Auckland, October. 21.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 319, 24 November 1888, Page 6

Auckland, October. 21.

MR P&AtfOUK AT. POKSONBY. l The announcement that Mr T. Peacock, •M.H.R., intended to address his constitu-' ents on the work; ojt the recent session, had the effect of attracting a good attendance of electors to the Ponsonby Hall last evensinjsr. Mr J. B. Gi'aham was voted to the chair. Mr Peacock was received with cheers. He said that although lie had addressed them in the early part of the year, he thought it advisable to call'them" 'together again so that they might pass in review the work of the late session, and indicate some of those matters which reCpire attention at the hands of die Legislature in the future. It was cr\ie that "they werej all. supplied by the daily papers, with amost liberal fare of Parliamentary news' during the sitting of the House, but it might not be unprofitable -if he gave the results of the work in- a connected form, so that they might better appreciate the results arrived, at. ' '

■ i - OUR FINANCIAL POSITION. He would make no apolosry tor referring in the first place to our financial position, 4 with special reference to what had been done to s,top\cur downward career by the exercise -of economy and retrenchment in our< public affairs^ for the subject was a ■ prominent one at election times. When the House met last ,year ? the estimate, of the deficiency by the Colonial Treasurer for 18SJ 7 8 was £352,047, making a total deficiency for two 'years of £528,603. With regard to this deficiency, the Premier arranged a scheme last year to pay off £400,000 in ten years, by issuing debentures, tfor .. tohai amount, to be reduced at the rate of £40,000 a' year. ' The money to do this was to be obtained from the interest on the sinking funds investment, which was then being used to help the re venue,' but* which was to be foregone for bhis» particular purpose. He (M r. Peacock) was not sanguine that this plan would succeed, because ,ten years ?eemed too long a time to expect such a plan to run r,he gauntlet of the wants and exigencies of successive Treasurers". And sure enough", in the vei'y first year it had been departed from at the instance of iis "own author, and the £70,000 lying past to guaiantee any errors in the Land Transfer Department had been taken for the year towards reducing the £400,000 ok deficiency to which he had referred. > He still thought circumt stances would -arise to interfere with this ' wiping-'ouf scheme, and that a great part of the deficit would eventually be added to our permanent "debt. The remainder of the two years' deficiency, £128,000, was to be met by the primage duty of one per cent, over and abore the ordinary tariff duties.

RETRENCHMENT 1 . • - - The Government undertook to make a . reduction In the" public expenditure by £3Q0,0Q0, and doubt 3 had been expressed as to the. genuineness "of the reduction already etfected. The refusal of the House to agree to the reduction in the education ' vote/and a mistake of £8,000 in the table, ■ brought the amount to-be.sa\ed down to £262,000. A's a mabterpf fact, they bhowed an undoubtablereducti.on of £233,000 in the expenditure, -but off this must be taken the £34^,000 paid to localbodiesasrateson Crown lands, yhe^savins was tHuS brought down to £216,000 : Hut c.yen if the Government had saved £200,000, aneMia- believed they had, "then he tnought they had redeemed their •promise very -fairly, and, deserved credit. He, however, was one who believed that still further retrenchment should take place --•in the public expenditure, but if effect* Was to be given to such a desire, it must be by general limitation of the departmental expenditure, and the ,besb method was by a slump reduction, and hot on individual votes.

EDUCATIONAL RETRENCHMENT. h r e still thought considerable reduction might" be made in education expenditure, find in saying that he gave way to none in his desire to maintain our present free, secular and compulsory education. Jf sbtoe saving in the expenditure were not anade, the 'colony would not ' be able to . stagger under the burcten, and the system would break down under its own weight. He urged that those were the truest . friends* of the national system Who, while maintaining its essential features, were willing: to make such changes in the nonesiential points as would bring it into harmony Witti* the circumstances of the colony. Granting 1-■1 -■ tlra't the piimary education should be free, it was still a matter for discussion to what extent the education should go ; and in this respect they ought to be guided by the conditions under which it could be made use of by the majority of the people. If it could be shown that beycnda certain point in age and acquirement of instruction, the maps of the people could net take advantage of the State education by reason of the pressing demands of the family, and the need for the youth of the colony to earn their own livelihood, then that should be the point near which free education should stop.

