SIR GEORGE GREY AT DUNEDIN.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1290, 26 May 1880, Page 2

SIR GEORGE GREY AT DUNEDIN.

i Duuedin, May 25. I Sir George Grey addressed the citizens - of Dunedin at the Princess Theatre toi night, on " The political outlook." The , chair -{was occupied by the Mayor, and the theatre was crowded. Sir G. Grey was received with loud applause. He l said he had thought it his duty to yield ' to the request of his friends to address them on the political position of the : Colony. He would start by setting himi self right. He had been charged by leading politicians with telling a delibe- • rate falsehood. lie jiid not, but on the ■ contrary simply told a truth. The speaker ; then went into the history of the telegram business, concluding by saying that all he ■ had said on the subject was actually true, i The Premier had placed himself in a most unfortunate position in this matter, and he could not excuse him for the language he had used towards him (Grey). The statement of the Premier that the Education Act would not be interfered with was one of the terms of the compact with the Auckland four. The other terms of that compact were not known, but everyone had a right to know what they were. Nothing more unconstitutional could be done than for four members to enter into a secret agreement of that nature with the Government, (Applause.) He deployed temptations held" out to , members to act contrary to their previously expressed convictions, and said that a number of members lost their discretion directly they arrived at Wellington. After alluding to the advantages a nation derived from a good system of education, the speaker said that the Premier had claimed credit for the Government for parrying out Liberal measures. Tlje fact was that the members of the present Government had opposed Liberal measures for years. The Premier had opposed triennial Parliaments and the ballot, and his feelings were shared by other members of the Government. The Treasurer was like a pampered porter at a palace gate, and, when spoken to, his reply was, (s Don't disturb me ; let me rest." (Laughter.) All that gentleman thought the Colony required now was political rest. He did not intend to go into figures, but there were certain general things that would be understood by them all. It fyad been the custom in this Colony to regard the land fund aa ordinary revenue, and the deficiency during his term of office arose through sudden stoppage in the purchase of land, and consequent falling off in this fund. But tho land still remained increasing in value, and the deficiency was only a temporary one. It was said that the Government of which he was a member had made no definite propositions, but they had proposed a land tax and other ' measures ; but they were turned out, and i not allowed to explain them, Ho did not consider that tho finances of tho Colony ' were in a desperate condition; on the j contrary, tho Colony had a fair and proa- ' porous future beforo it. Tho Premier said i there woro 70,000 acres of land open for ] settlement, but what was that among all 1 tho peoplti who wished to purchaso land i on deferred payments? It amounted to < absolutely nothing at all, and then look at 1 tho conditions with which it was hampered i undor tho proporfcy tax. Many who pur- ] chased under that system would end in < pauperism. If a tax of throeponoo or six- i ponco per ftoio had boon put on tho ltwvd i

