proprietors, who benefitted most by the organisation of railways and public works generally, should bo compelled to pay a fair proportion of the interest on ouch works, and to insure that such burden should not fall principally on those who did not to any great extent benefit by them. For years ho had pointed out, in the House and out of it, that it would be necessary to impose such a tax, but the present Bill was of a very different character from that he had looked forward to see brought in. In the first place he would take the question of machinery as therein affected. This Bill proposed to tax machinery, such as the Kaiapoi and Mosgiel Works, which he might take for the sake of example. The effect of the taxation proposed to be imposed upon machinery was to heavily and unduly handicap the colony as against other countries where machinery was not so taxed, wherefore he entirely objected to that—because, moreover, machinery was part of the producing power of the colony. A proposition in connection with the property tax was made to exempt farm horses, which motion was lost, but he favored such exemption on the ground above stated, farm horses being part of the working power of the colony for producing purposes. If we were to compete with America, Sydney, and other places, the machinery for producing grain and other produce associated with the staple industries of the country should not bo taxed. But he now came to the worst feature of that Bill—the’tax on personal effects. Every article in a man’s heme was to be taxed—every chair, every table, every chest of drawers, every wash-hand stand—every pot and pan and bit of property in the house. When the assessors sent round the schedule they would have to take a pen and put down every articles to ascertain its value at auction. They would have to fill up this schedule—which ho would venture to say not one man out of fifty of the population would be able to do—indeed, he questioned if a great many could understand it all. Nevertheless, they would have to do this, and carefully value every bit of property they possessed, even to the shirt upon their back. They would have to put down all their stock—whether bullock or horse, the pet lamb of their child, or their poultry. And they will not be able to get away from this, because the assessors were provided by the Government with set forms printed and circulated for the purpose, with full directions as to what was required. [Mr Montgomery here read extracts from a property assessment form in his hand, which caused some amusement.] He ventured to characterise this as a very obnoxious means of raising a tax —a more objectionable proceeding, psrhaps, had never been invented by man ; and when this regulation should be put in force and the people have to fill up such forms, he ventured to predict that the insanity of the Government action in this regard would be demonstrated by a cry of indignation that would be raised from north and south, east and west, of the colony. A great many things were passed during the ,ast session, which, if longer time had been at their disposal, would probably not have been passed. One measure proposed by the Government that did not pass, was that relating to the purchase of district railways. There were four railways, estimated to cost £400,040, the actual cost of which would probably be £500,000, and these district railways were projected by men who had properties that the railways would benefit. Not small men, but men of large means, some of whom took shares in the venture to the extent of £36,000, the shareholders in some cases paying up 5 per cent, in the £ on calls. The banks advanced the money, and when the banks wanted to be relieved of these overdrafts, the shareholders found it very inconvenient to meet the demand made upon them. The result of this was that they asked the Government to purchase the railways from them. He (Mr Montgomery) told the House when this question came on that had the application come from poor men there would have been no thought of granting it, but the application came from rich men, members of the House, supported by the influence of the Banka and rich men outside the House, and the Government, notwithstanding the talk and cry that was raised by some members of tho House, brought in a Bill to purchase these railways from private individuals. This was at the latter end of the session, but fortunately there were a few determined men who said the Bill should not pass. They had no information to guide them —simply knowing that these railways were estimated to cost £400,000, and perhaps might cost £600,000. They asked tho Government to leave the matter over till next session, so that the House should be informed where the railways ran, and what advantages they would offer to tho country. But they replied “ No, we shall bring forward the Bill.” The result was that the measure was thrown out, a small party having determined that it should not pass, and he was glad to say that where a few determined members declared against a Bill, it was almost impossible to carry it through. He and those with him had commenced stonewalling. It was the first time he had taken part in the system known by that title, but in this instance he was proud to say he had done it. Tho Government gave way, and agreed to ask the House to guarantee a loan of £60.000 to help them out of the difficulty. It became a question whether this should be acceded to, and eventually it was decided to give the guarantee, it being hold that the loss to tho country would not bo much if the Government obtained due security, and _ at all events they had succeeded in frustrating the attempt made to induce the country to purchase railways from certain wealthy men through whose property those railways extended. Now, turning to another question, they had all heard that the late Government, and especially Mr Maoandrew, had plunged the country into financial difficulties. The present Government did what they could to blacken the political character of the late Government, and to some extent they succeeded, because the cry was raised and reiterated till a good many people began to believe there was something in it. He wished, before going further, to ask them to note the difference between the two accounts in question—the ordinary revenue and Public Works account. These two accounts are entirely distinct. Ho thought there were a number of people who confused them, and they should certainly bo considered apart. The ordinary revenue account should show the income from ordinary revenue, such as Customs taxation, net profits of railways, &c,, and exponditure such as was required for departmental expenses and paying interest on debentures, &o. But that account had nothing whatever to do with tho expenditure on public works That money expended on new works came out of loan, therefore if the finances wore in a bad condition, it was not because Mr Maoandrew, if ho did so, had pledged the five millions for public works, but because the ordinary revenue was not sufficient to cover ordinary expenditure. It was stated by the Colonial Treasurer, and denied by Mr Maoandrew, that the latter had exceeded the amount voted for public works. The accounts were very complicated, and it was possible Mr Maoandrew might have exceeded the limit. He sent home orders for rolling stock and rails to a large amount, at a time when iron and made up materials were exceedingly cheap, at about one-half the cost they are now, or not much more. It took a year, or about that time, to get these materials out, and if he exceeded the amount voted,

