POST-SESSIONAL UTTERANCES.

Tuapeka Times, Volume V, Issue 222, 2 May 1872, Page 5

POST-SESSIONAL UTTERANCES.

HON. DILLON BELL AT INVERCARGILL.

The Hon. F. D. Bell, member for Matanra, met the Invercargill portion of his constituents on the 24th, and received a vote of confidence. He said the question of the day was whether or not the policy inaugurated by the present Government — one which must either induce great prosperity or cause absolute ruin— was to be carried out: A strong effort would be made next session to upset it, on the grounds of expense and {utnre taxation, but no Government could now adopt a retrograde course. The ordinary .^revenue was sufficient to pay the interest en • colonial debt and the cost of administration, but the Colony must borrow in order to develop its resources by public works. He defended the construction- of railways, the Californian Mail Service as of great 'commercial and racial advantage, was glad [ to see indications of the abolition of Provincial Councils; but was not quite satisfied with steps taken in regard te immigration. He believed that if a vigorous effort were made in the agricultural counties of Great Britain and Ireland a sufficient supply of laborers and small capitalists could be obtained. He was in favor of free selection over all the lands of the Colony.

MR REID AT OUTRAM.

Mr Reid, M.H.R. for the Taieri, met his constituents in the drill-shed, Ontram, on the 25th, and addressed them on the legislation of the past session. About fifty persons were present; and Mr J. Shand, M.P.C., was called to the chair. We give portions ef his speech.

THE WASTE LANDS BILL. ' He charged the Government with using all influence against the measure He said he was asaured by some members, who, he believed, were to have had seats on the Board of Works, that they were entirely with him ; that although they would not vote for the Bill, they woud not vote against it. He was told the meaning of this and understood it. On the third reading he succeeded in making converts of Messrs Fox and M'Lean, who then voted for it. He had some doubts about the sincerity of that conVersion ; but the electors might depend upon it, if he were spared in health and strength for a couple of months, "he would put that sincerity to the test. Such a measure would have very material effect in view of the large schemes of the Government. If they could not offer inducements to the people who were to be brought, out to construct our railways, to stay among us, then, he contended, it would be, a very bad day for the Colony that these large' works had been undertaken. If the Bill was carried out, as passed last session, it would have an important bearing on the settlement of people in the Province. Large numbers of immigrants were to be brought .out; and unless they were given opportunities of making homes for themselves in the country, it would be of little practical utility in the long run. He was afraid the undertaking of these works would not continue for many years; and other colonies would begin works, so that if it was only intended to retain the population for two or three years, they had better have never introduced them. They must have means of retaining the people after the loans were expended, and it was only settlement of the people that made a country truly great.* ■ What was wantnd, was a steady, industrious, frngal population, and he felt sure they could adopt a system which would secure that, viz , by giving facilities for attaching them to the soil. That was how they would obtain their mills and factories, and promote the trade and commerce of the country. IMMIGRATION, PUBLIC WORKS, &C. The Bills passed the previous session were again brought forward last session for amendment, and, although perhaps egotistical to say so, it was gratifying to him to see that the objections he had urged eighteen months before, when advising the Provincial Council against the scheme, were recognised by the Government. He then proceeded to show that the Government admitted, by repealing it, that the 19th sec. of the Act did not secure the Colony against being called upon to pay for unremunerative railways. He heard with satisfaction the statement made by the Minister of Works at an early period of the session as to the principles which would guide the Government in recommending the construction of lines, but be regretted to see their action before the session's close. The schedule, as brought down, was a fair one as between the islands. It proposed to constrhet262 miles in the South at an estimated cost of L 932.50 0; and,lß7 miles in the North at a cost of L 756,500. Would it be believed the Ministry were consenting parties — before their proposal was out of committee — to the addition to it of 235 miles in the, North, at an estimated cost of L 857,000, and for the South 77 miles at a cost of L262,Q00 ? After their fine, flourishing statements, he said a Government which dealt with millions in that way, was not fulfilling its duty to the colony nor to the taxpayers. After having carefully considered their proposals they should not, in order to conciliate members or it might be, obtain support, have- allowed such large =sums to be voted for the construction of lines, which it was very doubtful and problematical would pay half working expenses, when constructed. The result was that the schedule ad now passed for this year showed, North Island 426 miles, Ll.060,500 ; South, 278 miles, L 935.410. It was but right to inform them that part of the North Island expenditure was for tramroads, which were estimated to cost L 2,500, while railways cost about L 4,500, 500 a mile. Mr Reid next criticised at considerable length the Brogden contracts which, together with the resolution adopted, by the House, he condemned. He strenously opposed them, because he considered they placed too great a power in the hands of the Government ; and because they, were unfair to the local contractors. He was aware that if the construction of our lines had been offered to pubcompetition (open tender) the contracts would have been taken on the terms proposed in the resolution. He therefore thought it unwise to extend the dealings with Messrs Brogden. The other feature .of the question which deserved consideration was the danger of centring such a large political power in the hands of one firm. He did not say Messrs Brogden would use that power in an improper way, but they did not know how soon Messrs Brogden might transfer their interests te some other person. The question the electors had to consider was, whether it could possibly be used pre- . judically to the best interests of the Colony. He was convinced it could be used in a way that would be very dangerous to the political institutions of the country. He could conceive Messrs Brogden, through their different agencies, .making it impossible to say where the system of railway construction would end. He. knew he was placing himself in an inviduous position by making these remarks, but he was careless of .the Government or Messrs Brogden. He was. bound to give expression to the views beheld on the subject. (Applause.). He was not very favorably impressed with the action on the railway schedule, nor with the prospects before them in regard to the " great pebtme," He blamed the xestwonMvrw of

