HENRY GEORGE.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 480, 14 June 1890, Page 5

HENRY GEORGE.

Thf conclusion of Mr Henry George’s visit to New South Wales was recognised by a banquet at the private residence of Mr Sydney Burdekin, M.L.A., the Mayor of Sydney. A number of well-known gentle men had been invited to meet Mr George on this occasion. The proceedings were characterised by a general feeling of regret at the approaching departure of Mr George, and the toast of the Queen having been duly honoured, Mr Burdekin proposed the health of the guest, Mr George. The toast was supported by Messrs Reid, McMillan, Teece, Bruce, Smith, Wise, Carruthers, Pulaford, and O’Connor. In responding Mr George expressed great gratification at the reception which he had met with in these colonies, and drew a flattering comparison between the state of public affairs here and in the United States. He pointed out that in many things the Australian colonies were much in advance of America, referring especially to our system of balloting, and the state-ownership of the tramways, railways, and telegraphs. He had, he said, a great desire to see a commission appointed in America to visit these colonies, for the purposeof studyingour political institutions, in order to see how far they might with advantage be imitated in the States. Ho had been received throughout the whole of these colonies with the greatest enthusiasm, and he felt sure, judging from these indications, that the principles of free trade were very deeply planted in the hearts of the people. He also alluded to the marked decline in the American shipping during the past few years, and showed how this as well as many other evils under which the country was suffering, were due to a policy of protection. He spoke in the most hopeful manner of the future of the Australian colonies, feeling sure that they must all ultimately adopt a free trade policy, and in the attainment of this end the single-tax party, which followed absolutely on the lines of the Cobden school, would, lie trusted, go hand-in-hand with the free traders. The banquet was of an exceptionally pleasant character.