THE COMING ELECTION

Waikato Argus, Volume I, Issue 51, 3 November 1896, Page 2

THE COMING ELECTION

MR. W. H. UERKIES. AT CAMBRIDGE. Mil W. H. Hewuis addressed the electors of the Hay of Plenty in the Public Hall, Cambridge, on Saturday evening Inst. The audience was a lart'C one, a great number being ladies, who appeared to take a wonderful interest in the speech. Mr Merries is a fluent speaker, to whom it is n pleasure to listen, and be has every reason to bt pleased with the hearty reception accorded him. His Worship the Mayor, Mr A. Hieh, occupied the chair, aud in bis opening remarks said ho had much pleasure in introducing to them Mr Merries, of Shaftesbury, who was a candidate for their suffrages at the next general election. Some of them might not know him very intimately, and he hoped as a new-comer, they would extend him that patient hearing for which Cambridge audiences were noted.

Mr ilerries on coming forward, was received with enthusiasm. He commenced by saying he was exceedingly pleased to see so many present to hear his views upon the political situation. He was of rather a retiring nature and must ask their indulgence lor any shortcomings in liis speech as he was a newclntni at the game, and If there was any point upon which h" did not make himself clearly understood he would be pleased to explain, either publicly or privately at the close of his address. It next devolved upon him to introduce himself. He saw many familiar faces around him, but many of those present were total strangers to him, and in coming forward he must blow his own trumpet as a candidate could not get anyone else to do it for him. He had received the best of education at college and university, at it was the most expensive, and generally conceded to lie best, and he had resided in the Shaftesbury distiiet fot the last 15 years. He had done .ill the work of a pioneer farmer, and thought he knew the wants of pioneer farmers. He had represented his riding on the Piako County Council tor a number of years, and had also been a member of the Waikato Hospital and Charitable Aid Board, and various other public bodies, so that he could pose to be a somewhat representative man, and fairly claim to be one of that class of which the House should be composed. There were too many townsmen, lawyers and professional politicians in the House at present. The fanners were really the backbone of the country, and were not well enough represented, and he considered lie had a certain amount of claim upon them as farmers and fellow settlers. Ho stood as an opponent of the present Government, but if elected he would be no blind supporter e f the Leader of the Opposition. During the late parliament it was pitiable to see so many members voting as ordered in direct opposition to the wishes of their constituents, at the bidding of one man. If the wishes of his constituents clashed with those of his leader, he would certainly consider his constituents first, and if it came to a vote of confidence lie should decidedly vote against the present Government.

