MR W.C. BUCHANAN AT CARTERTON.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VIII, Issue 2195, 15 January 1886, Page 2

MR W.C. BUCHANAN AT CARTERTON.

Mb W. O. Buchanan, M.H.R. for Wairarapa South, addressed his constituents at the Town Hall, Carterton, last night. There were upwards of two hundred electors present, and Mr R. Fairbrother, Chairman of the Town Board, was voted to the chair.

Mr Buchanan said that during the early part of the first session of 1884, several attempts were made to..form-a new Government. Erentualiy 52 members asked Major Atkinson to form a Government, He did not care about it, out considered it hjs .duty to take office-. He was turned put again in 24 hours, and the present Government was then formed. That Government could not do niuoh; -A good many measures were, hower, paßjeid, includ irijj tire Fast, and West

Coast Railway Act. Tliey fixed the North Island Trtink Railway line.-: They proposed fco.reduoo the Property Tax, but had.not done so..'' Sir Julius Vogol also prepared a South Sea Island Trading' scheme, which was thrown out, During; thd last session a great deal of the time of the House was taken up with the East and West Coast Railway. When' the ttoUse met it was felt by the House and the Colony that the Ministry would be put on its metal. They had towelled through the colony, and promised to have their measures ready early. Sir Julius Vogel had told the electors that'they had. been dozing, and wanted reviving. They told hini in the House that they had not been idle, "that they had cleared their land and fenced it, and, started industries. But Sir Julius Vogel refused to believe that the colony,, was progressing—that it was dopondent ou wool, on wheat. No, he was going to reform them, They were to have beetroot. Rot. But if : they stuck to mutton, he would find them a better market in the Arafura sea, They, however, found they.could not sell there, simply because there was no money to be got thero. They passed an Act for beetroot, but little as they got for their .mutton, their wheat, and-their woolj they still got more for it than : for beetroot. They had been promised to have non T political railway boards, and Sir .Julius Vogel stated early in the session before last that they had no time then, to ;paßs the necessary measure. • Another session had passed, and there was not a word said about these boards, and the Premier ridiculed the idea. In Victoria they had a non-political railway board, and the result was that the lines paid per cent; There wore numbers of complaints about railway management, and he had been interviewed by commercial people of all descriptions to have a reform brought about in the management of the local line.. Last year they had a deficiency of £70,000, and this year they would have one of £50,000 on the estimated receipts from railways., That, too, was on face of the fact that the traffic had largely increased. The Atkinson Government Was turned, out becauso they had increased the grain - rates in Canterbury. The presont Government had altered this, and the result was that there was an increase-at the rato of £30,000 in the North Island, and a larger decrease in the South. In the North Island they were saddled with 25 per cent on a good many-of the goods, very little of which was known in' the South, Thoy htjd waited on the Government to'alter this, but without satisfactory result. Itwas'satisfactqrytoknow that their local railway line carried the heaviest traffic in the colony. (Applause.) The Government were not satisfied with the Roads and Bridges Construction Act. Some of the Southern districts got fat on their subsidies, had their roads all made, and lived on the interest of their capital at their bankers. Tho North Island had got about £50,000 more under tho Roads and Bridges Construction Act than the South, and ■ that money was spent in opening the country. That did not suit the South, and they got tho measure repealed. Sir Julius Vo?el and Mr Stout, propounded a scheme to grant £300,000 a year for 25 years to local bodies, with power to borrow, and pay interest out of capital for the first two yeata. The measure was lauded as a very fair one, and he (Mr Buchanan) was challenged to vote against it. He aconce declared that he should do.so. Sir Julius Vogel inistated the amount received by the Wairarapa under the Roads and Bridges Construction Act by about one half. Sir Julius' Vogol had promised that the needy districts should get the most money, but: tho result was tho reverse. ; The Act introduced for local government was cut down from 58 clauses, to 8. This County got £750, Wairarapa East £690, and Sclwyn, with all its roads' formed, and grass growing on thoir streets, got £SOOO, The goldfieid members were the sturdy beggars of .the colony, and blocked everything until they got what they wanted. It would be impossible for him that evening to put thein in possession of the serious position which the East and West Coastrailway queßtionpccupied. The whole colony was, toagreat extent, affected by it. The Canterbury, Nelson, and Weßt Coast members had entered into a bargain to stop every work of settlement until they had got their line, Sir Julius Vogel was bound to it before ho was elected, and knew well that' if he did not support the Bcheme the Canterbury members would seek another Ministry to do the work. There had been three Commissions to ■report on tho line, and thoy had all been' adverse. Tho cost ef the lino was to' be between three and four millions. Provisions had been made to grant ty million of acres of land, and for the Government to w,ork the line. Mr Maxwell had shown that tho line would cost the colony between £IO,OOO and £42,000 a year, and that the company would have paid 8J por cent. Then there was the Meiggs proposal—a second Brogden. It was strange that with Sir Julius Vogel there was always some one of the kind to como into prominence. The Bill was fortunately thrown out. Another largo job was the District Railways Act. A number of lines were formed in a private way. The promoters had got their purpose and Bold their property at a great advantage,. and now tho colony was compelled to take over these lines, and lose £500,000 over them. These lines did not pay, although they charged nearly double the Government rates on them. On the Waimate lino tliey earned £ll6 for 16 weeks, and the expenses were £l2O. He wished to say a few words about Captain Russell's motion. They had been told that the result of carrying that motion was that they would cauße great distress to the working men of the colony; but that was not the case. The Government proposed to expend L 1,280,000, and wanted the House to vote them£i!,lso,ooo. The House objected, but gave them a much larger sum than they required, They could not afford to lose their population, and there had been no cause given for anyono leaving the colony. The Government would have about £500,000 left in hand at the end of the year. In 1882 and 1883 the Government was voted £3,900,000, while the present Government in their two years had £5,000,000. Within their two years the. Atkinson Government spent £2,000,000, and if the present Government carried out its proposals it would spend £2,600,000. Thoy supported Captain Russell's motion in the interestsof thecolony, and the Government would find itself in a better position through it. With regard to tlie North Island Trunk Railway, Mr Ballance. got a ohain in width for the line, with land for the stations. Contracts had beon let for works to the extent of about £IOO,OOO. in his evidence before a committee of the House, said ho thought the lme was to connect two places, and was not to be made for settlement, He should not allow his land to pass through the Native Lands Court. Since then he had published a statement in the Waikato Times, denying that he intended to have his land put through the Land Court, and drawing attention to what he had said before the committee. The line would .cost the colony £6O,QQO a year, and until they got land to settle alongside the line, he should oppose any money.being spent on it. He looked upon the Native question aB one of'the most important in the. colony. In the Middle'laland they had nearly all their jand taken up for settlebut here there was-alarge. area in: the hands of -the. Natives, The Govern^

