SIR GEORGE GREY ON THE THAMES. Public Meeting in the Academy of Music.

Te Aroha News, Volume I, Issue 52, 31 May 1884, Page 2

SIR GEORGE GREY ON THE THAMES. Public Meeting in the Academy of Music.

The announcement that Sir Goorge Grey would address a public meeting 1 in the Academy of Music on Saturday night attracted a Iar^o crowd. Sir George Grey, on making his appearance, was received with loud and prolonged applause, His Worship the Mayor, who occupied the Chair, introduced Sir George Grey. Sir George Grey said — Mr Mayor, ladies and gentlemen, nnd he might also say, old friends of his, it gave him great pleasure to once more find himself amongst them. A crisis had arisen, rendering it desirable that the people j should e'early understand their position, and he now enme to this constituency to advise them as to their path oC duty. They stood iu a far different position from what he had hoped they would have occupied. Where was the railway which was to connect them with and open up the resources of the vast buck country, and why had it been kept from them ? He would now review some recent events. The Premier had recently addressed them, and they had no doubt been greatly deceived by his JtrgiDuents, but why did he come now, whi-n he could do nothing for ttietn, instead of visiting them in the pltmtitudo of his power? As he had said tlie.PremisV might have come whan

lie had the power to aid them, but it wa« only wh<m the South had rejected him that lie Appealed to the North, but l,e hopel there wouM be no disunion, for the South would remsuu as faithful as he Felt sure the North would be. He would now review the topics dwelt on by the Premier, and the first was that Government was about to resume the pre-emptive right ov<m* native lamb, and do away with the present system of purchasing them. Enormous blocks of land had recently been purchased from the natives by favoured persons. When lie went out of office a bill was being prepared to do away the system of purchasing native lands then in vogue, but Government had dropped it, thus Julfiling his belief that they had gone into for the purpose of securing lands. Large Ucrks had been, during their long term of office, secured by most improper means. How was Patetere secured, and how was it that one man was so favoured 1 Why h;id not others rhe same opportunities to secure land as that man ? If it was to be sold it should have been offered by publ'C auction, when all would have had the same chance, and the natives would have received the J full price, instead of beini* robbed of it as at present. Even now the same policy was being carried out, and the i Gazette continually published notices of proclamations having been taken off native lands for favoured persons. The Premier had told them freehold tenure was unsatisfactory, but had not informed them what Government was about to do. Major Atkinson had told them that the immense properties held by some individuals did not press heavily on the colony because there were so few of thorn, but the real facts of the ca^e were that up to the present over 14,0 ( K),000 acres of freehold land were held in the colony, and of this fully half was owned by 250 people. This was ruinous at present, and would entail misery on their decsndant". Did they believe, as the Premier had told them, that a tax put on the " unearned increment " held by these 200 people would shako tho foundations oi half a million ? He believed on the contrary that such a tax would place society on a much firmer basis. Great blocks of the 'and ha I been acquired by unfair means, and this had occurred beI tweon Thames and Waikato, greatly to j their injury. Public works had in many • instances been constructed across these lands which had raised their value from 7s 6d per acre to as much as £15, and the working men had really to pay for the railways, and those who constructed them had to pay their own wages, for every year the interest on loans had to be paid, and ultimately the principle would have to be paid also by the labouring classes. Was it therefore asking too much that such lands should be valued as they now are, and that the difference between their present value and what was originally paid for them. — the unearned increment — should be taxed. Was the rich man to have all the value of the improvements effected by the expenditure of public money ? No, this unearned increment belonged to the people by right, and a tax should be placed upon it, though he would leave it to the next generation to decide what was to be done with it. Every man, woman, and child in New Zealand was now taxed £3 per head annually to pay the interest and sinking fund on what had m-ide those vast properties valuable, and enabled men to travel like princes in Europe. What sense was there in this ? and if the people were true to themselves they would insist on a law which woul I tax this increment, and free them from their burdens. A combined income and land tax would exactly meet the case. The Premier said that a property tax was fairest, because it would reach the land, but this was not so, as it would also tax all a man's improvements to his land, wnich a land tax wouid not do. The property tax really fell upon the labouring classes, as the mei chant, the wholesale dealer, and the retail dealer all added the tax to the value of their goods befoie they sold them, and the consumers, the labouring classes, had to bear the whole burden. It was monstrous that they should thus be robbed day by day to enable the favoured few to roll in wealth, and it was their duty to rouse themselves and put an end to it. Neirly all the 250 meu mentioned were living in Enrope, and many of them were drawing great incomes from sales of wool from the sheep stations in the South, which employed very little labour in compar.son to the acreage, occupied. Let. those greai runs bo cut up into small f.trms, covered with vill.igts, the money From the cultivations remaining in the country, and labour wo'ild be plentiful and prosperity abound. This was what was wanted to be clone, and it would not shake society to its foundations if the rich men wore so taxed that it could be nccomplished. The owners of these vast properties were at their wits end to make the most of them, ami they saw that to introduce Chinese labour won Id give them an immense advantage, and it would surprise some of iiis hearers to learn that it was only by a majority of three votes in the Legislative Council that the prescit bill enforcing a tax of £10 on every Chinaman who entered the country, became law. This bill was sufficient for the present, but a stronger measure would be needed soon. These Legislative Councillors, who were nominated by the Crown, and who each cost the country £210 per year, were certainly entitled to hold thorn own opinions like Chose held by somo hon. members, and it was unjust that such men should be v ap pointed for life. He then read portions of two spech-'s male in tiie- Council in favour of the C;in rt so being allowv I to come to ! New ZeaUiui, one speaker saying the"

