MR. McLEAN, M.H.R, AT WAIKOUAITI.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2246, 10 May 1881, Page 4

MR. McLEAN, M.H. R, AT WAIKOUAITI.

Mr George McLean, M.H.R., addressed the electors of Waikouaiti at the Waikouaiti Athocaium Hall on Saturday afternoon. Over 200 persons were present, and the chair was occupied by Mr A. G. Reid, the Mayor. We are indebted to the 11 Otago Daily Times ” tor the following extracts from Mr McLean’s speech:— , , , , After referring to the reasons why no had not addressed them at an earlier date, Mr McLean said :—I would like to put aside the past as much as possible, but I do not think it would bo right of mo to pass over our late difficulties without bringing them forcibly before us - still to remind us of the position wo occujty and of the lime when we had in London a large liability to meet and nothing to meet it with. I discussed that matter over freely last time I met you. It is likely I did a little injustice to the loon agents when I spoke. I may say that it was not my intention to do an injustice to anyone, and I make reparation for that as soon as I possibly can. You are aware, gentlemen, that when I stood before you last time wo had begun by floating our loan, reduced to a 4per cent. one. It had been floated at 80, as against the New South Wales Government’s five-million loon at 98. Wo stood worse off than New South Wales by £900,000 —a very largo sum indeed. Now, gentlemen, suppose we had that £900,000 at the present moment to provide ■work for all during this winter. We might have had it if we hud conducted our financial affairs in a proper manner. Wo need not hove sacrificed our debentures and hud ourselves dragged into the position we wore. Now, gentlemen, the reason of the pressure put upon this loan to float it was The Crown agents for the colonies had exhibited to them a large sum in drafts, drown upon them by the Government. They had the five million loan in their hands to float. They had exhausted their credit at the Bank of England. They had obtained every penny that that they could got there upon it. They had obtained all the money they could from the London and Westminster Bonk within £25,000 of their necessities, and they had still a number of drafts exhibited, to meet which they were bound to find money. Gentlemen, that is a position that no Government in the world should ever bring a country into; that they should be compelled to sacrifice a fivemillion loan in their hands in London and make it go at whatever it would fetch. Now I need not go into all the correspondence with the loon agents here, but I have it in a conoise form to show that the pressure that was put upon them quite justified them in the course they took, and that they [could take no other course. Then, putting forth the loan to the public in such a way, they were bound to subscribe to it, and had not the Bank of England called for that loan, the results would have been disastrous to the colony. Without entering into all the correspondence with regard to the loan, I will road a portion of one of the Agent-General’s letters. He says: — “I have had thrown upon me cares and reaponsibilities as Agent-General such as no officer of the kind, I venture to say, has ever been charged with before. I have been left literally without resources to contemplate engagements and commitments of hundreds of thousands of pounds. The credit of the colony hung upon the electric cable, and no more wonderful use has the electric cable ever been put to than that by which the engagements of New Zealand have been met through its agency, with the slenderest superstructure of prospective securities to obtain the enormous advances, immediate and contingent, required.” Gentlemen, I need not go further into that than to point out to you how necessary it is for the finances of the colony to be conducted in a careful and prudent manner. On that hangs a great deal. Although people will not look at figures, although they will not take the trouble to understand finance, on the financial position of a country rests the position of the people—the position of the working men. Everything hangs upon it, and any disorder in finance means difficulties to the whole of the country. Therefore, it behoves a constituency in returning men to Parliament to see that they have shown some aptitude for managing their own affairs, be they in ever •uoh a small way, and who, when there, will bo able to assist in the management of the affairs of the colony in a prudent manner. If wo want that ability in a representative, how much more do we require it in a Minister ? and it should be the careful aim of the repre■entatives sent to the House to put a Minister in power careful of finance, who will not squander the money, who will spend it in a moderate way; not one who will give large employment at one time, and throw men out of work at another, but who will by judicioue management, by keeping a watchful eye on the expenditure, and the finances of the country, have, in a time of depression such as this, the country in such a position that money can still be obtainable to overcome present difficulties, to tide over bad times. By our past action we had exhausted all our moans, bad times came upon us, and we knew not where to find the money wherewith to employ labor and [keep the country in a steady, fair, and prosperous condition. Now, gentlemen, let us come to the revenue of the country. You con see the effects of bod financing. You are all aware money