KUMARA DISTRICT ELECTION.

Kumara Times, Issue 1621, 7 December 1881, Page 2

KUMARA DISTRICT ELECTION.

MR. EDWIN BLAKE TO THE ELECTORS AT KUMARA.

Mr Edwin Blake, one of the two candidates seeking election to the House of Representatives, addressed a large meeting of the electors at the Theatre Royal last evening. There must have been some 600 or 700 people present. Shortly after 8 o’clock, Mr E. J. Price was called upon to take the chair.

Mr Edward J. Price then went forward, and said : Well, gentlemen, this meeting is called for the purpose of giving Mr Blake an opportunity of addressing you. All I ask of you is that he shall have a fair and impartial hearing, arid then judge for yourselves.—[Applause.]

Mr Edwin Blake said : Mr Chairman and gentlemen ; I am glad to see so many here to night ; for if many of you are not my friends, you have come to' hear what I have to say. I am here on account of Mr M‘Whirter’s retirement. He -was asked to say Yes or No whether he would become a member of Parliament; and he had decided to say No. Other gentlemen were asked, among whom were Mr Richardson Rae and Mr Price (the gentleman on my left) ; and it was decided that I should run. I was also pressed from other quarters that I should run. A meeting was Called, at which I was to decide ; it was so large that I had a very poor chance of saying No. I am proud to see so many here to-night; I have not seen so many for the last fortnight. I will say that I shall be sorry if I am defeated. Mr hirter gave up because circumstances had transpired over which he had no control. It is now my ambition to represent you, and I shall go in for it. I am not taking out a Bible ; it is only a few notes, and these are subjects I am going to speak to yoii aboutl, Native Difficulty ; 2, Education ; 3, Form of Government ; 4, Taxation (including income tax, property tax, land tax) ; 5, Railways (including West Coast Railway) ; 6, Centralization ; 7, Gold Duty ; 8, Water Supply ; 9, Local Option ; 10, Grown Lands charges ; 11, Chinese Immigration ; 12, School Boards and School Elections ; 13, Miners’ Rights ; 14, Land and Runs ; 15, Free Trade. First, then, with regard to _ - _ THE NATIVE DIFFICULTY. This is a subject I know very little of, and I dont think you do either.—[Laughter and applause.] I was very glad to see the action the Government had lately taken with the Maoris, and regret they had not taken other criminals at the previous attempt to quiet them. The Maori niust be taught to obey the laws the same as white men ; if not, we shall have continual feuds. —The Europeans had to obey the laws, and the Maori must be taught to do the same.—[Applause.] I would recommend that they should be taught industries. If the Government were to give prizes to induce them to emulate each other, if it was only in the making of better baskets or gardens, ambition would grow with then!, and they would feel elated and proud of winning. Once teach them to obey the laws, and in time they will learn industry. EDUCATION. There has been much noise in the country on this question. You must remember this is a subject which occupied two sessions of Parliament, and has cost probably a million of money. Can it be possible-, then, that you can go and alter it 1 The Maori difficulty would be nothing compared with any attempt which you might make to alter this. In twenty years it will alter itself, gentlemen, if it be wrong. If young men and women educated at these State schools turn out to be wrong, then the wrong will show itself ; but If right, it will also I feel sure be manifest in years to come. It will be a strong man and a strong arm that will pull it down j but the system will prove itself whether right or wrong.—[Applause.] I have no children being taught there. The fault is not at the foundation ; it is generally to be found in the local management, or in the selection of the schoolmaster.—[Hear, hear.] If the schoolmaster be right, the children will not go very far wToim. — [Applause. ] ° FORM OP GOVERNMENT. I have'been asked if I were a Hail man. I am a Liberal to the backbone. If I am elected, the first man I can see in the H. uise of Representatives who is a Liberal and able to lead the House, that man I think I can follow, and that man I will follow.—[Hear, hear.] I am not going to follow Mr Ormond, Mr Macandrew, nor Sir George Grey, to be a factious opponent. Rather than support these men, 1 would stand aloof.—[Applause.] I am not going to sit on a rail. I do not consider Mr Hall the right man, bj 7 any means. The first thing this Government did was to run down our credit. True our credit is getting a little better now 7. The first Liberal leader I see able to lead the House, that is the man I would support. —[Applause.] TAXATION. The income tax.—Well, I know a little about that. It is an unjust tax. I remember that my father used to pay an income tax, and it was more trouble to him than all the other taxes put together.—[Applause.] With the property tax, I have no fault to find. The man

