MR. W.C. BUCHANAN'S SPEECH AT CARTERTON

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 3, Issue 935, 26 November 1881, Page 2 (Supplement)

MR. W.C. BUCHANAN'S SPEECH AT CARTERTON

A rout 200 electors responded to iM Buchanan's invitation to meet him i the Public Hall, Carterton, last evei ing, in order to hear his political viewi ?dr Fairbrothcr was voted to th chair, and, after describing the reaso the meeting was called, introduce Mr Buchanan, Mr Buchanan said that upon th last occasion on which he had bee present at a public meeting in tho Hall, the late members were address ing their constituents, and Mr Bunn; had told them that the district hai been divided, that Mr Boetham wouh represent the upper portion of it, am he (Mr Bunny), as a matter of course would be the member for the lowe district. The speaker thought, however Mr Bunny should have waited till In saw whether other candidates intendei to come forward, and till ho ascer taiiied the views of the electors on th matter, who only had the power to de cido whether Mr Bunny or any othe candidate should represent them fo the future. (Hearl Hear!) Mrßunni had been a member for many years but he (Mr Buchanan) had yet to lean that that gave Mr Bu'nny a prescrip Ix 1 Hear 1 ys that, ai lent in th< ict, it wai the south l, and he )d on th« the righl •apa man ; . colonist vj portior for a seal had ofter as a rate' ct that he e a memicil, and >cal repre--1 be cleat Eiinst him ist fall to nswerable ng placed an artificial boundary between his residence and the place which was the natural outlet from his homo. He was as anxious for the welfare of the whole district as anyone could be. To commence his address he would say a few words with regard to the REPRESENTATION BILL. With most features of this measure he agreed. Ho thought the population basis a fair one, and that the towns had acted liberally with the country districts in allowing them twenty-five per cent to balance the difference in the circumstances of each. The measure might have some objectionable features, but it had become an accomplished fact and had passed the House by a majority of twenty-four. He did not agree with the stonewalling action on t'iis Bill, as in turning up the electoral roll for Nelson suburbs he found 364 inhabitants returning one member, while 1728 in Christchurch only returned the same, and there had existed similar inequalities in other parts of the colony. He felt sure that, though there might be a difference of opinion in matters of detail, yet all would agreo that the system of representation was now in a much better state than before the present measure was passed. He regarded the LOCAL GOVERNMENT question as the question of questions for tho whole of New Zealand. Most of them had left the old country and had come out there to found homes under a better state of things, but if they neglected the of local self government their interests would suffer and progress be impossible. In towns with some it might be said that it was purely a country matter, but he held that whatever affected the country also influenced the prosperity of the towns. The question of local government had been before Parliament for the past two sessions, but party politics had prevented anything coming of it. Mr Ormosid made it the basis of a nocoirfuhnec motion against the Hall Mini.s'iy, and a Bill they had brought in was shelved for the session, Tlie new Parliament, however, must face the question amongst the first measures brought before it, and if the people did not desire to see themselves neglected in this matter they should be careful and return to tho House men who were acquainted with the requirements of thoir districts and practically

' acquainted with tho settlement ol land, [there was evidence all ovei New Zealand of the neglect of local government, and places in this district settled upon for the past 20 years were in almost the same state now as tliej were when first occupied, He alluded to Alfredton for instance, and alsc Rangitumau as showing that the Provincial Government sold land without the least regard to opening it up by means of roads. He had become aware of many instances of this character from his position on the Highway Board, (is almost every meeting petitions came up to have roads laid ofli and he pointed out the difficulty ol making roads to back country when nc provision had been made for them, He alluded briefly to the Roads Construction, Crown and Native Lands, Eating, and Local PiiUlic Works Bills, brought forward by the, Hall Government. The latter provided a very effective and simple plan for Counties and Road Boards to raise money foi local public works, Had the fund proposed by this measure been provided it would have been a permanent one, and of very great use to tk country districts of New Zealand. It proposed to establish a board consisting of the Minister for Public Works and three members to be appointed by Parliament. This board was to receive a grant of £150,000 out of loan and £150,000 out of the land fund, wlncli was to be applied to assisting country residents in constructing roads, bridges and other public works. The board was also to receive a free grant oi £IOO,OOO and a similar amount at five per cent, from the trust funds making £200,000, the money thus raised to be lent to road boards for special works on their undertaking to strike a special rate that would produce nine per cent, on the money borrowed. This nine per cent, would be applied for interest and sinking fund, so that the amount borrowed would be liquidated in thirteen and a-half years. The rating of Crown and Native lands would also have lessened the burden of taxation, and settlers who had been 20 years without roads would have been enabled to obtain them. (Applause.) He would add, while on this subject, that last year's land revenue amounted to £299,000, but the estimate for the coming year was £333,000, and the cost of survey, &c,, £188,000; this would leave about the amount required from land under tho Local Public Works Bill. Sir George Grey and Mr Ormond had each schemes of their own for local self-government, but neither of them had ever faced the question as fairly as the Hall Government had done. Grey had introduced his famous "Blank Bill," Ormond had touched upon the matter at his speech at Waipawa the other day, and Macandrew had his scheme for dividing the colony, With regard to the latter lie thought every elector would thoroughly disagree, as he had, with such a scheme. Instead of creating fresh centres, de«entralisation and local self-govern-ment should be carried out to the greatest possible extent. The feature that would commend the Local SelfGovernment Bill to all was that which gave local bodies power to obtain money cheaply and easily for any necessary public work, with ample time to repay. Had County East been enabled to take advantage of a measure of this kind there would have been no need for debentures, and tho money could have been had two per cent, cheaper. The LAND QUESTION followed local self-government naturally. An attempt had been made last session to abolish the law of entail, and the same question had been agitating people in England, for to this law was to be attributed much of the trouble arising out of land, and it was said the troubles in Ireland were in nany instances the result of this 'law, Even in New Zealand, at Canterbury, ;here was one very large property so ;ied up that nothing could be done pith it The Hall Government deierved thanks for introducing this natter, and endeavoring to nip such a lystem in the bud, as he thought they ill agreed with him that the system of sntail should bo abolished, (Hear, tear.) DISTRESS FOR RENT. Thero was a wide difference of opin [>n on thjs matter, but he failed to C 6 why A landlord should have a

