MR BEETHAM AT DREYERTOWN.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VIII, Issue 2191, 11 January 1886, Page 2

MR BEETHAM AT DREYERTOWN.

•Mr Beetham addressed a number of his constituents at Dreyertown on Saturday evening. There was a fair attendance R. H, Elliotte was voted to the chair. The Chairman read the advertisement convening t)io meeting, aijij called upon Mr Beetham to address them.

Mr Beetham said he was always glad to meet the,electors of Wairarapa North and, although he should like to Bee a few more present, he knew that they all took an interest in matters that concerned the ■interest of this part of the colony. He would not now touch upon the subject of Protection, seeing that they were a purely agricultural community, and therefore freetraders, They would also hayc road nearly everything relating to the subject of Hospital'andUhawtable Aid. Major Atkinson and'-lum'self had beon mainly responsible for the passing of tho Roads and Bridges .Construction Act, which, if propprly adfninistered, would have been 'a'great boon to the colony. It enabled those who wished to help themselves to do so by payings-par cent interest and 5 per cent'sinking fund, extinguishing the debt in 15 years. . This system had worked well, and he was sorry that it had been swept aw,ay. That "measure also gave'assistance to'main roads, trod no •prpjiaiflphad hoen. njade for thara in place. They would ask, what had the House given them in place 1 Sir Julius Vogel had told them In his Financial Statement; that he proposed to give njost to the necessitous districts, and be was very glad to hear it. But when the measure came before the Jffouae it was found that there was no provision of the kind, and that in place of what he had promised the rioh districts were to get the most. The proposal waß that the Act should be the basis of taxation, ajid the £3QO,QOQ'to be annually granted by the Government was to be a guarantee for the payment, of h> terest on money borrowed by iooai bodies. That looked tomptingenoutjli, butit would have involved the borrowing of from seven to ten millions at a' high'rate of I interest. It was. laughed at/iand the borrowing clauses were withdrawn. Then it was agreed that the subsidies should be given half out of revenue and half out of loan, and that only for six months, '^\ x rarapa East, which had, a, wall rating area ana 1 a large tract of unopened «wntry; got only £690, while Selwyn, with all its roadß made, received £6OOO though it had £50,000 that it did-not knowwjiattodqwith. That washing money frqm the necessitous and giving to th» rioh. He iugg«it«d that tip Govsru-

merit should appoint a Royal Commission to classify' the various districts in the colony, so that those that were least' settled should be at one extreme, and such as Selwyn and Geraldine at the other; but the Government, had replied that there, was no time, to do it that session, though a promise was given to consider it during the recess. He did not take that view because. he represented a necessitous district, and should only be to see Wairarapa East in the, position of Selwyn, (Applause.) He explained his action on Captain Russell's motion, and why he had voted for the North Island Trunk Railway, In connection with the latter ho said the Government had locked up over four million acres of Nativo land, which they were improving by going on with works, and which improvements they would eventually have to pay for. He should have been glad if the local line had been carried to Eketahuria in place of stopping, as it did, in a gully, where it was no uso to ■ anybody. (Applause,) No money had however, been put on the estimates for it. With regard to his views on the land question he had been hauled over the coals by the Star, which said that ho only wanted to get another large slice of land for his brothers. (Laughter) •He could assure them that the.leasing clauses in the present Act were not bo tempting, and many who took up land under them would find themselves in the Bankruptcy Court. Neither himself nor othor members of the Land Board were awaro that the lowestvalueinthe provincial district of Wellington had been fixed at twenty Bhillings.until some time afterwards, and the Board had, carried absolution which he propped, asking the Government to lower it. If .the Government did not bring down a proposal to that effect ■ next session he should do it himslf, and he had no doubt that if it wore earned the Gov. ernment would carry out the wishes of the House. He did not believe in giving land under the homestead system, as it was not fair to thoße who had paid £2 or £3 per acre. No doubt, if fchey could Ctet.the people to occupy some of the land in this district, at any price they would be doing the colony a good'ton. He did not altogether approve of the preßent system of special settlements, as it did not give men a fair chance. Those who succeeded in becoming inombers of an Association might be men who were willing to shoulder the.axe and goto work, but the land might also be taken up by men who had not the slightest intention of settlins on it. They should give every man, a chance to ocoupy a pioco of land to suit him, That was the proper land law._ (Applause). Special Settlement Associations would have to construct their own roads, arid he had been instrumental in gettinga portion of the receipts from the land granted to go. towards assisting them. Deferred pay, ment settlers would receive one thjis foj?that purpose, and those holding perpetual leases, one fourth of the. proceeds. Yet, even with that, if they had to mako all the roads in a, block of 10,000 acres where wquld they be in ten years ? Why, they towjU have no roads at all. Mr Rolleston's system had been to make the main roads before selling the land, and though the settler would, perhaps, have to give a few shillings more per acre, he, at any rate, knew his position, He had given notice at the last meeting of the Land Board to ask th.e Government to find money for such roads, The amount that had been voted by tho Government for roads to open Grown Lands wa9 £11,399, and though that was not nearly sufficient they could have done a good deal if they could only have got" the money at the proper time,. B'utun--fortunately they had bo h'hM to get the money, H,e had moved in the matter at the last meeting of the Land Board. They were probably aware that for some ■ time past he had taken great interest in the question of Imperial Federation, • but he was afraid there was no great interest taken by the public in the matter, and he had been told that he was in advance of the times. In 1883 he moved in the matter in the House, but the motion was adjourned, and did not come on again that session, He brought it forward again in 1884, when it was better ?e, ceived, and in 1885 he succeeded; in carrying a resolution to thf- effect that Imperial Federation was desirable. Bait rather unfortunately. Mr,' Macandrew put the whole question/in rather a ridiculous light by proposing a resolution immediately afterwards in favor of the federation of all English speaking people, and carrying it, and that rather weakened his own resolution. There was one thing he meant to try and'earry through the House next session, namely, means to provide for the payment of witnesses in oriminal oases subpoenaed for the defence. A man may be on his trial for a supposed crime, and an important witness is some distance away. That witness would have to come the whole distanco at his own expense. An accused person should have every facility given him for making a defonce. He would say, for instance, he knew of a man being on Ms trial at Auckland, and knew him to be innocent; yet he could not go and get him off without paying all his expenses out of his own pocket. The tendency would bo that a man would button u,p his pockets, and his friendship and othet feeling, and an innocent person might be hanged for it, (Hear. Hear.) He should never rest until he got that point conceded. In England and America there were provisions that met the case to a certain extent, When he brought tho subject before the Minister of Justice the answer he got was that tho colony could not afford it. If it could not, then it had no right to attempt to administer justice, (Blear. Hear.) Tho Government was' supposed to. have thrown out feelers on a proposal to borrow from' I to 10 million, which, it was said, would set the colony right, If the present Government was to

