Mr Sheehan's Address to the Thames Electors.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2772, 2 January 1878, Page 2

Mr Sheehan's Address to the Thames Electors.

The following is a report of the speech delivered by the Hon. Mr Sheehan on Saturday night Jast, which was crowded out of Monday's issue, owing to the length of our verbatim report of the Premier's speech.

Mr Sheehan, who was cordially received by the meeting, said : Mr Chairman, ladies and gentlemen,—l do not think a youngster like myself could be placed at a greater disadvantage than being called upon to speak after the wonderfully eloquent address of my lion, friend the Premier of the Colony. Listening to " the old man eloquent," as we may truly term him, you must be struck with the fact that ho is working for your own interests and advantage, and that a single personal interest he has none. As Sir George Grey lias spoken so fully and completely upon each question which, as a Government, it will bo our duty to bring before the Assembly next session, ho has relieved me to a considerable extent, and I can, therefore, with a better grace, ask you to excuse me from making a speech to-night. Before touching upon the business of tho evening I will recall a reminiscence of my early political career. I am now speaking for a second time to a Thames meeting. The first occasion wns during my connection with the Auckland Provincial Council, and I found the Thames people of that day as kindly and genial as they arc this evening. I came here with fear and trembling as to the reception I should meet with, and I went away happy at the result of my mission, and able to talk with you .about the public business of the province. Times have changed since tbc period to which X allude. At that time I was engaged with a gentleman no longer amongst us, but whose character stood high with us all for years. I refer to the late Mr John Williamson—a man who gave himself and his fortunes up to:the public interests, and who died a poorer man than he was when he landed in tho colony. I was engaged at that time in the difficult task of trying to make brickr> without straw. We had four or.*v thousand pounds to spend on paulic works against a powerful organisation who could spend millions, namely* the Colonial Government, ami it rrns the case of the crockery veste! and *tte irou^xossel : fighting against each other, L; t- result of i the struggle being that the ioeroer was j crushed. I ask you did Ute General j Government show that thoy bnd your interests at heart P What have you got as your share of tho public money expended ? Where was" your interest out of the loan ? Where is the Waikato and Thames liailway ? Why, you have them now on paper, and if the late Government had remained in office for another seven years they would be on paper still. In the year 1872 one of tho first documents I penned was a recommendation that £3CD,000 out of the £4,000,000 should be set opart for your Thames and Waikato Itailway, which the then Government treated with deliberate contempt. My ' honorable friend has treated the situation from a philosophical point of view, so you will excuse me if I treat it from a practical point of view. I would say at once that in your district there is a large native population, that an immense area of country is owned by the natives, and is gradually passing into the hands of Europeans ; and it will be an interesting matter for you.to know what are tho intentions of the present Government with regard t© this difficult question of Native Lands. I say at once, without hesitation or fear of giving offence to personal friends, that for-tho last- four or-five y««rs large sums of money have been quandered in attempting to acquire for you a landed, estate. It is not only that your money has been spent, but it has been a cause of antagonism to the Maoris themselves. I would like to know if you had got the whole of tho Thames land to-morrow how much money could they show for it? X will tell you where it has gone. The bulk of it took a liquid shape. It roused the spirits of the owners for a short time over night, and left them .with a headache next morning. Well, wo have come to the conclusion of knocking all that sort of thing entirely on the head. ' We arc going to put a stop to purchasing land by commission—a system which ouly looked ut apparent results and neglected real work. (Cheers.) The officers taking charge of the land will be General Government officers, responsible to us aud liable to be turned about their business whenever they do wrong. (Applause and laughter.) And further, as a measure of public interest aud a measure that will inspire' confidence for the men who will be asked to buy land for the Government, such officers will do so with the full knowledge of this fact, that if he is a parly himself to the, purchase of land whilst he holds his appointment, he will, on being found out, be "sacked" the next morning. (Laughter.) Let me say this to you that this is not a law to apply to small clerks of £200 or £300 a year. It will apply from Ministers downwards; and I may say that I, as Nativo Minister, was the first person who received that circular conveying what I iv effect have

