The Taranaki Seat.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7938, 29 September 1905, Page 2

The Taranaki Seat.

Mil J. J. ELWIN'S CANDIDATURE Mr J. J. El win addrossed a fairly well attended meeting of electors in tho Theatro .Royal oil Thursday evening. The chair was taken by Jlr CI. Tisch, who introduced the speaker as an old friend, and referred to the high esteem in .which ho was held by the settlers in the Warea dis. trict, where he had resided for many years. Mr Elwin, in ,n. fluent extempore speech which took an hour and a half in delivery, made a good impression, and .was frequently applauded. He said that he took the attendance as a compliment to a comparative stranger, deferring to

the great importance of the country interests ol Taranaki, he argued that there was every justification for a country candidate, and that was tho opinion held in 'the district. During the lust 21 years this constituency had been represented by town men, and as the interests of the'lown and country were practically identical, for the one was dependent on the other, it was only fair that ,thc country should have the representation in its turn. For many jears the constituency had bwn .represented toy a member who was enthusiastic in the ironsand industry, but it was practically no further advanced than when lie started, 110 <i»cted figures to show the advances of tho town and district in connection .with the 'butter industry, to support his conten-

tion that the country was perfectly justified in view of the largx; inter-) ests involved in asking for a representative. At the present time there were three candidates professing to represent the farmers' interests. One candidate said positively tihat 'he was going to follow the Opposition in every possible way, and another confessed that he was a wcWbler—'his sympathies were with the Opposition, but if be could possibly manage it he would get in ns a nominal supporter of the Government. He (Mr Elwin) declared straight out that his sympathies were with the .present Government (Applause), but at the same time 'he was not there to whitewash all the legislation that had Ircen going on of late years. While not altogether satisfied, thtf right way to go to work was to ■ assist in bringing the Government back to the true ijiberal principles which worked for the benefit of the country, rather than to I put others ill office who were unknown and untried. The candidate proceeded to deal 'ably and at length on the land {question. He believed tho people had made up their minds that the freehold must come back as being the only tenure that would bring prosperity. ][« 'dec'aral that the freehold must be granted again, but without harassing restrictions, so that t'he poorest mam could get on the land, 'and every sixpence put b£ go to the gradual reduction of the liability, Ho 'believed in a system that, would allow a longer period to pay off t'he liability than under the present 'deferred payment system. Whatever | method was adopted, it must be provided that the.' land would ultimately become tbe holder's property., The residential qualifications imposed on persons when \|hey took up back block sections required modification, so that people could lake up land, so long as improvements 1 were carried out, and thus provido homes for the future. (Applause.)' 'He dhl not approve of the Government buying large'estates for subdivision. It was going ahead of the times, when there were six million acres of Crown land and seven million acres of native land non-producing. He did not hold with t'he Premier's attitude on the land question, and considered the costly Land Commission had done no earthly good. The money could have been spent to better advantage in roading the 'back blocks. The candidate dua't trenchantly with the question of idle native lands, which were producing very little except noxious weeds, and said that unless the owners utilised the land t'he Go vernment must step in and let the holdings to the l'akeha on the best terms they could. (Applause.) The feeling of insecurity in regard to leases under t'he ; Act iof 1.892 should be removed, for there was nothing whatever to hinder the Government declaring that these lands should be treated as Crown lands. The leasehoders are perfectly willing to pay a fair value for the freehold, lyut nut the valuation made by Mr Hill, as all their own efforts in paying- road and harbour rates.' .establishing dairy factories and 'halls, ■etc., should not be made an additional charge. The system of valuation should also be bettered, many of the valuator's figures being arrived at on a fictitious basis.

Dealing with flcft-ncp, lie believed, after paying the colony's »juota to mival defence, in' encouraging universal rifle shooting. At present there were too ninny restrictions on country corps. These corps should get a week or t ur's training liv t'he slack season, anil rifle butts s-hould be established at nil suitable places. The Government, had 'done a great ileal for labour, but lie did not approve of too liiueb pampering-. On the subject of roads for the back blocks the candidate spoke from personal experience of the hardships settlers lmve to contend with. Tho people were told by the Government of the amount spc-nt in roads, but nothing was said of the proportiim wasted under the present system. He held that the money should ibe ■granted to the local 'bodies to expend', and that it should be fixed by the wants of the various: districts -and tho willingness of t'hc people to pay rates to the local bodies, which would take oare to expend the money to tire best advantage. (Applause.) As to railway construction, it would 'lie better to leave some of tire works and put more energy Into those that were important. He had every sympathy with the settlers between E'ltham and Opunake, and considered our district, was far more important than many of the districts where little railways were being made. We should wait and then de. mmid that if t'he Uovernment were not able to do the work, an Act should be passed to allow people to dp it thomselves .with their own money. We had to pay heavy rates for the maintenance of the' South Road, wrieh was of little use, and he favoured the opening up, of t-h* Carringtoii Road route. Were that road formotl, a light lino of railway could be cheaply constructed, of great benefit to the town and the settlers. ...

Education came ,in for a 'good- deal of attention at Hie 'hands of the speaker. The excessive cost of providing books for school children was criticised, also faddism on tire syllabus, though he approved of all fa- i cilities for secondary and 'technical education. Education should be kept purely secular, and lie. objected to Bible-reading In schools. The liquor question was a 'delicate one ; he was neither a Prohibitionist ncr ill favour of licenses. (A voice : " You j are a wobbler." Daughter.) lie did not favour Pro. hibit'ion in one district and it being a crime in the adjoining- district to get a xlrink,. It should either be nolicense or; license throughout the colony. He favoured another issue being put before the people—''Free trade,'' and also ''Municipal Control." lie believed strongly in the eflicacv of the Jptter. If carried, the hotels should be taken .over after a . certain number of years' notice, on the actuarial value of the business ; wlvon the change was allirmed. The gambling evil was criticised, and the candidate favoured a stop being put to telegraphing money for betting on the totalisafor,

Instead of abolishing the Legislative Council, it should be built up to its former, standard !by appointing tho best men available. He complained of the manufacture of different Government' Departments, and the unnecessary multiplication of civil servants. The burden of maintenance was becoming too severe a drag on the country when the money was urgently required in all directions. Tlifl candidate was jo favour

of reasonable borrowing, as postw ity must pay its\pharc of the cost ol developing the country. He was against a preferential tariff, or a pro. tcctivo tarifl. Living should Liu mads as cheap as possible,- aiwl the colooj reap the benefit of cheap labour in other countries. The tariff should 'be fixed on a revenue producing basis. After referring to oltl age pensions and ..State insurance, the candidate concluded with a few personal remarks. The electors,'; ton said, required a ijiran; who would too able to make his voico heard and who would not walk blindly into the lobby at the behest of either the Opposition or the Government.

A number of questions were asked, Mr Tregellis causing some amusement wit'h his "little list." Askicd about a grant of £15,000 for encouraging the ironsand industry, Mr Ehvin said he did not think that amount would be sufficient to do any good, and he did not see the feasibility of; paying Government ;money. If the industry ;had any visible merits,it would be taken up by privato enterprise. lie did not think prison labour would be much saving 011 the breakwater work ; on* good <man would do as much as six prisoners. On the motion of the Chairman, Mr El win was accorded a hearty, vote 'of thanks for his address.