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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 126, 28 May 1881, Page 3

It is stated that Joubert, tbe general commanding the Boers in the Transvaal war, was not maqy years ago a clerk ijLone of the Melbourne bueinesß houoco. By all accounts (writes the Alexandra correspondent of a southern contemporary) the " Heathen Chinee " has been realising a rich harvest of late, especially in Conroy's Gully. From the olaim they purchased from Muir and party for, I think, some £40, they dropped upon a patch of 400cza. This welcome find was principally under where Muir's house stood, and in tbe garden. There is one special feature in connection with the preparation of. departmental reports in Victoria which might be well adopted in the preparation of New Zealand Parliamentary papers. On the fly-leaf of the last report of the Inspector of Mines is a printed note of the "Approximate cost of Report," the items being thus stated :— Preparation, not given ; lithographing, £8 ; printing 1675 copies, £66. Total, £74 This system, we understand, is adopted in regard to all printed papers laid before the House in Victoria, attends in some measure to prevent the unrestricted^ eal]ipff-**«—rnvoious returns in whictrßome members are prone to indulge. The report of the Victorian Mining Department, giving the mineral statistics for the year 1880 v shows a marked increase in the yield of gold Oa the preceding year, estimated at 70,1?30z. The yield for the year is given as 299,9260iz alluvial aud 729,1950z quartz. During the past two years there has been a steady increase in the number of persons employed both in alluvial and quartz mines* The number laßt year is given as 38,568, the average earnings being estimated at £81 18s llfd. It is stated that the value of the gold raised in the colony from the date of the first discovery to the 21st December, 1880, is £198,000,000. An English journal of Sunday reading called "The Day of Rest " announces an excellent feature for the new year. This is a series of sketches by such prominent novelists as Charles Reade, Mrs Oliphant, William Black, Thomas Hardy, Anthony Trollope, and George M'Donald, embodying ■what, in the opinion of each of them is the highest type of character in the everyday life of the present time. The twelve sketches will not be signed, and the reader will have the pleasure of speculating over the authorship. " Asmodeus*' writes in the N.Z. Times :— There are queer rumors about town respecting certain goings on at Government House. The most of these are not true but are merely the outcome of the playful slanderousness of the age, which vivisects with charming insouciance and hopes you like it the while. J I thought from the first that Vice-regal good sense and capacity for adaptation to circumstance would assert itself, and I think so still, albeit I have heard of one or two funny little occurrences strongly savoring of undue pride of rank. It is said that at a certain dinner party the ladies, who had, as usual, retired first to the drawing room, followed the lead of feminine Vice-royalty and absolutely rose 1 1 when masculine Vice-royalty and the other gentlemen put in an appearance. Not one of 'em seemed to understand what was due to their s«x. 'Pon my word, this takes one back to the days of Harry | VIII. and Louis Quatorze. A lady rise to a gentlemau;! Hang it, it's enough to make a Bain.t| s ( wear. Now here in the colonies loyalty as a sentiment is chiefly admitted as applicable to relations with the other sex ; it is to woman, dear woman, that homage is paid, and the idea of receiving homage from her is never entertained. From the days of King Cophetua woman has been paramount, and will continue so, providing she is but true to herself. Even Gordon bonnets must be doffed to her, to say nothing whatever of crowns.

