THE GENERAL ELECTION

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 3, Issue 904, 20 October 1881, Page 2

THE GENERAL ELECTION

MR RENALL'S MEETING.

Last evening the Masterton Town Hall was filled with electors, culled together to hear an expression of politie.il views from Mr A. AY. Renall, MrR. G. Williams wa3 nominated to the chair by the convenor, and was received with applause. Ho said it gave him a double pleasure to occupy the position, as he and His Worship the Mayor had not always seen political matters nith the same eyes. He felt a debt of gratitude to Mr Renall for thus burying whatever feeling there might have been between them in the past. He (Mr Williams) came there at the request of several lead ing gentlemen of Masterton, but was not bound to any party or candidate. He spoke in high terms of the conduct of the residents of Masterton, at public meetings a? a rule, and hoped the "gods" on ihis occasion would not givestrangers who might be present cause to have a bad opinion of a Masterton public meeting. (Applause.) The meeting had been called by Mr Renall on receipt of a requsitinn containing 15? name 3. Those who signed were not bound to any political party, but the requisition should eive great satisfaction to Mr Renall, and the latter by acceedinv to it, should give a like feeling to those signing, The advertisement contained the name of no other speaker than Mr Renal], but if the meeting, after hearing that gentleman, desired to give un expression of opinion, he hoped it would he an intelligent one. Ho concluded by calling upon Mr Renall. Applause.) Mr Renall, who was well received, expressed the pleasure it always gavp him to meet his fellow settlers to discuss any public question, particularly when such large interests were at stake as at present. He would make a few observations on the Constitution granted to the Colony, which had appeared to him perfect when first granted in 1852, but experience had shown that it had required more care to work the Constitution Act than had ever been bostowed upon it. The best men had perhaps not been elected to work it. He opposed the nominated Upper Chamber, which was' costly and useless, and some' timei did great wrong, as witness the vetoing of the Pensions Bill. They paid 160,000 in pensions, a year, which for a population of about the size of a third-rate English town was most unsatisfactory. (Applause,) The sort of reform he advocated for the Upper House was abolishing it altogether. Dr AVallis had proved during the late session that some of the best governments in the world only consisted of a Bingle chamber. He wild also reduce the number of members in the House of Representatives, Most men seemed to shrink from the question of local government. He would make the whole of the Wairarapa one county, and place twenty members in its council, vesting in them nearly all the powers the Provincial Government had snjnyed, In such a county a large amount of interest would be centred, and the House of Representatives, with such counties, could be reduced to fifty memhm He would give the counties the Sheep and Rabbit Acts to work. (Mr Burton Boys : Hear, hear !) In America he>aid political parties drew thelines on which legislation should bal iffilfifl ; hnh'nTte«fi«rl \Mt°° ™

