MR BUNNY'S MEETING.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1730, 8 July 1884, Page 2

MR BUNNY'S MEETING.

There was a very large attendance at the public Hall, Carterton, last night to hear Mr Bunny, Several ladies occupied the front seats, and the meeting; was very orderly throughout tho address. Tho Chairman (Mr Fairbrothor) iutro* duced the candidate, and stated that he came before them that night to solicit their support, and trusted they would give him an impartial hearing. He also trusted that any elector desirous of asking a question would refrain from doing so. till Mr Bunny's address was concluded, so that the birmony of the meeting might not be broken, as had been the case at the last meetins held there, He further trusted the audienoe would patiently bear with any elector who in asking a question might not be so well up in putting it as others were (at this stage an auditor rose and said he hoped the reporter of the Daily would put the matter down as stated, not do the same as at last meeting, when he reported Mr Boys to have said ' his friend Mr Buchanan 1 instead of' his frieud Mr Bunny).

Mr Bunny said he came before them to seek their support in returning him as their representative in the coming Parliament. It was not the first lime he had had the honor to address them. So far back as 20 years ago he addressed a Carterton audience and he had represented them in five Parliaments in New Zealand, l'he last time they had thought fit to elect a gentleman in his stead. Ho did not blame thorn for that, but in response to the invitation of a large number of friends, he again came to ask their suffrages. He had not a word to say against the gentloinan, as such, who had last represented them, but he did not think it conducive to the interests of the district as a whole for a member to be returned who represented one particular class and that one alone. There was an interest extending beyond that of the large landed estate owners and the large runholders. The whole mass of ■ the people required direct representation, He would touch upon firsi tho TAXATION OF THE fiOUNTM.

There was a deficiency in the revenue as contrasted with tho expenditure. It would bo the duty of the in-coming Parliament lodeoide how it would manage to makeup that deficiency. In the early days of the settlement of this country there was only one source of income, that was by the imposition of customs duties. This deficiency now would bring tho minds of the people to consider the incidence of taxation. Tho wealth and property of the oountiy should bear its fair share of the burden of taxation, and the weight of ii should not be borne on the shoulders of the people by the increase of Customs duties. Major Atkinson had stated that each person paid thirteen per cent Custom juries. Add to ibis the profit of the merchants and storekeepers' charges and it would plainly be seen that the people at large were paying by far the greatest portion of the taxation. Another thing the merchant on receipt of his invoice of goods imported aads thereto tho duty charged by Government and then based hia per centage of profit on the whole, duty included, tho storekeeper paid the merchant his profit and the people paid the storekeepers. He believed in a taxation that would take as little out of the pockets of the people bb possible beyond tho amount taken by Government, and he was decidedly in favor of knocking off Custom duties from the necessaries of life, and raise the revenue by taxing properties and incomes, naturally the wealth of the county, and the source from wbenco the cost of its maintenance should be obtained. Mr Buchanan at Featherston had Baid, or been made to say, that he would increase the Custom duties. He himself was dead against throwing the burden of taxation upon the shoulders of the people by this means. Since the people had obtained manhood suffrage they had grown careless in the exercise of their privileges, and had not studied suffioiently the putting into Parliament of the best men to represent them, but when each working man was indirectly paying at the rate of £ls per aunutu, it became the interest and bounden duty of every working man to see that the taxation was fairly placed. As yet the frozen meat export trade of this colony was only in its infancy, and when the present defects of storago, &c,, were got over in England the trade would, without doubt, ho a great success, and when, through the instrumentality of the capitalists of this country, the improvements were complete, the meat will fetch as high a piioe as ninepence a pound in England, the result of which will be to enormously increase the wealth of the large estate -and stock owners, and ho considered these were the ones who, receiving this great benefit, should >be prepared to meet the extra taxation, hot to attempt to throw it on the shoulders of the working man, who, on account of tho increased price of mutton, will eithex have to cut down their consumption of meat ono half or pay double the amount they were now paying. Even then they will get nothing but the cuts and rubbish not fit to be frozen or boiled down, (Loud applause), Those with large incomes should pay a fair share. (A voice; They don'tV Mr Bunny: But you return me and they shall. (Cheers and laughter,) If the people of New Zealand return such representatives as they had done they must be prepared to bear the rod applied to their baoks. (Cheers.) They would not have the excuse of not having been warned, There was a strong feeling in existence that the burden of taxation should bo put on tho proper shoulders of those able to bear it, and removed from the mass of the people. (Cheers). He would say a word on tho question affecting

