MR DILLON BELL IN THE THEATEE.

Southland Times, Issue 1568, 23 April 1872, Page 3

MR DILLON BELL IN THE THEATEE.

Mr Dillon Bell, M.H.R. for the electoral district of Mataura, met bis constituents last evening in. the Theatre, according to announcement. There was a very large attendance of the general public. On the motion of 3Vfr Garth waite, s-conded by Mr W. Blackwood, the chair waa taken by Mr John Blacklock. Mr Blacklock said he consented to take the position of chairman, because had he refused, he should be called upon to show cause for his refusal, and this he could not do. He approved of the conduct of Mr Bell in the Assembly, and considered him a good representative. It had been hoped that Mr Brogden would hare been present, and if so he would have addressed them en the subject of the Public "Works. He (Mr B.) wonld call upon Mr Dillon Bell to address the meeting. Mr Bell, on coming forward, was received with a considerable amount of cheering, mingled with a few hisses, and humorously remarked that it would be as well to leave the hissing until the end of the speaking. He thanked Mr Blacklock for the favorable opinion he had expressed of him. (Here the hissing was renewed, on which Mr Bell said it waa desirable tnat an understanding should be come to at once as to whether he should proceed or not. He expected to be treated with a certain amount of courtesy, and he trusted the good sense of the majority of the electors present would support him.) He said it was now more than a year since the electors of the Mataura district had confided their trust in him as their representative, and he was among them that evening to show that his course in the Assembly had been in accordance with the representations he had made at the time of his election. He did not consider it desirable to go into detail of all the proceedings of the last session, on the part of the Government and the House. There were one or two salient points which it was worth while to touch upon, and the rest might as well be buried in oblivion. The late Parliament was a new one, and composed to a very great extent of new members. The number of members was increased, and half of the members at least were new. Some very extensive and sweeping proposals were brought forward, and much time was taken up in the consideration of constitutional reforms, and questions involving a change in the Go- . vernment. The Assembly was called together late in the year, and it was certain that the House could only consider those matters that were most pressing, such as the Public Works and the Immigration scheme. Many questions were brought forward, which, it was well known, no serious intention to deal with, and then there was the delay which party action occasioned, so that the business of the late session was in reality confined to the public works. It would do no good to refer to the debate on the education question — that was a matter which it was certain would have to come up again. He (Mr B.) thought in the relation between a member and his constituents the best course was to look at the position of affairs as to what has to be done rather than as to what has been done. To save tinre he would at once enter upon a matter personal to himself, and in reference to which attempts had been made to present it in a distorted aspect, and to make misstatements. He alluded to the election to the Speak ership. He (Mr B.) had stated when last before the electors, that he was not a candidate for the Speakership, that if Sir David Monro were to come forward, he would propose him as he had done before. Any person in the Theatre that evening who was present at the previous meeting, or at either of the country meetings, would bear him out in his statement. He was now reproached, and very unjustly, for the course he had taken. It must be borne in mind that under representative government, some constituency or other must furnish the Speaker, and be held that the election conferred a distinction on the constituency whose member was elected to the offi.ce. The work of the Speaker, owing to party action, was becoming greater, and the. election of a representative to the office was strong evidence of his personal fitness. He (Mr B.) had been unanimously chosen, and he had not been found fault with — at least not more than .was ordinarily the case where there was an j contest at all, and most persons knew that he had not been accustomed to eit on the cross-benches, but had all along been a fighting man. He would now address himself to the main question of the future, which was more important than quarrelling over the past. The country, he believed, was in a position of great difficulty, he bad almost ■aid danger. The course of policy entered upon in 1870, all parties agreed, must have the effect of creating great prosperity or plunging the country into absolute ruin. It was entered on deliberately. Many thought at the time that the money would never be subscribed by English capitalists. He never entertained any doubt on the subject. It soon became clear that all that was required, and more if it bad been asked, would be provided. A great capitalist in England had told him, and it was worth remembering, that a country which, with a population of 250,000, could send home more than £5,000,000 of exports — a country .with a territory equal to Great Britain, was a country to be trusted. The relation of population to territory would not remain as it was, and what might not be the resources which it would ultimately develope ? Despite of this proof of confidence, it was still a question with many whether they should go on or retrace the steps they had already taken j Jmt he doubted whether it was now in their power to roll back the scheme which had been launched of railways, public works, 'and immigration. This was not a party question. As Speaker, he could discuss it freely', and he would say that no Government could now adopt a retro