set the. colony right lie thought that they ought to havo done it during the two and a half years that they have been in office. If the colony borrowed the money it would probably be all right for a few years, and those who wanted to go home would have a good opportunity, of selling at a high price. But woe betide those who remain. Although % might borrow at 4 per cant,' vet every £40,000 MS. R>W f<» each million wquld tell very heavily on them; and inevitably lead to rum, Be did not for a moment wish the polony to stand itill, and did notobjeotto borrowing a reasonable sum from time to tune, for by doing that in a judicious way tney would increase their prosperity and gefccapitalirtt from elsewhere/to make the •oolony.-their home. The colony, from its resources, its position, and the energy of its Bettlers, must assume a leaduir position in the soutjhem hemisphere. my need not be anxionsior the future. He pointed to the importance which would be given, to the, Colony by the completion of the. Panama canal. In conclusion Mr Beetham said that as long as he continued to represent them, ho would always endeavor to further their interests. to the best of his ability. He had made up his mind to continue to live in New. Zealand, and not money_here and spend, ft elsewhere, (near. Hear). . . \ replying to Mr Osborne, Mr fleetham said he was opposed to unnecoasarily small Road Districts, as the .penses of advertising'and clerical assistance; would necessarily. bV- inoreased. There were, however,; cajep.in which a. oommunity.of interest Wnot exist in a distri6t,.and in that event a, svisjoh was' natural. He should be.soot to see the He

was always of opinion that the Wairarapa should be one County, with a Council meeting three orfour'times a year, and acting merely; as. a distributing ndy to the Road Boards; • T§ Mr Osborne said thosoTftio were in favor of division were not aware what liabilities they were incurring, and wanted advice,

Mr. Blade said he understood Mr Beetham to say that if the two counties were amalgamated the size of the road districts would not so much matter, V Mr Beetham said he should not. lie'to see the Boards so small, as for, instance had been proposed with regard to special settlements, that each should, form ,a separate Board.' - .

Mr Blade thought that if a warden had a small ward to look after he could dr/ his work more efficiently thaii'if ho had % large one, ;' ?[ Mr Beetham replied that if they could do as in the case of the Upper Taueru Board, where tho Chairman was also secretary, treasurer, collector and everything else, they could, no doubt, w6rk very cheaply. The Chairman said before cloaine the meeting.they should express their grati- . tude to their representative for the able ' and interesting address which he had ' given that evening, and for the' explanation of his actions in Parliament..' : ■'■"•." Mr Alex. McLeod proposed a vote : of oonfidence in Mr Beetham, and this being' seconded by Mr Angus McLeod, /jtoj,,' was carried' unanimously, amidst Wk" applause. ■' • '.-. T^••-•■.

Mr Beetham. thanked the meeting for the compliment, and although he, coa--fessed that he rather depreciated votes of ' that kind, he appreciated the spirit in which that had been.given, The proper place to express confidence was .at the. t ballot-box. Here he saw before him' friends, and he received the complimenlfl, in the cordial spirit in which it was " given.

A vote of thanks'to the Chairman--; terminated the meeting;? •■ ■....„ V' V