SMALL CAPITALISTS, and tho proposod perpetual leasing of the land system, He would endeavor to put the real position of affairs before them in this matter. Supposing a man through industry and thrift to have saved up say £3OO, and this is the class of people the country wanted as settlers, (Cheers), And say with that £3OO he desires to make a home for himself and children, and purchases 300 acres from the Government at £1 per acre, the whole of his oapital has gone in purchasing his title to the land and then he has to fall back upon the money lender to borrow

money to stock and build a house and improve his land, and was it not etrange, he may be unable to pay up his mortgage or interest wlien due and have his propeny sold over his head. Now, the system of perpetual leasing did away with all-that. The lease was put up to tender at the upsat price of five per cent of the fee simple: that was, if the land cost one pound per acre the rent would ba one ahillin" per acvo per annum. A man under this Bystem would get his—say 200 acres for £lO outlay it) the first go off, and have the balance of hie capital to build and stock his place, and lie would not have to borrow at an exorbitant rate of interest, (Further, at the end of 21 years, should ho olioose so to do, lie may give up his lease or renew It at the increased value, if any, as put upon it by the Government valuer, " exclusive of his own improvements, that is without taking into consideration the value of the improvements put on the property bythe lessee, He had the option of taking on tho lease again by paying, at the rate of five per cont on the increased value, or he might relinquish his lease, and the incoming tenant had to pay him for his improvements, Another very important clause in the measure was that upon complying with the conditions of- the lease the lessee had got the option of paying off the price cf the land at any time after six years and before the expiration of eleven years from the date of the lease, or in other words, after having proved himself to be a bona fide settler for six years, he has the chance for five years of converting his leasehold into a freehold, or should he prefer it, he might, with the sanction of the Board, dispose of his interest in the property. He considered there was no measure more calculated to benefit people of limited moans. It was objeotei to by large property holders for the simple reason that they would then be unable to cut up and sell their properties at the rate of £4 or £5 per acre. He considered it to bo one of the best means of bringing into cultivation the waste lands of the Grown, and one of the best measures for men with limited capital, and for settling people on the land. Under this measure 640 acres was the maximum land obtainable by any one person. .

NATIVE LANDS, He was glad to see the Government propose to resume the pre-emptive right of the Crown, Under the system in vogue anyone coald buy large blocks of land from the Natives at a nominal cost, nud the country as a whole suffered, whilst the Natives were in receipt of but little benefit, Under the system proposed to be resumed, the Natives need not sell at all uuless they chose, or they might sell direct to the Government on their own account through the Land Count, when, after deducting the uecsssary charges for expenses of surveys and other expenses incurred in the sale, the balance will be handed over to the Natives. He considered there was nothing better than the restoration of this right, He would like that no Crown lands should bo sold until tho roads were first made by the Government and the settlors had the benefit of roads and bridges to get to their lands. KAILWAYS.

He was thoroughly ia favor of the railwaya being under the management of a Board entirely free from the control of party Government, The Government were utterly incompetent to manage the work, and if theie was not a good man at the head of the Department the manageinent did not go on as it should do, and the fact of the control being in the hands of a party Government subjeoled them, and justly so, to the name of political railways. Mr Buchanan in his speech at that hall Bpoko struiigly against the Wellington-Auckland railway, saying the proposed route passed through land that was hardly worth having. Why the whole scheme of ti>e railways was in heving a continuous line contacting the extreme points of tlio Island. Mr Mitehelson who wja sent to inspect and report upon the best route said that the central country was so good as to warrant him saying it would pay to make two linos. Besides the money was already granted, and if not used on that line the people South would get hold of it and we should have it to repay without deriving any benefit from its expenditure. He would strongly support turning that land into settlements uuder the system stated by him of small farms for the people,

