MR. TRAVERS AT THE CALEDONIAN HOTEL.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 4989, 20 March 1877, Page 2

MR. TRAVERS AT THE CALEDONIAN HOTEL.

Mr. Travers addressed a largely attended meeting at the Caledonian Hotel last evening; Mr. Rountree in the chair. Mr. Travers commenced by saying that on' one or two occasions lately he had., departed from a rule which he considered to be a whole-’ some one for a candidate, for any -'individual occupying no matter what position in society, and more especially for one who sought to obtain the good opinion of his fellow-citizens—the rule he referred' to being never to lose his temper;- He was afraid that, smarting under considerable annoyance—which as he conceived' was not unnatural in a man who ' felt that he had been unfairly treated—he had ; made use of some expressions and, entered into personalities which he thought it would hav*J been better to: have let alone. He felt, moreover, that in the-matter of- dirt throwing he was no match for his opponents.' He continued; If I engage In such work I fear that I shall find myself very much in the position of a man who kicks a pig because it happens to have touched his coat, and by the collision casts mud upon it, the chances being that' the pig runs through his legs and capsizes him in the gutter. Therefore, since Ido not want ’ to be capsized by the pig who has chosen to run against me, I shall let him rest. (Laughter.) Moreover, gentlemen, so far as throwing dirt, is concerned my adversary is a greater adept at that than I am or shall ever attempt to be, and I shall therefore let him alone for the future. Mr, Travers then referred to. personalities between, himself and the Mayor, saying that they were * to be regretted, and adding that there was no reason why the election should not be contested in a friendly spirit, each man standing on _ his own merits. He believed Mr. Hutchison to be a worthy man, who bad endeavoured to do his duty in the position he occupied ; and what was more, he felt that that gentleman’ had done considerable good since he had occupied the office of Mayor ; but at the same time there was no doubt that he had obtained a number of useful hints from his predecessor, ~ Mr. ■ Moorhouse, as to the political course to be pursued by a gentleman occupying, the position he did ; and Mr. Hutchison had not hesitated to acknowledge that/ such was the case in a speech he made at a dinner given - in his capacity'of Mayor. He differed with the Mayor, however, regarding their relative capacities for serving ’ the • city in the Parliament of the colony ; . and if he thought - Wjie Mayor was better able than he was to serve the interests _ of the people in that position, why he should think he could not do better than resign and vote for him; and if he (Mr. Travers) should not be elected ' this time -be would feel - satisfied .that' the electors had done their duty in electing the best man. His own views on the subject war e: : that the municipal requirements of the city had nd concern whatever with the General Assembly, they .were in. the hands of the Municipality, which had the power td do everything requisite for the improvement and beautifying of - tbe city. In a large sense these matters rested ' with the citizens. He was in favor of seeing - the city and its property taxed fully for all itw necessities, and he must state that the City ’ Council of Wellington was lacking in pluck; and wanted boldness to bring before the . citizens the duty ; that rested • pa them of providing for those necessities, by submitting to a proper amount of taxation. '■ The speaker then referred to the question of beautifying the.city, saying that he was fully . alive to the expediency of it, and he thought that the efforts he had made in that direction, together with his connection with the Botanical Gardens and different institutions in the city, was a decided confutation of the statement made by the Mayor that he (Mr. Travers) did, not consider the beautifying of the city as being worthy of his consideration. Turning to another subject; he wished to say something in reference to a question put to him the other night of a personal character. The question was put by an elector at the meeting held at the City Hotel, and he did not take much notice of «t at the time, because in all his political experience he had never known such a question alluded to. But he had learned since that the question, was put with the intention of relieving him from an imputation of some kind or other. He asked me what my faith was. It was the first time, gentlemen, that I ever heard » candidate for a seat in Parliament asked to what religious denomination he belonged, and I act - cordinoly made some inquiries about it Well, °it appears that the nature of my faith has been made the subject of some comment in certain quarters; and many persens, friends of mine, have said to me “ You had better look out, for something serious, something terrible is going on. You had better be open and frank about it.” Now, gentlemen, I say that any man who is ashamed to look his fellow-men in the face when he states what religion he belongs to, is scarcely worthy of the name of man at alb (Ap

