MR. HALCOMBE'S MEETING

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 67, 20 August 1879, Page 2

MR. HALCOMBE'S MEETING

Thelargest mceting'eyer witnessed inJTeilding assembled on : SntUidsty e/^ning to hear Mr, Halcorabe's address to the electors. The school-house' was crowded; and ;thelarge audience listened most attentively to the caifilidate's exposition , of .the political views, attesting their concurrence m. the same, by frequent bursts of applause. Mr. J. C, Thompson .having been voted to the chair, m opening the prdceedmgs observed that he did not" know why he had been selected for that important position, unless itpwore.vthat he was ; not. connected with the Corporation. Heneednot enlarge on the advantages, of haying a local inah : a¥ : representative' foiyihey were'tßo^bbVibus to require coniment. There was a local gentleman m their midst who was 'inxevery way worthy of the.elevation.to, ; the honor of representing ■, them ia Parlifl.mißnfc^a. gentle* man who already- had 'experience i as ' a. re- 1 prestutative ia the Provincial "Council. He did not know whether the other local candidate could; lay qlaim/to political experience - of the -same kind. VTh^subjecfc, however,' was one that dematfdeH wifleVionkideraiion than it would receive if, viewed only from a local stand-point. ? He' w6uld ; nofr' detain them longer, but call upon ; MiV Halcombe to address the assembled olectors; w:\i-a ; Mr.- ; Haigombe then :came forward, iand was received .withpapplauseii -.-He -Baid *he; felt highly; qompHiriented by thevmanner m w hich ,the' Chairman had > ; been ; pleased to ; speak of him. IB efpre* proceeding to ex-, plain his' political views he t had a' few words of explanafcidn and^apolbgy to offer. 1 ' Ib'iiad been his wish to have addressed the electors .of leilding first,., but icirciim3t'ances .over; which he had. no control bad-prevented him doing so, He had* attended the meeting at Palmerston, 'tHink'ing^ ? that there was, a chance that Mr.jSnelspn; /would- retire. At that meeting he had been asked to make a set; speech,, which he did, g althoug r ii it had? ever been a' rule' with him ehat v a -candidate seeking the. sufPr^ge3:of accountj'oonstituency should firstfaddress, the, electors of Msown.injmediato district.,. ; Having .tnade-this apology he wpujd proceed with his, address. He had lately been m a.schoolwherphehacl seen a .series , of diagrams "of J the human, body. ' 'ThV 'first '"represented 'it clothes, but with plenty of flesh jDn. "T^he next- was a diagram' of'ihe same -with the skin ,-, removed,^ but : with'- tho , sinews and muscles exposed ., to view, and anotherdia- . gram represented the bare bonea--the sketetoa of the human frame. In. addressing various jneetings he had to caiTy r witii hiih. this skeleton of his speech ahd'b'uuS the sinews and flesh upon it, hence the different speeches would greatly resemble each other. Mr. Halcombe.then! travelled over, the same ground as he had?done at thVPalmers'ton nieeting, which .haying been, fully (reported m our last issue, need not be reproduced. .The speaker, however, -amplified his remarks at the former meeting on several points, and introduced others. ( Jn speaking of the franchise lie said he was -riot '-opposed to manhood suffrages provided that a guarantee of residence was given by; the payment of rates for one year, and . if this, could, not be carried, he. would not. object fco one for half that period being accepted, He further observed, with regard to ; Triehniai Parliftm.an^3,' that if at any time a change took pla.ee m the opinions of his constituents or m his own, he would rather resign his seat thaiftmisrepresent' his 'constituency. Speaking of new taxation, Mr. Halcombe observed that, m spite of all the croakings and evil prognostications some people were wont to indulge iQi the colonyiwas increas^ ing m prosperity every day, and he did not' think any new taxation, would; be necessary i£ they could; only • ensure, competency and economy of administration.