MR JOHN BRYCE.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 448, 22 February 1890, Page 4

MR JOHN BRYCE.

ADDRESS AT HAMILTON. Hamilton, Feb. 15. Mr Bryce addressed the electors of Waipa to-night. 1 There was a good attendance, and Mr Primrose, Chairman of the Waikato County Council, presided in the absence of the Mayor. Mr Bryce commenced his address by acknowledging the exceedingly handsome manner in which the district treated him in the last election. It might very well be that they would be mistaken in him, and that he might turn out not to be of that use either to the electors or to the colony that they fondly anticipated ; but, at any rate, they believed that he was likely to be useful, and acting in the interests oi the colony, had given the spirit of localism the greatest and strongest rebuke that was within his memory. Mr Bryce then went on to refer to

THE LATE MAJOR JACKSON, who, ho said, before he took that last fatal voyage for him, stayed at his (the speaker’s) house for a couple of days, so that although he had known him for a very long time, he might also claim the most recent acquaint" ance with him. The services that Major Jackson had rendered to the colony were in one way historical, so that in one way ho need notfurther refer to them. Theyall knew them. Bub there wasone little matter which, as it was connected with himself personally, he ought to state.. He remembered one occasion, when Mahuki, a fanatic at that time, whatever fie might be now, threatened to come into Alexandra, with some method in his madness, for he had no doubt be intended to capture a number of the inhabitants of that township, and go back tohis own place, seeking thereby toincreasehis mana amongst the Maoris. In the position he (Mr Bryce) was in at the time, he could not leave anything to chance, bub must take every step which was necessary to effect his capture. It was a holiday, and there was very great difficulty in getting the telegraph offices open, but at last he gob the office open at Te Awamutu, and Sent the officer to Kihikihi to Major Jackson, whom he found in bed, and got him to come to the office and speak to him. The first thing lie asked Major Jackson was, “How long it would take him to muster liis troop of cavalry at Alexandrabut his reply was prompt and decisive, as one might expect him to be—- “ I will be there in four hours.” He (Mr Bryce) gave him a longer time than that—till ten o’clock next morning. He performed that duty well and faithfully. It was well for the country that services such as he rendered should be recognised—recognised whilst the man was alive, and remembered after his death. After alluding to a difference which he once had with the Thames volunteers, and his conviction that such a disagreement would nob prevent that corps from responding at any time bo a call on behalf of New Zealand, Mr Bryce proceeded to dip into political questions.

MAORI LANDS. Taking first the subject of native affairs, he said it was known that in native affairs as in other affairs, he was in favour of nothing except plain, straightforward dealing that may be seen and appreciated of all men, and that he detested mystery and humbug of all kinds in such dealings. Although at one time he had other ideas whereby more of the land belonging to the Maori race might be preserved as an inheritance for them for all time, or whilst any of them remained upon the earth, he could see clearly enough that there was only one course of dealingwith the Maoris, and with the land, that was.likely to be possible. At the present moment they numbered oidy about five per cent, of the population, and in the course of twenty years they very likely would nob be two per cent, of the population. He thought that the best thing possible for the ;Maoris was that they should throw in their lob with us, and become as much like ourselves as possible. In regard to their lands, all that he would now struggle for was to endeavour to secure for the Maori race ample reserves which may be treated exceptionally, and to leave the rest of their land to be dealt with by themselves, just in fact as Europeans might deal with their lands. He could see clearly that before many years are past it would no longer be tolerated by the colony that large areas of land shall be left unoccupied, and free from charges and burdens, but that such land shall be held to be responsible for aiding the expense of government in very much the same way as European land is held responsible—(cheers)—and he saw no injustice in such a course. LOCAL GOVERNMENT. Speaking on the question of local government, he observed that he had been a country settler all his life, and for a good part of his earlier years he was engaged in the active work ot local government, in the way of road boards, school committees, and so on, and had always felt very great interest in the question. He for one would have no hesitation in' imposing largo and heavy duties upon local bodies and local men, but he would make those bodies as simple and few as possible, and in giving the men the work to do Avould give them the power and dignity of office. RAILWAY MANAGEMENT. He might be sure of their sympathy if he were to discuss at great length the management of the New Zealand railways —(cheers) —because he had full knowledge of how that railway system Avas introduced; he had full knowledge of under what pretences this money for the construction of the railways was raised, and he said that the tacit engagement made Avith the country was that these railways were intended to open up the country and promote the settlement of interior districts. (Loud cheers.) So far as that tacit engagement had nob been carried out, so far had those who are responsible for the railway management broken faith with the public of New Zealand. That was his opinion on the matter. It Avas loudly alleged that those who had undertaken the management of the railways had done so, not upon the principle that they belong to the Government, and ought to be used, so far as the opening up of the interior was concerned, at all events, for public purposes, but they had been managed, as is alleged and claimed, on commercial principles. He did not know that he should so much object to that if those commercial principles were only applied and administered in an intelligent manner. In the States of America railways Avere in the hands of private companies, and taking the article of wheat alone from the Western States, they would see that wheat Avas carried for almost a nominal sum per bushel. The companies knew what they were about. They had certainly reduced the carriage of grain and other produce to a minimum, but if they did not carry it at that low rate, obviously they would not get it to carry at all. If our railways must really be managed on commercial principles, and if ’ faith must be broken with that original understanding on which, the money was borrowed,i then at all events let those commercial be of as broad a character any way as private cbmpanies in America would adopt. If so, the

