THE TE AROHA ELECTORATE.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 464, 19 April 1890, Page 2

THE TE AROHA ELECTORATE.

ADDRESS BY MR W. S. ALLEN. Mr W S At.UiN addressed the electors of the new electoral district of Te A'*olia, in the Public Hall, Te Arolia, on the evening of Tuesday last. There was a very' large audience, the Hall being well tilled, and amongst those present were several ladies who had braved the elements and the bad roads to enjoy hearing a political address by Mr Alien, who for such a number of years was a very active member of the British House of Commons. The chair was taken by MrE. Gallagher (chairman of the Te Arolia Town Board), and amongst those on the platform were the following: Rev G. B. Munro (Presbyterian); Rev T. A. Nome (Presbyterian); Rev F. G. Evans (Anglican) ; Rev Jno. Law (Wesleyan), Mr anil Mrs P. Ferguson, Miss Willis, Messrs George Lipsey, E. Y. Cox, J. B. Headicote, T. Gavin, and others.

In opening the proceedings the Chairman said Ladies and gentlemen, at the request of Mr Allen, I take the chair. Not being well acquainted with Mr Al’en. of course I cannot speak of his views of politics for this country, but I trust that you will give him a fair and impartial hearing. J have no doubt that at the conclusion of bis address he will answer any fair questions that may be put to him. I now introduce you to Mr Alien, who will address you. Mr Allen on coming forwarded was greeted with hearty applause. Ho said : Mr Chairman, Ladies, and Gentlemen. I must in the first place thank Mr Gallagher very sincerely for his kindness in coming to take the chair here this evening, and, in the second place, I must thank the audience for venturing out on this rough and inclement night. I feel I need not auk you for a quiet and patient hearing, because I inn quite sure you will accord me a fair, candid, and impartial one. (applause). I have always found, both in private and in political life, that honesty is the best poliev, and tin refom I am come hire to-night to speak out in a plain, straightforward, and manly way, my views on the leading topics of New Zealand politics. As tnis is the only chance I shall have of addressing a public meeting before I pay a hurried visit to England, I am anxious that you should hear me, not only as a great kindness to myself, but also that through ti e reporters, the rest of the constituency; may have an opportunity of reading my speech and judging of its merits, (applause). PERSONAL EXPLANATIONS. Now Ladies and Gentlemen, —In the first pluce, as I am a comparative stranger amongst you, I think you have a perfect right to a»k me who I am? I will be frank and candid with you. I had for (wentyi-onii years the honour to represent a large and important English constituency in the House of Commons. I was elected for the constituency—Newcustle-uniler-Lyme—in 18G5, Under the limited filin'* chise that then existed there were only t ight constituencies in England in which the working-class element predominated, and the Borough which sent me to Parliament was one of them, (applause). Thai constituency, when I left it, was a large und very important one. It contained no less Ilian eight thousand electors, and it had also in it two large towns and four or five smaller towns and a large agricultural and mining district—so that you see it was a very important constituency—and that constituency did me the honour to send me to Parliament for the space of 21 years, (applause). Well then, ladies and gentiemen, you may ask me what I was, and what I did while I had the seat in the British Parliament? Well, I will,til! you frankly—l belonged to what was called THE ADVANCED LIBERAL PARTY. And if you were to look on the record of my votes, you would find that I steadfastly supported the Reform Bills by wlicli Mr Gladstone gave to the people of the Three Kingdoms hou-ehold suffrage, (np pluuse). You will find that I likewise supported the Vote by Ballot, which gave every man the power to vote without fear or favour, for tbe candidate of his choice ; that 1 supported the Abolition of Purchase in the Army,-which opened the road for the poorest men to rise from the lowest to the highest rank, you will likewise find that 1 supported the two Land Bills which Mr Gladstone introduced for the amelioration of the position of the Irish tenant farmer ; in fact 1 think, you will hardly find a great measure introduced by the Liberal party to which I did not give a Iteuity and cordial support, (applause). Well, then, you may ask ine WHY I CAME TO NEW ZEALAND? Again, I will be perfectly frank with you. I have several sons— two of them are here on this platform—and I thought it only fair'to them to give these boys a chance, if they liked, of Colonial life. After