I'OI.ITICAT. IOKKMTIOX AM) JOIJIIKKY. liefoio this Government tame into power tiny had seldom heard the words " right ■' or " wroni' colour,'' and " spoils to the victor.",'' but now they wete in everyone's mouth, and it must be very degrading to the present administration that these terms should be introduced as tlu-y have been. For instance, take the electoral rolls. This printing hid been ordeied aftei the boundary commissioners had been appointed, and it was well-known that the boundarhs would bo altered. The Te Aroha News tunlercd at 4s lOd, Tin: Waikato Alices at 5s 3d, and the Waikato Times at 7- B . In the ordinary form of Undeiing, if the lowest tender had not been accepted, the second one would, but this was not the ease—the highest was accepted, and what could they infer but that the woik had been given to the Waikato Times simply because the proprietor was a Government supporter. When taxed the Go Virninent lep'ied that the lower tendtrs were at swiating prices, but nt Wangauui a Government supporter tendered at Is lOd. the same ns the Te Aroha News, and his offer had been acci pted ; now if it was sweating in Waikato why was it not also sweating in Wangatuii. Thin they must all know the answer, the proprietor of Tiik Waikato Alters received in response to his application for a share of the Government advertising. Then, when the railway was being made from Te Aroha to l'acroa l>y co operative labour, there were large numbers of piles iin.l culverts to be (lone, and though there were many ca'penters out of work in To Aroha and l'aeroa, one man got the whole of the woik, as he was it supporter of the present Governtnent. .Another instance was when the Te Aroha Club Hotel was burnt down, and the lieer.se was removed from Te Aroha to liuntly through the jobbery of the Government. (Cries of " Yes '" and " No ") The speaker tcpeated that it was through the jobbery of the Government. Cries cf "No " and " Vcs.") Mr Hen ies here asked one speaker, Who had hired the hall for the evening '! This quietened matter-', anc' Mr Hemes proceeded to say that it was through the jobbery of the Government that one man was appo'lited and gazetted at the last moment, and it was carried by one vote. They all knew that in co-operative works some men could always get on while others could not, these were only small ti ivia 1 matters, but they were such ns had come under notice in this part of the colony, and they could therefore fairly argue, that this sort of thing was going on all over New Zealand. " SI'Oll.S TO TIIIC VICTORS.'' Then there was the I'omahaka Estate, which the owner mortgaged for LIO,OOO and could not sell, but by backstairs influence so'd to the Government for 1.15.0C0. The speaker also cited the illegal appointment of the Sergcant-at Arms, and the long list of appointments made to relations of the Hon. John McKenzic. Next came the Horowhenua business and the Ward scandal The speaker then referred to the llokitika (iaol, which cost .£13(5 pr-r prisoner per annum to run, while in Auckland it only cost i'-Ki. There was an average of six prisoners per day, ami yet it cost i'.SOJ per year. Rut the crowning scandal of all was the appointment of Justices of the Peace. (I'iololiged applause). It was a recognised fact tint no nation could exiti unless the administration of justice was kept pine, but there were many instances where men had be. n appointed who were morally and intellectually unfitted for the position. They were crea'ed for political reasons and simply because they were Government partisans. The speaker read an extract from IJansard Ii of this year, page 55-1, in which Sir Robert Stout, whom he characterised as one of the greatest Libera'a in the colony, had said that the " spoils to the victors''' policy was the curse, of Democracy. lie (the speaker) thought the time had come when the people would rise against this system and every vacant billet would lie lidcd with the man most fitted for the position, whether of the right or wrong colour, and it was the duty of electors to return men who would put down this system : and if elected he would pledge himself to do Irs utmost to put down all forms of shuly party practices. Another dancer was, he thought, that

Too MUCH I'OWKK was given to the (iovcrnnient. In takin;; over the railways they yot control of the lailway people, anil in the s-an'ie way the IJank of New Zeahmd, if allowed to become a Slate Hank, would place all the employees under their control. Their land polic/ also gave them a hold on .settlers depending on them for money Hilda Uie A'-lviiuees to !ictllei'o' Avt. All