A SCHOLARSHIPS SYSTEM. The adoption of such a course would not preclude the giving of ample opportunity for further free education to those who, by the gaining of scholarships, should prove their capacity to profit by the same, By this means clever children, whose parents might be unable to continue them longer at school, would still 'be able to go on to a secondary school or course of instruction, and even to have a University career free of charge. He considered this keeping open the door of tree instruction through all the grades of education to be adesirablecondition ho that no one with ability need suffer by the want of educational advantages. Now, the point he had been speaking of at which most children leave school was about the age of 13, which was also the end of the compulsory period under the present Act. This was also the period at which it was found most beneficial to transfer scholarship pupils to, the secondary school so as to ' dovetail in with it and derive the most advantage. Possibly a modified fifth standard might meet the Gase, and hero he . might say in passing that the standards are not part of the Act at all, but are regulated by Or'der-in-Council. Many of those who object to any modification in the stopping place in our system were not fully aware of what was embraced in the teaching of the fourth and fifth standards, or they would see that granting the knowledge of the subjects in these standards to be good, as it should be before the children were allowed to pass, then there was in them the basis of a good education, which the pupil could, if he desired it later on, build on to any extent. He felt satisfied if this were judiciously done, and the school age raised' to six years, a very large saving might ,be effected, not only without any real injury, but with a strengthening effect on, the system of education. We could not go on paying' ' •„.•«

HALF A MJLLION A YEAR FOR EDUCATION. The vote for primary .education alone for this year after'ihe reduction which had been

made, amounted to close on £350,000. He would say nothing of the necessity for economy in buildings, on which there had been expended in the past £742,597, a sum which the Minister for Education had shown inhis report to be £90,000 in excess of what the buildings should have cost, allowing at the rate of £6 per pupil, if built in stone or brick, instead of perishable wood, and with accommodation for ; the largest attendance we have ever ' had. The fact that these school buildings were for the future to be paid for out of ordinary revenue, instead o| borrowed money, would, no doubt, lead to closer'scrutiny in the expenditure. His opinion was that a, large economy in this department must come in some shape, and that those who refuse to recognise tho necessities of the case, and who reject all change in the non-essen-tials of the system, are really, although it may be unconsciously, inviting its destruction.

CIVIL SERVICE. Before leaving the question of retrenchment, he might say that the proposed reorganisation of the Civil Service, if given eftect to, would likely be productive of good by dividing it into grades, limiting the number of Civil servants in each, and" fixing the salary for each so that promotion would be by chanjre of grade, and we would cease to findwhatwas frequently the case at present, a man recehing on the ground of long service remuneration for work which is not an equivalent return.

PUBLIC DEBT. Since che borrowing of the two millions this year the public debt, outside of deficiency bills, now amounts to £38,258,439, from which, if we deducted £1,222,056 as Sinking Fund accrued, we have a nett amount of £37,036,383, nearly ten millions more than it was six years ago. The interest and Sinking Fund appropriated this year was £1,838,539, but as there was only half-a-year's interest on our last loan provided for, the gross amount of interest and Sinking Fund for a whole year would represent £1,890,534. But not to exaggerate our burden it must be borne in mind that the annual contribution to the Sinking Fund of nearly a quarter of a million was not now paid out ot revenue ; and further, that for this year a considerable portion of the 'money just borrowed would not be spent, and the interest to the land-holder on that portion would be met by what was received from its temporary investment.

TARIFF. As to the tariff, he stated clearly at his election that while desirous of fostering colonial industries, lie could not be a party to forcing them unduly, and that he would not agree to the increase of the general rate of duty beyond what was charged under the then existing tariff. However, having recorded his vote against the Bill in accordance with his platform statements, and the House having decided that larger duties of a more thorough protective character were to be imposed, he refrained from any factious opposition to the measure, and directed his attention to assisting in Committee to make the duties as harmonious and suitable as possible. Personally, he had doubts as to the revenue being, got from the tariff which is expected, and so far as the general policy was concerned it remained to be seen how far the hopes entertained by a majority of the House would be realised.

I LAND SETTLEMENT. I Mr Peacock proceeded to refer to the value of settling the land in small agricultural holdings, and said that he had always I been opposed to the snapping up of the country m large areas. He had advocated the system of pensioner settlers, and while he thought that the peipetual lca«e system should have a fair trial, he did not think ..Uiatt settlement v. . should be confined to this system. An impetus to settlement had been given by the Land Act of last session, and the choice of tenure was given to the settler. It was found that up till the present time, the favourite tenuie was that of perpetual lease. It was gratifying to hear from the Minister of Lands last session, that the applications for small holdings under the perpetual lease system were so numerous as to severely test the capabilities of the Survey Department to keep pace with the demand. He was pleased to notice since that a large area of land had bfeen let under this system, and this fact indicated the. probability of an early revival of prosperity in the colony.

FAIR RENT BILL. Mr Peacock proceeded to refer to the Fair Rent Bill introduced by the Government and passed by the House of Repre- • sentabives, but which was hung up by the Legislative Council. The various objections to the measure were explained.

CHINESE QUESTION. This measure passed the House in a modified form. He thought it better to make tho Bill equally strigenb with those passed by the Australian Governments, and make it of short duration,) so that it could be reconsidered next session. In the meantime it would have the effect of preventing this colony being made the receptacle for Chinese who were refused a landing in Australia. The decision of the Supreme Court of Victoria, the hastyactionof Sir Henry Parkes and the rejection of the treaty with America by the Chinese, showed the necessity for action.