(old you. I would also point out, while on this subject, that one of the greatest Hiflicnllics in connection with native land dealings hud been a want of confidence on the part of tiie Maoris. They never knew where they were, owing to the mode adopted by the secret agents. If you approach them fairly and above hoard, tell thorn you are approaching them only on tho public account, and for tho public interest, you will find that tho natives arc disposed to part with thoir land for opening up tho country. In no part of the country have tho two races got on hotter than at tho Thames. I hare nowhere seen the Urn native people so well-dressed, wellbehaved,nud well-housed as on the Thames and Upper Country. (Hoar hear.) Wo shall deal witli the nntives striughlforwardly, as men who know what they arc doing, and are as capable of looking after their own interests as any man among us. I am sensible of the fact that it would be unfair to censure all those who were engaged as agents under the late purchasing system. I know one man who will come out of it much poorer than when he went into it. I3ut be sure of this, that under tho old system you have dissatisfied the Turopeans, angered ihe Natives, and got nothing for all your trouble. In 1873 the House decided to vote a sum of £700,000 for acquiring native lands, and I took part in the discussion which then took place, being interested in a Waste Lands Law, which I reckoned the best; but it was useless, as there was no land; and you are in 1877 as far off from a landed estate as you were in 1870. We simply mean business. I hope for myself to abolish the word " taihoa" from the Native Department. I have found that I can treat with tho .Maoris well enough by regarding them a3 other men, and dealing openly and fairly with them. There are two things whicTi I hope we shall be able to do for you between this and the next session of Parliament. The first is to place at the disposal of the Waste Lauds Board all the lands in the hands of ihe Government between this and the Thames Valley; and, secondly, I propose to employ an efficient staff for the completion of all outstanding titles and buying Urge blocks of land which are in a position to hand over for settlement. When you have this land open it will enable men who .have been holding fin to the district for years with the chance of permanent settlement to show ! that they have the right stuff in them; I and this will be a stop towards helping lon the policy with regard to' tho [ franchise of which my honorable friend lias spoken to you. You havo coming amongst you a special settlement composed of men known as the Broomhall settlers. I havo been asked by a deputation who waited on me this day to rescind the contract now existing with Mr Broomhall, and I told them it could not bed one. The Government is pledged to that contract, and although the bargain was an improvident one, I would sooner suffer the loss than havo it said that the Colon}' brole its faith with these people. Besides, Ido not know that you will bo any worse oil' for tho introduction of these people. If you get a few thousand pcopje settled on this block you will not barb so many empty houses in your streets. (A voice: " The money goes through the London market! ' Exactly, and that's where we go when we want money. (A voice: " There is no land for settlement!") Well I would not bo one of those to cry stinking fish. Those who think that^juch ,ia the case had better pack up their Bwag's and gc-to jN'ew Guinea or elsewhere. I should -"Ty sorry to think that there is in this part of .New Zealand only one bl.'^k of (IOC:) acres vrorth settling on. I

.' i now refer [f< a" question whicli I know ; gr.-st ItiefcsL among you. I think ! lucre is no ilolibt wJifciteTer that tho fui tare of the TbtJffips will be secured the ' raumcnl you open up by proper menus of I communication the great heart of the Waikato. I have told "you that before my hon. friend emerged from his retirement an attempt was made to securo a j certain portion*of the loan for tho parpose of constructing a Thames nnd Waikato Kailway; that attempt failed, but you had such consolation as could bo obtained from what is called a flying survey of tho line. My hon. friend tried to give practical effect to your wishes last session by bringing in a bill to construct the railway on a Government guarantee of the interest of the requisite capital invested. But that Bill never became law. I trust, however, that the Premier will be able to see his way to have the lino made on a fair Government guarantee, as there are men here who, having stood steadfastly by the Thames, are deserving of every consideration. I will now tura to a few matters of purely local import. I may, in the first place, point out that a more liberal provision has been made for the North Island ai to the construction of roads and bridges, and some of the vote has been set apart for the Thames District. My hon. friend and myself depart from the Thames to-night, and wo have not yet come to a conclusion ts to what amount will be available for public works in your district. But you may depend upon ono thing —that you will get fair play, and everything will be done to render an amount available for your pressing wants. Let me now refer to another matter of a small character, but uevertheless of considerable interest to you. You will have observed, I have no doubt, that the present Government havo not a very high, opinion of the volunteer system of >he Colony. We havo looked upon tho whole thing as a duffer. But I am proud to say that from all sides of the Houso when the matter was under discussion last session every man who took part in tho debato thought the Thames force well worth contribution of public money in aid; and you may depend upon it that whilo reductions will bo made in other parts of the country, the practical companies such as you havo at the Thames, will receive every consideration, and we hope to make them even more efficient than they are now. (Cheers.) You have heard my hon. friend dilate upon tho Ministerial programme, and he has left little for me to say. You know now that we have been bold euough to take the bull by the horns and take the land fund for colonial revenue. Whilst other people came behind as a common prig would to pick a pocket, we came up as bold highway men, and said your money or your life. New the South will be found helping the ftorth, which has hitherto been backward for want of a fair distribution of public niouejr. The programme laid down is extensive, including a revision of the electoral law's! better representation for, the people, and a wider and more liberal franchise. These three things are quite sufficient to make work for the whole session. Vlt is unnecessary to argue ivith you abbul

