MESSRS. HISLOP AND SHRIMSKI AT KAKANUI.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 925, 3 April 1879, Page 2

MESSRS. HISLOP AND SHRIMSKI AT KAKANUI.

For the first time since their election, .Messrs. Hislop and Shrimski, the members of the House of Representatives for the district, mot the Kakanui portion of their constituents, and reoeived very flattering marks of approval. The meeting was held in the Mechanics' Institute, aiul there were about 50 persons present. The chair wqs occupied by Mr. W. Moody, and the utmost good humor prevailed. The Chairman said he had great pleasure in presiding. It was not often that the} - had the pleasure of meeting their representatives, and now that they had come amongst them, the meeting could not do otherwise than give them a patient hearing. He then called upon Mr. Hislop, who, on rising, was greeted with applause. He said, referring to what tiiat the Chairman had said, he felt some apology was due from the members for not having met their Kakanui constituent;! sjnee thoir election, more espec'a 1 !}- when lie r«membeu;d that Kakanui was one of the districts that gava them a majority at tho cloction. He could assure them that thoir apparent neglect was not owing to any want of respect, for they could easily understand that a very •Teat amount of members' time was taken up by the session, and that when they got home their private business demanded their attention. They might therefore claim to be excused for not going the round of the whole district. Having referred to the principal subjects agitating the public mind at the time of the election, lie sketched the progress of events down to the time qf Sir George Grey taking office. Amongst the many matters referred to was that of land tenure. They had had some experience ' in that district of class legislation, more especially in regard to t}:o land question. They had seen" measures on the subject passed by the Provincial Council of Otago, and sent up to the General Assembly for ratification, thrown out by the Upper House, which had invariably favored the large holders and the Crown tenants. One of the principal charges brought against Sir George Grey was that his policy was calculated to promote class legislation, and those who made the charge thought it should answer all tho argijmonts in favor of that policy. They were unmindful of the fact that all previous legislation had been of a very decided class nature, and that too in favor of the large land owners and Crown tenants. The whole tendency of Sir George Grey's

