MR. MACANDREW AT PORT CHALMERS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4597, 14 December 1875, Page 2

MR. MACANDREW AT PORT CHALMERS.

(BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.) [PEH PRESS AGENCT.] Donedin, Monday. Mr. Macandrew addressed his constituents at Port Chalmers this evening.. The place was crowded. The Mayor was in the chair. Mr. Macandrew, on rising, was received with applause. He said when he last met them, it was as their representative in the General Assembly. Since then, that body had been dissolved, and it now depended on their wishes whether or not he should have the honor of representing the district in the new Parliament. He had pressing invitations to represent several important constituencies throughout the province, all of which he had declined, under the belief that the tie which had for so many years existed between the Port Chalmers district and himself should not at present be broken, in as far as he was concerned at least. When he last addressed them, he was disposed after so many years' service to have retired from the General Assembly, and make room for others. Circumstances had occurred since then, however, which would render it cowardly on his part to withdraw from the impending contest, upon the issue of which depended the future welfare of New Zealand in genera], and of Otago in particular. In soliciting their suffrages at the forthcoming election, he deemed it unnecessary to explain his political views as they were already well known. He had been all along a supporter of the policy of progress, and the right of the people to manage their own local affairs. He regarded the diffusive principle as being the true theory of government, and as most calculated to receive the greatest possible happiness to the greatest possible number. The great battle which had now to be fought in New Zealand was partly in defence of this principle, and partly in opposition to that principle of political communism which would compel those who, through frugality and industry, and husbanding their resources, had acquired wealth, to share that wealth with others who had been less provident, or it might be less energetic. Take for example those provinces which, like the prodigal son, had wasted their patrimony, and alienated their waste lands for 2s. 6d. and ss. an acre. The practical effect of the Abolition Bill would be to enable them to share with Canterbury and Otago the residue of their waste lands, none of which would have remained had they been open for sale at the same figure. The Government and its supporters declared that the Abolition Bill, as finally passed, secured local allocation of land revenue. Never was there a greater delusion. He did not know whether to admire most the cool effrontery of the assertion or the innocent credulity of those who believed it. There could not be the slightest doubt that the sole aim and object of the Abolition Bill was to enable the Colonial Treasurer to lay hands on the land fund, so that when he went in for further loans he might be able to show that his assets were so much more than they would otherwise be. As it was, even granting that there was any intention of localising the land fund, the primary charges thereon (to wit, interest on provincial debt, cost of survey, and administration) would swallow up the lion's share, so that the residue available for localisation would become small by degrees and beautifully less. If, in addition to the charges named, there were added interest on railways which did not pay more than working expenses, for which the land fund was also liable, it would be found that the residue available for local allocation would be nil. But even granting that it should turn out to be otherwise, and that there would be a modicum left, he felt persuaded that the provisions of the Abolition Bill would share the same fate as those of the Public Works Act, by which it was enacted that the cost of the railways should be charged against the provinces within which they were constructed, and any profit should become provincial revenue. Now, however, it had been stated by the Commissioner of Customs from his place in Parliament, in the hearing of his colleagues, and applauded by them, that the law must be altered, and the profit derived from railways in Otago was to be applied to cover the loss which might ariße on railways in Marlborough, Taranaki, and elsewhere. From this they would be able to

judge somewhat of the nature of the battle which had to be fought if Otago was to hold its own. The two great parties in New Zealand were the centralists and the anti-cen-tralists. [Centralism, of course, meant one governing power and one purse for the whole colony, community of goods, and the sweeping away of those district entities which had made the colony what it was, and but for which, in all probability, instead of ranking fourth from the top it would now rank fourth from the bottom of all the colonies of Great Britain. He need not say that he was ranged under the anticentrahstic banner—the term abolitionist was altogether a misnomer. Abolish what ? They say abolish the provinces. Why, the Abolition Bill did not pretend to do this ; it simply"" changed the name province to provincial district, and the Government from provincial