POST-SESSIONAL UTTERANCES.

Tuapeka Times, Volume V, Issue 224, 16 May 1872, Page 6

POST-SESSIONAL UTTERANCES.

MR MAC ANDREW AT PORT CHALMERS.

According to announcement, Mr Macandrew, M.H.R. for Port Chalmers, met his constituents on Monday in Crickraore's rooms. There were about 120 persons present ; and Capt. G. Clark presided. We give extracts from his speeches :— PAST AND PRESENT The past policy of the Opposition or of what may be termed the Sfcafford-Richmond-Munro party, as regards the Maories has been practically to plunge the North Island into a state of chronic rebellion and civil war. at the expense of the South ; their policy has been to exterminate the native race by fire and sword. The policy of the past has been, as I said before, to spend money on what I might call a gunpowder policy, at enormous expense to the Colony. The policy of the present Government, on the other hand, while not shrinking from punishing crime, has been to conciliate the Maories — to leave them alone —to employ them, not in shooting down Europeans, but in constructing public works, and in developing the material resources of the North Island. We have seen what Maori labor can accomplish in the work which has been done by a handful of Maori prisoners in and around Dunedin. One reason, gentlemen, why I supported the present Ministry was that the policy of their predecessors meant the extermination of j the natives by fire and sword. If anything can have justified your representative in swallowing many of his own political predilections by supporting the present Government, the alternative or allowing the native policy of the Stafford-Richmond-party to regain the ascendency was, to my mind, a full and sufficient justification. Methinks I hear some one exclaiming — What has the native policy to do with us in Port Chalmers? Well, gentlemen, I will tell you what it has had to do with you in the past, and that probably may be some indication as ta what ifc may have to do with us in the future. The native policy of the past has mulcted this single Province of the enormous sum of one million and a quarter sterling out of its current revenue — one million and a quarter expended »n Maori disturbances in the North which ought to have been expended within the Province in developing its resources ; had it been so, who can estimate the beneficial results ? And, gentlemen, not only has this accursed native policy of the past deprived us of one million and a quarter of our customs revenue, but it has involved vs — that is the Province of Ctago — in an annual payment for the next 30 years of over LI 00, 000 in the way of interest on loans which have been incurred in connection with these native disturbances. Just fancy what this LIOO.OOO would have done in the way of diminishing taxation and developing our resources. Well, people are surprised that the Provincial Government is not now in a position to subsidise municipalities as it used to do ; and to make roads, build schools, and so forth ; but it ought to be remembered that over LIOO.OOOof our Customs revenue is now absorbed in paying our share of the interest on Colonial loans that have been expended uselessly on Maori wars, gunpowder, and so forth. These are facts ; and I have not over-estimated the figures — if anything, I believe I have understated them. I must confess that it almost makes my blood boil when I think that there are not a few men among us who are striving per fas ant nefas again to place the destinies of this community once more in the hands of the men who have brought about this state of things — the men who instigated, controlled, and persisted in a policy which has proved so disastrous to the whole Colony. The policy of the present Government has been stigmatised as a sugar and blanket policy. Well, let it be so. I, for one, would infinitely rather have a sugar and blanket policy, which preserves life and property, even if it cost a few thousands a year, than have a gunpowder policy which involved a waste of millions of money and the loss of many valuable lives. — (Applause.) I said that one of the reasons why I supported the present Ministry is that it is the first Colonial Ministry that has gone in for the material advancement and progress of the country. I allude, I need scarcely say, to the loan for immigration, public works, and water supply to the goldfields ; and in passing such measures as the Land Transfer Act, the Assurance Annuities Act, and the various measures of the kind which are exercising, and will certainly exercise, a great influence on the welfare and material progress of the country. The only weak point, to my mind, in the public works policy is the wanv of local administration. I must say my experience of the last year or two goes to show that this is the weak point on which it will break down, if it break down at all. No doubt the electric telegraph has done a great deal to destroy time and space ; but the telegraph cannot give the local experience and personal interest necessary to efficacious administration. It maybe asked of me— Who is responsible for this state of things ? " Surely," it might be Baid, " a Government that took office with Provincial proclivities might have arranged its policy so as to have given effect to Provincial administration." Well, gentlemen, I believe I have good reason to know that such would have been the case if the Government had had the slightest chance of carrying the measure in that shape. But you all know that in political and party warfare it is necessary to trim your sails so that the ship may not be capsized. I believe this is really why in the great public works andimmigration policy central administration has been stamped upon it. We must attribute this to the action of such men as the Superintendent of Canterbury, the Superintendent of Nelson, and the Superintendent of Auckland — men above alt others who, it might have been supposed, would have appreciated the importance of local administration. Through such men being in steady and constant opposition to the Government, I should attribute the breaking down of this great policy, should it break down in consequence of being centrally instead of locally administered. PUBLIC WORKS. To my mind, Mr Vogel's great scheme just wanted two things to make it perfect, the one is local administration — the other is to provide the meanß wherewith to carry it out without having recourse to the money lender at Home. I believe it was quite possible to have found within the Colony the means to carry out its great public works upon its own credit. No doubt, gentlemen, this is entering upon a rather wide subject, and involves a dissertation upon political economy, which I can- , not say 1 am exactly prepared to enter upon at the present moment. But mark you, had this been done,, it would have saved us, by and bye a good deal, and retained in the country half a million of mosey, which will by and bye go out of it in the shape of interest on loans, and be expended elsewhere. This was a great mistake, and might have been obviated. Gentlemen, I may say that the total amount of money which has been authorised to be expended on railways up to the preenst date is L2,86M,660. Of this, L 1,100,000 is applicable to the North Inland, although in that island the expenditure will be spread over a much larger period thau the sum applicable to. the . Middle. Island, which is

Hi?!* 660 - Of amount Otago gets .L 850,000, or about one-half of the whole expenditure fi.r the Middle sland, and nearly a third of that authorised to be expended in the whole Colony. Although, of conrse, 1 do not mention this aa showing that we receive any advantage as compared- with the rest of the Colony or vice versa— for you must bear m mind that these railways are to be charged against the various localities in which they are to be constructed— or that the railways constructed in the North Island are being constructed at our expense, or the railways in the Middle Island at the expense of the North ; but that each Province will have to pay for its own railways. The contrary has been generally propogated ; but it is a fallacy and a mistake. A coons: the railways which were authorised in the North Island, thf re is one which I supported. I have been considerably pulled over the coals for doing so ; and one of the members for Dunedia has ventured to charge » me with treachery to my constituents, and I don't know what besides. There is a large sum down on the estimates for this line— viz., L 350,000. Now, gentlemen, I will explain the reasons why 1 supported that railway. In the first place, I supported it because it is a part of a railway which is intended to be carried from Wellington to Auckland— right through the Norbh Island, and which will open up an enormous tract of country— the finest territory, I believe, in the whole of the North Island. I supported it, moreover, because I believe that if constructed within the sum named, it will pay working expenses, and ultimately recoup the cost of its construction. I supported it also because the construction of such a line is the most effectual way of settliag the Maori difficulty. Had the three million lea* been pent upon this railway — at least, not upon this particular portion, but upon the whole line from Wellington to Auckland — the Colony would have been in a different position from what it is at this moment. I repeat that 1 supported this railway because it opens up a large territo/y available for settlement by European families which could never have been available otherwise ; also because I believe the Province of Wellington in as good a position in every respect to recoup the Colony for any advances made as any other Province. There has been vast claptrap and prejudice expressed in regard to the Province of Wellington. The member for Dunedin to whom 1 have referred went to the Assembly with a foregone conclusion in respect of everything affecting the Province of Wellington— in fact, he may be said to have had WelliDgton-phobia on the brain. — (Laughter. ) BANKS OF ISSUE. Another important subject was mooted last session was the subject of a New Bank Act. (V select committee was appointed at the instance of Mr Bathgate ; and I was a member