Chinpse increased the value of property, and if the European was not energetic enough to compete with them, some strnin should be put. upon him to make him do so. If they liked this, Sir George said, they could support a nominated Council, but if they did not they should take stops to alter it. Another member of the Council contended still more strongly for the Chinese, saying that if they allowed all other labour to come in free, they should also allow the Cinnamon, who were an educated race, and whose quarters in Wellington contrasted favourably with fchose of immigrants. Sir George said these speeches seemed silly, bat they must remember they very nearly sealed the fate of the colony. He vividly rourtrayed the. prospects of the colony supposing Chincsa labour were introduced, appealing to his audience to arouse themselves and return men who would put out of power those who favoured such a dange.roiu policy, or else it would be useless to look forward to leading them on to forming a nation such as they should be. The Premier had said in Auckland that the way "in which native affairs had been managed was scandalous, but why had this been allowed to go on for five years without opposition, and now, after the big blocks had been seemed by the friends of Government, the Premier denounced it, and said that no lands likely to be benefitted by punlic works should be sold. The remedy was that they should ail join as one man ami insist that not one penny of the, value of such lands should pass into the hauls of those now holding them until a full inquiry had been made as to how they had secured them. He had made a discovery the other day in relatiou to Australia. They must know that the Australian colonies had been founded by the British Government, and if ouce they federated uo doubt some great system of public works would be inaugurated, which would greatly benefit the whole of the country. He had recently heard that a "concession" of 16,000,000 acres of land, amounting to aDout 25,800 sqaaie miles, had been made on the southern coast of Australia, on the boundary of South and West Australia to an association called the Encla Land and Pastoral Association. According to reports the land waa of excellent quaiity, and among the large holders he had found on a map the following names : — Earl of Canarvon, 64,000 acres ; Sir R. W. Herbert, 64,000 acres ; Sir A. Stepney, 64,000 acres ; J. M. Hall (acreage not stated) ; Sir Juluis Vogel, 155,000 a*cres; Colonel Wade, 64,000 acres ; A. Forrest and Co., 400,000 acres. Why, he asked, should a big land speculation like this be kept quiet till all the land had been appropriated, aud why should the Earl of Canarvon get 64,000 acres when he offered nothing, especially when all the land \?as Government property. He condemned the connection of Sir It. W, Herbert, Permanent Under-Secretary of the Colonies, and the man who really ruled us, w.th a parcel of land .jobbers ; and asked suould Sir J. Vogel, who was only a citizen as ourselves, be the only one in Now Zealand who was offered such an advantage? It was infamous that the Inn I should be given away like this, and the present Government of the colony were the friends of men like these, and he must consider them as identifying themselves with them. The Premier ungat have changed his mind, but in that case he should come out boldly and resign his office. A great deal was said now-a-days about federation, but if they did not look out they would be in absolute slavery, and his advice to them was — keep New Zealand for the Europeans, let it be an European country, and snow the world what a European nation can be. Australia wa,o t,o formed that a portion of it could only be cultivated by coloured labour, aud if New Zealand situated with it, and formed one of seven or eight states, it was certain to be outvoted in the introduction of coloured labour Would they join such federation as tuat (No, no.) Sir George then went on to review the work of the recent Conference held in Australia, condemning tue principle of nominated delegates, and saying ttuit the measure presented to the English Parliament by the Conference had prevented the measure introduced by him last session enabling New Zealand to federate with any of the numerous islands in our neighbourhood, passing tue Imperial Parliament. If they consented to federation such as that proposed, thoy would sacrifice one of the noblest features ever held out to a young colony just struggling into existence, but if they would carry out his plan, he could see a great future before them. Everything now seemed to be falling into a state of tiunkeyism. Only a morning or two ago he had read that " Lord Hosebery wished it to be known that he felt a deep interest in the colonies." What good would that do them, he would like to know, and did the people in England think they were such fools .is to be gratified as such a message from one who certainly had a ' Lord" to his name, but wiio had only spent a few uours in the colony. Would Lord Rosebery's expression of opinion do them any any good. He asked them to arouse themselves like men, and scorn such nonsense as that the opinion of a •« Lord'* could effect their future, and push on and make New Zealand the prosperous country she should be. Sir George was loudly applauded as he resumed his seat.

Another accident happened * on the Iltifliilton-Morrinsyille line on Friday. \lrO. Mannyra, while riding on the iouded ballast wagons, t'eH, off.iind dn oWited . his c^houider. He cams, oh at once , to H.uuiltou and had the injury attended to. - -/ '' "■ ■: