CAPT. RUSSELL AT CAMBRIDGE.

Waikato Argus, Volume VI, Issue 436, 18 May 1899, Page 2

CAPT. RUSSELL AT CAMBRIDGE.

Captain' Rossell, the Leader of the Opposition, addressed a crowded house in the Public Hall, Cambridge, last night. The room was filled to overflowing po-ut, and among the audience was a very fair sprinkling of the fair sex, who evinced the greatest interest in the proceedings. Mr "VV. P. Buekland, Mayor of Cambridge, pieskled, and briefly introduced the speaker. In his opening remarks Capt. Russell said it was some time since he had had the pleasure of addressing an audience in Cambridge, but to one actively engaged iu political life it did not appear to be very long. Remembering the very cordial reception accorded him on that occasion, on receiving an invitation to agaiu visit Cambridge it gave him more than ordinary pleasure to comply with the request. (Applause). He had read the speech of their member, Mr Hemes, delivered a few nights previously, and although he agreed with the most of what that geotlemau had said, there was one point upon which they entirely disagreed. Their member, in his introductory remarks, had said that Captain Russell was about to visit Can 1 bridge aud as he could explain things much better than himself, ho would leave them to Captain Russell to do so. He (the speaker) was an old man and Mr Herries was a young one, naturally retiring and blest with the gonerosity of youth. But he might tell them that there was very little in connection with political matters ivhich had happened during the last three years that Mr Herrics could not explaiu (applause), and also that no member had ever taken a higher position in Parliament in his first session than had Mr Herries during the three years he had represented the Bay of Plenty. (Hear, h ar end continued applause). He astonished them with his mastery of facts ai.d attention to debate of which he had perfect control, and, when it came to speaking against time, he (the speaker) would back him against creation (laughter and applause). Coining to the more serious portion of his speech, he sai-1 the people of the colony had just cause to be grateful to the Opposition for their efforts ; they had done yeoman service during thsir 10 years iu Parliament. (Hear, hear and applause). They had sat up late and worked their hardest to keep the present Government in check, nevet despairing and never dreaming of giving in. If they were few, he maintained that they had gained a great moral victory. It had been a great triumphal success, and he ventured to predict that the Opposition would not go in again as an Opposition, but as the party out of which the Government of this country would be created.

OPPOSITION' POLICY. It was stated that what was required of the Opposition was that they should formulate a policy and lay that before the people of New Zealand. He would remind them that the Opposition had a policy, but it was unfair to ask that a policy should be laid before the people in a concrete form at the present time—to ask the Opposition to state what they would do under circumstances of which they were at the present time unaware. In the course of his address he would, they would note, detail the guiding lines of the policy of the Opposition, and give some iufonnation as to what the Opposition would do if opportunity offered. He referred to the fact that he and his party were in opposition, but a time would come—and it would not be long—(applause) —when the present Opposition would take their places ou the Treasury benches, and then the present Opposition would, with no uncertain sound, state their policy, despite the assertions of Ministers and their satellites. It was stated that if the time ever arrived when the present Opposition were called upon to form a Ministry, one of their first acts would be to repeal many of the measures passed directly in the interests of the so-called labour classes. He denied this assertion, which he characterised as a wild and baseless assertion, and was uttered with the object of endeavouring to prejudice popular opinion. They did not intend to remove such Acts from the Statute Book, and repeal Acts as he had mentioned, which had been passed. As a matter of facI', 1 ', many of the measures which were at the present time on the Statute Book of the colony were really introduced by the Atkinson Governmeut, of which the speaker was at one time a member. As showing the bona-fides of the party then in power in connection with the matters referred to, among the measure? to which he referred was the Truck Bill, the Employers' Liability Act, the Factories Act, the Shipping and Seamen's Act, and the Strikes and Arbitration Bill. These Bills were introduced by the Atkinson Government. It was also stated that previous Government and the present Opposition had no sympathy with th;) people, but he assured them that this was all humbug and balderdash. It was the duty and the intention of the Opposition to frame laws which would be not for the benefit of a class, but for the benefit of the colony as a whole. It was the early settlers of the colony who have done as much towards assisting the progress of New Zealand as any Governn>ent, and those who had shown ability had exercised self-denial. There were at the preseut time about 700,000 people in the colony, and there could be 7,000.000 No Ministry could retard individual industry, and there was no reason why the many who came afterwards could not succeed us others had done, provided they received encouragement, so that the whole colony would benefit.