to central; that is to say, the powers hitherto, exercised within the province, by men elected by and directly responsible to the people, were transferred to the General Assembly and the Colonial Executive at Wellington. To his mind the great curse of the colony, that which had involved it in an enormous public debt,, which had wasted the energies of its public men, had been that spirit of centralism which during the past twenty years had striven for the ascendancy, and which, unless the forthcoming elections should determine otherwise, had now got the colony completely in its grasp, and would thereby have succeeded in defeating what he believed to be one of the finest Constitutions ever conferred upon a people. The Constitution Act of New Zealand had never had a fair chance. The spirit which inspired it had been entirely defeated by the persistent action of a few ambitiousmen for their own purposes. He had heard one who was once termed New Zealand's greatest statesman or greatest orator (he forgot which) —certainly one of the chief apostles of centralism—declare in his place in Parliament that but for the Maori war this colony would not be worth living in. As a school for statesmen, the spirit and intention of the Constitution was to confer upon the different communities which colonised New Zealand the powers of managing their own local affairs and of making laws for their own peace, order, and good government. It was to confer upon the- - central Legislature the power of dealing with' ; certain federal functions. This central Legislature, however, had not been content to confine itself to federal functions, but hadarrogated to itself and usurped those which the provinces were supposed to be able to exercise for themselves, and which he maintained they were and are still best able to perform : so much so had this been the case that it was now positively illegal in many instances to dot your i's or stroke your t's without the special sanction of the Governor in Council. As a specimen of this sort of thing it was only the other day that the Otago Harbor Board, - which was entrusted with the expenditure of a quarter of a million of money, had to apply to his Excellency to appoint an officer to collect jetty dues. Just let them fancy a body supposed to be qualified to be entrusted with tha management of the Otasjo harbor having to go to Wellington to get sanctioned the appointment of th e man who was to collect the sixpences. (Laughter.) The thing, to his mind, . was most humiliating, and was only a specimen of the whole tendency of that centralism which was bent upon having a finger in every man's pie. It was only the session before last that a Bill was actually introduced by the Government which, if passed, would have necessitated every private individual, and every road board and municipality throughout the colony, before they could construct a ditch or a culvert, to procure plans and obtain the concurrence of the Governor in Council. It was chiefly through his efforts that the thing had been so far modified. He had said that one of the results of centralism among others had been that it had wasted the energies of their public men. What he meant was that those who had been called upon to administer public affairs in the provinces, instead of being left to devote themselves exclusively to the practical work before them, had had their time and energy distracted in defending tha interests with which they were charged against the continual encroachments and thwarting propensities of a grasping and intermeddling centralism. Centralism in so far had been scarcely a progressive movement. In Otago at least, which had not been attempted to be knocked on the head by centralism, as being ultra vires, or where abolition had not been accomplished, so to speak, at the point of the bayonet, no man used to dilate with more scathing eloquence upon the coir of an intermeddling central Government than Sir Julius Vogel. Another result of centralism was its enormous extravagance, for whilst it abstracted from the pocket of each man, woman, and child some £5 a year, it gave back nothing adequate in return. Nearly all that Otago got was the honor and glory of belonging to a great and united colony, of being governed from Cook Strait, and of sending some twenty-five irien for every three months in the years to aid others in doing for them that which could be done so much better and more economically where they were. As a matter of pounds, shillings, and pence, it would pay Otago to take upon itself considerably more than its share of the debt of the colony, in order to have the disposal within itself of it 3 own revenue, and of the management of its own affairs. It was difficult to conceive how a young country like this had allowed its resources to be absorbed in an extravagant unproductive expenditure, altogether incompatible with the nature of things, and which there was not a practicable way of getting out of, unless brought more directly under the eye and control of the people than could possibly be the case under a distinct and comparatively irresponsible centralism at Wellington. As an instance of how the money went, there was now being erected in Wellington a wooden building, the contract price of which was upwards of £40,000. By