MR BOLLESTON AT TEMUKA.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1199, 3 July 1884, Page 3

MR BOLLESTON AT TEMUKA.

Mr Kolleston addressed a crowded meeting of electors in the "Volunteer Hall, Temuka, last evening; On the platform were Messrs J. Talbot, J. Page and J. Guild. Mr W. Postlethwaite (the late member for the district) was also present. Mr Talbot proposed that Mi K. F. Gray, the Chairman of the Town Board, take the chair. The Chairman thanked them for the honor done him, and said that the speaker of the evening, Mr Bolleston, was well known to most of them. After a few remarks he asked for a fair hearing for the candid»t p , nnd introduced Mr Rolleston to the meeting. Mr Eolleston then came forward. He said it was not the first time he had been on that platform and he hoped it would not be the last. He thanked them for their presence that evening m such large numbers. He was a very old settler in Canterbury, and had been in the colony over a quarter of a century. He bad been asked why he had left the Avon and came there, a nd he would tell them shortly why he had come. First of all he had ceased to live in the Avon I district, and thereby had ceased to have ! close connection with that district. To ; him one of the greatest pleasures in public life was in mixing with the people. Some time ago Mr Postlethwaite told him that he intended to retire as their representative, and he (Mr Rolleston) told him that it would be a great pleasure to him to become his successor. He did not then announce himself for several reasons. As a member of the Government it would not have been proper, and so he waited until the election came on. As soon as a dissolution took place ha had announced himself a candidate by publishing an address (which he telegraphed down) in the papers circulating in the district. He now asked them to place him in Mr Postlethwaite’s place. He must bear testimony to MrPostlethwaite’s worth in the House. He knew of no man who had worked more zealously for his district. [Cheers ; “ Hear, hear and cries of “Sit on him,’ “Ob, oh !” and laughter]. Well, he was now before them, and having been from his political youth upwards a fighting politician he was glad when he found that he was to have some one to oppose him. He found himself, _ fortunately or unfortunately, competing with a gentleman, with whom, as far as he knew, he had no political differences. If ho had had an adversary who represented the Opposition platform lie might have appeared to more advantage. He had hoped to meet a political foe, and then ho could have met him by fair argument. (Hear, hear). As it was he found himself opposing a gentleman with whom he had been fighting side by iside on almost every question. With him that gentleman had supported the present system of education. And now, instead of finding one against him who represented opposite feeling to_ himself, ha found himself fighting with a kindly amiable gentleman, and no eflort should bo wanting on his part to conduct th : ?. cutest with kindliness and good feeling. (Hear, hear). Let him s:;y one word. He bad come there before them as a public man—as one who had been a long time taking a prominent part in public matters. He wished for no personal consideration whatever, and he felt sure that if Mr Cox were present he would say the same thing. The state of the country required that the best men should be sent to Parliament, and he asked his personal friends, large numbers of whom were no doubt present, to forego all personal considerations and put the best man in. (Hear, hear ; and loud applause.) He would speak first of all on how it came about that they were there that night —how it had come about that Parliament was dissolved. At the end of last session the Government were in a considerable majority. They had no difficulty last session in carrying their measures. The Opposition, such as it was, seemed to let things go, and to the end of the session the Government had, nothing but a very considerable majority. It remained to form an opinion of how it came to pass that the Government were in a minority at the beginning of this session. During the recess the Government was of course busy with the work of the country, and had to determine the policy they were going to adopt. There was no doubt there were two things which had caused the difficulty. First there was the raising of the grain tariff, of which he would give his views shortly ; and then there was the Bill dealing with the Native lands, which had , lost the Government several votes in the North Island, and ! placed the Government in a minority. He ! asked them to consider the position of the present Government at the time the noconfidence motion was carried. There was at the same time an opinion expressed to the effect that there was no possibility A f the Opposition forming a Ministry, and it was decided that the people should be appealed to. The Government considered that to be the beat course, and that to the people they must go. It w as clear that the no-confidence vote was the result of the union of men for no other purpose than turning the present Ministry out, and they determined that it was right that the people should have some say in regard to what was to happen. During the recess they had an Opposition formed of various kinds of controversy. They had Mr Montgomery, who advocated a policy of separation, and the policy of bursting up the properties of the people. There was also Sir George Grey, with his policy of the land increment. Others advocated free trade, and others protection. But there was _ no policy of union of men on imited principles, and on this, on tha advice of Ids Ministers, the Governor granted a dissolution. Ha saw the papers were taking up the line that there was no policy for the people to determine on. He thought it was not a question of men but of important measures. One of the questions to be considered is was to whether the lands held by the Natives should be allowed to fall into the hands of land sharks. Another policy was the conservation ot Crown lands, i here was also the question of prudent finance in the future, and whether they should go in durina - the time of great depression for a fresh flutter of a borrowing policy, or whether they should wait and develope the resources of the colony without going into a large expenditure which would ■create more burdens on the country. There were one or two questions which he thought it would be better to have out. He

