MR. TRAVERS AT THE PRINCE OF WADES HOTEL.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 4992, 23 March 1877, Page 2

MR. TRAVERS AT THE PRINCE OF WADES HOTEL.

■ - *.'.,,.. — ': •-:■:.,. " Mr, : Travers. addressed the electors of Te ';: '■ ArojWard at Mr. Valentine** Prince of Waleii ' Hotel last evening.""' Mr. JZ'Hr Wallace" becu- ~ "piedj the chair, and remaxkodi that he had fell; great pleasure in occupying a like position on several previous occasions. . J . r; • "'::ttjc - Mr. TbaVekS,' after, sayings that by the advice of his 1 committee he had determined to address" the- electors ;iri" various* parts of the city; remarted-thatUit .wouldlhe _a, waste. o£ time to-go into general Yquestions, 1 inasmuch as the jelectora had \ already; become .acquainted c with the - views: of the> candidates at public y\ meetings, and through;:the reports which had j appeared in the He prct. 1 ceeded to .say rthat, it 1 was., impossible jto; foresee what questions might arise in Parliament; in the future, changes being so frequent, -.j He cauld.only_aay. that if j him i the honor to -flectv:him;.::he (Would give j them his very best services. Jft was necessary to"''-keep) in the-public, that! each)portion ,yOf ■the colony must receive \ equal .consideration.j.thwefore the candidate ; who j coufined himself - to the vdiscnasipir I'pf merelyipcal ; mattera,was, t not r aoJUig-josUce-te-: j the constituency he desired to represent, caus^,,while giving,- the, utmost heeito, local,"requirements; he must)' as on& of,those Who' were, appointed J?y. people of" tte»colony f ~ watch' over the 1 "general' intereptj,,. ot 'th* " colony as a whole, and, subordiDate.; ..men _ . local!matters.,. Heiheareferredtd the subjects " Of great irtiportahce 'that ""would come before the sentsition, the neceßsityjJta SVepingtonras well as other places) of pushing ahead the public work* ;■ and ; -frith, reference;to matters, Mr. Tiavers'simply repeated what viously said,;whicb wag; fully "reported'in the-.;, papers. Referring, to the question oE taxation;. Jhe found the Mayor reproving him for suggesting that the people.'should submit fe"taxation necessary for the proper,; carrying out of the sworkk of the city. " The-BKiiiiAN-i Well, a_poor_man_cannot afford to pay;heayy taxas. ; :.3i>"" r : •'■"•' ■'■'■ ■ ' Mr. TRAVEtia.: It is 3.1% yery^.,well,to talk "like that. I hate that crylof the poor man - caun<?t afford this or that.;. ;There are no poor :men in this colony who are dffigent and willinf x to" work; but I am sorry to say; tlmt; there -;. were'in Wellington, as-in other.parts;of the colony, a class of loafers who choose to indulge in the epithet of poor.aienj as applied to-1 L themselves. -.. .-•-• '■'' ■'<' V.- '. A • little interruption .occurred here inconsequence of soice inferjectory remarks from! the 'bellman, who .appeared_to. take_ exception to Mr. . Travers' apusion to. thit .- loafing element. A few gentlemen, with an honest inclination to be orderly, heightened the disorder by making some severe remarko on toie impropriety, of. interrupting the pro-.: ceedings. Mr. Travers, addreßsing..ttie;poli-i v* ticali bellman,-;put;,an effectual--; crusher"->" on the latter by crying to , him,-. "One at a time, if you 1 please;; sir, "as the'""' man isaid wheu -he heard -the-donlie'yibray." The bellman a magnificent apology-roaly..to' shine out again, however, mthßome~crititeal-^b9ervation»-on—Eaunicipri-government; «h'ereur}ol^?iilr.' l 'Tt : avers "KMfe up - 1 and administerecl 4«id T 'mose'i potent Jcrusher by telling him thalr-the meeting did not waafe-tohesr his' sen"timeiit# just then,.and furthermore informed' him, foft-his.^jmiiEi'atifi-;; - cation, that he (the bellman) could|ifiiae fdp _,..' eo difepoßed,/,unburden'hiihself ■Biteri : '3ie*(Mr;'V'-' Traverahad >vhich-he was backed. .. up by «ie'Chairman,' Who" said' " t V*ally'..rfo>,;,,'"; Mr. JBellman,". reprea.chfuUy,,aßa.'by "the"• meeting, who ; shouted at,Rim lustily.- Where-' fore the bellmtvri caused L himself to be still aa the silent order was restored.