the Liberal Kills influenced the tradespeople and their employees. There was a very small step i:etwcen Democracy and tyranny, and this was one of the greatest dangers to lie looked forward to in tin- kind of legislation. Another point he objected to was that there was tort much legislation and interference with the subject. Under true Liberal principles a man should be able to do, say, and think what he likes, and this was greatly infringed upon by the Governments with measures such as the Factory Act, Eight Hours' Bill, Public Tenders and Contracts Kill, etc., etc. In many cases these Bills were brought in to remedy true evils ; but they were tro drastic, and the ten cdy was worse than the disease. Mr Herrics then read an extract which he had clipped from the Waikato Advocate, which, being a Government paper, was bound to be true, in which Mr Mills, the Government whip, faid he would only accept the position on condition that Mr Reeves would no longer pursue a policy that was frightening people oat of the colony. What they wantid was rest, as the Litany says : "Give us peace in our time." They had had a large dose of this labour legislation ; it had been thrust down their throats and they wanted time to digest it, to get it into practicable order and make it suitable for the country, as it certainly was not at present. According to the Stock Act everyone who drives stock after dark, or 6 o'clock in winter or 8 o'clock in summer, without permission fioni a Justice of the Peace, Stick Inspectr r, or auctioneer, is liable to a fine from L") to LSO. Then if a beast, while Icing (riven at night, jumps into another man's property and the driver goes to take it out he is liable to a fine of LIOO or twelve months' imprisonment. If in earmarking you cut an inch too much oft'a cow's ear you are liable to a line of LlO for every beast. The object of this, of course, was to movent cattle and sheep stealing. If the law were enforced it would be too drastic, and yet what was the use of a law if it were not enforced ? If the Government wanted to pievent cattle and sheep stealing, and they put L2OOO or LoOOO upon the Kstimetes and got a detective from America to go tramping round the country with his swag on his back it would do more good than all these laws. (Applause). It has always been the custom for a farmer to kill a beast and sell as much of it to his neighbours as he did not require for his own use, hut under the Slaughterhouse Act a man was liable to be fined for doing this unless he was a bu'ehcr. He (the speaker) had been breaking the lawall last year tluough ignorance, but this cluim; had now been cut out. He only quoted this as an instance of the s ipshod manner in w h ch the laws were made and altered. It the Orchard and Garden Pests IJill were e nforcee' it would cause a gi eat many giowors to destroy their trees lather than carry out its conditions. His next objection was that most of the Bills and laws were piactically tinwoikable. The Government appeared to make a hash of everything they touched. Look at the Tariff Bill ami the hash Mr Word made of the treaties with Canada. The same thing had occurred in TIIK UANKI.NO KSQUIKY this year, and people were jusc about as wise as they were before it was started. (Mr Forrest: "Your friends took care of that." Laughter). Mr Herrics said he would like to call Mr Forrest's attention to a picture that appeared in the Observer, where the Premier was shown on one side and Mr MeKcnz'e on the other whitewashing Mr Ward, and he thought that was just about what the Hanking enquiry had ceded in. (Applause). One could not help noticing the number of amendments brought down each year in Bills passed. In 1595, out of 74 Bills passed, 85) were amendment Hills, and this year oat of (il passed 21, or nearly half, were amendments. In coming to the question of I'INANCE he did not intend to binder his listeners with a lot of figures, but he thought that even his friend Mr Forrest would admit that during the last tincc years the public debt had been increased. According to ('apt. Russell, it had been increased"by 1.4,028,(1(10, w bile Mr Seddon placed it at L 4,127,000, so that they could safely say it had been increased by over 1.4,000,1!(l'(>. This was pretty good for a Government that was not supposed to borrow. Of course this included the million and a-half for advances to settlers, but it just showed what their promises are worth. Another question on which a lot bad been said was the SEJ/.UKK OF THE SINKING VI'NB.S of loans to local bodies. Money was borrowed by local bodies at 5 per cent., 4 per cent to go as interest ai d the remaining one placed in a sinking fund, which would repay the debt at the end of '2l yeats. The Government by some juggling (they say legally) have taken away the (inking funds which belong to the local bodies. In lSil.'i they took L145,(i(10, but the total amount is nearly a million. So that at the end of the 21 years when the bodies have discharged their liability, the amount will be simply added to the National debt, and the people will have to pay it again in the shape of taxes. Mr Herrics dwelt for some considerable time uroii the question of the HANK Hl' NI.VT ZI'AI.ANII. The liability of the hank, lie said, amounted to 15,231,000, and if the bank did not pay it the colony would have to do so in 1(1 years, and this amount carried an annual interest of Ll!)3,000. The (■states which the Board had taken over were valued at L 1,879,000, while the calls from shareholders weie put down at L 1,000,000, but it was almost certain that a great part of this would be lost, as the previous calls had nearly broken all the shareholders, and the best judges did not expect to get more than threequarters of it. To this had to be stided LoOO.OCO prefeneel t bares, so that whatever happened they were hound to lose about two millions, and any Government that lias got the country into such a state as this, was not worthy of theconfideticeof the people. 'lheOpposition were c;edited with being responsible for the banking legislation, but in his opinion far mere responsibility tested with the Government, lie considered the Government should never have touched the lank at all, it would have been f,.r letter if it had been allowed to go. Kverycuo would admit had such been the case there would have been a great deal of distress, but as regards the: shan holders there is just as much distress and perhaps more, than if the hrnk had gone. The only people who would have been worse off were the depositors, and he thought the Government should have come to their relief, as they did in the case of the sufferers ly the .'now in Canterbury, and those of the Brunneiton disaster. They had only got to the beginning of the trouble, and there was a good "deal yet in store. They hail acquired a lot of estates that were bring worked at a loss, and there was every prospect that this would continue year after year. Ml! WAKll's AITAIKS. All those who have read the farts of the case will be glad to know that Mr Ward was exonerated of having anything politically to do w ith the amalgamate n of the two banks, and, to his honour, be it said, he did not interfere. The private affairs of anv public man are public'property, and be could not le exonerated from' all blame in connection with his private affairs. Mr Hcrvies read an extract from the remarks of Mr Justice Williams on the case, and went of to sav that any man whose private affairs were managed with such a reckless dislegard of ordinary business principles was certainly not tilted to control the aliairs of a' nation. (Applause.) He bioueht this forward as Mr Ward was still the di Jut -lu Treasurer, he was still piactically Treasurer of the colon)-. Tin-: rntsKNT winisthv. Everyone vi'l admit that when the Miu-

