POLITICAL REFORM.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1606, 12 July 1887, Page 2

POLITICAL REFORM.

A public meeting to discuss political matters was held in Tiniaru on S»turd;'y afternoon. There wis a fair attendance. Mr J. Piig" having oxplainad that the meeting was the outcome of a pr fate meeting held previously, Mr W. Posilethwajte was voted to the chair.

I In addressing those present, Mr Postle(hwaita and tliey had no doubt rmi'l the discussion going on in the Christchurch papers in connection with political reform, and were aware that u Political Reform Association hud been formed in North Canterbury. Some of tiiem thought it would .be well to fqllow fhat example, and he entirely agred with '-very one of the objects which would he brought before them ths.t day. They all knew that this was a very critic il lima b >th f >r themselves and thu colony, and that unless some st»ps were t»=krsn by them during the now fust approaching election thoy would find themselves, to use a' hoihe'y exprenaion, not only " in the frying p«h, but in the fire.',' The ekpenditore of the'colony had been steadily ,

incensing since 1875. In 1873, when a friend wrote lo Mm to com* out to the colony he siid that if he (the speaker) came out hore lie would (initii to a free cvirWy, without any taxa'ion. Now, when they looked .t 1873 »nd 1887 -'he time ihey were at present passing through—and compued the past with the present, when the debt of the colony is £S7>OOO 000, one and nil present must be "■"•v ; iu;ed that some steps must be taken, t, cror later, io stop thisstream of borrowing which had been going on for the past few years. All they contemplated doing was to form such an association as would t*ke an interest in the candidates ivho placed themselves before the eleotora and find out from those candidates their particular views before' electing them-'or-giving them any su'pport. In Chiisfcchurch such an association was gaining a lot of ground. If they wished the colouy to go on and prosper, ih'-y must return mbu to the House of Representative who havn a higher notion of political life than that of seeking thut which thny cm get out of the House for the cole benefit of ihemse'vea. He hid got. an impression from his short experience in the House th»t if they returned 14 or 15 men who went there with the intention and dttermiuaion of doing their duty to the coiiniiy and those (.round then:, they would be able to stamp.out in. a great measure that abuse of power which had baen introduced by our professional politicians. He believe'*, like Mr G. GK S'ead, of Clvi4cliurch, that for the good, of the country it was desirable lo place in power men who ha I not been in power before. lie. quite agreed wiih such a course. The expenditure of the past had been the chief me*nf> of placing the coloDy in the bad position it whs no* in, and unless they m«d" some strenuous efforts at tho coming election and banded themselves should" r to shoulder, and fought the battle <s it iught to be fought thoy might depend upon it the countty wouid g~> to the wdl. (Applause,) Mr Edward Acton, of Pleasant Point, said that the private meeting a week ago took note of the following : J'hafcconsider-' ing the immense burden of debt which each successive Government, no matter, whose it was; continuously laid upon the' shoulders of the couutry ; considering the promises held out tu them that they were to have an increased property tax and increased customs du'iiis, the gpntleiren comprising that me.tng considtred that the time hid ailived when it was absolutely necessary that the electors of the

district should have an opportunity given fchbiTi of declaring their voice and will as

.to the course to be 'mrwued. Those prevent had not been to meet on any irwrty lines; (he promoters did not iwant to foist on thftn »ny particular icandidale. To his mind it did not

Imntter wh<tiier they were conserva. jiivp, liberal, high tory, or rank radical; ,it did not matter whether they believed in' i Atkinson or Vogel, nor were they there iconsider '.he m< rite or demerits of any high Iprieat of politira : caff. Not at all. Their iobject wfs much wider, more national. jThey were asked,- to unite together ip ;enxeavor to B'ive their property, their"very lives, the labor of their hands,,from bfing iewdllowed up in the increasing mortgages leach successive-4>uvernuiet> heaped upon jtheiii. Ee thought the public works p'o'icy wouKi have b"en n very wise one had it been k«pt within reasonable limited ■lt was for the electors to say tint they were determined to put a slop to this continuous borrowing, and this continuous piling on of in every direction. If they asserted their w«H they would save the country from un impending <nddrendful peril. In coicusion he -noved—- " »n association be formed, to bo called ' The Political Reform Association of Bonth Canterbury.'" (Henr, heir). Mr W. B. Unwell, of Tob.ra Valley; seconded th<* resolution. The country -was in a bad st and the best thing Ithfiy could do whs to set to work to better Ht. It. was for horn now to v'gourously put their shoulder to 'he wheel, and to send men to the House who would heartily help their cause forward. Mr George Kimber, of Timaru, wanted to know what the programme of the association was. The Chairman said the programme' would be found embodied in the next resolution.