of it. They just broke the ice as it were, by reporting on the subject; but no further action was taken. I hope next session that the subject will be resumed, and will lead to some practical conclusion. I may say that the substance of the report was that we should introduce into the Colony an Act similar to the Bank Currency Act of the United States of America. Under that Act which has only been passed within a few years, and is now in force in every village and City of the States ; almost every trade has ito own bank, and. these banks issue State paper— for which the credit of the United States is liable. T have no doubt whatever that by introducing such an Act we will give an enormous impetus to trade rad commerce, and to every industry. We might have a local bank in Port Chalmers or in Tokomairiro ; in fact every bown and hamlet in the Colony might have itt local bank, I have no doubt whatever that it will be a great improvement upon the present system. OTTB LANDB. With regard to the Otago Waste Lands Bill I may say that personally I did not take very much interest in it; and further, that I neither voted pro. or con. in regard to it. I believe, however, that in many respects it was a very good Act. At the same time I do not believe in the policy of bringing up a Waste Land Act every year, and of continually chopping and changing our land laws. I believe, if one thing more than another has tended to drive capital and settlement past our doors, it has been the uncertainty of our land regulations. I look upon them as laws which should, like those of the Medes and Persians, which changeth not. I believe, moreover, that the view of our land laws being the real and bona fide settlement of the country, it would be better to content ourselves with trying to administer them fairly and properly, than to be constantly amending them. Ido not know whether I make myself understood ; but that is my idea on the subject. I would rather put up with a bad law, and try to administer it fairly in the public interest than be constantly chopping and changing it. There is nc doubt of the great injury of the constant agitations and ill-blood that is brought up in discussing this everlasting land question, and setting class against class. (Applause.) I may say that under the existing law we have got very large powers and very great facilities for settlement. For example, the Provincial Government has power to deal with no less an area than 400,000 acres of land on special terms, and praatically the Provincial Government has decided upon giving away one-tenth of that area— making a present of it — with a view of making the rest valuable. The prices will vary from 2s 6d to 10s an acre. Then again there is a large tract of territory- of available conntry — spread all over the Province. These are blocks of agricultural areas, covering a territory at the present moment of 420,000 acres, a great deal of which is being taken up on seven years lease, at a yearly rental of 2s 6d an acre, with the option of acquiring the fee simple of the land at the expiration of thiee years. There is, I believe, within proclaimed Hundreds, 865,000 acres open for selection at LI per acre. No doubt a great deal of it is very inferior, but a large quantity is very superior to anything within a radius of eight or ten miles of Port Chalmers. Of this 365,000 acres, 70,000 acres may be bought by auction at the upset price of 103 per acre, and there will be 120,000 acres more, which only require a resolution" of the Provincial Council to enable it to be put into the market at an upset price of 10s an acre also. Therefore, I say we have regulations which enable us to dispose of our land in almost every shape and form. The only thing we want is free selection. I should have no objection to say if we were to g t that power we must pay for it. We are acquiring land every day in different parts of the Province ; and have had to pay for it . I think the Bill is likely to pass next session. THE EDUCATION BILL. I cannot say the same thing in regard to the Education Bill, which will be re-intro-duced. I hope it will share the same fate as it did last session. You are piobably aware that the object of this Education Bill is to transfer the control of public education from the Provinces to the Colony. Now, whatever necessity there may be for this in regard to other Provinces, I must say for myself as your representative, and acting according to. the dictates of ray judgment that I shall do all I can to prevent any interference with the educational arrangements of this Province. — (Applause.) 1 have do ob1 jections— in fact, I should insist upon! com? pelling those districts or Provinces which

