THE WAIKATO ELECTION.

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 59, 19 July 1884, Page 2

THE WAIKATO ELECTION.

Mr Whyte Returned Unopposed. The nomination for Waikato took place in the Court-house, Cambridge, on Wednesday last, when there was a large and representative attendance of electors from all parts of the district. The Returning Officer, Mr Searancke, presided. The Returning Officer having read the writ and disposed of the usual formalities, called upon the meeting to nominate a fit and proper candidate for the Waikato. Mr T. Wells said he had a light and pleasant duty to perform in the proposition he was about to make, It was that Air John Blair "Whyte be nominated •»s a fit and proper person to represent the Waikato in the forthcoming Parliament. The best warranty for his action .n proposing Mr Whyte was to be form i in the work which that gentleman had lone during the past two Parliaments The results of his indefatigable labours on their behal f could be testified to by the m .ny gentlemen present who were connected with the various road boards and county councils throughout the district. He could testify to the estimation in which their member was held at Te Aroha, where he was least known. Indeed, he might say that not only had the people of that district the greatest confidence in him, but were in every sense proud of him He concluded by formally proposing Mr Whyte as a fit and proper person to represent their district in Parliament. Captain Runciman in a few remarks seconded the nomination. No other candidate being nominated the Returning Officer duly declared Mi John Blair Whyte duly elected to represent the Waikato electoral district in tjie ensuing Parliament. Mr Whyte, on rising to address the meeting, was received with loud and prolonged applause. He regretted that,tne state of his health prevented him addressing them sooner. Before 'proceeding with his address he wished to thank the people of Waikato for the uniform kindness and courtesy which they had extended to him ever since he became a representative in parliament. The kind treatment Jtt%- had uniformly received had rendered his duties as a representative a .labour of love. As they all knew, during the past short session the Government had been defeated, and he thought that tin's was very much to be regretted, as at that particular juncture the Noith Island had every prospect ol being* opened up by the main trunk line of railway, which would no doubt tend very much to induce settlement. (Applause;. Although not present during that session he had made up his mind that considering all the circumstances, how faithfully the present Ministry, notwithstanding that he differed from them on a great many points, had served the country, were much to hi preferred to a disorganised Opposition, While upon the subject of this vote he thought that perhaps it might be well te to refer to his late colleague, Mr F. A, Whitaker. He desired to say th \ although upon this occasion they ditt'ered, he felt perfectly certain, from his experience of that honourable gentleman's character in the Houso for p period of tive years, that be was guided by honorable motives. He desired, or his own behalf and on behalf of his constituents, to thank him most heartily for the cordial assistance which he had always received from him in all matter? affecting the Waikato. Regarding tin. politics of the future, he would firsi touch upon

NATIVE LANDS as it was, perhaps, the most iniporfcani matter affecting the North Tsiaml, and, in fact, the colony, generally. In hit speech at Hawera the Premier first intimated that the Government intended to resume the pre-emptive right. Now ho far as he was personally concerned ht wis led the preemptive right had never beet gi\en up by the Government ; inasmuch as he ha-i been induced to speculate in native lands, with the result that he had been converted from a comparatively rich man into a poor man. Nevertheless, when this intimation was madt he felt that it would be his duly te oppose resumption of the pre-emptive right out and out. The pie-emptive right properly so called was simply purchase of native land by the Government, and the Government only. This course meant either a sudden stoppage to all settbrnent, or the resumption of land purchase by the Crown on a large scale, the latter necessitating a loan tor the purpose. This, he telt certain, the colony would not consent to, and even if it did the evils connected with the purchase of land by the Government were so well known as to make necessary no description on his part, Of course they where all aware that up to recently negotiations for ti c purchase of native lands had been surrounded with many evils, and these evils weie by general consent considered to be owing to negotiations for nuroiiuseof land previous to its having gone through the court. Therefore, last session acts were passed, and f»r whinh he voted, whereby this was put a stop to, He, therefore, thought that these new acts might have had a further trial before fresh legislation w*& entered upon] However, the Govern-

