MR OLIVER, M.H.R., AT DUNEDIN.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2237, 3 June 1881, Page 4

MR OLIVER, M.H.R., AT DUNEDIN.

(PBBSB ASSOCIATION TKI.BGBAM.) DUNBDIN, June 2.

Mr Oliver addressed hia constituents at the Garrison Hall to-night. The Mayor was in the chair, and there was a largs attendance. Mr Oliver said that though this wag the first occasion since the general election on which he had addressed his constituents, the omission was not attributable to any want of respect for them. Shortly after the election Mr Dick and himself joined the Ministry, and consequently were not so free in their actions, as when Ministerial responsibility rested on them—when a member of the Ministry spoko, he did not simply speak for himself, or to his own constituents, but for the Ministry, and to the whole colony. The Premier spoke to the colony through his constituency last year, and it was not deemed desirable that any further Government manifesto should be made. He (Mr Oliver) was now in a position of greater freedom, and the first use he would make of it was to address hia constituents. Although the Opposition wished to monopolise the title of Liberals, he did not hesitate to say that he was a Liberal, and that he found himself in perfect harmony with the Government and with the Government party. The necessary implication from this was either that there was no difference between the aapporters of the Government land of the Opposition, or that the Opposition was comprised of many who wore mere pretenders to Liberalism. As an instance of the make-belief character of some of the Liberalism whioh was professed, he mentioned that though it was part of the platform of the Opposition during last election to favor triennial Parliaments, still when the measure was introduced it was found that some of the Opposition really detested it, and a prominent supporter of Sir George Grey, when he saw, to his intense dismay, that the Bill would probably pass, called to a friend on the same side of the House who was supposed to have great influence with the Maoris :—" For heaven's sake take those Maoris of yours to the other lobby, or else the confounded thing will be passed." In regard to this measure and several other matters, the Government rather astonished the self-styled Liberals. When first eleoted Sir Georgo Grey's proposals for reform were before the country, and he pledged himself to support them. He little thought that it would fall to a Government, of whioh he was a member, to give effeot to them, but such had in fact been the oase. Sir George Grey having entirely failed, it had remained for the succeeding Government to have them placed on the statute book of the colony. New Zealand now had a franchise as liberal as any enjoyed by any country ; but, to complete the scheme of reform, one or two other measures were necessary, and he hoped shortly to see these passed. Of the principles of the Redistribution of Seats Bill he approved, but he considered it would still leave the system of representation defective. He could now speak on the subjeot in a way in whioh he could not have done had be remained a member of the Ministry. The ideal of popular Government was the Government of the whole people by a Parliament representing the whole people. He was strongly in favor of the adoption of the system of proportionate representation known as Hare's system. Another important measure of reform had been sketched out in the reoent speech of the Premier, viz., a reform of the constitution of the Legislative Council. The result of the present system of nominating life members to that body had beon tolerably good, and if they could rely upon it that the relations of the Chambers would be as harmonious in the future as they had been in the past, there would be no reason for interfering with it. But the experience of a neighbouring oolony warned them that any moment the two Chambers might be in conflict, and a " dead look " might onsue. The proposal ventilated by the Premier in his recent speech he considered wiso and prudent. It would, he thought, be better for the members of the Upper Chamber to be elected by ballot by the members of the House of Representatives, than that they should either be nominated by the Government or elected by those who returned the members of the House of Bopresentatives. The proposal on this question also provided that if a measure was thrown out twice by the Upper Chamber the Chambers should sit together as one Chamber, and an absolute majority resolve the difficulty. In going baok over the twenty months during which the present Ministry had been in office, he considered that nothing had been more satisfactory than the management of Native affairs. If they would contrast the present condition of things in the formerly disturbed districts when the present Government took office with their condition sow, they would find reason to congratulate themselves on the ohange. Nothing was more regretted by himself and by his colleagues than the retirement of Mr Bryce, who had managed during the short time he had been in office, to let light into the dark recesses of the Native office, and to show up the mode of conducting land purchases from the Nativeß in such a way as would prevent such doings for over afterwards. By his firmness and good judgment Mr Bryce had averted the war which seomed to threaten when he took office, and it was a matter of very deep regret that their difference of opinion on the question of sending an armed force to Farihaka had deprived the country of his services. The Native Commissioners, Sir William Pox and Sir Dillon Bell, had done good service in ascertaining the nature of the promises made to the Natives on the West Coast of the North Island, and in suggesting methods of giving effect to these promises, and of pacifying the Natives. The revelations made by Major Atkinson on the condition of tho general finances of the oolony when the Government took office had caused a good deal of alarm, and the Government were accused of making matters appear worse than they were for the purpose of blaokening the reputation of their predecessors. Major Atkinson announced that the deficiency would probably amount to over £BOO,OOO, and his gloomy forebodings were more than fulfilled, for up to the 31st of Maroh, 1880, the deficiency amounted to £990,000. This deficit it was impossible to provido for out of ordinary revenue. That fact was recognised by Parliament and the Government was authorised to add one million sterling to the permanent debt to make up for the deficiency. The Government recognised that there was need not only for severe retrenchment, but that additional sources of revenue should be obtained. The customs duties were increased, and by this means tho working man was called