- vli\ i a. v new^ta.x wer-3 n,ece.3s'arj:, however, , he, thought lit should take the shape of a property and income ;tax, exempting small, incomes, was wanted was to bring together ra,w material and capital. We, had plenty of raw material, and all that was wanted yfas capital to develope ouj* resources. If loans were properly expended/ they would : do muck good, and, he considered that the formation of railways was tho : mo3t. economical thing, a new'cbiiritry' could do' with bor-i rowed capital. • Witfcregard to railway3 : h'e considered that the North Island and especially this portion of it, had been sadly neglected, and the present member lay/under the grave charge of not having exerted himself m. the matter. As to the West Coast railway,; ha thought : it should joiu the present railway just below Palinerstpn, for by "so* doing it would open up a splendid country (as might bo seen from Mount Stewart) and that it should be commenced from both ends simultaneously. . One :of the great reasons' why he wishd to get into tbe.Hou.3eat the present time was to endeavour to get opened up the huge mass of country behind them (applause) with his knowlege of the country-^-and < he-. has pokod a,bout m every hole and corner of the North Island— he could assart without fear of contradiction that, the best line to Auckland lay through it. With regard to the timber duty he should use his utmost endeavour* to get it re : imposed. ; It was only just enough for us to keep the ti'ade m our own hands. To show what a powerful rival they had m A^nerica he might tell them, that he had been conversing with a relative of the. Hon. Sip William Eox who had recently arrived from America. That, gentleman had informed him that he had one mill there which, turned out 50,000 feet a day ; that he coul load one ship per week but his advantage did nob exceed three ships per, moflth. From this they would see how easily the. New Zealand market . could be flooded with cheap American timber for that was the name they, gave it. There was one matter to which he must refer Ho had tWat day received information that nominated immigration had bean' stopped. Ha thought that was a great mistake.- Peo would not send home for their relatives and friends without good, reason, and their, doing so proved a most convincing argument as to the prosperity of the colony. Ha thonglit they should have free immigration, kept always under control, so that it could checked at a.ny moment should it thjc^-

ten to interfere with the labor marlcet to the detriment of tho working man. In con* eluding his remarks Mr. Halcombe observed that he did: think a local representative was much: more likely to' be an efficient one than a perfect atranger. Ho regretted Mr, Johnston's absence, at he did not like to speak of aniy one behind his back. H» must however bring a ver^^heavy bill of indictment against their J rlate member, Mr. Johnston, who KrdTaftog^tiier faUed m his duty . • to them, and treatod his constituency with contempt by studiously keeping awaj from them *or several years. Manaw*tu ha 4 been unfairly treated m the matter of rar presentation, and this waV mainly cHargt- " able to Mr. Johnston; Than, again, th»r« was the Wanganui Harbor JBpard Endow* ment, by which 25,000 acres of some of ib^ bostland m Manawatu, were locked op for years to come; from whioh,no taxes had been, or pi'ehaps would b*e received for years, while all the other parts of the district were compelled to bear their fair, share of the coßt of roads and bridges.' '^■ l iSr. '■' " Johnston was m the House when the Bill was read a sooond time, and did riotphpoea .it, ; he even allowed Mr. Fox to state That it was within thirty mih)s 'of^ Wangantd, without cpntradiptmg him. He (Mr. Halcombe) liiKl J ransacked Sansard for the last two years, and found 5 that only on two occasions had Mr. Johnston- opened his. ,mbiith %ithregard to Manawatti. ; $h> oc- J casion was some ye^rs^ ago when he disked some question about the goods she'd -at r?almerstiori, and the other was whep he had askedia q^e^tipn;abputol'oxton being made a Port of Sentry, Thatjfact showed the largei ''.''