i do not provide adequately for the edu- . cation of the peopl'- — to compelling them r by special legislation to make provision i for that education, and at their own ex , pense. I think there is just as little reason . for Otago being asked to pay for the educa- , tion of Auckland as to pay for the police of i Auckland, or other local Government mas chinery required by that Province. I beL lieve that nineteen twentieths of the . people in this Province are perfectly . satisfied with what they have got , — in fact, the general complaint I hear . is, that bad as it may be, they appear not to have enough of it ; for they , are continually asking for more I be- ; lieve the same thing holds good to some ex- , tent in the neighboring Provinces of .Nelson and Canterbury. If that be so, why interfere with us at all ? Why not allow our Provincial Council, which certainly has , in times past invariably done its duty in regard to education— why not allow the Provincial Council to manage this matter hereafter as it has done heretofore. (Applause.) To my mind it is as clear as the sun that if we alter our national unsectarian system in favor of a denominational system, the result will be that we will have no education at all — or, if we have any, it will be a miserable, shrivelled-up abortion. It is all we can do now to provide for the schools we have and are likely to have within the next twelve or eighteen months. It is all the Province can stagger under now to provide for the 150 schools which will be in the Provinoe within the next twelve months ; and if these are to be multiplied by evtry religious- denomination in the community, I think it requires no great mathematical knowledge to arrive at a definite result. No doubt in the large centres of population it might be possible to carry on the denominational system of education, but throughout the country, wliere there are thin and sparse populations, there will, in reality, be no education worthy of the name. We read now a-days and hear a good deal about secular education. I should like to know what that means. Does it mean the exclusion from our public schools of all reference to the Great Creator, the God "in whom we live, and move, and have our being " ? Does it mean the exclusion of all reference to a future state, and of all reference to a world beyond the grave ? If this is what is meant, then, I say, perish all secular education !— (Great applause.) Gentlemen, I believe it means the exclusion from our public schools of that ancient, venerable, and true book, the Bible — the book which, translated into our mother tongue, has been the bulwark, the palladium of civil and religious liberty, and the foundation-stone, so to speak, of modern civilisation. 1 believe upon nothing else has the glory of the British Empire and the greatness of the Anglo-Saxon race so much depended.— (Renewed applause.) Yet we are called upon to deny to our children the right of using that book as a lessonbook^ We may allow our children to read the history of the Carthagenians, the Greeks, the Romans, to read the early history of Mahommedanism, Paganism, and all the other isms, but they are not to read anything of the early history of the Jews— the most interesting race upon the face of the earth— or of the early history of Christianity. To my mind there is nothing so utterly preposterous. But there is no objection, say the secularists, to their using as class books the works of Demosthenes, of Virgil, of Socrates, Homer, and of Shakespeare, but. by no means must we permit the writings of Moses, of David, of Solomon, ©f Isaiah, and of Paul, and of that great teacher himself, Jesus Christ. I really have no patience in thinking about it. Am Ito be told that my children are to be taught in the common schools to read all about the mythological deities of antiquity, and are not to read anything about the one only living and true God ? Where will you get sublimer poetry, or anything better as regards ethics and morals, than in the Bible? And yet these things are to be kept from us ! Really, it almost makes one exclaim — " Oh, judgment ! Thou art fled to bru.tish beasts, And men have lost their reason." — (Great applause.) CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES. It is said that we are on the eve of some great constitutional changes ; that measures will be brought forward next year by which our Constitution will be altogether re-modelled and re-cast. Well, gentlemen, if the General Assembly would act upon my opinion, they would leave constitutional changes alone for the present ; they would content themselves with voting supplies for the necessary public expenditure, and give breath'ng time to the people, and the Executive Government of the Colony to do something practical. The curse of this country has been over-legisla-tion. In the whole history of humanity I do not suppose there has been anything like it. Why almost every second man you meet is engaged in some shape or other in governing his neighbor. - (Applause and laughter.) My idea is that we should have a session or two without any legislation at all, confining ourselves to dealing with the money at our disposal. If there is one thing more tban another for which the Stafford, Richmond, and Monro party were to blame, and if there is one thing which more than another has retarded the progress of the Colony, it has been the constant tinkering with the Constitution during the past twelve or thirteen years. If we are to have any constitutional changes at all, I should recommend tbat