MR G. BEETHAM'S MEETING.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 1945, 21 March 1885, Page 2

MR G. BEETHAM'S MEETING.

Mr G. Beetham addressed some 350 or 400 of his constituents at the Theatre Royal last night.' His Worship the Mayor, Mr M. Caselberg, occupied the chair and briefly introduced Mr Beetham who., was cheered on ascending the platform. Mr Beetham .expressed his regret at there being no ladies present as they had such a humanising effect upon the other sex (laughter), He proceeded to state that his appearance at so late a period to address his constituents, placed him at a serious disadvantage. Whilst the business of the session was fresh iii the minds of the people would have been tho best time for him as their representative to address them, but unfortunately he was unable to do so. It had been said by many that during last session there had been a good deal of waste talk and little work, Well, that was always said, but on this occasion he could :not agree with it He would allow there was some fighting at the early part of the session, but granting that, they liad worked in a nwre thorough manner than any Parliament Re considered it to be his'duty in the early part to oppose the Stout-Vogel ministry which he did with regret, but tho 19 majority against thorn showed that he was right in taking the course he did. When the Stout-Vogel party were defeated, Major Atkinson was asked to form a Ministry. He did so, but much against his will, and his (the speaker's) wishes. The result was a very few days, in office, and then relegated to private life, The Stout-Vogcl Coalition party set to work then to carry out the wishes of the House and do the best that could be done for the Colony. There was therefore no ' waste of time. He took a great deal of interest in that Coalition. He knew Sir Julius Vogel was the man the. country looked for to lead them out of the " Slough of despond" into which they had sunk, ho knew, also, that Major Atkinson, if he could ally himself with Sir Julius Vogel, would curb that eccentricity of the latter in financial matters, and there would be a prospect of a period of well being and political rest. But through the Canterbury members this coalition failed, and the result was, the present Government, He could not help but admire Sir Julius Vogel, ho possessed genius was original, and If carefully watohed, ho could be productive of muoh good, During the oonfcinuauoo of Parliament, he had thought it his duty to vote against Sir Julius VogePs policy on the District Railway Bill. Some years ago Parliament passed a District Railway Bill which enabled any part to constitute itself a special district for railway constitution, the district to be specially rated for it. Advantage was taken 'of this by people who were unscriipulous and only wanted to use the measure to increase the value of their laud that they might sell and clear out. It was not for tho benefit of the district but themselves, On the district railway through the Waimca Plains, the last annual loss was £IOOO. This was absolute loss on working, there was no interest on bonds, and the whole of this loss should properly have fallen upon the shoulders of the ratepayers of that district, who could have been called upon to pay 7 per cent, The Government scheme introduced was a District Lease and Purchase Bill, which differed from that of Major Atkinson which only allowed ..the' district railways to be taken over at the" original cost, whereas the Government scheme enabled them .to pay for the additional expenses incurred. Presuming the Gov-ernment-were able to take over these railways and could find the money, they were equally responsible to find money for other local wants, such as harbors, roads, and bridges. These wants had an equal right to the attention of the Government as did the railways. However, he was in the minority>when the vote was taken, there being 45;'iyes and 17 noes, and he was sorry to notice that a great many who voted with/the majority were personally interested in the sale of those railways to the Crown, It was difficult to explain thoroughly the position of these railways. The Government had to: pay 2% and the ratepayers 5%, and the argument used was if'the Government could raise the money at i% it would relieve the ratepayers of 0%.

