PUBLIC MEETING.

Manawatu Herald, 17 February 1894, Page 2

PUBLIC MEETING.

At eight o'clock punctually the Premier accompanied by the Mayor entered the' hall and took -their seats oil the stage. It is needless io saythat Mr Seddon's recognition was the cause for an outburst of applause. The meeting was a large one^ fully: three hundred beihgf present;; and a great compliment, jua^de^i subject of remark by^tjhe :sp^akej;=ipras shown Mr Beddb%sby t^iei|||t|^mimbers of ladies who ltteM|df||||ie speech was almost continiji^gl^|^,pplauded and viewed fro%a|j^c^|light : was a most successful one^^^" The Mayor very briefly introduced the speaker. The Premier, who was received with applause, said he was highly delighted to meet so many electors of Foxtonthat evening, and as stated by His Worship the Mayor, he had wheu here some time ago promised to deliver a political address in Foxton. There nothing that would keep the Government so much in touch with the people and would inspire confidence as the redemption of promises and meeting the people from time t.o time face to face. lie was also pleased to learn that in the history of Foxton, except when the Native ladies used to meet there many years ago, that was the first time when so numerous an audience of ladies had attended a. political gathering. He was glad to know that the ladies had' voted Liberal in their.first election and supported the present Government. When he had promised to deliver an address at Foxton he was there, on other business which had nothing to do with the general election, so that it could not be said now, seeing that the elections were over, that his address had anything to do with them. He should confine himself in his address to the leading political topics of the day- and with matters of great moment, He should not say a single word in regard to Party, because the elections being over he thought there should be an end to party feeling. The candidate elected should consider himself as much the representative of those who voted against him as those who voted for him. If that course were adopted they would all work together for the common good. (Applause.) The time was opportune for him to speak to the people of the Colony, and he would show them why. At the present moment they had a temporary depression, and it behoved the Premier, whose Ministers governed the country, to inquire into the cause. He found that in reality there was no necessity whatever for what they found going on, and the sooner it was stopped the better it would be for all concerned. If they guaged New Zealand from the standpoint of its population they would find that its 650,000 people exported last year products to the value of 8£ millions sterling. Had there been any falling off in the industry of the population ? No. Month after month the population was increasing, and during the year something likd 10,000 people had come iu to the Colony, but notwithstanding that they had been enabled/without any very great inconvenience, to find work for the toilers. Many of these required land, and land had been found for them. To seek thie" * "cause; of the temporary inconvenience in cdfisequ?nce of the depression they mnatf go further afield, and he could tell them ; that their sufferings were} traceable to the extravagance and

