THE PREMISE'S VISIT.

Thames Star, Volume XV, Issue 4794, 21 May 1884, Page 2

THE PREMISE'S VISIT.

Owing to the lateness of the hour at which it was arranged the He. Major Atkinson should receive deputations yesterday afternoon, we were unable to give our readers, in last night's issue, more than the programme decided on. The first deputation was that in relation to the

BIG PUMP. The interest taken in this subject was shown by the large attendance of mine managers and others interested in mining here. The Mayor introduced the deputation, Messrs John Brown and A. Porter, and.explained the position of affairs, showiner" that about 759 men's ground was affected by the pump. The local bodies and speculators had spent large sums of money to keep it going, and the strain being now very heavy, by reason of the general depression, it was wished that Government would grant a £ for.£ subsidy for two years, by which time no doubt something would have been discovered.

Mr Brown pointed out that owing to scares re the pnmp stopping people would not pay calls, but if operations could be assured for two years, he could guarantee that prospecting at the low levels, which was the only way to secure permanence to the field, would be constantly carried on during that period. The stoppage ;of the Pump would be a public calamity. Mr Brodie characterised the question of the discovery of payable gold at the low levels as one of colonial importance, and Mr Porter showed the Premier by a plan the area drained, staling that 1100 men depended for their work on the maintenance of pumping operations. ;V The Premier was afraid the work would not come under any of the votes, and that the House would not assent to a proposal that it should.. He would consult his colleagues, but feared there was very little chance of geting anything. -Mr Brown instanced the Wood's Point tunnel at Reefton as a subsidised work, the effect of which would not be of nearly so much importance as the continuance of pumping operations here; Both he and Mr Brodie also urged that perhaps if pumping operations could not be subsidised, prospecting at the low levels could.

The Premier could give no definite answer, but if tliey %you d put their case in 1; writing (which the deputation pro*misccl to do) he would consult with the Minister of. Mines on his arrival at Wellington, and let them know at once. The deputation then withdrew.

THE HOSPITAL COMMITTE Deputation, consisting of Messrs Mcr Gowan, Renshaw, and Honiss was then introduced, and in reply to them the Premier said Government was clear Hospitals should if possible be locally managed, but the districts in which they were situated should bear a certain proportion of the costs. Mr Renshaw explained that it was in consequence of the establishment of the Fever Hospital and the maintenance of the Old, Men's Home that last year's expenses had been so heavy.

The Premier said he .would attend to the payment of the*officials' salaries and other matters as soon as he got to Wellington, and in reference to the communication re the plans (published by us •yesterday), he recommended them to telegraph to r tHe r Under Secretary asking if :hisletter gave the necessary authority for the work. BOROUGH COUNCIL. Tho Mayor and several Councillors ;at« tended. His Worship first calling attention to tie Government's promised loan of £418 for flood damages. The Council bad already done work and let contracts to the amount of fully £400 on the slrength of

the promise, and now found that municipalities could not have loans under the Roads and Bridges Construction Act.— The Premier promised to attend to the matter on reaching Wellington, and also promised to consider the matters of aid for the construction of the Thames to Coromandel road, the authorising of the selling or leasing,of the Borough recreation ground, and the exchange of the endowment for some other block, though the latter be considered impracticable. The matter of Mr J; Sheehan's promiseof £500, towards a road at Tararu through native lands, was clearly in Mr Bryce's department, but he would remind him of it.

The Mayor banded to the Premier's secretary a statement of the Borough's requests. HAKBOK BOAED. This deputation consisted of Messrs Fraser, Bull, and JBagnall, and in reply to requests made, the Premier stated he would lay. the matter of the widening of the new portion of the Shortlnnd Wharf before the Minister ; re the matter of the Goods Sheds taken for railway purposes, Government intended to bring in a bill to compensate Harbor Boards for land confiscated ; a decid. ] answer as to whether the Board was entitled to rent for the Customhouse site would be forwarded as soon as lie got to Wellington. COUNTY COUNCIL. Io answer to the deputation from this body, which consis> .d of Messrs Brodie, Bagnall, Bull, Porter and Hollis, Major Atkinson undertook to give an answer a few days after reaching Wellington as to whether the Council had the right to sue , for the £500.f6rOhinemuri miners' rights. ! —Be the kauri tree selling question, the 1 Premier expressed his opinion that it was never intended-local bodies ahould get the money from the sale of timber for purposes other than mining ; that was an evasion of the regulations, but the whole question as to whether local.bodies were not entitled < to such revenue deserved earnest consideration, and was now engaging the attention of the Minister of Lands. The -whole matter of the sale of trees should be j placed on a better footing.—The deputa- ' tion promised to put their wants in writing, and the Premier made a note of the necessity for County Councils being represented on Weste Lands, Boards". OUE, EAILWAY. In reply to the Mayor the Premier said he did not think there was any land apart from this district available by which the agreement with the English syndicate could be carried out, He would con« sider the matter on a copy of the agreement being sent to Wellington, CEMETERY BOAD. Messrs Greenville, Wood, and Townsend rsked ' whether Government could subsidise the £3C3 proposed to be raised for, the repair of this road.—The Premier replied that there was no fund available, but if the Borough and County Councils conjointly applied for the money as for a district road they could get it, the amount bearing interest and sinking fund at 9 rer cent, for 14 yet re.