the result had been of great benefit to the colony. He would not go so far as to say that was a Justification for a man going beyond the authority given by Parliament, and if the Government had put it on the ground that Mr Maoandrew hod exceeded the limit of the law, and was therefore in fault, he (Mr Montgomery) should have better understood it; but they put it on the ground that, having exceeded the limit of the law, he had plunged the country into difficulties respecting its finances. Now, there was not a railway upon which they say he expended money of this kind, except the Thames railway, for which ho let a contract of £28,000, and this he did in accordance with what he considered the law of the land, supported by the opinion of the Attorney-General. And after all the principal objection raised against that work had been that it was commenced at the wrong end of the lino ; at the same time the present Government had actually voted an increase for that same railway, and upon every line with the exception of the Waitato and Taranaki and that little one they knew about. The Government had asked foi a large increase in the votes, and were going to spend more money than Mr Macandrew, ho could not see, therefore, how they could say ho was ruining the credit of the colony. He did not say Mr Macandrew was Justified in going outside the law, nor did he see that the engagement for the purchase of Native lends was Justified; but that was the act of Mr Sheehan. After reviewing the position ojcupied by the late Minister of Public W»rks, still further, the speaker continued to craw comparisons between that and the acts oi the present Ministry, who, he said, did not hesitate to vote roads and bridges and prblic works all over the country to satisfy men who were supporting them; and they dare not refuse to expend money where their own supporters insisted on it. As an example of this ho might say that after voting all the bridges &0., they could think of to the North Island, they granted a sum of £65,000 to Captain Oolbeok’s district to the north of Auckland ; £50,000 had been given to Taranaki for roads and bridges and wharves, and £40,000 to Mr Masters’ district. And they had asked the House in that state of financial affairs to allow them to buy private railways from their friends. Yet that Ministry hud the temerity to charge the late Government with sending the country to ruin, and they themselves were Simon Purcs. Would any man tell him that men who had done all that he had said, and who had made that questionable compact with the Northern members—that these were the high-minded, trustworthy, and prudent men who should have the management of our affairs. The whole' experience of the party contest last session was a course of bribery on the part of the present Government to secure support. Turning again to the question of flnanea and the ordinary revenue, he remarked that there were three millions of the loan untouched yet —of that he was as certain as that ho was living; but there was this difficulty, we were far short in our ordinary revenue to cover the relative expenditure ; and this was what at present oppressed the country. As he said, the deficit was £80,000; but unless the taxation wore added to and the expenditure very much decreased, we should probably bo £600,000 or £700,000 short by the end of the year. He then referred back to the period of Major Atkinson’s issuing Treasury bills to the extent of two millions to meat the deficit in the revenue, and proceeded to say that when, in 1877, financial difficulty was staring Major Atkinson in the face, that gentleman would not take heed of the warning note given by him (Mr Montgomery) and others, but said they took a too gloomy view of things. When at last it came to this—that taxation or repudiation must be chosen, the course chosen by Major Atkinson and his friends wastoseizethe Canterbury land fund,£6so,ooo of money belonging to the people of Canterbury, of which they never got a shilling back, but Canterbury had the honor of carrying the colony on its back for twelve months. After these means were exhausted we could buy no more land, the consequence being that they were short Just the amount contributed by Canterbury, which had been purchasing land at £2 per acre. He went on to point out how the difficulties in which the country now found itself might have been averted or at least prevented from becoming so formidable. The Government in power when these financial troubles at first presented thomacl-roo should have imposed a moderate taxation on those properties which benefited largely by the railways ; they should have exercised