policy was merely a reversal of the policy - which had previously been ptirsued—a : change which would promote the settle- . ment of the country. Referring to the . Land Tax Act, he said it appeared to be thought that when the land was sold the matter was at an end, but such was not i the case, for after the land was disposed of they had to consider to what extent the State was interested in it. This was i especially the case in New Zealand, where 1 the land had been largely increased in ; value by the expenditure of public money, - and where it was only right that the land should be made to contribute something towards the public revenue. The last 1 Government had long professed a desire i to readjust the incidence of taxation, but i they had failed to do anything in the matter. .The present Government had, ; on the contrary, taken the matter up vigorously, and had commenced the i work of equalising the public burdens. The speaker next referred to the Electoral Bill, and said that if there was one thing more strikingly apparent than another, it was the tendency to give more consideration to property than to human intelligence. Having given an outline of the Bill, and sketched the benefits it would confer upon the people, he said that it was remarkable that those members of the Opposition who had most loudly abused Sir George Grey for his domocratic opinions had actually, last session, vied with each other in seeing which could go furthest in the direction in which Sir George went, and had even abused the Ministry for not going far enough. Referring to the cause of the Electoral Bill being dropped, he said that the Opposition know that delicate negotiations were going on between the Government and the natives, and that it was necessary, in order to maintain their prestige, the Government should fulfil their promises to the Maoris. The Opposition had therefore seized upon the clause of the Bill which, with certain restrictions, gave the natives the same privileges as the Europeans as the means through which to injure the Government, and had so far succeeded as to get an obnoxious amendment made in the Bill, which the Government could not accept, and the Bill had consequently to be dropped. Having referred to the proposal to have triennial Parliament, lie gave his reasons for opposing it. Amongst the matters that would require attention were the amendment of the Counties Act and Colonial finance, Notwitstanding the amount of abuse which had been heaped upon the Ministry, he thought they were entitled to support. Thej' were to be commended for the efforts they had already made, though the effect had been marred by each endeavoring to introduce his own special hobby. Had they confined their attention to the then great subjects before the country they might have conferred great benefits upon the country. He believed in their general policy, and had given them his support on matters of detail in which he differed from them, because .where there wfis part}' government it was necessary to sink minor differences in order that great reforms might be carried out. (Applause). Mr. Shrimski, who, on rising, was also greeted with loud applause, said it was not his intention to detain the meeting long. He could not say, as some members had said, " I come to tell you what I have done for you," for he had not been able to do much, but that was not owing to any fault of his. They had heard a great deal from the Opposition about the past session being barren of good results. Xo doubt the Opposition thought so, for they had not succeeded in ousting the Government, as they had striven to do, and they were consequently disappointed with the result of the session. But when lie told them that 113 Bills had been passed into law, they must agree with him that some at least of those measures must have contained some provisions of a nature beneficial to the country. The speaker briefly referred to the railway proposals of the Hon. Mr. Macandrew, and said that he was entitled to almost as much credit as Sir Julius Vogel, for while the latter had proposed the construction of railways entirely out of borrowed money, the former had propounded the wise policy of setting aside lands for railway construction, and of selling them after the lines were made, so as to obtain alisjo.-;: sufficient money by their additional lluo to pay for the lines being constructed. Having referred to several of the measures passed, ho proceeded to speak of the changes made in the Customs duties, and said the removal of the duty on tea, sugar, fencing wire, woolpacks, and cornsacks —in whole or in part—must tend to the benefit of the people. "Withreference to the removal of the duty on grain, he might say that his colleague and himself had opposed it because they objected to grain from other colonies being introduced to replace their own produce. Finding that they could not succeed in preventing tho removal of the tax, they had proposed and carried the removal of tho duty on timber, which affected the northern people in the same way that the removal of the duty 011 grain did those of the south. He referred briefly to the Land Tax Bill, and the Beer Tax Bill. The latter, although a just measure imposing an equitable tax, had been thrown out. He considered that the Colony lost a quarter of a million of money by the manufacture of colonial beer, for they would otherwise receive the duty on English beer, which would be'consumed if there was none of local manufacture. By throwing out the Beer Tax Bill they were actually giving the brewers L 200,000 a year, 1 and tliis they could not afford to do. He would give the iiluctoral Bill his support next session, and he would also support the parsing of the Bribery Bill, which was calculated to prevent men with money getting into Parliament because they could spend more money than could a inan who was not wealthy, He would also support a measure for the re-distri-bution of seats in the House of Represent- • atives. He thought the time had arrived when Wait-aki should have three members —one for the districts south of Oamaru, one for those north of Oamaru, and one for the town of Oamaru.—(Applause.) The Chairman then said that the members were anxious to afford any further information in their power, and if any gentlemen present had any questions to put they could now do so. Mr M'Lymont asked if the members would support a Bill for the re-modelling of tho Upper House —for instance, by making it ' partly elective and partly nominative. Mr Hislop said the matter was a difficult one to deal with. He had thought a great deal upon the matter, and his view of the question was that if an alteration jwas made it would take the form of nomination for a certain length of time only—say for five or seven years—instead of appointing them for life. This would do away with much of their power of obstructiveness. He also thought members of the Upper House should be selected from amongst those who had served an apprenticeship in the House of Representatives. Mr. Bromley asked if Mr.- Hislop did not think the Land Tax Bill was a dead letter, and that the tax would never be collected, Mr. Hislop : Certainly not. The tax will be collected. Mr. Bromley : Who are the valuators, and when 'are they going to make the valuations 1 .

Mr. Hislop : Valuators have been appointed, and the valuations have gone in. Mr. Bromley : What is the meaning of my receiving a paper as long as my arm to fill up, with a "string of questions from here to yonder. It seems to me that every man is made his own valuer, or why should these papers be sent round. Mr. Hislop : That was only done to give conscientious people an opportunity of stating what the value of their property is.

Mr. 13 romley said he would like to know something about the Education Act. Did Mr. Shrimski object to the reading of the Bible in schools ?

Mr. Shrimski : Most certainly I do. Mr. Bromley : I thought so. So do I. (Loud laughter.) In reply to Sir. M'Lymont, Mr. Hislop said he did not approve of the present system of Education Boards ; but the Act was only on its trial, and time and experience only could teach them what alterations were necessary. In answer to Mr. M'Lennan,

Mr. Shrimski said he was not opposed to Chinese immigration, but he was opposed to the Chinese coming to the Colony in unlimited numbers. Several other questions were then asked and answered.

In reply to the Chairman, Mr. Shrimski said that the question as to whether the County Councils should absorb the Road Boards, or the County Council should give place to the Road Boards was for the people to decide. It would be unfair to both bodies for the Legislature to step in and say which should give way. He personally thought that the Boards were the best adapted to carry out the work which both were now performing. The Chairman asked if the members would allow the land fund of Otago to go to Wellington ti> be expended, and the settlers compelled to fall back upon the rates.

Mr. Hislop said the coloniatsation of the land fund was one of the results of the abolition of provinces. The land fund was now Colonial revenue, with the exception of 20 per cent., which was returned to the County Councils. In answer to the Chairman, Mr Shrimski said he was in favor of further borrowing and the carrying on of public works. It was only right that posterity should contribute something towards the construction of railways, roads, and bridges. On the motion of Mr Morton, a vote of confidence in the members was carried unanimously, and a vote of thanks was accorded to the Chairman.