was flowing in freely from the land—that we were getting our coffers filled by the land purchases. Things were going on smoothly. The Government were calculating on the land fund as part of their ordinary revenue, and making calculations on the assumption that it stood at a ridiculous figure—such a figure as never could be attained. What they were expecting to got from their ordinary revenue was two millions. Now every one of you know that was not consistent with the interests of settlement, but simply meant throwing the land into the hands of speculators. Two millions of money could not, and never will, be got in one year in the colony. On the basis of this estimate they were making the people believe that they were in a prosperous condition, and that the tea and sugar duties could bo taken away. What should have been done, as you wore raising more loans and paying a large interest, was to put on taxation, instead of gulling the people and saying the taxation could bo reduced. If they had put on taxation, instead of our position being so bad through the falling off of the land revenue, we should have been able to provide for a portion of the deficiency ■taring us in the face. A little extra taxation will not stagger the interests of a country as much os a large amount of taxation suddenly put upon it will do. So much then, gentlemen, for the necessity for prudent financing. Remarking on our past position, I am happy to think that things have been pretty well pulled together. Matters have been brought within a focus, and with the gradual improvement of times we may expect better things. We have a good country before us, we shall have prosperous times, and we have shown the world we can meet these difficulties, and wo can go on triumphantly thereafter. I have no doubt, although we have to suffer a little for a time, New Zealand is rising to the occasion, and I daresay ours is as happy and prosperous a country as any other to which we might go. We are not to bo deterred because wo have had some difficulties and some misfortunes cast upon us, but it will be a lesson to us to take better care in the future. We have had some bitter experiences. The colony has been spending money before it got it, lavishing money on public works—political railways some of them. We have been going at an enormous rate. We have had to sacrifice our debentures, 4 per cent., at 80, and other colonies on worse credit can float a loan of £500,000 better than we can. Now, gentleman, I will refer to the speech of an hon. gentleman—Mr Ormond. Ho is a man of great ability in my opinion, a man who, though he may probably be looking through a narrow compass just now, is, I believe, a very capable administrator, Ho says, gentlemen, ho is sorry be assisted Abolition, Well, gentlemen, look at it from any point of view you like. Suppose the colony had been in the position I have shown you it was when it started to float these loans; suppose the nine provinces wore spending money as they were when they wore taken over —and thoyfmust then have been in a most deplorable position—as you all know the revenues of the provinces were chiefly from the loans, a sudden stoppage of which would have deprived them of most of the revenue ; what would have boon the consequence ? The wholo of them would have been trying to lean on the General Government, which had to loan on someone else. I believe the pressure would have been such that our loans would never have been completed, and probably wo would not have paid our interest. Now let us go further. 1 say that what was intended when the Provinces were abolished was that a county system of government should bo established ; to induce the Road Boards to join and form counties, and to become one united Government; to give the County Councils power gradually, by degrees, and throw responsibilities upon them; to build them up tke

1 same as you would City Councils. Look at a I City Council; it wants no interference, it rnisos ite own funds and works its own ways. And why could not County Councils do the same ? But things have gone quite different to what was intended—to allow them all I ho power of taxation. It was never intended the General Government should come do-m with a property or land tax. It was intended that the system of taxation should devolve on the County Councils, and on them was to be thrown the responsibility of it. The cry always was that property never stood its fair share of the responsibility of government, but I think it does now, when we see that additional taxation has been levied for the purpose of keeping up your roads, for the purpose of keeping up your streets, and it would be far belter to have the local government thrown upon the councils. Throw the responsibilities upon the councils which are under the eyes of the people; throw the responsibility Within a narrow compass, so that the people can see what is going on, and I believe it would be for the prosperity of the people. They can then check abuses within their own district. Gentlemen, that was what was intended. The Government, as is known, wanted to make County Councils a failure, and instead of assisting and throwing responsibility upon them gradually, withdrew all assistance from them and left them ! helpless. This question, gentlemen, of local government must be taken and dealt with soon. When the finances of the country get into a reasonable state, the responsibility of local government must be thrown on the County Councils and Bead Boards. This