greater privilege than any other person in the matter of debt, nor why he should not go through the same form for recovering the amounts due to him' as any other creditor. In some cases great hardship had been inflicted by this power of distress. He would point out that both this and the preceding Bill had been introduced in tli e Legislative Council, and this shoultl be 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. Tim Hall Government had put a stop to this, but it was thought that if the Government went out of the market speculators only would become the purchasers. He did not see, however, why the Government should not purchase lands and then cut them up and dispose of them in suitable blocks for settlement, Some Natives might decline to .sell to sell to Government, and, in that case, private persons should be allowed to obtain it, so that it would become subject to taxation, and help to bear the burden all had to cany, Government sold land last year for settlement to the amount of i>299,000, and this fact was a good answer to those who stated the Government did not desire to settle the people on the land. Great complaints, however, hud been made as to the high upset price of the land, some of it in the Forty-mile liusli being .£2 per acre. The Government were not so much to blame as the Waste Lands Boards, which were instructed to place the lands in the market at the lowest cost. He did not think tliey carried out their duties as they should, and it was time these Boards were re-or-ganised. No more should be charged 0 o for land than would be sufficient to make it fit for settlement, and the terms should be of a very easy nature. Roads should always precede or accompany settlement, as it was impossible for settlers to prosper without means of access to their markets. Looking back at past administrations, however 210 Government could be found who had evinced such a sincere desire to settle people on the land as the present one, and thanks were due 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 Minister's department as supplying much valuable information to intending settlers. He thought tie new Parliament 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 favour of such an appointment, which le thought would be found to be a very iseful and important one. Jle would low allude to the RABBITS. (Loud applause.) No question in ;his district had been discussed more ban this one. As far as he was conserned, he had been able to keep the lest down, and owing to keeping at the rork at all times it was costing him 'ery little. He had only taken up the natter on public grounds, as all were suffering from it, and some very severely. He described the working if the first Babbit Act, and stated the eason the present one, giving the rovernment power to deal with the uestion, had been passed was because f the great objection and reluctance of rustees to initiate proceedings against | iieir neighbours under it. The Goernment had lieen very reluctant to ike it over, but the evil had to be salt with. It had been stated that ie inspectors had all sorts of arbitrary )wers, but this was not correct, as i ie inspector only had power to enter jon land, and, if he saw that steps j ere not being taken to prevent injury ling done to neighboring lands through .e spread of the pest, he laid an inforation and the matter was tried upon 1 merits. If the inspector infringed e Act, or behaved arbitrarily, he raid be removed, One strong reason r the Government taking over the Act 5 ib the difficulty of dealing otherwise c ith Native and Crown lands. He si lite agreed with the Government's tion in the matter. He thought the I ibbit Act was one exception that q raid be made in any scheme of loca c

("WAIEAEAPA DAILY," NOYEMBBE 17th, 1881.)