obtain'it* from thorn.,. Mr Ballahce had the verybest interests, of settlement at heart, and he gave him every praise' for what he had done. But he believed that jf.Mr Bryco had remained in office, a 'large quantity of land would have been obtained, for the North' Island Trunk Railway ere now. A buThadbeen introduced for dealing with Native lands, but it wasshelved >by Parliaments He noticed that Mr Ballande had given the natives a promise at Hastings to introduce something similar; next session, but as only telegraphic reports were before him, he could not criticise.: The new Land Act was mainly a' consolidating .measure. He referred to the leasing clauses and the advantages which they afforded. He believed the system would work very well, but feared that the Government woujd put up inferior •riina in too small areas, as poor land could not be occupied at a profit wheh.the areais very 'small. There was' al«r% provision: in the \ Act under which could resume the title to land near the centres of population, and let'it.in small .areas. He thought that would, he &very useful measure; but care would have to be taken to prevent abuses. The saving of £30,000 in.the survey staff, which the Government took credit for, was really; it; great loss to the colony, as land was nobjjeady for settlement. Mr McKerrow told them that they had far more applicants for land than they had land for. Why should they keep people..waiting? He believed the Government saw their mistake, and would mend their ways in that matter. With regard to federationj-the New South Wales Government struck a chord in tho Soudanexpcditionthat must havo vibrated throughout every English speaking community, If they had no actual federation, they found they were federated at heart, If they allowed the thing to work its own way, he felt assured that before long they would have a federation of all tho English speaking people on the face of the earth. —{Prolonged applause,)—lt was a matter of pride that volunteers offered their ser'vices all through the colony to such an . extent that the Government, for want -of arm,'had refused to accept all of them. (Applause.) The Government had let a mail contract for three'yeara for the San Francisco Mail Service, and thero had been a warm.debato over it in the House. They had no traffic to speak of on that line, and should spend the £IB,OOO or £20,000 which it cost them .on thedirect line of steamers, which was the very life blood of the colony. Sir Julius Vogol ought to have been in his element on finance. He told them that he objected to tho Property Tax, and was going to repeal it. He told them in tho first session of 1884 that the Customs Duties were already very high, and little could be done to encourage local industries through them. Yet'he gave them an Irishman's rise by reducing the Property Tax from three-farthings to seven-eights of a penny, whilo he proposed to raise the customs revenue by £IOO,OOO. It was the necesBariosonife he proposed to tax in plaoe of luxuries. The House made him take back his tariff, and Freetraders and Protectionists alike told him that the Goveminent did not want the money. He should always do his very best to keep down unnecessary taxation (Applauso). To a large extent the Government had entirely .failed in the promisos that had been made. It was astonishing what infatuation possessed the people to listen to Sir Julius Vogel's promises. He had not realised one of them, but had gone in the very opposite direction, They had outlying settlers who had agreed to pay rates to have roads formed to their properties, and now the Roads and Bridges Construction Act was repealed they were saddled with the rates, and had no chanco of getting their roads. The Bchemo of the Government was moroly the old thing over again, borrowing another oight millions, and an increased tariff, If thoy. looked at their ledger they would find that they were indebted to the extent of thirty-two millions to the English capitalist, and if they totted up their other debts they had about seventy million owing. Eor this they sont out' of the colony about fiv.e million a year to pay interest. Victoria and New South Wales h.ad a debt of about £3O per head on the population, and Now Zealand about £OO. The Government thought nothing of roads. Nothing but railways would do them. The heaviest charge against tho lato Government was that they had spent too much on roads. The Government wanted this money simply to buy political support. The eight or ten million were to go for the East and West Coast Railway, for a line from Napier to Rotorua, to connect Picton and Ohristchurch, and to carry the Ofcago central line to Jackson' Bay. To the moon would bo the next proposal. He gave the working men credit for knowing better than to voto in favor of such a scheme, and he, for one, would oppose it, He did not lack in public spirit, nor did he object to borrowing. They had useful works to carry out, as for instance the ThamesRotoruH, and the Northern Trunk line, as soon as they had tho land, They had to connect Napier with the Wairarapa— a most important link. It was to bo regretted that the Gorge lino should have been cut out with others by Captain Russell's motion. The line from Masterton to Woodvillo would cause a considerable increase ef settlement. Thero were various linos in the Middle Island that would pay very well for their constructions. It would pay them to pay them to borrow for opening up Grown Lands and to buy Native Lands. That would he far better than the mad scheme proposed by the Govornmont. Sir Julius Vogol hated the word " Protection." Ho wanted to bring in increased taxation, ■ and cajole them into believing that it was not for .Protection at all. He told them that the taxation was less por head now than in .1870.,"They had several increases since then. A few years ago they put a very heavy duty on candles in Victoria, and according to Sir Julius .Vogel, they had no taxation at all on them, Presently they had too many candles, and when they wanted to sell in New South Wales they found that that Freetrade colony sold them at Bd, while they wanted 9d. The fact was that the whole colonv had topaythe'extra penny for the sake of about 500 manufacturers. He saw no sense in that. He should always liko to see wages remain high, but he did not think that that was tho way to keep them up. If they kept up wagos, and made living choaper, they would find they, were on the road to prosperity. They would only be puttine shackles on themselves if they attempted to foster industries by artificial me&ns. To show them the foolish arguments sometimes made use of, he said Mr Ballance had mentioned at Wanganui that were it not for local competition they would havo very little revenue, Fow did that apply to tea and sugar? Sir Julius Vogol used arguments of the same kind, and waß equally fallacious. He should have been glad, had time admitted, to have gone into a number of other items, but the. time was late, and tie' would 'not'' detain them, As long as he remained their representative they could depend npon him that he would adhere to his principles, and serve them to the best of his power, (Applause), .■•■■■ Mr Callister asked was Mr Buchanan was in favor of taking the 2s per thousand off foreign timber; ! Mr Buchanan said he was not, as it. would-be injudicious to interfere .with presentindustries.

