POLITICAL ADDRESSES.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2133, 4 December 1890, Page 3

POLITICAL ADDRESSES.

MR S. BUXTON AT TEMUKA

Mr S. Buxton addressed a meeting of the electors of Geraldine in the Volunteer Hall, Temuka, on luesday evening last. At the oommeneement, at 8 o’clock, the attendance was rather meagre, hut the hall soon filled. The chair was occupied by Mr Jas. Blyth, the Chairman of the Town Board, who briefly introduced the speaker. Mr Baiton, who was greeted with applause on coming forward, then delivered an address lasting about an hour. After a few preliminary remarks, he said since his last address he had further considered the matter of voting qualification, and he thought anyone who had property in a district should have the right to be put on the roll therefor, and in a general election be allowed to either vote in the district where he had property or where he resided,as he pleased, but in a bye election he should enly be allowed to rote where be resided. 1 his would prevent electors who resided in outside districts swamping a bye election in a district where they did not live, and he was certainly in favor of amending the Act to that effect. He had supported the increased tar of 2d per lb on tea because the Premier said if it wore not passed the Government would discontinue subsidies to local bodies. Ho believed that the Geraldine Road Board would have lost £490 last year if the subsidies had bean dropped, and other bodies in the district would likewise have suffered in proportion. He thought the loss of the subsidies of more consequence than the extra small tax. He voted for the

extra 6d per Ctrl oh fine salt because the money was needed for revenue purposes. JBock salt was excluded and he did not think the extra 6d per

cwt, pressed hardly on settlers. He had acted for the best. (Bear, hear, and applause.) He still thought the action of the Opposition last session with regard to the tariff was right. He was in favor of reciprocity with the colonies of Australia and he would like to see freetrade between theta, but so long as they persisted in putting a duty of 14d per bushel on oats and a duty on every variety of goods we sent to them he thought we had a right to protect ourselves. (Applause). We must make prevision for the employment of our sons and daughters, and to do this we must protect themselves. (Great applause). As he said in Parliament, he believed ©very woman of 21 years of age had a perfect right to vote for the election of members of Parliament.

He thought they should take the lead in this great reform, which would soon bo world-wide. (Applause.) He thought it would be a move in the right direction if they did away with party government altogether. It Sould save much time- He did not on some occasions last session to vote with his party and just stepped outside while the vote was taken to

avoid voting against it. He was some.whafc misunderstood on the Education ■Question.’ He was in favor of the Bible being read in schools without comment, and with a conscience clause. He also favored the Private Schools Bill He was against raising the school age (as it would injure the country schools) or doing away with the sixth standard. The children in the secondary schools cost about £24 per head; those in the primary schools about £3 or £4, He thought the provisions made in the past for secondary education savored of class legislation, and would he in favor of some of the reserves set aside for it being devoted to the primary schools. (Applause.) They heard a good deal about cutting down from both ends of the primary system, but when anyone spoke of taking anything from the endowments of the secondary schools

there was a class of men who cried “ Shame! That is confiscation.” He was against further borrowing until the colony had got on a firmer financial footing. He thought the Bankruptcy Act should be greatly amended, or struck out of the statute boek altogether. He believed that ne honest man had anything to fear frem his creditors if he got into debt, and if he was dishonest, well, he ought to be sent to gaol. Many men appeared r to devote their energies not to keeping out of debt, but to getting into debt. (Laughter and applause.) The land laws needed amending, but he was afraid the only remedy for preventing men with cash dummying would be to stop the sale of Crown lands for, say, ten years. He believed in the per-petual-lease system introduced by Mr

Bolleston and condemned the system introduced by the present Minister ot Lands. Ho was in favor of compelling large landowners and capitalists to use their land and capital far tho benefit of the colony, as he thought neither had any more right to misuse their land or money than a laborer would have to withhold his labor because he wanted higher wages than employers could pay. He thought there was other dumtnyism than land dummyism. Next session there would be many seats in the House occupied by dummies. It was said that rich l men went to Parliament for the honor W 0 f the thing, but be did not believe it. did not believe there was any honor in spending, perhaps, £IOOO to getinto Parliament for three years’ work for which they got £450, and putting up with insults and showers of rotten eggs, and such like. He thought, they went to legislate for at lass. (Great applause and laughter.) He was strongly in faror of Mr Bailanee’s