economy in every department, reducing the civil service into the simplicity it ought to be reduced. Major Atkinson should have resisted the importunities of those who supported him, refused to spend money on works of an unremunerative character, and made a determined stand to economise in every department. If these things had been initiated at the proper season, and faithfully carried out, they would not now have had to complain of crushing, grinding taxation. What would they have cared about moderate taxation four years ago ? It would only have excited, perhaps, an enquiry as to what was to be done with it, in order to ensure economical administration of it. Now it was a very different matter, when every man finds it a matter of some concern to meet his private engagements. And at this 'juncture the Government came down with an additional taxation levied in a manner most obnoxious to tho people. Had they reduced our Civil Service, and begun with the very highest official—the Governor —and reduced the pay of the Ministry, and those of the Civil Service in receipt of high salaries (he did not refer to men of the lower grades in office, as men must live) and taken care not to have (employed more men than were necessary—if this had been done they would have seen something different, in every way different, from the frightful condition of things at the present time. Wo had now to pay upwards of a million and a half in interest and sinking fund, and with a population of 450,000 people we had a national debt of £27,000,000. Although he had not exactly predicted this, he had said before to them there that the time would come when the country would feel tho position into which they were drifting through, the course of mismanagement depicted. (Applause.) Ho would now turn to another question of considerable importance, which ho wished to approach with due reserve and caution, namely, the Native question. The expenditure incurred in connection with this question in the North Island was something like £6OO a day. They had all heard of the Waimate plains which wore said to bo so fertile they would feed one bullock to the acre, and of this land there was supposed to be seventy to one hundred thousand acres that could be settled by a European population. Well, it had been discovered that this extent of fertile land was almost a complete myth, being so encumbered by promises made by Sir Donald M'Lean, Mr Stafford, and others, that the actual amount of land available for settlement dwindled down to something like a few thousand acres, and it had been shown that to settle a population on that required the maintenance of an armed force until satisfactory arrangements could be made with Te Whiti and other Natives respecting Parihaka. They had got at the head of the Native office a gentleman whom he esteemed very highly, one whom he believed detested “ shams. ” But he was overweighted, and had to clear up the frightful mess which that greatest of shams, the Native Office, had made for 'years past. He believed, of all the pernicious shams the world had ever seen, that of tho Native Office was tho worst. Everything in connection with it had been quite dark and secret—indeed any one might have supposed from the exceeding mystery surrounding its operations, that there were negooiations going on between two groat foreign powers in respect to war, requiring tho most delicate treatment. At tho same time things had for a long time remained in this unsatisfactory state, ;of which the only solution seemed to bo a thorough enquiry by Parliament, for ho ventured to say they could not go on keeping up an arm'd force at an expense of five or six hundred a day. There could be no doubt that a large amount of the trouble during the past few years in this respect was duo to the greed of tho land speculators desiring to got hold of the lands of tho Natives. There was more land in the hands of private persons in the North Island than could be beneficially occupied for the next twenty years. The principle on which those men proceeded was to acquire the land at a nominal rate—2s 6d or Is 6d an acre —this being done by means of pakeha-Maori agents, who were totally unscrupulous in their dealings with the Natives, —and then hold the land for purposes of speculation, hoping to sell it to people who came from the South at £6 per acre. He trusted, however, the people of this Island would guard their rights, remembering the taxation of Canterbury was heavier than that of the whole of the North Island, and that they would no longer bear this sham expenditure of public money. He now had a word or two to say about education. It had

