Mr. BALLANCE BEFORE THE ELECTORS.

Patea Mail, 2 November 1881, Page 3

Mr. BALLANCE BEFORE THE ELECTORS.

Mr Ballance, M.H.R., addressed electors at Wangahui, on Monday evening. Col. McDonnell occupied the chair. Mr Ballance stated that as his interests were more identified with the town, whilst the interests of Mr Bryce lay more in the country, he had decided to offer his serservices to the town constituency. On account , of the tactics pursued by ,his opponents he considered it advisable to allude to matters of a personal character in the hope of removing certain impressions which it had been sought to establish against -him. He strongly denied that he had tried to set class against class, and to create antagonism between labor and capital. The monopoly of land was an abuse of capital, and he had always and should still oppose it. Ifby applying the term demagogue to him if was intended to say that lie had labored in the cause of the people, then he gloried in the title. He had been honest, and had never flattered the people. Much had been made of th* fact that he had attended a meeting of the Irish Band League in Wellington.% The resolution which was entrusted to him at that meeting was to the effect'that subscriptions be raised. and sent Home for the benefit of persons who. had .been evicted from their holdings. The land questich" was* ■ one between landlord and tenant, and he had always sympathised with the Irish tenantry, for' he was the son of an Irish tenant farmer, who had some experience in the working of. the system. For, ages the landlords of Ireland had tyrranised over their tenantry,

and he thought he was right in having rallied (o the support of the'oppressed. With regard to the native question, he was not. opposed* to what the Government were doing. He had always maintained that the natives should be brought to terms to prevent war; but the country should not too readily make up its mind for fighting. England had been drawn into the Crimean war by the talking about it. He thoroughly approved of what the Government were doing. He was in opposition to their general policj T , but he had supported their measures for dealing with the native difficulty, and he had also supported the vote of £IOO,OOO for special defence purposes. He had never opposed any measures which he thought were for the benefit of the colony. The present Government was thoroughly hostile to Wanganui, and partly on that account and to the party opposition in town, the work of harbor improvement had been impeded. £SOO which he got placed on the estimates in 1879 for gaol ■ buildings had never been spent. His own name had been struck off the Waste Lands Committee last session because he had opposed the deferred payment proposals of . the Government. But through Mr Macandrew he had succeeded in getting a Royal Cotnmission appointed to enquire into and settle the long outstanding claims of soldiers who were entitled to land. The power given to local bodies to reduce the Dog Tax from 10s to 5s was a concession which would be a great convenience to some people. He thought that a great injustice bad been done to Wanganui with regard to the railway. It was not fair that the extension should have been made from the New Plymouth end before the line was constructed from Waverley to Hawera. He had learned that three or four months would elapse before a contract on that work would be let. In everything the present Government were unfriendly to Wanganui. There was voted for roads and bridges the sum of £229,000, and not one single penny of that money was to be spent in this part of the colony. And when on a former occasion £165,000 was voted, not a penny came to these districts. It was true that they had got a small sum of £2OOO for the Muriraotu track, but that was from a vote for making roads to Government lands. No one knew how the votes he had spoken of were got on the estimates, but it was generally supposed they were the price of Government support. To show how Government were swayed by party motives, he stated that the influence of Sir William Fox had been sufficient to veto a recommendation of the Civil Service Commission to place postal and telegraph department in Wanganui under one officer, the officer in charge of the telegraph to be sent elsewhere. Government ought to be above such work, and nothing should be allowed to stand in the way of the public good. There had been a large extension of the electoral franchise, and it was now thought the number on the rolls would be increased by 50 per cent. In the passing, of this measure of reform the present Government had been merely the instruments of the Liberal party. The present measure was forced on Mr Hall’s Government. They had now triennial parliaments,* but an attempt would be .made next session to increase the term. ,He did not think the duration ought to he longer, date might very likely wish it for his own sake, but certainly not a constituency. The Good Templars claimed that the new Licensing Act had been .passed through their influence, and the people and the publicans appeared satisfied with it. He thought it was an improvement. ' It was fair to .the publican, and some of its provisions would promote temperance. The principle of elective committees was good, Mr Ballance spoke strongly against the present method of appointing Justices of the Peace. These were frequently appointed from improper motives —to secure political support, or to please political friends. The people had no confidence in the appointments. He would make the office elective. He agreed that it was necessary tp check Chinese immigration, and approved of the Act placing a restriction upon them. Some people considered thei educational system too expensive. He thought there *inight be inore economy,, and knew there were great inequalities. In outlying districts, teachers were poorly paid, and there was no provision for teachers who were past their work. He was averse to the introduction of Bible* reading in State schools. Whether the system were expensive or not there must be education. It was dangerous to the State and unfair to the people to allow "them to grow upi in ignorance. A'vote of thanks and confidence was carried.

PORT or PA TEA. EXPECTED. " Patea s.s. left Wellington at 9.30 this morning, and will arrive here at fl tomorrow morning. Leaves for Wellington in time to catch boat for Lyttelton show on Thursday at 6 p.m. HIGH WATER. Wednesday—-5-53 a.ro., 6-38 p.m.