MR SCOBIE MACKENZIE ON THE GOVERNMENT.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2281, 17 November 1891, Page 3

MR SCOBIE MACKENZIE ON THE GOVERNMENT.

At the banquet given to Mr Rollestou in Christchurch, Mr Scobie Mackenzie, after a few remarks, spoke as follows : He was reminded of a remark made by Mr Gladstone in regard to protection—- “ I feel sure that I am fighting an imposture, and wont last long.” Now, he ventured to say that was what the members of the Opposition felt they had to fight.,- (Laughter.) He was inclined to think that the fight would not be a very long one either. If he were to go to the Government and ask it what was the principal feature of last session the Premier would hold up the Land and Income Tax Bill. If they asked the Premier the same question next year, he felt sure he would point to another Taxation Bill. (Laughter.) The Government had succeeded in instilling into the minds of the people of the colony that taxation was essential to the progress of the Colony itself—the pernicious doctrine that taxation, instead of being the means to an end, was the end itself. The sole object of taxation was to enable the Government to protect the individual and carry 6n'the functions of the State, and' every .penny, of taxation over and above this was money wrongfully taken out of" the pockets of the people. He supposed that Sir George Grey would be regarded as an enlightened Liberal? (“ No.”) If they went to Sir George and asked him what was the best thing to be done for the Colony, he would say : “ Put on a-Land tax.” (Laughter.) Taxation was a burden. Lighten the burden and the country was relieved, increase it and the country was embarrassed. The policy of true Liberals should be to lighten the burden, but he did not think that the New Zealand Liberals would ever do anything of this sort. Last session the Premier came down with a large surplus in one hand and the Property tax—a tax obnoxious to the people of the Colony—r -in the other, yet he refused to apply one penny of that surplus towards lightening thtfburdens of the people. The Government regarded taxation as an instrument foripunishing people whose sole crime was that-they had bought certain land from the ’country at the price the country demanded. (Applause.) The Premier said ,in the House that the Government desired to burst up the large properties, blit when he came down hero he had a different tale to tell, because he told the fanners that they would be relieved altogether, by the exemption of £3OOO. ' The Premier forgot that he had been preach-ing'-the doctrine in the past that the whole of the taxation should be borne by the laud. Because he could not get this i Land Tax pure arid simple, he asked for the thing next to it, and that was a Land Tax with exemption. They should re-

member that the exemption would soon pass away. So soon as _ the country got into financial difficulties, and he was afraid that it would not be long before that came to pass, there would be a cry fpr the abolition of the exemptions. ■ (Applause). Some of those preseut might look lightly upon a bursting-up policy, because they thought that, while their neighbor was “burst up,” they would not be affected, but he would tell them that, if once the bulwarks of public honesty were broken down, no human soul could tell how far the invasion would fc proceed. (Applause). Only large estates ■ could be touched now, but it would not be long before smaller estates would be invaded. This was an age of quackery. The New Zealand Liberal party comprised adepts in the art of < quackery, te vM.laughter)-and Mr Ballance might be called the high priest of the quacks. The peculiarity of the quack was that he had a nostrum for everything. The Government party called the exodus and the depression diseases. Now these were not diseases, they were cures. The disease was past extravagance. Mr Ballance did not trouble to examine the root of the matter. He simply said “ You must take my exodus mixture,” or “ You must take my depression mixture.” (Laughter). They knew what that • mixture was— Putting the people on the land. Now, there was as much toil and poverty among the workers on the land as elsewhere. He had heard a good many men talk of putting people on the land, but he had never heard a man who had himself been on the laud advocate such a course. New Zealand Liberalism was nothing more or less than mediaeval Toryism under +lm flimsiest and thinnest possible disguises; H King Henry YJII was alive at the present day he would be a leader of the New Zealand Liberal party — though perhaps not in his domestic arrangements. (Loud laughter), That Kin g had'all the qualities of mind which characterised the New Zealand Liberal party... No doubt they all had read of Henry sending for a prominent member of the House of Commons and threatening to cut off his head should a certain Bill fail to pass. The Government acted in a precisely similar way to the Legislative Council. It said in effect; “You pass our Bills, or we’ll put an emd to you. If we can’t cut your head off we’ll add so •.nncb to the tail that the head wont be of much use to you.” (Laughter.) Yet tlxo only ground for the indignation of the -Government party was that the Council had the temerity to discharge the functions entrusted to it by the people. Then they had to consider the restrictions of individual liberty which the New Zealand Liberals would impose. The measures dealing with the hours of labor and shop hours interfered with liberty at er step. Another noticeable feature was the rapid decay of the spirit of independence which ought to characterise people of the English race. The warmest dniirer of New Zealand Liberals could not say that they possessed the quality of courage. Not one of them had the courage to tell the people a single unpalatable, unpopular truth but instead of this they said pleasant things and truckled to every form of ignorance He referred to the appointment of the ' Chairman of Committees, and said that another matter over which the Government was now trembling was the matter of appointments to the Upper House. True Liberalism was to save the pockets of the taxpayers, but the Liberalism of New Zealand actually lived in an atmosphere of corruption and extravagance. (Applause.) Look at the matter of travelling expenses. Did they imagine that a Government which was extravagant in small things would regard economy in great things? After what he had said, they might think there was occasion, to be discouraged at the political

outlook. There was nothing, he thought, to be discouraged about. In his opinion the Government was nothing more nor less than an unhappy accident. (Laughter.) The Government was the result of the strikes and Union troubles coming about the time of a general election. He did not believe that it was for a moment the deliberate wish of the people that the Government shnou hound down any class of the community, whether that class were rich or poor. (Applause.) He looked forward hopefully to the time when the gentleman whom they had met to honour would bring to the work of Government the honesty and uprightness and fair dealing which had so long been the characteristics of the man. (Applause.) The Government Party might go in for progressive taxation, but his party would go in for progressive diminution .of burdens. That was a noble aim, and-,'it seemed much better than the policy of the other side, which was to pander .to every cry, and to truckle to every form of ignorance. (Applause.)