responsibility must be taken away from the General Assembly and thrown on the Eoad I Boards and County Councils, so that the people themselves will be accountable for their good or bad government within their own sphere. Instead of building up these counties, what has been the course pursued ? They received subsidies, but it was said, “You are taking the money out of the people’s pockets and paying it back to them ” ; and the force of circumstances—an empty treasury —has compelled these subsidies to be withdrawn. A certain amount of the land revenue given to the Councils has also beep withdrawn, and another system on which it was to bo given was not carried out last session. Now, coming on the top of that we have the property tax. It is useless to be led astray by men saying that property is not bearing its share, and if you take away that property tax you are relieving the property of its share. We must disregard all these cries unless it is proved that the measures complained of are bad government. My opinion is that we must build up local government, and the colony, instead of drawing away the money in this way (they have taken away the subsidies), must throw the money back to the local bodies, and throw the responsibility on them, and by doing so there is not the slightest fear but property will have to bear its fair share of the burdens of the colony. It is a matter for every one of you to decide, as well as any member of the House. Now, gentlemen, of the property tax and beer tax that have been levied I can say little. Every tax is obnoxious, and I think it we could do without any taxation it would be a very good thing. But as we borrow money and have to pay interest wo must tax. I remember a gentleman at Nelson who said he was going to abolish the land tax and the Customs duties, but he never said how he was going to pay for the loan and keep up Government. Now I think that would be a very good thing for me to say at the next election, but you must not ask mo to say how you are going to pay your interest. Let the money for that come from the clouds. It is argued against this property tax that the land tax would be better. Now I would like to describe this property tax, as against the land tax. It is said the land tax is readily collected on the land, but the property tax taxes land ; it takes a penny in the pound, and the land tax takes a halfpenny in the pound. It also taxes improvements, and it mast be carefully borne in mind that under the land tax all those magnificent buildings in the large towns are exempt from taxation. Now I am perfectly sure that the owners of these buildings, seeing that the prosperity of the town depends on the prosperity of the country, will not shirk their fair share of the taxation. Now by the property tax the owners of those buildings have to poy in a line way of the settlers of the country, and it is a tax over everything. No doubt there are injustices in it, but there will be injustice in any tax. This tax takes into consideration everything a man possesses. If a man has acquired property above £SOO, it taxes all that property a penny in the £. If his worth is anything below that, of course he has nothing to pay. But it is said that it does not get at large estates—at land speculators. Gentlemen, a land tax does not get at land speculators. Supposing I sell you my land and realise £5 on it, the-land tax does not touch that £5 which I have made. Now, as regards the property tax —Supposing I have acquired capital through my speculation with my land, acquired a certain amount of profit on that land, I must pay a penny in the £ upon it. If a man owns property he has to pay a tax on that property for the protection of it. Now the property tax not only taxes land and buildings, it taxes also the money that you have in the bank ; it taxes anything that you have acquired. I do not see the reason for the cry for an income tax. If the people of the country want it by all means let them have it. This property tax taxes everything a man possesses, while an income tax would not have brought in anything approaching the amount of money it does. Consequently it would not relieve the necessities of the country. The only one who escapes the property tax is the professional man. Well the only wealth that escapes taxation in the case of a professional man under the property tax is money earned between the yearly returns of the tax. Under the property tax he has to pay for the amounts in his books, he has to pay for hi- cash in the Bank, and anything in the shape of shares, &e., so that you will see he escapes very little. But if the people want that little not to escape, why there can be no harm in proposing an income tax in order to meet it. Take the tax all round, I think it is as fair and as just a tax as any. Everyone understands that if he acquires means ha has to pay for it. It is said it is a tax on thrift. What is any tax but a tax on thrift I Does an} tax touch the spendthrift ? Is an income tax a tax on thrift ? Does it not tax the man who, through good conduct, has acquired possession of property ? Of course it taxes him. If a spendthrift spends his money in drink, then the Government gets a considerable amount of revenue on the liquor he drinks, and he makes up in that way. It you study the revenues—take for instance the Customs revenue—you will see bow there is a decrease in bad times, and an increase in good times. You will see about these Customs duties that the working man pays the same