village settlement scheme. He had seen many happy homes in the North Island resulting from it, and it had prevented many people from emigrating to Australia or America. He thought thjs money had been well spent, and he was strongly in favor of bringing it into force again. (Applause.) He greatly regretted the £IO,OOO vote for special settlements was lost by one vote. It would have given the thing a trial. If Mr Twomey had been with them on that occasion that vote would have been passed. (Applause.) He was in favor of triennial parliaments at present. He thought the appointment of the Railway Commissioners a mistake, as he believed all that was needed was to have given the General Manager greater discretionary powers, but as their dismissal before the end of the term they were engaged for would involve compensation he would not be in favor of it at present. He thought the Labor Bills would bo reintroduced next session and passed in a much more suitable form than they were in last session. He was in favor of eight hours constituting a day’s work, but there must be exceptions, and he opnosed the Eight Hours Bill last session because be did not think it workable. Ho was in favov of progressive taxation on land held for speculative purposes. He thought the Legislative Council should ba elected by the House of Representatives, and the power of nominating members taken away from the Government. He was in favor of the property tax as it now stood, with the exception of further allowance* for farm buildings. The tax was a sort of Und tax, and it embraced all kind* of property, no matter how a man invested bis money. (Applause.) The course he had taken in the past he would take in the future. He had endeavored to do his duty to his constituents fairly and honestly, and he believed he understood the requirements of his constituents as well as any member of the House. He had the full confidence of the Liberal party, and would have their assistance. He had no axe to grind, at any rate, but he might say he did not think the honorarium sufficient, and if a move was made to raise it to £2OO he would vote for it. (Great applause and laughter.) It had been said of him again and again that he had no stake in the country, but he thought he had the greatest stake, as he bad his family and ho wanted them settled in homes of their own in the colony, and he wanted to see the families of others settled likewise. He considered every man who had a family bad as much stake in the country as an unfortunate bachelor who had £IOO,OOO. If they elected him he would do his best for them. (Great applause.) In reply to questions, ha said he thought squatters and runholders would surely provide proper sleeping accommodation for their workmen without being forced to do so ; he would be in favor of the Milford lagoon being thrown open for net fishing, with certain restrictions, now trout were plentiful ; it would be a benefit to all and injury to none. The dealing with the small birds nuisance was at present in settlers’ own hands, and he would like an expression of opinion from them as to whether they needed assistance. Thera was no truth in the rumor that the proposed vote of £IO,OOO for special settlement* was a “job,” and that it was intended to boy up a part of the Studholme estate. (Mr Buxton made a long explanation of this matter.) On the motion of Mr M. Scannell, seconded by Mr Goodey, Mr Buxton was accorded a hearty vote of thanks and confidence, and, a vote of thanks to the chairman having been passed, the meeting terminated.

MR BUXTON AT HILTON. Mr S. Buxton addressed a very large meeting at the Hilton school on Monday night, Mr E. Skinner in the obair. Mr Buxton spoke for about an hour and a-half, and was frequently applauded. At the end of his address he replied to a large number of questions and was accorded a hearty vote of thanks and confidence on the motion of Mr J, Miller, seconded by Mr P. Ryan.

MR RHODES AT PLEASANT POINT. Mr Bhodes addressed a large meeting of electors at Pleasant Point on Tuesday evening. Mr J ohn Cartwright occupied the chair and in a brief speech bespoke for Mr Bhodes a patient and attentive hearing. Mrßhadeswhowas warmly received, said that he felt he bad in the coarse of his travels through the electorate given a pretty full idea of his views on the several questions of the day. There were several matters, however, on which he might perhaps speak. As far as the postponement of the election was concerned it was due to several causes. He, when asked, had suggested that it should take place about the 20th November. As they knew there were a number of shows in different parts of tho country, and these had to a certain extent prevented the elections being held. Then there was the Whitaker-Hutchison case pending, and Mr Hutchison said that ho could not run an election and fight a law suit at ; the same time. I ho rolls were in a ! shameful condition. Since tho issue j of the first roll fully some 600 names I had been put ou in the district, and : these, or the luajority of them, would | have been deprived of a vote if the

