MR. HURSTHOUSE AT THE PROVINCIAL HALL.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVII, Issue 83, 28 November 1881, Page 3

MR. HURSTHOUSE AT THE PROVINCIAL HALL.

We* weather, counter attractions, and the fac: of its being Sntujday night, when many are employed ia the shops and otbera who erpy aa occasianal holiday prefer to throw poli'ics to the dogs for one night at least, combined to keep down the attendance at Mr Hursthouse's meeting, at which there were j not more than fifty present. The Mayor i having been voted to the cbair, ! Mr Httrsthoose said that finding there were no less than 60 Motueka electors resident in the town he thought it right to give them an opportunity of hearing his view* on the political questions of the day. The Corrupt Practices Prevention Act prohibited candidates conveying voters to the poll, but he hoped that on so important an occasion ns the present all who had votes would take the trouble to record them. lo touching briefly 03 the leaiing matters he would refer first to the financial position of the colony in reference to farther borrowing, which under existing circumstances meant additional taxation. While the colony was in a position to meet ita liabilities he did not think that it was in a position to contract further ones jest now, for the people were not able to bear further taxation, and tberefora he should if returned, go to the House pledged to oppose further borrowing at present. In future it would probably be wise to borrow for tfee purpose of comrJeting the main nrteriil lines of railway, and if the colony prospered, as he hoped it would, the population would have so increased as to enable us to go into the money nmket again without adding to the individual taxation. Thpy must, however, he felt sure, be prepared to Fee the railway, when extended, carrird from Amberley to Cook's Straits np the East Coast, and cot by way of the West Coast. He, as they nil knew, favored the line to Nelson, but weakened as they were by ihe Representation Bill, end with all the engineers and heads of departments against them, they could not hope to obtain that which they all so earnestly desired. As to local govornment he must Bay that it was not to hi 3 mind so important as some members »ndl candidates tried to make out. He would increase the administrative duties of the local bodies, bnt not give them legislative powers'. He objected to the present dual system of County Councils and Road Boards, as involving an unnecessary expenditure of money, energy, and time. They in the country hai but one object, and that was to open up the back country, and to force settlement into the interior, Roadaand bridges were requisite for this, and therefore he begindged the £400 a year wbiob the Council

co3t, as, though not a large sum, it might be much better expended. He woald support the Counties Act Suspension Bill, for ha should like to see the power given to suspend the Act in those districts where it was not approved of. The most important question for both town or.ii country was the settle- : ment of population on the waste lands. They riiust form an outlet for those who were growing up around there, and with that object should frame their land laws so as !o give every facility for acquiring the land and affording access to it. That, wa3 the ttue way to increase popuimion and correspondingly reduce taxation. He was one of those who disapproved of wholesale immigration. It had piovcd an entire failure and had been the means of introducing r lot of discontented people who were very soon only too gisd to ck ar cut. [A voice : How about four shillings a day ?] He was coming to that, and in the meantime he might tell his friend thst there were some men who were dear even at that. (Laughter.) No one dared to say that he ever offered anyone 49 a day, and it was a false calmuny to say be had advocated it, as the records of the House would show. Now, wbat was going to increase the population of Nelson and to give it back its representation ? For 25 years they had looked in vain to its mineral resource?, but, although the prospects of these were improving, the only legitimate way was to open up the waste lands. [A voice : Put on a land tax and burst up the large estates.] They might do that presently. No one would be more willing to burst them up than he was, but he would tell them that they must not blame those who possessed them but the laws that gave them the char.cc of doing so, and who tuade those laws but the people of New Zealpnd? The only way of preventing the accumulation of land in private bands was the abolition of the law of entail, which would necessitate the division of estates at tbo end of every generation. In 1879 when Sir G. Grey and Mr Stout— the latter of whom was an extremely clevar man but altogether theoretical and without a particle of practica in him — had put up the land at the minimum price of 303 per acre he and others had contended against it and ultimately got it reduced to 10a. This was a very large question and required handling very carefully, and he would have different ptices according to the localities. He did not want to reduce the price to Buch a figure as to induce capitalists to speculate, but there were some lands in Nolaon that were reaily worth nothing an acre, and yet could be worked profitably by the two. jide settler. He had lately travelled over 410 miles through the electoral district of Motueka, and the one burning question in all the out parts was the price of the land. Not guch landa as they had sold to William Robinson for 5s 6d an acre, but land that would be dearer at nothiog au acre than some of the Canterbury lands would be at £10, and yet such as wtuld be settled if it fiould be obtained. If we had the lend in Blind Bay with its beautiful climate and scenery that they had in Otago and Canterbury our population would have been far ahead of theirs, and it made his blood boil to bear the Nelson people twitted with being sleepy for the sole reason why this part of the colony bad not outstripped all the rest was the absence of such lands as they possessed and not the want of energy in the people. If ratified, bis chief endeavcr would be to get the land we hsd opened up for settlement and the price reduced. Another great objection he bad to our present land laws was that under the deferred payments system 50 per cent more than for cash was charged to the purchasers. It wag said that if there were not that difference the whole of the land would be Uken up under that system. Well, why not ? He did not see that it would do the colony any barm to have the payments spread over twenty years. With reference (Continued on Fourth Page.)