undo* the «I»eap land regulations she. had men would have been deterred from acquiring very: large properties, while small settlers could have obtained land at 10s per acre. One thing that struck him was the vastness of'the subjects with, which they had to deal that night, subjects upon which the future prosperity of the Colony depended. It was said that he was always talking of the same things, but then he had to speak so often in different parts of the Colony, and he, did not wish them to have their attention drawn from the main points. (Applause.) The great fault of the Premier's speech was that he dealt with none of these great questions and sketched out no policy for the future. - If the objects they had in view were carried out, it was a matter of indifference who carried them out. In giving manhood suffrage, the Government had spoiled the spirit of the Act by the enormous powers given to the owners of landed property. Those who proposed great measures at home seldom had anything to do with carrying them out, and if we were to do good here w9 must get rid of petty jealousies, After referring to circumstances connected with the ousting of the Grey Government, the speaker said that there was no doubt that the policy of the Hall party was to get rid of the land tax and put the property tax upon the whole of the population of New Zealand. They did not announce this policy, but took the Colony by surprise. So great a chango of taxation should not have been introduced without the people being consulted upon this subject. (Applause.) Mr. Hall only aspired to. be a servant of the people, but he did not ask them how he was to dispose of their property, and he did not act fairly. He hoped they would insist upon all public men appearing before the people from time to time, to educate them. The Act , to wliich he had just referred was forced upon an unwilling House, and was supported by many men who hateid it, but the question was—which did they hate most, the tax or himself. The land tax was a fair ona, but the property tax was an unfair one.' (Applause.) The Deputy Land Tax Commissioner had published a book showing how to evade the tax. (Laughter.) When he first read it he thought that Dean Swift or .Jenkins, the author of " Ginx's Baby,'-' had co'me to New Zealand. (Laughter.) Well, the compiler admitted that the tax was very inquisitorial, and he also admitted the fact that it would be very difficult to make up the returns, What did this gentleman, the Deputy-Commissioner, sayl He said, "Don't declare the value as you think yourselves, but declare what other persons think the value of your property." He (Sir George Grey) believed that great damage would be done by the imposition of the property tax. It was said that if a man did not wish to have his affairs known he might represent them much better than they were, and if you choose to put an increased tax on your property, no one could object to it. Any man who told such a falsehood was a liar. It was clear that the tax had a tendency to degradation. He thought that none of the Deputy-Commigsioner's recommendations ought to have been put forward. The law that brought about such a state of things was really a bad law in itself. A debenture-holder living in another country and drawing large sums from the Colony \yoiild pay nothing in connection with the tax, while the debenture-holder who resided in the Colony would have to pay because lie held some property, and lived in the Colony. Most nations now had an income tax, and he thought absentees should pay a proportion of the income they derived from New Zealand. The taxes ought to be paid whether persons driving incomes from the Colony lived in it or not. The same principle applied to mortgages. A mortgagee _ of property in this Colony might be living in London, and drawing an immense income of many thousands of pounds a year, and pay nothing towards the Government 1 of the country, while a man living here would have to pay a tax on every penny he had lent on mortgage in New Zealand. It was different with the land tax, which was perfectly fair, because it taxed everybodj'. The other tax was an absolute wrong. Persons trading on their own money would have to pay the property tax, while those who traded on borrowed money would have nothing to pay. Then, again, it would shut large sums of money out of the Colony, because, for example, he would not bring money from London to New Zealand when he knew it would thereby be subject to the tax. Men would not bring money here when by leaving it at Home they-would have nothing to pay. Owing to this property tax he believed many sums of money would otherwise have been brought to New Zealand which would never reach the shores of the Colony. The tax was a premium to dishonesty, and he believed many thousands of persons would undervalue their property for the purpose of avoiding the tax as far as possible.—(Applause.) Now, why should the Government introduce an Act here which had never been tried in any British possession before ? When that Act was introduced it should have been laid before the country for at least one session before it was passed into law. It was passed in the KHouse in such a way that many of the members believed that it was never intended to be put in force. For himself, he believed such was the case. He could not believe, when'it was passed with such absolute apathy as it was, that it was intended to enforce the Act, In the evening, when the most important clauses of that Act were going through, he saw some of the members slumbering and snoring on the Government benches. Such was the case. They must be prepared to insist that the native lands should henceforth be sold as Government property. That was, to let the natives get the money which the land realised. Let them not be interfered with as to price. If the natives would not sell their land within a reasonable period it should be taxed ; but if they were disposed to with the land on fair and equitable terms, as he believed they would, then let the land be dealt with as public land. Let it be put up in small blocks, and the sale advertised throughout the Colony, and the land •sold upon some systematic plan. Let everyone have a fair chance of obtaining these lands, and then they would fall into the hands of those who could use them, and would not be bought up by speculators with the intention of realising an enormous profit upon them. He saw that the Premier proposed to introduce during the ensuing session some measure of the kind. He ; (Sir George Grey) had, when out of the Government, endeavoured to carry through a measure which he had prepared for dealing with nat}ve lands, but the' Speaker ruled that as he had intror duced it as Premier, he could not carry it through as a private member, and that such would have to be done by the Government or not at all. The Government would not allow it to pass last session, and the result was that large tracts of land were being acquired from the natives, and an injury was being inflicted upon New Zealand which it would not get over in centuries. Even if this measure pass next session, it would be very inefficient, and if delayed, the damage now bojng done would be greatly increased. He distrusted a good many members of the present Government, because many of them were directly or.indirectly concerned in those land laws under which large properties were acquired by what he thought wero unfair means. The ownership of the land carried with it the ownership of man. The man who has land was the lord of others, < and the latter were, to all _ intents and purposes, slaves. They might not bb 1 callod so, but thoyworo so in fact, because 1 thoso brought up to the cultivating of land must accept it oil the torms of its owuwb !

or starve. The land system o£ New Zealand would lead to worse results than even in Great Britain. He then went on to point out the privileges conferred on land owners in this country by plurality of voting and the representation of property in the Legislative Council. He repudiated the charge that he was setting class against' class, and said that it was the party opposed to him which had been doing so. He concluded by urging young New Zealand to use that path in which he was endeavoring to induce them to tread. (Cheers.) On the motion of Mr. Bracken, seconded by Mr. Ross, a vote of thanks was carried unanimously.