we go back to the original Constitution, and endeavor to carry it out in its integrity. I think I have had occasion to give utterance to that opinion before now in this hall. The real Constitution has never had a fair chance, and I believe had the original F rovinces been left to themselves and allowed to work out their own destiny, we should never have heard of a Maori war, and we should have been saved at least five millions of useless and unproductive expenditure. The General Assembly, to my mind, has been a curse to the Colony. A great many people seem to regard the Assembly as a wonderful body. When anything goes wrong— when the Provincial Council does not do everything that it is wanted to do— people rush into the arms of the Assembly. Depend upon it, " distance lends enchantment to the view." I am sorry that it was not arranged that the next session of the Assembly should be held in Dunedin ; had that been the case, no doubt the Provincial Council, bad as it is, would have stood higher in your estimation than it really does — (Applause and laughter. ) My idea is, that if we went back to the original constitution, the Assembly would meet for a week — a fortnight at the outcide — once in every two or three years, and confine itself to the thirteen federal subjects assigned to it by the Constitution, instead of meeting for three or four months in every year and endeavouring to carry on the parish business of the country. That is what it is aiming at, and that it cannot accomplish, and is making a mull of it : and, if the p »rish business is to be carried on satisfactorily, the month* in the year No doubt it will be a very difficult matter to go back to the status , quo ante. Matters have become complicated sinee ;_ but notwithstanding those complications, it would be quite impossible to retrace our steps. But assuming that we cannot go back to the platform of the original Constitu"tien, then my' idea ir we OTighjfc to gotofor one Province or one Colony fdr the Middle

Island. I submitted a series or resolutions to that effect last sesiion, but as they were oppo-icd by the Government they were not carried, although they met with considerable support. I clearly showed that by going in for one Government for the Middle Island a very great saving could be effected by making alterations in the existing arrangements of Superintendents and Provincial Councils, aßd other paraphernalia of responsible governments — in fact there would have been a saying which might have paid for the construction of a line of railway from Foveaux Strait to Nelsen or Cook's Strait. 1 am told that it is very likely that the direction these changes will take will be towards the abolition of the present Provincial system. Ido not think anything practical will be, or can be, carried out in that direction by the Assembly, I believe that the Provinces must reform themselves if it is to be done practically, permanently, and satisfactorily. It is a very difficult thing to reform ourselves, but it must be done in this case. Ido not believe in reform from without. Ido not believe in any cast-iron form of Government for this Colony of INew Zealand, and the reason is obvious. Every Province has been founded on a different principle, and emanated from a different origin, and therefore I think it would be practically impossible to introduce any cast-iron form of Government applicable to them all. They have nothing in common, nothing but that abominable debt incurred by their own political indifference, and perhaps that might be arranged. I tabled and successfully carried resolutions in favor of retrenchment in the departmental expenditure of the General Government. There is no doubt that this is the giant which is overcoming us, and which no one seems able to tackle. There is an enormous expenditure going on from one endof the Colony to the other in connection with the General Government Civil Service. I showed clearly how that expenditure could be reduced, namely, by a reduction in salaries, and by an amalgamation of offices, to the extent of L 50.000 per annum. It is a large sum, but I think the country can be governed for L 50.000 a year less than we are now paying. I also wish it to be understood that I did not propose to interfere with any official receiving a salary under L4OO per annum. I only proposed to reduce the salaries of those officials who are receiving above that amount — of those who are receiving from L4OO t0L1750 per annum. — (Applause.) Well, the resolution was carried against the Government this time ; but as they could not well interfere with the salaries for the current year, it took the form of enjoining the (iovernmeHt to frame their next year's estimates upon there reductions. I notice th-tfc I have c >nsidcrably exceeded the time which I assigned to myself to address you. It is seldom I make a long speech ; and, aithough there are many things which 1 might dilate upon, I also know that many of you wish to ask me questions. I can only say that I shall be glad to give you any explanations that you may require regarding my conduct as your representative.—(Applause.)