(Continued /torn Second Page.) They must not forget fhefc Sir George Grey under the potepjg of the Constitution Act had 5n 1854 issued tbe ten shillings per acre regulations, which created the greatest consternation in Canterbury, where £2 had been fixed on <he pvico of land, tinder which Mr, William Eobicson had begun to buy st. 53 bis fine estate in (he Aouin. [A Voice : We wonted a Land Leeyue there-! No, but it woe » Bfnfeemnn ih t was wanted, who unfortunately was not forthcoming. Fvery qjbd was not tote blamed because he did not happen to be a otateßroao, but they certainly miphk have pxpectert something better from Sir George Grey, who wa? no chiofepn even ther\ and had had experience as Governor of another colony — South Australia — where the Wek< ; field -system was well understood. The panacea, which he would recommend as a preventive of tbe accumulation of laoc!, was first to tnekt a sufficient price, sod next the tax-patberer. A land tax would prevent tbe unprofitable occupation of tbe landp, and get rid of those speculative owners who hoped to make their profit oat'of the unearned increment. A land tax in his opinion should form a permanent part of tbe fiscal machinery of the country. The direct limitation of holding would be difficult to manage, and easy of evasion, and, being contrary to our habits as a people, wouM certainly be abrogated before loDg. He was bound to say, however, that he believed thnt tbe fear of the accumulation of landed property was exaggerated. Tbe desira to form family estates did not exist hero aa io England, and besides tViat, one step in the direction of preventing it had been takf n in abolishing the law of primogeniture, end another, jib tho Premier had raid in bis speech of the previous evening at Leeaton, wpb to be adopted in doiDf? away with' the Jaw of enfsil. Before proceeding to touch 00 larger subjects he would refer to one or two miuor matters. The first was the Volunteers, whose position »t the present moment he regretted. From our isolated position there was not much likelihood of our quarrelling with neighbors, but we were not so completely outside the great fumily of nations as to be free from all chance of being drawn into war,. and if we were to foova a defence force it was to the Volunteers tbat we must look as its basip. His idea, however, of what a Volunteer fcrce should be was rather exacting, for be would have them something like tbe French Ziuaves, wh'6 received their traioing in Algeria, knotting 6very corner and cranny of the country, and masters of the art of campaigning ob well as skilled in tbe übb of the rifle. He fearex3 that the sudden deprivfition oftbecßpitatiorf must have put ibe Volunteers to a con&idor&ble amount ot inconvenience, and web glad to find that Mr Whifaker M.H.R., held out hopes of its being restored, he (Mr Richmond) certainly Ehould be in favor of it, but qlwrvb subject to the ruling Treasurer on it bs a rxatt^r affecting the colonial finances. Wi h regard to tbe Civil Service, it did seem a hardship that cne class of the corareanity should be Bingled out to be nsade the victiooa of un i coroe t&x BinYply becoueo they were helpleEß to reßiet it, but (his wee one of the casee tO'which the pioverb " necessity knows Do'hws" applied. If, bs Mr Saurders bud recently stated. Eslcries v?<re in exce&s of Buch as would bo paid by mercantile firms, it wi>s fair enough to cut them down, but tfce all round ten per cent, reduction tnußt hove passed very unfairly upon tome of them. He hoped,- however, that as the times became more prosperous . tkose who had been underpaid would again receive the amounts Ifcey had had before. (Mr. Rowell : They can leave it they like, but thes dcii't choote to.) There was a good deal in ths-t remark, but on the other band they must remember thai the colony had bred them up to that ptrticulur kind of wo»k,and tbe longer thor-Wrvice. tfee lees .iHted they were to mt-ke their living in other walks in life. Ttiere wks enother large end in - portant question, but it was one on which le scarcely felt able to upe&k with confidence. He refened to Chinese immigration. It was not perfectly certain that it wbs competent for the colony to deal .with the matter. He believed ther&wtfited a "treaty with Great Britain, which allowed tbe Chinese to enter and trayel .about eny part of the Empire, Hfwsß in favor of openiDg. tbe colony heartily, to all comers, but this wes a peculiar case, where the immigrants were 'ined of .different race, habits, lawe, and .cußtome, and there was no knowing hut that ac any time a change in the policy of their Government might drive them to our pboreß in millions, and sPebWert Australasia into o Lesser China. The colony