The Temuka Leader THURSDAY, AUGUST 1, 1889. £3000 A YEAR!

Temuka Leader, Issue 1924, 1 August 1889, Page 2

The Temuka Leader THURSDAY, AUGUST 1, 1889. £3OOO A YEAR!

Thbee thousand a year is all the eolony will save in reducing the number of members to 70. Is there a sane man in the colony who can be got to believe that it is for the sake of this paltry sura the nubber of members has been reduced? We certainly do not think there is, but if there is we can only say that the poor weak-minded ereature has our entire sympathy. It is not to save the £3OOO a year the number of members has been reduced; The object in view is of an entirely different nature. It is simply and actually the first step of a line of policy which will eventually lead to the misery, ruin, and degradation of the people of this colony; but, perhaps, as this is ratherstrong language, I we may as well explain what we mean by it. " The position of the colony is admittedly critical. Our indebtedness is enormous. Our means of paying it k diminishing daily. We are adding every year to our indebtedness, and at the same time parting with our assets by selling the tend. What will it all end in? is a question which seems to be generally disreg&rie.d The present appears to be the all absorbing subject for consideration, but the future will follow the present, and those who now think they ftfS doing a grand thing bv gaining a little advantage will Sad that " Time brings its revenges." It must be obvious to tlbe meanest intelligence that this colony cannot prosper without a larger population, and the first and all-important step, therefore, is to increase population. How is this to be done ? By promoting local industries and settling people on the land. So long as the land remains in large areas, in the hands of companies and speculators, the rural population cannot be increased, and so long as we continue to import goods from foreign countrias our industries cannot be developed.

The people will not buy home-made goods while they can get imported goods cheaper. Wow let us examine the parties that contend for supremacy in Parliament. The Liberals do not want the number of members reduced, the Conservatives do. The Liberals aim at extending land settlement aDd protecting local industries, the Conservatives want to let the land question alone and to adopt a freetrade policy. We have shown already an increase of population is absolutely necessary to our existence; which of the two policies is likely to increase population ? Undoubtedly the Conservative policy cannot do it. It will simply drive people ,away, and consequently must lead to misery, ruin, and ultimately to degradation, because under it the colony must become bankrupt. How will the reduction of members affect this ? It will in this way : The reduction will cause the constituencies to be very large, and no one but a wealthy maa will be able to contest them. Tor instance, we have had for many years four members in South Canterbury ; we shall not have more than 2\ members. The districts will be proportionatelylarge, and none but wealthy men will be able to contest them. Now is there in -New Zealand a Liberal \ wealthy man I,- There is absolutely not one, or if there is he has never i shown his face in public. That being so, the result must bo that next Parliament will be composed of wealthy men, who will adopt the policy which will bring on ub the calamities we have indicated. After nert election they will find it absolutely necessary to borrow more money, and they will do it; they will try to relieve themselves of taxation, and they will lower the property tax, with the result that they will,' as in the past, have deficits, which they will add to our debt; they will try to resort to frsetrade and ruin any little industry already established, and in this way dragthe colony down to a miserable level, rbings beingreduced to this miserable level they will look about them for a remedy; they will find the remedy in selling the railways. They will say to themselves—-" Here we are, let us sell the railways. They cost about £15,000,000; we shall get £ 10,000,000 for them. Let us reduce our indebtedness by £10,000,000, and we shall reduce our taxation proportionately." We ask our readers to cut out. and keep this article, and if the members are reduced and onefourth of the townspeople disfranchised, to mark how far we are wrong in our forecast of the future. Another thing they will adopt is a modified Hare system of election, with nice small pocket constituencies which men with well-lined pockets can easily contest, and they will only have elections every five years instead of as at present, for that they will tell us is retrenchment also.

Now, what justifies us in coming to these conclusions ? We unhesitatingly say the past. We are often reminded of the grand men who laid the foundation of Parliamentary insti. tutions in this colony, but what is their record ? First, they established the Legislative Council, which no power on earth appears eapable of reforming. They are now giving that body despotic power, contemporaneously with the reduetion of members. Secondly, they sold the land and borrowed money, spent it lavishly on political railways, and now they show earful impatience of having to pay taxation. Can they change now? Is their greed satisfied P Have they changed their natures ? Have they lost their selfishness ? The answer is found in their present actions. They have driven the poor into the towns, and are disfranchising them there; they are making the despotic Legislative Council still more despotic; they are reducing the number of members to secure a monopoly of yower; they are trying to lift the taxation off their own shoulders, and to place it on the industrial classes; they are trying to allow imported goods to keep, down local proaustion, so as to secure a continuance of revenue from the Customs, and they are standing in the way of land settlement. These are facts patent to all, and if they do not justify our assertions we think they go near it. It is not fop the sake of the £3OOO a year they have reduced the number of merabers; it is not for that they are fighting to the death now. They are fig ut i°ff }° disarm democracy, and they will do it without a doubt. Tw<* f however, will bring its and when they have driven the colony into, bankruptcy they will find out their mistake. Every one who desires prosperity ought to pray tov hastening the day of bankruptcy, for we certainly shall not see a prosperous day until we have whitewashed ourselves if the Conservatives secure a monopoly of power.