(Continued from Third Page, to education, bis views had never changed. He had always advocated free education so far as it was given in our primary schools, but he was totally opposed to subsidising the higher branche?. In the country districts, at all events, they derived no benefit whatever from it. He was strongly of opinion that the State had done all that was required of it in the direction of education when it had taught the youth of the colony all that was to be learned in the primary schools. He was an advocate for fostering all kinds of local industries, and would have the import and export duties so regulated as to encourage them. He was not an out and -out protectionist, but thought we ought " to protect certain industries to a certain extent. The objection raised to any kind of protection was I hat it raised the price of the article so protected to the consumer, but that was not correct, or j why was not the price of beer raised "when the sixpenny duty was placed upon hops? [Mr llowell: You get smaller glasses.] Not unless the people chose -to take them, for they could always get their half pint measure if they asked for it. This argument, therefore, was not borne out in practice. He now came to the Representation Bill. Nelson was the stronghold of the stonewalling, and he had been twitted with not assisting in it, and beinrr backward in coming forward to help the other members, Now, he held that majorities must rule, and that stonewalling was wrong in theory, but when the Nelson members met in caucus he said lie would abide by the decision of the meeting, and when they carried it by 7 to 2 he agreed to go in with them, told them that they could always depend upon him to speak, and that they might at any time reckon on his making a r 'speech of anything less than a fortnight in duration. It was said that he did not join the others until told to do so by his constituents, but he did not go to the House as a delegate to do as he was told, and the fact was that he had thrown in his lot with the stonewallers j vbefore the telegram from his constituents reached him. He considered that tfcey were perfectly justified in adopting so extreme a course, for the circumstances required exceptional action to be taken, and he only regretted, as the .whole of New Zealand would regret ere ; long, that they had not been successful in defeating the measure. But it would ' have passed, whoever was in power, for that Bill, as well as Triennial Parlia--1 inents, and Manhood Suffrage, was Sir George Giey's. [Mr Roweli: But he - would not have given 1 5 votes to property, and only one to the working . man.] Sir G. Grey supported that very Bill on the second reading. But he was going to say that if there was one thing more than another for which he blamed the Government, it was the readiness with which they took up the cast-off garments of the party to which ' they were opposed. If any man said that Mr Hail was a Liberal, he simply . did not know what he was talking " about. Of all men in the colony he was a Conservative, and he was not ashamed of his colors either, but his great failing was that he was always worrying and allowing himself to be troubled about little things and was easily led away instead of making up his mind as to what he believed to be right and sticking to it. He (Mr H.) fully believed that Mr Hall disapproved of all the measures alluded to, and yet lie introduced and carried there. That the Speaker and Chairman of Committees did what they had no right to do in ruling as they did, he was perfectly satisfied, and he was equally satisfied that if they could get an impartial vote of the House tlie°major- '' ity would say so too, and, that Ministers knew that they were wrong and had gone beyond their proper limits, he was quite certain. Of the Corrupt Practices Prevention Bill he thought that it was an insult to the intelligence of the people. If the people of Nelson ■were so corrupt that they were to be bought by a few hogsheads of Harley and Co. or Hooper and Dodson, it was a bad day whea the Liberal policy was instituted, but he denied that it was bo, ani in thfcountry districts be ft It tore tl at vote* were not to be bought lor