ought to have the power to deal with , the. matter, and ought to exercise that power. He thought ;that;if the matter were placed before the . British Government in a practical manper they would teke b practical "view of it, and would not be prevailed from taking or permitting action to be taken for fear of creating a precident bb there was no other country like China in the whole world. On the next subject lie bad very little to say except to give a ray of hope. That subject was the beer tax, and he was happy to find- that- if had not yielded the amount expected from it. Possibly this was. du9 to the lax having wejmeji, many men from the delight of ot Britons, but, whatever the reason, he hop6d that? the result would be to wean the Treasurer from the tax. This,, however, was another matter that must be ruled by the state of the finances. ; Now with regard to' taxation. Ho had already 'said that he was not going to attribute the present financial pressure to the Grey Government, but at the same time he could not exculpate them froim sefi6u6' and grave offences — hemighVfiay, and be did bo deliberiatelyi crimes. The position wea this that they had. placed the land revenue on, the estimates as part of the ordinary revenue side by ante with Customs duties, stamps and euctt comparatively certain epurceo ol revenue. Land sales collapsed, ye.l they continued their issues from the Treacury. They could not plead ignor&Dce bb en excuse for tbe trouble thai JplJwtd. MJWf Mm\m m tf><

fullest informnfion in the shape of re--1 turns of revt-ctjß furniehed monthly, 1 and vet nofwifbetaodiner what muat have been perfectly ttbvious they had , none on spending lavishly, and that foo when ihe public credit was in immedinto flnnper. This reminded him of a Rto»y that vrna fold of a member of tho Apaernbly in 1870 when in a state of exoneration io leaving Bellamy'e tmkinc b most remarkable speech. The public works policy was then before tho House find bis remarks were to Ihft following effect :-— " Money we wnrt and no mistake, plenty of it and soon. Whßt is the use of talking about ten millions. Why not twenty millionp, tMrtv millions won't be too much." [A. Voicf* : Why be must heve been a glutton.] Glutton ! Wh? he was only a prophef, for already 29 millions had been borrowed. And the Berne member went ot to any : — " Why trouble nbout )D*ereet ? What we waDt is tbe the principal. Let thesa that lend it look fifter the interest." Here too the spp&ker was elmoet sketching out the policy lately pursued, for in 1879 a half year's interest on the public debt almost due in London was feli unprovided for by tbe Ministry on resigning, and was only just met in time by their successors and that by a free use of the cable as v?as shown in the published letters of the Agent-General. Had that interest not been forthcoming what would have been the reßult ? The new loan would not have been placed in the market ; all public works must have been stopped j and the million deficit which existed at that lime funds could possibly have been raised except at an exorbitant rate of interest. This was no laughing matter, and the echoes of it had not *yefc died away from the London market. Well we were compelled to enter with an engagement not to borrow again for three years. While the Gtrey Government could not be held responsible for the financial pressure they cortainly were for the crisis, which was owing to their system of finance and reckless careless of administration and the colony had good reason to be thahkful to Sir Julius Yogel for having tided it over the difficulty in London. Now to refer to the Customs revenue. Although the tariff was fully 30 per cent higher than formerly the amount paid per head which in prosperous years had been as high as £4 was now only £2 10s. This must be regarded as a sign that the spending power was not so great as it had been ; that the ready money in the pockets of the people was less than it bad been. One thing had puzzled him of late, and that was to hear people on the part of the working classee, or as be would call them, the blue Bhirts, objecting to the property tax. He could understand such an objection coming from thcße who were . over the £500 line, but not from those below it. As a matter of fact, if any tax could be kept from operating on the poor man it was this property tax. And here again Sir George Grey had talked of the hard manner in which the taxation bore on I the working man, but he had prepared a short sketch which those who chose might amplify with advantage, showing the bearing of taxation. Taking the population in round numbers at half a million, and supposing 50,000 to be above the £500 line, and therefore paying the