the time it was finished and was full of furniture they might reckon upon its costing at least £70,000. It would contain a whole army of officials, at salaries varying from £2OO to £BOO a year, very few of whom were absolutely required for the good government of the colony, but all of whom would find employment under the beaurocratic centralism now proposed. In the building in question there were several hundred rooms. They would, however, be found far too few to accommodate the amount of patronage which would be at the disposal of the central government when the provincial administration was abolished. He had not yet heard one single good and efficient reason why the provincial system,, should be reformed and improved in various ways, but to abolish it was the work of children or of madmen. There could be no doubt but the provincial system had in the past produced great results, notwithstanding, and in spite of the obstacles with which it had to contend at the hands, or rather under the shadow of the centralistic Upas tree, beneath whose pestiferous shade all* life died and death lived. (Cheers.) They were engaged in one of the noblest and most honorable missions which could fall to the lot of humanity, rearing up what he believed was destined to become a great nation, and if they directed its growth properly posterity would arise and call them blessed. (Applause.) Let them remember that it was with nations as with individuals. The child was father to the man, and it was easier far to bend the sapling than the knotted oak. What he desired was that they should all be impressed with a sense of the enormous responsibility which devolved, upon them, and that every man who possessed the electoral franchise should regard it as a. sacred trust through which he could shape the destinies of a country which it might be would yet become the seat of the empire. As regarded the adoption of the best system of government, he could not help sometimes contrasting the advantages which they possessed in this respect as compared with other countries, where the prejudices of ages had to be overcome, and the cobwebs of feudalism, swept away before they could reach anything like perfection. In Europe, the greatest philosophical thinkers of the age must content themselves with propounding theories of government; they had to operate against a wall as hard as adamant. - Here,, however, they could deal with the subject practically, bringing the experience of all ages and countries into a focus. They had so to speak a virgin.

soil, **at of which, if only true to themselves, they might rear up civil institutions which would afford an example to the world, and might influence the happiness of the whole human race. All he would say further was that it was not, by setting up a central bureaucraticy at Wellington that these aspirations were to be realised. If this country was to be governed, and its affairs administered by clerks and permanent heads of departments at Wellington, then by all means let them go in for centralism, which would feed them, clothe them, dot their i's and stroke their t's. No doubt this was the very best'form of Government for Serfs, and that by which the few could be aggrandised at the expense of the many. He ventured to submit, however, that it was not' the best for free men, or for the perpetuation of free institutions. There were men in New Zealand who, when they read what he now said, would exclaim, " Bunkum!" —men who had not souls beyond sixpences, who could comprehend no higher principle of political action than the main chance. From all such he fervently prayed that he might be delivered. Mr. Macandbew then stated that he was prepared to answer questions. In answer to questions, his Honorsaidhe would pledge his word of honorthat the effect of abolition would be to deprive and i ob the province of £200,000 a year for all time coming. (Cheers.) He believed that if a plebiscite could be taken in Otago, not a tithe of the electors would be found in favor of centralism. It was only for the want of good men that twenty men were not sent up to Wellington in favor of provincialism, but men could not be found to be sent. He was gratified to find that he was receiving letters from all parts of the province believing in his views, and from people he thought were abolitionists; and this was owing in a great measure to the perusal of his pamphlet- (Cheers.) He had no doubt that if the- people of Otago could find thernselves.in the North Island there would be a large population and plenty of prosperity. They wanted some of the Southern enterprise in the North Island. He saw no objection to Canterbury getting the whole of New Zealand providing they got Ofcago. He had no doubt that Otago and Canterbury would be soon united, but he did not believe in forcing them into wedlock. He hadjlooked upon the telegraph to the Heads as a luxury. It was another instance of having more money than they knew what to do with. Mr. Mhxeb proposed a vote of confidence in Mr. Macandrew as a fit and proper person to represent them in the next Parliament. This was seconded by Mr. Mills, and carried unanimously, and with cheers. The meeting was greatly in favor of the speaker, and would not hear anything against him. The proceedings terminated at 9.20 p.m-