MODE OK FIGHTING. As for the particular method of attack they would agree with him when he said that he need not point out the vulnerable spots in the Premier's armonr. lo ask him to do such a thing was just as reasonable as to have asked Lord Kitchener to tell the Khalifa the precise nv.thod of attack which he proposed to adopt. The Opposition were not going to tell their political opponents where they were going to strike them. He denied that he had been iu favour of the repeal of the land and iucome tax and the reinstate ment of the property tax, and there were no grounds for such an assertion. The present Government on coining into office had declared no policy. They never had a policy and did not possess one at the present moment. The policy of spoils to the victors was their policy, and it was oue that was degrading the colony. TAXATION AND WEALTH. What was the result of the previous Administration with regard to the property tax and the land and income ta* ? He maintained that as far as he himself was concerned, from the first day when ho stood upon a political platform, he had been in favour of reducing taxation on the necessaries of life and allowing property to bear its share of taxation which was due to them. Let them look at a few figures. In 1891 the properly tax was £357,348. Last year the land and income tax amounted to £385.460, or only £;5,000 more than in 1891, and this was the result of the present Government in increasing the tariff where it coul! least be borne. During that period, in which the taxation had inCl'i ased 25 per cent., what had been the increase in wealth ? Did it increase proportionately? Taking advantage of the figures as shown in the Official Year Booki and which might be accepted as a correct statement of the facts, they would find that in IS9O the wealth of the colony was £142,000,000, ropresenting> wealth of £215 per head of population. Tn 1897 the wealth was represented at £183,000,000, or £250 per head, so that while the wealth of the colony increased by i'33 the taxation hid increased 25 per cent. There had been a great cry and

little wool, but as far ns he himself was concerned what he had striven for on every occasion had been the reduction of taxation on the nccessiries of life, THE LAST SESSIOX. During the lust session the Opposition had stonewalled certain measures of the Government. The question was, had they a right to do that ? He hoi 1 tint it was the great function of the representative chamber to see that the financial interests of the people of New Zealand were conserved. What was the very origin of Parliancnt ? The origin of Parli imeut of the Mother Country was that the Crown (.emanded money, and the people said, •' Before you will be allowed to receive this money we will have a full explanation of what you are going to do with it." Several months of the financial year had passed, when the Premier, who was alse Treasurer, insisted that the House should go on with voting the Estimates. The upposition said they wanted to know where the money was j;oing and what " contingencies " amounting to £144,000 were for. They said, " Until you tell U 3 where the money in the Public Works Fund is goiug to be expended, we dou't consider we shall be doing our duty if we vote the money." They could get no information about " contingenc ; es "at all. Contingencies, like charity, covered a multitude of sins. Included in that sum was £146, over and above the £1750, charged by the Premier as expenses on his Jubilee trip. The Premier refused to give the information asked for. lie told them it was impossible to bring down Public Work Estimates when really half the mooey had been already expended. The Opposition insisted, and it was then that the stonewalling took place. The Opposition were not political larrikins, thoy were grave political meu, who were as fond of their beds as anyone else. They stood for the great Constitutional principle of knowing where the money of the people was goiug to be expended before the vote was passed. They succeeded. The Opposition, from a few years ago numbering 13, had grown so strong that they we p e able to defy the Goverment, and they had won. They did not choose to rely on any Minister's word of mouth, but they got their agreement in writing, and unless they had they would have refused to go on with the business, under any circumstance. Notwithstanding that they got in writing a promise that the Public Works Estimates would be brought down in time to allow the members to have plenty of time to discuss them, it was not until about 48 hours before the close of the session that they were brought down. There were roads and bridges in all parts of the country, and the Opposition had precious little information as to where the money was to be spent. The Government claimed that there was a surplus of £500,000 of the people's mouey, and that was given to a Minister to expend exactly as he chose, which meant that it would be ueed to a very great extent to endeavour to bribe constituents aud to bribe members. Let him ask them if money was put on the Estimates to open up public roads, and if a macadamised road was made to the door of a supporter of the Government in sparsely populated districts, was that justice? There ought to be a change. The Opposition did not want to bribe, they had the interests of the people of New Zealand at heart. He realised most fully that the country should be opened up. He believed that if the money were handed over to the local Indies it would be better expended.

