THE GLOBE. FRIDAY, MAY 27, 1881. THE PREMIER AT LEESTON.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2231, 27 May 1881, Page 2

THE GLOBE. FRIDAY, MAY 27, 1881. THE PREMIER AT LEESTON.

It cannot but bo satisfactory to the Premier that the “ country bumpkins ” of Leeston were pleased with his speech last night, for no artifices wore employed to bring down the house. His was a plain unvarnished tale of late events, and of what the Government proposed to do in the immediate future. Sir George Grey, on the other hand, when he addresses his enlightened minors, has always ready a few stage effects to heighten the interest of the proceedings. A gross personal attack or two, a lime-light effect produced by the consumption of ingenious fabrications, and a grand ascent into a fairyland of twaddle serve to render the representation sufficiently highly spiced to suit the palate of a constituency who, according to Sir George, spend most of their time cheerfully in the bowels of the earth. We confess to feeling that of those two methods the former is the preferable. The public in general have an aversion to tinsel, and they like, when they are about it, to hoar the truth, and nothing but the truth.

Mr. Hall, after disposing of a local matter, and showing how utterly groundless were the accusations brought by the ox-Premier against Major Atkinson in the matter of an advance of public money to Patea, and further dealing with several decidedly dangerous proposals enunciated by the same gentleman and Mr. Macandrew, proceeds to review the work of last session by entirely denying that it was a barren one, or was made so by the largo flood of Bills that the Government introduced. This proposition Mr. Hall supports by statistics, from which there appears no escape. Ho allows that a large portion of the time of last session was wasted, but he says that it was so, not by a flood of Bills, but by a flood of talk. As to the minor items of work done. Acts were past consolidating and sweeping off the Statute Book no less than ninety-two old Acts; it was provided that the trial of election petitions should be by the Supreme Court; the tariff was amended, and various other measures of social reform were passed into law. Mr. Hall then alludes to the fact that the results of the various Commissions proved, as he expected they would, very satisfactory, and so passes on to the consideration of the financial condition of the colony, making the very true remark that the action of the Government with respect to such condition would alone have been sufficient to save the session from any charge of barrenness. With regard to the assertion that his Government had depreciated the credit of the colony in the English market, Mr. Hall’s words are so true and forcible that we give them again in extenso : In the first place, I do not believe that any truth should be withheld, even if the giving it forth should temporarily depreciate the credit of the colony. I believe that when speaking the truth is followed up as it was in this case, it cannot permanently injure the credit of any country. It is perfectly true that when our position was first made known —when the alarming gap between income and expenditure was first pointed out —there was a depreciation of our securities; but when it becomes known how the Government and the colonists had faced the difficulty and grappled with it —when it was recognised that wo had practically bridged the great gap then the value of our securities began again to rise, and now they are quoted in the London market higher than they were before. But what would injure the credit of the colony were such disparagment of its prospects and misstatements as to its present condition, and such wild proposals for expenditure and paper money, as we have recently had in speeches from Thames and Fort Chalmers.

Mr. Hall next passes in review the efforts of the Government to retrench the expenditure, and says a few words on the subject of the property tax, and Sir George Grey’s proposal to tax the English bondholders —a proposal which, he justly says, is equivalent to one of repudiation, and would result both in the loss of our good name, and of our credit. The purchase of Native lands is the next qnestion touched on, and the attempt of Mr. Bradlaugh, and such people, to influence our Native policy. The Premier speaks with no uncertain note on this latter point: “ While we bear the burdens, and endeavor to show that we rightly appreciate the responsibilities, the Government will not allow any interference with the management of the Natives on the part of any outside authority,” After a few other subjects have been discussed, Mr. Hall passes to the really interesting part of his speech, namely, the business of next session. The programme appears to bo the following ;—l. Reintroduction of the Bill for regulating the conduct of elections. 2. Rointroduction of the Bill for the prevention of bribery and corruption. 3. Bill for the redistribution of the representation. 4. Possibly a proposal for fixing the number of members of, and mode of appointment to, the Legislative Council. 5. The abolition of the law of entail and the ensuring that no land shall be unsaleable except, perhaps, during the minority of the then owner. 6. Action with regard to making grants of lands to companies forming railways. 7. Reintroduction of Bill for management of hospitals and charitable aid. 8. Reintroduction of Bill for regulating the licensing of pnblichouses. 9. Reintroduction of the Bill of 1879 respecting the immigration of Chinese. 10. Further consolidation of statutes, and thus removing another eighty of the present Acts off the Statute Book. Besides the above there are other subjects of minor importance which Mr. Hall hints will, if time permit, claim Government attention during the session—such as regulation of fisheries, fencing, &c. However, the above ten items form a programme which the most ardent Liberal could hardly wish to see exceeded. Indeed, unless business proceeds with uncommon smoothness, there is little chance that legislation on all the ten subjects will eventuate. The matters taken into consideration, however, are important ones with two exceptions. Mr. Hall himself does not attach much value to the Bill for the prevention of bribery and corruption, and, with regard to the Bill respecting the introduction of Chinese, he curiously enough proposes to practically deny them the country, while he confesses that a few of them are a decided convenience. Space will not allow ns to make any remarks on the several measures proposed by Government, We must, however, congratulate Mr. Hall on his determination to grapple with the law of entail and similar enactments that tend to tie up landed property. The evils attendant on the state of the law in this direction in force in England are apparent to everyone, and there seems no reason why the laws on this subject in

Franco, Germany, and other Continental States, which have acted so beneficially, should not, with modifications, apply to Now Zealand:

The Premier, in his concluding remarks, was singularly happy in describing the Opposition platform. He said— The planks of the platform on which'this: Opposition is tostand appear to be—first, the abolition of the Legislative Council and the substitution of a single chamber ; second, the abolition of the Queen-appointed Governor and the substitution of an elective Governor ; third, the taxation of the English bondholders to snpply the necessities of the New Zealand Treasury; and, fourth, the dismissal of all Civil servants whose political opinions do not coincide with those of the Government of the day—and this, gentlemen, forsooth is called Liberalism! I say that it is but a thinly veiled despotism of a most oppressive and dangerous kind. To this platform the late leader of the Opposition, Mr Macandrew, proposes to add a couple of planks. They are—reverting to a lavish expenditure on public works, and the issue of Government paper money. I call this national bankruptcy. The Government of Russia has been called a despotism tempered by assassination. If this political programme is carried out, the Government of New Zealand will be a despotism tempered by national bankruptcy.

As to his own party, Mr. Hall claims no new platform, u it ho says that, during the eighteen months they have held office, they have broadened, deepened, and improved the foundations of political power; they have faced an alarming financial crisis and have restored the colonial credit; they have reorganised our relations with the Natives ; they have enlarged the facilities for settlement, and have encouraged native industries. For these reasons the Premier claimed the confidence of his constituency, and obtained it too. And it is pretty certain that the country at large will follow the lead of the “ country bumpkins ” of Leeston and neighborhood.