PRE-SESSIONAL ADDRESS

Temuka Leader, Issue 2213, 11 June 1891, Page 4

PRE-SESSIONAL ADDRESS

HON. J. MoKENZIE AT PALMERSTON SOUTH. (Continued.) He would now deal with the CRITICISMS or THE MESS upon bia administration as Minister for Lands. He would first refer to some of the criticisms in connection with the Wellington Land Board; in which he had been accused of swabbing that Board. Shortly after his assuming office as Minister for Lands, it came to his knowledge that a large number of selectors in the Wellington Provincial district were not complying with the law and carrying out the improvements which they were bound to do under the Act. In consequence of this he had appointed two surveyors, selected by Mr Percy Smith", “ the Surveyor-General, to investigate and report t« .him. ag .t 0 how the settlement ■conditions were being complied with in the Wellington Land District. On March 81 last the first instalments TamO'to hand) v »nd showed that out of 263 cases they had reported upon, fiftysix selectors were reported as not .having ifiode anything to improve their selections, and a large number of others bad only partly complied, whilst out of the total number there were unly some ninety five residing on their sections. On receipt of those returns they were handed over to Mr M'Kay, the ranger ’ for 1 the -district, to show cause why these various settlers had not been compelled to carry out the law. Mr M'Kay, in his own defence, submitted to him (Mr M'Kenzie) a return giving extracts from his reports £ or the. year 1800, and stated that ninety-six settlers had made no improvements, and that out of 744 selectors there were only 201 residing, and Is 4 had only partly Complied with the conditions. Mr M'KayV defence was then submitted to the Commissioner of Crown Lands in Wellington, so that he might make any remarks , upon the report before any further action was taken. In reply to this a resolution of the Board had been forwarded to him to the following effect:—l hat the progress of settlement had been very satisfactory—(laughter)—the ranger spoke very confidently of the success of Settlement in toe Wellington Land District, and alleged that dummyism was not apparent to-bim, the only combination being in the case of members of families who wished to secure a better chance of getting the land they required. Mr M'Kay, in a subsequent report, distinctly denied that he had ever made use of the remarks attributed to him by the Board. It appeared to him, as Minister for Lands, from Mr M'Kay’s report to the Board, which bad never been contradicted so far as the figures were concerned, that the deduetien of the Board, drawn from that report, was not a fair one. In reply to a further communication asking the Commissioner of Crown Lands himself as to what position he took up with regard to Mr M'Kay’s report of 1890, he (Mr M'Kenzie) received from the Board the previous resolution, with a snub to the Minister for Lands:in the shape of an enquiry as to why he should doubt the same ; and be had up to the present time never received an explanation from the Board as to how, if they had done their duty on Mr M'Kay’s report of 1890, it was possible for Messrs Murray and Lowe, the surveyors appointed for the purpose, to find such a deplorable state of things as that set forth in their report. Such being the case he considered be was acting within his authority as Minister for Lands and political head of the department, in drawing the attention of’the Wellington Land Board to the position ef affairs. This was the action on bis part that had occasioned bo much offence to the Board and to the Conservative Pi ess throughout the Colony. The whole of the facta ip connection with this matter were now departmental documents. It would be impossible for the Laud Board to pretend that it had done its duty or to gay that his action in drawing its attention to the fact was wrong or improper. In point of fact, he, as Minister, would consider that he had not done his duty if, when those facts .were brought under bis notice, he had hot drawn the attention of the Board to them. (Applause.) The next question which he would refer to, and upon which he had been assailed by the'douservaiive Press waa the appointment of.mb bitchie. as chief of the stock department. He waa not going to refer to the canards which that section of the Press had chosen to drag into that matter, nor would he refer to the scandalous and unbecoming manner in which hia own family bad been brought into public notice. His hearers were perfectly well aware that there were no truth whatsoever in those reports, and it was quite unnecessary for him to contradict them here. But he would refer them to the facts connected with Mr Ritchie’s appointment, and then tji® people of the Colony would be in possession of the true reason for making it. One taking charge of the' Idtock Department he found that it was in a most disorganised state. He found that instead of having one head to 1 control the whole department and responsible to the Minister, there was no less than six chief inspectors, one in each provincial district, and that instead of confining their expenditure to the amount of the vote of last session, passed for the purpose 1 of the department, they had expended [ ■omething over £2OOO above what was j ypted by the House, He had found

