MR CADMAN, M. H. R. Address at Paeroa.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 362, 24 April 1889, Page 2

MR CADMAN, M. H. R. Address at Paeroa.

On Saduday evening last Mr A. J. Cadman, M.H.R., for Ooroninndel electorate, delivered a post- sessional address to his constituents at thii end of tha electorate in the Paeroa Public Hall. Theie was a fair attendance. On the motion of Mr J. H. Moore, Mr W. J. Nicholls (County Chairman), was voted to the chair, and in a few appropriate remarks?, introduce'l the speaker of the ovening. Mr Csidnmn, in the course of his nddross said : It wps the usual custom for membeis to deliver an address af tor each session at one or Iwo of the principal centres of population, and allow the repot ts of these addresses, as reported and circulated by the newspapers, to answer for the more spaisety populated distiicts. He preferred, however, going lound to the several districts wiih'h" his electorate and meeting his consul uents personally, as far as possible ; as, by so doing, ho was likely to become better acquainted with the requirements of each poition of his electorate ; but this couise also necessitated a good deal of repetition in liis addresses. Native Lunds : When he last addressed his constituents at Paeroa, he told them the Piemier had some new Billts to int.odnce with respect to the native land laws; but the opposition to them proved so gieat that they were all withdrawn. The Native Land Act passed last session, howevtr, practically permitted free t;ade in native lands, which previously were so locked up by Hon Mr Ballance. A great many persons objected to the liberty given by the piovisions of this Act, with respect to the purchase of native lands, and often with good reason too, more especially on gold'ields, believing it weie better for Government to be the purchasers of the freehold— but then if Government did not do so otheis must. As the Bill was when first introduced in the House, it would have been open to any syndicate or others tost"»p in,and,bv purchase, secme absolute right to native lands, which peihaps they had good grounds for believing would prove very valuable for mining pui poses, lie (the speaker), seeing this, himself intioduced a clause, which was accepted, by which it was provided that whaie land purchased under this Act was subsequent 1 }' found to bo aunTerous, or argentiferous, it could be resumed by the Government for mining purposes, without paying compensation for its supposed value as regaids gold and silvei, but only compensating the owner for the value of .he land and impio\cmentß effected thereon. The same Act provided that existing restrictions on native lands might be lemoved on the application of amajoiity of the native owners. Native Land's Court Act, 1886 ; Amendment Act, 1888 : By tho provisions of this Act no peifion could acquiro more than 5000 acies, and no doubt this clause had been intioduced by Hon Mr Ballance with the best intentions, but he, thought, this pi o vision would piove a failure ; as they all knew how very easy it was to have fiiends or relations who could take up additional areas, etc. Mr Cadman drew attention to the last clause of this Act, whereby all licenses to interpreters were with one stroke of the pen, as it were, cancelled, and new ones had to bo applied for, and remarked he thought it would have been far moie manly and stiaightforward of the Government to have cancelled the licenses of any interpreters whose services it was thought desiiable should be dispensed with, instead of doing it in the way t-iey had. Native Land? Fraud Prevention Act. 1881, Amendment Act, 1888: This Act piovided that the signature of a native to a deed could now be attested by a postmaster, which would a great convenience, more particularly in spaisely populated districts, as before it was necessary to have such deeds attested by a Judge, Justice of the Peace, Cleik of the Court, or a solicitor of the Supreme Comt. He also wished to direct particular attention to Clause 7 of this Act, which provides that " Any person who on his own behalf, or as agent or trustee for any other person, shall take or accept any conveyance, leaso, transfer, gift or other assurance from any Native, whether to i himself solely, or to himself and others, of i any Native land, or of any land not ! heretofore owned as aforesaid, or which becoming hereafter so owned, shall not have been owned fo"" forty days as aforesaid, or who shall be a party to any negotiation ° ° ° ° ° of such conveyance shall pay a penalty not exceeding L5OO, to bo recovered in a summary way, o o o o an( j guc |j conveyance, etc., shall be illegal and void." Maoii Real Estato Management Act. 1888 : Mr Cadman said of the new Act's passed last session this was the one of most importance to Paeroa, as tho passing of the Bill had greatly assisted to bring about a settlement of the title of Paeroa township, as this Act provided for the appointmentof trustees to act on behalf of minors, etc,, and those trustees were entrusted with very large powers, and this Bill must greatly aseist in the settlement of places where u good deal of land wos owned by minors, Speaking gene-rail}' of the Native land laws, Mr Cad man went on to say that in