Masterton, and it was only by such means a [olicy such as ihj one he was advocating could be carried, (Applause.) In the House of Representatives every year twenty bills seemed to be brought in out of which fifteen were strangled. He would give the County Council the management of waste lands. When the Provincial Government had the control of them, Highway Boards got 13s 4d for every 6s 8d thoy raised by rates. They were well off for funds in those days, now the County Councils were starved. If they had had the control of the waste lands, they \v(iuld not haVa had to go as mendicants to the Waste Lands Board for a block of land on which ta place settlers. If he were returned he could almost draw a line between those who would vote for him and those who would vote against him, and why was that 1— because ihey did not meet together as men to establish a common wealth. (Applause.) It was necessary to have liberal land laws. The present Government had established a system of selling land on deferred payments, but it was not favorable to special settlement, and the Master ton association had not been treated kindly when they endeavored some years ago to settle a block in the neighborhood nf Eketahunn. He claimed that the Fencing Bill of the Provincial Government was a fairer one than that which had been passed by the House. last session. He denounced compulsory measures like the Rabbit Act. It was repugnant to the feelings of an Englishman to say you shall do this whether you like it or no ! (Applause.) Taxation was a , very large question, but if the country was liberally governed extra taxes would soon disappear, If the productiveness of New Zealand was not crippled by bad legislation it would be impossible to keep the country down. In the old times, when the llitnutaka was a barrier between the Wairarapa and Wellington every settler who was amongst them who was at all diligent had prospered. It did not matter whether thoy paid Property Tax or any other direct lax. It meant drawing money out of circulation, and few of them had much to circulate, and when the money w,is withdrawn wages fell, and the working men sulfered. Could not the working men sea for themselves the differ--1 ence in wages before and after the Property Tax I He was willing himself to pay any ftir tax, but not to find money for large pensions. When he was • in the Legislature'he kept a watchful eye on finance. Mr Carter and himself were the only two members in a House of sixty who opposed voting £'3so for the Knighthood fees of Sir Charles Clifford. He had been disgusted lately to see his old friend Sir William Fitzherbert with a star 1 dangling on his breast, He did not care - even for thp title of Esquire,' and had never refused to shake hands with anybody. He did imt believe in titles. (A voice : They are all rot.) Yes ! they were all rot, there should bo no distinction between man and man. They used in early days to meet together to discuss any question, and there were no particular interests to be studied ; but influences and , interests had gradually grown up, and a man must now take one side or the other. ■ For himself he should always take that side which best served the public uood, and which was for the happiness of the greatest number. If the House was to go ' on as it was, and the Legislature still • proved so costly, ho could not see how they were to get out of the taxation which was crippling the industries of the county. If ho had power and influence ho would : endeavor to regulate the cost of Government so that the necessity for the burden- ■ some taxes they now endured would not exist, They certainly were a most heavily taxed , people. It could not be noticed while borrowed money was being expeni ded, because it was so hard to make people believe that thoy would have to pay i it back, but they had now discovered • their error, A great deal «f odium had been heaped upon Sir Julius Vogol, but whatever might have been the faults of his policy it had given the colony a great lift. (Hear! hear 1) When ho came up to Masterton in 18G0 it looked a very dreary place, and he never dreamed nf it becoming as prosperous a it did under Sir Julitra Voxel's scheme, and he (the speaker) was not ungrateful to anyone who had done a gicat public good, (hear! hear!), and lie felt sure that if Sir Julius Yogel camo back to-morrow no man would he so warmly welcomed as be, (Loud applause) Previous to the Public Wmks scheme land was not worth (for letting) a ponny an aero m Masterton, and if you asked almost any lad where lie ran his horse lie would have told you in " Eeuall's long paddock." (Laughter.) A great ilill'eenco had been seen since then, and although the prosperity did not continue in full force, ho still thought that under pood government would again be as ereat as bef- re. Nothing crippled the colony more than the expenses of the Government, (Loud applause.) When they considered that the number of members had been increased, and that each received 1200 honorarium, they could judge how their interests were being studied. When ho was in tho General Assembly he had to go Auckland, and caire back considerably out of pocket, If he were returned to the House again he would oppose tho £2OO honorarium, as members should only receive their bona fide expenses. He thought members of the Legislative Council who were all gentlemen of means should be ashamed to touch a single sixpence of public money. They should be above it. (Loud applause.) He was aware that this was a popular subject, and might be considered to be used to gain approbation and support, and not from conviction, but he had never flinched in the Legislature from carrying out anything he had promised, and if returned ngiin he would act up to every word he had spoken that night. (Loud applause). When lie was in the Provincial Council he had never soiled his hands with public money. After paying his bare expenses he had given the balanco of his honorarium to the Mechanics' Institute. Ho thought hut little of those gentlemen who had two sessions ago, in such a bare faced manner, voted themselves a double honorarium, as they could not have thought they had honestly earned it. (Applause). He would refer to one subject of recent Legislation which greatly concerned all of them. In 1874 he attended a public meeting called by Mrßeetham to consider the Rabhit Act, Mr Beetham, as Chairman, met with a point blank refusal to adopt it, (it being then permissive). But the permissive clauses were afterwards destroyed, and the Act forced upon the people. From step to step the Act had been made more coercive, and now the Local Committees wero abolished, £IO,OOO were voted out of the consolidated revenue for working the Act, and the investigator of sheep turned into a rabhit Inspector as well. Legislation on this subject was going in a wrong direction. Had he been a member of the House he would have called his constituents together and have endeavored to draft a practical scheme for the extermination of the rabbits before adopting a coercive measure. As an Englishman he loved liberty, and the right to keep his home and his land free from intruders, and if he saw a man crawling about his ground for the purpose of seeing whether a fine could not be inflicted upon him, he would feel inclined to make him i acquainted with the toe of his boot. (Loud i applause). He spoke with some feeling on i the matter as his soils had been almost i ruined, rabbits, Why did not 1