that thousands Of ’ pbfifulai wereeach spent by these six chief inspectors on keeping down'rabbits on Crown lands without any control whatever from the head office in Wellington, The accounts had been sent up for payment from each district without, approval by anyone except the inspectors, and they had simply to be paid without question on their reaching Wellington. He himself, since be became a Minister, had to approve of pay ment of accounts which had never been authorised by the head office. These were solid facts which could be proved by documentary evidence and could not possibly be disputed. He then saw. that it would’be impossible to devote sufficient time to manage the whole of the Stock department himself, and came .to the conclusion that the proper thing to do would be to appoint a bead over the department, who would have his head-quarters in Wellington,' who would be responsible to the Minister for all his actons, and who would have to consult the Minister before entering into any plans which might cost the Colony any considerable sums of money. Haying come to that conclusion, the next thing he did ; was to select a man for this important position and on going through the lists of the Department, he did not find one in whom-he could"place sufficient confidence to appoint to the office, He then looked outside the Department for an able man. and thought of Mr Eitcbie. (Applause,) He did so because he knew Mr Ritchie well. He knew what good work he had done inputting down the rabbits on the Mount Royal Estate, and he 1 knew Mr Eitcbie to be an energetic, steady and economical manager of a station, 1 and one who, in his opinion, was well qualified to reorganise the Sheep Department. (Applause). -For that reason alone he had offered the appointment to Mr Eitchie, and he was not at all certain at the time that the offer would be accepted. To have asked Mr Ritchie to leave a comfortable appointment and home such as he had at Mount Eoyal, without giving him some assurance of a permanency for a least a certain length of time, would have been unfair and unjust, ■ and he (Mr M,Kenzie) might tell them that had he done so the offer would not have been accepted. He could safely say that no more pure and honest appointment bad ever been made to the Civil Service of New Zealand. Mr Ritchie was appointed solely because he (Mr M'Kenzie) considered he would be the right man in the right place, and he was confident that after Mr Eitchie had been allowed a couple of years to show his capability, the appointment would not require any defence. He would tell them that during the short time Mr Eitchie bad held the position be had already effected a clear saving to the Colony of at the rate of £2500 per annum over and above hia own salary, and he had every confidence that in twelve months hence Mr Eitchie would be able to show still greater saving. (Applause.) This m itself would be quite sufficient to prove the necessity for the appointment and also the qualifications of the man for the position. The only conclusion he could arrive at as to why the appointment should be so bitterly assailed by the Conversative Press of the Colony was that they had probably only been used to appointments of that nature being made for very diffiefent reasons than those of necessity and qualification for the office. (Groans.)

MB SPENCE’S CHAEGEB. He now came to the statements made by Mr Spence at Invercargill, and taken up by the Conservative Press throughout the length and breadth of the Oolony, with regard to his notions as Minister for Lands in the Southland land district. He would not follow the course pursued by Mr Spence at Invercargill, or hurl back at Mr Spence the very bitter language that had been used against himself, but he would take the opportunity of dealing with the charges, stripped of the verbiage of abuse in which they were clad. Well, the first charge was that he had ordered Mr Spence’s removal from Southland to Westland, so that Mr Duncan Campbell could be appointed a Crown Lands Banger for that district; secondly, that Mr Mussen was removed to Canterbury so that Mr Campbell could take bis place; thirdly, that he (Mr M'Kenzie) had reduced the land office at Invercargill to less than an adequate working staff; fourthly, that he had sent a memo, to the land office to make a declaration that it bad perpetrated a swindle ; and fifthly, the appointment of Mr Campbell to the office of ranger. Now he would give hard and dry facts, and show at the same time substantial reasons for his actions, and facts were “ Chiels that winna ding.” (Laughter and applause.) When they had his explanation it would be for that meeting to judge him. First, then, he would take Mr 'Spence’s own case, and the reasons which had induced him to remove that officer to Westland, On his tour of inspection throughout the colony he got as far as Invercargill; but he might say before he left Wellington he bad documents sent to him containing complaints of. the manner in which the administration of the Crown lands and forest reserves in Southland was being conducted, and one of his objects in visiting Southland was to generally inquire into these matters. No sooner did he reach Invercargill than numbers of people waited upon ■ him for the purpose of drawing ntten-1 tion to the defective administra.'