IOUAI BOARDS FOE RAILWAYS. He thought the Wairarapa had much to fear from the proposal to form local boards for the management of railways. He could see a oonstant .wish to divide, the colony into districts and make each district responsible for the deficiency on its railway management. If those Boards were appointed they would have to face' the fact that the railway over the Rimutaka, which had been built at a reckless cost without consulting the wishes of the ratepayers of this district would, if it did not pay a sufficient interest, have to be met by iv: tax on the people of this district to meet the deficiency. He should feel it his duty to resist tho measure when the time came. He did not say the railway management was all that he desired, but ho thought that by appointing Under : Secretaries in the North and South the work could be divided between them and a better system prevail. He could see the Wairarapa would be the first to suffer from the proposed change, Canterbury was backing up the scheme because they,. would altogether escape taxation as these lines were paying G to 1 percent., and they did not care a rap about anyone else. It would be the duty of their representative to see that the pledges, so often made, were ■ carried through, and that the Wairarapa line was carried through and not thrown upon them as a district railway. (Cheers, hear, hear.) He hue} been blamed in some quarters for not advocating the expenditure of the balance of the railway vote on the formation ot roads and bridges as recommended by Mr Hawkins, but he knew they would never see the money again if they let itgo away from railways. He had always been in favor of roads rather than railways.. A-gqod. system of main roads was necessary in a district of this sort, and would pay better than railways, but the present railway ought to be connected with the. Woodville line. He had not been able to get a distinct promise when the railway would be carried onwards to Ekctahuna, the answer always having been that they had got their hands full with tho Opaki section for a while. If they got the line extended to Eketahuna in a year or two, and the north end of the Forty-Mile'Bush tipped from Woodville they would do very well.

lO.CAL SEJF-GOVERNMENT was a most difficult question, and all over the world was the same difficulty experienced in dealing with it as here. He had studied the institutions of America and England, and found no solution of the difficulty. The difficulty is the want of njopy, and if Sir Julius Vogel could only find them the njoney they required, h,e would be one of the greatest benefactors New Zealand had yet seen—(cheery and laughtor)--but it was not at all hopeful. It was not a question of abolishing existing bodies, but taking them up and utilising them, Mr Stout said that out of one and a-half million of loan, more than a half hadgonoin roads and bridges, and they wereshifting the maintenanceof them from the shoulders of the provinces to the General Government. Money must be found and the land fund was all but no more, and Mr Stout objected to a loan. Sir Julius Vogel

would empower tlie local boardß to tux themselves by doing away with the Property Tax,, and substituting a land tax. The General Government, he maintained, could not afford to hand over to the local bodies the Property Tax. The people would only have to pay tlio tax in another form, Next session Sir Julius VogoLwould bring forward one idea and 'Mr Stout another. A combination would be made that nobody could understand, and they would be asked to pass it and not make a party question of it. If money could only be found for the roads and bridges the present system would work satisfactorily enough. Major Atkinson made a mistake in allowing districts to cut themselves up into too small sections. (Hear, hear.)—An amalgamated Wairarapa would be found advantageous to the district. The present area was too confined. Another proposal of the present Ministry was to merge the boroughs and local boards into the Counties, but they would not succeed in doing that. He was decidedly against the Waste Lands of the Crown being handed over to the local governing bodies, but the amalgamated Councils of East and West Wairarapa might well deal with such questions as sheep and cattle Acts, hospitals, and similar requirements. He thought the Government were very unwise in not finding more money to open up the Crown Lands. He was convinced if they borrowed money for this purpose it would amply repay the outlay. It wouid take a sum of £120,000 to open up the Crown Lands so as to onable the Waste Lands Board to deal with them, and the additional settlement would soon recoup that. DIRECT STEAM SERVICE.

He referred to this as Macandrew's dream, which he was glad tc see realized so well and thoroughly by the establishment of a service of such proportions. It had been the means of bringing visitors to our shores who had become most desirable settlers. The long time taken by the old route prevented many a visit from the old country. The class of settlers they wanted liow was men with moderate capital, pluck and energy to occupy their Waste Lands and go into manufacturing and other industries.

SAN FRANOISCO MAIL SERVICE, _ Ho thought this service would be continued and would under the new arrangements prove profitable, the American government having subsidised the line. He took some credit to himself for having assistod in getting the American government to meet the wish of the colonies of New Zealand. When in Washington he had interviewed the Ministers and pointed out the balance of trade was against New Zealand and he hoped what he had done had assisted in bringing about the present arrangement. They had now the direct steam service, for no expenditure. They had only paid about £13,000 and that was the weight of letters and papers. He thought that a good trade .might be established with Rio Janairo in produce from New Zealand. The captain of the Doric had informed him that rabbits which are such a curse in New Zealand would readily find a sale in Rio Janairo at 4s each and the expense of freezing and carrying would leave a good margin for profit. Potatoes that had been shipped from Lyttleton at £1 per ton had realized £7.