* amount of interest tqken., in the. ■ district ■"- by their absentee representative. It showed A also the necessity as well wtihe advantage of having a local representative. On this point he might ;say that, what he (Mr: Hal-, combe) had done for FeUjling would, be of service, te him should they do Tiim the honqr. of returning him; although it had raised up, a certain amount of jealously against him. Still -he ; hoped he should always bo able ta >say that he was proud' of Feilding, artd that; ; he had never done anj-thing for Eeilding <\i which he need beasham'ed;' Ho^ould ask them to do what they could to his return, and not think the 'victory safe 'until it had . -been won. He hoped at the end of the. three years to receive a verdiqt thafc he Jbuid done his duty. (Prolonged applause),. ' ' The Cha£eman Vaid he had Just cjno re-. "' tp make. He was speaking t6 u\ iAtfckland gentleman very recently, and asked him his candid opinion of tfie Pre* mier. " Well, he's an p}d humbug ; bftt he, I gives us our railways, so we stick to iiim. 1^ | .(daughter.) It was now the time, i^ any. I. .questions were to he asked,, to.put them. . J)t. JifQiixsTOirK^lXo ypu'know^h(^ acrftt" age of Ka\vau, and the aWou,^ of rates- paid ; thereon $■ - " c r/Mr. Haicosebb.— -I' beh'eve the. acreaga '" is 5500, the valuation £2000, and the ampunfc df rates ;£a23v 6d. " r ■■-..-•■ Dr. j JoHNSjONiB.-TTDo you. consider. theii '. rates siiuicie'rit ?- ' "' ' ' J f: " : '• " Mr. Hiioojnigw-^I tfo. iipfe. ' ' - f' Mr. Eba»i^—^; you,,^ faTpr of the. Permissire Bill ? ■ '/"■.!.'. Mr. HaiiCombe,-^I should have thought that my opinions on that subject were wel\ known. I omi^ favor of, havingthe ppwer to say whether they shall, or shal\ not have. : a public-hpuse ;ia ith'e A j^Appknse.): './.";".- ' : '•';'" :'"' ,' : ''~''[ '"''"- . '■'■ : Mr. CHAMBEEiJaii moved. the f oUosiring resolution-T-" That Mr. ' Haicombe is a M and proper. per3on to represent the Mana-. watu Electoral' District' m the House of/ Representatives, --and/ this meeting pledges itself ,tp u^e its ;^ndeavori, t6 Beeuwk ' Bis return." '"'''' "' '."''■' "'"■ " ; " ; Mr. J.-Whiskep was-, abpu£ to mote nn, amenclmept : when.it tyas suggested^tKaV tha; resolution had not been seconded.' ? * ' ..' M?- WftßSF.o^, had much pleasure m seV bonding the resolution/ Being. §ae,of the. .earliest settlers m. Eeildine, he t;oi ljl testif jr that all Mr. Haicombe^had^'dbne was for> the benefit of the people and district. (Ap-. plau»e.)i /. jii ■:. li ;f '•;'■ ?\r ■Mr. J,. WmsKEB moved, as an amende ment— " That a vote of thanks be given to Mr. Halcombe for his able speechi." Hei did nofc /thmfc : t\ie meeting should: pledge, itself at all until the other candidates had been heard. < They did not even know what, candidates might still come forward. ,: Mr^, ; Halcombe had made, a long speech, but had said nothing abou^ edu,cat^pn, rates on improvements — ■-£[' -. : -..",'■..-:" Mr. Macabthub said th^t th^a^ting. having been been called by Mr. Hi^ebmbft for the purpose qJE htying hjs pph^ic^ Tnewa, before, the. electors, it wag not comp^t'enlj for Mr. i Whisker tb^ address tho. meeting. Mr. HAl,poivrßE suggested that Mr. Whisker shbuH put his remark j into iin inter?. rogative form 3 bub Mr. Whisker dechned i^ do so, and resumed His seat. ' The GHHs.^iiAw : asked i$ anyoi^ wpuld? second the amendment, hut no one. doing. so, it was lost, which gave risa to prolonged" applause. '■ ■'••■.'"-* ;.''.-;. H " *:^' • Mr r ,ANDEEaoN; asked if tha candidate, •yr.as".iri favor of the loans being deppsited with one bank, or. distributed ? r ! Mr- , H4icasißß replied ; that he should favor itsbeing^distributedi ' . (Applau>e.) ; .;*' The m,otion was then put and carried, Mr. Whisker, beiqg the. only oi^e to vote! against it, ' .. Mk- Haioqjibb .briefly returned, thanki. for jthe unexpected .cdmpliment of having, an almost unanimous vote; ; : ' ' ''-■'& '■'''' The usual vote of thanks to the Chair, terminated the proceedings. THE* HALCOMBE jpj-ETINOv We learn that Mr. Halcombe had a most successful meeting at Halcom.be Town on Monday night, and that a unanimous . vote of con4denbe f was passedih him. ' ' 'v.