THE PREMIER AT DUNEDIN.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1601, 30 June 1887, Page 3

THE PREMIER AT DUNEDIN.

Sir Robert Stout addressed hia couatitnents of Dunedin Eas», at Old Knox It;" Church, on Tuesday evening. There was ’ a large attendance. Mr White, Mayor of North-East Yalley, was in the chair. Sir Robert Stout on comma; forward was received with applause. lie said that he could only deal with a limited number of subjects, and he first proposed to deal with his platform, taking retn.o'' >0 t first, and showing that his Government was the first that had attempted retrenchment. The tendency of the whole system of Government was to increase expend! ture, owing to increased social requiremeets, and he would show that his pledge to reduce the expenditure by £BO,OOO had been more than fulfilled. Former Governments and Commissions had found it impossible to deal with the matter, am’ the present Government went about it in e systematic manner, They introduced the Civil Service Act, and be instanced the case of the Secretary of Customs t-> show bow it worked. That estimab’e officer received £IOOO a year, hut bisuccessor, in' n from the department, was promoted i ■ e office at a salary of ah nr £550. Jlu t. ju quoted from the E- t - mates to abow that the Government h’'" made a saving of £93,265, notwithstandii g the increase in population. There bail been an increase in a few department' l , such as the Post-office and Stamps, but the revenue from these exceeded ihe *xpenditure. He then quoted largely from returns to show both the wealth of the colony and the increased accommodation given, and that notwithstanding the depression the sayings banks deposit had been increased by £IO,OOO. He went on to deal with the education question, and said he would be no party to amending the Act in any one particular. Members who had not rhe courage of their opinions in the House had come t& him and said that he must knock £IOO,OOO off the education vote. He had to say that no such amount could be knocked off. They did not have too many schools—in fact, they had too few. Nor were their teachers overpaid. He said that the school aga could not be r‘ raised, nor could tL*y ce«se to teach beyond the fourth standard, which would introduce at once class distinctions. The battle of the future would not be with cannon but in industrial pursuits. He would have both high schools and universities free to all. He felt so strongly i oo this question that he would n»t submit to dictation from any constituencies. It . was the rich persons who were tampering with the system, and the working classes, who had received no benefit from tho public works scheme, should stand by the Bystem. Coming to Legislative expendi ure over which the Government had no control, he had written letters to both Speakers suggesting reductions, but this bad not been carried out. As to a reduction of members he would not go below 84. He relai> d » story to show that members were not ia earnest, stating that one member, who did not favor reduction but whose constituents did, told him that before voting ho would count the numbers going into the two lobbies, and ho could then go into the lobby in favour of reduction if a majority went into the other. He did not care who were m office, there would b* .no reduction in members. The cry came from a few who wished to rule the colony. As to defence expenditure they had reduced the number of the Permanent Militia by 117 men, mid the cost was reduced by £I7OO. The men were now engaged completing tho forts. The expenditure would close next year, and the permanent forces could then perhaps he reduced. Notwithstanding a war scare, the cast of defence bad been larger in some former years when no forts were being constructed. Then they had the cheapest police force of the whole of the colonies. The total cost of the Native Department was £5240, the rest being in connection with Native lands. Dealing with working railways, he said they were working 260 miles more than in 1883, with 53 stations, and they were doing this with scarcely any increased expenditure, and without a redaction of mileage. Taking the mileage rale into jf consideration the Governing! had made a saving at the rate of £IOO,OOO a year. After throe years of administration they did not have district after district crying out that they had been unfairly treated. He would show them that it whs not true that Government proposed lo largely increase taxation. The total amount they would have received under their new tariff was £1,440,000, whereas thtir predeces“ors had received. £1,595,917 in 1882. The taxation per head would have been lower than in any year since 1870, so that they were not absolutely increasing the Customs in framing M e fadff. He had done his I best to redeem his pledge that any change in the tariff should bo in the direction ei assisting industries. He warned the agriculturists that if they would not assist local industries they had

no right to low railway rates on their , produce. He read an extract from a letter from the Agent-General whr> said that in the Colonial Conference the discussion showed that a great change was taking place in views in favor of Protection. It was not on the tariff alone that the Government were defeated. Two other things were included, namely, the graduated Property Tax and Mr Ballauce’s Land Acquisition Bill, In conclusion he would point out that their Estimates this year showed a reduction of £150,000 compared with the previous year. He saw bis way without injury to the Civil Service to still further retrench another £IOO,OOO without impairing its efficiency, and the Cabinet had plans prepared to carry it out. He concluded by saying that he would not change bis views. Beyers) questions were put and answered. A veto of thanks Jand confidence was carried.