elections had been held earlier. As far as the election was concerned he had tried to fight it honorably. He had felt hurt, therefore, at seeing a pamphlet issued by Mr Buxton or his supporters reflecting upon himself. Personally he did not object to the circulation of any amount of pamphlets, but in this case there had been an agreement not to indulge in paper business, and this agreement ought to have been honorably fulfilled. Mr Rhodes then justified his action in defending the Hutchison charges J when he found them circulated by his opponent throughout the district. He did not believe them for ene moment, but was quite prepared if they could be proved to oust the Ministry at once, Referring to the pamphlet the only other charge was that he had attended balls and parties instead of attending to his duties in the House. As a matter of fact he had voted on divisions some 40 times oftener than Mr Buxton. There was no particular merit in voting on a division, but he certainly showed that he had not been neglectful. (Applause). ' Mr Rhodes then referred to the skinflints, reiterating his previous statement that it was impossible to fix individual salaries on the floor of the House, and that some of the reductions claimed to have been made by them were not really savings. He urged the necessity of the introduction of some form of cloture. He had seen Mr Buxton’s speeches reported, and found that, with the exception of the question of Education, there was very little difference between their platforms. He claimed that his were the more truly Liberal ideas. There must be a National Education as the basis of true Liberalism. There was no doubt that their National Education was in danger. All sorts of candidates were proclaiming themselves in favor of the Private hohools Bill. The Minister of Education himself had decided in favor of Denominationalism. He (Mr Rhodes) did not want to say anything to hurt the feeling of anyone. As long as the bill came before the House as a grant to Roman Catholic schools there appeared little chance of its passing, but when it was amended to the Private Schools Bill it was more favorably received. Mr Rhodes contended that this bill meant denominational education pure and simple. It was contended by some that only certain grants would be given, but the clergy had said that they would be satisfied with nothing less than full capitation. The Church of England were fighting, at all events the clergy of the church, were. He spoke of the advantages of a national education. With it he held there was less crime, pauperism, and drunkenness. Education also did away with class distinction. A national edueation offered

greater advantages than any denominational system could. Now that there wai universal suffrage there was more than ever necessity for the people to be educated. In course of time also there would be female suffrage. It was the duty of the State to see that everybody was educated, and most nations in Europe had gone in for a national system. Mr Ehodes contended that if individual grants were given the country schools would bo broken up, and he quoted figures

showing that the cost per bead at the ; Timaru Main Schools was £2 15s, at : Pleasant Point £3 7s, at Q-eraldine Flat £6 5a 6d, at Orari £6 12s 6d, at Belfield £5 2a Bd, and at Sutherlands £6 12s 6d. The only profits made by the S.O. Education Board were— Timaru £BOO, Temuka £65, Waimate £290, Geraldine £74, and Pleasant , Point £62. This profit was expended ' in the support of the smaller schools. With only a little denominationalism the profit would be materially reduced. The closing of the country schools would cause people to flock to the towns, for they would not suffer their children to lose their education. This wemd practically retard settlement. Mr Ehodes then dwelt at length

upon secondary education, urging that to do away with it would be a most illiberal measure. If the higher schools were closed the door was absolutely barred to the poorer classes obtaining anything but

the barest primary education. He I was glad to see that the true Liberal | leaders had never advocated its abandonment. Mr Bhodes then explained the position of Caterbury and Otago with regard to secondary education, showing that under the High School Endowment the rents and interest amounted to £25,000, and that about £IB,OOO was received in fees. As the reserves wore improved the rents would increase and secondary

education would be practically free. Ho advocated the establishment of more scholarships, and also the adoption of more practical and technical education. The state actually contributed only some £7OOO to higher education, and this went ehiefly to the Universities. Mr Bhodes then showed that under the new system of letting the Education Beserves much more satisfaction would be given. It might be necessary to borrow in future in order to try some experiment in repurchase of land, but he thought it would be better to borrow in the Home market unless there were individuals here who could supply the money at an equally low rate of interest. He ■ubmitted in connection witb the vote for £IO,OOO for land purchase that i« I was introduced at about two hours . notice upon the supplentary estimates ! by the Premier. Sir George Grej ] bitterly opposed it, as did several other

Liberal members. It was not correct to state that it was lost by one vote, for nobody could say which way the Speaker would have voted. He contended that several amendments made by the present Government in the Land Act were of a most liberal description and that under Mr Richardson land settlement had proceeded faster than, under Mr Ballance, and that less land had been sold by him for cash. The present House was the only one that had put a limit to the area which a man could occupy. He urged the continuance of a Property Tax as against a Land Tax. He showed that under the Land Tax about £30,000,000 of mortgages were liable to escape taxation. He believed in an elective Upper House. He was not prepared to support inclusion of any particular men in the Ministry, but believed that there would be an. entire reconstruction. In conclusion Mr Rhodes expressed his thanks for the very courteous bearing accorded him, and expressed his willingness to answer questions. One or two questions having been replied to Mr Edyvine moved and Mr Dossett seconded a hearty vote of thanks to and confidence in Mr Rhodes. This was carried unanimously. The proceedings terminated with a vote of thanks to the chairman.

MR TWOMEY. Mr J. M. Twomey addressed a large meeting of the Timaru electors in the Theatre Royal, on Monday evening, His Worship the Mayer in the chair. He spoke for about an hour, being frequently applauded, and at the conclusion was accorded a unanimous vote of thanks and confidence. On 1 uesday evening he addressed a meeting at Fairview, and last evening one at Claremont.