LAND SALES. He had been blamed by a Masterfcon paper without any reason whatever over this question. He had always been in favor of pushing forward the settlement of the lands, and had never ceased to give his best attention to it. He had tried a great many times to get money to open up roads so that intending purchasers could get at the property they wanted to buy. He had the same idea that Mr Ballance had in regard to special settlements; and when he found Mr Ballance taking it in hand he had waited upon him and offered his services and experience in assisting to frame the regulations for them, and there was no' one better acquainted with the requirements of the settlers than himself. It, therefore, astonished him when he was accused of forcing lands into the hands of large holders, and he felt it much when accused of so using his position on the Waste Lands Board as to place in the hands of his brothers the means of obtaining large tracts of land, The individual who wroto that artiole might have thought what he said, but ho should have got proof first that it was correct. The land referred to was applied for to be put in the market by Fabian Bros., and knowing the difficulty of fencing in that district of Pakowai he had spoken to the Commissioner re boundaries, and the Waste Lands Board (not the speaker) had divided the block into twelve sections. He had no idea his brothers would ever buy that land, or were thinking of it. They did not buy till January, 1883. The Puketoi land his brothers bought was a very different class of land to the splendid lands of the Crown that were still unsold, and was not the Puketoi proper. One was sandstone country, and the other limestone formation. Ho hoped for the future before such charges were made the facts would be obta.ned, and then if there was the occasion let them be made and brought home (cheers,)

SOCIAL SETTLEMENTS. He was trying his best to get these carried out, but he would like to give n word of caution to those about to settle. He considered tho terms were nothing like so favorable as the deferred p yments. In the one case it was always insisted that the roads Bhould be made before the lauds were sold, in the other, although the land was bought for £1 an acre with 2s Gd per acre for survey, they would only get onethird for road making. And if, from what he heard of the regulations made by the Association, they could not transfer their sections, they might bo woefully sold, and find themselves at the end of the ten years with ejnpty pockets instead of full ones. It seemed to him that a man who took up a hundred acres would have to pay £9OO by the end of the term. —(A voice: No!) But it was so! He did not want to see people go on these lands and turn them up in disgust. It was better for them to face the facts. If the law would admit he would be only too glad to see the land given free and let then) settle on it (clieers). He had not calculated what would be made out of the land during the progress of the improvements, but that any man could work out for himself and deduct from the amount of cost, He assumed the selector would be away and have a substitute working his land, and if that were the case there would be little to deduct from the price he had named. He did not wish to throw cold water on the selectors. He only wanted to see such settlers who could make it profitable, go in for it (cheers),

PUKETOI, There was splendid land immediately adjoining the Puketoi (the Puketoi proper was in the range itself running from Alfredton North), but from the range to the coast the land was only fit to be cut into sections of not less than 400 acres each or it would pot pay at a gift, He would not wish his enemy any worse fate than to be compelled to settle on a 200 acre patch there. Mr Balance's idea was to cut the land up in size In accordance with their values, There had been only 100,000 acros set apart for special settlement, and they were nearly all taken up. He would point out a danger that had to be guarded against, For want of publicity a select circle might apply for and secure special choice blocks, and it would be the duty of the Minister to carefully

guard against [©thing like log-rolling mid let every man llave a fair chance. He was triad to be able to get passed what had been overlooked and was of considerable benefit to local bodies. That was when the land was capitalised one-third of the realized value and one-fourth of the rental now goes to the local body. . He was. glad to see Mr Stout gave a fair measureof praise toMrEolleston .although he was an opponent to his land scheme. He (the speaker) did not agree'altogether with Mr Rolleston who objected to. the State parting with the lands, hut,:thc settler, in his opinion, might to get his freehold title (hear hear).