property tax, and 450,000 below it (here Mr Richmond read the items io. detail) he arrived at the conclusion that the £50,000 paid £14 per head, and the 450.000 £2 4s. The last point on which he would speak was the poßition, the claims, and the wants of the mass of tbe people in the colony. We were living in a time of permanent crisis in political affairs. The whole of Europe was in a state of ferment. The old faiths, and politics, and religions were being severely shaken, and notions that had been brooded over and written about by philosophers were now taking to themselves shape and form. To quote from a prophetic poet— Even now we hear frith inward strife A motion toiling in the gloom ; The spirit of the years to come That yearns to mix itself with life. And it was in the spirit of the years to come that he wished to say a few words to them. With the telegraphs and newspapers spreading about the sayings and doings of the Nihilists and Socialists, and with the Irish land revolution spreading in England, it was not surprising to find spokesmen and writers in the press in the colony taking up tbe subject, or that there were many hearts out here vibrating in sympathy with those at home. If he were to ask even those in that room who were Socialists to hold up their hands it would probably surprise them to bos how many would not be ashamed to respond to the invitation. He himself was not afraid of the name, supposing that he rightly understood the aims of the Socialists. He used the word Socialist rather Communist, for the latter was more objectionable, and smelt of petroleum, gunpowder, and blood. Properly

speaking, every State was a Socialism, differing one from another in degree and not in kind. The Government of New Zealand was recognised at home as in front of the movement, in proof of which he read a passage from an article in the Nineteenth Century. Mauy of them would remember the year 1848, when large numbers of special constables were called out to protect the city of London against the Chartists.. The down-trodden people of New Zealand, however, had lived to see that "red rag," as it used to be called the people's charter, become the law of the land. We had manhood suffrage, the Ballot, Triennial Parliaments, no property qualification, and payment of members. The only thing we had not got yet was equal electoral districts, and that Sir George Grey was advocating and: spoke of Nelson as being far too largely represented. [Mr Rowell : And Berve us right, too, because we always worked against him,] AH these things had been conceded to the people of the colony without a straggle, so that surely there should be no bitterness between class 1 and class. What they wanted to do in order to make the country progress and themselves with it was to work together, and to work together they must trust one another. But they should all keep themselves well informed on what was taking place. The blue books and all the statistics were at their disposal, and it was their duty to make themselves acquainted with their contents, and not to leave it to a few to perform the duties of auditing the public expenditure. Every constituency should have a committee'to perform the work of the deceased Provincial institutions in keeping a check on the Government expenditure. There was one other topic to which he must allude, that of charitable aid — a serious matter that -would require to be dealt with. It was lawful to learn from our enemies, and Bismarck, though he could scarcely claim to be called a Liberal, had promulgated a schonie 1 which might, in a modified^ form, be extended to this cou-ntry; IV was to make compulsory the payment of a -very small sum from childhood upwards to form an insurance ftfnd ju£--6n which all when old and infirm could have a claim. It would come to them as a right, and they would not take it as beggars. He would conclude by paying , -thaj; his ambition to succeed in the present elec- 1 tion was far less strong than Iris desire to contribute, however little; tb: calming down the feeling of class Jea.lousj^whjch. it had lately been" sought to M»^e ? ! and which threatened grave evil in Mie" present state of the' finance of the, country- V • .'