IIOCAII SELF GOVERHMEOT, He had not heard a word from Mr Buchanan nor Mr Beetham upon the subject of lecal sell government. He mentioned Mr Beetham because he considered the .interests of the north and south districts to be identical, and that it was a decided mistake to divide them into two electorates. He had neither heard nor read of either of these two gentlemen having said one word upon the subject; they had been perfectly silent thereon. The County at present was a mere cypher; every little thing they wonted they had to run to Wellington for,- He would like to seo suoli ample power delegated to Counties as would enable them to deal with such matters as the sheep and rabbit qae3tion. All reserves, unless wanted for Government purposes, should be handed over to local bodies, He knew the difficulty and time occupied in obtaining any little thing for the district from the Government in Wellington. Had local bodies ooutrol over the local affairs there would be no such a thing as two members getting an experienced officer ousted from office as they have hoard about lately. Ho alluded to Mr Sutton. (Loud applause), And when an enquiry was demanded, although baoked up by semo GO or 70 sheep farmers no notice was taken of the memorial by the Colonial Sacretary, Supposing the two members had been in Opposition they would not havo been able to have got the thing dono, (Hear, heiy), And if it had been in the hands and under the management of the local bodies, it could not have been done unless by an open discussion and the voice of the majority. He did not raise the question of whether Mr Sutton was in the right or wrong, He was supposed to he a superior man sent specially up to the district and he should not have been denied an enquiry as to whother his removal was justifiable, Anqthor little thing ho would speak about namely,

BABBITS, and along with the name mentioned ho would add FERBETS, (A voice; "No, no I Wo would rather have rabbits." Cheers.) Mr Bunny auio this only showed the necessity of not having men with only one mind. Ho had seen something, a ferret having killed a baby in the North Wair&rapa. He did not say anything as to the accuracy of the report, but it had been stated in three papers, and thought that what might ba good for largo unpopulated districts would be bad in centres of population. The law that made it fineablo to destroy ferrets to. the' extent of £2O and liot less. £o, was monstrous, and should bo altered, He should only say-in answer to a question —if he caught a ferret on his premises destroying his fowls he sheulcl certainly kill it although ho would he breaking the law, and be would like to sqo that law altered! He had read a letter signed by a Mr Hawkins, who gave an account of a tour in the Middle Island, there the forrots bad completely destroyed the rabbits, but thon there were the ferrets 1 How wero they to be disposed of? Thoy mighr do in a wilderness of a plain where there were no fowls, game, pheasants. (A voice: Or babies, Laughter,) but he would veto the ww that fined a man for destroying a ferret although it was destroying his property, Mr Gooden asked ho\y he was going to catch 'em, They would have to do with them the same as they had had to do with the ferrets on his (Mr Bunny's) run.

Mr Bunny said the rabbits hud oil been cleared from his land by poisoning. VOLUNTEERS, He considered (he Government had not given this branch of tho service the support it was entitled to. The capitation allowanco should be inoieascd and he should like to see the cadets supported, notwithstanding Mr Woodroofe of Masterton, to the contrary, He considered the benofit derived from drill given to the cadots was very great and lasting, -and made men of them,

The question of who lie would support, if chcted, in the coming Parliament was one which at the present moment he could not answer. Before giving his support to Sir Julius Yogel he must first know his policy; but ho would not support any man whose measures would not benefit tho country as a whole,

TIIE DAILY. Tho editor of the Daily bad poured the butter on to the backs of Beetham and Buchanan bo. as to almost smother them. To read that, paper one would suppose tho Supreme Being, had manufactured them as the only two men able to govern this district. Thoy were told of the great things done by Mr Buchanan in the meat freezing and dairy farming, but they only advocated the very things calculated a to increase the value of their own J property and estates. The editor was only doing them harm by pouring on the butter and putting out of sight what ' little good they did do, (Cheers). He had been much struck with an article published in last Tuesday's Daily, and headed " Duty of Electors." It must have got in liko the ferrets, unknown to the proprietor. It was really beautiful 1 Who'd have thought it of theDiiLT? "The trae votor, the grand eleotcr, the man who is worthy of the respect and confidence of ovety good man in the colony is he who does not say ' which of these candidates will bo able to do me—poor miserable me-a good turn,' but which of tbcm is the best for New Zealand* Such a man is something more than a voter, he ut a patriot, and with any considerable number of such men in a community there must be good and wise government which will benefit any electorate in the two islands. We trust all classes in the community will exercise some thought and dehberation in recording their votes. They will be appealed to by election committees and by the press, but while they have the privilego of being courted they have also the rielit to reserve their answer or only give it on the ballot paper. Election committees are useful institutions in thsir way, They stir up Bettlers to take an interest in a contest, and they cause a larger number of voles to be recorded than would otherwise be given. It is good for electors to be roused at an election time by candidates addresses, by tho prers, and by the election, .committees, but let them hear, mark, learn, and inwardly digest all that is put before them, and when the time arrives for them to surrender their franchise give it accoiding' to the best of their judgments for the benefit of New Zealand and for'the advancement of tho Wairarapi. 1, He could not read words more in accordance with his own views. He was altogether against canvassiug and considered it entirely opposed to the ballot button-holing people and trying to find out for whom they iutended voting, Who so well able to understand tho requirements of the people as he who like themselves knew where tho shoe pinched, and was he not more likely to truly represent them than such men as ho who at Feathcrston said, " Throw o» tho Customs Duty." He would ask them on the morrow fortnight to treat him better than on tho last occasion of his eeekiug thoir suffrages, (Cheers) THE EDUCATION QUESTION, He would leave this question exactly where it was. He believed it was working well, although it had cost the country so much, but ho would always be pi spared to consult those who put him in to represent them. (Cheers.) Mr Bunny before resuming ' his seat stated his willingness to answer any question that might be put. In answor to an elector ho said li 6 would remoye the customs duty ou necessaries of lifo, _ and increase the taxation of property and income, and make the wealth of the country contribute more equitably, In answer to Mr Gloodin he did not object to tho exportation of sheep, but lie contended that those who reaped tho benefit of the industry by their large estates and stocks being increased in value, should be the ones upon whom the increase of taxation should fall, as the poor man would suffer by either haviug to consume tea food or consume more income in paying the extra price for meat. The rich man becoming richer and tho poor man poorer. Mr Goodin said he understood Mr Bunny to say that he would have tho duty taken off beer.