who has money in the bank has a right to pay. But property which is not yielding any returns whatever, it does not seem right that people should pay for it. If returned, I would vote for a property tax, leaving out industries that were not paying. The land tax seems to be put on one side in Wellington. If a man buy 1000 acres, let him be free ; if 2000 acres, let hiiu pay Id an acre ; if 3000 acres, 2d an acre ; 4000 acres, 3d ; and so on. He could then pay as he goes along, but he would stop buying when he had got 5000 or 6000 acres. This would be keeping a population which God had put the land here for.—[Applause.]

CENTRALIZATION. In this matter, I believe I shall have enemies ; however, I shall speak straight at it. I believe we get along much better than we should if the two islands were separated. And, as I said last night at Stafford, we should be better off if all the local governments were put into one county. In Diraolly, in Victoria, the county paid only two men—a • surveyor and a Clerk, and we had just as much work done as is done in this county. If there are not men enough in the place to fill the position of county councillors honorably-, then the place is not fit to have a council. Here you have men talking all day and night to get another day’s sitting and pay. —[Applause.]

GOLD DUTY. The reduction of the gold duty is a simple matter : to get it reduced you mlist start with the County Council, or else, of course, the Legislative Council will stop the Bill again. It is no use to ask the General Assembly ; you must begin at home. They were a mean lot of lords of the land who take £159 a year. Yon should have men who will sit there Without pay. If you get the County Council to sanction the abolition of the gold duty, there will be no difficulty in its passing the Assembly. RAILWAYS. With reference to the East and West Coast Railway Mr Blake said, Parliament seemed to object to give the land for the West Coast Railway. I think it great folly to object to it; I would not be against it; if half the land were given, the half remaining would be wortli more than the whole is now. The railway along the Coast did not signify much to us. Hokitika is the only place I can see that could benefit by the completion of this railway. If tlie money which had been already spent at both ends of the line had been spent in water or water-races, you would not now be crying out for water.—[Applause. ] WATER SUPPLY. This is a subject I could talk to you all night about. First of all, I applied some years ago for a grant to bring in the Arahura. 1 was refused ; after which the Government applied, and reserved rights. Streams from Island Hill and the Wainihinihini could bobrought to supply the dam at Kawhaka feir £2OOO or £3OOO. That would give as much Water as there is in the Kapitea. If there were plenty of water, there would be plenty of gold got, and there would be plenty of work. At present, as you well know, men are discontented and dissatisfied. Just fancy the thousands of pounds being frittered away at the two ends of the proposed railway lino at Greymouth and Hokitika. The people at Wellington dont kiiow what we want, and we have nobody to tell then! wnat wo want. [Prolonged applause.! I would cry out Water ! water ! until they thought I had water on the brain.—-[Ap-plause.] The next is a watery subject— LOCAL OPTION. There are Licensing Commissioners appointed in Kumara. I would appoint a Bench the same as now, and elect a committee n ho should determine how many licensed houses there should be in the place. This might present a difficulty, but I should send round the police, and they should report which was the worst. Then another difficulty perhaps presented itself : I should be in favor of giving compensation to those who had to shut up ; I would be in favor of giving three years’ rateable value, £l2O or £l3O would come. very near the mark ; that would benefit the man, who would still own his house, and fair to lisenced houses.—[Applause.] CROWN LANDS CHARGES. The' farmers of the Kokatahi were laboring under a great hardship in having to pay 2s 6d a head for stray cattle. It was worth a pound to find them.— [Laughter.] The fanners there exist, and that is all. The ranger comes and drops on them ; but he does not get as much money from them as the Government pay him to get it.—[Applause.] They work hard, live hard, and are likely to die hard. BUSH LICENSES. I feel this a matter which concerns myself, and comes nearer home. However, it is a very iniquitous charge to men who are cutting a cord or two for firewood to help them along. WOOL. I should say a little about the wool tax. Unless a little is taken off the gold, I woidd put a tax on wool, as if one class of men are to be taxed, another class of producers should be. But if the duty be taken of gold, I would hot be in favor of taxing wool. CHINESE IMMIGRATION. If we had plenty of water, I really do believe we should be better without these men. They pay a little to the revenue at present- But if £lO was not sufficient to keep them away, I would make it £2o. [Hear, hear.] SCHOOL BOARDS AND ELECTIONS. The only thing I wonder at is that such men are put on the School Boards as are elected. The £12)0 recent!}' spent in shifting the offices from Hokitixa to Greymouth makes no difference to me, but it

