RANGITIKEI ELECTION.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 195, 15 July 1884, Page 2

RANGITIKEI ELECTION.

MR JOHN STEVENS AT MAUXON,

Last evening Mr Stevens, addressed the electors of Marton, in the Foresters 1 Hall, • when his "Worship the j Mayor (Mr Beckett) was in the chair. The Hall was crowded, there being not even standing room left unoccupied. Mr Stevens commenced by saying he was aspiin before . the elector* to seek a continuance of their confidence, which ho trusted" had, not been, misplaced in the past It had been said, of him, that he was doing all he could to get the junction of the railway located at Buils, but he denied having, endeavoured to do anything of the kind. The reason he did not bring forward the matter of the location of the junction was chiefly that the Government employed engineers to determine which was the best and most desirable place for the railway to branch off, and he would not stultify himself by interfering with what wan obviously the work of those who were skilled in engineering. He would not do so out of principle,»let aloue any other reason. He. had been absent from the House at the the time when the motion of nj confidence in thp late Qovevmnsnt fyid, been brought forward* on nocount of illness, he being unable to attend. The speaker then touched upon- the vaiiong points of interest to the plecr , tors, to enable them to judge of his policy. . : HONOBARIUM. This was a point that was brought up » groat deal, and he would say that so far as the Legislative Council was concerned he considered that one hundrod guineas was a sufficient remuneration for members of that body. For the House, of representatives he considered that 150 guineas wa»}'a fair remuneration and was sufficient to ineet tfoe expenses of any member. . VAffIFT. Mr Stevens then spoke an to what party he would join if returned. He would doubtless be expected to pledge himself to some one or other of the parties that were almost sure to take the lead. But this. he was not prepared to do. He would prefer to go unpledged to choose which was the best leader, but would willingly promise then) one tiling. He. would not follow tho lead' eitKer of Sir Goor«e Grey or of Mr Montgomery. \HeaV, hear.) . " LOCAL OPTION. In regard to this question he was in favor of justice being done to all sections of tho community, whether they wero teetotallers or Hotel-keepers. He thought tliat no one uectiou.of tlie community should suffer hardship for any other section of ifc r He would endeavour to have both treated with fairness. (Hear, hear. )

I DEPBEBSION. There was at the present time a good deal of depression in the colony, and the Government were suffering from a deficit. He thought the best remedies were more economy in the colony all ever and especially in the Government He thought that large reactions could be made in the expense of the Civil Service Department, which was a most expensive one. The Supreme Court was also a direetion in which much Raving could be made. If litigants were to be made to pay the costs of the Court by compelling, them to pay higher fees, » direct saving could be made. The Armed Constabulary were also a great expense to the country, and he was in favor of reducing- expenditure in chat lino also. There were also many other departemental expenses in the Government that would stand much reducing. ' LAND *T3NUBB. Mr Rolleston had introduced a method of selling land by the perpetual lea«e system. This he did not approve of, He believed in allowing men to obtain the free hold of their land, as they would become much better and more contented settlers. He was opposed to the nationalisation o£ laud, and perpetual leasing was only a sort of nationalisation. If the Crown were to lease the land in the way proposed, something lij^e * .million of money would accrue' from the vents, and this would be paid bf the very men who were opening up the countay and spending their toil and capital in improving it- This was a taxation of a class that ought to be spread freely and equally over the whole population. When Mr Rolleston had introduced his bill in . the year '82, by which the Government would, give, leases for 21 years with only a right of renewal; he, the speaker, endeavored to get a olause inserted that would give a right of purchase at tho end of the lease, and although that clause was rejected in the House of Representatives,' it had been approved of in the Upper House, He would like to see the purchasing clause added. Then. the holdings should not be too small. If they were to judge the size of the holdings after the South Island, no man. would have sufficient to get a living off. While on the land question he . wonld ,say that he had only just hoard the question brought up" smo» he waR in Marton that evening,; as to whether he was in favor of lands that were within a certain number of miles of a railway being taxed. A Bill had been introduced by Mr Johnston which would have the effect of taxing all land on either side of railways for a distance of five or six mileg. He (Mr Stevens) did, not approve of such a Bill. Supposing the line ran through the centre of a large dwtriot so that it was practicable to tax the land ou both side&of it. Well, the { limit of country which would pay taxes would have to be fixed and would be, say five miles. Then he considered that if they taxed land that was five miles from the railway , they should tax land that was seven miles distant, and so the thing wonld go on, and it would be impossible to inkae a fair division. Moreover, be considered that to construct a railway, the' whole : colony should be taxed to bear the cost of it, because It was a benefit to the whole colony. Tho only difference, he Would make would be in thn case of a line being 1 wanted by a few individuals, which would be of advantage to themselves, ! but would not . benefit: , the • wholecolony. " In such a case he believed they should take advantage of the Hail ways Construction Act, and 1 make it at their own costv just as any local body {makes! a road under the Roads and Bridges Construction Act. These wore the principles he held with regard to the land and its -tenure and settlement -and opening up. IMMIGRATION. The system of immigration that had been carried on up to tho present ; time was not a satisfactory onie. The State w«re asking the tax-pavers to import people to this Colony from, almost all the other oountTiea In Europe, but they .were, the wrong; class of people, and could neither keep themselves when they were at Home nor when they came here. He contended that it was the duty of the State to bring . people here who not only would be a credit to the colony, but also to themselves. They should bring men . out who were suitable to the colonies, and not those who would swell the ranks of the unemployed* They should encourage aU persons who were willing and able to work. But people had been importedindiscriminately. In many eases thin was not the fault of the im.roj-r grnis, but of the- agents,. agents, fop itnoilgr^tion jtuid been re*ceivin,g a commission of so much per head for all . the people they sent Qiity There was no wonder then that tilt results were nnvatifactory.. :Jt wa» the duty of all of them as colonists to offer every faclity to the noiniuatedsystem of immigration, and alsothey wanted to get out any amount of capital. He did not say that poor men could not become good settlers and very desirable colonists, but they required some oapital to be circulated-, otherwise everything 1 would be at a standstill. There was a popular fallacy that capitalists only came to New to buy large piece* of laud and Ue. T come landsharks. This had been the oa*e, but was not so now, He oonld point to several 'of the large holders round about Bulls and Marton, and they were not- landsharks. Thty made use of the land, and were good settlers. And they could expect to see a great many more capitalists come out, now that the direct line of steamers ran regularly from Europe. Bnt he objected to any measure that would bring in free immigration, and , wouldn't support it. - , As an example of the unsuitable men that were sent out, he a*ked a friend; quite lately, |q get him a man to do the general farm work about Vthe homeHtewd, 1 such ai| milking ; cows, and anything of ■ the sort. Well, there wereplenty of men knocking about, but he could not find one who could do the plain easy work he wanted Kim to do. One manhal been asked if he wanted ■ worlc, an<U Qn his* replying that he did, he wai theu asked if he could milk and do general farm work. His reply-was in