careful investigation, I came to the conclusion that I 'nowhere could I leave them more happily, comfortably, and well fixed ns good citizens, in any of the colonies of Great Britain, thun in this, (applause). Therefore, five years ago I came here, and purchased two blocks of land, with the intention at some future time of settling two of my sons upon them. 1 Well then, the question has been put to me ; Why do 1 want to get into the New Zealand Parliament ? Well, I will tell yon frankly. It is not for the honorarium, or for any position that.l seek, but .it is simply this ; that, although I : am. past fifty years of age, I have a good deal of work left in me yet, and I do not want altogether to be laid on the shelf, (applause.) Therefore J am come here tonight not to ask you to send me to your House of but simply to say that, if you ask the' to go I am willing.to go and do my best to serve yon well and faithfully there, (applause.) SOME OBJECTIONS DISPOSED OF. Well, then, gentlemen, before I enter op the question of New Zealand politics, will you permit me to say a few words with respect to my candidature as discussed ..pt of dooj'H. The first of these objections is that I am a new man. Well, I suppose that is an objection that might fairly have been raj^ed,perhaps, against the

majority of those in I his room at some tun ■ or filter. T'gn’oß** most of os have been new men at some time, and if we had not been kindly taken by the hand by those Mint were older men in New Zealand than ourselves, it would have been a very had outlook for us. And,further, gentlemen, if I am a new man, I do not know that that is altogether a disadvantage, because it may be that, from my long service in the Impel ial Parliament, and it may he from having,seen a great deal of men of different countries, that I may be able to take somewhat broader views of some political questions than other men who ha ve not had the same advantages. Then, gentlemen, I iin asked : Do yon know anything about New Zealand politics ? I will not answer you that question, gentlemen When you have heard me speak, it will be for you to say whether I know anything about New Zealand politics or whether I do not. (applause). Then there is a third objection that lias been raised against me, which is almost too ridiculous to notice, but as I know the matter has been mentioned in some quarters, I feel hound to dial with it. The objection is that 1 am a landowner, Well, I candidly admit that I am a landowner,but I venture to point outto this intelligent audience that there is a great deal of difference between what I call a land owner, and a land speculator (hear, hear mid applause). The land-speculator is a man who buys a block of land with no intention,probably, of cultivating it,simply Waiting for it to rise in price, thereby keeping a better man out, and eventually selling it for what ho can get, The landowner, on the other hand, is a man who buys a block of land and comes and settles upon it, who farms it and spends money in the neighbourhood, who employs labour, and is a great benefactor to the country around, therefore, I claim that as a bindowner, who has spent thousands on his place, I am a benefactor to the neighbourhood, and 1 am not ashamed of looking any man in the face, anil fearlessly telling him so. Well, then, after these preliminary remarks, permit me to pass on for a few moments to the question of NEW ZEALAND POLITICS. You have a perfect right to ask me : What are you with respect to New Zealand polities? Well, I can tell you what I am not, and I do not know whether it will please you or whether it will displease you. I candidly te’l you I am not a supporter of Sir Julius Vogel, fappluu-o). I distrust the man, I distrust his policy, and I distru-t his principles. Yon may a«k me: Are you a supporter of Sit’ Hurry Atkinson? I have seen very little of him, hut what I have seen has impressed me with the idea that he is a straightforward, lione.-t, and upright man, and though, if you sent me to the House of Representatives, I should not go there as a blind supporter of Atkinson, I should certainly go as an opponent of Vogel, (applause). Well then, gentlemen, the next point, and a veiy important point, is this, the question of ECONOMY AND RETRENCHMENT. [am a firm advocate of the strictest economy combined with efficiency, and I mn likewise a firm advocate of the utmost retrenchment wherever vou can possible retrench, (applause). There has been a great deal said about debt in i our House of Representatives by your statesmen, and by others of the comm iriity next to New Zealand ; and, although .the question is rat her a dry and uninteresting one, I hope you will forgive me for devoting five minutes to it this evening. Your total debt