( ■•■■ > i:'ni;i:r.v"; T;iTK. • ; ' [)ict c.'h^r colonies He bi:v ";od to sonio t:x.t.?'jfc tbo | ftiiiJticiTil in=liir.fiop?\ CWmI eaami- I aaiion shv\v--<1 lluit- 'he position of lh<: Hank-! •■': ihr 'moii^c; in New j Zealand w.i=. s<yuxl, 1 . «c liftd too 22E«ttwop"ttt Saying tliafc ihey were in a splendid jxo.-:iLion as was proved by the faci that not withstanding what had occurred to the olhar Colonies, in H^w Zealand there was mutual confidence between the Banks and (.hair clients. Having said so much ha thought some, of the institution? had shown a w.'int of judgment which, if cari ic*d to excess would do them a great injury, to sajv nothing of the injury Ih^y would do to the commerce and trad.} of the country. If was not right thiu New Zealand should have had to suffer in 1878 owing lo the failure of the Glasgow Bank, and ib was not fair that the' people of this Colony, who were frugal and comparatively more wealthy than those in the other. Colonies, taking into consideration jihe, difference in population, should haye_ to-, suffer from tightness' or 'Wari^of,rmoney,througli no cause of. ' -He quoted from TK6 flnsuHnce^ and Financial ?J6urndlpi the'- 12th inst, to show the "difference between the deposits and advances^ of the various Banks for the last\ year, which rwere ' as f ol lows : — Bank of New Zealand, £546, 539 ; Union Bank of Australia, £1,077,687 ; Bank of N.S.W#dSlll& 158 ; Bank of Australasia, £55,558 ; National Bank, £353,691 ; Colonial Bank, £563,073. He was aware that the Union Bank had more coin, and that to some extent accounted for the remarkable difference and disparity shown in the various figures quoted ; but there was the fact that they had borrowed— that was the proper term to apply— from the people of the Colony by deposits in excess of advances £1,200,000. In the year 1888 the total advances of the Banks exceeded the deposits by £240,275, but in 1893 the deposits exceeded the advances by £1,244,000. In 1888 the coin held was £1,217,557, and in 1898 it amounted to £1,481,---860. Had anything he asked occurred recently to militate against the trade and .commerce of the country to account for this withdrawal ot advances. If they looked at the Bank returns for the last six months of the year they would find that there was a difference of £122,000 advanced to the trade of the country. That in itself would not be felt if spread over all the Banks, but when spread over only two or three it showed that the customers dealing with those "institutions had been hardly pressed with the demands made upon them. The specie exported in 1898 for the September and December quarters was £196,199, while the specie imported for the same period was £75,430, so that the Colony was poorer in specie to the extent of £120,769. If this sum were added to the advances called in during the same time it would tot up to a quarter of a million. Looking to the inconvenience caused by this he said, taking the condition of the country and the value of the products, there was no necessity for it. It was a wrong thing that the people of New Zealand should be called upon without just cause and suddenly, as was proved by these returns, to find this money.. It must be apparent to everyone in the Colony that they could not any longer continue to allow the country to be in this unfortunate position, and the time had now come, and the people at the ballot-box had affirmed it, when the Government must advance money on real estate to settlers aud not leave them to the tender mercies of those institutions. The Government knew that in propounding this they would meet with determined opposition, but when the institutions told them that owing to circumstances over which they had no control they could not help the people, then he maintained that Government must'eome to the rescue of the settlers in suoh a way as would not injure the country. In France they had the Credit Foncier, and in Germany a similar institution, whioh received deposits and lent them out to settlers he believed to the extent of SO per cent, on the value of real estate. Now this Government had been for years advancing the people's money through the Trust Office and Insurance Department up to half the value of the security offered. It had also been advancing money to local bodies on the strength of their rates for the construction of roads and bridges, but because the Government proposed to go a step further, and assist the settlers of the Colony they were told that they were going to injure the country aud bring about financial disaster. This was said by interested men who desired to keep up the rates of interest, but he said the minority were not going to dictate to the people in this way, and the Government were going to stand by the people in this matter. In fairness to the banks he desired to say that for the whole of last year the specie returns showed that £112,717 was imported in excess of that exported, but for the last six' months the position had been reversed 1 ; and the figures were against the people doing business in the country. The Government had shown that they were alive to the in tere3ts of the mercantile community by passing a Note-issue Bill, and 'although they' had not been called upon to enforce it ■ they were prepared to do so. In this r reA spect New South Wales had looked Jthei stable door'af ter the horse had beensiolerf.There was no cause whatever for the tem-f porary inconvenience now felti and thei sooner it. was; removed the better. He quoted the returns of imports and exports to show that the apparent/falling off in value was.due to; the decline in prices and home manufactures, v -The 7 ; report of the' Wellington Chamber of Cbinriraercs had: | shown this, and perhaps ."the critics : of the ■ Government believe i; statements coming from, thai; sourc?. 'ThercT?wa3 ; aH factual increase in the '..export of timber, bjitter r oheese* frozen -meat,- sheepskins! tallow and wool. Tho fall in value was be.