different constituencies. Members said to themselves " If we can secure something out of the loan for our district, that will condone all our sins of omisson and commission, and we may vote for the Masterton railway or any other iniquity." If he was placed in the position of being expected to vote, in order to secure special favors for his district, for anything which in his conscience he did not believe to be right he should be compelled to come before his constituents and receive their censure. So long as he had the honor to represent any constituency, he would do his utmost to obtain what he felt to be just ; but he would never sacrifice his principles. The matter of immigration required careful consideration. So far as it had gone, it bad not been such as to give him satisl action. It would have been much better for the Province to have continued its old system of immigration— one which brought immigrants of a comparatively superior class into the country. He did not wish to speak disparagingly of the Scandinavians,, gave them credit for being an industrial, frugal people, but to introduce Englishspeaking communities would be belter. He next referred to the Chinese immigration circular. The Government, in thinking of Chinese immigrants to carry on public works, must have forgotten the basis of their own scheme. Of course it had been denied that it was intended to introduce them ; but he thought a circular from the Colonial Government to the highest officer in a Province, clearly showed that it was attempted to flood the country with Chinese. If this was a sample of the great policy intended to be carried out, it would have been well for tbe people to have forgone for a time the construction of large public works. He referred to the remarks he made in 1869 as to the necessity of the provincial authorities having supervision of the works in prepress. He waa s«'ll of that opinion, and was convinced that the thing could be better administered by persons resident on the spot than by the central authority. This was borne out by the action of the Government themselves. They proposed a Board of Works of persons having a | local knowledge of the works. Why with provincial administration should they elect a Board of Works with high salaries, the members to be in effect at the disposal of the Ministry of the day ? Why not adopt the machinery in operation which admitted of control ; and was preferable to that which admitted of no control ? He was convinced if further alteration was made in the Act, that it would be wise to make use of the provincial machinery in the administration of public works, in the case of Provinces that had the necessary machinery. In this matter the Government must go a little further, or it had gone too far : either they must entirely take over the functions performed by the Provinces, or they must allow Provinces having the necessary machinery to administer the public works. To keep up two staffs of officials was a ruinous waste of money. Recurring to the Board of Works, he characterised it as a machine of the most corrupt character that could have been devised. The Minister of Works, in his place in the in the House, said it was to be composed of five members and the President ; but there was provision for an unlimited number of sub-boards. He suggested the formation of a sub-board, for the '! aieri ; then perhaps he might have changed his yiewson that subject. LIOOOa year and an irresponsible position were things not to be trifled with. (Laughter. ) Now it had been said the Ministry was eoinposed of very clever men. He was not prepared to admit that ; but if they were so clever, he would prefer that they had been less so, and possessed of more ordinary talent to devote to the atfairs of the