in round figures may be stated at about L 37,000.000, and I see your annu.il income is about L4,300,00fi, and your annual expenditure is somewhat less than that, even allowing L 220,000 for your sinking fund. Now these are large figures, but still, when you analyse them you will see at once thegratify ing fact, that New Zealand 5b in it perfectly solvent state, (applause). I must confess I somewhat wonder at the very gloomy views, and the very deposing r m irks that many people are in the habit of muking with respect to the financial position of tins colony. They talk a great deal about its enormous debt, and l admit it is far too large, but there is one point I wbh to draw attention to this evening : Although there is L 37,000,000 of debt you have large assets. AMiat would you say of a merchant who had a large warehouse of his own, who was doing a large business, with his Btock all paid for,' if the man talked about nothing but his debt, and the wretched condition of his finances? You would say: The man is a monomanic. Look at your assets as a nation. You have in railways fourteen millions of money. As an impartial valuer, I should say the}' would be worth to a buyer about Li 2,000,000, Now, tliese railways are asse.s. Strike twelve millions off the thirty-seven millions, and you have only twenty-five millions left ; and you must remember that tliese railways are not only assets, but assets bringing in the large income of L 400,000 net profit a year. Then there are other assets that are bringing in no income at all, but still you have them. For instance there are your roads; L 3,500000 have been spent on these ; your public buildings which have cost between one and two millions ; your lighthouses, your harbours, and your harbour defences, on which more than LBOO,OOO have been spent ; the purchase of native lands, on which considerably more than a million has been spent ; immigration, upon which more than two millions has been spent. Now, these are all assets. I do not mean to say your roads are bring ing in an income in money, but they are bringing in an income in the way of contributing in every way to the prosperity of the country ; and so with your lighthouses, harbours, and harbour defences ; the same with your purchases of native lands ; and the same with your public buildings. All tliese are assets, (applause). I mention this just to show that even if you have spent L 37,000,000 in the coun try, a largo portion of it has been spent on t.ie railways, in toads, in harbours, and hnr bour defences,in light-houses,in promoting immigration, and in works of a really useful character, essential to the prosperty of your country, (loud applause). Now, gentlemen, I hope . you will forgive me for having placed these things before you, because i believe it is right that you should look not only on the dark side, but also on the bright side of the question. Here is another point, and a point of great importance. Your feurpejvrcept inscribed stock, of which you huye L24,Q00,000 stood in the London market three years ugo at (he low price of 94. Th.it stock stands now at between 107 find IQS; (Iqud appluqae}. What does

that mean ? It means that, public confidence in the financial position of New Zealand lias ino'ieased in a wonderful degree. It means Unit if yon had. to borrow Lj37,000,000 now, instead of having to pay 4|per cent; asyon would have had tc pay three years ago, you could now borrow at per cent, and in that single transaction save 1.185,000 in interest a year, (applause). Now, gentlemen, I have n»t mentioned these things in order to encourage you in a course of extravagance or expenditure. I have only mentioned these things because I have not seen them mentioned by any other New Zealand gentleman who has addressed either his constituents or those whom he .wishes to be his constituents ; und,j therefore, I thought it right to place them fairly before you. THE PROPERTY-TAX.

Then I come to another important ques tion, and one about which a great deal lias been said and written; that is ti e question of the Property-Tax. Now, the PropertyTax brings in about L 350,000 a year, and perhaps, when you look at it, at first sight it appears a perfectly fair, perfectly just .-.nd perfectly reasonable tax. Many may say : Is it not fair that a man who lias a thousand pounds, should pay his share, of taxation to the state and his neighbour who has ten thousand pound**, should pay ten times as much ? and s.