a pint of beer or the promise of a day's work. It was as much the duty of the people to elect the best man as it waa of those who were fitted to tske part in the Government of the co'ony to offer their cervices. He weald net give sixpence a vote /or any number of tbecn, :s if they did not think he was tho be*t man Lc did cot r.sk them to vote for him, end he coal i say trnt ha ha i never yf t epent a Ehiili D g on an election. There were one or two greot nu3t£k»3 in cur method of Government, the chief of which was that the House vf^a too Urge. He would very much prefer to nee. cn'y fifty members, even if Nelson bad but one of them, bs - the work would be dons better, more cheaply, end more tfficiently. To do the work of a pair of draught horsea they employed a tea horse power ergine. The mschinfry was altogether toocombfraomesnd unwieldy but tbecorr stiinencieß were by no means frea from blame es they thought nothing of demanding 40 yards of speeches from their representatives. As an illtmratioD of tbie, thty had all heard o! Dick SeddoD, es he was called, who was one of the mo»t fluent debaters he had ever listened to. Weil le wonld talk by : the hour, whether he tm^eretood the oobject he waa Bpeskiog on or not. If be did, he wished others . to understand it 100 ; if he did no?, he would tolk in hope of gaining information. He wes an enormous expense to the couatry on this Bccoon', but when he weDt home, his conttituenu received him enthusiastically, rirovtbim round the town in a four in h^nd, banquetted him, complimented him on bis epeecbec, acd tc!d him he was the /attire Premier. [Lsughter, und a • voice : I believe be will be too ] Ob the other hand when he, Richmond Harstbouse, who, though he f.ould talk for any ticoe, »a* content to record hi* opinion by his vote*, his cocstituen s did not torn out to meet hit?, they di - not even have a oce-hoite cl'iaiat for him, ;; nordidlhey kill even a kmb in bis honor, bat they turned round and said, Where are the loavee and fishes ? where are the roadi and bridgte v: waal ?

I - Had it come to that ? Were pceple o mercenary th, t she crly ccc m.) pvml*pi;ng cry wbs mouey, trout-?, n?o»iey? Morey, no doubt, was a treat power, surely there wire n sftere nfrv--r yren'..:r irrporttirr-e :hHD i !■*.•*, ri Hh> f hst v?culd far more seriously > fft-ri poi orly f t ■ f s gPEer.-tion Lot tho.-e which I tvme to fellow As other great and grievous mistake «aa (hat ihpy were ;b!U;1 ur-on to construe? hiW3 when t'f-y rfO irp of the work cf cocstrueiion. A'l tLut PanLnieut eLould be r.qusud (o r'o web to pass resoiuti. ns dfirGißK the direction ia which they dstired to ie^ieiits acd lenve ii to experts to frame the I»wp, the Gcv-rntnent being held responsible f. r the prrp.T fulfil m^ct, oi nich riuti&e. Tlun tho l: : vvs woolil n;.t require; euch fr.quent era-ndin£, nor I woul i they he »o expr-csive nnd ur■•amf >oiory c Anil cow ior tbe four sln'.Hrigs a Oay busings, la a tp?ech he ens ie in tlui House 1:e said that he thought wains fDU-t faii, but that fie b^li-ved in a 'air day's wago for a fair day's woik, arid tbet if meu could get roEstanf employment <U the present rs-.te they woulJ Le quite eutiefie 1 . [A Voice. But the pn&ent ra.e is 8* bhl you ?rsjmt?d to reduce it to 4s ] Ho had (Jone nothicg cf the kins?, aa tbe K?rith ; rran who appeared to be co raueh affected could etc if Le would refer (o r.ia spfech. Certain papers had bccu«.ed I itn of snj'ns so, but Le had written t^ the lost coDiradiciing it. ntd on the Blips t c received frosi tbe printer there t~c-re no such worop. Since he imd been 12 ye.rs of w>e he ha: 1 , enrned \is livi«e by tbe eweat of his brow, and of s.l! tut-n he woul-i bine \b*i, to wish tj reduce wages. sn;i hp hoped ♦!■■« d? wf f>r iii-if-.n* »!hft !: there « cod in New Z &] n ] be -ucb v d i 1 Irre1 r r e n s c beiwo.n ca,,iinl q ,d )f.^or «9 ihfcr« » as iii Efuiiuo. [Cii?era 1 El- 1 KB9 slw».y» wiilin? to Ukc a coatrsct himself at 6j a day, hut every c"a? thj: ; "'« Vtts Dot in fcutVion he v?crfeed for 30a a wt-f-k and his tucker. Aootber renern sit en for his Dot beiog a desirr-ble tne.hrib.r waa that be ha.i rail he wv.p o -iiernlv r of iho pt verniaw family. As for the reliiio ship thtu existed bsfvte^n himself ..r-d tha on!y member of thr, family now in the Governme-.t he G3i~it Biy that it roushted in his ccusin havicn; msrrif d the Treßguret's bro.'hfr. lls Lad m;:de the rfta.vk in the House rn^rtly in a jocular ma-n.er, '■-a.