MR MONK, M.H.R.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 482, 21 June 1890, Page 5

MR MONK, M.H.R.

ADDRESS AT NORTHCOTE. Auckland, June 16. The following is our report of the presessional address of Mr B. Monk, M.H.R., to the Northcote and Birkenhead portion of his constituents in the Gladstone Hall on Friday evening last: — Mr Monk, after expressing his pleasure in meeting the electors, said that there were many questions regarding the present political state of New Zealand to which he would liko to refer. One of the foremost of these, closely affecting those present, was the subject of fruit-cultui-e in New Zealand, especially in the Auckland province. He referred to the action of the House in regard to the Codlin Moth Bill, and maintained that any person or tradesman selling fruit infected" with codlin moth should be punished by law. He looked upon the fruit industry of the colony as one of its greatest resources, and Auckland growers should do all that they could in the way of careful growing and packing to compete with the imported Californian fruit. Mr Monk thought that the political state of this country was very far from what it ought to be. He had the name in the House of being a great grumbler, and he had come before them that evening with this very object, to grumble at the existing state of things. Touching on the question of retrenchment, he thought that Government had not retrenched nearly enough—in fact, their pretended work of retrenchment had been a farce. In the matter of taxation New Zealand had become a perfecc Issachar crouching between the burdens of local government on the one hand,and the excessive load of taxation of the General Government on the other. The population were groaning under the weight of over-taxation, and a change must come about. The Legislature were very greatly to blame for this state of things, and for the many petty jobberies which had been perpetrated and for which the people had to pay. Notwithstanding the protestations of economy and retrenchment, he believed that the Ministry and legislators were still inoculated with the virus of the Vogelian ragime, and would borrow again to-morrow if public opinion only happened to waver a little in that direction. The population of New Zealand had, despite the manner in which ib was so heavily taxed, struggled against the odds heroically, and he pointed to the surprisingly great and increasing exportations of our produce as a proof of what could be done by a mere handful of people. Our foreign trade was looking well and promising, and he pointed to the magnificent and increasing fleet of steamers now carrying away cargoes from the colony to England. There could he no better proof than that of how little a Government can do for the people, and of what we could .do despite the lack of their aid.

What was wanting in the people of New Zealand was a fixity of purpose and a certainty of aim and resolution. This political vacillation was driving good men out of the country and keeping others away. Mr Monk spoke of the many little jobs and deceptions which had been practised on the country by Ministers and representatives, instancing the McAndrew memorial and other cases. Our Parliamentary representatives, he said, should be tbe most punctilious and honourable men in the land, and should nob bo capable of doing such things as they had done in the past, such as endeavouring to have the honorarium protected from the lawful claims of creditors. Speaking of borrowing and loans, Mr Monk said that for the future the people should dread borrowing as the burnt child dreaded the fire. What was needed in the present juncture of affairs was a Minietry and a Parliament with a proper earnest business spirit, resolved to deal conscientiously, firmly and honestly with the burning abuses of tbe day. He asked, were the people of New Zealand capable of returning a majority to Parliament of such men ? He said that the will of the people was simply baffled before the power of the chiefs of the Civil Service. Despite their professions of retrenchment the Government had nob retrenched at all, but had simply cleverly shunted the big highly - paid officials who held virtual sinecures into other comfortable pists by a sorb of kaleidoscopic action, and then tried to bamboozle people by pointing to this other vaunted retrenchment. The Government servants in Wellington were the Augean stable of the colony, and the political Hercules who could cleanse them had yet to arise. The only real remedy for this abuse was decentralisation and the extension of local government. In further remarks Mr Monk commended the land policy of the Government. Inthistherewasonlyoneserious fault, and that was the openings it afforded for speculation in Crown lands. The Hon. Mr Richardson had done wonders for the colony in the way of bona fide land settlement. His policy was the very next best thing to giving the land entirely away. Ho thought that the time had come when the immense areas of native lands should contribute something to the local bodies. Mr Monk also spoke in favour of the ’Frisco mail service, on education, and against the property tax. Speaking of the efforts of the Young Now Zealand party, he said it was patriotism that was going to make the country. The aim of all New Zealanders should be the building up of a grand and noble nation, which should be worthy of their ancestry. After answering some questions at the close, Mr Monk was accorded a hearty vote of thanks and confidence, on the motion of Mr J. A. Barber.

The Chairman was given a vote of thanks.