THE MARSDEN ELECTION.

Wairoa Bell, Volume V, Issue 222, 3 November 1893, Page 3

THE MARSDEN ELECTION.

MR JAMES HARRISON AT KOPURU. Mr James Harrison addressed the. electors of Marsden at the Te Kopuru Hall on Tuesday evening, 24th instant. There was an attendance of about 100 electors, ladies being well represented. Mr Thomas Webb, J.P., was voted to the chan and briefly introduced the candidate. Mr Harrison began by saying that he did not consider a candidate should be sent down to Wellington bound down to do what the people wished and have no liberty of bis own but that a candidate should express his views and intentions and then if the people liked them they should send him down ; if not, then they should send him home for the people had a right to be represented. He was surprised to hear that a certain candidate desired to go to the House to do as he pleased, and would not bind himself to do anything but what he pleased. (Some little disorder took place here amid cries of ‘ Name’ etc , and it was evident that there were some present who did not intend to give the candidate an uninterrupted hearing. Peace was, however, soon restored and the meeting proceeded very amicably). Mr Harrison then continued —All that he asked for was a patient hearing of bis views, and if the electors were not satisfied just let them leave him at home, and no great harm would be done. He would first speak of the RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE TO SELF GOVERNMENT. Not to send a man to Parliament to do as he wished, but they had a right to choose a man to do what the people wished. We hear so much of the Government that we are almost led to believe that it is something above the people, but in reality it meant the man sent from Marsden. the man from the Bay, the man from Waitemata and the men sent from other districts. The whole control lay with the people and hence the importance of making a good choice, especially if a man is to follow his ©wn opinions just as he likes* Some men will say that they do not believe in one man one vote but that a man should have votes according to his wealth, his sheep and lambs ; ethers again that a man’s wealth should have voting power. He was strongly opposed to this, for it is the man that should rule the country, not his sheep or his oxen, but the man bimself and the man only. AVe have the universal vote and now as the people have the power of governing themselves they should he educated people. Hence the necessity of the EDUCATION ACT being carried on in iis integrity. And with the people educated up to their principles he would have a free constitution for them. Some are opposed to this, and say that the people will drift into all sorts of isms, but he was not afraid of any such thing. He felt that the UPPER HOUSE as at present constituted, was a disgrace to our civilization. Its members have no special qualifications, some have been pitch - forked in after being rejected by the country at the ballot box, and there is nothing that can be said in its favour. The Atkinson Government placed men in to block the legislation of the succeeding Government, and you know how they' blocked all the Government measures in the first session, among them the Women’s Franchise. The present Government then put in twelve more and even now they have insufficient to carry their measures, and there is now some talk of other men being put in if they are rejected by the country at the elections. An Upper House so constituted cannot oe good and he asked for its immediate abolition as it now stands, and for the substitution of a Chamber of twenty members elected on the Hare system, one-third to retire every three years, and the elections to take place at the same time as the general elections, and there need be no extra expense. He would give the Upper House power to defer measures for a time, hut not to block them. The National Association calls for an elective Upper House to represent the people, —but which ©f the people ? Why, the ratepayers, the property of the country, the money Such a proposal is a direct attempt to frustrate the voice of the people by the voice of money and wealth. But the time is past when people will submit to part with their birthright. ELECTIVE GOVERNOR. There is no reason why we should go to England to get a, Governor. Such a man is generally a broken down swell or an impecunious lord. I have every respect of aristocracy, not ©ne of wealth, but the one of true worth and mental power. Let the pe®ple elect such a man from their own midst. He was surprised to hear it stated after his meeting at Whangarei that Harrison wanted to cut the painter with the old country, for nothing was further from his thoughts. The granting of the privilege to elect eur own Governor would but bind us closer to the old land. Having pointed out what was needed to secure a free constitution, he went on to say how the people were then to get along in order to get to that