been stated that an attempt would be made to make one alteration in the Act, for tho purpose of imposing school foes upon the children. His views had always been antagonistic to such a course, and he should oppose the introduction of such an alteration. He should also be an opponent of any attempt to introduce sectarianism into our public schools. Ho wished upon these subjects to give his opinions with no uncertain sound, particularly as he understood that attempts to amend the Act in the direction indicated would be made in the next session of Parliament. On the subjects of the commissions which have been recently travelling round, ho wished to make a few observations. These commissioners were composed of the supporters of the Government in the House, and of men who tried to get into Parliament, but were rejected by the constituencies, and one or two others thrown in as a makeshift. Under these circumstances, what could they expect from tho reports of these commissions when they came before Parliament. The Premier, in the late Provincial Council of Canterbury, said that if you wanted a thing delayed you should appoint a committee, but if you wanted a thing shelved altogether you should appoint a commission. Well, the Government appeared to have appointed these commissions to shelter themselves. They (tho commissioners) were to act as buffers between tho Governmentjand the people, who, should they ask few an explanation of Ministerial views, would be referred to a commission. But setting aside tho use of these appointments (which ho ventured to think would not do much good), was it not injustice to appoint them from members of one party, as had been the case hero. The Civil Service Commission afforded an instance of their uselessness. Was it likely that an examination of officials in any department as to whether their salaries could be reduced, would be productive of much enlightenment? No, tho proper course to be pursued was for the head of affairs, who had decision of character and Judgment to guide him, to see where reforms were necessary, and then act accordingly. Whatever might be tho result of those Commissions, however, it was tolerably certain the country would have a nice little bill of expenses to pay. He would now refer to the measures for next session. Of course, bo could not say what the Ministerial mind was, but from what the Treasurer said last session they will bring in a scheme which, to use his own words, will place the finances of the country on a satisfactory and something like permanent basis. Subsidies were tojbedone away with. When the abolition of provinces was carried they were encouraged with the hope of receiving substantial endowments for Road Boards and Municipalities ; now they had been informed that this was the last year they would receive tho subsidies. Now we were to have the changes rung upon something else, and if the finances were placed on a satisfactory permanent basis, it would bo at least something more than they wore last year. There would be a Bill for redistribution of seats. That was one of tho number proposed as absolutely necessary by the Government last session. No doubt wo were short five or six members, and Dunedin short from two to three members; Nelson wss over-represented to the extent of three or four, and Taranaki was also over-represented; but it would not have suited tho present Government to take the representatives from the places which supported them, and so the Bill was not brought forward. But he might say they would have it this time or know why. Then there would be a Regulation of Elections Bill, and Bribery Bill he hoped, and a Bill to settle disputed elections. The latter, he hoped, would differ from the present law, which relegated the matter o Parliament, which ho considered bad in principle, for men in such circumstances could not help seeing through party spectacles. Witness the last disputed election, when Sir George Grey was unseated for Christchurch. Ho had no hesitation in saying that precedent was entirely against it. He was unseated because there was a majority against him in the House. Tho only fair mode of settling these questions was by taking the power out of the hands of Parliament, and referring the cases of disputed election to the Supreme Court Judges—an outside, honest tribunal—for decision. He supposed the long-promised Bill touching Native lands would be brought in. There had always been a difficulty in getting a good Native Land Bill, owing to so many people being interested in the lands. In his opinion a good Native Land Bill would put a stop to the difficulties with the Natives. The treaty of Waitangi provided that the Natives should hold their lands till they liked to sell thorn ; but when they wished to sell they must do so through tho Government, who would survey them, and charge them with the work, deducting so much per cent, as a guarantee that they would not disturb the purchasers in their possession. Such royalty would give tho Government a fund to maintain the constabulary, and the land would be sold in suitable blocks. The Natives could keep the land, and they would not part on those terms by which they could not got a fair price. He trusted that something in this direction would be done to settle this Native question once and for all. He had very little more to say—not altogether on measures to come before Parliament, but bearing upon them. The cry hid been raised of the great financial difficulty. It has gone up throughout the length and breadth of the land, and outside the land, and, he ventured to say, acted very injuriously upon the credit of the colony by keeping capital from coming into it. Ho had been told he took a gloomy view of things years ago. Well, he now said in tho midst of the gloom that was surrounding us, that this country was as sound as any in the world. But we should have to reduce our expenditure, and make the railways pay better than at present. We had a million end a half to pay annually, and our railways paid £112,000 a year net income. A defect in our railway system was that they had railways which not only did not pay expenses, but wore running into debt, and on those the rates should be raised. This was the case where tho nature of the country had made the cost of construction much heavier than in others—say in Canterbury, and tho lines of this district wore worked to the best advantage—but tho people of Canterbury, industrious and energetic, had had to pay for it. He believed the railways could be made to yield £150,000 additional profit, and reduction in Government expenditure could bo effected to the extent of £150,000. If this were done the additional taxation would not be heavy as Major Atkinson proposed. The state of affairs was not really so deplorable if wo were only prepared honestly and fairly to grapple with it. Now, he wished to say what might be called a truism, but it was a truth worth repeating. It was this, there was no way of getting wealthy as a people except by work ard thrift. We had hitherto in this colony endeavored to get rich hastily by speculation, and we had failed, as a people must always fail who adopt that plan. Individuals might get rich at the expense of their neighbors, but a people could not, and they had found that out for themselves, that to prosper it was necessary to work hard and bo thrifty, and ho would ask tho people of New Zealand to bring influence to boar upon tho Government with this end, that they might carry into the departments of Government the thrift whieh we exercised in our private life. The result will be benoficial to the country, which was possessed of a splendid climate and magnificent resources, and for this groat expenditure that had been going for years, there was, 'he was glad to say, a good deal to show for it—and all they wanted to do was to exercise economy. With regard to the position of pa-tics at present, he hoped there would be no factious opposition offered to the Government next session, and if he knew anything of the party to which he belonged, there would be none. So long as tho Government gave all the information required, and brought down their measures in good time to admit of intelligent discussion, then the minority must bow to the majority. In conclusion he said — Gentlemen, I have detained you perhaps too long. I have to thank you very sincerely for the patient attention you have given me this evening. I have to thank you for your uniform kindness, and especially have I to thank you for the generous confidence given mo and renewed again and again, and though I cannot express all I feel in this respect, believe mo, I am proud of being your representative, and deeply gratified for your kindness.

The Chairman informed the meeting that Mr Montgomery would be happy to answer any question that they desired to put to him.

Mr Shadbolt asked what wore tho member’s opinions in reference to the treatment of the Native prisoners.

Mr Montgomery explained that the Maoris at present in Dunedin gaol were kept in custody in accordance with a law passed by the Parliament of the colony specially to meet their case. By tho law of England there

should be a general gaol delivery at every assize, but a law was passed at last session of Parliament on a representation that the peace of the country depended upon a special enactment of the kind being passed. The responsibility rested with the Government, and no doubt the question would come up for discussion next session. He might say, however, that nothing but the very serious nature attending the circumstances could have Justified any person in making such a law after the not had been committed.

In reply to Mr Garwood, Mr Montgomery said the majority of members had meant the aoroperty tax to be what it was. The Government believed it to be a property tax, but it taxed property twice. With regard to mortgagss, the taxation partook of the character of an income tax, and fell upon the present mortgagees, who would no doubt take care to protect themselves in future.

Mr Steven Watkins moved—-“ That this mooting thanks Mr Montgomery for his able and exhaustive address to them, and begs to assure him of their confidence in him as tho representative of the district.”

Tho motion was seconded by Mr Shadbolt, and carried unanimously and with some enthusiasm.

Mr Montgomery made a suitable acknowledgement, and moved a vote of thanks to the chairman, which was adopted by the meeting. This terminated the proceedings.