self-government. He would next allude to the PENDING ACT. Mr Boys, at Greytown, alluded-to the Fencing and Rabbit 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 a river half a chain wide were between properties it was regarded as a legal fence, and, though only two inches of water were in it, they could net compel their neighbor to erect any other fence, The new Act remedied that. In the new Act if a road were the boundary, the opposite neighbor was bound to bear his proportion of the cost of fencing. He considered. the new Act a decided improvement on the old, and that it would be found to answer the requirements of all as much as any measure of the kind could do so. With regard to the RAILWAY. He had seen that a lot of discussion had taken place at Masterton recently on this subject, but the less they said about the cost of freight, <l r c, at present the better, as the line only paid 16s per cent, while in Canterbury they yielded 5 per cent. The loss incurred in working lines in the Noith could be made op by taxation under the law, which would not be desirable. They had 880 miles opened in the South and about 400 in the North Island, and it had been complained that the North had not obtained its fair share. He showed, however, that the North had had £70.000 more than its share on a revenue basis, and the south \\ millions less than its due, so that we could not complain in this matter. (Applause.) With regard to BORROWING FOR RAILWAYS he would only be in favor of it to a certain extent and then not before a schedule of proposed works bad been laid before the House and agreed to. IMMIGRATION. It had been said the Colony was. losing its population, but we had actually gained 7,000 during 1880. Of those 4,500 had arrived voluntarily, and we were still gaining, This, when it was considered that nearly all the great public expenditure of the Government had ceased was very satisfactory, STATISTICAL, They all grumbled at taxation and the largo increase of it, He pointed out that in 1870 they were taxed £3 4s 6d per head, in 1880 £3 9s lOd, but in the last was the education vote, which did not exist in 1870. Deduct this and it would be found that they were actually [laying 2s Gd per head less now than in 1870. So that after all the bad times and the fact that the public debt was now nearly 30,000,000 The comparison was a satisfactory one, He made a comparison of the gain of wealth of the population in different countries. In France the proportion was £lO Bs, in England £l4, New Zealand £2O per head. These figures should give them fresh spirit and fresh faith in the resources of the country. He also showed that New Zealand had increased in population in a greater degree than any other Australasian colony, as from 284,000 in 1870, it had advanced to 490,000 in 1881, or at the rate of 97 per cent, while Victoria had increased 10 per cent, and New South Wales 40 per cent; these facts taken together plainly proved that they were not going back* md were very encouraging. Various opinions were expressed with regard ;o the PROPERTY TAX, mt he claimed that under it only those vho had the means were made to pay, is all possessing property below £SOO vere exempt from the tax. An alteraion had been made in the Act, so that ; .11 absentees were caught by it, and 11 ] nillion pounds would be added to the ■ mount taxable under the Act. He ( ad no wish to bar foreign capital | Dining in, as it was really " money " bat made the mare go," and foreign ; ipital should be invited by all means, < ut he fully recognised that capital t lould pay general as well as local \ ixes. (Applause.) Tho whole cost t E collecting the Property Tax was only I per cent. The Income Tax would o >st much more, and be a very trouble- a >me and inquisitorial one, • g FINANCE, ' I i was satisfactory to note that last nailer's revenue showed a lstrge in- f •ease, and if it continued through the -8

j year there would be an: excess over estimated revenue of £300',000, RETRENCHMENT. i He had condemned the 10 per cent. i reduction in toto. Tht Civil Service I Commission had done- good work, but i he did not consider it one of their I duties to recommend such a sweeping 1 reduction as the 10 per cent, one, 1 Salaries of £IOOO might have borne it, ' tat those under £2OO could not. The 1 10 per cent, had been restored, but it 1 was satisfactory to find 30 per cent. more work was done now than when it • was taken off. He considered the 1 Government's attempt at PROTECTION ! as being a very petty one in imposing a 1 duty on jams, bacon, and ham. A tax 1 of this sort fell upon the many to the 1 benefit of the. few. He had been in--1 formed by a storekeeper that the effect • in some instances had been to cause people to do without these articles altogether. He was in favor of the L Government bonus system to encourage , local industries. The cost of the I LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ; had been stated to be £50,000, but 1 they all knew it was very much less ' than that. The Council in the late i session had been a great benefit to the ; country. It had been reproached for. , returning the Pension Bill to the r House instead of passing it, but its i reason for doing that was because it , contained a retrospective clause, which i would compel many who had received pensions in good faith in the past to ! refund large sums, He thought they i would agree with him when he said he . considered the Upper House acted s quite justly. (Applause.) He considered the Council might be made partially elective, but not wholly so, as , by the Ministers having power to appoint new members they could prevent such an unfortunate deadlock as occurred in Victoria a few years ago, He thought the Councillors might do without their honorariums, but that might prevent a very eligible man from being appointed through being poor. Reform in the Upper House was, he admitted, a very difficult question, but he would be prepared to face it, and, give his earnest attention to it. He then dealt with the ' NATIVE DIFFICULTY. That evening they had been glad to go to the station and welcome home some of their volunteers who had so readily responded to the call to arms. They had gone to the fi'ontwillingly, whether the victory was to be a bloodless one or not, and had there been fighting he had no doubt that the Wairarapa volunteers, and all other corps, would have done their duty on behalf of New Zealand. (Applause,) He thought tho Government had practically settled the native difficulty, (Applause.) Just complaint had been made, however, about the niggardliness of the Government towards the volunteers, The Government could not expend money morewisely than in training an efficient force of men, ready at the call of duty (applause), and the corps should be treated with liberality to bring about that result. (Applause,) He thought THE EDUCATION ACT as it now stood, should be carefully preserved, Although complaints had been made as to the large sum voted for the purpose,hethought it thoroughly well spent, He was quite against the endowment system for higher education, as parents could and would pay for this if they required it for their children, With regard to the side of politics he should adopt, he had not in his published address pledged himself to support the HALL GOVERNMENT, but he would say now he intended to heartily support it while it continued honestly working for the country as it ; had done in the past, The Government : had, of course, some faults, but they i were minor ones, It had rescued the i country from the muddle into which ] Grey and Macandrew had plunged it, 1 It had faced a very difficult position in / 1879, when both public and private i credit was at stake, and it deserved the 1 thanks of New- Zealand for the way in 1 which it had pulled the country ou| of , the mire. The Gaming and Lotteries r Bill was certainly an abortion, as were j also one or two other measures. Still, as a whole, the Government had done good work, and he would support it. v He might say a little from a PERSONAL a point, He was comparativelya stranger '' amongst them, but since he had been a ci