istry first came into force, with Ballance, Reeves, Cadman and others at the head, it was wonderfully strong, although it may not have been productive of much good to the country. Of these there arc only left jpeddon, Mclvjnzic and Cad man and the best of thfse is undoubtedly Mr Cadman. (Hear, hear, and applause). He was a man for whom even those opposed to him politically bad the greatest respect, and all would regret that his health would not allow him to render more: assistance to the Premier and Mr McKcn/.ic. Besides these there arc people like Thompson, Hall-Jones, Walker and Carroll, anil the Liberal party could not piodtice better men than those. Mr Seddrn employed a number of them for a iong time without salary, and if the Premier did not think them worth salary the people of the colony would not think much of them either. Referring to the Opposition, Mr Herries said irr the first place they had not Mich a powerful man as Mr Sedrion, but they certainly had as good and better men than those composing the tail of the Government, such as Carroll and Thompson, and could form as good a Ministry as the present. Coming to TIIK LAXO QUKKTION the speaker said he was one of the strongest supporters of the system of putting people on the lands, and every credit was due to this Government atrd the late Mr Ballance who introduced it, but he could not agree with the manner in which Mr McKenzic carried it out. He. however, thought the freehold tenure was far preferable to the present leasehold system. Lviry man wanted land that he could dispose of as he liked. (Hear, Hear and Applause). The lease in perpetuity was supposed to be the same as freehold tenure, but a man could not sell his land without consulting the Government, ami was also limited iu the choice of a purchaser ; he could net sell it to a man posscssi: g more than 600 acres ot first class land—(Hear, Hear) and therefore did rot get as good a price as he would for freehold property. Under the lease in perpetuity, if a man got hehind with his payments and the Land Board had a down on him, he could be turned out. Then he could not claim for improvements unless the incoming man paid the Government for them. In the case of a man's death permission had to be obtained from the Land Bo ml before his sons could occupy it. In fact you were under the thumb of the Board ami completely at the merey of the Government. Under the Land for Settlement Act, the lease in perpetuity was the only system under which you could take up land. Last year 404 selectors took up land with the right to purchase and 14G1 under the lease in perpetuity. Another great objection to this system was the compulsory residence, which instead of being bciii ficial was productive of a great deal of harm to settlement. A man working on a farm was debarred from taking up land, as he would be compelled to reside on it, whereas under a better system he could take up a section, still work for wages, spend his money on the land instead of in the public-house, and later on get married and settle down. In this way they would get a much better class of settlers. There was little use in compelling people to live on land unless they had the money to woik it. But for this a man might take up a section, go mining and earn Ss a day. Mr McKcnzio had got dummyisni on the bran, and fancied that the bigger man wished to jump 100 acres heie and another 100 ncres there ; but the days of land sharking wire gone, and it would never to done again. Where were the big land sharks row '! They had all died poor, and no one was likely to repeat the experiment. Dummyisni was a mere bogey, except in allowing every member of a family to ballot for a certain section of land. He thought these people were the greater land sharks, lie was greatly in favour of cutting up THK 11IC KSTaTKS and lank propel ties as soon as possible. They rightly I elomred to the people who had guaranteed a large amount of money for them. But some scheme was required, lie would like to see the more accessible parts cut up into '2OO or .'IOO acre lots with a right to purchase, so as to give a man a chance to get a fieeho'd. The back blocks he would divide into large sections, and if they could not be sold, he would give them away (Applause) on condition that so much money was spent on them yearly—say a pound an acre. By keeping them the colony would only lose money every year, and it would he far better to get rid of them. ADVANCES TO SETTLHRS. Mr Herries considered the Government deserved great credit for inaugurating this scheme, which he believed had had the effect of reducing the rate of interest. But he would like to see the Act amended in i-crtvn directions so as to get some security that the money would be spent on the land. At present it was possible for a man to borrow LIOOO on his land and take a trip Home with it or buy a laeehorse. This was not right, .-.nil there should be some compulsory clause, that the money should be spent on the land, and so increase the value of the security. This system, although new here, had been carried on in old Conservative England for the last 100 years. A great deal of this money had, he thought, hi en borrowed to pay off old mortgages, which was perfectly just, but he should not recommend the money being spent in stock, or anything that could be taken away off the land. Coming to TIIK J.IIH'OK QUESTION which was of burning intcrc-t, he might state he was iu favour of giving the present system a fair trial. He did not believe in the hue majority. It was wrong for the majority to force the minority, and it would not be allowed in ic'.igious matters. It was said that the majority ruled in the choice of a candidate, but it must be remembered this was the primitive method, and capable of great improvement. Hence there, is a scheme for proportionate representation. Hare's system and others which tried to mitigate the ruling of the majority. It wis admitted to be wrong in the House, or else why have the Upper House? It was neither a proper nor a Liberal system. He was in favour of giving the three-fifths majority a fair trial and if prohibition was carried he had no doubt they would all do their best to carry it out. They had a law for Sunday closing and closing at 10 o'clock, audit should he enforced, and if 'lrs were done it would greatly diminish drunkenness. Statistics showed that they were getting more sober every day. although they did not know it. In 18(511 the amount spent in drink averaged for each individual LIO 10s per head, in ISSS 13 !>s ."id, and in IS!)!! L 3 0s od, so that they were drinking less every year. 'J he young men of this colony were the most sober he had ever seen (Hear, Hear, and Applause) and the people who drank weie those who, like himself, had come from the Old Country. (Laughter and Applause.) With due allowance for those friends interested in the temperance cause, he thought the cause of prohibition was working itself out, and in the course of a few years they would not drink any mote. The introduction rt light becis and wines into this country, if encouraged, would do much to diminish the evils of drunkenness. r.ii'.i.E in schools. Referring to the education question, he was opposed to religion being taught in schools by state schoolmasters, hut he sympathised with those who wished icligion to be taught ; it should be taught to all young people but the .State was not the person to teach it. '1 be State f>ave a free and secular education, and had no right to interfere in religions matters. It should be taught ly ministers of the different deriominat ous and he would give them every assistance in the, work. Be agreed with C'aßOij

