HON. W. ROLLESTON’S BANQUET

Temuka Leader, Issue 2702, 23 August 1894, Page 2

HON. W. ROLLESTON’S BANQUET

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —According to the published re* ports of Mr Bollestou’s after-dinner speech at Wellington the other day, that gentleman seems to think that the country is in very bad hands, and what with the Land Administration as at present carried on and the setting aside of the Disqualification Act, we shall most assuredly come to utter ruin. Mr Rolleston is made to say that without truth nothing can be accomplished. Does that gentleman insinuate for one moment that there are no truthful men on the Government benches and no truthful men in the ranks of the supporters of the Government? Oh, fie! Mr Rolleston; don’t think so harshly of your political foes. To my certain knowledge there are as truthful and good men in the Government phalanx as ever were sent to the House. “ Social progress ! Social fads!” Oh, yes! Mr Rolleston. It seems to me that everything that is done by the present Ministry, if for the benefit of the wage-earners of the country, is considered a fad. I should like to know if one man is not as much entitled to land as another, if he can get it honestly ? Of course the Honorable J. McKenzie’s Land for Settlement Bill is almost more than can be digested by the C mservative land grabbers. They call it confiscation ! I don’t, though. 1 can recall to mind the time in the history of this country when hundreds of thousands of acres of land were bought at prices ranging from 5s to 40s per acre, and which now could not be for £2O per acre. How comes ft that it is so enhanced in value since the day of purchase ? H a ® the making of roads bridges, railways, and drainage anything to do with it 1 If so, where has the money come from for all this ? Mr Rolleston would say a greater part was borrowed. Yes, just so; and does not the wage-earner pay hi® share towards the repayment of such borrowed money, and what equivalent does he get ? Not much. There are other matters in Mr Rotiejjftqu's speech that deserve attention, but I have only inclination io notice one more, and that is as regards the present severe crises wo, the industrial classes, are passing through. I am of opinion that the Industrial classes, as Mr Rolleston calls us, are a deal more satisfied with the present Government than he imagines* Of coij»?o there is a great deal of misery and hardship 11) a ?i large centres, and bard things are sure to be said of the Ministry, but has there never been suffering and hardship under and during a Conservative Ministry I What about the time when Billy Barnes and hundreds of mechanics and laborers wont to the Government buildings in Christ church clamoring for work ? And a few years later than that depression met the couutry again, and the writer of this was,

one who was forced to ask for Govern* ment assistance in work. These were in the palmy days of Rolleston, Hall & Co., out-and-out Conservatives and no mistake, In conclusion, I quite agree with Mr Rolleston that this country has a great future before it, and that the gentlemen holding the reins of government at present are as well able to guide its destinies as ever Mr Rolleston or any Conservative Ministry ever did.—l am, etc., An Old Hand.