POLITICAL ADDRESSES.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1348, 2 June 1885, Page 2

POLITICAL ADDRESSES.

Mr T. Thompson, member for Auckland Oily North, addressed his constituents on Friday night. He bitterly denounced the District Railways purchase scheme, and deprecated an enormous defence expenditure through the wor scare, which expenditure he thought should have been extended over a series of years. He was averse to the annexation of Fiji to New Zealand, and preferred the federation of the Empire to the federation of the Australasian colonies. A vote of confidence was unanimously recorded. Mr Macandrew addressed his constituents at Fort Chalmers on Friday evening and received a unanimous vote of confidence. He deplored the centralism which existed, and believed no form of local government could be satisfactory under that system. He still thought something might come of his motion for the crofters, and he advocated that the same facility proposed for them should

be given,the unemployed’ in the colony. He did not believe the Government would call out the Militia without the sanction of Parliament. It was not his intention at the end of the present session to seek re-election, owing to the hours which Parliament sat. If it conducted its business during the day, he might alter that determination. As a means of removing ♦he depression he advocated a State Land Bank, which could be worked in connec- • tion with the Land Transfer Department. Mr Bryce addressed his constituents at on Saturday night, and was accorded a unanimous vote of confidence. said when the present Government tpok office they took steps to secure themselves by asserting that they were going to make fearful disclosures ns to the doings of their predecessors, but when the disclosures were made they turned out to be all For their further security they introduced what they termed their “Policy Bills”—The District Railways Bill, the East and West Coast Railways Construction Bill, and the Greyraouth and Westport Harbor Billsintimating that the Bills must stand or fall as a whole. The consequence was that if • member favored one he had to vote for the whole or imperil the one in which he was interested. This was the greatest piece of log-rolling ever seen in the colony. He then referred to the District Railways Bill authorising the lease or purchase of District Railways, which had been constructed chiefly by large speculating companies mainly for the purpose of increasing the value of their lands. Their object attained they came to the Government and asked them to take over the lines. The lines might be taken over, but it ought to bo on terms advantageous to the colony, and he did not think the proposed terms were so. It did not add to one’s comfort to know that Sir Julius Vogel was the Chairman of Directors of one of these Companies, and Mr Stout solicitor; although he would not say there was anything corrupt. He also thought it strange for a Government who professed themselves. anxious to conserve the lands of the Crown, to be prepared to give to a syndicate a million and a-balf acres of land along the route of the proposed East and West Coast railway. It was said that much of the land was useless, but this was not so, as the land contained valuable coalfields and minerals. The Bill also had a provision in it to the effect that if the land in the vicinity was not sufficient to pay half the cost of construction land could be taken elsewhere, and in addition there was a provision that the Government would work the line when completed and give the Company 35 per cent of the gross earnings of the line, whether it paid or not. Such a Bill would not have been brought in by any one who had the real interests of the colony at heart. In addition to these policy bills the present Government was to put straight the finance. They said it Was terribly wrong, and must be put The following authorities had Seen taken for borrowing :—For the North Island Trunk Railway, £1,000,000 ; loan of 1884, £1,500,000; Joan to the extent of the accrued sinking fund, £2,792,808; loan to the extent of the •inking fund this year, £244,000. In addition to these direct loans, authority had been given for an indirect borrowing as follows For the Westport Harbor, £500,000 ; guaranteed debentures, £158,000; Otago Harbor Board, £750,000, bringing the total amount of borrowing authorised in one session to £9,436,808 (tie) —all except the million for the North Island Railway, authorised last session. The philosopher’s stone, which was to save the colony £244,000 a year, turned out to be seizing the sinking fund. On old loans we are bound to pay the sinking fund each year out of revenue, but to save the colony paying this Sir Julius Vogel borrowed on debentures for the revenue, and added debentures to the debt of the colony. This was done to restore “confidence.” Sir Julius Vogel argued that the higher the transfer value of the land the better. Ihia was not the settlers’ view, which was that land was worth what you can make out of it, and no more, and that so. soon as you go beyond this you get a fictitious value and an unsound position. He believed the new system of no-called local Government would be worse that the first. The Premier was horrified at £200,000 being spent in roads, but if it was proposed to repeal the Roads and Bridges Act, the Government would Hot be acting in sympathy with the settlers. It was the merest folly to deal with native land before the title was determined* and it was a grievous wrong to the colony to go on with the central railway route with no prospect of a definite settlement, largely increasing the value of land for the native owners who were not liable to taxation. He did not attach much importance to the present irritation among the natives on the West Coast. All would be right if the natives were treated with firmness, in the sane way that Europeans are dealt with. He was Sorry he could not lake so hopeful a view of the state of the country as did Major Atkinson. He observed a greater tendency in the men of to-day to fly financial kites than to dig colpnial potatoes, and unless that disposition took a turn for the better he coaid not help feeling that this colony was in a serious position. If prosperity were to be secured, a different plan most be adopted than that pursued by the present Government. It had lived foolishly on exciting expectations whichcould not be realised, and must die politically, of the disappointed hopes it had created.