MR TURNBULL AT TIMARU.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1096, 24 April 1883, Page 2

MR TURNBULL AT TIMARU.

Mr Richard Turnbull, M.H.R. for Tirnarn, addressed a meeting of his constituents at the Theatre Royal on Saturday night, His Worship the Mayor occupied the chair. The attendance at first was tiot large but shortly atter the address commenced the place was well filled. The audience was fluctuating, however, many coming and going during the whole of the evening, The Mayor introduced the speaker in a few well chosen words, stating that those present wnu’d now be able to compare the utterances of Major Atkinson with those of their ow i member, who looked at political matters from a different point of view to the Colonial Treasurer, Mr Turnbull on rising was received with applause. He said he called this meeting on Saturday night, because he wanted to speak to the people. He experienced a considerable feeling of disappointment last session ; his faith was rather shaken in triennial Parliaments ; he was disappointed to find that the extension of suffraga had not been taken advantage ot by the people to that extent which it should have been. Reflection, however, had convinced him that triennial parliaments were still the best, and that the moderation shown by the people at the last election, augured well for the future. One of the chief reasons for that feeling of disappointment was the number or 1 'lndependent’ members returned to the House, There was no greater evil in the House than the man who went in on the independent ticket. On the other hand the people had never been more ably represented than they were at present. Sir J. Vogel had said it cost him one million to buy the support of (he House, and he had no doubt it was costing the country a good deal now to buy the support of the Ministry. While the Independents would scorn to receive tribes foe themselves, they would not refuse gifts for their districts, On the West Coast and the extreme north of this Island there had been no large sums spent cn public works, the roads and rivers were almost in a state of nature, and members coming from such districts were bound to get as much done for them as they possibly could, Some of them on going back to their constituents might be twitted with voting against their principles, when their excuse was ‘ We have seen the House, and taken the measure of the Ministry and the Opposition. and we found that there was nothing : for it bat to support th«

Ministry. There is no one on the Opposition side fit to take the place of the Ministry if they are turned out.’ A greater mistake was never made. Excepting Mr Bryce and Major Atkinson the Members of the Ministry were mere nobodies, and were simply the mouthpieces of the Under-Secre-taries. The Financial statement was made on the 16th of June, and then the House was kept till the very last week of the session before the Estimates were placed before them, In consequence of the Estimates being kept back, the Opposition refused to allow the’busi ness to be proceeded with. The Press complained lOudly about the waste of time, lie was not sure whether bis action in this respect met with th« approval of his constituents, but he held that having been elected he was representative of New Zealand first and Ti'maru afterwards. In alluding to Major Atkinson, he wished it to be distinctly understood that there was no one of whom he had a higher opinion as a man, and he would admit that in all that related to figures and finances there was no one to excel him ; but h? was bound to say that he could not agree with him in keeping back legislation on most important points. Major Atkinson said that some L 3,000,000 was paid by the people of the colony for drink and smoke, of which L 726.000 was collected by the Customs. Major Atkinson said said, he looked upon that as a tremendous bill, too heavy altogether for the people to pay, bnfc wiien a distillery was started, which had a differential rate of 6s a gallon in its favor, he suppressed it because it was interfering with the Customs receipts. Drink and smoke were fair sources of revenue, and the Major knew if be took the tax off them he would have to tax the land. Major Atkinson had been so long in office that he looked at everything from the office point of view. lie skilfully graded the people of the colony into three classes, A, B and C t * — A the wealthy class, B the middle class, and C the laboring class. The great canons of taxation were, he said, equality, convenience, and economy. He took fifty-six families, six to each family, twenty-four of laboring men, and the others different tradesmen. He took the incomes of the laboring class at Ll5O per annum, nearly L 3 a week. 0a would think LBO a year would be nearer the mark, hut take it at LIOO. The Treasurer talked of taking an equal proportion from the incomes of each of his three classes, and then said that would give equality of taxation. What sacrifice had that man to make who, having paid L 6 or L 8 in taxes, had got thousands left, compared with a man of LBO or LIOO a year who paid L2 to the Treasury ? The Treasurer told them that it cost a man, per annum, L 23 10s for groceries, L 34 12s for boots and clothing, and then he allowed, which was not excessive for a man with six children, L 23 for rent. Looking through the accounts of thrifty people it was correct, so far as his (Mr Turnbull’s) experience went. Here was LB2 gone. What equality could there be in taxation, in taking from one man what he could not spare, and only a little from those who had much ? If there was to be equality, the first thing to be taken into account was the value of the common property, the laud ; the next step was to enquire to what extent the incurring of the public debt of L29,000,P00 had increased the value of that land ; next the land should be made to pay a tax equal to the interest on the money spent toenrich it, and then it would be lime enough to talk about equality. Major Atkinson had told them that the railways and telegraphs, if the country were foolish enough to pell them, would pay the public debt. That was rubbish. All that the Government had to show for the expenditure of L 29,000,000 were the railways, and telegraphs, and the improved value of public lands. The railways were worth about twelve millions, the telegraphs did not pay expenses, and L2U,000 had to be’ put down every year for telegrams sent about the country by the Government. The Customs duties were coming in, but that might not be a sign of prosperity. He spoke to Major Atkiuson and told him the depression now existing was very severe. The Major replied that it must be local, it did not exist in Taranaki, for instance. There were thousands of acres of bush there to be felled* and the Government could not get men to do the work. The depression, however, must be general, and no one could wonder that it existed. There was our public debt of thirty millions, and, taking Major Atkinson’s figures, the local bodies owed three and a half millions, upwards of twenty millions of English capital was invested in lands brought under the L’ind Transfer Act, and piobsbly one and a half millions still remained under the old Act. Mr George, Chairman of the Wellington Chamber o Commerce, stated that the advances by the B inks were fifteen and a half millions. Here was a total of about seventy millions upon which interest had to be paid. Then eight millions had to be provided to pay for imports, and all the exports that could be set against this great outward drain of money amounted to about six millions. There could be no accumulation of wealth in the colony under such circumstances. He did not," however, take a gloomy view of things, bad as they were, because they could he altered for the better, and in a few years the balance might be in favor of the colony, One way to check importation was by a protective duty. Though he was in favor of free trade in general, he did not think a hard and line