tion, "of the land department, and the ' way in which the fdirefit reserves were being dealt with; One of those gentlemen wboj had interviewed him made such startling accusations against Mr Spence that he (Mr M'Kenzie) had decided not to hear them unless the accuser was prepared to sign hia name to the charges he was making. This was agreed to, and Mr Gore, his secretary, took down the statement in shorthand, wrote it out that evening, and the gentleman in question called next day, read the statement over; and signed his name to it. He (Mr M'Kenzie) .took that statement to Mr ttpence himself .and asked him to reply to it, which be did and sent it pn to Wellington; hut; the reply was not satisfactory to him (the Minister), so he decided that the gentleman who had made the statement should again be written to from Wellington, and asked if he had any further proof of the charges he ! had made against Mr Spence, Another letter was received from that gentleman emphasising what he had previously 1 ' stated, and giving dates for some of statements he bad made, and 'at the 1 same time giving the names of other people in Southland who could prove his accusations but before this enquiry could be completed Mr Spence left the service. When at Gore reeehtly, a copy'of a petition which had been forwarded to hia predecessor, the Hon. G, . F, Richardson, was presented to Mm; In it serious complaints 'weire '‘ made with .regard to the Croydon Bush J and its administration under Mr Spence. At the same time a newspaper f was banded to him in which appeared the following advertisement:—“ Notice — Any person or persons found 1 cutting or removing timber inside"survey lines in Croydon Bush of Brydeh and Reardon’a sawmill' reserve, will be prosecuted by law. (Signed), Dfyden and Reardon." This 'Advertisement was quite illegal, and had no t right to appear in the papers, and this nad been done under Mr Spence’s' very ndBO in the Southland district. Hadhe’been performing his duty properly as Commissioner of Crown Lands he would at once hare contradicted such an advertisement. The whole result: of bis neglect has been that the settlers in Southland, not only in the Croydon Bush district but also in other districts, had been prevented from gettinig what they had a right to get, by the sawmillers being allowed tip assume by public/adrOftisement that they had a legal right to what the law did not allow them. The settlers were practically thrust to one side. On asking Mr Spence why he had allowed such an advertisement to appear, he was told in so many words, that he (Mr Spence) was not bound to read newspapers. He .(Mr M’Kenzie) then immediately caused an advertisement ,to be .inserted in the papers by Mr Spence stating that sawmill licenses only gave the privilege to sawmillera to saw timber alone, and that any settler who chose to pay for a license could go to any bush in Southland for . poets and fails or firewobd, which they had prevented preVioakly from .doing. He could say that for this action he bad been heartily thanked by a large number of people in South-; land. (Hear, hear, and applause) A great number ■ of other complaints had been made to him, too riumeroiis! for him to mention" that'evening; biit be had documents in his possession' which would bear out every word he was now saying. One gentleman in particular, he was informed wheii in Invercargill, could obtain anything he asked for at the hands of the Southland Land Board.. He had requested Mr Spenca himself to furnish a return of areas held by that gentleman for sawmilling purposes in Southland, and he found that this same gentleman was in pbssbssion ef fourteen selections as sawmilling areaSj amounting in all to 2078 acres, with reservations besides, made for his own use and benefit, ef 3790 acres, making a total held in the grasp of this one man 5868 acres of Southland forest'reserves', and'ho had only three sawmills on the lot. (“Oh 1” •ud applause.) Another statement made to him when in Southland was that _ land with timber upon it,. to the value of £2 per acre, had been sold for the sum of 12a 6d per acre for cash. Into (his he had made personal in* quiry, and found it to be true, Taking all these things into consideration, be could only- come to one ‘conclusion, and that was that it would be in the interests of the colony of New Zealand and of Mr Spence himself that he should be removed from that place where he bad been such a length of time. The removal of Orown lands officers from time to time from one portion of the colony to another had always been.a recognised thing. Even the Judges of the Supreme Court after they bad been a certain length of time in one district are very often removed, Resident Magistrates also are moved in the same way. Police officers, and in fact every Civil Servant in the colony, if it is found necessary and in the interests of the community, are liable to be moved at any time. (Applause.) What, then, he had done, was simply to ask Mr Spence to go to Westland at the same salary as he was receiving in Southland, and he (Mr M'Kenzie) had done so for no other reason whatever than that he thought Mr Spence had been quite long enough in the district, and that, in his own’interests and in the interests of the colony, his removal would he an advantage. Now that was the reason why Mr Spence had