Colony. When millions were beingtquandered — perhaps that was too strong a word— well, expended, why did they not attend to their posts, and see that the money was carefully and properly expended ? But that appeared to be quite beneath the notice of clever men ; they took pleasure jaunts to different parts of the world, and were of such great ability that they thought it unnecessary to attend to details or office work. He would rather see that state of things remedied ; and men applying themselves to the duties in hand At the same time he might be excused if he differed from the opinion as to their ability. He judged individuals by the success the schemes they launched forth. He then commented at some length at the financial proposals of the Treasurer in 1870 and 71 ; the reduction of the capitation grant, &c. The Province, instead of getting 40s per head, with a gradual reduction, only got los. But the Colonial Treasurer, understanding human nature well, offered LIOO,OOO to the Road Boards ; but the grant was out of loan. He (Mr .Reid) preferred to see L 50,000 distributed from revenue, which had not to be repaid, than LIOO.OOO from loan, which had to be repaid by the persons receiving it. He opposed that rote because he preferred to see road boards borrow on the security of the Colonial Government, than that the Government should borrow a lump sum to be distributed ; because in the latter case it led to a scramble to get a share ; while on the other hand there would be more judicious expenditure if the boards were left to borrow as occasion required. PROTECTION. Referring to the subject of the increased duties, he 6aid the gr*in duties were imposed, so they were told, as a protection to the farmers. The question of protection was one that required serious consideration on the part of the farmers, and it was quite possible they might be made a catspaw of by the Government in order to secure larger revenues. It was a sort of protection he did not approve, and would prefer to see it in the way of giving facilities for distributing produce. Why, the West Coast imported its flour from Adelaide, , because we had no means 6i sending it to them. 'We sent it to Adelaide, and thence it was sent to Hokitika. We did not require protection. What was to be gained by it? We sent produce to every part of the world. While they saw the cry was protection to the farmers, the ironmasters of Auckland said they could manufacture farming implements, and required a duty to be put on imported machinery. Protection meant ruination to the farmers ; it would not bring a farthing into the farmers' pockets. Other classes would ultimately cry out against the tax on bread ;it would be struck off, and other industries would retain their protection. He hoped the farming interest would not give way to the very plausible cry of protection. FINANCIAL. J * He found that during the year the ordinary expenditure exceeded the income, the excess being L 195.233. The defence expenditure LI 70, 000 now came out of the loan ; bnt it was almost ordinary expenditure, for they might depend upon it that that expenditure would continue for some years to come. During the session the Colonial Treasurer very jauntily told the House that the Native question was now becoming a very trifling matter ; that the whole thing lay within a nutshell; and that the natives now gave very little cause for anxiety. He had heard it stated that the present Administration had succeeded in keeping the natives quiet ; and that under Mr M 'Lean fchey had performed wonders with them.. He admitted that Mr M'Lean ' possessed great influence with the natives; but he was also bound to • say that Mr M'Lean bad L 170,000 at his disposal, while Mr Richmond bad only L70,0Q0, Air the time Mr