resident in the district he had always received veiy hearty recognition of his services in helping to advance the prosperity of Wairarapa, and that had emboldened him to come forward now. An objection had been raised against him, that if elected he would be a class representative. This he denied, If he had wanted to add acre to acre and pound to pound, would he have spent the time he had in promoting the interests of the Wairarapa ? If elected, he must of necessity look after all, if he wished to have their confidence on future occasions. He had been a settler in various parts of the Australian colonies for twenty-four years, and had worked as hard as any man, and whatever position he occupied he owed to his own endeavors, and it would be selfish if he failed to sympathise with those who had come to the colony a' few years later, and were following the same road as himself. He always had believed in practical settlement. Many who were present were perfectly conversant with his course of action since he settled among them, and if they approved of it he would ask them with confidence to return him at the head of the poll. If returned, he would endeavor to promote the interests of the whole district with his best energies. •If not returned he should still act for the welfare of the district as in the past. He then thanked them for their patient hearing and expressed his readiness to reply to any question, He sat down amid considerable applause. QUESTIONS. PENSIONS, lii reply to Mr Parker, Mr Buchanan said he was strongly against granting fresh pensions, except in cases where they could be legally claimed, EDUCATION, He did not think the Education Department paid its officers too highly, PROTECTION. To Mr H, Callister: He had stated that for fostering local industries he believed in direct aid from the State by means of bonuses. PRISON LABOR. To Mr Harrison: He was not in favor of prison labor competing with free labor, but thought it was an advantage for a prisoner to be taught a trade, and thus given a chance to earn an honest living (Applause). SETTLEMENT OP LANDS. To Mr Cohen: The Government in* tended to cut up for settlement the Crown lands in the South Island whose leases would shortly fall in, STOATS AND WEASELS, To Mr Vile: Had come to the conclusion, after careful thought and personal investigation, that It was advisable to introduce the natural enemies of rabbits on to rough country which could not be effectually cleared in any other way, FIRE DRIGAPBS, To Mr Tolloy: My action lately with regard to the Carterton Fire Brigade is a test of how I regard those useful institutions, and I shall always be found giving them every encouragement (Applause). THE VOTE OF THANKS. Mr W. Booth, in rising to move a cordial vote of thanks to Mr Buchanan, wished to put himself right with regard to a letter, signed by Mr Cohen and appearing in a newspaper, saying that he (Mr Booth) had stated that ho approved of Mr Boys' address, Mr Cohen had omitted to state that he (Mr Booth) had commenced hiß remarks by stating he was an opponent of Mr Boys. He had said ho bad listened with interest to Mr Boys address, and ful|y agreed with, hjg views on education, and that was abqus the extent of his approval of it. He then alluded to Mr Buchanan's speech, md said it had the solid qualities in it ;hat would make it wear well, The. ipeaker then contrasted Mr Buchanan vith the two other candidates from a jublic point of view, and said |(e was he best man in the district they onujd. ;et. One who would "go alone" and vork without being watehed.. Mr Jnnny was very affablo and all that, mt did not trouble himself when he ras not being hunted up, and he did lot think Mr Boys wM suit them, Jr Booth made a capital speech highly oraplimentary to Mr Buchanan, gnd. ras greatly applauded. The vote of thanks wai carried with eclamation, and a similar compliment ) the chair concluded a very wei| inducted meeting,