coercive measure as the present Babbit Bill 1 Mr Sutton the Inspector of sbeep was no doubt a good officer, but he (Mr Benall) objected to any man having the power to bring up a farmer before the " beak" and have such heavy fines inflicted when there was no effectual way known of coping with the pest. He never thought to see such a measure adopted in NewV Zealand, No matter what a farmer was \ doing if served with notice he must cease < harvesting or shearing and go killing rabbits, or employ some man, whir perhaps, turned out to be as bad as the vermin. He related how his son Roger had experimented upon the rabbits, by attach-

ing, at first, gunpowder, and latterly dynamite, to the necks of live rabbits hfrJ had captured for the purpose, igniting al fuse and sending them into the burrows —with most astonishing results to the rabbits. (Loud laughter). No effectual plan, however, had yet been laid down for their extermination. Mr Beetham might 'have introduced « bill to levy a sufficient tax, divided the country into rabbit districts, the Government to employ competent rabbiters in each district, and thus have the pest systematically exterminated. Any measure for the purpose could only be carried out by the people co-operat-

ing to do so, and he would never have been a party to bucli a coercive Act as the present one. (Loud applause). In conclusion he would just ask them to think over what he had sketched out that even-

ing. The Premier had been reported to have said the men of New Zealand were to be governed, not to govern, but he (Mr Benall) held that the people of New Zealand were quite capable of governing themselves. (Applause). He waß sorry Mr Beitham was not present to hear what he said about him. It- might be thought he had a wish to injure him in the estimation of his friends but this was not so, Personally, he (Mr Renall) was indifferent whether he was returned to the House or not, He had promised to attend a puhlic meeting if asked to do so, and also, if requested to give his services in tho House, would willingly offer them. He would never be a party to any class legislation, but would always protect the interests of all classes of the community. (Applause.) He did not believe m people owning large tracts of land. His property in Masterton had become very valuable, but it had been the people who had made it so. (Applause.) When he brought the machinery over the hill for the mill, he expected to earn a crust among his fellow-men, but he never expected to have it buttered on both sides. (Applause,) He hoped similar good fortune would attend the efforts of every industrious man. He did not think the present system of 1-ndlordism would exist much longer. The laws adopted for Ireland would gradually spread. He thought it most unjust that a landlord might say to his tenant when his lease expired, " All these improveraents_ are mine." A fair value should he paid to the tenant for the improvements ho had made. It was a relic of barbarous times, and they had another in (he shape of their nominated upper chamber, which they never would have had did they not receive the Constitution from England. He alluded to the bills \ thrown out. by this chamber, and supposed it only passed the Deceased Wife's Sisters Bill because they found the Prince of Wales and Duke of Edinburgh werejft., favor of it. The people should organic which would give them extra powe*) - enable them to control the Legislature, and by reducing taxation and increasing industries enable every man who was honest and industrious to gain a competence for his old age. (Loud applause,) He thanked them for asking him to meet them and for the attention with which they had listened to him, and statod that if lie were chosen to represent them he would have nothing to do with class legislation, If a man rose to wealth honestly he saw no reason to complain, and there was room for all in this colony, under good government, to secure by industry a home for their families anil provision for their declining years. (Loud applause.) Mr Benall having expressed his willingness to answer any questions, in response to a voice, " What about the Chinamen ?" said he had let 7| acres of his land to Chinamen at the same rate which he would let it to an Englishman. In many respects Chinamen set a worthy example, beginning their work at 7 a.m. and continuing it till sundown. Of course, if Chinamen ever encroached on . the English population, lie would support measures for the protection of the latter. On the Native question, he would not run nway from Te Whiti, but he would leave fighting to those who understood it. He snoke highly of Mr Bryco as Minister. If possible, he advocated tiding over the Native difficulty; if not, ho would not cripple the hands of any Govommentin dealing with such a soriou question. Mr Skipper congratulated the meeting on the interesting address which it had received, Mr Eenall's sentiments were those of an intellectual man who knew the interests of the district, and would make as much out of it as possible for the people, not for himself. (A laugh) Mr Renall had not como forward of his own accord, He had been dragged forward; nobody had asked him. (Roars of laughter, the speaker explaining that he had made a bull.) He moved, •' That in the oninion of this meeting, Mr A. W. Renall is a fit and proper person to represent the North Wairarapa in the House of Representatives." (Cheers.) Mr Woodroofe seconded the resolution, speaking against the Sheep Act, the Babbit Act, and lawyers.