i state in which men would find it easier to j get good clothing, good dwellings and good food, without becoming in a few years like broken down cart horses. He thought the electors would agree with him that a good deal of the evils of the world, that people l\ a X e to strive so hard for comfort, and that children are neglected is due to the government of the many by the few. That’s socialism some people say, and whenever a man strikes out in that lino he is cried down as a socialist and he is held up as something to be frightened of. Why the old Christians were socialists, and so was Christ. No form of government that does not aim at elevating the state of the people can be satisfactory. Some people say that all that a representative has to do is to get roads here and bridges there and see that his district, is not overlooked in the allotment of votes, but he considered that only a small portion of his duty. He had heard of a man >vho said to the electors “ Gentlemen, I will see that you get all you are entitled to and a great deal more.” (A voice ’"That’s what we want here.”) Thar is the gentleman you do not want, for he (Mr Harrison) had a better opinion of the ladies than to think they wanted such a man. We want a body of men that will do the best for the country; you say they are too good, —well God help New Zealand if you don’t get them. The men. that have done their best for their countries are the true patriots and until you get such men democratic government is a failure. PARTY GOVERNMENT has been handed d*wn to us from our fathers; hew it came to pass we do not know, but it is here. As long as it exists a party has a claim upon its members’ support, but such government is out of touch with the spirit of the age. It seems to have become the duty of oue party to fight everything the other side does; of course such is an extreme statement, but it is very near the truth. As a rule the greater part of a session passes away before anything is done, and then the end comes and everything is rushed. The best form of government he knew of was the Swiss Initiative and Referendum. By it the people initiate laws by a petition calling upon the government of the day to introduce legislation in the direction pointed out. The plan has been adopted in 11 States in Switzerland. When 20,C00 people petition the Government to bring in a Bill, they are bound to do so, and post it t© the people who then vote yes or no and return the papers. If a majority are in favour of the Bill it then becomes the law of the land. The plan is not so cumbersome as some might imagine. ROADS. The amount of money that can be raised by settlers is quite inadequate to make main roads. A fairer system of valuation of properties might do a great deal, and he was in favour of a tax on unimproved values and none on improvements. More money could be raised in this way without injuring any man, except, perhaps, the man who is not using his land. Then we must rate Native lands, and he would place these lands on exactly the same footing as others. They both receive the same benefits and should pay the same. He knew a Maori who owned land worth 10s an acre who would not sell his land because he said, that by and bye people would settle round it and be would then get £3 per acre. He knew something of unearned increment. This reminded him of an incident he had read—A white man arrived at a bridge recently built and found there a black man evidently highly amused and laughing loudly. He enquired of Sambo what the matter was and Sambo replied, ‘He! he! white man big - fool; he build the bridge and black man walk over it.’ That was what we were now doing; settlers are making roads and bridges for the natives to walk over and the latter are contributing nothing towards “the cost. If after taxing' Native lands there are still insufficient funds, then I hold we have a right U» use our State forests to make roads in the North: they are estimated to be worth one million pounds. But you may say they are Colonial property. That may be in one sense but not altogether for roads have been made in the South out of Colonial monies. The Government should be approached in the first session of the ne w parliament and the local "bodies should be given money from these means to make roads in their districts. Some are disposed to be satisfied and say that the present government have been very liberal to us, but I have lists here showing how little has been done for the North and I will read two or three items. One list is from the Wangarei paper and contains the votes for the North and the other, from the ‘ Star,’ is a list showing votes for the North Island. Mr .Harrison here read the first five votes on each list alternately and then went on to say that the people of the Noi'th had had £9OOO voted them for all their roads, and some of them seemed inclined to go into ecstasies over it, but we find that while we have hundreds other districts are voted thousands.

INFLUX OF AUSTRIANS. - He heard the people were interested in this question and would like his views upon it. The gumfields of the North are a valuable estate and have been a great stay to the district, and it is the duty of the State to do something to protect them. He considered the best system would be to impose a license fee of say 20s per year, which could be paid quarterly through the post offices, and no man who not been 12 months in the colony to have a license. This is the only great industry of the north and we must maintain it. To say that the plan suggested will interfere with .any international law is simple nonsense, and but throwing dust in the eyes of the people. If the people wish to protect the gumfields, and prevent them from becoming useless they can do so, for the government is the people. An influx of aliens will bring us down to their level and we have a right to protect ourselves and our children from an influx of foreign labour He was in favour of the LAND AND INCOME TAX

and believed it would be a monument to Mr Ballance of far more value than one of stones. Its principle is that the man with property shall contribute more towards the cost of government than the men earning only 5s a clay. The man who holds more iancl than he can use is doing an injustice to the people of the country, and he has no right to keep it for the sake of any extra value that may accrue. He would allow a man to hold all that he produced, and to oesupy all the land he used; but if he will not use it then he should be made to leave it and make room for some one who will use it. If the present graduated tax does not cause these men to use or give up the land they are allowing to lie idle, then he would increase it till it did. The lands thus released he would allow the people to take up on terms giving them the fullest security they required. He recently met a gentleman who told him that THE LICENSING QUESTION was going- to carry the elections as the Licensed Victuallers were going to run a man for" every electorate in the Colony. He had this from a man who received his information from a vice president of the Association. The Victuallers have their can - vassers out—(AV. Smith : Are not the Temp ■ stance people trying to put their men iu ?) I give the right of ruling in this question to the people, the whole of the people, and no ■ thing but the people. It is a question as to who is going to be bass—Bung or tho pqople. His views were that the whole question should be given to the people to decide ; he knew nothing but the jieople in the matter. The three-fifths majority clause was an insult to democratic government. He was a temperance man and the Licensed Victuallers would not touch him with a 10ft pole. He did not care; he was a temperance man and a democratic politician and he said let the people settle everything for themselves. CHARITABLE AID was in a most unsatisfactory condition and required the United wisdom ®f the people to deal with it. Another question which has crept up is that of the unemployed It has been granted as an acknowledged fact that no man is to be allowed to die from want in any city. There is an old absoiete law of 200 years back that any mail starving could demand a day’s rations from a storekeeper, and few in our day would deny the right of a man to sufficient to maintain life. This question will have to be dealt with by the next parliament. There are it is true a certain number of loafers in the world, but there are also men who would work but are unable to obtain work fur themselves. In America there are said to be a million tramps travelling' from one end of the country to the other, in London alono there were a short time ago 15,000 unemployed, and j other cities have large numbers, so that you may imagine the amount of misery and suffering silently borne by these thousands. In Wellington and in Dunedin we have heard the cry and we have only been preserved from it by our gumfields. The question demands your serious consideration. A feasible plan of relief seems to be for each man while in health to contribute a small amount towards a fund, so that when old age comes upon him, say fifty years, he might he allowed an OLD AGE PENSION. The country would be no poorer than now but far better off. GRAND JURIES ought to be at once abolished fr@m our courts. They grew from the time when the lords and the. dukes thought they were so much better able to deal with questions than the common people. They thought that by just looking at a few points iu the evidence they could decide upon it. It is a useless antiquated system and the sooner it is abolished the better. Coroners’ inquest are very little better; if they have been useful, their time 'has passed away. He had heard of inquests m Loudon, over a person who had died from starvation, which had cost sufficient monelf