Gould who said at llie recent meeting of the Synod of the Anglican Church, tli.it the clergy should try ami teach the children in .school, with the permission 'JJ the Board and the parent". This hoi" do more goal than by having the Bibbk read in schools, perhaps by an atheist* te:icher. CO OI'KItATIVE LABOUR. He was averse to the co-operative labour system, and as a road had been made through his property he had had an excellent oppottuuity of finding out the evils in connection with it. This system had the effect of levelling the good man with the bad, and a man who ili.l -a good's day's work was paid the same as a lrafer. (Hear. hear). He favoured the letting of small eonti acts among the small men, which he thought would bo much more beneficial to the country. Let them tender for the work at a fair rate of wage?, and pick their own men, instead of having the gangs picked by an r.versccr or engineer. The next point upon which he would touch was THE NATIVK QUESTION - . It was most unfair that the natives were not allowed to sell to anyone except the Government He knew numerous instances where natives owning land worth L'2 or L 3 per acre were compelled to accept as many shillings, simply because the Government wanted it. This was a bar to settlement and an unjustice to the natives. THK REFERENDUM lie thought would be a very fiir measure, only before it could be worked the electoral laws would have to be altered. At present it would result very much in favour of the townspeople against those in the country. Voting in town was so much easier than in the country, where an elector often had to travel 10 or 20 miles to vote, and lose his day's work and wages. An expression of op'nion would alone be obtained from those living iu the town. THK KAIMAI TRACK. If elected he would do his best to have this track put/ through. Since his visit to the Coast he was sure the opening of the track would be of immense benefit to the Taiiranpu and Cambridge districts. (Applause). It would enable farmers to get young cattle for fattening without going north to Auckland. Another matter which required immediate attention was the opening of THK T'MMKS RAILWAY. This should re completed as quickly as possible, so that Waikato produce could find an outlet and take the place of Taranaki butter and Canterbury bacon, which was at present used extensively. This would, perhaps, remove the necessity for sending produce to England. However, railway freights must he reduced so as to compete with water carriage, and if returned he would do Iris utmost to have railway freights ret need so that produce could he landed in Paeroa at somewhere near water carriage rates. In CONCLUSION* the speaker said he knew the wants of the dist'ict, and would do his utmost fruits benefit. He had no axe to grind and was not a member r.f the National Association and never had been, but simply asked them to elect him as a fellowsettler. It had given him much pleasure to address them, and he could fully appreciate the pleasurable feelings a clergyman must experience in addressing his congregation. The only thing that robbed him of some of the clergyman's pleasure was that he could not pass round the plate. (Laughter and prolonged applause). QUESTIONS. Questions were then invited. In reply to Mr Davis, Mr Hemes said he thought it was or-e of the defects of the present electoral law that ballotboxes were opened at the small pollingbooths. It in a great manner destroyed the. secrecy of the ballot. The method in vogue in England, where all the boxes were taken to the central polling-place, was far preferable to that in force in New Zealand at the present time. Rev. L. Hudson asked if Mr Herries could suggest any scheme whereby his ideas regarding religions instruction by clergymen, could be carried out in districts where there were no clergymen. Mr Herries said he did not think he was ca'led upon to suggest any scheme. It was the duty of the different denominations to formulate a scheme for themselves. (Applause.) He believed it would be a good plan to put their hands in their pockets and use the money for this purpose instead of fending it to convert the Chinese. Mr T. W. Hicks said he believed Mr Hetties had received religious instruction in some school otherwise he could not have -poken as he had done and if he admitted this what was his objection to religious instruction in schools ?