OROWX PROSECUTIONS. •■ • There was one thing he thought should be amended speedily and that' was the payment of expenses of witnesses -in Crown cases.- At present only one!side was paid. He would, explain one case. A Mr Hest was subposned f o Napieris 'a witness for defendant in. a Crown -case, and he got no expenses,- whereas 'the witnesses for the prose^tionwerealipaid. It was the duty of the-Crown'to see, both sides paid and treated on a level (cheers). Mr Renall: Are you speaking of criminal cases? Mr Beetham: Yes.

GAS AND WATER. He was glad to see Masfcerton was going to get enlightened—not from a'mental point of view—but by the aid of gas. He thought it was their duty to bring before the Borough Council the necessity at the same time of considering a water supply. Their town was quickly becoming crowded and considerable danger would arise from cesspits affecting the wells through the porous ground, and unless they obtained a water supply from another source their attention would be forcibly drawn to its necessity by a serious epidemic. He had obtained data from Mr Baird that he offered them. A six inch main would cost £ll per chain, and a three inch one £slos. By pumping the water up from the Waipoua to the rise at Matthews', Opaki, three miles of mains would supply the whole town with water at a cost of say for one mile of Gin main £BBO, and the same amount for two miles of Sin. The reservoir was estimated at £SOO (although he himself should think £3OO was nearer the mark); and the pump and house £250, This would bring the total cost up to £2510, not including the cost of connection to each house, which it was fair to assumo would be Is per foot, Mr Renall: What are you going to drive your engine with ? Mr Beetham: Throe or four large rams or steam.

Mr Renall: What force would the hydrant have-in this town?

Mr Beetbam : I should say the highest part of Mr Matthews' land is 130 ft.' Mr Renall; No, 70ft would be nearer,

The Chairman said it would be better te conduct the business in the usual way and ask questions after the speaker had' concluded his remarks (cheers). Mr Renall said he was simply asking for the general interest. It would be ■useless returning to it after thematter was out of the minds of the people, (cheers). ■ The Chairman said it was merely a suggestion on his part, but of course Mr Renall was always right, (laughter.) Mr Beetham said he thought the lower part would be about the heaght-Mr Renall had stated, but he proposed to take it higher up the rise.

DEFENCE, • He thought they were approaching a new era in the relation of the colonies and the Empire, He was surprised to find Sir Julius Vogel congratulating Mr Ballance on having made a saving-of £20,000 on the defence service. He was glad to be able to accoid the present Government a word of praise in having raised the capitation to live shillings, The volunteers had been treated scurvily, and if the amount was double it would not be wrong. He was glad to see that the AgentGeneral had been instructed to spend £IOO,OOO on war material, but questioned whether it would not have been better to have made the arrangement direct with the Home Government, who "would have been only too happy to supply them with guns, and guar ntee them a loan for defence purposes at a low rate. The colonies were the most vulnerable part of the Empire, and we should suffer in the event of an European War, Sir William Jervois estimated that to efficiently defend the colony would cost £400,000, and they ought to be only too glad to insure their property at this cost (cheers). The time is coming when the colonies musthaveavoice in the Imperial Parliament. He brought this question before the House in 1882. He was told by them that his view was visionary, and that he would be the only one benefitted by being sent home as the representative of New Zealand, but subsequent events bad proved that be was in the right. He advocated a federal council of the Empire as a question of immediate practical importance The direct steam service placed them within a month's distance of England, and the cable within daily communication, thus making direct representation in the Home Parliament as easy as it was in former years to' go from Dunedin to Auckland. He did not desire to sacrifice the local autonomy of the Colony, but why not by federation show our willingness to assistin case of need as well as to be assisted. (Cheers) The offer made of men for the Soudan by New South Wales had sent a ■thrill of pride through tho Colony, and though he did not deem it wise for New Zealand to follow suit he held thai the action of New South Wales had done more to bring about the federation of the Empire than anything which had yet been done. He hoped on his return from Napier to be ab'e to give them his experience of his recent visit to the United States (applause). He thanked them for the patient hearing accorded to him and resumed his scat amidst cheers, . Mr Reese "asked Mr Beetham his opinion on his recent action, challengin"' the administration of the County Council and whether the charge he had made against the engineer had been substantiated, .

