THE PREMIER ON THE STOMP.
TO THE EDITOR OP THE HEW ZEALAND TIMES. Sib, —The late speech of Sir George Grey at Hamilton is worthy to be recorded in the memory of every man who has the prosperity of this our adopted country at heart. The motives of the hon. Premier being, as everyone knows, purely patriotic and unselfish, he has no need of mystery or reticence in any shape, and openly declares in his speech what the intentions of his Government are, and what are likely to be its proceedings during the next session.
After some preliminary remarks, Sir George goes on to point out that the people of New Zealand have hitherto had no voice or influence at all in making the laws under which they live, and stales that, to remedy this, the Government have already taken measures by which every man in New Zealand, from end to end, has been, and will be in future, informed exactly of the nature of the laws intended to be submitted to the Legislature, and will have, each individual man, an opportunity of voting in public meeting whether ho would like a certain law made or not. The result of these arrangements, the speaker said, was that an extraordinary enthusiasm had been evoked throughout the country, and the population were attending to politics much more than they had hitherto done. No wonder, sir, if they do ; what Englishman can hear these enunciations without pleasure and pride? or without feeling that at last his rights as a man are acknowledged, and that he has really, as well as theoretically, the full weight of a unit in the government of the State. While “every man” from end to end of New Zealand is studying, under the influence of enthusiasm, from one to two hundred copies of Bills, to see whether each man would like any, or all of them, to be made law or not, the price of wages will rise very high (a great blessing to the “'poor man” if he only had time to work) ; and as the Parliament will have to be prorogued indefinitely to await the result of “ every man’s ” deliberation, hon. members might, many of them, have an opportunity to take advantage of the state of the labor market, and might, without the slightest derogation, earn much more than the honorarium on the roads, or perhaps “ log-rolling,” and this would prevent things from coming entirely to a standstill. The talented speaker then dwelt on the necessity for manhood suffrage, and pointed ant that class legislation was Inevitably disastrous, as people when in power legislated for their own advantage, and very much to the disadvantage of others. The Government was determined, as far as they could, to change the franchise, so as to prevent the evils of class legislation which had been hitherto experienced.
I am afraid that to change the franchise would not effect Sir George’s very laudable object, as it would only substitute one class for another; and whether the class substituted for the other would be “ first-class ” or not is a doubtful question. There is a time-honored tradition in this country, that once upon a time a certain team of bullocks did vote many times at an election. I have heard it stated as a fact; perhaps however it may be only the shadow of a coming event. Much no doubt may be said in favor of manhood suffrage,—he whose right to vote rests upon the fact of his being a mere man, a person with legs and arms, and who can work, but who can neither read nor write, knows nothing whatever of politics, political economy, or history, or what is going on around him in the world farther than a circle of some fifty yards or so. This man may certainly, under Providence, make a happy selection amongst a number of candidates for election, particularly when none of them are any great things ; but nevertheless it appears to me that he would be more in his place digging potatoes than at the hustings, and considering all things, more honorably employed. The next questions touched on were the land question and the inequality of taxation, and under these heads we are able to gather the following noteworthy facts : 1. In this country rich men very commonly havelargelandedestates,and poor menhavenone at all, and are not allowed to get any. This is, X am glad to see, to be remedied at once, and the poor man is to be allowed to purchase as good an estate as the richest man iu the land. 2. In consequence of bad laws and class legislation, a feeling is produced in the breast of the poor man that he is in a subordinate and inferior situation, Just as he is in every other country. This, however, is not to be tolerated here. The poor man must cheer up, and bold up his head with the best of them ; and why not, I should hke to know ? 3. The railways and public works have been all constructed from money raised from the working classes, and the rich people do not contribute a penny towards it, though receiving all the benefit. Those rich people, sir, are a bad lot altogether, and I would advise that they should be all sent out of the country only that if they were I scarcely see who would pay the working classes and the “ poor man” their wages. Sir George Grey, hewever, doubt find some way to bring them to their senses. , „ 4. And this is the worst of all. The working classes, although so grievously trampled upon, do not care about it, and will not make a disturbance, although Sir George tells them plainly they should, if they are men at aU. What can be done for such spiritless people as our working classes, sir 1 They won't kick up a row or do any mischief for all that can be said to them, it is almost enough to make a stranger think that they had no grievances at all worth talking of. _ The remainder of Sir George’s speech is more cheering. We are to have a good heavy land tax. I think this an excellent measure. I am sorry I have no land, as it prevents me from contributing to the revenue in that way, and my friends advise me not to_ purchase land just at present, because, if I wait till after the land tax is laid on, I shaE be able to get land for almost nothing, in comparison with the the present price, which will be a great advantage, , , , ~ The Premier then went on to defend his proceedings in reference to a certain Land Bill, lor which he said it was not unlikely the Assembly might in some way he oaUed on to punish him. Ho spoke to a great length on this subject, but as I find it difficult to follow bis reasoning, it is very satisfactory to see, by the vociferous manner in which the people cheered before he bad spoken three words, that became off with flying colors. The conclusion of Sir George Grey’s speech is j™ y exhilarating. He tells us that we are not convicts, neither are we pirates, which Is a very good thing, and none of ns, at least not many, have been nigger drivers (beating „ , _goe« for nothing) we are not trammelled by the feudal system (that is news) and we care nothing at all about religious difIf “ thu ?) and are the pick of the people of the world I (vote lot Grey |) j, 0 people ever bad such a pros-
peot before them, “and if we are only true to ourselves, and keep those who rule over ns well under us, we shall become such a uatiou as the world has never yet seen. And so we shall, sir. Give Sir George Grey fair play, lot him, to use a vulgar but expressive phrase, have full swing, and before long we shall certainly have such a nation as we must go to—some other state of existence, to meet the like of.—l am, &e., Qmu Nunc.
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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5368, 11 June 1878, Page 3
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1,363THE PREMIER ON THE STOMP. New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5368, 11 June 1878, Page 3
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