HAMILTON.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 351, 26 November 1875, Page 3

HAMILTON.

rCBHC MEETING.Mr. de Lautour addressed a meeting at Hamilton on Monday evening last. In spite of the rough weather a large number of the residents assembled at Mrs. Barber's hotel. Mr. John Coram was voted to the chair.

Mr. de Lautoub said that, independently of the ensuing general election, he had intended to come over to Hamilton to tell.his constituents in what direction he thought the interests, of the district lay. Having represented the district for three sessions in the Council, it was a clear duty not to sever his connection with them without imparting to them any experience he might have gained in their service. Ho did intend to ask them to return him to the Assembly, but did not purpose to.make an electioneering speech that night, hoping to come over again shortly to put before them what he thought should be kept in view for the future welfare of the district. That night he wished ' to ask them to follow him into a few questions which lay at the bottom of the present political position. He thought that it would be advantageous to consider what was the elementary condition of government, and make a comparison between the results of our enquiry and the government ( pf New Zealand as we.now found it. There were two axioms amongst political economists —one, that government always ,spends as much as it finds it possible or 'sWe to extract from the people; and the ; other, that if, in the constitution of any government the interest of the many is made to have the ascendency over the interests of the few, the expense of government will not be large, indeed will always be rendered at tho smallest possible expense. History's verdict of past Govern ments is that their ends havo invariably been the interests and advantages of the governing classes. What has been the end of government in New Zealand. It would be expected that in so young a country government would be of the most elementary kind. If we trace out the end of our government in our land laws—in the favoritism and servility to monied interest shewn in the public works expen;diture —and in the forced immigration still going on to lower the price of labor—we find that in every instance that end -has: been to promote the interest of the tew, and to sacrifice the interest of the many. The New Zealand government, and by government he meant every form of outside interference with individual liberty we suffer under, has been rendered at the greatest possible expense. The Municipalities all owe a great deal more than they ever had any right to expect to receive. The Provincial Governments of the North aro bankrupt, and the richer Governments of the ■" South plaintively plead what they could do if they only were allowed to borrow more money, and the Colonial Government itself counts its debt at the end of another year at twenty millions. As a matter of fact, within our own knowledge, who have been tho governing classes P At the first Great Britain gave up the lands of the Colony for the benefit of the settlors who would I thereafter be in the country. The gift wa | certainly accompanied by the approval of i the Wakefield System of colonization, as it was called, which, by placing a preo upon the land, encouraged the settlers to work for others before finally settling themselves. Tho lands were originally intended for the many, and it is only by abuse they have come bo largely into the possession of the few. The Goldfields were in a measure the cause of this. Men hungering for gold did not care about land, and tho more watchful seized their opportunity. The inattention of the people as a whole has placed every form of government in the hands of tho few. It is found then that actual fact shows us that the government of the country is in tho hands of the few. Without the knowledge of that fact the immense expense at which government is administered, and the laws framed under it, are quite suffi'cientto establish it as true. The ordinary ends for which government exists are—the administration of justice; the development of social improvement, which includes encouragement to science; the military defence of the state— with us confined to police; the distribution of honors whichlas been here confined to granting pensions: in short, government is said -to exist to enact good laws, and to execute them with certainty and despatch. In new countries, or in old countries with new constitutions, government is forced to usurp other functions, such, as public works construction, erection of telegraphs and the like. It may be that this is a necessary evil, but it is an evil, for the moment you begin to construct works of utility with money raised from the people private interest steps in to have the money spentwhere itcanbest reap the benefit. The line beyond which government intervention becomes interference is too elastic for definition. A strong advocate for paternal government states that the moment fovernmont does anything for any indivi ual which he can do aa well for himself it is needlessly interfering, and tends to dwarf his powers of action and self-im-provement. He thought that government in New Zealand had gone ahead of the people—had got beyond their control, and as a result we found an oppression of government on every side. The result of this was that the people were for ever looking to the government, as the old heathens did to Jupiter, to do the most trifling thing for them which they could do for themselves. Nothing was more common than to soe men sitting idle, or putting up with a nuisance for fear that if they themselves applied the, easy remedy they might be doing what the government would do ultimately for them. The loss of labor in the country owing to this constant waiting upon government was something enormous. It was no wonder that there was so general a desire for government simplification. The oppression of tho General Government was most felt. The Provincial Governments were more in harmony with tho people than tho* Co lonial Government. The aim of all who wished well of Now Zealand should be—the re-establishing tho true relationship between the government of the country and the people. The Abolition Bill would be in this sense a benefit. Tho Provincial Councils might bo as bad as they were made out to be, but he could riot forget thoy were the representative bodies of the people, and that the franchiso was a liberal one. What guarantee had "the people that thoy would return better men on tho same franchise to a Colonial Assembly than to a Provincial Council, and if they were no bolter how could they bo trusted unchecked in Wellington. There could be no doubt our Council could be simplified. It might to advantage be stripped Of its political functions,, and converted

