Mr Jas. Mackay and the Electors of City North. Auckland, July 9.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 211, 16 July 1887, Page 1 (Supplement)

Mr Jas. Mackay and the Electors of City North. Auckland, July 9.

A faih audience gathered last evening in Abbotts Opera House to hear Mr James Mackay, one of Iho candidates for Auckland City North, expound his views upon political matters. Amongst those piesent on the platform were Messrs John Lundon, F. Jeune, W. Hodge, Samuel Vaile, Frank La-wry, T. B. Hill, George Staines.A. Otto, Charles Bailey, D. B. McDonald, John Endean, R. May, Captain Braund, 0. N. Crae, A. E. (Hover, Hugh Mcllhone, M. Brierley, 'J. A. Harris, and Captain J. Fisher. On the motion of Mr Ilodgo, Mr I). B. McDonald took the chair. He briefly introduced the speaker. He said that there was perhaps no poison better fitted than Mr Mackay to speak upon matters connected with the past history of the colony. lla\ ing been a goldheld commissioner, he Mould be able to give \al liable information, ' and was en titled to a fair hearing. He ■would therforc a.sk tliem to give him a fair and patient hearing. Mr Mackay, on coining' forward, was rccei\ ed w ith applause. He said that this \\ as the ih^t time that he had had the pleasure of addicting an Auckland audience upon political mutters. He had once represented a constituency in the Piovincial Council. To those gentlemen who knew him it was not neces-ary to give his past career. But as there wore others who did not know him, it Mould bo advisable for him to gi\e them, as a preliminary, a notice of hi-> past career in order that they might sue whether he was fit to represent the diatiict. He left school and England at the age of 13 years. He landed in tho Middle Island oi New Zealand in lSlo. He ■was then farming, and subsequently was elected by the digger^ as Warden of the goldlieldfc. Jlc I hen explored various parts of the colony, and afterwards was appointed Resident Magistrate and Assistant Native Secretary. Later on he was made Civil Commissioner ior the colony. He wiote to the Government in 18G4, pointing out the advisability of a goldfield being opened at the Thames. He succeeded in getting permission from the natives to open the Thames, which at that time removed the then existing depression. (Applause.) He next went into land purchasing, and was. soi ry to say that he bad lost the gi eater part of his money. There was no doubt that there was now great depression, but he could tel them that it w a-> nothing to w hat it had been ■when he landed in Nelson in 1564. At that time the labouring men wore getting Is 6'd per day, and even then they were compelled to dig up their seed potatoes to pi event them fiom starving. But at that time theie was one man— a farseeing man - named William Fox (now .Sir William Fox), and he introduced the first land settlement scheme. That tended to iemo\e the depression, and then Sir George Grey (applause) came with men and money and helped to move the depression. They had since that seen a second depression, and now they had to face a third depression. He hoped that there were still men of mettle in the colony who could }ct pull the wheels out of the rut, and .sec things right.. The piincipal cause of the depies&ion was that they had all been suffering w ith a mania for borrowing, starting witli the Government and going through all ranks. Borrow ing commenced with Sir Julius Vogel, and he must say that the money, in many instances, had been diverted from the schemes laid down by Sir Julius Vogel. Still ho was not going to defend him. By locking up the native land, they had prevented the expenditure of £2-10,000 in' the colony during la3t year, anrl as a result confidence had been shaken both here and in the old country. Crown grants had even been swept away in the Supieme Couit. Now that they could no longer borrow, they must seek some other means of removing the general oppression. He must say that he never could understand the Treasurer's statement. He had never yet been able to arrive at the true balance. He hoped that the next Colonial Treasurer would bo a commercial man who would be able to strike a true balance. They might depend that however the Colonial Treasurer manipulated the funds the same old moke, New Zealand, had to carry the burden. Having got into this mess, it was their duty to see how they could get out of it. Ho did not think that they ought to reduce the salary of the present Governor, but they might act differently with tho next. Then, with regard to the Legislature, he thought that all the requirements of the colony could be attended to by CO members, i Applause.) He also thought that each of the islands should return 30 members. Thoy would then be equally represented. En the Middle Island £10,000,000 of tho borrowed capital had been expended, while they in the North only received LG, 500,000. As an instance of how native lands had been purchased, ho had himself, while an "agent, purchased 2,500,000 acres of land for £300, anrl another 7,500,000 had been purchased by another agent for i'3oo ; and that land was purchased with North Island money. Rather than be treated like they had boon in the past ho would favour a separation of the two islands. (Applause.) Still he was in favour of a united New Zealand, provided that they were fairly treated. It was necessary that at a juncture like the present they should return men who could fight the Southerners, and men who knew the past history of the country. He also favoured the abolition of a number of counties. He thought that there might be 21 counties in the"North instead of 42, and 21 in the South instead of 33 as at present. That would do away with a lot of clerks who had to attend to the correspondence of the various counties. He thought that from £100 to £150 would bo sufficient honorarium for the members. He thought that the Legislative Council was a necessity, as it was removed from party feeling. Still, he thought 30 members would be sufficient. With regard to the Speaker of the House and other officials who were only engaged during the session, he thought that a saving could be effected. The Scrgeant-at-Arnis might also be dispensed with. The mes-