i ... > you-! iho <vv.i!H nf }hi> fJov/rnm^ii, ".'if' it v.'a-i Jui.-:u-.\] to try juvl hold them rr^p^rtI .siblo fov If. Til., hicivjisfcil .sffliwivienJ going on also u^co-ssitateJ large homo con. sumption in (ho. matter of stock and ninnu- ■■■•» i f-'ot'V-'^. JXMSpite a falling off in fivo o* (lie principal classes of imports, inchul^j^apparel nnd slops, boots and (3^Mr hardware nnd wool ia the piece, miff ounliug to £2G,008, Ihey had the important fact that (he Customs duties pnid last year, were greater tban those of the proviou 1 ? jefir'. T"bos'e public tvfiters. wiiß endeavoured to make capital out of the apparent faU in the value of imports and exports should show a little more patriotism. They were not Irue New Zealanders. Now that the elections were over they should cease injuring the country. The Government were, not responsible for the fall in value of the oxpovtf, and as regarded the imports he cou {ended thuo tho lc^ult Wit 3iv favour of the country, as flu 1 people v-ero manufactuing for themselves. They had read n gieat deal about _/. tiie Colony bor lowing on the sly, but the > Government had not borrowed on the sly or in any other way. They, could do without borrowing. The books of the Colonial Treasurer were as much open to the public as the; books of the. Borough Council, and he said .there was nothing to keep back Ironf.tbe'people. In' the matter of loan conversion ""they'Jiad complied with the law. ''That' law^was not passed by the 'presentJGovernment'but by the Stoutv VogerGtqvernment r and was supported and 'aoted'upon'by 'the Aikinson Government. In fact Sir Harry Atkinson claimed to be ,the father of loan conversion. Yet what was termed "loan conversion under previous Governments ? was, now that a Liberal Government was in power, called borrowing onjhe sly. Through these operations they had £55,000 less interest to pay last year. Sir Harry Atkinson had saved the Colony £33,000 during the last by a' loan he had-converted, and why should not the present Government get credit also for a similar operation. They had converted loans paying 4, 4^ and 5 per cent interest into 3J per cents, yet they were told that the net debt of the Colony had been increased. People who said this argued as if the Sinking Fund was equal to coin in hand and did not know the ABO of finance. They should consider the matter more seriously and stop to think whether they might not injure the credit of the Colony by their statements. In 1887, when Sir Harry Atkinson took it over, the gross debt of the Colony was £35,741,653, and he left it at £38,667,950, or with an addition of £2,936.297. In 1890 Mr Ballance took office with the gross public debt at £38,667,297, and in 1893 it was £39,257,840, or an addition of £589,890. He (the Premier) said that Sir Harry was right in his conversion operation of the 2-40 loan of £2.000,000 as he had reduced the rate of interest, but because the present Government had done similarly last year a member of Sir Harry's Cabinet (Mr Richardson) had stated at Mataura that it was the worse thing he had ever heard of . The indebtedness per head of the population in 1890 was £60 5s 4d,. in 1893 £58 2s 7d, or £2 2s 7d less than when, the present Government took office. : " He thought 'that was a complete answer to his critics. If they would only recognise that there were such things as Sinking « Fund debentures they would then see that v by the loan conversion operations they were simply exchanging debentures. The higher the rate of interest the more was demanded in the debenture issued in lieu of the one redeemed. Deferring to colonial security he pointed out that the land values of New Zealand in 1888 only atnounted^f? £111,137,000, while in 1893 they amounted ~ to £122,125,000 or ■an > actual, increase during that period of £11,087,666. And yet they were told in the face of this that their securities were not good. In the Oroua County it was £lj'3'97,'Qoo in 1888, as against-£2;268,000 in 1893, or an in- . crease of £870,000. Bef erring to "the flax industry, when flax was £19 pr £20 things were looking up in Foxtorij , when it -was £9 or £10 things were down in Poxton. (Laughter.) He did not consider 'that a Government was true to the interests of the people unless it watched avei;< their industries and did its level best to promote them. This the present Government had done. They had offered a b'orins for improvements in flax dressing machinery aud had appointed a flax grader, while they had instructed their commercial representative at the Canadian Tariff Conference— (Mr Lee Smith), a man eminently qualified from his. connection with many successful companies and industrial concerns to watch the commercial interests of the Colony — to make all inquiries regarding." the best markets for flax and to endeavouiv to ; prevehfc 4he middle man rigging the markets" and' thus depriving flaxmillers of their fair shave of profit. Over 3000 hands were employed in this industry here, and the figures for three years showed ihat in 1890, 21;158 1 tons were exported of tho value of £381,789 ; in 1891, 15,809 tons, value £281,514: ia 1892, 12,793 tons, value £214,542/ or afalling off in value of £16Qi000;a year. Ha thought that in an industry employing bo many hands the Government would be remiss in its duty if it did not do some- • thing to encourage it. Therefore the Government had given their expert instructions to inquire whether the flaxmillers were getting fair value for > their produce. It was not wise to depend solely on one or two staple artiolea of export, and endeavours were being made to open a market for ooal in San Francisoo and to make the other products of the Colony better known. Having referred to the necessity for passing legislation blocked by the Legislative Council for settling disputes between oapital and labour, which could not be permitted to paralyse the commerce of the country, he commented at length on the liquor question, contend. ing that the Bill of last session was designed to please both parties, but not to serve the ends of fanatics on either side. J Section 21 had been purposely inserted in - the interests of the Temperance Party, to prevent the Eepresentation Commissioners vetoeiug the wish of the eleotors for either a reduction of licenses or prohibition; No doubt a few slight amendments might be deemed desirable next session, but the Government had endeavored to meet the wishes of the people, and their measure had been characterised by Scplch^papers as armpit elastic one. He announced that the Loans to Local Bodies Bill would be re introduced, and. Parliament would be asked to give-local bodies" power to exempt taxation, on .improvements. In conclusion Mr SeddoA .said Hie financial position of »»e Colony,was x simply impregnable. The Customs revenue hadepmi? up to oxpeeta- , } $3P '*?°- ir had- been* ; kepl that '>*&tfs»Uie year the Colonial Treavsurer would be aW^fii^nnourice as large a Wplus . as i^thiUbfc v theY previous ylar. Lands:; fo^settloment would be taken in :^ -WV^Nprth andJSputh. Islands, and in ■ £ iiS fe" 11 !!? 11 * P^ ia: 4 ) 16 Vernier resumed his seat ■amidsdoiKl Applause: ' ;• proposed, "That this meeting Accords a Very" hearty vote of thapKa to Mr- gsMon for his in»erestiug and able address ; and, while congratulating him on the triumphant success of the

• lateral Party at the last general, election. fdrther desireS id express its continued and unabated confidence in tho present Go vnrnment." Mr Geo. Gray seconded tho motion, which was carried Uiianimonaly. The Premier in re~pondin;; mnvc-fl ft vote of- thanks to the chair ami f!i ■ pv x ■?f.lingr, PSCymninaWl. THE BANQUET. After tho meeting the Mayor entertained the Premier at a bsmqiu'l at Whyte's Hotel, Tho longlh of our report preclude!? us in this issue from saying more than that it pa:-;sod off most satisfactorily and the entering was most handsomely acknowledged as it deserved to be. The Premier left by this morning's train at 0 o'clock for Pahnorsiou North, on his way to Wellington.