THE GENERAL ELECTION.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 3, Issue 927, 17 November 1881, Page 2

THE GENERAL ELECTION.

MR BUCHANAN AT CARTERTON. •About' 200 electors responded to Mr. Buchanan's invitation to meet him at the Public Hall,-.Carterton, last evening, in hear his political views. Fairbrothor was voted to tho chair, ami nfter describing the reason why the meeting' waa called, introduced Mr Buchanan, Mr Buchanan said that upon the last oocnaion oil which lie had been present at a public meeting in tlmt Hall, the late members were addressing their constituents, and Mr Bunny had told them that the district had been dividod, Mr Beethftm would represent tho upper portion of it, and lie Bunny) as a matter of course would be the member for the lower district Tho speaker thought, however, Mr Bunny should have waited till he saw whether other candidates intended to come forward, and till lie ascertained tho views of the electors on the matter, who only had the power to decide wlietlior Mr Biuniy or any other candidate should represent thorn for tho futuro. (Hear I Bear!.!) Mr Buuny bad been a member for many years, but be (Mr Buchanan) bad yet to learn that that gavo Mr Bunny a perscriptive right to the Mat, (Hear 1 Hoav!!) It had been said by Mr Boys that as lie (Mr Buchanan) was a resident in tho northern portion of the district it was not fair to stand for the south. But Mr Boys bad claimed that ho stood as a Wairarapa man, and ho (Mr Buchanan) oortainly stood on tho same ground, as lie claimed the right also to lie a plain Wairarapa man, (Hear), and also a New Zealand man, (Hear), and an elector in any portion of Now Zealand eould stand for a soat in its Parliamout. He was as anxious for the welfare of the whole district as anyone could he.. To commence his address lie would say a few words with regard to tbe «UPIiP,SENTATION Bill,,

With some features of this measure lie agreed. He thought the population basis a fair one, and that the towns had acted liberally with the country districts'in allowing them 25 per cent to balance the difference in the oircumstancos of each. The Bill had passed the House by a majority of 24. He did not agree with the stonewalling action in this Bill, as in tinning up the electoral roll for Nelson suburbs, lie found 804 inhabitants returning one member, while 1728 in Christchiirch *rmly ratiirnod the same, Ho felt sure that though there might bo a difference of opinion in matters of detail, yet all would agree that the system of Representation was now in a niuoh bettor state than before the present measure was passed. Hp rogardod the LOCAL GOVERNMENT question as the question of questions for the whole of Now Zealand. Most of them had loft the old country and had come out thoro to find homes under a better state <)f things, but if they neglected the question of local self-government their interests would suffer, and progress bo impossible, in towns with some it might bo said that it was purely a country matter, but he held that whatever aflected the country also influenced the prosperity of tho town. ■ Tho question of local government had been beiore Parliament for the past two sessions, but party politics l)ad prevented anything coming of it, Mr Ormond mado it the basis of a noconfidonce motion against the Hall Ministry, and a Bill they had brought in was shelved for tho session. The new Parliament, however, must face the question amongst the first measures brought before it, and if thepcoplo did not desire to see their,solves pgleoted j n this matter they should be careful nnd return to the House men who wore acquainted with the requirements of their districts, and practically acquainted with tho settlement of land, There was evidence all over New Zealand of the neglect of local government, and places in this district settled on for the past 20 years are in almost the same state now as they were when first settled upon, He alluded to Alfredton for instance, and also Eagitumau as showing that the Provincial Government sold land without the least regard to opening it up by means of roads. Tie had become aware of many instances of this character from his position on the Highway "Board, and pointed out the difficulty of malting roads to back country when no provision had been made for them. Ho alluded briefly to tho Roads Construction, Crown and Native Lands, Rating, and Local Public Works Bills, brought forward by the Hall Government. The latter provided a very effective and simplo plan for Counties and Road Boards to raise money for local public works. Had tho fund proposed by this measure been provided it would' have been a permanent one, and of very great use to the country districts of New Zealand.' The rating of Crown and Native lands would also have lessened the burden of taxation, and settlers who had heen 20 years without roads would have boon enabled to obtain thorn. (Applause) Ho would add wliilo on this subject that last year's land rovenue amounted to £299,000, but tho estimate for tho coming year was £333,000, and the cost of survey Ac., £183,000, this would leave about the amaunt required from land under the Local Public Works Rill. Sir George Grey and Mr Ormond had each schemes of their own for local self-government, but neither of them had ever faced tho question as fauly as the Hall Government had done. Grey bud introduced his famous "Blank Bill," Ormond had touched upon thp matter, and Macandrew had his scheme for dividing the colony. With regard to the 'latter be thought ovory elector would thoroughly disagree, as lie had, with such a scheme. Instead of creating fresh centres, decentralisation and local self-Government should bo carried out to the greatest possible extent. The feature that would commend the Local Self-Government Bill to all was that which gave local bodies power to obtain money easily and cheaply for any necessary public work, with amplo time to repay. Had Connty East been enabled to fake advantage of a measuro of this kind there would hayo been no need for debentures, and the monoy cmjld have been had 2 per cent cheaper, Tho MNP QUESTION followed Local Solf-Government naturally. An attempt had been made last Ression to abolish the law of entail, and the same question had bean agitating people in England, for to this law was to be attributed much of the trouble arising out of land, nnd it was said that the'troubles in, Ireland were in many instances' the result of this law. Even in New Zealand, at Canterbury, there was one vory large property so tied that nothing could be .done with it. The Hall Government deserved thanks for introducing, this matter, and he thought they all agreed with him that tho system of entail should be abolished. —(Hear I hear I) ' PIBTRESB FOR'RENT,' ' There was a wide difference of opinion on this matter, but ho failed to see why a landlord should have a greater privilege than any other person jn the matter of debt, nor why he should not go through tho same form for recovering amounts due to him as any other'creditor. -In some cases great hardship bad been iiiilic't~ed .by this power of distress. He would point oat that both this and the preceding JBill