matter argued this way:—“We must carry things upon the railway. With regard to our carriage freight from the interior, we must carry produce at a low price, and if' we do that we will increase the quantity of produce to be carried, and even on that broad and intelligent commercial principle it will be a proper thing to do to reduce the freights to a minimum. ” (Cheers.) RETRENCHMENT. Alluding to the question of retrenchment in the expenses of the Government in the public service, he had half a notion that he went in this matter a little beyond themselves, because on the question of retrenchment he felt the word perhaps in a broader sense than some might possibly do. lie was not referring now when speaking of retrenchment to the mere question of reducing a salary here, or striking off a salary there, or attacking the Civil Service in such a way. He had never been an advocate for the reduction of wages or the reduction of salaries below what was justly due to the labour given, and he would noton any account advocate such a thing as that. (Cheers.) Still, he thought, and believed firmly, that retrenchment, even in that way, was possible to a very considerable extent; but the retrenchment lie spoke of was wider than that, and was a retrenchment which could not be carried out by any Government unless it had thesvmpathy and support of the outside general public. The retrenchment he spoke of might, perhans, have the effect of depriving the public of some of those modern conveniences which they had grown accustomed to, almost as necessities, and in his opinion before we had retrenchment efficiently carried out within the sense in which we used the term, public opinion would have changed in such a way that it would authorise the Government to make retrenchments which miglitpossibly involve some sacrifice on the part of the public themselves. Such retrenchment had, in his opinion, become. a necessity for the country. He wished to direct their attention for a moment to the condition ot the colony. He was not going to bother them with figures at all. Very considerable sumß were being now expended out of loan—out of whatwascalled the public works fund—and this could not continue in the nature of things, unless they were prepared to go in for fui ther borrowing, or unless they secured extensive retrenchment. From the Public Works Statement of last year he only took five . items. Of course, there were hundreds of items, but he would , only refer to these five. There was the item, “additions to open lines of railways, £30,000.” They would understand there were what are called construction votes for railways which, as long as they were making railways and spending money upon them, were perfectly legitimate expenditure. Those improvements should only be made where the railway was paying sufficiently well to justify them, that was when the profits ot the railway would themselves pay for the improvements on the railway. (Hear, hear.) That was done to some extent, of course. This £30,000 which was now expended on improvements to open lines, was taken out of loan, and charged against loan. They would see the conclusion he would presently draw from that. Then to open lands before sale £45,000 was taken from loan. More laudable expenditure than that could scarcely be conceived ; but it was easy to conceive that it must cease to be borrowed from money we borrow for the purpose, or otherwise it is obvious that loans must continue. That £45,000 must be added to the £30,000. Then there was expenditure out of loan on village settlements, £19,000. It was a moot point, and a debateable point, whether that was a proper expenditure or not. But upon that question he did not enter now : but this plan of taking away money from our current expenditure was certain to lead the colony into very grave financial difficulty. Then there was the item, roads on goldfields, £30,000. He was speaking of sums required this year, and underj the Public Works Statement £30,000 was required out of loan for roads on goldfields, and for public buildings £48,000. He had just taken these five items, amounting in the aggregate to £172,000, because he did not want to trouble them with figures, and they would serve as an illustration as to what he meant as well as anything else. Now, if that kind of thing was to go on, what was it going to lead us to ? That appeared to be the real question at the present time. They had taxation tolerably heavy, and if those sums, now taken out of the loan—the loan money thus rapidly becoming exhausted were taken out of revenue, of course they would either require more revenue, or have retrenchment in other directions. He did nob wish to deny for one moment that the Government had gone a very considerable length in that direction. In his opinion, however, they had not gone far enough; but he was not prepared to say absolutely that they had gone as far as public opinion would have justified them in going. He had a very vivid recollection of a serious attempt which was made in 1879 to retrench to a very large extent. In his own department he did retrench to a very large extent, and did it with great pain and grief and sorrow but almost as soon as the Government of which he was a member was relieved of office a great deal that he had done was undone, and not only was it undone, but he was sorry to say it was undone amidst popular applause, so far as popular applause could be gathered from a considerable section of the newspaper press. Was not that a very discouraging thing, and was he nob jusbitied in saying now that he doubted whether public opinion was entirely ripe for serious retrenchment in his sense of the term ? Nevertheless he could see that if we did not retrench, and retrench in a- wise sense, we should get into very serious difficulties. Take alone, as an example, that sum of £172,000. Was that to go on ? One of four things must certainly accrue—either we must retrench in the way =tated, or must discontinue services, some of which could only be discontinued at a loss to the colony, or must continue to borrow in order to keep up this expenditure, or we must increase the taxation of the country. An honest Government and an honest people will have no hesitation which of those alternatives to choose; bub they will choose, even at some sacrifice to themselves, to retrench in the full sense of the term rather than get into serious difficulty, which, at the best, only staves off the evil day. (Cheers.) But, speaking as a practical man with some derstand&ng of politics, he was sorry to say that what he saw ahead as a matter of probability was a further indulgence in the pernicious luxury of borrowing, unless public opinion checked it. Before very long the necessity for further loans, large or small, would be shown so strongly that no Government would be able to resist it. That was what he was afraid of ; and nothing, in his opinion, would stop it but the creation of a public, healthy sentiment. ’ 1 ' ’ THE PROPERTY TAX. With regard to the property tax he might remark that objections may be raised to every tax, and it could be shown that eveiy tax is an injury to the country in some wajv The .chief argument that , he had heard against the property .tax was that it is a tax on thrift and industry. Now, in his