had during the past few days learnt much in regard to the questions that ware at the present time agitating the public mind of this district, especially on the course the Government took in regard to the grain tariff. He might be asked, Why did the Government raise the grain tariff at an inopportune time when the weather was bad, the harvest was bad, and prices were low, which all on the farmers. He would admit this. He would take them back, and give them the history of the matter. In 1882, the Government had a surplus revenue, and they considered it their duty to encourage industry and accordingly lowered the grain tariff. That action had been pressed on Hie Government by the Canterbury members and others, and it was determined to give it a trial, as they thought it would be followed by a larger amount of traffic on the railway whereby they would have larger profits. The were lowered and the result was out t.iat The estimated revenue from railways was £380,000 for the past financial year, but towards the end of that time Government became conscious that it would fall short by about £60,000. Seeing this, the question naturally arose as to whether they should leave it to Parliament, or should they the powers given to them and incur odium. They decided on the latter course, and caused the railway tariff to be raised. It had been said why did they not do it sooner? They hoped it would not have been necessary, and that toward the end of the financial year trade would revive and they could face the House. The freight# were only raised to what they were in 1881. Shipp.ng rates have been decreased since then, and they believed that the charge for carriage of grain was only what it was in 1881. Whether right or wrong, no doubt the Government did it honestly in the belief that it was done in the interests of all parts of the colony. The Government not only raised the tariff on grain but also on merchandise and passengers. The colony would not have been satisfied if they had carried on at a loss. There had boon a large expenditure on sheds and rolling stock in order to provide for the grain traffic. It bad been said to him, Why increase the rates on grain and not on wool ? They had hoped they would not have had to increase the rates at all, but if it was alleged they were _ keeping down the charge for wool in favor of the North Island and the North Island railways, the charge fell at once, because there are not one-third the number of bales of wool carried on those railways as compared to those of the Middle Island. The charge# for the carriage of grain had been lowered several times during the past few years, but it had not been lowered on wool in the same proportion. Under any circumstances there was no desire on the part of the Government to let off the wool growers as against the farmers. A large amount of wool is grown by the farmers themselves. While on that subject, he thought it beat to let the electors know what his idea was. ‘ It had been asked him, Why don’t the Government charge the railways sectionally and not as Colonial property I It w as easy to advocate that, but he was sure that the members of the General Assembly would not consent otherwise but that they should be treated as Colonial property. Prior to the abolition of the Provinces he had not been in favour of that, but afterwards they had been given up and treated as Colonial property just the same as the post and telegraph offices. He would revert to the question of the present financial position of the Colony. There was a great talk in regard to depression, and no doubt there was gieat depression, but he was one who considered it only temporary. He had been in the colony over a quarter of a century, and had seen it, as no doubt many others had, pass through as hard times a# there were at the present time, and it would always be subject to depression. There was summer and winter in finance as well as in Nature. There was a time when wealth accumulated, and there was a time when wealth was spent. He was not discouraged. When the present Government took office they found that the raising of a five million loan had been authorised, but it was forestalled and works had been initiated to the extent of eight millions. The course the Government then took was to set to work and expend the money wisely to their best ability. Dining the first two years they were in office they spent about two millions annually. When that amount was coming to an end the question arose amongst the members of the Government as to what they should do in regard to further borrowing. They said they would not do as had been done in the past, and that there should be no further borrowing except for special works. The three million loan was raised on the under- , atanding that only one million should be expended during each year. The Government since then had had a very anxious time in their endeavor to keep within bounds. They found the ordinary revenue also overdrawn, there being one million deficit. They found that not only was the five million forestalled, but works were initiated on the strength of the land revenue, which could not possibly accrue. It was a suicidal policy to sacrifice the lands of the colony. The object of creating a land revenue was for the purpose of expending it to foster settlement, constructing roads and building bridges. It had been said that the course taken by the Government led to the want of con- I fidence motion. They had instituted the Property tax, and their credit at Home was steadily increasing. The question now was, What were they to do in regard to borrowing? There was only one million left to be appropriated, and those who were returned to the next Parliament would have to take the question up, and give it their seriops consideration, The principle to be laid down was like that of aoy private individual. Any wise man who borrowed money _ in order to improve his estate and got into difficulties, would try and relieve himself. That was the principle to be adopted in regard ■ l o the present situation, and if borrowing money would have to be done, then it should be of the smallest amount possible. In regard to the finance of the colony, in his opinion it was to the land policy of the country they would have to look for the recovery of their position and their revenues more than anything else. To this subject he had strenuously devoted himself during the past four years. He had had wide experience in regard to the land o£ the