bee|i asked to go to Westland, (Applause,)’ The reason for 'Mr'Mussen’s removal to Canterbury was that after consultation with Mr Spence himself, in Southland, he name to the conclusion that it was necessary tohave a forest ranger in r Southland. Some yeats ago, when his predecessor was in office, the ranger was dispensed with on the plea of retrenehmeht. Ten police officers were then appointed as forest rangers at arcertaimum each per annum, Mr Mussen occupying the position of Crown lands j ranger. On, looking over the papers- ia connection with the, forests of ! Southland in the Wellington head office be ascertained that Mr Campbell during his two years qfofficearGrown" landp, ranger had pifotected derived from forest resetwes/in-',Southland to the extent of an amount, equal to his own salary by detectings illegal transactions in connection with' I 'these forests. ;Pung ; fhcT timiT this ,ten 1 police officers were performingxhe same duty there’ was not dneinstanee of a report by which the reVenuedf the Colony had been Tbcreased., Ti fact, there was no record . amongst; the r pr.pers in Wellington (hose police officers ever r did ' anything, while the people of Southland :T wiere crying out that the forests Iwere 1 being illegally operated upon, He had discnf sed this question with Mr 'Spence while in Invefbargill, ahd ' Mi? Spence himself said that a ranger was'hefccessary, and recommended that eneshould T bo appointed, He (Mr' M‘Ken*ie) then gave it as his opimon' that one ranger would be quitfe sufficeat lid do the work in connection ' with both! the Crown lands and the forest reserves: as; • well. Mr Spence demurred to this j ■ and strongly recommended him ai Minister ‘to leate Mr ’'Mussen in' charge r bf the Crown lands and to appoint a special ranger fur the forests. Mr Mussen was an elderly man of about sixty years of age, and usable to make long journeys on horseback. Though there was nothing to be sard'against Mr Mussen whatever, still in the Minister’s opinion'he was totally unsuitable to perform both duties. He,’ therefore, as an act of kindness to Mr Mdsseir asked him to’ rdmdye to where he ! could :^db 0 most of his travelling; by train. He had not the least desire to transfer Mr Mussen from 1 Southland if r he ‘could peHorm” ’both thei dhties of Crown lands ranger.and fdredt finger,’and if, as Mr. Spence had stated, his whole object had been to make #ay for Mr Campbell, he" had at that time the r&ngefiihip of Canterbury, and also an, opening m the Wellington land district to which that gentleman could have been appointed ; and he might add that if he had left' Mr Spence in charge of the Invercargill office, Mr Mussen as , Crown lands ranger, and appointed another man to look after the forests; sending Mr {Jarapbell to Wellington ’ or Christchurch, not. one word would have been said about this “ Campbell appointment.” (Applause). (To he continued,)