MR ORMOND'S SPEECH.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue 68, 26 April 1881, Page 3

MR ORMOND'S SPEECH.

Europeans of native lands, ao that they might be brought into cultivation and-made to boar their, share of taxation as well as increasing tiie productive power of th<icolony. -At prsaent some 11,000,000 acres a the North Island were absolutely idle, and contributed nothing to the burden of the country. Then he disagreed with th* notion of Mr Bryce iv hia apparent wholesale abandon nient °f liens on Government land. When he (Mr Ormond) for a time, •luring the illness of Sir Donald M 'Lean, had control of the land purchase department, he found largo areas on which Government advances had been made ; these lie and his colleagues carefully divided into three classes. The first was of land.< of which the greater part of the purchase money hadjbeen paid and which were convenient for settlement. These they proposed to stick to. The second consisted of land in impracticable places, which were left for future dealing with. Tho third was lands of which only a small p-"rt of the purchase money had been paid, or were unsuitable for settlement. He thought Mi Bryce should have followed a similar plan instead of throwing over large areas fairlj belonging to the people. He generally supported the action of the Government regarding the West Coast difficulty^ excepting in sending the letter .to Te ; Whiti by Captain Knotty s, asking him to meet the Governor." He thought that was impolitic. It was additionally unfortunate that the letter should have been sent to him by an officer of the Imperial army. He (Mr Ormond) knew that this had created in the mind of the Maoris the belief that chere was a power behind, and more powerful than the representative government of the colony. He would have heartily supported the proposal of Mr Brycfr to arrest Hii-old and if necessary Te Whiti, had not the Governor's letter been previously sent. Referring to tlie proposed redistribution of seats, he said :— " He agreed that "redistribution of seats was necessary, though he thought too rigid an adherence- to the population basis would give undue power to town populations* Other things than mere population should be taken into account, and he had reason to believe that the Bill which Ministers would

Mr Ormond addressed his constituents at Waipawa on Thursday night. His speech has been looked for with interest, owing to the severe criticisms he passed on the Ministerial programme last session, and also owing to the prominence he gave to the necessity of a change m our system of local government. In addition to, these facts, was the additional one that for some time past he has been spoken of as likely to lead the Opposition owing next session. It was therefore natural # that the colony should await with expectance his utterances. From the report to hand, Mr Ormond's speech appears to have been a thoroughly practical one. Referring to the past session, he remarked upon the little practical work done, and in reference to those most important Bills — the Fencing and Impounding — rhe explained the reason they were not passed. He said : — " There were several measures of a non-political character, such as the Fencing Bill and Impounding Bill, affecting large interests, and of the greatest importance, but they could noVie passed, because the Bill which would suit Canterbury would not suit Auckland or the requirements of Hawke's Bay bush settlements. This caused great difference of opinion, leading to lengthy discussions. However Parliament might devote itself to these subjects, it could not deal with them so well as the old Provincial Councils, where each community, knowing its peculiar requirements, framed measures suited to those requirements." He condemned the practice of the Government in relegating so much of their own proper work to Eoyal Commissions, and advocated judicial reform, not only in the superior but also in the inferior Courts. Hesaid:—" Attention should also be given to the lower courts so as to allow justice to be more readily obtained ; just as much ground for complaint was there as in the higher courts. They s-hould be able to obtain direct justice there, without a possibility of a plaintiff failings through a technicality or legal point. He could not take up a newspaper without reading of some: case in magistrate's courts being so dismissed. These things should not be allowed to interfere!" He proceeded to speak oi the Charitable Aid Bill, which he would sup port, as he thought money for charitable.- purposes should be raised by special rate. Referring' 'to finance, he condemned the action of the Government hr proposmg to exempt personal -property from tlie property tax, in neglecting to make provision for the local bodies, and in introducing so abortive. & measure as the Local Public fork's pill, referring to which he said:—" The measure was not received with favor «by any portion of theHouse,and although one of the principal measures of the Government if not* the main one, the Bill never? canie on for actual consideration. When the. Government found the piovisfonlthey T had proposed was not satisfactory, the Bill practically dropped, but not till Government found out that the opinion of their own supporters •■was against it. It was' the largest financial measure Government brought down, bnt was lost sight of, and no provision has as yet been -made for the : future of local bodies." 'Referring to the financial administration of the Government he said that experience had proved he was right last session when he, "asserted Government could siave £250,000 on the estimates. For making this assertion the' Premier, Mr George MvLekwand others condemned him,, but'reS^, Major Atkinson claimed credit for 'liaving\,§ave'd £252,000. He believed,. -stift fiuiifre* reductions could be made by combining offices in towns,; fcut strongly ; condemned the iadifcCriminate 10 per cent, reduction. In referring tot the native policy of the Government he said — stop all ulwot iiativ* l^d fexcei.t though the Waate j*n'A* B< ardir M.he> believed it would have, ppt » «top to settlement. His tie* &MM *W"V* «<l*K"Kat by ,