Mr James Russell expressed his concurrence with the resolution. Mr E. Jones askod where Masterton would have been if there bad been one or two more men like Renall in it who would have kept the land for themselves - *■ so that no one could have got a half quarter acre? (Cheers and hisses.) ~ Mr D. McGregor, who was/eMved. with applause, rose to propose. ftrfaiSte*ment. He regretted Mr Beetham was not present, but he would be there in a few days, when thoy would have an opportunity of hearing his views. Mr Renall himself had always expressed his disapproval of voters pledging support as inconsistent with the ballot, and the speaker thought that a vote of thanks would be the proper resolution to pass, leaving tho ballot-box to declare whether Mr Renall was a proper person to represent them. He complimented Mr Renall on his address, and referred briefly to thA rabbit question, showing that Mr Be.j" tham had, as far as lay in his powerj consulted the views of his constituents. Mr Hawkins who was well received said that if there were one person who was looked down upon in a town audience

itwas a squatter, and he supposed he might be considered one. He was, however, glad to have seen Mr Renall taking the course he had, as there could not be too many oppartunities afforded for discussing any public questions. He felt_, that in this country public life and publio ' opinion waa too inert, and too little influence was brought tn hear on its representatives. (Applause.) He suggested, however, that if Mr Renall had called the present meeting together when measures to which he objected wtre in in progress (Mr Skipper interrupted the speaker here to call lnm to order hut was suppressed by the Chairman, who checked as far as possible the irregular and lar interruptions from this quarter). If ■Mr Ranair had',,done this ha., might.;,

admitted that his son wpb beaten by the rabbits. The natural deduction from this was to compel people siitaido to destroy the pest which was flooding his land. Mr Eenall's son ought not to be compelled to waste his capital on rabbit-proof fencing. He had a right to demand protection from his neighbors. On all sides the Government had been /appealed to for assistance. He had yet to learn that a communtiy was nut affected when a large number of individuals suffered;- The question of the squatter waß the question of New Zealand. (No, no !) Babbits stopped £500,000 in money from coming into New Zealand every year, and . this money would but for them go into N the pockets of the working men, as natu\jjjfhlly as rivers ran into the sea. He did know whether Mr Eenall's county seheme was Grey's blank bill. He ridiculed the idea of the members ot a House ekcted every three years not representing the wishes of the people. If laws were passed which the mass of the people did not concur in, it was the fault of the people, not of their representatives, It wns an act of cowardice to be silent while the laws were passed, and afterwards, when it was too late, abuse their representatives. What had the Provincial Councils done for them 1 Why, taken their land fund and spent it on the West Coast and in Wellington. When tho Government last session attempted to carry a local selfgovernment mensure, no attempt to help it Was made. If the Wairarapu was net as prosperous as it ought to be it was because it had no roads in many parts of it. That was the secret of any depression i in both Maslerton and in the country dis- "* tricts, He urged them to discard class prejudices. If men of one class tried to cut the throats of men of another class it was time that men gave way and women with hearts took their places. (Applause.) He asked them not load hastily, but to accept the amendment which he seconded, so that all might part in good humor. Mr Eenall explained that he was not prepared to put up with a vote of thanks. He was not a candidate yet, and if only a vote of thanks were given to him he never would be one. In his address he had touched upon Mr Bcetham as lightly as possible, but should have been justified in taking oft his political shirt and sending him out of the door with a wet blanket on him. (Hisses.) He replied to some of the remarks that had been made, stating that Mr J.ines had onco owned 3 or 4 town acres through his (the speakers) exertions in the Small Farm movement, but had not had (he wit to keep them, Mr Woodroofe again rose, but was