should be laid down for young countries, and he thought that certain things that could be produced here might be very well protected. The only way to equalise the exports of six millions and the excessive import of goods and the . export of interest, would be to increase the exports, and this could only by brought about to any great extent by taxing the land. He did not mean that a vindictive tax should be put upon the land. The land alone had been enormously increased in value by Uie public expenditure. All the public debt, it must be borne in mind, had not been incurred' for works to benefit the land ; but for ad loans expended on public works the land should pay the interest. Then the question arose, should the land be taxed farther ? He would say it should. All wealth was produced’by labor from the land. They were losing valuable exports all tbe while they allowed men to hang idle about the streets, for if the land were open to them they would be producing valuable experts, Large blocks in this neighborhood of the finest land in the country was locked up to a few sheep and a shepherd. No man had a right to lock up land in that way. A certain amount should be allowed to a mnn for his useful occupation, and if ho held more he should be compelled to pay a progressive, tax upon it. Assuming that an acre of land under good cultivation would yield nn average return of L 4 per annum, and allowing L2 per acre for the actual cost of cultiva»ion, the locking up of a block of 10,000 acres meant an actual loss to the community of L 20.000 a year. He did not say that the imposition of a land tax would give immediate relief from depression, but relief would follow, it might be three or four years on the way, but it would come. The land was valueless unless labor were put upon it, and it would be far better to give the land away to able-bodied men, who would make something out of it, than to let it lie idle. The Treasurer’s hands would be kept off the lands only so long as he could continue to borrow at Home. It would be a good thing if the colony could not borrow another penny, for then true legislation might be looked for. He then referred to Major Atkinson’s nnti-pauperism scheme, and said he could not support it. Mr Saunders had stated that there were about 11,000 people in the pay of the Government. He (Mr Turnbull) suggested that these were not lilce ordinary people, they could be easily brought under a special financial law. and he suggested tha* the Major’s anti-pauperism scheme should be tried upon these 11,000 as an experiment. It was very doubtful if pauperism would ever exist in the colony as it did at Home. At Hu;m> families‘were born and bred paupers, and lived upon doles all their lives. Vunt of energy and perseverance was their failing, Such cases did not exist here. The young colonists had generally plenty of energy—too much of it. some of them—and were not to sink to the level of living on charity. There was no denying that it was getting harder and harder to get a living here. The land question was undoubtedly the question of the day. While he remained in the House he should continue to uphold the honor of his constituency. During the address and at its close Mr Turnbull was frequently applauded. In reply to questions he stated that it was not too late to apply the Village Settlements system in South Canterbury. In reference to the Tiinaru Racecourse Mr Turnbull gave a brief sketch of the history of the reserve, « n d Bni(i 1,6 hear ™ at a Bill was to be brought into Parliament vesting the reserve in trustees with power to charge for admission- He would pledge, himself to see that that Bill was not passed without a clause being inserted to compel the trustees to grant the use of the reserve to any persons applying font, <m payment of af ur rental, Racing was only another name for swindling, any way. The men who came down to Timarn for the races, were the greatest blacklegs in the world. He approved of the Gambling Bill. He was of opinion that High Schools kept up by public money should be open to every boy of talent in the primary schools. In reply to whether ho was in favor of Denominational Education, he spoke in faver of the Bible being read in schools, noi all through, hut judiciously, and the history of each book should be taught. He was ,!oW and always had been in favor of the Catholics receiving a grant in aid of their schools Ho would not give anything unless say 100 children were returned, or unless buildings were provided; A vote of thanks and confidence in Mr Turnbull was carried unanimously, and a vote of thanks to the Chairman terminated the meeting.