his opinion tho whole of the laws on the statute book, relating specially to Native lands, ought to he ewej..t away. He could not see why the Ma^ri land owners should require bo much special legislation, or why they should not be placed on the some footing a8 Europeans with respect to their land. Any difficult cases could be met by having tho land first put through tho Court 5 after which the owners should be at liberty to sell without so many res* trictions. The Crown and Native Lands Rating Acts Repeal Act, 1888 : Mr Cadman said since as far back as 1882, rates duo on Native lands had been 'chalked up' bj' the Government against blocks of Native land, and ho would strongly advise any one proposing to purchase Native land, to look into the matter of arrears of rates before finally squaring up for their purchase ; else they might find out afterwards that they would have to pay these arrears, as no doubt they would be recovered from the first person who gets a transfer of the land, As a matter of fact the repeal only really applied to' Crown lands, and he thought they would find rates would be puy^bld ad before tho passing^pf this Act

with respect to Native hinds ; ami rates nn Native lands were accruing now as heretofore. [Section 4 of the Act referred to stated " TheCrepeal effected by this Act shall not affect the recovery by the Colonial Treasurer of any rates that it ay have been or shall heienftev be paid by him in respect of Native land*, etc,"] lioan Bill : The Speakei. referred to the borrowhg of some L2,0U0~,000 by the present Government, and rend a statement showing that by inexcusable bungling the floating ol'theLl,ooo,ooolnnnhiui cost tlie Colony the< normoussum of over LI 00,000. Rest rictions had also been placed on borrowing, but by pubsc quent legii-lation these had been more or less removed, and as a matter of fact the Colony was fiee to go into the market and burrow more money next week. Thames-To Aroha Railway: It seemed as though another loan was ' sticking out.' A few unimportant railways were wanted, or at least being i.dvoeatod ; and it would piob.b'ybe carefully t hown to the representatives of outside districts that by suppmting anotlioi loan thete would be a chance for having their lailwaj-s completed : and he believed that really was the sense of the lecertt visit «>f the Minister of Public Work 8 to Thames and of his proposed visit to inspect the line of. railway. If the loan can be got there might be a chance of getting a portion of it to- complete the line to Te Arohu ; if not— they would probably hear no more about the line, ft would be utterlj' impossible to put the money required for any one of these railways on the Estimates, as the House would neve v vote it; it could only be accomplished by united action and support ; and the desire to have some lines of railway made or completed, would in all probability be made an excuse for another big loan. Reduction of Members Bill : He was in favour of <he number of elective members being reduced. The Premier had taken to himself the credit of introducing the Bill which h.id become law, whereby the number would bo reduced to 70. It was the Premier, how ever, who got the number raised to 91. In his r pinion there was far too much legislation, and the Colony would be better off with far less of it In the last two sessions nearly 100 fresh public Acts had been placed on the Statute book, to Sii} 7 nothing of numei ous local and private Acts. It really looked veiy much as if members went to Wellington tor three months evtry year solely for the purpose of legislating. The cost of printing the Bills introduced was alone a veiy serious item : as after each alteration and proposed amendment it was sent back and piinted afresh. Many of the Bills probably cost L5O to LlOO before they were finally put through. [Mr Cad man's views, as fully expiessed by him it his recent address at Parawai, as to how the reduction in the number of lepresentatives would affect the counties of Ohinemuri and Pinko, have already I been published in these columns, and need not therefore be now republished. In his address at Paeroa he stated he decidedly thought by the altered boundaries that would be necessary, Te Aroha would be included witnin Coromandel eleetoiale.] The Coming Session : Referring to measures that would be brought befoie I tlie House next session, Mr Cadman said the Hospital and Charitable Aid Act would be ceitain to be amended. In 1 Coromandel County noAV it actually took the whole of a $ ( \ r! ,t e to pay their propor- ' tion of ch.tritableaid, which wasoutiageous. . The Premier it seomed had got rather a J novel idea, which the speaker considered j really amounted to the establishment of i pauper farms, to which those needint> cliari- ! table aid were to be drafted. But he did not think such a measure would be Jfound to work in a young colony like New Zealand, Besides there would be many cases — such as that of a widow left with young children — in which it could not work satisfactorily. Something, however, would have to be done to amend the stale of things undor the present A'-t. Education Bill : The speaker gave a brief outline of Mr Geo. Fisher's proposed | Bill to amend the present Act, and touched upon some of the principal features of the Bill, such as : The establishment of School Boaidc, the members of which could only be elected by the parents of the children attendirg State schools ; provisions for technical education, etc., etc. Property Tax : Mr Cadman referred to the ease of the Kapanga mine at Coromandel, owned by an English syndicate, and the outrageous value at which it had been assessed under this- Act (paiticulars of which appeared in the Te A, and O. News of 13th inst.