THE ELECTIONS

Temuka Leader, Issue 2103, 25 September 1890, Page 1

THE ELECTIONS

!' MR EALLANOE. Mr Ballance addressed a crowded meeting at the Oddfellows' jHallj , Wanganoi, last Tuesday evening The Mayor'presided. I He briefly referred to the action ■taken by the Opposition with'regard 'to retrenchment. In, undertaking to jreduce' the estimates by £50,000 the iOppGsition had:taken upon themslSlves a hard and onerous task, and they had jof bfe tween and withput inthe slightest degree infringing [upon the; conveniences or necessities |of the people. In-a passing reference ito the Civil Servants' assdbiatfoas

Which were being formed, he said that ujion tbdse combinations as most excellent things,,arid Regarded ! it as a good'sjgri to "see for the first time in £he of colony the higher Civil ~Servants coming forward to support the) pmaller , opeß. f Touching upon 'the'subject of defence The: said that he 'firmly believed "?that the intention of the Imperial ■ '-'authorities,' had inspected the deuces; of: this colony,, waa!,to get rid of the volunteer: force, altogether, ind establish a;partiiallypaid force, or, n other*words, to form tho nucleus of i standing army. This he was Strongly iverse to, and felt sure that the safety

of the colony could; well be placed in jfche hands of our /volunteers as long as they were in'an efficient state. He spoke at some /length on the labor iroubles;; and expressed pleasure at learning that a; conference' was likely too be held: between .the /contending Wties.'He had every reason to believe that the Maritime Council were willing io send dogates if;tHe-Union Steam-' 1 would do likewise. .He thought that' there was no fear that' an imicable un<derstanding ] would; not be arrived at. ffle Btrongiy.i<3ondemned the action of ..the Railway Cominssioners in dealing,as they had done vyith their at Ghristchurch 4nd elsewhere.t ."While admitting that discipline bei maintained aoung tjhe railway ,he contended that it was the (Juty ot the Commissioners'to show some consideration to their men, who,y?ere. laboripgrunder e/trong excitement. ■■> the four; men at Cnristchurch* had been ; mbst l cmelly 4ealt' witb, and 'they had not even received rthe treatment which was

Usually meted out to a common thief, who, when cttarged with an offence was always heard in his defence, but the four railway servants hadTbeeri dismissed without even being allowed to raise a voice in their defence. He proceeded to sketch what he considered should be the policy of the cfolony, and in doing so dwelt at some length on the land, question. A graduated land tax should be imposed and a vigorous policy of land settle : ment adopted. Every man should have the right to go on the land, and every possible step should be taken to put down dummyiam, monopoly, and speculation in land. During the last three years the Atkinson Government bad done practically nothing, and he sontended that that the Government should give way to another which sould do better. The issue of the soming elections would he whether tbe Atkinson Government was to remain in, and he called on the electors to return members pledged to get rid of i Government that was already dead. Cn conclusion he asked them to remember that" he still retained the somplete confidence of his party. He jould with great say that luring!]pt;seßsion,there' bhdaotfbeen.; | i! single'deserter from the ranksVf the ' Opposition. I After Mr Ballance had answered a lew questions he was accorded a vote )£. thanks and confidence.

SIR GEORGE OBEY.--: : 'Grey 7 dddreased a 1 large meeting ,of ..electors in i'almerston North' on Tuesday evening." After reviewing the sessional Work h 6 dwelt on the preponderance of landowners and financial insfeitutions 111 th© Parliaments of the past, and -strongly urged the imposititfn of a tax upon linira. proved land. He denounced the pi-opoßal for with Australia, and suggested the holding of oebasional cbnfereqces, of European, place of Iteration,: involw»*£~' *be ment. denounced the reten^ <r ' <^°ffico by the April or June next," holding that th,e„Hfl.TC..P ; arliam J ent-should be summoned, immediately after its election. Hie suggested that the whole Colony shjoiiid memoralise the Government to* that effect, or take other steps to secure tha.fc the new representatives m,i&y meet immediately after election, to]deal with questions of the day. He strongly advised the electors to return neyv vote of thanks was accorded hjm, The mayor presided.