senger might carry the mace. Ho would also do away with the members' free passes on the railway. He thought those little perquisites could bo done away with. The reduction of the Civil Service ho considered a very troublesome question. Member.-, had friends in various parts of the country, and they brought pressure to bear upon the Government to prevent so-and-so being dismissed. He would say lot all salaiies which did not exceed £150 remain untouched, but as they wont up the tree then they might use the pruning knife, and he thought that no civil servant should reecho more than £600. (Cheers. ) He did not think that the affairs of the colony could be managed by less than six Minister.-,. The Minister for Public Works should take charge of the Lands and Nathe JDepaitment. The Premier's salary should be reduced to C 1,200, and the other ii\c to 1" 1,000 per annum. He would not do away with the Minisleiial residences, as it was necessary that they should keep up a certain position. Ho knew that at Wellington there were many ornamental gentlemen, many " cats who did not catch mice." (Laughter.) They would see that by these reductions and doing away with free passes, a saving of £4,500 would be olFected. He had been in the civil sen ice, and knew whore reductions could be made. In the audit department alone 20 men might be dispensed with. The .Native Lands Court was also able to be reduced ; half the time the judges of N.ithe Lands Courts had nothing to do. He thought that a title could be settled, and then theio would be no difficulty in dealing with Ihe Native Lands. He did not think that their railways were properly managed. He for one could not understand the taiiil" of charges. As an anomaly of the tnrifl', ho mentioned that a brewer had to pay 2*> (id more per hogshead for sending it trom Newmarket to Waikato than from Aucklamrto Waikato. He did not altogether agjee with Vaile's scheme, as he did not think that they had sufficient population to cany it out as he proposed ; but he thought it was in the right direction. He would now turn to one of the most important questions — the education of our youth. No country — no barbarous or unenlightened country — could proceed a«- fast as an enlightened country ; but they must not be too luxurious in this respect. They must cut their coat according to their cloth. Did they not keep their children too long at school ? Was there not too much dosire to have their boys clerks, etc., instead of making them tradesmen or sending them out to settle the country ? He thought that all the country should be called on to do was to provide education up to the sixth standard in i! o common schools. Surely they did not want fine institutions for carrying on higher education. If they wanted university education, let them have one, and place it in a country district, where their young men might be away from the temptations of the towns. Secondary education cost in round numbers £60,000 ; deducting fees, the cost to the country was £35,000. These secondary schools educated fome 2,600 scholars, so that the cost to the colony of these schools was £11 per head. Ho thought in the circumstances of the colony the whole of the money spent on university and secondary education should bo saved, and in their place scholarships should be piovided, which would bo open to desei\ ing scholars whether rich or poor. lie proceeded to allude to the cost of native schools and industrial schools. Coming to the matter of common school education, they found that there were 106,328 children on the rolls, the average attendance being 55.3J-3. The education cost L 5 a head. The total expenditure on these schools was L 409,575, and the teachers numbered 2,094, who, however, were not very wl 11 paid, as they found that 1 ,647 of them received less than LlOO per annum. This was not the total expenditure on education as there a number of children who were educated at the expense of their parents or by religious bodies. One remedy for the expenditure was by making the school age from 7 years to 14. If parents wanted to send their children to school aftsr that, let them pay for them, but he reminded them that if they kept their boys at school till they wore 16 or 17 they would not desire to work very hard. Referring to other means of retrenchment, he said the time had gone by when the Government required to own a sort of ornamental yacht. Why, last session, the Hinemoa was sent to the West Coast to take home two members, and the towing her in and out of the Grey River cost the country L7O. This trip was unnecessary, as there was a good road from Hokitika to Christchurch, while the Anchor steamers ran from Wellington to Groymouth. He, however,defended the expenditure on the