OLD AOK PKNSIONS. Turning to the qne-tion of old age pensions. Oaptiiu Russell said it was a remarkable thing that when the Old Ago Pensions Bill was introduced into Parliameut last session, the .nly people who seemed to have any interest in the question were the members of the Opposition. The Government supporters almost, without exception, were too indifferent to come and listen to the Premier wheu he introduced the Bill, while through the loDg, weary, and sometimes virulent debate the Opposition fought and endeavoured to make the Bill a fair Bill, aud a Bill that would be permanent. But the Government majority trooped in from the outside when the Premier rang the bell. They went and asked the Premier how they were to vote, aud the Premier replied, " The Bill, the Bill, and nothing but the Bill—don't exercise your own judgmeut, but follow me into the lobby, and you are sure to be right." It had been said that the Opposition were inimical to the Bill. No such tiling. They were inimical to the wretched abortion of the Old Age Bill, brought in by the Premier. They held that it was not a fair Bill either for the recipients of the pensions or for the people of the country. Did the e'eotors realise that it was impossible to make a large pension fund out of this so-called surplus ? Misfortunes might come over the country. Suppose they had to face a foreign war, it would then be utterly impossible to keep up the old age pensions out of the surplus. If they were to pay old age pensions, they should have some assured fund, aud not the mere figment of a man's bra.n called a surplus. The great minds of Europe had been exercising themselves for a generation trying to solve the cjuestion of old age pensions—and the Premie of New Zealand was prepared to solve the whole question iu a few minutes, even without the assistance of his party. The Opposition laid it down as a principle that it was not desirable to fix a definite age when the State should gire pensions. They held that there were many men 6trong aud able to work to 65, while others, through one cause or another, were ;<l 60 unable to work. The Opposition realised that maoy men were engaged in industries which were dangerous to health, and others were engaged in occupations in which they were liable to injury, and that conditions such as these should be embraced in the scheme. They also laid down the principle that £lB a year was not sufficient to enable a man to keep himself. They laid it dowu as a principle that there ought to be a contributory scheme, so that when a man went to receive his pension he could look the whole world in the face and say he was only asking what he had himself built up. (Loud applause). Under the actuarial tables of the Australian Mutual Provident Society, a youth of 18 or 20 could for the payment of 6d a week ensure himself of a pension payable at the age of 60, better than that provided by the Government. A pension could b« secured for a sum per week which could be saved by foregoing a packet of cigarettes or a long beer. Would he be told that the youth of New Zealand were so mean spirited that they could not subscribe 6d per week towards their mainten;nce in old age? He believed the young col mists of the present day were as yood as their fathers aud mothers, and he refused to believe that they were so that they would not do what their faults did before them. He uiigiit be told that this was all very well for the youth of the colony. What about the older colonists? Well, if they said Gil a week was all they could contribute, it would be better for the Government to pay the difference between that 6d and the Is 6d, which would probably be necessary for a person of 45 years of age, than to pay the pension in the present shape. Then they would not be discouraging thrift. As an iostance of the uncertainty attaching to this old age pensions scheme, he might mention that as the Bill was passing through Parliament the Premier kept assuring Parliament that about £90,000 was all that would be required for au old age pensions fund. Now, he gathered from the Premier's own figures thai the liability per annum incurred by the pensions granted up to March Hist was £128,273, while further claims were coming in day by day. That showed that what the Opposition said all along would unfortuuately come true, that £200,000 a year at the very least would be necessary to pay the old age pensions,