Stafford was in office, Mr Richmond administered the Defence Department, and the full amount expended for Militia and Volunteers was L 70.000. When it was proposed, or even hinted that a loan of half a million would be required for defence purposes, the cry was, "Oh, the country will be ruined by borrowing money to be expended in fighting the Maories ;" out as soon as the parties who raised that cry stepped into office, they proposed a vote of a million — and got it. He did not find fault ; because he thought it right that the Native difficulty sh >uld be settled by loans, which should be repaid by those coming after us, seeing that we were -unable to manage it out of ordinary revenue. At the same time they must bear in mind, when giving credit to one Government for managing the Natives, the difference of circumstances as compared with those that existed when a former Government managed them. He did not think that the present Government had managed them much better than the previous one : at all events they had better opportunity, because they were provided liberally with means to do so. Then there was the public works expenditure, L 97.000, making a total expenditure of L 462 ,000. What he wished to point out more particularly was the large expenditure in excess of revenue. He thought the financial position of the Colony deserved very serious consideration ; and. seeing that Parliament had been invited by the Governor, in his opening speech, to devise means for equalising the income and expenditure, they proposed a reduction of L 50.000' on the estimates, leaving it to the Government to say how the reduction should be carried out. Unfortunately the effort was unsuccessful; it was made a Government question, aud the proposition was negatived. The meeting knew by this time that he was a member of the Opposition, led by Mr Stafford ; and their object was to reduce the expenditure, to see that no reckless expenditure took place ; to see that no reilways that were not likely to pay working expenses were entered upon — and to act generally in the best interes s of the Colony. It might be said they did not succeed in doing much good ; but they succeeded in preventing more evil. The action which the Government took was not such as to deserve the approval of the people of the Colony — more especially their making direct overtures to Messrs Stafford and Hall to Join the Ministry ; and thus prevent any opposition in the Assembly. The electors should bear in mind that the interests of the Colony were not properly conserved if there was not reasonable, legitimate, and a well recognised opposition ; it was that which caused.discussionjand brought out the good or bad points of a scheme or measure. It was a matter worthy of the gravest censure that the Government should have endeavored to induce Messrs Stafford and Hall to desert their colors. He regretted to say that there was some prospect of Mr Hall accepting the bait; but illness prevented him. Mr Stafford at onoe peremptorily, and he believed indignantly, refused to accept the proposal. PAYMENT OF MEMBEJRS. There was one other ma ter which he would like to touch upon before he brought his remarks to a close. He referr d particularly to a matter, which was hkely to effect the purity of Parliament. He looked upon the attempt being made to introduce a Payment to Members Bill with grave suspicion. He was prepared to admit that iit was reasonable and quite proper that a man should be allowed an amount which would cover all expenses out of pocket, but the proposed Bill was undoubtedly the thin cud end of the wedge to introduce a Bill similiar to that introduced into Victoria, by which members there received L3OO a year. He locked updu that as one of the most dangerous systems they could adopt if they had any regard for the reputation of the colony. Last session a resolution was passed giving each member LlO5 for the session ; but the intention of its supporters was ultimately to get passed a fixed and much higher sum. One of the reasons — and a very plausible one — urged in favor of it was, that it enabled members to be independent of the Government. But he hoped so long as the colony had responsible Government members if they had not iudep9ndent means would have independent minds. But there was a danger if this payment existed, that the Government could hold over members the threat of dissolving Parliament ; when perhaps some would be found to vote for a measure rather than run the risk of contesting an election. Another effect would be to propagate what he called political quackery. Men would come forward and expound views which they did not really entertain. They had already a sufficiency of " hero worship " — what he meant was, members pinning their faith to presumedly clever men, and forgetting their own principles. Otherwise he could not account for the great Provincial party now coming round and supporting the views of the Centralists. CONCLUSION. Perhaps it might be asked of him what remedy he would propose. It was a natural question to ask. The electors should, through their representatives, bring such pressure to bear ou the Government as would lead to their policy being so moulded as to make it successful. He said the Colony waa in a precarious state, but with reasonable prudence and forethought on the part of our rulers, he thought there was no occasion for alarm as to the future. Looking at the Colony's resources, its large extent of fertile grazing country, its large area of agriculturalland (fertile in many cases), its large wealth of minerals, its forests, its fine climate possessing the means of producing all the necessaries and even the luxuries of life, with a population whose main characteristics were industry, intelligence, and enterprise ; with these advantages it would be the fault of themselves — electors and representatives — if the result of the administration of these large schemes was not to cause New Zealand to come ultimately through the ordeal, and be at least second to none of the Eng-lish-speaking communities of the Southern hemisphere. — (Applause. )