RAILWAY MANAGBMENT. Turning to this question, Mr Peacock said he gave his support to the proposal to appoint a Railway Commissioner because of the success of the system in Victoria. He opposed the sale of the railways, and thought they should be managed on commercial principles, and the charges should be little more than sufficient for the payment of interest. Until we alienated political influence Irom them, it was impossible to expect creditable management. He would be willing to see a trial of Vaile's system made on some branch railway.

' NATIVE LAND LEGISLATION. This question was dealt with at length. He had always held that the Government should retain the pre-emitive right, and should be the sole buyer of native "'lands. There were in the North Island ten or eleven millions of native lands, and he thought that no more legitimate use of borrowed money could be made than to purchase native land with a view to its settlement. The Government had nofc the money to purchase the land, and the right was given to the natives to dispose of it as they chose. But heavy penalties were provided for trafficking in native lands before they had yjaased through the Court, and this would do much towards preventing the bribery and corruption which were previously bo prevalent. It was proposed to tax the native lands for the benefit of the revenue, but owing to the opposition of the Maori members, the taxing'clauses had to be withdrawn. There would no doubt be great difficulty in collecting the taxes if they were imposed, but this new legislation was a step towards placing both races on the same footing.

A LAND TAX. The question of the incidenqe of taxation was a very difficult one to deal with in the present circumstances of the colony. If the property tax had been repealed lasb session, not only would the Government have been changed, but there would have

been no-machinery for the collection of a' land tax, and no tax of this 'kind would 1 have been adopted. The colony would j thus have lost £380,000. Sir Harry Atkinson wjys so strongly in favour of a property tax that, he feared very little was to be expected, that way. (A voice: "Then he rail's 0 bei tui'ned out," and cheers.) He was willing tovote foralandandincomo tax in order that it might have a trial, but ho was nob sure' that the disadvantages of the property tax would not be as great in the oaso ol the land tax. The Premier had promised early next session to.give a day for the full discussion of the suojecb.

SAN FRANCISCO SERVICE. It was seen early in the session that a number of Southern members wore pledged to vote against the 'Frisco service, on the ground that it was costly, and they wanted to encourage the direct service so as to get lower freights for their wool and frozen meat. He did not think we need be discouraged at the' resolution passed, that the servico should; terminate at the end of next year. The' interval would give America time to decide! on a move generous policy, while negotiations were being entored into with Canoda relative to a Vancouver service. They could, however, depend on one thing that whichever service was adopted, Auckland would be the terminal point.

ELECTORAL REFORM. He was anxious that this question should ha y e been dealt with last session. In the previous session he had introduced .a bill providing for the amalgamation of the city constituencies on a modification of the Hare system, and he was glad to see that in the bill introduced by the Government labt session this principle was adopted and extended to the whole colony. The bill, however, did not get beyond the second reading. Mr Peacock entered into a lengthy argument in support of the adoption of a modification ol the Hare system of proportional representation. The present system was grossly unfair, and the wonder was that it had existed so long. The new system provided for the representation of minnorities, , and while a man had 'only one vote no vole was ineffective. Closely allied with this reform was the present nomination, with its show of hands, which was opposed to the principle of the secrecy of tlie ballot.

GOLD-MINING INDUSTRY. He had always taken a deep interest in the welfare of the gold- mining industry, and had regretted the failure of the different processes for the treatment of what were called our refractory ores. Last session he repeatedly interviewed the the Ministorof Mines on" this subject, and in conjunction with other members sought to have bonuses offered for a successful process. » The Minister of Mines seemed favourable, but it was thought better to await the result) of the processes now under trial.

CONCLUSION. In conclusion, Mr Peacock thought there was no reason for despondency in the future of the colony. The lessons of the past few years, if rightly laid to heart, would have a beneficial effect in strengthening our selfreliance, while checking the undue speed at which we had been rushing. He was satisfied that those who had left us would soon return (ironical laughter). Evidences were not wanting of returning prosperity in the improved prices of New Zealand wool, wheat, and mutton. The settlement of the country by an industrious peasantry, so essential to true prosperity, was receving unwonted attention. There was a pi'obability that the progress of the colony would be of a more steady and vain able character than the leaps and bounds with which they were flattered a few years ago. But they must still be prepared to cut down some of the extravagant expenditure- in various departments which had grown up with a lavish use of borrowed money, and to practise that economy as a nation which, in similar circumstances, we would do a^ private individuals. (Cheers.) In answer to a question by Mr Farrell Mr Peacock said if an opportunity aro&e tor voting against the propeity tax he would do so. In reply to another question he was not very favourable to the taking over of the district railways, which was really done to relieve certain ratepayers in the South from taxation. He would be opposed to taking over any district railways, and would oppose the making of the Otago Central or any other railways by syndicates. A vote of con6dence in Mr Peacock was moved by Mr Gilbert Rountree, seconded by Mr E. T. Dufaur, and was carried unanimously on a show of handy. A vote of thanks to the Chairman concluded the proceedings.