and it must lie re i ombercd that thiy could not imposo a further tax of £200,000 on th.n people with ait ttk'ng from the colonists some of the comforu and the luxuiies of education whiih they were building up for their ch hi en. The Old Age Tensions Bill was f>dl o 1 extraordinary anomalies If a man had £34 a year from investments and no more, he got a pension of £lB a year, while people who were unable to earn £52 a year were compelled to contribute to the pension fund. The whole question should ba relegated to fomebody who would think out a definite scheme, and some contributory scheme should then be introduced, by wh ch all in this country would be able, without shame, to draw their pensions, because they would have contributed to what they were receiving. AUTOCRACY. Unfortunately when the Bill was before Parliament members of the Government parly trooped in and did exactly what they were told, and Now Zealand was now reduced to this extmordiouiy position, that, boasting, as we arc accustomed to do, that we are tho most democratic country iu the world in our form of Government, our democracy had prao tieally ceased to be, and we aro living under the rule, and the iron rule, of an autocrat, till we can scarcely call ourBelves our own. (Applause). But the electors of the country were to blame for that, because they had not taken the inter st in politics they ought to have taken. What had contributed more than anything else to the power of the Premier was the piesent constitution of the Legislative Council. In former days men were nominated for the Legislative Council because of their distinguished public career. Now the principal qualification for a Legislative Councillor was that he had been twice rej.-cted at the polls by the electors. He did not mean to say that there had not been many good men rejected at the polls ; he realised that a glib tongue was better than a sound head if a man wished to get into the House of Representatives. But when Sir George Grey was in office they had confidence that the Legislative Council .opposed the Bills introduced by the Grey Government after full and careful consideration and deliberation, and that becaure tlry were a judicial body. But all that was changed, and the Legislative Council was now appointed by one man, and that man the Premier. Perhaps he might be asked had the Premier no colleagues, and perhaps he owed au apology to Auckland for having made such a statement, for when Sir George Grey, who had exhausted his life in the service of New Zealand, found himself obliged to relinquish his position as a member of the House of Representatives, the people of Auckland searched the whole of New Zealand to find a worthy successor to that great man, and they selected Mr Thomas Thompson. (Loud laughter). It seemed to be the policy of the present Government that the members of the Legislative Council appointed by them should not be independent, for the speaker was morally certain that those members of the Legislative Council appointed by the Seddon Governmeit who, in dealing with legislative enactments, displayed any independence, would stand a very poor show of being re-appointed when their term of office of seven years expired. When the time came that the present Opposition would take their seats on the Treasury benches they had uo desire that they should have vassals at their call in the Legislative Council. What they wanted was independent men, who had served their country well, and who could exercise a proper check upon the vagaries of the House of Representatives. This could only be brought about by a system of electing the members of the Legislative Council. It was by this method that the best men would be secured and that tho Upper House would exercise its proper function?. Another thing was that the number of Councillors should be limited so as to prevent any Government sweeping in a large number of nominees into the Upper House. Theie should be some fair representation in proportion to the number of members of the Lower House, and the necessity of having largtr electorates recognised. This cou'd be done by means of the Hare System of representation, and by this means the advocate of mere paro- . chial politics would have no chance of holding sway, but would have to give place to the men who had given earnest attention to the politics and interests of the whole country. RAILWAY ADMINISTRATION. Captain Russell regretted that the Minister in charge of tho Railway Department, the Hon. A. J, Cadman, a gentleman for whom he had the greatest respect, should be ill. He recognised the good and careful administration of the gentleman named, and said that in his opinion the policy of spoils to the victors was to the Minister for Railways comparatively unknown. Perhaps, if the truth were known, one of the reasons of the Hon. Mr Cadman'a retirement was that owing to the intervention of Mr Seddon, the present Minister could not manage the railways as he thought they should be managed, but were managed according to political exigencies. For many years prior to the piesent Administration taking office the improvements effected to the railways had been paid out of working expenses, but that was not the case now. In one year the Government had borrowed £IOO,OOO for this very purpose, and in the following year a similar amount had been borrowed, and this was one of rhe details of how the bogus surpluses were created. It was by a policy of starving the railways and neglecting maintenance and roll ngstock, so that a large balance could be shown, that the bogus surpluses of which they heard so much were manufabturtd, and the Government had been compelled to borrcw £200,000 to do that which other Administrations had always managed to do out of working expenses. The Atkinson Government had inereaed the power of the engines, hud added to the rolling-stock, and had substituted heavy for light lines, but this important work was being neglected at the present time, and the speaker asserted, without fear of contradiction, that the railways were unsafe and that it was impossible to run heavy engines at their proper rate of speed. THE SURPLUS. To illustrate how these so-called surpluses were manufactured, he would quote from tho reports of the different traffic managers, Auckland, Wanganui and the traffic managers in many other districts, and they would see that in every instance the heads of the departments spoke of vastly increased traffic, which could be expected, and if a true balance were struck an estimated increase of £40,000 or £50,000 might very well be reckoned upou. But what were the actual facts: Last year the Mini, ferial estimate of the receipts was "1 '470 000, vhereiiß the actual receipts Amounted to £1,376,008, so that they would see that the estimate was no less than £6OOB less than the amount actually received. Then again, the expenditure was reckoned at £21,777 more than the amount actually expended, and it was by this over-estimating of expenditure, and under-estimating of receipts that these flourishing statements were placed before the public, and the bogus surpluses manufactered. Yet year by year the people were taxed and tuxed ever increasingly, so as to afford opportunities to the Government to spend this money as they liked, and to adopt a principle of bribing constituencies. In referring to the so-called surplus, he might state that the Premier had given it forth that the surplus was £500,000, but the real position was, that the actual amount of receipts over expenditure was £217,428, and not the half-million as alleged by the Premier. The only fair way to get at the actual surplus was to take the actual receipts over expenditure, and not adopt this convenient method of carrying forward balances.

