TE AROHA ELECTORATE.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 470, 10 May 1890, Page 2

TE AROHA ELECTORATE .

•' A good candidate: Under the heading, “A Good Candidate,” the Wellington Evening Press; in a leading, article refers to Mr W. S. Allen and his recent address to the electors at; Te Aroha, as follows: *; We havenotunfreqnently had to criticise the speeches of our colonial legislators, delivered within and without the waits of Parliament, and to animadvert on the general barrenness and want of matter displayed. It is agreeable to turn from such specially infructuous wrangling as that of Mr Hislbp’s recent utterance at OanmrUjto a speech delivered in the course of the present month by Mr W.S. Allen to the electors of Te Aroha, and for knowledge of which we are indebted to the Tk Aroha and Ohjnem'uui News. Mr Allen represented for over 20 years in the English House of Commons a large'and r essentially working men’s constituency—- . that of Newcaatlerunder-Ljune, 1 That j. constituency, in 1885, reckoned 8000 votes, and contained 8000 voters, and contained i a group of two large towns, four’smaller towns,.end embraced a large agricultural ’’ and mining district. Mr Allen has come out ;to settle in Hew Zealand. Mr Allen pursued the general plan of a New Zealand candidate, in making a declaration of his opinions on the various moot points on what may he accepted as colonial politics. But what strikes us as distinguishing Mr Allen from others is the singularly frank, manly, and decided tone, in which those opinions are expressed Where Mr Alien is cautious, his caution is not a bliiid for ah alternative policyj uut a: pretence to avoid displeasing one i>rthe other side, but the open determination not to hind himself on questions on which us he alleges his inexperience of colonial questions aayet compels him. to suspend? judgment. It is very difficult by: mere extracts toin from them context, to give our readers an idea the general character and straightforward and- shrewd honesty by which the whole is pervaded, but at any rath it will serve, our purpose to give some of hie opinions in his,own words rather than ta interpret them for him," again reminding om readers .that, they are only scraps from an intelligible whole. Speaking of leaders nnd their lines of policy, he says ,v;WI candidly tqll you I am not a supporter of

Sir JuliuH Vogel. I distrust the man, I distrust his policy, and I distrust his principles. You may ask me : Are you a supporter of Sir Harry Atkinson ? I have seen very little of him, but what I have seen has impressed me with the idea that h« is a straightforward, honest, and upright man. and though, if you sent me to the House of Reprerentatives, ] should not go there as a blind supporter of Atkinson, I should certainly go as an opponent of Vouel.” Hie" remarks on economy and retrenchment are admirable. They show a statesmanlike grasp of the sound value of'"our resources wi.li the firm resolution of a man who refuses to waste them or deluge them with debt. Speaking of Property - tax he says, after pointing out how it strikes at enterprise and industry : “ Notwithstanding what other gentlemen may say, I cannot but consider that the Property tax is, in a certain degree, a tax oh. industry and a tax on thrift. ; a tax on hard labour and hard work, and that being the case, whether it pleases this audience, or whether it displeases, I honestly think that as soon as it can possibly be done, the Property-tax ought to be removed,” We must conclude with an extract from Mr Aden’s remarks on railway management, comulting our space and our readers’ patience :—• J f “ Now gentlemen^,probably no man in this room has had SO iriuoll experience of railways, both in England arid Ameiica, and in Canada, as I,have bad, and my experience has taught me there are two policies in managing a railway.' 'One is a miserable, wretched, cheeseparing,' dittle-min ed policy, that is always seeking to raise revenue by charg ng as high passenger fares' as you possibly can, and raising and demanding unreasonable freights ; by taking off trains if they don’t jusc pay for running ; in faot, starving your traffic and disgusting and driving away your customers who would otherwise use your line. This is the polioy I find invariably pu”su. d 1 y men who know nothing about railways and think they know agn at deal. 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 the loweßt possible rates for the different products sent over your line. Suppose a train does not pay, do not take it off, but endeavour to make it pay by keeping it on ; give all the facilities possible, make the line popular and attract custom, and after a time you will find it paying better than by adopting the former policy,. I am 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 arc amazingly low —I may say ridiculously low—but it pays, and if we were to act differently our neighbours would get the traffic, competition is so keen. Ido not know whether the charges against your railway management are correct or not, but I 'do say it is the duty of tlie 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.” There is a ling of experience and common sense about this and about all Mr Allen’s remnike that leads us to express an earnest hope that tlie Te Aroha electors will do honour to themselves and a service to the colony by returning Mr Allen as their representative to the ensuing Par liament.”