* oil. The tax, like many other things, may appear fair and just when you liratlook at it, but if you examine it more thoroughly you will find there is another side to the question. I will put it in this way : Supposing I buy a place and pay LIOOO for it, the Property Tax, at one penny in the £ would come to £4 3s 4d a year. My neighbour likewise buys a place for which be gives LIOOO, and "he ton pays £4 3s 4d a year for Property-Tax. I set to work, and spend money on iriy place. I spend my time, and my labour upon it;.by the sweat of my brow and by the sweat of my brain I improve my place, and in a few years raise its value to L3OOO. The tux collector comes and collects from me tho snm of Ll2 10s, while my neighbour who has done nothing to improve his place is still paying L 4 3s 4d (applause). . In other words, the tax acts in this way: The industrious, steady, hard working, frugal man, who improves the value of his prop.rty; who trebles it in value by bis honest industry, you tax the additional sum of L 8 Gs 8d per annum for what he has done. Notwithstanding what other gentlemen may say, I cannot but consider that the Property Taxis, in-a certain degree, a tax on industry and a tax on thrift; a tax on hard labour and hard v:cr.c,(loud applause), and that being the case, whether it p>ea* es this audience, or whether it displeases, I honestly think that us soon as it can possibly be done, the Property-Tax ought to be removed (applause). THE RAILWAYS. Now. gentlemen, I come to another question, and that is the question of the Now Z •aland railways. As I sai 1 before, these railways have cost the State about fourteen millions of money. They are now hrimrre in an annual income of about one million, and. out of that million, about 1,400,G00 is clear profit. Your railways are. not a very large concern. In the Old Country, the London and North Western Railway ‘Company lias a capital of L1!2,000,000. and an annual income of LI I,COO- - The ■Midland Railway Comp inv lias a capital of L70.fi00.000, and an annual income of Tiß.fioo.ooo. So that your rail ■ wavs ought not to he very formidable matters to deal with after all. But in going about I find cm tain complaints made as to the management of those railways. I am told : This man cannot get his land fenced; that freights are ho high,as to be almost prohibitory ; that the railway officials do not give that accommodation that they ought to do. Now, gentlemen, probably no man in this room has had so much experience of railways, both in England and America, and in Canada, as I have had,and my experience has taught me there are two policies in managing a railway, One is a miserable, wretched, cheese-paring,little-minded policy, that is always seeking to ruise revenue by charging as high passenger fares as you possibly can; raising and demanding unreasonable freights; by taking off trains if they don’t justpay for running; in fact starving your traffic, and disgusting and driving away your customers, who would otherwise use your line, (applause). This is the policy I find invariably pursued by men who know nothing about railways and think they know a great deal (laughter ; and and applause). There is another policy : To endeavour as far as possible to please and accommodate your customers; to endeavour to attract passengers to your line, by charging the lowest fares possible with the smallest margin of profit; by endeavouring to attract as much freight as you can, by charging tho lowest possible rates for the different products sent over your line, (applause) Suppose a train does not,pay, do not at once take it off, but endeavour to make it pay by keeping it on; give all, the facilities possible, make the line popular, anil,attract custom, and after a time you will find it paying better than by adopting the former policy, (applause) lam connected .with different lines in Canada and America, which convey thousands of tons of grain and thousands of tons of meat, and the fares which are charged on these lines are amazingly low— I might say ridiculously,low —but it {.ays and, if we were to act differently, our neighbours would get the traffic, competition is so keen. I do not know whether the charges against your railway management are correct or not, but Ido say it is the duty of the Government,and,.of the State, as owners of the railways, to give every facility for. encouraging, passenger traffic; to give every facility for encouraging the carriage of freight; to make the railways as popular and as great a convenience to the nation at large as you possibly can do. I do not know whether it would meet the views of the audience, but I think if l had the management of the New Zealand railways, I should be very strongly tempted to run a cheap excursion trip from Auckland toTe Aroha every Saturday afternoon in summer, and back again on Monday morning. I believe in the long ruu it would pay, and, above all, would give Aucklanders an opportunity of seeing this beautiful town, its excellent baths, and tljia delightful neighbourhood, (applause). EDUCATION.