Mr. Travebb then proceeded to explain his views on the questiou.of, taxation,- which have. Already appeared in print. .The, citizens would reap the benefit of the money raised by taxation," provided that the money was properly expended. His impression was that economy oftentimes meant waste. But he might tell them that there was very little likelihood of this subject being discussed in Parliament, | and he waß merely speaking to it as an ab- . ■tract question that cropped up incident- | ally. Having said so much, he did not know j that it was necessary to Bay anything further, J as the electors were tolerably well acquainted with . his views on all subjects of importance, and he would not therefore detain them any longer. He might state, moreover, that for the last three prfour days he had hail very heavy duties to perform ; and he had been engaged that day in a duty which he supposed would not be considered as one of the things qualifying him for the position he sought to obtain—he had in fact been engaged sincp half-past six o'clock that morning till 6 o'clock in the evening, his dinner hour, in watching for the advent of a planet which had never been sSen by any one, and which was •xpected to cross the disc of the sun either during that day or the next He should therefore claim their indulgence on that account. Tie Chaiiuiah drew the attention of Mr. Travers to the fact that there was one question of considerable importance that had not been put to ejther of the candidates —he referred to the-question of managing the public lands of the colony. He thought there ought to be'a check placed on the system of allowing the public lands to be disposed of to private individuals—speculators. He thought facilities should be given the youths of the colony to acquire land for settlement. There was a large class of young men growing up in the colony who could not obtain emptoymeut as office clerks or in the Civil Service. A door must be opened to them somewhere, and he believed the proper outlet to be the settlement of the land of the colony. He desired Jtfr. give his opinion on this subject. V Mr. Tbavebs said there could be no doubt .-- that the question was one of very great importance indeed. But it was a very difficult »atter to control the action of capital. Supposing, for instance, that the Government put up at auction a quantity of land, what law could be passed—that could not be evaded—to prevent a man who had money in his pocket from buving whatever amount of land he chose ? It had been tried in various countries in India, the United States of America—and it had ended in failure ; for, supposing you place a limit on the amount of land which any single individual may purchase, there was nothing to prevent him from employing A. or B. to purchase for him, and thus secure what he desired. He did not altogether believe in the system of sales of land on deferred payments, as unless the Government treated their creditors with extreme strictness and uniformity in the matter of payments, the result would be confusion and ilifficulty, for indolence to one or two would afford a plea for others to ask for the same indulgence. He had arrived at the conclusion, after a careful examination of the different systems introduced in the colony, that the most beneficial system was that of having a fixed price and perfect liberty of selection. Then a man would not bny until he had money enough to do so, and cultivate it; and a portion of the money thus expended by the people should be returned to them in the shape of improvements to the country, formation of roads, etc. In reply to a question from Mr. Tollet, Mr. Tkaveks said he was of opinion that the "Volunteer Fire Brigades were more entitled to Government assistance than the "Volunteer Rifle Corps, which he said had degenerated into mere shooting clubs. On the motion of Mr. Kniqoe, seconded by Mr. J. H. Weight, a vote of confidence in Mr. Travers was unanimously carried, the seconder of the motion leading a few cheers for the candidate, and assisting with tremendous lung power in additional cheers for the Chairman. The meeting then separated.