opinion, there never has been a tax imposed except it was a tax on thrift and industry; it was utterly impossible to impose any tax except a tax that comes on thrift and industry. You might as well try to get blood out of a stone as get taxation from any other source whatever. Of course, there are different kinds of industry. There is what may be called current industry. If a man is earning 6s a-day with his spade or shovel, or at a flaxmill, and that is taxed, that is a tax on current industry. If a professional man is earning £I,OOO a-year, and he is taxed, that is a tax on currenc industry. Bub if a tax is imposed upon accumulated property, which a man may inherit from his father, or a father may make, over to his son, that is a tax upon accumulated industry. The property tax is a tax upon accumulated industry. It is a tax, strictly speaking, on property such as might be inherited from a father or left to a son. He asked whether property should not be expected to pay towards the expense of government? Government exists fov the purpose of protecting the lives, the liberty, and property of its subjects, and why property should be expected to escape from paying its share of the taxation he was alwaj s unable to understand. Take some of the republics of America. Take Peru, or Chili, or Brazil, or the Island of Hayti. How gladly property-holdei’s there would pay the tax, and a very large tax, for such protection as even New Zealand now enjoys for its property. Another objection taken towards the property tax is this: “Very well,” it may be said, “ that is right enough. Tax property, but do not tax property that docs not yield an income. Bo nob do that, sir, at any rate ; when property only yields a sufficient income, take caie not to tax it too highly, but let the property which yields a good income pay.” Can that be seriously said ? If it is seriously said what does it mean ? It moans that the man who occupies his land and labours upon it, the man who invests his money wisely, and the man who has a good business and trade, and the man who makes an income out of property, is bo be taxed to the hilt ; but the man who leaves his property unoccupied, the man who invests unwisely, the man who does not attend to his machinery, and so on, he is to to be left off. Such an argument advocates a property tax on thrift and industry with a vengeance. (Applause.) Ibis said, and it is the most plausible of all the objections to it, “Very well,we admit allthat, but at any rate do nob tax improvements.” But the deeper they went into that question and studied it they would see that improvements and all property must be classed in the same category. If a man struggles to earn money, and so earns it by the sweat of his brow, or any other legitimate means, and invests it, say, on a piece of land, surely that is the result of thrift and industry ; surely it must be classed in the same way with the improvements he afterwards makes upon it. LAND TAXATION. Some politicians talked about putting the whole burden of taxation on the country or on land. He bad thought the subject out as far as his limited capacity would enable him, and he declared that his opinion was that the thing was utterly impracticable. Why, the country was barely able, even at the present time, to bear the burdens that had been imposed upon it, and the country never had been able to bear the burdens imposed upon it in the colonisation of the country fuliy. That fact had been recognised by Government after Government —Provincial and General Government. What was meant by the subsidies which were constantly given tothe country, excepban acknowledgment that the country was not able to bear the burdens of colonisation which were cast upon it? (Hear, hear.) To come to the present day. Did he not see a statement iin a paper here a very short time ago, that in the county of Waipa alone 50 settlers had not paid their rates, and could not be gob to pay their rates ? It was not suggested for a moment that there was essential unwillingness on the part of the settlers to pay, but they were not able to pay even the small amount of money without sacrificing property, and at an unfavourable time. It was gravely talked about imposing direct taxation upon land, which was to bear the whole burden of the