Here, gentleman, 1 come to another question, about .which I liuve heard some what different views expressed, and that is the question of Education. I am one of those who hold very strong views as to the duty of the State with respect to Edugatjon, I hold if is the duty of the

State to see that every child ip the State is educated with what I would call a good elementary education. T was one of tin eailiest advocates of compulsory education in the British Parliament, and I am very glad to see you have that piincip'e unforced in New Zealand. Now, I see that the Minister of Education last year had* L 369,000 voted for the education of this country. Thatseems tome to be a very largo sum. Now, I wish, with respect to the question of Education to speak in a very careful and very guarded manner. I strongly advocate every boy and, girl being taught thoroughly well to read and write, and do sums in arithmetic; likewise that they should have a knowledge of their own country, and a certain knowledge of geography and the history of the World. , But there are limits beyond which Ido not think it is tho duty of the State to go, except in the case of children of extraordinary talent (loud applause) ; and this being the case, I think it is very necessary that this Education vote should he yearly very carefully watched in order that there may ho no extravagance, and in order that the principle that J have laid down, may be carried into effect, viz, : That every child should receive a sound elementary education, but that you should only go beyond that point with the money of the Stuto in the case of children of extraordinary capacity. MINING AND AGRICULTURE. Now gentlemen, I am coming to another important subject to this constituency, that is the question of mining interests. Just before l dime here this afternoon I received a letter fro.it a valued friend of mine, and in that letter he told me that this election would be a struggle between the mining and the agricultural interest*. Now, gentlemen, l candidly tell j on from this platform that I would decline to ho sent to your Parliament as the sole representative of the agricultural interest, and I would likewise decline' to represent the mining interest alone, If Igo to your Parliament I must go : there as the fair representative of all interests alike, (applause) because, aft.er all, you cannot close vour eyes to die fact that the interests of Loth agriculturists and miners in this electoral division are kWificsd. Everything that contributes to the prosperity of tho mining interest in this division likewise contributes to the prosperity of the agricultural interest here. The more tho miner prospers, the better market there will be for the farrier's produce, for his mutton, and whatever else he has to sell ; and, just in the same way, the better the farm* r gets on, tho cheaper will ho be able to sell his produce to the miner. Now, the mining interests to New Zealand aro very large and very important. With respect to gold mining, I see that in the la-t financial year the gold raised in New Zealand amounted to the sum of 1,831 ,fififi, and l see that during the same jx-riod, from the Thames, Te Aroha. and Chineniuri, 46,0 DD ounces of gold were raised. I see, likewise, that in New Zealand some 12,600 men are employed in mining, and that their average take during die last year was. some L 65 each. I .'imply mention do se statistics to slimv you tne importance of die mining interest, so far as gold alone is concerned. I should do all that lies in my power to further and advance tin mining interest, not at the expense of .igiieulture, but along, with it, because I am convinced that what is for the benefit of one is for the be:n fit of both; that the prosperity of each, is more or less dependent upon the prosperity of the other (applause). A FREETRADER. Now, gentlemen, there is one suhj-ct—l do not know whether I am wise to touch upon it—but as l said at the beginning, it is best to be thoroughly honest, nml 1 inuM tell you that lam a freetrader. Free trade enables every nuts to buy in the cheapest and best market, and I oin convinced of this, that as a general rule, prot* etion is a protecting of the interests of tho few at the expense of the many (applause). Now, I lay that doftn as a broad principle, fearless of cont' - adii tion. Of course I have not had much experience of New Zealand politics. There may lie some feeble, struggling industry that possibly may wish to he protected for a time. About that I cannot say what its merits might be or what its demerits might be, but of one thing I am satisfied, and it is that the principle of freetrade is a sound, a righteous, and a just principle (applause), FEDERATION. Here I come to another important question. It does not at present very intimately affect you in this constituency, but by and by, depend upon it, it will be a very important question for the whole of New Zealand fairly to consider. That question is federation with the great Australian colonies. Now, so far us the five Australian colonies of Queensland, Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, and Western Australia, are concerned, 1 can easijy see that, in every re pect, to be federated together will be of great advantage to them. It will be of great advantage in the way of having freetrade between each of those five colonies; it. will be advantageous to them in the way of defence, and advantageous in the prestige it will give them. Here comes the question, and it will be a question for the electors of New Zealand to decide : la it for our advantage to join this great federation of Australia? I confess I cannot at present express any decided views on this point. There are certain objections to taking such .a step; that New Zealand is twelve hundred miles away; that her representatives may be swamped by the Australian repretentatives; that her interests are not identical with those of Australia, These are objections that may fairly be urged against federation. On the other hand, there is much in favour of the idea, It would open up by and bye a boundless market in Australia for New Zealand producers, thereforo would pot pronounce, dogmatically, unj views on this question, as it would not bo fair for me to decide upon that point without much fuller consideration. One thing will you permit me to say, gentlemen : I trust nothing will ever weaken orsnap tho tie of love and affection that binds New Zealand to the OIJ Fatherland (loud ap* plause). I know, from my own experience amongst English statesmen and men in high positions in the House of Com-, mons, that there has been a great change in their views with regard to the colonies of late years. Five and twenty years ago some of our ablest statesmen thought very little of the colonies. When they had to deal with them they were apt la snub them and disregard their wishes, but .all that is changed now. Uonservativo