MR. SAUNDERS ON NEW ZEALAND POLITICS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 119, 20 May 1878, Page 4

MR. SAUNDERS ON NEW ZEALAND POLITICS.

At s recent meeting at Kaikourß.Mr Saunders said hfl was co used to following Mr Ingle?, that it would not be aoy tax on his memory to remember what be had Baid, and reply to the same. Tho first question — that of triennial parliaments — wag onf» which might be put ia this light: their representative was their servant. Now, in employing aa ordinary servant, they did not propose to pay him, or prolong his engagement if he failed to fulfil his agreement. If their representative was a do-nothing, cr ohoae to sell his vote, or appeared to show no prudence in the exercise of his duties, was it likely, ha asked them, thnt they would employ a servant who did uot suit ihem longer than the shortest time lhey could arrange for ? Was it not better to send a man to Parliament for three yearp, and if he turned out a faithful servant, renew the agreement for anoiher term, rather th&n fix the term so long that the power of his removal was viriually taken from them in the event of his not acting up to their wishes ? Parliaments of short duration were not likely to increase corrupt practices, hut rather tended to lessen lhn possibility of such a state of things. History, alluding to fhe time of Cromwell, showed they had nothing to fear; it was a very good check on a member if he bad to come buck to the constituency witbin a reasonable time for re-election or the renewal of confidence in his actions. The argument used that the first session of Parliament was spent in getting into hnrnesp, and that the third beiDg a moribund one.-two were wasted, would not ho!d good in practice. Another advantage of short Parliaments he would remind the electors, was that the temptation to spend large sums of mouey to eecure the return of a candidate on the side of the rich was less, because it was not worth while for such candidates to offer themselves, feeli.g sure as they must do, thut the day of reckoning wilh the constituency must shortly come, and the result would nearly always be against them. On the question of the re-distribution of seats, he did not feel very strongly, but was decidedly in favor of the distribution on the population basis. The question of representing cheep and acres in Parliament ought to give way to the representation of men [Hear hear.] The rich and poor should not overstep each other, but every man to whom the franchise could bo extended should have the right to vote, and a voice in the government of the country. This district was extremely badly yoked, and its interests were divided but he did not s^e that they could put ifc in a better positiou at present. The question of manhood suffrage was one on which himself and Sir G-, Grey did not exactly agree. Bis view was that the digger, who was essentially a "bird of passage," and ono who bud strong inclinations to urge the Government to go into the raising of loans, was not entitled to quite the same privileges as the man who waa a bona ffiej c resident in the colony. And further, a clerk in a Bink had as much right lo a vote as a clerk on a run. So long as they had not transgressed the laws of the land, these persons, beiug fixed residents, wero entitled to enjoy the franchise. Nothing would contribute more to the good saccees and welfare of tho colony than to give every individual, who had a thorough interest in it, the power to take part in its management. He did nofc fear any ill reeults from the granting of manhood suffrage, which was fair and just to all classes, provided, as he had already indicated, that each individual should have resided in the colony long enough to show that his intention was to become a permanent settler, 'ihis was not the most popular view put forward at the present, but he was sincerely convinced it was the correct one, and the expressions he now gave utterance to were from the impressions formed on his miud ever Bince he was a boy. It was his purpose to give bis strict adherence to tho conservative clause that a voter shall have beeu a resident twelve month?, acd thereby obtain his privilege by residential qualification in preference to any other. Education wbb closely allied to thia subject. It was of paramount importance that every child must receive a thorough education on the business and political habits of those around him, iv order that he might, as a man, exercise that high privilege as a voter with discration, so that there need be less fear of pereona being hoodwinked into voting contrary to their true interests. A man, to exercise his frauchiae right, should be one who would carefully glean the opinions of public men from the newspapers of the day, aud, from a knowledge of tbe history of the events going on around him, take an intelligent part in advancing their country's welfare, For this reason, therefore, every child ought io receive the mo3t liberal education possible, [Cheers.] With regard to the teaching of children, all that the State ought to attain to iv his mind was to provide a liberal secular system. It was not for the gcod of the coiony that too much stress should bft laid 00 the assistance 10 schools exclusively recognised as the schools in which the children of different religious denominations were taught. Religion wus too great a matter to be entrusted to men not specially qualified to teach its principles according to the views of the various denominations. He knew that at Kaikoura there were a number of Catholic votes, but he should be aorry to lower his opinions to catch them, and

the public in general, ns well as tbe Roman Catholics in particular, to whom he was referring, would think none the better of him if he did so. * * * It would be urged that he was a man who desired to represent men rather .than sheep and acres ; in saying which he fully remembered he was in the heart of the enemy's country, and co long as he might have the honor of representing the Cheviot electors, he hoped he would not neglect the interests of the rich because of a cry being raised against that clafs by the poor. But if lhe rich wanted to procure roads, hri-.iges, and railways out of the taxation which, at the rate of £3 per annum, was loid on every man, woman and child in the colony, he was prepared to resist it. This brought him fo the incidence of taxation, aud he could see nothing for it but to tax the land. Mr Ingles was in for an income tax, and stated that came from the land. Now, if such wes really the case, why noi tax the land in the first instance? Why go round about the question. In collecting a land tax the collectors would see the land and iis value bofore them, but to ascertain to a certainty fhe amouut or persons incomes was a very different affair. Sir George Grey suggested the removal of some of the Customs' duties. He could not follow him in tbaf, as tbese duties were a fair tax on both Maoris and Europeans. An objection (0 the income tax would be raised by the working man for instance, who had a great deal of independence about him in regard to education. The colonist would rather see his children's schooliog paid for out of money in another caanner than by a tax on the rich, and by the same reasoning it would be a perpetual disgrace for the rich to aland by and ccc the railwaye through his large tracts of of country paid for out of funds raised by a tax on the poor man. Mr Ingles said tax bank 6hsrep. At the Kaikoura he also said tax mortgagee. Now directly such a tax was sought to be imposed, capitalists, instead of investing their money in the colony, would take it away. This wus not what was wanted. They desired to see all the capital which it was possible to secure invested in the colony. Mr Ingles said at anoiher meeting that if a \ rother bought a* farm and mortgaged it to another brother who was out of the colony, under his system they would both contribute lo the revenue. But the real facta would be that the poor brother who was left would be paying £1 per cent more than he ought to do for he it would be who would have to pay the Ibx for both, [Laughter.] Again if they put a fax on lawyers' and doctors' incomes, it was not the lawyer or doctor who was taxed, il would be the patients and clients, as before a doctor would come to reside in their district, he would want a salary of an additional £50 to enable im to pay his income tax. This, and other information on tbe question, was ta be met with in books. Ac stated before, the tax on land was the only proper one. Ths idea that people who made false returns of their income repented and paid the tax was very improbable : it fact, it might not be hard to find persons who would never repent.