tiud heeii introduced by the Legislative Council( and this should bo borne in mind when considering whether the Upper House, should be abolished or altered in its constitution,

NATIVE: LANDS. They had no doubt seen reports at various times of the purchase of Native land by the Grey Government, who had bought utterly worthless land and wasted, it was said, thousands in bribery and corruption. The Hall Government had put a stop to this, but it was thought that if the Government went out of the market speculators would become the purchasers. Ho did not see why the Government should not purchase lands and then cut them up and dispose of them in suitable blocks for settlement. Some Nativos ■night decljuo to sell to Government, and in that case if private persons could obtain it, it would become subject to taxation, and so help to bear the burden all had to carry. Government sold land for settlement Inst year to the amount of £299.000, and this fact was a good answer to those who-stated the Government did not desire to settle the pooplo on the land. Great complaints, however had been made as to the high upset price of the land, some of it in the Forty-Mile Bush being per acre. The Government wore not so much to blame as 'the"Waste Lands Boards, which were instructed to place the lands in tho market at the lowest cost, He did not think they carried out their duties as they should, and it was lime these Boards wore seen to, No more should bo charged for land than would be suflioient to make it fit for settlement, and tho terms should be of a very easy nature. Roads should always precede or accompany settlomont, as it was impossible for settlers to prosper without means of access to their markets. Looking back at past administrations, however, no Government could be found who had evinced such a sincere deairo to settle people on tho land as the present one, and thanks were duo to the Hon Mr Rolleston for the part he had taken in the work. He alluded favorably to the Crown Lands guide issued from that gontleman's department. He thought the new Parliamoni should appoint a

MINISTER, OF AGRICULTURE. Most countries would not consider a Ministry complete without a Minister for this branch, and he would be In favor of suoh an appointment. He would now allude to tlio BABBITS. (Loud Applause.) As far as he was concerned, he had been able to keep the pest down, and it was casting him very little, He had only taljon up the matter on public grounds, as numbers were suflering from it, and some very severely. He described the working of the first Rabbit Act, and stated tho reason the present ono, giving tho Government power to deal with the question, l|ad been passed wfl,s because of the great objection and reluctance of trustees to initiate proceedings against their neighbours under ir, The Government had been very reluctant to take it over, but the evil had to be dealt with. It had boen stated the Inspectors hod all kinds of arbitrary powers, but this was not correct. i\s tho Inspector only had power to enter upon land, and, if ho saw that steps were not being taken to prevent injury being done to neighbouring lipids through tljo spread of the pest, he laid an information and the matter was tried upon its merits. If the Inspector infrieged tho Act, or behaved arbitrarily, he would be removed. Ono strong reason for I lie Government taking over the Act was tho ditlicully of dealing othorwfso wifli fyitiyo ni|d Crown lands. He quite agreed with tho Government's notion in tho matter. He thought tlio Rabbit Act vas one exception that should be made in any suheino of local self-go-vernment. He would next alludo to I ho