to have maintained the same persons in life for ten years. The present method of APPOINTMENT OF MAGISTRATES

is bad insomuch that it is guided in a great measure by political favour. A man works for a candidate who is successful and he is rewarded by a J.P. ship. He believed in Justices being elected by the people. There were many other questions which he would like to touch on, but he must leave them over for want of time. He was there to ans ver any questions and it was for the electors to probe him and find him out; then if they liked him they could vote for him, and if not they could send him home and no great harm would be done. The time had come when people must see clearly that their interests were one; the time for the rich to triumph over the poor has past, and the time ha.s r.ot come for the poor to triumph over the rich. Let capital take its share and the producer his share and the government its share, and he did not see why anybody else should take anything out of it. If the people of New Zealand use their privileges rightly they will never come to such a state as they have in -America, with multi millionaires on the one hand, and misery and want on the other. QUESTIONS. The Chairman said the candidate had put forth a tremendous programme of reform and was now prepared to answer any questions. Quite a host of these were put and in reply the candidate said . The question of the unemployed would have to be t i ken into consideration by hath Houses and both parties, as well as the country. "W"e had not yet arrived at a satisfactory solution : the principle of co-operation was good and he would like to see it extended, He would oppose an export duty on any article and would not be in favour of taking the mills from the Kauri Company because they did not work them ; he would not allow them to hold lands they did not use, any more than other people. He would put the werk of Coroners’ juries in the hands of the police and the ordinary courts; even now if there are any suspicious circumstances the matter is taken up by the police, and they might as well have the work in the first instance. He denied that he had in any way abused the other candidate and he appealed to the meeting to say whethet he had used oue word beyond fair criticism. When bachelors have a betier and surer means of earning a good living and yet refuse to share it wiih a lady be might then perhaps favour a tax on bachelors, but not at present. He would oppose any borrowing and thought there had been too much sly borrowing in the past.

The present Government had been very illiberal in giving: one man more voting power than another ; they practically say that two men that drink beer are as good as three men that do not. They say that the Direct Veto shall only be carried by a three-fifths majority and that means ttru two men on oue side are as good as three on (he other. He opposed Mr Thompson because he was not satisfied with that gentleman’s platform. East year at Paparoa he stated that he did not believe in one man one vote

Ho spike of Mr Thompson because he had been asked why he opposed him. He could state positively from reliable information given him that the (fficeused Victuallers had decided to support Mr Thompson' The clause of the Liquors Control Bill which enacted that one-half must vo’e before the poll could he luokad upon as effective was an infamous oile ; it makes those that do noc do their duty control those that do.

In answer to another question the candidate briefly explained the Hare system.

He was opposed to the Truck system; it was n illegal system,

A Shop Assistants’ half holiday should be made the law of the laud, the Act was passed but a loophole left, the holiday would do no harm to anyone, but goad io very many. What he sought to do iu Licensing matters was to give the people all control. He would compensate any man whose property was taken from him, bnt he would refuse to compensate a man who was refused a renewal of license. When a man s lease or license had run out he had no further claim upon it and had no right to compensation. He did say, as a joke, at Whangarei that he would put a tux ou temperance people to make up for any deficiency in revenue caused by their votes, for he knew there would be no loss when the balance was struck. citizen has a right to do what he likes as long as his action does not ali cet other people ; but when his action interferes with otiiers he must be controlled. If a man could keep a private still and his work not affect others ne would not molest him, but could they imagine such a thing. He was in favour of trie present Education Act, it had done a good work though it had its defects. The totalisator was an unqualified evil and should be abolished. He was not in favour of legalising sweeps. Mr M. Cobbald moved a hearty vote of thanks to Ml- Harrison, and said it must be a matter of congratulation to him to see so many ladies present. Mr Eves seconded and the motion was passed unanimously, Mr Harrison thanked the meeting and hoped it would not be the last time they should talk pulitics together. A vote of thanks to the chair brought the meeting to a close s