Colony, and had also had before him what had taken place in this province. He saw from the time he took office that if the land was conserved whsreby people might have a chance of settling on it, it would not fall into the hands of speculadidatefortheHousein addressing the Avon constituency, was in favor of having land tors, middlemen and land jobbers. One canthrown open for selection. If this were done the eyes would be picked out first. The lands of Canterbury are more fully occupied than anv other part of the colony but Canterbury was not populated one half the extent that it should be. At the present time owing to large tracts of land being taken up by speculators it was impossible to get small blocks of it unless at such a price that people could not afford to buy it. It was not difccult to those who knew the country well to realise the absence of settlement of the best class, it was impossible for working men to obtain land except ot a poor character to huild cottages upon. He had been accused of being a disciple of Mr George, who was a theorist and a visionary, and that it would drive capital out of the country He was not sorry that any course he had taken would prevent land speculation and monopoly. It would prevent a class of middlemen stepping in between the Government and who desired to occupy the land. He had also been accused of trying to do away with the freehold tenure. He was not desirous of doing so, neither was he in favor of the nationalisation of the land, but he wished to establish such a tenure on the perpetual leasing system as would secure that the lands be held by the largest number of people. They should class their lands into three classes. First, the purely pastoral; sec jnd, the semi-pastoral ; and third, the agricultural lands. He would not alienate one acre of pastoral lands from the Crown, aud it was highly desirable that the pastoral rents should be made the most of. They should keep the pastoral lauds for the graziers only. The evil had been in letting the graziers become also land jobbers. The letting of the pastoral lands should be of such a character as to allow the grazier to grow his wool without embarrasment. They had been forced into buying the lands whereby they kept out those who wanted them for actual settlement. The next was the semi-pastoral country, and ho proposed to deal with this in blocks of 5000 acres. The low hills were capable of being ploughed and laid down in grass to be held under perpetual lease. They could be held by those who were used to shepherding, who in most case# would understand hill farming. That class of country could be held by a race of people who could live in comfort. The pastoral deferred payment system was a wasteful disposition of the public estate. It had led to dummyism in Otago. That system he thought to be wrong. The third class of land was agricultural. His friends in the north and engaged in lending money said “leave it open.” The first thing he had to do in the North Island was to deal with 71,000 acres on the Waimate Plains on the West Coast. It was proposed to put the land up for sale and get the cash. If that had been done it would have fallen into the hands of speculators, and instead of as now, having many homesteads thereon, it would have been a cattle walk. They put on it some 360 homesteads, on the deferred payment system, which made residing thereon compulsory. That was the only way people could ensure the bolding of the land, instead of allowing it to fall into the hands of monopolists. He came before the Geraldine elestors as a man who had for many years been engaged in public work, and he hoped he had done some good. During the past year 10,000 settlers had been put on one million acres of land. Think what that meant instead of going in for free selection. There was no other question of such vital importance as to the disposition of the land, so as to prevent it from falling into the of speculators. (Hear, hear). The settling of people on the land in any part of the colony was of as much consequence to the electors in this part of New Zealand as if they had been set down at their own door. la regard to the perpetual leasing system, persons would bold their lands for thirty years at rentals of from Is to 2s 7d per acre. At the end of that term it would be valued, and the quit rent also valued by an arbitrator between them selves and the Government. They would be allowed on such valuation to take it on another 21 years’ lease, and so on in perpetuity. Was not that an enormous boon 1 He would say that no greater could be given, and they should consider the fact that those lands let on such conditions afforded a guarantee never had before in any country. There was a large .tract of educational reserves managed by Boards, and his view was that these reserves should come under the perpetual leasing system. There was another question of policy the people would have to decide on', and that was the dealing with the Native lands. The whole treatment was one of intricacy and difficulty. It was in fact a sealed book to the mass of the population of New Zealand to get these lands, except those who could speak the Maori language. The Government proposed to say that the Native lands should only be treated by the Government, and not through the Natives, in a similar manner as the waste lands of the Crown are treated, and on conditions to be prescribed by law. That would have to be done with the consent of the Natives. The Government would act as agents for the Natives, and thereby put a stop to what had been aWiscredit to Europeans in their dealings with the Native race. In regard to the Property Tax, it was a great question and he could say that there cquld not be a fairer plan than the putting a tax on wealth, wherever it existed. There were people who were always fond of parading grievances and taking up the cry of acertain class of Society. They said that the property tax was runiing certain classes. The sum raised during the past year at three farthings was £269,000, paid by 25,000 people. They would agree with him that it was not an oppressive tax, and he held it to be the security of the working classes that the country’s debt would be paid aud its credit maintained. He was adverse to confiscation of the land or bursting up. Anything unjust or wrong would work its ills throughout the colony. (Mr Bolleston here read extracts from a work by Professor Fawcett in regard to a Government holding its lands). There were a large number of subjects he