n. out uuvo now iutim.iUiU r.iicir lutention of bringing- down a bill whereby native lands will be offered for sale through thy medium of Waste Lands Boir's only, the Government acting a? agents for the native?, bit retaining the right to purchase in certain cases. Now. although theoretically there was little to be said against this bill, he feared that praftically it was surroun Ipcl with difficulties ; nevertheless, the colony had from end to end declared in its favour. It was also the opinion of many who ought to he competent judge? that this method would afford ' small settlers an opportunity of buying at first cost, and thereby indues settlement (Applause.) lie was also of opinion that perhaps tho very fact of its becoming known that this large extent of country was about to be offered, or would be offered for sale, would bring about an influx of people desiring to make homes for themselves in New Zealand. For these reasons it was, he thought the duty of wise men to endeavour to make this measure as workable as possible. However, he feared that settlement by this measure would be found to be a very slow process indeed It was said by the advocates of this scheme that the colony would reap the benefit of the rise in value given to these lands by the mai trunk railway. Now, he would Jike to know how this was to brought about. If the natives refused to sell, as they probably would, how were they to compel them ? and if they compelled them where was the money to come from ? He also feared that this system, espeei.dly that part conferring the right of purchase upon the Government, was capable of great abuse in the hands of unscrupulous men. The colony, as they were all aware, was now in a state of great

DEPRESSION, and that depression prevailed, lie was sorry to say, in Waikato, although not so much in the City of Auckland. As regards Waikato, he thought it was very much owing to our own extravagance, Anyone who was resident in the district eight or ten years ag^nmst recollect how nearly every thirijkray was either a race ■ lay, a inarke^fiiy, or a review day, and the balance of the time made up verj much,.by running about the country or fancied business. Then a good deal oi this depression was owing to amateui farming, everyone thinking himself abl( to farm if he could do nothing else. In uot it was only recently that it dawned upon the community that tanning, like shoemaking, was a trade which must be understood, and must be attended to Then again settlers generally had bought too much land in proportion to then capital. This they did wisely enough, calculating on being able to sell part at an advanced price when they wante< money. This some did, and had been able to get on very well ; at the same time, hower, capital in large quantities was rolling in, prices for land went almost too high, and at the same time I'resh mortgages were perhaps too easil) effected. The effect ot this was thai afterwards when people were obliged tf sell, buyers had disappeared. Now however, he thought a better day as regard farming was dawning upon Waikato, the farmers were attending more closely to their business, and were turning their attention to products whiel could not be produce! as easdy elsewhere. He also felt certain that the

DIUKCT STEAM SERVICES. now fairly established must exercis? i very beneficial influence on the colony ai lari^e, by securing a market for oui frozen meat. He also felt certain tiiai when it became known in the ol<ler countries that by means of these floating hotels, which almost might be described as floating towns, it was possible te reach New Zealand comfortably in thirty or forty day-*, a lari»e influx of nion am money must ceitainly ensce. Thi'y wen •'so aware no doubt that there was r 1 rge

DEFICIENCY IN THI3 HKVENUK at the end of the last financial year stated by the Treasurer to be if 15 ,0 /() This was nor. a pleasing fact, but wher t was borne in mind that we were annually laying aside £250,000 as a sinking fund in reduction of our national lebt, this \> as not so serious as it appeared ; and that, in fact, we were doini> more than paying our way. * H< % was alsc led to believe that by re-organisation ii: the Civil iSeivice the Government saw their way to saving about £40,00' , They wore also aware that, in order U reduce the deficiency, Government haii raised the grain rates ; however, be fort going any further into that maftei, il must first be admitted that the general management of the railways was undoubtedly in a very unsatisfactory state, Uespi'cting the raising of the grain rates he thought that, whether the Government were right or wrong in this matter, they desti ved credit for having done so at the cost of a loss of political support, resulting, as it afterwards appeared, in their defeat. It might be as well to refer shortly shortly to the question of

EDUCATION. ': e thought that the present Education system should not be interfered with further than in endeavouring to make t.ho money voted go as far as possible. He was decidedly of 'opinion that the cost of education should come nut of the general revenue, as that was the only means whereby all, be they childless or '•achelors, could be made to contribute, i'ivoryone in the community reaped the ixuiefitj ami should bear the cost of securing wise legislation, and, as a natural consequence, law and order. He ,iJso thought that a system whereby at t te present moment 120,000 children wore being educated, and educated well b joulil not bo lightly interfered with.

-now as ro«ir«i fc t.io mucii lul.xe.'of unturned increment, he(Mr Wiiyte; wanied 'o know where it was ? Wns'itnota ; ct iliatin Waikato, and in New Zealanu generally, farms could bo bought for less Mian (he cos>t of improvements, to say nothing of the original purchase money? Then, again, if it l,e true thai some 'an ' was now worth, without expenditure \ pon it, say, £5 an acre, which originally cost 10s, in most cases that land had changed Hands, and if an attempt were made to •ret at this increment the tax would fall upon the wron/ man. A apostle this land tax, Sir George Grey, was one ->f a cla*s, and he said it in no offensive sense, who derived a large part of their income from money invested on mort gages and other securities yielding from -even to ten per cent. ; in the case ol timber companies and similar un lerfcakings as high as fifteen and twenty per cent. In other words, that £1000 in this country yielded as great an annual income as £2000 would in England. Now, he would just ask, why should this iucreniMit escape taxation? Was it earned in any sense of the word ? Was it not owing to the energy, enterprise, .md industry, of others ? Respecting Bir -Julius Vogel, although not a worshipper of this gentleman, he was not disposed to join in the wholesale abuse which was heaped upon his head, and in fact he saw no reason why his undoubtedly high ialents should not be utilised by the colony, provided always that he was associated with strong men whose interests were bound up with the colony, and therefore act as a restraining influence upon his plunging propensities. This gentleman, it is reported, proposes !o repeal the property tax, ami to increase, the customs duties. Now, he thought that it would be much wiser, indeed, for the colony in the interests of every one. rich and poor, rather than do this to repeal the £500 exemptions under the property tax. The exemptions in his opinion were altogether opposed to the principle of the property tax, which was that all realised property which did not die with one should contribute. In this respect it differed from .in income tax, in which it was quite proper to exempt incomes up to a certain amount. As up to that amount it all .vent to purchase the necessaries of life. All above that amount might be ranked as spent in luxuries, and was therefore a fit subject for taxation. At first sight the doing away with exemptions might appear to press heavily upon the poorer classes, but when reduced to figures he thought this impression would disappear. For instance, under the present tax, 'a man who had accumulated £100 worth of property would only have to pay 6s 3d per annum. No one, he thought, could say that that would press very heavily upon any one, and yet these -mall contributions would amount to no less a sum than £135,000 a year. It was estimated that under the present £500 limit, forty-three million pounds worth of property escaped taxation, and he thought that taxing that was a very much better means of raising the revenue lhan by mc easing the Customs duties. Regarding the question of

ANNEXATION. it had been proposed by some that the colony should annex certain islands in the South Seas, he thought that such a ->tcp on the part of New Zealand would he simply folly. As regards

FEDERATION, he thought the question ought to be approached with the greatest caution, •uul that the cost both directly and inlirootlv, should be very carefully enquired into before committing the colony to any such scheme. He could not conclude without referring shortly to locnl public works. VVtien one looked round the district ami observed how, at a very early date, it would be possible to go by train on the one side to Rotorua and Thaini'S Valley, and Te Aron*, and on the other side to Te Awaniutu and Auckl.md, it, would be admitted that the listricts of Waikato and Wai pa had reason to remember with gratitude tiie Hall, Whitaker and Atkinson Ministry. Mr Wliyte concluded iiis address as follows : — Now, gentlemen, before sitting d< w i I wish again to thsmk you most sincerely and heartily for the honour which you have done me tins lay, and also for tue mann-M 1 in which it was done. I can assure you that your unanimity will strengthen my hands very much indeed. I cannot also help alluding to the manner in which repteseutive men from all parts of the district, on the shortest notice, and tit great personal inconvenience, were present at a meeting in Hamilton List {Saturday, for the purpose of showing their appreciation of my humble efforts on their behalf. I must say that such an evidence of good feeling does one a great deal of good, warms one's heart, and spurs any man worthy of the name on to do his utmost for such kind friends, to serve them faithfully, and so to conduct himself publicly and privately that they may never h.ive reason in ever so slight a degree to be ashamed of him. (Loud cheers.) The meeting closed with a vote of thanks, propose I by Mr Whyte to the Returning Officer, and three ringing cheers for Mr and Mrs J. B Whyte.