duty proportionately as the man in a middle station of life. It is easy to understand how in bad times they come down, and how in good times they go up. Every one of you feels the pinch of the times. You say, “ I can go with this coat for another month ; if it was in prosperous times I would have had another.” allow for that sort of thrift all over the colony the reduction in the Customs duties will be easily accounted for. You see New Zealand is suffering a recovery ; you see the Customs revenue gradually rising, and that is a sure sign that the times are improving. I am pretty sure that next year will be tided over, and that the £225,000 not provided on last year’* estimates, and brought forward to this year’s, will bo met without any further resort to taxation. [Mr McLean then referred to the retrenchment policy of the Government, praising them for the manner in which they took the matter in hand, regardless of their seats. Ho considered an examination of the Civil Service a great help to the Government. Hardship, he admitted, must arise in consequence of retrenchment. He had himself friends in the Civil Service, but if the necessities of the colony wore such that they were not wanted he would support their discharge.! Ho then went on to say:—As regards the present Ministry, I would sum up all their faults and good points. I would say, “ These are men who went into power at a time when the colony was in difficulties, who undertook the task—the thankless task —of retrenchment, and judge accordingly. I think ; they are a class of men who would not wil- 1 fully do an injustice to anyone. I also consider that they managed to subdue the Native troubles, and put the Natives in such a condition that we can live and exist with them. I would weigh all these things before voting against the Government, and so far as I could come to a conscientious vote. [Mr McLean then referred to Native affairs, pointing to the change which had come over the West Coast since the Maoris began to be treated with the firm hand of justice. He did not think, however, that it would be expedient to dispense with all the armed constabulary yet, who might in the meantime be employed in road-making, and so be of use in settling a part

of the colony, which is in no particular J district. The roads already oo: struoted had I been the means of a great deal of money 1 finding its way into the Treasury on account of the increased value of the land. Referring to the charge against Major Atkinson of getting money spent in his district, he said the Colonial Treasurer was an old colleague of his, and during all the time they were in office together no man took or sought to take advantage of his position in the Government to get money for his district less than he. Referring to Mr Bryce’s retirement, ho thought he was wrong in seeking to take the step he proposed when everything was going well, and TeWhiti’s power being undermined. Ho was sdre Mr Bryce’s retirement had had an extraordinary effect upon Te Whiti, who would no doubt see the narrow escape he had. He regretted Mr Bryce’s departure from the Ministerial benches, although he believed in the ability and integrity of the gentleman who had taken his place. He was bitterly opposed to Native land buying, but thought a mistake was made when the colony abandoned the right it once possessed of pre-emption in regard to Native lands. Under present circumstances the only thing that could be done was to get the Native land Crown granted, and thus enable Europeans to settle on the land, which could then be taxed. After referring to the land laws of the province, and what, in his opinion, should be done with the runs, he went on to speak of the unemployed question. He thought that in this connection there might be some difficulty this year. He urged men to take employment on farms at a reduced rate of wage. He thought this would be far better for them than to go to Mullooky Gully, where there was no chance of obtaining settled employment. Ho then went on : —I have shown yon how the retrenchment has been a great hardship to some of the people in the colony. Take the Railway Department, for instance. It has been said that workshops were required at Invercargill, Dunedin, Oamaru, and Ohristchuroh, and we have been keeping up these large workshops and paying for the work done and supervision of it. Less work was absolutely necessary to be done, and the staff was reduced. It is useless for men to cry out for more workshops. lam perfectly sure that the railways, with the reduced cost of working, will pay. In the hands of private individuals they are bound to pay, and why should not the Government make them. [A Voice: Why not sell them ?] I certainly would be sorry to see them sold. I think the sale of them would probably create a power in the colony we do not want, and I am not prepared to advocate either the sale or letting of the railways. I see there is a cry got up for the purpose of obtaining great grants of land for the construction of railways. If I could see a way of carrying this idea out fairly and in a manner for the interests of settlement, I would not object to it. I, however, fear the railways would get into the hands of speculators, who would have to get a good price before they could be redeemed. I would like to see how railways constructed on this principle worked, before I pledged myself either one way or the other. After answering some questions, a vote of confidence was passed, ana the meeting terminated.