each, case "No;" so at last the question wan put, " Well, then what can you do ?'V His roply was "I am a spectacle frame maker ! " Well, if the State couldn't use more discrimination than to import men like that to a % country like this, it was time the power to do so was taken out of their hands. He would therefore support the aytfcem of nominated immigration only. (Hear, hear.) •'■•■■'•■ ' J EDUCATION. This question was occupying the attention of the whole colony. He ■till held [the, same opinions with regard to it aa they had heard him express before. When he for the first time addressed them, he, had said he believed the cost of education was too great. And instead of it decreasing, it was getting heavier every year, »nd it was evident that it would con-, tkiue to do so. Ho did! hot deprecate the necessity of everyone receiving a good education, hut on the contrary, he believed it a good thing for every due to be educated. But he saw they wore paying too much for their education. If the State were to go on in that way long enough, he believed they would do harm rather than good. He considered it would be the duty Of the Legislature to establish surth a •cheme at would last, and not one that would breakdown. The present •ystem must break down. The cost of primary education was £23,000, of which L21.000 cam© from vßeserves. That of maintaining the High schools was L22#Qp, but of which 1.3000 camefromreservesVand the iemainder from the revenue of ihe State. The total' cost of education to the State was 1334,000, exclusive of the cost of ftmldings. Since the year 76 the cost of building had been LQOQO each year. Adding interest ou capital . su#l£ and they would bring it up to L^ObO. Then there were other expenses such a» repairs, etc., which were considered to be necessary, aud these would bring up the expenses to £4f1d,000. Then.thero was no provision made for new buildings, for the' future. The year before last L&2.000 had been cxporidedon buildings, and last year L52.000. Now there were still applications to the anfouiii of 115,000 for. necessary requfrements and to provide Kufficfent room in the schools. Say two-thirds pf.the L15,000 already applied for were granted, this would bring the expenditure up to half a million. There could vbe no question about ttieSe' figures, and the cost of Education would thus be plainly LI head of the w\M>le population of the colony. He thought this was an enormous ■urn l of money ; but tow were they to reduce it I, the system he would propose was spoken of by some people as if it would have the effect of shutting'up small schools in the country, but he didn't think so; in fact he thoiight jt would have juat the opposite effect. It Was as follows :-If -a gchpol had afc average attendance of 200 children, such as would be found In a town, the expenses would, be paid by a capitation grant from Government at so much a head. These children wgot receive say L2 ■ per head. If the attendance was only 10Q obildren, in a smaller locality, ..these, vould receive something like "L3 i Head, anjl H pnry » sinall cbuntry s «jnopl of, 60 children they would receive, L3 10s a heaiJ^ and in U^tle places, wh^tho attendance was not more; sa* $5, thoy m^ght receive L4 a head, vjlw* 8 were not named as the" I ?x*ot figures, hut Jnerely » s \ndicatiQUs to shew t^ principle. .The obwtipn raised against that was .that the"dii«trioutjbn was unequal. He (Mr Steveiw^ did not agree with thk For firstly, the same principle wa* adopted in the volunteer departme^ and was not thought unfair, so there is ho reason whv it Hhould be thought so Jn educational matters: Thu*i volunteers in towns received a cap^tionof;L2 los per head* whereas those in the con ntry received £3 each. He didn't consider the town tolunteers any better thun the country volunteers oithcr. (Applause.) ' go toe education capitation could be Worked in .'s similar, way. Secondly, 'bhifdrenin towns at present cost the State Jlfc I.os pet head, whereas those in ihe country only cost £1 a head. So a difference existed there. But «uc]i an expense was too great ' for tbe colony to stand and some reduction was necessary; The way of cheapening it would be by only aendiug ehiirlrin to sohool who were over ■ii or seven years of age. He thought that by doing Hhis, oheniuarter of the costof schooltiuildings would be saved. Thirty-two thousand of our children . were not ready to pass the sixth standard.. The people were in fact Bappqttmg state nutseries, and they ■houian*t<do*sld.' (Applauße,) (To be continued.)