grade policy. There had been an attemptmade by writers in the Southland News to set him and Mr Calder by the ears (oh, oh, and confusion). That paper had said that he was likely to mike un founded statements, and then escape before they could be confuted. He had many faults, but he never heard before that' he was afraid of a fisjht, or of bein;? very easily confuted. He believed that Mr Calder and himself were really agreed upon main questions. (A vox ? — Call him up and have it out!) Never mind just now. "When the Government met the Assembly, the negotiations with Messrs Broaden had raised a storm of indignation, and their position therefore waa one of difficulty. The Assembly ultimately agreed that the Government should deal with Messrs Brogden up to a certain amount on specifi d conditions, if possible, and failing that, take the matter into their own hands ; but to save time, they were authorised to proceed provisionally with railway construction on the plan of paying Messrs Brogden 10 per cent, on the actual expenditure. Had this permission been acted upon, the railway to the Mataur.i would have been commenced ere now ; but from various causes nothing had yet been done. The working surveys, however, had been completed, and Messrs Brogden could now commence at once under either arrangement, but in any case he was determined as their repre sentative to be able to say that if anything Bhould happen to prevent Messrs Brogden from tendering, the Government would undoubtedly, and at once, place the Mataura contract open for public competition — (applause). This line, however, wasonly part of tbegreat system which the constituency had approved of as a whole. It was on that point that he wished to know whether there waa any fundamental difference between Mr Calder and himself, the more so as they represented practically the same constituency. If Mr Calder's views and his | were opposed, it was quite time the fact should be ascertained. Next session a strong effort would be made to stop the whole plan, on the ground that the expense was more than the colony could bear, and would lead to an oppressive amount of taxation in the future. It was undoubtedly true that a serious amount of taxation waa being laid up, but how was that to be avoided ? (A voice — Don't borrow!) Yes; that was exactly the key-note of the Opposition ; but then they could not prosecute public works. (A voice — Not on borrowed money^) But they could not do it without borrowed money. (A voice — Then do without it.) Very well . He called that a manly straightforward way of locking at it ; but then they could make no more railways ; they must remain exactly as they were, and he asked, was that the intention of the Mataura constituency ? (No, no.) He was glad to hear that " no, no." They had a territory full of natural resources. (A voice — Tussacs). No doubt; and in time they would find these tussaos would make paper, and be a source of wealth. They were now discovering they had a treasure in the flax, which would put thousands of pounds in the pockets of the people. But to return. The settlements on the Beaboard were separated by long distances; were they not to be brought into communication ? Well, a man lately said to him, " We don't want any of your confounded railways ; let us have good roads." But he said, 'Will they pay, and where were they to- get the money to make them ?" It was certain, that if the various settlements were to be connected, the railways were the best and least expensive means of effecting that important object. They had come to this point in their financial position, that they could not say they would not have railways, but would rather have roads, for they simply had not the money to make the roads with. Let them look at the revenue of the. province they would lately insist on being united to. He would ask them how much money they had got out of it ? "Why, nothing ! That province had been obliged to raise money by the sale of an enormous estate to one man, and that man a squatter. They had only been saved from being cold up by the Bank — if it were lawful to use so bold an expression — by forcing the sale of that land. The provincial treasury had nothing to spare for roads. Certainly they might borrow money fur that purpose, but if they were borrowing money, it was a more practical plan to borrow money for making railways, which were a more permanent work, to a certain extent reproductive, and which opened up the couutry in a way that roads could never do. He was not one of those that wished to lock up the country and put a stop to settlement, therefore, he said without hesitation, that it was safer and wiser to go on with this policy of public works — better in every respect than to think