..., '; ." ./.,.,. Mr Richmond resumed his. seat, amid loud applause, after having' intimated his willingness to reply to Questions. Mr Rowell: What' do'yoii consider tho necessary qualification for aj colonial Governor ? , Mr Riciibiond : None whatever. (Cheers and laughter). Mr RoTVEi/r. i-iDsmik-vre get as good men here as they can send us from home ? : Mr Richmond : Possibly better, as | they cannot afford to send us the best they have ; but I certainly don't think : that it is worth while to go through all the excitement of an election for the sake of appointing our own Governor, and, besides, it' means separating, from the home country, and I don't deny that' I have a good deal of affection for the old place still. (Cheers). ; Mr ROwkll : I believe tliis Chinese business will force that on. What do; you think is the necessary qualification" for a Legislative CQUQciilor? Mr Richmond: Generally speaking,, that he should be a man who can* read Acts of' Parliament wrtK; mteJlfgjßncej-j have a sharp eye for detecting blunders" in them, and be old enough to feeep bis - tamper. I think it would bo better if they were elected, and I _«*rßfif 1 Hall refers to the matter in hTs spefechi. The Council is not likely .-to interfere with the Lower House in matters of finance, and they have at times proved iof great; service in checking errors made by me House of Representatives. Mr Rowell : Haven't wooden headed men -been put into the GouncU just because they ate rich,.? ' .', , Mr Richmond; : Some', have, been . given seats in it ' on account of theih wealtti. Mr Rowell: Would Ait • not- have been much better^Jf-yo^el'^tbricjr.haa*' been carried 6u£ district in which public work's we're constructed made to pa> the interest if thWailWrfyß did not ? I have oftentried id impress that on ;my,fri«ttd ; the .editor of the Evening Mail. As, it hy the, only, really good and productive" work undertaken fry the Government in Nelson is the repairs to th 6 bb WanaiDg. . (Loud laughter.) ' • • / Mr Richmond agreed that, the railways otJgli :t to be'a source" of revenue. We ought to lopk .on these/ tfcfagf matters of business, Tap^if .yje- wentmto trade, ought, pk'e .traders,' to' see that we made money. , , „, . .,.,... .. ..,, x

Mr Rankin : You say you would put on a land tax, what tax would you takeoff? Mr Richmond : I would take off bverstrained duties from the tariff. Mr Levien : You have not said anything about Education. I know there are many. parents who would like to hear your views on that subject. Mr Richmond : I really must apologise for the omission, which is owing to my being out of practice in speaking. I had completely overlooked it for the iiime though I have it on my notes : The question was put to me by Mr Graham, who came to me with some other gentlemen to ask if I would come forward. With regard to the expense, which is a very serious item, being nearly £300,000^ I think it might be reduced by making. those who take advantages of the higher grades pay for it, or it might be possible to revert to something like the old Nelson capitation tax though I scarcely think this would be agreed to. With regard to eecularity I certainly should main- } tain that for the present. I don't belong to those who think that the higher hopes and aims should be kept out of sight, but I hold that the perfunctory reading, of a chapter in the" Bible i can do no good to anybody, and therefore I should retain the present system. (Hear hear from Mr, Rowell.) Mr Rowell's vehemence reminds me that I should say distinctly that I do not object to the Bible, but I do object to its being hacked about in the schools. I look upon it as the book of tho world, were it only for the biography it gives us of one: of the most remarkable ot races and for the morality and spirituality it teaches, and I believe the day will come when we shall see it no longer tabooed. [A Voice : Can you give us a better book ?] No ! certainly riot, but I don't like to see a cat and dog fight take place over it. I confess I have a liking for the old Nelson compromise, and almost regret that it could not have been adopted, for I Ibbk back with pleasure upon the sweet order which I remember used to prevail in St. Mary's schools. Mr Pickakd : With regard to the Licensing Act; would you be prepared, in the case. of public houses which did not pVovide proper accommodation for travellers, to deprive them of their licenses?* ,Mr Richmond : I am not preparedto state deflnjiely ' tKat I would do ■'■'dp',/ b^tT certainty" should v be YeVy glad f 0 'isee'tlie numbers' of the public 1 houses decreased,; and. -their respectability * indrease^l. IMr Pickard : Wouid, you be : in • fivor of kelson being divided into, ■vrardsrwith power to a majority of twothirds in each to veto the issuing of; uew licenses ? ; < 1 Mr 'Richmond' : . I would not like to . pledge myself 1 to ttiat at once. • No further questions being asked, Mr Levien said that he thought they ought .*° be pleased and proud to have such a candidate as Mr Richmond offering himself, and he proposed a vote of thanks tOj and confidence in, him. This was seconded by n r Irvine and carried n-emcon. A vote of thanks to the chairman ierniinated the proceedings.