MINERS" EIGHTS GKIKYANCE. This was explained by Messrs W. Rowe and Greenville, the Premier admit-1 ting the hu. dship and promising to enquii c fully into the matter. The Premier dined with His Worship the Mayor, returning into town at 8 o'clock, in time for the Address ia the Academy of Music. The Premier addressed about four hundred Thames electors in the Academy of Music last night. His Worship the Mayor occupied the chair. ' The Mayor briefly introduced the Premier.

Major Atkinson apologised for not paying an earlier visit to this important district, and expressed an opinion that public meu should by travelling abquL ihe country ascortain the wants of their fellow settlers by means of public meetings. It was i difficult to ascertain what New Zealand , public opinion was, as each city, Auck-1 land, Wellington, Dunedin, and Christ- ' church had one of its own. Owing to necessity Ministers were compelled to display at the present great hardness of heart; it was not from any want cf appreciation of the descrrtngs of various cases laid before him that day by day various deputations had to return emptyhanded. In the past he had been able to help the Thames, and he had been glad to do it; he hoped.to be able to do so again. He intended that night to touch on land tenure, native lands, finance, and other matters of importance. ~ In the'matter of Maori lands the first thing to be considered was a means of obtaining possession of and profitably settling the waste lands now possessed by natives. Tfce Maoris must bo justly treat d, and it was proposed to stop all private dealings with native lands in reli tion to them. (Applause.) The lands should be disposed of through the Land Courts, Government reserving to themselves a light of purchas.e. In order to prevent the natives squandering the proceeds^ l»nd sold,, by them, as they now almost invariably do, the Government proposed, in the payment of its cost to pay only:: sttiall ambuut down, and invest the balance in annuities for the owner's benefit, so that the money could not be anticipated. Reserves would be make as well as roads provide .', and the cost paid, by' GoVerDmelit- and chargfd against the land. The present method could not continue in view of the North Island Trunk Railway, if it did speculators would be in a position to obtain land along the route and reap benefits which proper!/ belonged to Government; of course - thlsj could not be permitted. Gijnd tenure was a question exercising the nvnds of men p.ll over the world, and even in conservative England the freehold was regarded as an unsatisfactory tenure. In Ireland when it was found tbafc freedom of contract in land would not meet the cas; the legislature stepped in and prescribed terms-by, which the tenant became $art owi sr. There were 34 million acres of colonial waste lands belonging to the Crown, and 26 millions of these were agricultural and pastoral. It was worth while trying some experiment?! before partiug with the old tenurej and endeavoring to induce settlement. They bad trird perpetual leasing, but this rould only be done with 'goldfields lands.. , Next session the "House would be'asked to prevent the sale of-any mbrelpasjpraljland. Great changes must come, gradually. The speaker paid a ttfbuteUotfheYintellectual power and political education over others of mining communities as a rule. Regarding taxation, the land tax, if intended to break up large estates, became a penal tax. To tax a man who bad bought a right to the " economic rent"—the profit above cost of production—of his land wps wrong, and although ,the state perhaps should not have sold their lands, they must honestly abide by bargains they had made. All a man possessed belonged to the state, even a 'maa^himself^ an he had * seen the case in troublous times in Taranaki. Property should not be set up' against the state. Regarding Paribaka (about which several exclamations were made by the audience) that matter was dealt with by his colleague, Mr Bryce, and no doubt it had been carefully considered. A land tax meant an advantage gained by the capitalist. The people who cultivated the land made the least profit, and had to undergo the burdens placed upon it. Land changed owners rapidly, and as it did 10 increased in value (an auditor said l: Piako Swamp.") The owners of that properly would, gladly part with their bargain if they could get what they spent on it. In the case of a piece of lend worth £100, an imposition of say £1 per year on it would, if capitalised, reduce its value ; therefore the land tax would not be as just as a property tax. If the land and the money were equally taxed, a sovereign was paid by each, so that neither was placed at a dis; dvantage. The £1 a year was a charge on the capital value of the land, a lo*s t > the man in po> session. The large land holders were not many, and a strugg'ing people would be taxed in order to get at a few big holders were the land tax ado >tcJ. Oup advantage resulting from the properly tax was the < bmpilation of a doomsday book recording the holdings of every man in the colony. It bad been I ascert-ined that the number of male ! adults in the colony was 152,000, and of , tbe^c nearly ha'f were fivebolden. This shewed a very satisfactory state of things in the colony. (Applause.) The land tax proposed woa'd not break up large estates. When they o nce began to long for their neighbour's., property, difficulties ecsued which led to anarchy, and to such results as the French Revolution. Regarding absentee.", there were many absentees living in Auckland deriving incomes trom other la-.'ds, and if the rule were applied by all colonies, doubtless New Zealand would not come off best. The laud should belong to the country, and although it was not desirable that largo fortunes should ba mede to the detriment of the masses, it was necessary that men capable apd willing should have timewithout having to labor for a living—to attend to the questions of the day, and the Government of, the colony. The accumulated wealth—mortgages principally, were . drawing the money from colonists,—the landlords did not receive it. The land really' obtained little of the benefits arising from unearned increment. The land tax recogoisd the occupant—the mortgagee escaped. A landed property worth £SCOO, and mortgaged for £4000, made the owner pay the full tax, whereas the mortgagee should pay 4-sths of it. An income tax was a burden on skill: it taxed Lie skill of a surgeon and the voice of a sloger, while tae property tax, onjy drew from that which a ma a left behind him when he left this world* One hundred end forty-six taxpayers' in the colony paid as pro* perly t;x what it would required an U-