of stopping where they were. That policy was infinitely safer, infinitely wiser, than to let the land lie with no access to it, and no means of developing its resources. The position of the General Government, certainly, was so far like that of the Provincial Governments, that there was" not ready money in the treasury to make either a road or a railway. But there was this great difference, that the General Government could borrow, and the Provincial Governments could not. Allusion had been made to the extravagant cost of government in this colony, and he admitted that the cost was very great ; but from the geographical configuration of the country, it could hardly be otherwise. The collection of a revenue was expensive there being so many different ports at which it was collected, instead of only one, as in Victoria. The ex-' travagance^was not really owing to the action of the Government, for he had seen that any attempt which had been made at economy had been systematically defeated by the members themselves. He made no pretensions to be the Joseph Hume of New Zealand ; but he knew , that there were many offices that could

be rolled into one, and others that could be dispensed with altogether. In committee of supply last year, he began with his own friends, and his own district, and produced two instances where the expenditure might have been materially reduced, but there was a public howl of indignation, and. his little attempt at economy waa completely frustrated. They would find that until the constituencies themselves took the matter seriously in hand, it would be impossible to get anything like a general reduction of expenditure. The question of Provincial and Genpnl Government would soon demand public attention. Last session the Government made a proposal, the effect of which would have been greatly to reduce the power of the Provincial Councils, but on this they were defeated. The question, however, must L come up again, because it would be necessary to limit the cost of administration by reducing the purely provincial expenditure on officials, as it could not now be much limited by reducing the official ! expenditure of the General Government. The administrative change into which the colony seemed to be drifting lay in the direction of abolishing the farce which now existed of an imitation of responsible government in the Provincial Councils. It waa, he repeated, a farce. It was unnecessarily and immensely expensive ; but he thought that, bit by bit, without demolishing the provincial institutions, they might be gradually changed. The Superintendents might be constituted agents of the General Government in their respective provinces, and the unsaemly contentions, arising from provincial jealousies, in the Assembly, which were now the bane of the country, might thus be gradually brought to aa end. ■ "When he was elected a strong feeling existed on what j had been known as " the boundary question." He did not think the right course had been taken by the Southland members in the Council. In their place he would have said to the Otago Government, "We. do not care much whether Mr this or Mr that is to be Provincial Secretary, but we do want to know how this boundary question is to be settled, and we will support no administration whose assurances on that poiut are not satisfactory to us." They might depend upon it they would have had it all their own way if that course had been adopted. When the Aasambly met, Mr Calder and he, in conjunction with the other members, had to consult on the action which w.is to be taken. They had the choice of bringing in a Bill, prepared by Mr Calder, carrying out to the full the terms on which reunion had been consummated, but wbich was not likely to receive the support of the Ofcago members, and they had the alternative of bringing in a Bill which would leave these terms an open question, but which would settle the matter as regarded the action of the Supreme Court, and the registration of land. They fouud that the only chance of getting anything at all was to adopt the latter alternative, and therefore they were content to take an instalment which put substantially all the legal and property questions on a safe and satisfactory tooting. Mr Calder and he acted in thix, as in almost all other questions, with perfect union and concord, and he believed that they had taken the course which was most conducive to the welfare of the community here. There were many other questions on which he would have liked to address them at greater length. He did not think it waa well as a rule, either for the member or the constituency, to pledge themselves to any particular course of action further than on broad and general questions. There was still one question of importance to which he had not adverted, the arrangements for the Califoraian mail service ; and here he would take occasion to say, what many did not believe, that there was no doubt they could pay the whole of the interest on their national debt, as well as the cost of administration, out of the ordinary revenue. But besides these charges, there were what might be called " extras," such as the Californian mail service, supposed to cost £40,000 per annum ; but it must be remembered that this amount relieved them of the cost of the Suez line, which in one year had amounted to upwards of £32,000, the arrangement being that each colony should pay in proportion to the letters it received, and as their correspondence was daily increasing, it was likely they would have had to pay a very large amount on that account. Apart from that, however, there was a political consideration of importance — the closer social and commercial connection with the United States which the San Francisco line had inaugurated, and that he looked upon as a great advantage to the country. He was not able to tell them the particulars of the arrangement made with the Victorian Government, because it was determined, unwisely as he thought, to keep these details secret till the meeting of the Victorian Parliament on the 30th inst. They might rest assured that Mr Webb had gone home quite satisfied that a very large subsidy would be granted by the United States, and that therefore a reduction would be made in the cost of the service to these colonies. When the question of reviewing these arrangements came before the Assembly, he would not be averse to consider any modifications, provided they were shown to be of a reasonable kind. | The main point at issue this session, as at the last, would be whether the country was willing to carry out the policy which had beau inaugurated. He believed that having put their hand to the plough, they would never be able to look bock. They would either have to carry on the plans which had been begun, or they would have to be contented to confine themselves to their present small settlements and their comparatively limited populations. With respect to immigration, he was not quite satisfied with what had hitherto been done. He believed that were vigorous efforts made in the .agricultural counties of England, Scot-

land, and Ireland, they could bring out not only laborers but small capitalists. The thing had not been fairly tried, nor had statesmanlike proposals been made for the encouragement of that kind of imtnigration. The increased prosperity of England had thrown some difficulty in their way, but he believed that was very much confined to the manufacturing towns/ He thought a deliberately organised and carefully considered plan of " touting," if he might be permitted to use the word, would gradually bring out immigrants of the very best sort. But there was one great difficulty whiuh must be settled one time or other — the land question. The country would never be a field for colonisation till every man invited to these shores had an unlimited choice of settling where he liked on the waste lands of the Crown. He (Mr B.) denied most emphatically that he had ever opposed a liberal land law. The simplest < method was to give absolute possession t6 the occupier, subject to two conditions — limitation of quantity, and agtual residence. (Great applause.) The price, he thought, ought not anywhere to exceed £1 per acre. Deferred payments he objected to, as a political evil. There were also great evils connected with the alienation of land in large blocks, but oue principle he insisted on, that every man who came into the country with the intention of settling should have unlimited choice as to where to go. He did not think this question would be grappled with yet awhile. The time had not yet come ; but he Baid it was the part of the constituencies and of the representatives to bring gradually but surely the pressure of public opinion to bear on the Government until the pear was ripe, and the-opportuuity had come for bringing in one uniform land law, which would sweep away those petty jealousies and enmities, and become an invitation to capitalists and settlers from every part of the world to flock to our shores. In reply to questions, Mr Bell stated that the English mails ought, in his opinion, to be brought by steam to the Bluff ; that they were not, was one of the consequences of reunion, it being considered that what was done for Otago included all that was needed for Southland. He intended to move in this matter next session. The Wairarapa railway, he believed, would open up cpuntry, and ultimately be directly profitable. He believed in the American formula, " Let the railway precede the plough." The recent chauges in the Stamp Act he looked on as a failure. Mr Lumsden and Mr Bell had a prolonged encouuter, Mr Lumsden reading from a speedh of Mr Bell's to prove that Mr Bell was not in favor of declaring into Hundreds any land not purely agricultural, Mr Bell insisting that he had only said that blocks of. land purely pastoral should not be takenon thepreteiceof agricultural settlement. Mr Luinslen also attacked Mr Bell's criticism on the want of union among the Southland members on the boundary question. In reply to Mr Joyce, Mr Bell explained that the plan ot paying for works by Messrs Brogden at 10 per cent, over actual outlay was only provisional;* to save time, pending engineers' reports. Some other questions of minor importance having been answered, a vote of confidence in Mr Bell was proposed by Mr Dalrymple, and seconded by Mr Blackwood. An amendment, proposed by Mr Pratt, and seconded by Mr Brown, " that Mr Bell's conduct in the Assembly has not the approval of this meeting,' was lost, and the original motion declared carried by a large majority. The usual vote of thanks to the chairman was then proposed by Mr Bell, and carried < by acclamation.