- he dii rot know <here wa3 anythi 1 g (o be oshenßed of io it, as if tbe "</ovf rnin» familj" were not rood men he Buppoee 1 tl cv would not he t.h--re. A writer in the Colonist hm\ PtH thai hp had vc.ivfi •or giviot; £200,000 No* P.yraooih harbor wcrks, wl ieh was pimply * fnleeKood, end the cau?e ifatt rtqaircd •uth backias up asusf be a weak m-< iudeed. Another otjecsir n was Jbet he was the Government whip, for which he hod received £200 a y. ar. He ouly wirhed he ba\ but as s. matter of fact he had co! rect-ired £100 for the whole four years, during which he bad Hp! • a very r* eponeible p >si:ioc — th(m^re fact of conferring wLLh upon mm showei thr.t tliera must be someihins in him — which intrusted nn imracTee cmount of work, kept the cose p rpesuaiiy on *he f;rinds{o:;e, and brought upon the unfortunate man ncthirg but (rouble end f»boap, ja^t each as a representative of the people pot. Fie had no o'j'C* in view enc pt the welfare of ii. naiive lacd ; be would support no' nr-n but measures ; the aoveruirg family prncticel ! y haJ no icterfct for him, end he would go ia-o Pariiaooent as an opponent of the present Minisfrv, who. he believed, Aou!d be turned out before the PjrliamentbadbeeniDsefsifniriaoy wefks. But it must be aadentosi, t^af. ha would oct support Rir Georne Gtey unless one or the other, or both of them, altere very much indeed. AJ> Hurethouse then refrrre-J to the Crown and Nitive L-mds Eating Bill, faying that he very much preferred that way of assisrinc !ocal bodies to subsidising them He thought the towns bLou! i ge' no subai'lies, but that a'l tha money thateouid he Fpared phould go to the country Board?. Hs only regretted that the Ministry had cot bad the backbone tc e*rry their Bill or to resi^D. That was whet he blamed them for much more <han for the Representation Bill. With reference to the honorariuo, he might say that be had always voted for its reduction, but he thought that it, aa well ac taxation, should be on a sliding scala. For instance, the representative for Nelson contd better afford to do the woik for £50 than the one for Mofu°ka for £200. That person bai or I7 !o put h hal'-erown advertisement in the papers, and that would c^U the electors foeether, and he Bee 3 ro' be-away from hie home or place of business for twelve bours together. But wt st had the other to do ? He (Mr H ) had travelled over 400 miles, and would have to trnvel over most of fh<s osme coualry nfiaia before tha polling dey ; he had held twenty-one meetings, and had fifteen more to hold, and, as they all knew, he could not travel about for ootbin?, even if he went with the Corrupt Pra^Mcpg Prevention Act in bis pockef. There was one of his votes he wished to explain ; that on the Public Revfnueß Bill. He believed that not one in ien or those who talked about it bnd taken the trouble to ascertain what »bat vole meant, or whether it was d good cr a bad one. The fact was, thai when the Ne'soo members went into OpposinoD, there was no one for them to follow, nor could there be so loae as Sir George Grey was in the House, for be could not lead himself, and he wouhj not follow, the consequence being that there wbb a new leader evrry week, there having been about fourteen who aspired to the position during the lact session. He denied that the Bill referred to was in any way a party question, in fact, that most determined Oppositionist, Mr Seddon, Toted with the Government, as did Mr Eisher and other Opposition members. Tbe Bill was simply to provide for an expenditure for a couple of months after the financial year at the same rate as was voted for the present year, thus rendering unnecessary tbe passing of co many Imprest Supply Bills. He thanked them for their patient hearing, and stated his willingness to answer any reasonable question that might be put to him whether the questioner was an elector of the district for which he was 8 candidate or not. He snd. " reason.