into a Board of Works of twelve or fifteen members—the members being held responsible for the results of their acts rather than the acts themselves. He did not consider that any arbitrary creation of counties or road boards could prove a success. There would bono advantage in superseding overgrown redtapisin by creative redtapisin. . Neither did he think that either one Council or two for each island would prove more satisfactory outside a twenty mile radius from the governing- centres than the govern men ts of the prescnfc. Tii e direction of thought in the dominant. minds of the day seemed to incline towards simplified Councils, or Councils turned into elective Boards of a orks and land administration, divested of all. tjowgi of legislation whatever, the legislative function remaining in the Assembly of each, island. Each island would thus havo the control of its own affairs. The Assembly at present existing would have to deal only with the functions of federal government—such as Colonial finauce, administration of justice, the regulation of the post office, &c. [The speaker then at some length reviewed the position the district of Hamilton would have been in under the Government proposals, and condemned in strong . terms the subsidy bribe and the special injustice to the gold miners, arguing that as more money went and would go out of New Zealand than came into it-money for subsidies, and the expense of collecting the money to be subsidised, must come out of the people's pockets, and from no other source—that the more they rated themselves the more they would be taxed, in order that those rates should be subsidised.] He found it ! greatly repugnant to him to support what was known as Provincialism, knowing, as he did, the evils of the present dual system, but the distance which even Provincial Governments had drifted from the j people was only exceeded by the distance from the people reached by the Colonial Government. If we could simplify our idea of government, and reduce that simplified idea to practice, originating the government iu the intelligence of the Colony, and divorcing it from the interests of the few, there could be no doubt that New Zealand as a country had a great future before it. Such simplification as he had alluded to at some length would cut the ground from under the abysses of dissension and heart-burning questions of the day, such as.education, pastoral,ten-, ure, deferred payment extension, &c. He did not purpose to touch upon any of ythose subjects that night, although he was prepared to stop and give any explanations that might be asked from him. ■ He did not wish to ask them to give him a vote of confidence—it would be fairer ifcol, wait until the candidates were in the field, aud he himself hoped to come again to Hamilton more in i the character of a hot candidate. ,

Mr. Booth wished to know whether Mr. de Lautour would support the Government or the Sir George Grey and' Macandrew party? Mr. d;e Lautoue said he did not see how ho could possibly support men who could bring forward such proposals in defiauco of the constituencies as were tabled last session. The proposed dealing with mining ' taxation alone in its glaring falseness "or ignorance would prevent it. Ho should if relumod to the Assembly, give his strongest, support to the Opposition party in defeating the Government and establishing a system of government which would" givo local control to each Island; At the same time he could not go all lengths with some of the views of individual members ol the Opposition. O.tago's members he considered must be united, and then the Province could not suffer.

Mr. Booth said r "lie supposed that there was nothing to prevent the meeting expressing its opinion in spite of it not being asked to. Mr. de Lautoub : It is not for me to forbid.

Mr. Booth would move—'- That this meeting—judging froix the past public career of Mr. de Lautour, as well as the principles enunciated by him this evening, and the fact of his interest being identical with the people of this district—is of the opinion that he (Mr. de Lautour) is the best persou we can obtain to represent us in the next Geaeral Assembly." Mr. Cunningham would second the resolution with great pleasure. There being no amendment, the resolution was put, and carried unanimously. A vote of thanks to the Chairman concluded the proceedings.