THE l'U LIC DEBT. The present Government was a te f reliant, non-borrowing Government, bin notwithstanding their po'est;;lions in this respect, the public debt of the colony was increasing rapidly year by ye;ir. On March 31st, 1898, the public debt of the colony amounted to £41,966,424, while on March 31st, 1899, the public debt amounted to £46,938,006, showing an in crease in one ya f of £1,974,582. It had been stated by the lute lion. J. Ballancu that the prosperity of a country was not secured by the machinations of its Ministers ; but by the energy and self d na! of the people was permanent prosperity assured. Was it i rosi.city, the spesku asked, that the Government should go on increasing our debt at the ra e i.l £2,000,000 per year ? And let him remind those present that for every million borrowed the sum of £3.5,000 had to be sent out from the colony <ach year fo' interest, and that for the two millions spoken of £70.000 was being sent away to tho Old Country every year. Of course it might ba said that some i f this money waß expended in reproductive works, but in the speaker's opinion one of the curses of the colony was this exporting golden sovereigns to the people at Home, who did no'bing whatever towards tha p'og-ess of the colony. It might be said that Sir Harry Atkinson borrowed £4,000,000, but that was expended ou reproductive works. For when he left office the railways of the colony were in almost the same position, as far as progress wa9 concerned,.as they were at the present time. The money was not used to deal with the unemployed for political purposes, to fill up their ranks when necessity called, and afterwards to dismiss the so-called unemployed when the elections were over. This was the use to which the money was being devoted at the present time, and the speaker blushed to think that this was the condition of things iu the colony of New Zealand, CROSS ENTRIES. In connection with the surplus he would refer to an extraordinary proceeding on the part of the Govemmen*. It was really a question of had administration A department had to pay £70,000 or £BO,OOO for working expenses, and it was ascertained that th>y had only £35,000 available to do it. It was a blunder, and if the Premier had been candid and owned up the Opposition would not have thought much of the matter, but it was the methods adopted at which the Opposition complained, for the Government had caused the Railway Department to be debited with £35,000 worth of stores to make up the balance, while not a single thing had been actually purchased, and as soon as the financial year expired the amount had been transferred back by means of a cross entry. If tradesmen or business men cooked their accounts or juggled with figures, hard things would be said of them, but when it was done by men in high positions it was spokeu of as finance of the highest order. It was not found out until the intervention of a public officer, who, the speaker was pleased to say, was not a political slave ; he referred to the Auditor • General. That gentleman, to his credit be it said, actuated by a stern sense of duty, refused to agree to the transaction, and through the speaker reported to the House what had been done. The matter was referred to the Public Accounts Committee, and the speaker wa3 ashamed to say that this official for doing what he cuusidercd, and what was, his duty, in the interests of the colony, was accused of embarrassing the Government, and of partisanship. The speaker had not the slightest doubt but that if it were possible an endeavour would be made to oust the gentleman from his position, but that was not possible, and if au attempt were made the members of the Opposition, together with the speaker, would fight to the last so that a man, who had endeavoured to carry out his duties, even against the wishes of the Premier of the colony, should be sustained and supported.

NORTH TRUNK RAILWAY. In railw y matters the people of Anckland had been treated very badly. A good many years ago the sum of £1,000,000 was boirowed for the North island trunk railway, but they had not been allowed to participate iu the benefits of that money. 'J here had been expended on roads £161,000, iu native lands £220,000, in other ways £5084, and deducting the cost of floating the loan, in round numbers £500,000 was borrowed for a particular purpose, which had not been expended, and which it was understood ahculd be refunded to the North Island trunk railway fund as soon as possible. This'sum bhould be returned to the district of Auckland. But what about the Stratford route. On this subject hii advice was, for goodness uake let them Bettle their difference, and cease showing this stupid front in squabbling among themselves about what route should be taken. He would remind them that half-a-loaf was better than no bread, and all that he could say was that the question of route should be one to be decided by a competent engineers or a commission of persons to report to Parliament.