would like to travel over, but he would rather give them an opportunity of asking questions. There were however two questions of paramount importance—the Land question, and the Education question. They all knew he had always taken a great interest in the Education question, and he had not changed his opinions since he had last spoken on the subject in the House. He felt shocked at the cry being raised that it was too expensive. Nothing would secure the liberty of the nation so much as Education, and it was their bounden duty to support it. No consideration whatsoever would lead him to impair the present system. He thought it was better to bo explicit on this subject, so that there would be no mistake about it. He thanked them for the hearing they had given him. He was a much-abused man at the present time but he was not afraid of writers, whoever they might be. He was quite sensible of the fact that public men were frequently abused and misrepresented. There was one individual who habitually was seen influencing or trying to influence public opinions sometimes through private animosity ; and sometimes very unfairly. He never felt his own character damaged by such things, because he believed the electors capable of judging their public men independent of such small and petty attacks.

Mr Bolleston then sat down amidst great applause. Mr Bolleston was asked the following questions : Is it true that Mr Postlethwaite is to be raised to the .Upper House in the event of the Atkinson Ministry being reconstructed I—Mr Bolleston said be did not think it right to reply to the remainder of the question, which had personal reference to a certain gentleman. He would, however, say it had not the slightest foundation in fact. Is it true that £29,000 had been given to a West Coast mining company for securing the election of Mr Shaw against Mr Wakefield?—Mr Bolleston : It is' not true.