Mr Beetliam replied that lie' hart seen the correspondence and conversed with Mr Blackett who told him that the County had got fair value for the money spent on the bridge, and that the contractor could not have made a large profit on it. He considered that Mr King was free from blame (Cheers). Mr Reese: Do you consider lam maligning King in saying that there was .1 discrepancy of £150?

Mr Beetliam • That is a question between yqu and your conscience. The Chairman then interposed saying that the dicussion was foreign to the objects of the meeting (applause). Mr Reese then, by permission of the meeting, expressed his views at length on the question of the two bridges, goim; into numerous details which were published on former occasions when the question was discussed. He asked the candid opinion of Mr Beetliam on Mr King. Mr Beetliam : I think him an honest man!

Mr Hogg rose to enquire to whom' Mr Beetliam referred when he complained of being misrepresented by the Press, Mr Beetliam replied that he alluded to Mr Hogg, and considered his articles degrading to the Press of New Zealand. His attacks were not only imgcntlemanlv but they were also unfounded. He had charged him with using his position as a member of the Waste Lands Board for the benefit of his brothers, to secure a block of land. There was no foundation in fact for this statement, and if he had

taken the trouble to enquiro he would hiive found that the Land Company which lie was reported to be connected with in England, had not the remotest intention of buying any more land in New Zealand. They were only arranging for a manager, and this Mr Hogg could have found out had lie chosen to enquire, and he believed he would have had common honesty enough not to insert such a statement knowing it to be wrong (cheers). Mr Hogg was sorry that Mr Beetham should lose his temper. He (the speaker) gloried in being a member of the base and 'degraded press of New Zealand. Mr Beetham : You misrepresent me again, I said you were degrading tlie press of New Zealand, ...

Mr Hogg was glad to hear the explanation. He always thought base and degraded were synonymous terms. He emphatically denied the charges made by Mr Beetham. If Mr Beetham could prove his assertions, and he (the speaker) would place his files at Mr Beetham's disposal, he would be only too glad to make him a full apology. He maintained that either Mr Beetham's memory or comprehension were defective. The speaker wrote what he thought and believed to be tree. He was extremely careful in dealing witlumblic men,, and stated nothing b(flfe.'acts. (Laughter). Mr Beetham was a member of the Board, which sold 0,000 acres of land at 10s per acre. He defied Mr Beetham to show that he (the speaker) said he instigated the sale. He quoted Mr Charles Pharazyn as the authority for a statement made that Mr Beetham was connected with a London Land Company. Mr Hogg then referred to other portions of Mr Beetham's speech and said the war scare was only got up to foist on to the Colonies a lot of superannuated war material they had in England and. to give an impetus to its iron trade. He hoped the Land Tax versus Property Tax would be the burning question at the next election. . : i;f ,j ' Mr Renall addressed the meeting in his usual flowing style, and a vote of' thanks •was accorded Mr Beetham for his address.

A vote of thanks to the Chairman proposed by Mr Beetham concluded the meeting.

A NOVEL CRUISER.

A practical turn has boon given to the criticism on the Navy by the submission to .the Admiralty of a barbette cruiser, tho chiof- attributes of which are great speed, powerful guns, long steaming power, and unusual buoyancy, The designer is Mr Pearce, of Fairfield Shipbuilding Yard, and although tho vessel is a novelty when compared with the war ships of the present day, \ L , is in reality nothing more than a development of the fast American liners,.and an adaption of their hull and machinery to the express purpose in view, The essence of the design lies in the speed, and it is concerning this quality that the designer can speak with authority. It lias '•' unfortunately happened in the immediate past that defective sailing qualities have .been the chief characteristic of the Irish Navy. Not only are the vessels unable ta go fast, but they are capable only of steaming the shortest distances. Mr Pearce's design contemplates ajspeed of 22|- knots per hour, or about 25 ordinary miles, and a coal capacity for steaming as far as the West Indies and back at a speed of 12knots per hour. This high and enduring speed will be given in conjunction with great offensive power, The design contemplates the vessel being pierced by 100 shots and still being able to use her guns or steam off at full speed.