-planse.) -Thank- God' those days have gone by when persecution existed for reli .gion’s sake. I have no hesitation whatever -in stating what religion I belong to. lam a : member of the Church of England. I always was ; my father was before me ; my wife and children belong to the same Church. mother also belonged to the Church of England, and her father was a Church of England clergyman, who occupied two livings, from which he got a considerable amount of tithes.; Mr. Travers continued, saying that if he was a Catholic he would say so ; but he was not. Moreover, he was afraid that he was not an orthodox member of the ‘ Church of England, because he had some differences with the pastors of that Church, differences which had the effect of taking him further away from the Roman Catholic faith than from the Church of England. made this confession of his faith, which he considered to be necessary in consequence at -statements made regarding him, and going so far, perhaps, as to suggest that he was the devil Itself m disguise, Mr. Travers said he had finished with personal matters, and proceeded to speak of those of a more serious character. He then referred to previous addresses, m which he had given his views on the subjects of public works education, the present position of the Ministry, and the financial question of the day. He confessed that they had certain difficulties to contend with, but believed they could' be easily surmounted by the exercise of prudence, economy, and careful administration. There was mo great political question open, and nothing of a great party character in the matters which would probably come under the consideration of the Assembly when it met. As he had before stated, some of the members from the North and South might possibly combine together to effect separation, a stale game, which would not succeed ; for that the sense of the people of New Zea- . land revolted against it, and he felt that there was not the smallest chance of the present Ministry being disturbed in their position. For himself, he would give the Government that support which a fair and independent man was prepared to give ; but if he found the Ministry not doing their duty and disregarding that which was essential to the interests of the country, he should have no more hesitation in . changing them than he would have in V changing hia own servant if she did not do her duty. After saying that he believed he and Mr. Hunter would probably be found in the same lobby in regard to any questions that effected the benefit of the city and the colony, he referred to the question of making a change in the duration of Parliaments, ■fating that he had changed his opinion since a- meeting at which he had - been asked whether he was in favor of triennial Parliaments. ' He thought a change might be made, although he was not prepared to say whether it would be advisable to jump from five years to three at once, but pledged himself to bring the matter under the consideration of the Legislature should he be elected. He then referred to the representation of the city, and complained that had the Town Clerk done his duty last year in preparing a return of the ratepayers in the city, the number of electors this year would be much more numerous ; and he blamed the Mayor for this neglect. He pointed out also that the electoral roll was what the Government was guided by as to what the representation of a place should be. He would endeavor to have the representation of the city placed on a proper basis. He saw no. reason why the ratepayers’ roll should not be the roll under which people might vote in elections like these as well as in the election of city councillors. He also thought some provision should be made for extending the franchise to persons who were not householders, but whose intelligence and education entitled them tc the franchise. At thq’ same time, he objected to manhood suffrage, because that would admit a large class of persons who were not fit to have a voice in such elections. Before concluding, he might State in regard to a remark of Mr. Hutchison, that there was no fear of his business relations interfering with his duties in the House during session, although that gentleman seemed to think so. He then resumed his seat. On a suggestion from Mr. J. EL Wallace, Mr. Travers said, with regard to the question of private streets which had been put to him at a meeting elsewhere, Mr. Hutchison was under the impression that he had contradicted himself. .That was not so, however. The .question asked him was as to whether if a man divided his own property by private streets'the City Council, ought to make those streets, and his (Mr. Travers’) reply was that if ajnan sold his property at the enhanced value which cutting it up into divisions gave it, "then he ought to make the private streets leading through it out of the profits ; but that as soon as the streets were formed they should fall, upon the City Council, because they would receive additional taxation on the land which had, increased in value. But by the new law, every street that was in existence, every alley or court, was absolutely vested in the Council. Mr. Wallace: The implication is that you gave the Council a different opinion to that which you gave the other evening. Mr. Travers: I defy the City Council to n’uce any such opinion, and I have always careful never to give an opinion verbally. Hr, Travers then referred to Haining-street, which, he said, was now in the same position as any other private street. He had drawn up a clause himself for the purpose of enabling it to he formed by the Council, charge of formation to fall, upon the people who reaped the advantage. He had framed the clause in such a manner that the responsibility of the persons liable could be proved in Court simply by the production of an advertisement in which the names of such persons appeared. The form of advertisement was indicated, and he mentioned this because, owing to an interference by the Mayor in the insertion of an advertisement last year, a man named Adams, who was summoned, had been put to considerable inconvenience and expense by the necessity of producing several witnesses who would not fhave been required had his (Mr. Travers’) instructions been followed with regard to the wording of the advertisement. In reply to a question from an elector, Mr TraveHH stated that as the law now stood a man could not make a private street less .than 66ft. wide, notwithstanding that the street .passed through his own property, and from which he bad a right to exclude the Wh public ; also, that a man might make an alley a 14ft. wide, but that it must have au entrance at both ends. There were no other questions asked. Mr; Morton Quinn then moved, and Mr. Clabidoe seconded that Mr. Travers was a fit and proper person to represent the city of Wellington in the House of Representatives. The motion was carried unanimously, and ' the meeting then adjourned.