Mr Bunny asked that Mr Goodm would not misstate what lie had said. What he said was ' the necessaries of life,' At the same time he would like to see tlio duty of one shilling taken off English beer and then competition would make Colonial brewers produce aglass of beer worth drinking. As regard fruo passes to members he was in favor of them being granted during tlio v " session, but not to travel at the public expanse on their own business as many of them now do. As regards federation, he was dead against it, Neiv Zealand being in the minority would have to pay its share and havo no voice in the exptnditure. In answer to the queslioa why should a man be taxed ou his improvements, he would a3k his hearers to consider the question of taxation all through. If they knew what they paid in indirect taxes tlioy would bo perfectly astonished. Suppose two of them farmed say 400 acres each, and baying had a good year have got £2OO to invest, one buys shares or we will say lays it out on land by way of mortgage and the other improves his property" by building a woolshed or other means. Well, one has got it on the lauded property, and the other on hia mortgage. Aa regards schoolmaster's salaries ho did not consider them excessive, If competent men were to be retained they must be above the ordinary worry and anxiety o{ insufficient means to meet their every day immurements, or then' energies would be misdirected,

Mr W. Booth said if all questions had beou asked he would move that the thanks of this meeting be given to Mr Bunny for his address, He could not attempt to traverse his sayings, He agreed with relieving the Customs duty and transferring the burdon of taxation to property in soma form or other, It was thointerestof the great body of the people to keep down customs and face direct taxation. Tlicy would tlion be more likely to take a greater interest in the spending of the money, Tlio referenco made to what Mr Buchanan had said in Featheraton with regard to the form of taxations was correct in every respect except one; the '• not" had been omitted, What ho' (Mr Buchanan) .aid say was, " he would not put it on the Customs". (A voice: Another error of the Press, Laughter.) Mr Booth said he would be very glad to have it corrected by the Masterton Star, that displayed its journalistic rffiuanism and used its literary bludgeons on certain occasions, As regards perpetual leasing, the day that became law would see the whole of the present freehold lands rise to double their presont value, Mr T. Bennett here rose to a point of order, and the house was filled with yells and shouts from both sides, each trying by strength of lung to drown the other. Evory time Mr Booth attempted to speak he was yelled down, and tho Chairman at last made himself heard and ruled him out of order,

Mr Booth said he had never done anything that ho should not be listened to, It was tho Carterton clique, The yellin» continued and Mr Booth moved a voto of thanks to Mr Bunny for his a<idre33, which Mr Anderson briefly seconded, Mr T, Bennett then moved "That Mr Bunny is a fit and proper person to repre* sent us in the next Parliament." Upon being seconded the Chairman said this was not an amendment to the original motion, he would thereforo call fora show of hands. Between twenty and thirty held up in favor of the combined m6tion and five against, and the Chairman deolared it carried.

Mr Bunny briefly thanked them, and said they would not regret the confidence they reposed in him. He moved a vote of thanks to tho Chairman, which was seconded by Mr B, Boys and carried,