wns not fair to the people, to the children, nor to the country. And as to the local committee elections, you may recollect the State School being shut up whilst men were being elected on the Committee, and the plumping dodge. Men were knowA to give seven plumpers or votes to one man. I desire to sec fair play in these matters, and that a man be compelled to do as he should do on these occasions. I would stop such nasty actions for the f u ture. —[Applause. ] miners’ eights. Some of you will remember that in 185?, in Victoria, men were paying 30s a month for miners’ rights. By agitating it was reduced to £2 for three, months. Then in 1854 we got.it down to £1 after the Ballarat stockade ; and there was more blood shed then than over the late Maori war. Now, I believe, it is down to ss. I think there should be somethiuk to entitle, a miner to his ground. It would not fee very much to pay 10s., and I think that a Very fair price fbr a man to live, on ground which he could call his own.—[Applause.] THE LAND. If we can stop these large runholders frbrd getting fresh leases, and cut up the runs into 5000 or 10,000-acre blocks, then yeomanry settlers could live on them and do well. I am quite sure there will be a hard fight td keep these runs; but I would, if returned, make a very hsfrd fight in Parliament to have them cut up. FREE TEADE. I have very little to say on this subject; except in regard to the tariff. I am a Freetrader. If you were living in Canterbury, you would Want to send your surplus grain out of the country, and the fanner has more right to protection than the nidn who sells his machinery to the farmer; conclusion. I Have now talked to you oiie hour. I stand before you as an honest man, and straightforward. Vote for me, if ybii think me fit, in a straightforward manner. I anl not going to make a living theie. If you do me the honor to return nie, sooner or later 1 will do you honor in return.—[Loud and long-continued applause.] EEPEIES TO QUESTIONS. In answer to questions, Mr Blake said— If a no-confidence motion were brought against the present Government, he would not vote for it if he thought the mover was not able to form a Liberal Government. He would not allow the Education arrangements to be touched in any forui or manner. He Would join the first Liberal leader able to lead the House. He did not consider the Hon. Mr Hall a Liberal leader. Mr Reuben Toms then mounted the stage, and said he had much pleasure in proposing Mr Blake as a fit and proper person to represent the Kumara district in the General Assembly. The address Mr Blake had just given would carry weight with all thinking men.—[Hear, hear.] Mr Thomas Wilkinson had much pleasure in seconding the proposition. Mr Blake would carry great weight in the House. The Chairman then put the resolution to the meeting, and declared it carried* Mr Blake (specially addressing a few who held up their hands against the motion, said, if I had decided to vote before I came here, I would keep my hand where .it ought to he). I hope, he said, you will talk over what I have said. No person can point at me the finger of scorn.—[Applause.] Go home ; think upon it; and if you hear a still small voice saying, vote for him, you will do your duty.—[Applause.] Mr Blake then moved a vote of thanks to the Chairman for the .efficient manner in which he discharged his duty, and with that the meeting, which was a very orderly one, terminated, at 9.30 p.m.