SAN FRANCISCO SERVICE. One reason of importance why the railway should be pushed through was this. He did not agree that there should be an alternative port of call for the San Francisco mail service, as he felt that Auckland must be the port for the arrival aud departure of the 'Frisco steamers. Undeniably, he should imagine, it was the most rapid means, of communication we could have with the Mother Country, aud it was desirable that they should concentrate their efforts more upon that serv ce than on any other. They had hod great cause of complaint on many points, on account of the deficiencies of the service, after the arrival of the steamers at the port of Auckland. He recognised that Auckland was the natural point of arrival to which the San Francisco mail must go. It was the uearost port in New Zealand from An»erica to Australia, aud as they had to depend more or less ft r assistance from the Australian colonies, Auckland should be the point of arrival aud departure of this service,

THE (iOVEHNMENT's LAND POLICY. The land policy of the Government of the colony had been claimed to be the subject upon which they were most entitled to credit, but Captain Russell thought he should be able to show that it had been less successful than that of any Government during the last 16 years. The land administration of the Government had been unsuccessful. It had been profligately extravagant. The Government had purchased 1,775,000 acres of native lands at a cost of £soo,ooo—money taken out of the people's pockets in some shape or other. Not that he advocated that the purchase of native laads was not right. The day must come wheu the natives would be placed on the same footing as ourselves. Enough laud should be reserved for the natives' own use, but there was no need for large areas of native land lyiog unproductive, paying no taxes, and employing no labour. There had been no endeavour to settle those 1,775,000 sores of hind comprehensively. Would it not have beeu better if all that money spent on the native lands had been expended on roads which would have enabled people to take up that virgin land for themselves ? The money was lying practically unproductive. Again, there were estates from one end of the colony to the other held by the Assets Realisation Board. He maintained that if there had been proper administration tho Government would have got hold of that land, cut it up, and placed people upon it There was another echeme. The people were told that the Opposition would repeal the Land for Settlement Act. That was not tho case. Wheu the Opposition got into power they would administer tho Act according to the spirit of that Act. He main-

tain (1 lliit ilie time hid come whan lure should l.e bom< u-mprehensive scheme mi'lei wide' l ! ii'l ir. the suhtp-b.-. or neichbuurh/iod of oil es that, con'<! I e tapped by the t;aniw«yso >uhl ho secured, where artisans' dw I ug* >h >iM h- established. The Rtli me -h n ! d he such that t!ie uisn c til 1 "i| iiiv t'.c f coin.l.l of his pi ope ti if he d'Oie, As wo had the !e.:SL' in pe uily, »■> ■- ■ nriet eon tinuc leass in p-.rpeni-y. He r-■ a'iseil how many yoii>:g men there wv.e wh" wishcrl to settle on tli- l:nd, In' had ro' the capital and the p iiuip'e if le.se in perpetuity enable 1 the n to make a start ir. life, but the man who had a lease in perietuity should hav» a ehar.c* to turn ihat into a fnehold if he so dc ired. He he d that iu3tead of h ivjjjg a i-crambh for the purchase rf es!a f ei »s at preu nt. Parliament should agree upon a sum wire i should he the capi'al va'ne, and every man who wished to acquire Ih freehold of his property should be allowed to do so. The syd'em of rac'njj rented estates held by the Government was prejudicial, and constant int< rference by the Government was making those tenants' Uvea uncomfortable. They must look forward to the day when, if they did not convert their leasehold into -i frei hold, they would be in a most unfortunate position. Mr McKetzie said ho would when he got a:i opportunity introduce a Fair Rent Bill, the ostensible meaniug of which was that: when the price of land went down the rcit would he reduced also. Does anyone believ* that our laud was going down? Not a bit of it. The Minister." did nut believ it, but they were anxious to " get at " the holders. If they would believe th 6 speaker their rents would be doubled, and iu their children's lifetime troubled. Let them take his advice and go in for freeholds. He told them that the Government based their main claim to popular support on the way they had settled the land, but he had set himself to disprove their assertions. Capt. Bu-sell contended that the land policy of Sir Harry Atkinson's Government v. as better than that of the Government that preceded them, and i'jjompanibly better th:n that of the present Government. The Atkinson Government settled 460,000 acres of land, aginst 234,000 acres settled by their predecessors, so that the Atkin-on Government settled niasly double the area. Captain Russell lead from the last Fnanc ai Statement delivered in th<; House by Sir H. Atkinson before his defeat in 1890, that " the average acreage was just '2OO acre 3 per selector." Now let ihem see what the present Government had done. He would not take the first years of the Administration, as it might be said that was not fnir, but would take the thiee late t years—lS96, lt-97 and 1898 In 1896, under the present Government, 315,501 acres were selected. la 1897, their land settlement was not so successful as it had been in the previous year, and the area was 239,648 acre--. Next year it was less again, and had fallen to 234,990 acres. The average holdings were about 200 —just the same as under Sir Harry Atkinson.