upon to contribute more than formerly, and it became necessary to obtain a larger contribution from the propertied classes. This led to the imposition of the property tax. At the time of the last elections no question was more canvassed than the respective merits of the property and income tax. The general opinion of the country was decidedly in favor of all classes of property being taxed. In his opinion a greater proportion of the revenue ought to be drawn from direct taxation, and the tariff ought to be simp ified. The man of property ought to be called upon to pay for the protection afforded him, and the more property the larger was the amount of protection he enjoyed. But if they taxed incomes men would not pay proportionately to their wealth, for incomes were uncertain. As a matter of faet in this colony, almost 1 evaryona was pretty fully taxed, for if a man enjoyed a good moome and saved it, it was taxed as proporty, while if he spent it in extravagant living he was even a greater contributor to the revenue of the oolony. The objection that the property tax would prevent money being brought into the colony must be acknowledged to be false, for the supply of money was how greater than it had been for years. A disposition had been displayed of late by the Opposition to rob the Government of the credit of their retrenchment. He thought the Opposition were disappointed at the effect of the retrenchment achieved by the Government. First the Opposition had relied upon profiting by the unpopularity of the Government, but now, observing that the people recognised the benefits the Government had conferred on the colony, they said that retrenchment was forced by the Opposition or, at any rate, by the House. The faot was that more than any other members, the members of the Ministry had insisted upon the necessity for economy and retrenchment. They had begun practical retrenchment by omitting to draw one fifth of what they were entitled to. The Government proposed to reduce the estimates for salaries by £50,000, but the House had listened to similar promises many times, and insisted upon reducing salaries by a rigid 10 pe' oent. reduotion. Had the House, instead of doing this, accepted the assurance of the Government, the Government would have been able to have effected retrenchmett to the same extent with much less injury to the service. The Government had, however, succeeded in reducing the estimates for the current year by over £250,000, but the task had been difficult and exceedingly disagreeable. Betrenchment in general terms met with every one's approval, and many were content to see their neighbors reduced, but when they themselves or their friends were affected by it, it appeared as something extremely objeotionable and improper. Though the process was unpleasant it was necessary, and he was glad to know that it had met with general approbation. He was entirely at a loss to understand the necessity for the agitation which had been got up regarding the dealing with the Otago runs, the leases of whioh were to fall in shortly, and expressed the opinion that the present law on the subject was sufficient to enable the land to be satisfactorily dealt with in the manner indicated in the Premier's speech. Mr Oliver explained the provisions of the local Public Works Bill, and said he should continue to believe in that scheme until a better one was propounded. Begarding the public works he said that if the railway lines had been all well choson there would have been no need for suoh a oheok as the public works polioy had recently encountered ; but lines had been constructed that could not pay. Trains were run more frequently than was necessary, and the tariff adopted in some instances was unnecessarily low. In one case where the carriage) had been £6 per ton the charge by rail until last October had been 17s 2d per ton. On taking office he had as soon as possible lessened the number of trains so as to diminish the train mileage by over 170,000 miles a year, station masters were removed from extremely small stations, the number of men employed was reduced, one efficient department, a commissioner's department, had been substituted for two inefficient ones, and one accountant's department had been instituted for both islands. The scale of pay had been reduced, the goods tariff revised, and re-revised, and a system established, according to whioh men would be promoted in the service instead of being superseded by outsiders. He had had under consideration a schome for a general railway benefit society, and a system of colonial parcels delivery. Enquiries were being made with a view to adopting the American system of checking luggage, and attention was being given to the question of reducing passenger rates and establishing night trains between Ohristohuroh and Dnnedia. These matters were, however, for his successors to decide upon. Mr Oliver concluded by making an explanation of the reasons which had induced him to resign his portfolio. He entertained the highest respect for, and goodwill towards his late colleagues, but by the sudden loss of his business manager, he found that he could not, as he had hitherto done, give his undivided attention to his official duties until fresh arrangements were made. At the oloee of the meeting, a vote of confidence was proposed and carried. The meeting was quiet and orderly.