oble" question, for be did Dot intend to allow biruselt to be made a butt of. Mr Hurpthouse resumed bis Feat *rr,iu considerable applause, it being qui'e evident that he br.d created a very favoiable impression upon th? meetingMe R. Btjhn : lam very well satis- ' fled to bear you say that you are prepared to oppose tbo Hall Ministry. Would you vote with our Nelson member to turn them out ? Mb Hursthotjse : Certainly. In tbe event of 5 vote of no-confidence being proposed I will vote for ir. Mr Btjpn : "Will you try to do awny with tbe beer tax ? Mr Htjhethocse : Conditionally tliac the protection duty is faken oif English beer. Mr F. Atkinson, popularly known as Little Fred, then mounted the i platform. I Mr Huesthouse : Mr Chairman, would you kindly inform me what this gentleman's name is ? The CiTAinirAtf : Mr Atkinson. Mr Htjesthotjse : Indeed! A member of the governing family, I presume. Probably a brother of the Colonial Treasurer ? Mr F. Atkinson denied tbe soft impeachment, and proceeded to ask, What's your policy on the property tax? Do you prefer a land tax ? Mr Hursthouse : No, 'I prefer tbe property tax. No tax can be absolutely fair, but I fail to see why one class of property should be taxed more than another. I was at Asbburton the other day and near tbe town I saw a fine flour mill the property of Mr Saunders. Do you mean to tell me that that had not been improved in value by tbe railway running close to it just as mucb as other land in the neighboihood ? Does land produce more interest than other property? I know from bitter experience that very little land in the colony would yield more than five per cent. I supported the property tax because I regarded it as a necessary evil. Mr T. Harley : In tbe Premier's last speech at Leeaton be said there were eight millions of acres yet unsold. Would you be agreeable that in future Crown lands should be leased only and no more sold ? Mr HußSTiiotrsE : I am inclined to think that if such a policy had been ' adopted 40 years ago the colony would at the present moment be in a better position, but I don't think it would be advisable now. If a Bill providing for perpetual leases subject to certain conditions was introduced it might answer the purpose, but, after all, I believe the colonists generally prefer freeholds to leaseholds, nor would it be quite satisfactory or fair, after selling ninetenths of the land, to alter the regulations with regard to the balance. If the lands were leased it would only be taxation in another form, and people might as well pay the property tax and have their land. The money has to be paid, and it is only a question of ho-v and by whom, and each class endeavors to ehuut it on toanolher. Ithasbeensaid by a cleverer man than myself, When we place the power into the hands of one class to levy taxes for other people to pay we shall find ourselves coming out at the small end of the horn. Mr T. Harley : You have not answered my question quite as "I would have wished. I have another to ask you. Would you support having the rails for our railroads made in the colony where there is plenty of the raw material ? Mr llursthouse: I should be quite prepared to do so if we could get them for, say, 25 or 30 per cent more than their present cost, but not to go up to anything like 200 per cent. Mr W. Jackson here spoke on the advisability of letting Crown lands on a twenty-one years' lease and then putting the lease up to auction, the infoming tenant to pay for the improvements, instead of selling the land outright. He quoted cases where between Wanganui and Taranaki 11,000 acres had been sold at 5s per acre, the owners had expended £1 per acre and then let them on long terms at £l per acre. He

thought it would be better if the Government could get this income instead of private individuals. In reply to Mr T. Harley, Mr Hursth^use said he would not supdort a Government Bank to make its own money instead of sending out of, the colony for it. i Mr T. Haslet had great pleasure in moving a vote of thanks to Mr Hurst-house for his able address, and he expressed the hope that on the close of the election day he would be found at the head of the poll. This was seconded by Mr Burn and carried by acclamation, as was a vote of ilmnks to the chairman, which brought , the meeting to a termination. 1 a =^^TSTES.r...T.,.. „, r — — -=a» . s=.-~