Mr Kitnber ssid that there was alreadysuch an association in Timarn as was proposed, but it had never b'en found of any use to the electors. * ■, '' The motion was then : carried. Mr Page said he did rot know if it was

necessary to comment on the resolution

he was to propose. It embodied the objec'H of this association, and when h- had read them over they could be fully; discussed. He thought I hey would all agree wi'h him that there never was a time in the existence of JSUw Zealand when it was mora imperatively necessary for ihe electors to come together for one common purpose than the present. It wanted, union on the part of all the electors—a powerful union—and if they keep that fict steadily before them and worked earnestly, the objects of the As'jociafrou would very s>on be achieved. He then moved - " That, the following be the objects of the Association :-.(l.) To ins'st, upon retrenchment in all departments of the Public Si>rvice, and to promote reform in the finances of th'- colony. (2.) To reduce the Legisla ive expendi'ure. (3) To obviate as far as possible any necessity for.increased taxation. (4.) To resist further borrowing. (5.) To simplify the land liwsof the colony so us to facilitate the settlement of the peop e upon the land. (6.) To advocate a thorough retrenchment in she department of education, whilst maintaining the existirg National free system. (7.) To secure reform in the administration of the railways. (8.) To oppose soy further increase in the existing Customs du'ies, except for revenue purposes, as the ! firesent tariff may be deemed to afford Huiple assistance to the development of local industries, (9). To secure the return to Parliament of members who may be relied upon to steadfastly and consistently give effect to these objects,'' In seconding the motioD, Mr WoolU combo said he considered every member should b« paid his actual expenses and no more, The taxation of the country was now over £4 10a per bead. With regard to education, he thought, every person who had children should pay for their education to a certain extent.

Mr J. M. Twomey of Temuka, said as the question of the condition of >he colony had been discussed without giving any definite information he would like to eay a word 6r 'two. Jle' hoped that aj! questions would be reasonably' dtefcuasecf,

it-dined to think he was addresean unsympathetic audience. As an Amendment he moved in clause 8 to eliminate all the words after the word , , "except" and to add "for the purpose of pointed .out that the colony had to pay £12,000,000 a year, one way and another, ftn d had only about £7,000,000 to pay it with, and was consequently going to the bad at the rate of £8,000,000 a year. The only way to make the colony r*v <*■" way wis'to foster our industrial resoa.c-a. Putting on a tax for revenue purposes was tantamount to sayi »g "Tax us as much as you like, so long as you don't encourage the development of industrial resources." Be concluded by pointing out thedifference between England and this colony from protection and freetrade points of view, Mr Page rising to a point of ordir. Mr JPage Beconded the amendment pro formti, to test the feeling of the meeting. For his part he would like to hear Mr iv»mey for an hour at some other time. Mf.G. Kimber heartily supported the amendment and said the Association was bandfid together to distract the attention of the peopV The amendment was the right thine, f«-r. in tbia colony now there was no fiicli 'hingasindußtry; the precent condition was simply a farce. As to taxation he was only in favor of a land and income tax progressive. What was wanted was a programme for the working man. " Anything short of that was simply usfc'egs.

On Mr Twomey'fl amendment being put wasjost, and the motion was then r - carried^, On the, motion of Mr Howell, the following were'elected a Committee, with power;'to add ta .their, number:—Messrß J. Page, W. Poatletliwaite, 1. L. Morris, E. AVtain, W. M. Moore, B. Bayley, B. Wooilcombe, R. H. Pearpdint, M. Quinn, W. B. Howell, Sealey, Jas. Kin?, E. Anetey, John Talbot, E. G. Kerr and Mcbaren. A. number of those present signed a paper pledging themselves to support candidatis-M'n favor of the policy indicated in the programme agreed upon, and after a. hearty vote of thanks had been pawed.to tne Chairman the meeting ter-