I'ENCINQ AO'l 1 , Mr Hoys, at Groytown, hud alluded to the Fencing and Rubliit Acts as likely to ruin the colony, He (Mr Buchanan) failed to see it. The Counties had power to refuse to bring the Fencing Act into operation. Under the old Act, if n river half a phiiin \yitlp were between properties it was rpgardpd as i| legal fence, and, though only two inches of wore in it, they could not compel their neighbour to fonco. Tlio iie-.v Act remedied that. In thu new Act, if a road were tho boundary the opposite neighbour was bound to bear his proportion of the cost, of fencing, He eonsidored the new Act a decided improvement on the old, With regard to tho

RAILWAY, lie had seon that a lot of discussion had taken plaoe at Masterton recently on this subject, but the lessj they said about the cost of freight, &q., at present the hotter, as oven now the line only pa ; d lGs, per cent, wliilo in Canterbury tboy yielded 3 per cent. Tho difference could bo made up by taxation under the law. They had 800 miles opened in the South and about 400 in the North Island. Tho north had had i' 79,000 moro than its sharo on a revenue basis, and tho south H millions loss than its duo, so that wo could not, oomplaii]. (ilpplauso.) Will) rppd to

lIOHIWWINCt FOR HAILWATS ho would only be in favour of It to a oertain extent and thou not before a sehedulo of proposed works had been laid before the House and agreed to. IMMIGRATION. It had been said the Colony was losing its population, lmt wo had actually gained 7,000 since 18S0, and of those 4,1500 had arrived voluntarily during tho past year. This when it was eonsidored that nearly all the great public expenditure of the Government bad ceased was very satisfactory. He would speak of taxation. In 1870 they were taxed £3 4s fid per lioiul, ill 1880 i! 3 9s 10d, but in tho last was tho education vote, whioh did not exist in 1870, Deduct this and it would bo found that we weio actually paying 2s fid per head less now than in iB7O. So that after all tho had limes and tlio fact that the public debt was now nearly 30,000,000. The comparison was a satisfactory one. Ho made a comparison of the gain of wealth of each man m different countries. In Franco tho proportion was £lO Bs,, in England £l4, and in New Zealand £2O. 'these figures should give them fresh spirit and fresh faith in the resources of the country. He also showed that New Zealand'bad gained more in population than any other Australasian colony sinco 1870, which altogether plainly proved tliey were not going back, Various opinions were expressed with regard to tho TIIOPEItTY TAX but lie claimed that under it, only those who had tho means were made to pay, as all below wore exempt. An alteration had been made in tlio Act, so that all absentees' were caught by it, Ho had no wish to bar foreign capital from coming in, as it was really money that made the mare to go, and foroign capital shoult] ho invited by all means, but lie fully recognised that capital should pay general as well as local taxes. (Applause). The whole cost of collecting the property-tax was 6 per cent, - The incomo-tax would cost inucli more and be very troublesome and linquestionable one. : ; FINANCE, It wrs, satisfactory' to note that that last qarter's revenuo showed .a large increase, and if it continued through the

year there Wnuld bo an excess over 6ati» mated revenue of A' 300,000, RETRENCHMENT, He had condemned the 10 per centr reduction in toto. Salaries of £I,OOO could hare, borne it, but those under 1200 could not. Thelo per ceut. had been restored but it was satisfactory, to find that 30 per cent, more work was 1 done now than when it. taken, 0ff.,.,, considered the; Government's attempt at PROTECTION