Mr A. Russell got up and explained that although he had handed up the questions he had not asked them. He wished to state this so that Mr Postlethwaite would not think they were his (Mr Russell’s) questions. A question having been handed up, Mr Bolleston declined to answer it unless the questioner went on the platform. Mr James Austin immediately stepped forward and asked whether the Government had kept their seats by buying support, —Mr Bolleston said he did not think they would believe that he would remain in any Ministry that would do that.

Mr Austin : I wish to hear you denying if ?—Mr Bolleston ; I deny it.

Would Mr Bolleston be in favor ot giving a Government grant to denominational schools ?—lt seemed to open up the whole qnestion of education. Such a thing was impossible if they were to continue the National system, The State could not deal with the different denominations. In reply to a further question he said the depression did not depend on the support given to High Schools. Either the colony must adopt the system embracing High Schools or give it up. He thought there was no alternative, but a system that would allow the children of the poorest te have the opportunity of obtaining higher education. He took some pains in Christchurch recently to ascertain how it was working, and found a large number of those attending weie the children of parents who hud small means. The educational system ceased to be useful when classes came to be considered at all. He would not do away with secondary education, but the whole system with regard to reserves required to be altered, as some places had large reserves of much value, and other places reserves of very little value.

In reply to Mr Russell, he said he was not in favor of altering the Education Act to the extent of doing away with the cumulative voting at the election of School Committees. He knew a great many objected to it, but he would not interfere.

In reoly to a question, he said that that £175,000 was received from pastoral rents, and some more from education reserves, which made it up to £200,000 a year. There were 169 sections let on the perpetual leasing system, Mr E. Lee asked whether it was conducive to good Government to raise the railway tariff without first calling the representatives of the people together.— Mr Rolleston said it seemed to him the power must be left in the hands of the Government, who were responsible to the representatives of the people. It sometimes happened that the Ministry were abused for doing right and sometimes for doing wrong. (Laughter). Practically the Executive must take its own way. There were no means of relieving them of that responsibility. Mr Lee asked whether it was not done to secure votes. Their late member had told them there was a great deal of Yankee log-rolling going on and that it was a debased Ministry, late member was present and could not deny it. —Mr Rolleston said it was not done to catch votes. If Mr Postlethwaite said so he did not agree with him. Mr Pago then came forward to move a vote of confidence. The opposition candidate was a friend of bit, and it was from no feelings of animosity he was now opposed to him. This was a time in which they should put private friendship aside and vote according to their convictions. He had the pleasure last time of proposing their late member. He did so because he believed him an honest man. There was one thing about their late member—if ho was wanting inability (which he denied) he was not wanting in honesty. He had known Mr Rolleston for the last twenty-five years, and he felt if there was any man in New Zealand politically honest, William Rolleston was that man. Their debt was now, publicly and privately, £70,000,000, while there were only 35,000 men in the colony to pay it. Of these, 6UO were in gaol, 600 in lunatic asylums, 1200 were sick and infirm, and 1300 were over sixty years of age j leaving only 31,000 to pay the debt and if they took the olvil servants from these there was left only 21,000 men to pay the debt of £70,000,000. He moved a vote of thanks and confidence in the Hon. W. Rolleston.. (Great cheering.) Mr Talbot had much pleasure in seconding the vote of confidence. He did not think that there was so much to be frightened at, but he thought they ought to be careful what they did. There was one subject which Mr Rolleston had H °t touched upon, bub he supposed it was delicacy which had prevented him doing so. He alluded to the i West Qpait Railway, The people of Christ-

ohuroh desired to have that lino built, but Mr Bolleston, looking at it from a broader point of view, did not agree with them, and that was one of the reasons why he had left Christchurch. Ho was glad ha had been given a patient hearing, and had great pleasure in seconding the vote of confidence. The Chairman declared the vote of con fidenoe carried. Mr Bolleston thanked them very much for the vote of confidence, and moved a thanks to the Chairman, which was oarrieo by acclamation. The meeting then terminated.