coaie tax of la 3d in the £ to amount to. This it would be impossible to collect. A great deal had been said regarding the financial condition of the colony, and in a country wheio fluctuations are frequent we must expect such things. The c-use of the depression which is now being felt is principally the fall in the price of wheat and wool. A treasurer could not foresee a falling off in the i rce of main products. Had the cus'oin, been adopt d, of charging constabulary maintenance to loans, there would have been no deficit. It was very gratifying to note that there was a very great falliug off in the duties on spirits, and this should give encouragement to those bodies endeavoring to promote temperance throughout the colony. The Colony has been expending largely in the way ot: borrowed money publicly and privately, and depression was partially caused by a contraction of expenditure. < Large stocks were held, and when payment for them was pressed for, the effect j would be felt by all classes—weak.traders ! sold at a great sacrifice and the sound traders must compete, and thus have v, very small margin for profit. Thecolony was in a better position than in 1870; the taxation, without reckoning cd> ucation, was 2s iOd a-head less, and tLe necestary restriction of public expenditure was the cause of the depression. Economy was necessary, and one. of the causes of the unpopularity the Government suffered from was, that economy must rule, and they bed been obliged to announce the fact; but that economy must come from the people themselves. Legislation had hitherto gone in the direction of settlement and industry, extending the franchise, aud equalising taxation. . If they thought taxation was not fairlyl levied, he would, if it were pointed out to him how, arrange it properly. The settlement of the land alone would not suffice for the people, they should have local manufactures. The people could assist the industries by only using the locally manufactured article when possible. There would never be a a really prosperous community without employment for the rising generation.. Everybody could not cultivate land. The speaker thanked his audience for the patient hearing they had granted him and told them to be very careful in the selection of their represent tative in" the coming parliament; they should select a man honest, str'aightfor* ward, and upright in preference to a man attached to any party. If the people did so greater prosperity and happiness would be diffused than had hitherto bun in this prosperous young country. The speaker then eat down amidst applause. k

Mr Brodie proposed "tha- the thanks of the meeting be returned to the Premier for his interesting spercb, end Mr G. S. Clark seconded the motion, which was unanimously carried. - Major Atkinson returned thanks, and said he was sorry he had not previously visited the district. He was much pleased with his reception, as he knew that many of those present did not believe in his political views. In reply to questions, Major Atkinson said he was not in favor of allowing a man to grow tobaqco for the public untaxed ; for his own iase he might, but the Government mustiiave revenue. There was a differential tax iaconneotion with colonially grown tobacco.—He lielieved in Hare's system of representation, and single constituencies,—he believed in them being large.—'He was sorry he had not paid sufficient -attention to the - subject of miners'rights, and the payment by men and . ompanies of the fax imposed, but he would enquire into the matter, and see if F.ome relief could not be granted.—ln connection wuh the Thames llailway Company, he was in favor of carrying but the Public Works scheme, but they had only a limited amount of money, and Government were ( oajpelK d to go on first with those works which held out promise of. speedy return. They were bound tegooo with all the railways eventually. He wes afraid there was no land available (o give to a company. The law said the land given must be sered by the! line made. —He was entirely opposed to insular separation. The idea meant impaired credit, increased interest, and would be fatal to the carrying out of an original public works scheme. —He could not stay execution of the law even in the case of a man summoned for cot having a miner's right, and that mm -had a large family and had only been working a month ; he would, however, make enquiries; and see if the could be redressed. —Ec the payment of the Pariboka Voluntrer claims, he held with his colleague Mr Bryce. The Govern - ment was divided into departments, and what one branch of it did the others must uphold.—The purchase of native land for railway or other purposes depended on the vote of the House, and when the land was bought the grant had then to be made.—He could not say if the whole of the land negotiated for by Mr. James Mack ay had bean purchased. The Prenrer prop sed a vote of thanks to the Chairman, and the meeting dissolved. '

The Premier afterwards received several gentlemen in the large room of the Pacific Hotel. In answer to Me J. W, Walker, who submitted plana, &o.- for a wire tramway to cost some £1400, forming part of a scheme to work the old Australasian and neighbouring claims in the Waiotahi district, the Premier fe.r i thers was no vote which would meet the case, but he would get a report from Mr Gordon on the subject.