Stella, which was engaged in a good and visoful work. Coming to the defence expenditure, he said the Volunteer movement should bo fostered, thougn he did not believe in playing at soldiers. The fault he found with our prosent system was that there were too many officers and too few men. They did not want major-generals and colonels and polyglot uniforms, but simple corps, each officei ed by a captain and lieutenant. Coming to the question of tariff, ho said he thought local industries should be protected, and would astonish them by reading a table showing articles that wore imported that Avere mado from things that could be produced here. He then read a list of articles that could be produced hero, the total value of which was about L 400,000. Of articles that could be grown hero they exported a total of L 75,080. Altogether they imported LBOO,OOO worth of stuff that could be produced in the colony. He therefore thought that the articles that they could produce should be protected. Thoy had to consider three interests — the public, the manufacturers, and the importers ; and in tho interest of the latter all goods that could not be produced hero should be admitted free. He was in favour of an acreage land-tax— dividing the land into three classes ; first-class land to pay 3d, second-class 2d, and third-class Id per acre, irrespective of whether it was cultivated or not. He was in favour of encouraging our mining industry. At our very doors was a million acres on the Cape Colvillo peninsula which contained one hundred million pounds worth of minerals. They had not the key to open this golden box. What the

Government of New Zealand should do was to publish, it throughout the world that they would give any man who could introduce a process that would enable them to get the full value of their gold, a free grant of 100 acres of auriferous land and L 25,000 when it had been demonstrated that the process would do what was claimed for it. He agreed with what had fallen from Sir G. Grey on the pi evious night regarding the settlement of the land. He believed that the proper way to settle the land was to give the people freehold — land was of no value until it was settled, and they .should get it for nothing. After a rather discursive allusion to the coal mines, manganese, ironsand, etc., ho said if they encouraged their mining industry New Zealand would become virtually the Britain of the South. On the .subject of public works, he said that, though they could not borrow anymore, a certain amount of money could be placed for the present in the hands of the local bodies to provide employment until the alteration of the tariff was effected. He would not go to Parliament because he wanted a Government billet, but as a man who had lived 42 years in the counbiy, and wanted to do it service. He would not support the present Government because he believed that, excepting village settlements, their admin ibbiation had been faulty. Ho, however, blamed Major Atkinson for doing as mu cli in bringing about the present depression as Sir Julius Vogel and Sir Robert Stout. They were like men who had been playing unlimited 100. Let them .start w ith a fresh pack. (Applause.) If elected he did nob intend to represent City North, but the whole colony. (Cheers.) In reply to questions Mr Mackay replied : (1) That ho wan not in favour of the present Government, but he did not like Major Atkinson. Though he did not believe in all Sir George Grey's views, he would sooner follow Sir George Grey than Major Atkinson. (2) He was not supported in his candidature by a local syndicate interested in the- removal of restrictions on native lands. (3) He had no interests in native lands, nor had he any axe to giind regarding the native lands. If he wanted to grind an axe, he had a big enough one of his own to grind, but he did not mean to do it. (4) He would do all he could to assist in carrying out the scheme of village settlements, and he would also assist in getting the settlers freeholds, (o) He considered that Mr Larnacli had ably fulfilled hi* duties as Minister of Mine-, in the colony. (6) He would be in favour of the Government giving the Ohinemuri leasehold cis freehold titles. (7) Ho did not think that grand juries were of much use, as most serious cases were heard by Resident Magistrates, and theoo ll.M.'s had more time to sift the evidence than grand juror.3, who only heard ono side of the case, and always weie in a hurry to get away to their business. He thought that petty juries should be paid mileage, and say 10s expenses. (8) Ho was not in favour of Grey's Law Practitioners Bill, as the appointment of a number of bad lawyer-* would give employment to the good ones ; though if he spoke in his own interest he would favour it, as he thought he could pass as a lawyer with most of them. (9) He would vote for the abolition of the truck system at the bushes. The Government had protected their own employes, and should have protected the bushmen long ago. (10) He had never gone into the question of a State Bank of Issue, but if it came before Parliament he would give the matter due consideration. (11) He favoured local option, but if licenses were taken away for any cause that was not the fault of the licensee, they should compensate him, Mr Brierley moved, and Mr Montgomery seconded, a vote of thanks and confidence to Mr Mackay. This was pub and carried with two dissentients, and the meeting terminated with a vote of thanks to the Chairman.