declared out of order by the Chairman. The Chairman then took a show of hands, when the amendment was lost, and the resolution carried by a large majority. A number of those present refrained from voting, but of those who held up their hands about 90 supported the resolution, and about 25 opposed it. The result of the vote was received with loud applause, and was briefly acknowledged by Mr Renal!, who proposed a vote of thanks to the Chairman. The meeting was orderly throughout, the Chairman conducting it very carefully and judiciously.

President Garfield's soi, Irwin, a lad of

11, pulls his teeth out with a button hook

twists his anclo walkinst on iron fences, his bicycle in 'he East Hoom to the of pedestrians, and underhking to ride down a flight of steps, may be seen at present on the machine, with some spokes absent in the wheel, and minus a handle,

Mr Ayrton, formerly Commissioner of Works in London, having had a dispute at one time with the sculptor of the Wellington monument in St Paul's, the late Alfred Stevens, the artist made the face of " Falsehood" on that monument represents Mr Ayrton's f:\ce, who thus has the honor of having his effigy in St. Paul's Cathedral during his lifetime.

It is n fact that Messrs Gardener and Sou sold last season more sheep shears than the whole of tho Wairarapa storekeepers combined, and this season it is their inteution to offer the 100 dozen pairs which they have imported at less than Wellington wholesale prices, We cannot understand how this well-known firm Bell all their goods so wonderfully cheap Their stock is splendidly assorted, and we would call special attention to their magnificent stock of drapery, which surpasses any we have yet seen in the Wairarapa. —[Advt,| It is now an acknowledged fact that till Kaiapoi Tweeds are not to be beaten citheil in or out of the colony. I have them made] up to my own measurements it the mill, „nd can sell them at 555, (iiis, and 7ns the suit, iv I have always a superior class of shirts,] * hosiery, hats, scarfs, collars, etc., every! make and size. Any orders for the above goods entrusted to me will receive my careful consideration, Alex. Sample, Willisstreet, Wellington.

The Spring Fashions tins season are exceedingly pretty, varied, and chaste. In Ladies' Dm materials, Millinenj, Mantles, Luee<, Ribbons, and Scurf* the choice is unusually large and elegant, Visitors to Welliugton would do well to pay an early visit to Jams Smith's Te. Aro House, A trip to the Empire City may not only he made pleasurable but profitable, '''o those who can combine business with pleasure, it must be gratifying to inspect tbo large stocks of seasonable Dnqiwj and Clothing, such as can he seen only in a vast centre of population like the City of Wellington Visitovß from the Wairarapa will find one of the largest and best selected at,/«i)ies Smith's TeAro Home.

The stock of Clolliimj for Men'", Youths', and Hoys' wear lias been made to special order for Te Aro Horn. All materials have

. been carefully selected and all styles judiciously chosen. Better mine it ts imjiombk i a to obtain. One great speciality of Te Aro House is the immense variety of Boys' and HIl Ymilhs' Clothing. Parents and Guitdians HHkdjXjuhl keej this fact in mind when they HjHpVtown, and wend their way to James HHHnnV/i's Te. Aro Home. k -ROOMED Dwelling House and 8 acrfs 4t ot land at Makora, 13s per week, Apply to 904 R. BROWN & CO.