the necessity of making an alterations in - the adjustment of taxation. It is I summed up in the Premier's remarks to you. So long as the poor man pays an equal amount with the rich man so long will the latter be obtaining an undue advantage of the public debt; and so long as we have such a ntatc of things so long will there be a bad Government. At all risks I am prepared to follow Sir George Grey in attempting to make tho taxation of the country more in accordance with justice ; and I hope to see one good result arise out of the readjustment of .the, representation on the basis of population. I think the Thames is entitled to an additional member. [A voice:" Two!"] Well I would ask for one first, unless you prefer going the Yankee way to work of asking for two in the hope of getting one. Even then,' however, I believe yon will be scarcely fully represented in the Part _ liament of the colony. I must apologint[^ for having kept you so long. (Cries oi " No—go on.' ) 1 came here in the happiest frame of mind, as I hare always met with fair treatment at the hands of the Thames people. One of the local papers . was good Enough to say in its latest issue that although I did not represent the Thames I had always done my best for tho interests, of the district, and I may say that J hare come to look upon myself as a representative of your district. It is Tery gratifying to me to know that such a large body of people as the Thames miners have not been afraid to trust me and think me worthy of their \ confidence. I think the Premier has ; proved beyond all doubt that he means * all he says, and I may tell you that he is a very troublesome customer, indeed, and very difficult to kill. (Applause and laughter.) I believe the spirit of contention is so strong within him thai he has made up "liis mind not to die until he has accomplished something for this district. I think he has given ample proof that he has tho true grit in him from the Parliamentary struggle during last session —ho turned up trumps just at the last moment. For myself, I am proud to follow Buch a man, and I think the Thames people should be proud to have a man of that kind speaking on their behalf in the House. I saw thai hon. gentleman depart from Official Bay in 1853 or 1854, when I was about six or seven years of age myself, aud I played the truant from school, by the way, on that occasion to see him off. Now, when I think that he, as a former Governor of the Colony, is now Prime Minister, and that I have been taken, as it were, from tho street to assist him in governing the Colony, it presents to me an amusing and novel aspect. I think it is generally acknowledged that h« . has nought but the good of the Colony at heart, and if he gets a real show it will not go so badly with the country as it has done for years. With regard to what my hon. friend has been good enough to say about myself-and the position I occupy, I would say a word to you. It proves beyond alt doubt that there is an opening for every man who likes to take part in public affairs, and in this connection I wduld.warn you against evincing apathy. I like to see a good strong healthy public feeling, even though it may sometimes take the shape of rotten eggs. In conclusion, I may say that we hope to bo able to come back here next year .and receive, as fair a welcome as you hare given us to-da}'; and if you are satisfied that wo havo not tried to tinrrj out'th« a^umnce? si «cir t bj .us.this affcocissita'Hf wo hms broken the promises-we have taken to fi*lGLl» I shall be cjui<H content to take the uot&nhoulder; i but I fed a certainty within md t-h&t if we get lair play from tho rest of tho colony, and carry out ihe measures we propose, we shall keep your confidence, and gain the confidence of many other parts of the colony which may now probably be against us. Mr Sheehan then resumed his seat .> amid enthusiastic applause.