Mr Herries replied that it was because he hail received icligious instruction at his University that lie was so strongly opposed to it now. How could a man like it when he was driven to it like a sheep. He thought instruction of that sort did more harm than good. Mr \V. F. Buckland asked how manv lawyers there were in the House? (A voice : We. don't want any more, anyhow.) (Laughter.) Mr Herries siid he was hot able to answer that question, but he thought there were too many. Mr W. F. Buckland asked if the miniler of amendments referred to were not due to the fact that tbeio were no law vers on the Government side.

Mr Herries replied that this wis prob üblv the case.

Mr T. N. Peek asked why the speaker disclaimed any connection with the National Association.

Mr Herries said it had been reported that he was a member and that the Association was paying his expenses, and ho thought it was his duty to inform them of the true facts of the case.

In response to cries of " Go on Forrest," that gentleman said he wished to make an explanation regarding Mr Herries' reference to himself ami others on the Waikato Licensing Committee. Jf ht had done wrong he felt it keenly, and he could say the matter of the transfer of the license from Te Aroha toHuntly had been discussed properly, thoroughly and fairly, and it was carried by the votes of men holding similar political opinions to Mr Herries, and not by Liberal influencs at all.

Mr W. F. Buckland interjected that he had seen a telegram from Mr Thompson stating that it was necessary to Gazette the newly-appointed member in time for the meeting, and that was where the i-orrupt practice came in. (Applause). He had also seen another telegram from Mr Cadman stating that if he had only held the office of Minister of Justice two days longer it would not have been done. It was done by his .successor, Mr Thompson. The Chairman said the meeting was not the proper place to argue; this question out, and the matter dropped. In reply to the Hev. L. Hudson, Mr Herries said his meaning of the phrase that a mnn should be allowed to do as he likes, was that individual liberty was in dinger cf being forgotten in this system of State Socialism ; Ire thought a man hail a perfect right to do as he liked so long as he committed no offence against his neighbour. Mr (J. Watts, in proposing a hearty vote of thanks to Mr Herries for his interesting end instructive address, said the expression of confidence could be left until a li tie later on. when it could be expressed in a mare forcible manner. Mr G Holt, in secouiing the mo ion, siid they were fortunate in having such a man as All I lei ries coming forward, as he had certain qualifications which a great many men who had been returned to Parliament did not possess. (Contained applause). In returning thanks, Mr Herries said the manner in which they had received hin gave him great pleasure, and as to tin; question of tuutidence, he hoped.