propose. L woutd.tak«i cognisance of ntieß^Bm^miitters. 'He did 'not; ; ihink M llfnls{Brs.' would fee strong onoiM^pf^aTry this -Bill. They j were, p^'stroftg' enough to carry their poliby BiUs; last session, and he did npt thinlt :J ifliey' would be Ftronger this session. He anticipated that the ;sßill would have to be, referred to . a committee chosen from, the House, and in that. way. the difficiUty might, begot over^Vrrßeferring to, taxation, he argued tnat the property tax should be abolished, as it was to press hardly on improving settlers, and drive capital from the, colony. He favoured an income tax", as the fairest possible form of taxation. Under this head Mr Ormond said : — There yrere only, two arguments adduced against an income tax. The first was that it would not produce enough. The only method of estimating what the tax would produce was through .the officers of the Colonial /Treosureij's. department. Their estimate as ' to, the ': result of the property tax Had 1 • Been Wonderfully close. Colonel Whitttore and Mr Ballance, when in power, caused estimates to be -prepared, for au income tax, whiph might be presumed to be equally correct. Colonel Whittnore told - him that that estimate showed that a larger amount than realised by the property tax could be got! with an income tax. It was net so, oppressive as a property tax. This was due to the iacome tax catching men not touched by the property tax. The other argument was, those who possessed incomes- only, contributed their share of taxation through the Customs, and that those, whose ; incomes wore derived from property pay equally through the Customs. The only difference was that the latter had to pay .direct taxes in addition. He supposed that those who used this argument must really think there was something in it, but he never could see any force in it. Recently the property tax had been lengthily discussed in the local papers. The arguments of its supporters would have' set him against it if he had before believed in it. Many of those who supported- an income tax also advocated a land tax in addition. He did not agree with this, but he would sooner see an income tax and property tax exempting improvements than the present property tax, as ha believed it would be better for the colony. Land, he agreed, should bear special burdens, but he thought that in the near future it would have to bear a great part of i/he cost of an education system and all the burden of local works on withdrawal of subsidies. Regarding railways, he spoke strongly against the disinclination on the part of the Bail way Department" to grant such facilities as were likely to increase traffic, and with reference to construction said he was not satisfied with stopping absolutely all work on the main lines as was now practically the case. Lines, especially in the ' North Island, led to nowhere, and must be continued to make them pay. With reference to the means by which the main lines could be completed, Mr Omaond said : — Tie argued that it would not do for the colony to borrow more money to continue these lines, but he thought English capitalist* might be induced to do so if favorable conditions were offered. They might lease the present lines under proper conditions as to maximum rates to be charged, every care being taken to prevent the interests of the colony being injured. If there were any difficulties as t# profits it might perhaps be got over by the colony guaranteeing a minimum dividend for a fixed period of years, as provided for in other . oases by the District Railways Bill ; or grants of land along the line might be made under conditions providing for the prompt settlement of such lancU. He had thought much about the question, and ! threw out these suggestions as possible solutions of a grave difficulty. The development of the country could never be allowed to stand still. We should make every endeavor to induce capital to come to the colony, so that another fillip might be given to our onward progress, and lie believed that if reasonable offers were made English, capitalists might be induced to complete the unfinished lines of the North Island ; the line to connect the east and west coasts of the South Island, the Wellington West Coast line, and the NapierWellington live, as well as the Otago Central Railway, and others which might give a reasonable promise of paying. Perhaps the most important part of Mr Ormond's speech is that referring to the powers and functions of the local bodies. His remarks on these subjects we give in extenso:— He then spoke of making provision for local ' roads and settlement of the country. The subsidies and 20 per cent of the land fund, upon which local bodies had so much depended,' had been taken away and left them very little. The Bill to which he had referred had not become law, nor was likely to, and thus absolutely no provision was made for the two forms of local bodies, counties, and road' boards, who were engaged in .exactly ,the^ same work, their functions being little else but roadmaking and assisting charitable aid— there their duties ceased. When the subsidies ceased they had barely enough to subsist on with the, rates they could raise. The country would soon find they could not afford to waste governing power by having two bodies to do the same 7 work. He believed that Road Boards would eventually have charge «f -roads. Major Atkinson proposed to distribute funds to the local bodies by an official board at Wellington, but that would not be satisfactory, as the board ceuid) not . haveVsnfficient knowledge of local wants. There was general dissatisfaction with the want of local government. Last session he spoke from the conclusions he had come on this subject. He had helped to work the abolition of provinces, and still thought to a certain extent that the extravagance and grab-all policy of some provinces justified it, but he now thought that in working abolition they made a great mistake: they ought to have so anjendedthe then existing system as to make it more useful instead of abolishing it. He believed they would have to recur to a similar system, but modified. There were many subjects '.which could well be handed over to local boards of works. To such boards might be entrusted waste lands ad. ministration and the charge of charitable aid. The settlement of tho country would also have to be carried out under local authority/He believed this matter would soon become one of the, leading questions in the colony. It was daily more and more enforcing itaelL on the attention of the people, matter of great grief aril disappointment to him to find himself dif. erjag ititb the^floverflinent on many impor. tant points. He believed the questions of the raiWaya and local government and cs 1 -' tablishment of boards of works would be forced on the attention of the Government.