\ and said the case had to be fought out yet ; and if Government gained the day, it would do a lot of harm, and mean the closing of the mine. If the Act itself was not repealed, a strong fight would have to be made to have alterations effected with respect to the mining industry. The Sweating System and the difficulty of legislation with respect to it was next touched upon. New Electoral Bill : The speaker next refeired at some length to the provisions of the new electoial Bill, which was printed and circulated last session, and would come before- the House in the ensuing session. It was stated to be a modification of the Hare system ;—provided for only a residential qualification, and not a propeity one, provided for an electors right (something after the idea of a miners right) on payment of Is ; for the total abolition of the electoral roll overy third year, when fresh applications would have to be made to be placed on the 1011, etc. (which last clause of the proposed Bill had his entire approval). By means of a black board, Air Cadman tried to explain the working out of the figures at an election under the provisions of this Bill, but to those present it appeared to be a' most intiicate process, and Mr Cadman frankly admitted it was very difficult to understand it in all its features. I f it ever became law in anything like its present form be would be very much astonished ; and fancied if tried it would piove an utter failuie. Local Matters : Mr Cadman remarked that some mistake had arisen at Wellington amongst the officials ro the vote promised for Waitekauri ; they thought it was only L5O whereas it was L6OO. This would be now set right, and with LI2OQ voted for road to M.irototo, 1-200 fpr erection of Waihi biidge, etc, t etc. x would bring the amount coming to Ohinemuri County up to L 2.200. Hon, Mr Ripljardsqn told him on the occasion of his recent visit, that there was still some of the subsidy vote for roads available, and h,e (the speaker) thought a further sum mjght yet be oh tamed by the County Council for expend!" ture, pn the main roads, if. t\\e nmiter was

properly represented and a reasonable, amount asked for. Ohinemuii A grienltural Lease Holders : Mr Cadnmn said with respect to the obtaining of the title to thpir lands by these settlers, he nndei stood some of them were inclined to p;iy the amount demanded by Government, and so end the matter ; •whilut others were not so inclined. He hud done his best to pet the matter satisfactorily f-ettled, and failed to do so. Mr Cadman th<>n read a letter he had received from MrMcLonghry on the matter, stating if the rent was paid up to December, 1885, lie considered it would be fair to all. Mr Cadman also read some :elegramB that had passed between him and the Minister of Lands on the subject ; from the first of which it appeared as though the title would he gi anted on pavmenfc of the rent t<> December, 1884, with the addition of 5s per acre ; but in roply to subsequent telegrams the Minister said he had no power to remit any arrears. He (the ppeakei), now wanted suggestions from those principally concerned as to what more he could do in the matter. Mr Cadman resmned his Boat amid applause, having spoken for uncut an hour and a half. Mr Tho«. Logan (one of the Agricultural Leafe holders), t-aid it had taken Mm anurober of years of hard work tiying to reclaim lard that was actually worthless, and lie would not take a good bonus and 1 go through the same amount of hardship ajjain. Rt ther than pay np the arrears am} 5s for such l.md he would clear out of the country nltogether. Mr Cadman: There is no denying the mot-t of the land is worthless, in fact the Minister himself admits that. MrH. Butler asked how the £1200 vote for the toad to Marototo became transferred to Karangahake road. Mr Cadman : I believe £1000 of the Ll2OO is to be transferred, on the recommendation of the local body ; the matter, however, was not definitely settled yet. Mr J M. Kobson asked Mr Cadman did he not think an amalgamation of some of. the many local governing bodies, such as school and licensing committees (necessitating annual elections), county councils, etc., could be made, with general advantage to the counti}'. Mr Cadman : I think one local body could do the lot ; but such an alteration could only be brought about by special l legislation. It would be f or the various districts to make representations on the matter themselves. If such an alteration were made all would be interested in the. election of members, and the elections; would be keenly contested. Mr Snodgrass moved, and Mr Lipsey seconded a hearty vote of thanks and confidence to Mr Cadman, which was carried by acclamation. Mr Cadman having returned thanks, tire meeting closed.