taxation of the country. It was utter and downright nonsense to depend upon it. REDUCTION OF THE PROPERTY TAX. He had a plan in his own mind which he believed was the best plan for reducing the property tax, or perhaps abolishing it altogether. " There were two plans. One plan, which he had heard repeatedly stated, was to take care that at the next general election all candidates shall be pledged to vote for the total repeal of the property tax. An electorate has a perfect right, if it likes, to impose a pledge upon its candidates, but* he said any electorate that does exercise that right, unless with the greatest care and caution, acts unwisely, because it is easy to degrade the representation of the country, and to convert representatives, or those who should be representatives in the higher and better sense, into mere delegates. No doubt there would be plenty of candidates forthcoming who would so pledge themselves. No difficulty would be found in that way. Plenty of candidates would be ready to take that pledge, or any other pledge that you may impose upon them. But create a public sentiment in favour of retrenchment, and we would be able, in the broader sense, to retrench to such an extent that we would be able to reduce the property tax, and very possibly abolish it altogether. That was the most feasible plan. By the one plan they would elect candidates and would degrade them to a certain extent,and we would, in his opinion, get no nearer the end ; in the other case what they had got to do was to select candidates, plain, common sense men, who had a character for economy and plain dealing, and absence of speculation, and put them in unpledged, with a high character; and retrenchment, if they created the necessary public opinion, might be carried out, and it would be much more likely to lead to tho attainment of their object in doing away with the property tax certainly than the other plan of which he had spoken. THE TACTICS OF THE OPPOSITION. In his election address and his address that night he had not expressed unqualified approval of the actions of the Government; but he did not desire it to be understood in the slightest that he was expressing sympathy with the present Opposition in any sense" whatever. Indeed, he regarded the tactics of the Opposition in the House of Representatives of late years as being exceedingly bad and discreditable. They had been obstructing measures, and using the forms of the House for the purpose of obstructing measures, not because they objected to pass the measures, but because they said the Government was so weak they could not pass measures which they considered essential to the well-being of the country. They thought to throw discredit on the Government, and they certainly had injured the machinerv of legislation. FEDERATION. In conclusion, Mr Bryce spoke upon the subject of Federation. It did. not appear to him possible at the present time to federate in a complete manner, and while lie would express the fullest sympathy with

Australian Federation, wo must pause and consider well before we committ the solemn act of federation, from which there would be no withdrawal. After a few concluding remarks, the speaker sat down amid loud applause. EDUCATION. In reply to a question by Mr Parr, Mr Bryce said the present education system was a good one, though he had some objection to its present details, which he. need not enter upon. Any system of education could only in effect be secular, and the demands for grants to denominational schools could not be conceded. There was a common ground upon which ‘children might very well be taught by the State. After they passed that common ground, his doctrine was,. that the denominations themselves should look after the education of the children. On the motion of Captain Steele, a vote of thanks and confidence in Mr Bryce was earned unanimously. I‘ In proposing the vote of thanks Captain Steele said some of those present might not agree with Mr Bryce on all the points he had touched upon To his mind Mr Bryce did not make the pro perty tax question verj clear; but he thought they might be proud to get a mem ber who, if not quite in accord with them on all points, would tell him his honest con vietions. Mr Bryce duly acknowledged the and the meeting terminated.