The Wairarapa Daily. SATURDAY, JULY 5, 1884. MR BUCHANAN'S ADDRESS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1728, 5 July 1884, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. SATURDAY, JULY 5, 1884. MR BUCHANAN'S ADDRESS.

Turning from Mr McOardle to Mr W, C. Buchanan is like changing from "pleasing fancies" to "facts and figures," like putting down a work of fiction and taking up a volume of statistics. To the imaginative mind the former may be the more alluring, but anyone who has an interest at stake in the colony will prefer the sober grey tints of Mr Buchanan's to the ethereal hues of Mr McOardle's oratory, It is pleasant to see Mr McOardle wave his magic wand—his forty-Mile Bush divining rod—and promise in his incantation, a freehold to every working man which nsed not be paid for till twentv or thirty years have passed, but we know that this is a vision, and that if we want to get at realities we must be content to study Mr Buchanan's utterances. We commend to the consideration of our readers Mr Buchanan's remarks on the management of our railways, and more especially on the prospects of the Wellington and Auckland line. His arguments against the latter are simply unanswerable in the present state of the colony. It is possible that an able man like Sir Julius Yogel might so change the existing conditions ot our affairs as to make a project of such a character practicable, but he is the only man in the colony who is capable of doing so. We agree with Mr Buchanan that a property tax is better than a land tax, but we go further, and say with Sir Julius Vogel, that, excepting for raising necessary local revenue, there should be no direct tax of this character collected by the State. It is satisfactory to notice that Mr Buchanan, while anxious to promote the settlement of the country, differs with the Government on the land question, and is not ono who will either now, or in the future be found amongst those foolish people who are prepared to destroy freehold title in land. Mr Buchanan's speech throughout is characterised by that sound common sense and directness of purpose which has won him the confidence of all classes in the community. Some people seem to think that brains and broad acres are not compatible, Because they cannot claim the latter they imagine that they enjoy a monopoly of the former. Mr Buchanan, however, i 3 a living example of how a man may possess both and use them for the benefit of the district in which he resides.