■ Mr Callister asked was Mr Buchanan in

' Mr Buchanansaid hewas.in'lfavor:'of ; < \ ; bonuses,.as the assistance was of a tflm\" ;'' '■:! porary nature,-arid, people, iwbulijook--; before they leaped.)!: ■ '■■ Mr Morris asked.wtietHeVJMtrj|jjJjana4'iv'- .•': objected to the. railway. througfeaßWau;/-' mate.Go'rge...-,. .■■■•,', ;■ V.' ' : i%s?:;i- ( .j) '•'''',■■ Mr Buchanan was in favor of •' ; "' of work,that paid. -; '.;>:: tefc&'jWMr Driscoll'asked what Mr Buchanan' < ." would do with the poor rates? • '■' v •';;' 1 Mr BuehaMn;replied''that'tHe; 6Q\ferni!';\. ment' had; carried a very fair measuwfort administering charitable aid. Mr Beetham and himself had, ho was proud to. say, ■■'■■ helped a good deal to make it workable. Mr Driscoll.'asked was Mr Budiapaa in favor of giving Sir Julius Vogel' tho. £6,000 he had applied for. ;;;■'-. Mr Buchanan had no doubt-that' justice.;would be done to Sir JuliusVogel, wJft .... waß an old public servant. \ c ':tfW' < Mr Arra.and Bennett, Mr Driscoll; and;" 1 Mr Morris attempted-to ask other ques-,-tibns, but were - hooted down by the meeting.' •■« Mr Callister proposed, and Mr Driscoll v seconded, a voteof thanks to Mr Buchanan for; his address, which was carried unanimously. ".■•'•' ■ A vote of thanks to the Chairman concluded the proceedings.