as being a very petty one in imposing a duty on .jams, bacons, and hams. of this sort fell upon the' many to the benefit of but few. He was in favor of the bonus system to encourage .-'peal tndustries. The cost of the LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL had been stated to be 80,000, but iHm very much less than that. The Council in the late session had been a great benefit to tlie country, It had been repronchod for returning the Pension Bill, to the House, but its reason for doing that was that it contained a retrospective clause, which would compel many who had received pensions in the past to refund tliera. He thought they would agree with him when lie said ho considered they acted quite justly,. (Applause.) He considered the Councils might bo made partially elective, but not wholly so, as by the Miliistry having power to appoint new members, they could prevent an unfortunate deadlock as occurred in Victoaia 4 few years ago. The Councillors ought to do without their honorarium, but that might prevent a very eligible man Irom being appointed through being poor. Reform in tho Upper House was very difficult, but he would be prepated to face the question and givo his earnest attention to it, He thou dealt with the

NATO QUESTION) and having spoken in flattering terms-of tlio volunteers who recently so promptly responded to the call to arms, and expressed the opinion that the Hall Governmerit had poetically settled the native diffivulty (loud applause). Just complaint had been made about the niggardiness uf the Government towards the volunteers, and he thought the Government oould not expend money inoro wisely tip in train, •ing an efficient force of men ready at the call of duty (applause). He thought

TUB EDUCATION ACT as it now stood should ba carefully preserved Although complaints had been made as to the large sum voted for the purpose, he thought it was thoroughly well spent. Ha was not in favor of the endowment system for higher education, as parents could and would pay for this. He intended emphatically to support the

HALL qOYERNMBNi; while it continued earnestly working for the Rood of the country as in the past. It had resoued the ■ country from the muddle into which Grey and Macandrew had plunged it, and it deserved the thanks of New Zealand for that. Of course it faults, and tho Gaming and Lotteries Bill was certainly an abortion, as were also other measures. Still, as a whole, the Government had done good work, aud he would support it Ho might say a little, from a

I'KIjHONAI/, point. He was comparatively a stranger amongst thein, biit had always received hearty acknowledgement and kind encouragement for any effort he had made for the welfare of the district, and this had emboldened him to come forward now. Whether returned or not he wctald still goon as he had in the past, no opportunity slip of advancing the/balT' interests of the district (Applause). If returned, he would pledge himself to vote for no class interests, but for the whole district, He thanked them for the kind hearing they had: given him, and sat down amidst considerable applause. Mr Armond Bennett endeavoured to ask a question, but could not niake himself understood, and was laughed down. In reply to Mr Parker, Mr. Buchanan said he was strongly against granting fresh pensions, except in eases, where they could be legally claimed, Mr Callister asked his opinion re pro? topiion, and Mr B.uchanan replied as he had spoken in his address.

To Mr Harrison: Was not in favour of prison labour competing with free labour, but thought it wub an an advantage for a pruonpr to be taught a trade, and thus given a chance to earn an honest living. To Mr Cohen: The Government intended to cut up for settlement the Crown lands in tho South Island, whose leases would shortly fall-in.., ■

To Mr Vile; Had come (o tyo conclusion after careful thought and porsoual iuyesiigation, that it was iulvjsablp tfi Intioduco the natural pnpinies cif rabbits cm to rough ooiuitry, which could, not bo effectually in any other way. To Mr Tolley; My action lately with regard to the Carterton Fire Brigade is a test of how I regard these useful institutions, and 1 seall always be found giving them every encouragement. (Applause). Mr Booth moved a cordial vote of thanks to Mr Buchanan. Ho wished to set hiir)so]f right wjtli regard to {i letto published by Mr Cohen re wl|at l{r Ba'pth lrntl stated at Air Boys' meeting, Thp slatomont was not oorreot and it also oinittod to state that he (Mr Booth)had' said he was ,m opponent of Mr Boys. Mr Booth spoke in very complimentary terms oi the candidate before them, and said ho was the best mail in the district they could get, One who would "go alone" and work without being watohed, Mr Bunny was very affable all that. bi)t did not trouble Innisplf wjiep he waß not being hnntod up, Mr Bpdth made a capital speech (which wo regret we have iwt room for) and was greatly applauded. The vote of thanks was carried with acc amation, and a vote of thanks to. tho chair concluded a very well conducted meeting.