THE GOVERNMENT AS LA>DLORDS. The Right Honorable the Premier had come before them and had with a bathos, as Captain Russell callled it, fold them of how the poor crofters iu Scotland were turned out of their homes, and how such a thing would never take place here. For Captain Russell's own part — though he never intended to be a leaseholder at all— ha would a great deal sooner deal with a person who had bowels of compassion than with a Government who had not. All the time the Premier was standing on the platform saying that, what was lmppeniug in the Government administration ? There was going on under this Government far worse than in England tind r landlords. He did not say that the Hon. Mr McKenzie was not anxious to S-'ttls the people on the land, but the Government had been anxious to show results, careless of what the genuine and true results might be to the people, who were m re particularly interested. They had put people on the virgin land, people of the aitisan class, and olhers who were weak and incapableof doing real hard work Then with what resu't? What was the Government doing, then ? Let him give them some figures. Iu the year 1896 the number of selectors was 2472, and there were 891 surrenders and forfeitures. They were turned off. In 1897 the the selectors were 1705, and surrenders and forfeitures were 283. Next year the selectors numbered 1450, and the forfeitures and surrenders were 240. CONCLUSION. It was no longer considered to be the highest honour to be sent to represent your fellow-men in Parliament, which was no loti.er composed of men of intogrity, intelligence and education. The young men of the colony could not be induced to go and sit amongst " scally wags." (Laughter). He was often accused of not striking hard and beng afraid to take off his kid gloves, but he thought that whatever were a mau's misdeeds or shortcomings he should be attacked in a fair and gentlemanly fashion and this he endeavoured to do, and until the youth of this country took upon themselves to siy and insist that Parliament should be pure, and that the men taking part should be fit to take positions in civil or private life, the present unsatisf ctory condition of affairs would continue to exist. He made an earnest appeal to the young men and women to insist that their representative was above all things a true, honest and honourable man, and then and not till then would New Zealand steadily advance and the prosperity of all be assured. Captain Russell resumed his seat amid continued applause Mr Tobias Hicks on rising said it was not a self imposed task—or perhaps he should say pleasure—that he rose to propose a Inarty vote of thanks to the gallant captain, the Leader of the Opposition. He had known Capt. Russell 30 years ago as a neighbour, audit was unnecessary for him to enlarge upou his qualities in that capacity. Every man would recognise that even if Captain Russell was in powi r it would be necessary to have a strong, determined Opposition. No doubt many of those present differed from Captain Russell politically ; but if when they went home they would read, mark and inwardly digest his remarks (roars of laughter)—they would realise what sterling advice had been given them. He would hark back and tell them that he had spoken his mind in that hall before, and if he was not allowed to do so on this occasion, eome of those present would he sorry for it. (Laughter). He had much pleasure in proposing a hearty vo'e of thanks to Captain Russell for his statesmaulike address.

Mr Thos. Wells, iu seconding the motion, thought they were deeply indebted to Captain Russell for the privi lege of being a'lowcd to listen to' such an exposition of politics, as he had given them that evening. Many things had been made clear which they could not understand before, and he thought a few more such lessons would have a beneficial effect upon the electors and enable them to exercise their vote judiciously at election time. He had never been a so - called Conservative. (Mr Hicks : '' I was always one.") (Roars of laughter). He was a Liberal aud believed iu Government for the benefit of the many. It gave him great pleasure to second the motion. Three lusty cheers were then called and given for Captain Russell and one for ' Toby ' flicks, and the meeting closed with the customary compliment to the chair.