The Elections.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 2639, 5 July 1887, Page 2

The Elections.

MR. BUNNY AT CARTERTON. Mn H. Bunny addressed the electors of Wairarapa last evening at the Town Hall, Carterton, there being about 400 persons present. Mr K, Fairbrotber occupied the chair, and introduced the speaker in a few well chosen words, and solicited a patient hearing for him, 1 Mr Bunny, who was well received said that having come forward to.again seek the suffrages of Wairarapa South, he had invited them to meet him in order to place before them the questions that would most likely come before the next Parliament, and also a review. of past events, so, that the electors, after having heard those seeking their suffrages, could seleot the best man to represent themin the new House, ' Hft must, tell them right away that he was neither a Yogri nor an Atkinson man. He had read the speeches of both sides, but had been greatly disappointed, as neither pointed out anything that would be beneficial to the colony as a whole. If elected, ho should go to the Houso unpledged to any party, and be free to act as he thought best, as he considered, there were men outside the House as competent as those inside, "to deal with the questions affecting the country, He considered the two first great questions were Incidence of .Taxation and Settlement of the people on the land,. He had no faith in the prevailing),opinion thit. the; country could' not prill itself out ~, of- its present difficulty.' "fPheV should;put'the saddle: on the right horse, and take the bur-

den off the worluug class and put, lift oh the mohied class by' taxing.'thefT He would take off the duties frdfii things that could not-be raised berty (cheers),; and place a Moderate Jtity ' on goods that could betnanufaotured in ,'thip colony, ■ thus 'Postering;.Jour colonial industries in their infancy.'. (A pplause).,- The; import duty on' ' sugar,: and ; A'gce^^:.' ; -.was. something enormous,, relieve;the duty on theßft-.and'.rrxafce it up'by -taxing 'theiprpperty. ofc the '■' colony,- which was only paying; about' one. third more thiin the amount raised on tea and sugar. He called upon the electors; of '\ alter, this, and : tax. the.;.propesy ; which had been increased in value owing; to the expenditure or public money, and should bear its just burden - of taxation. He would have a progressive Land Tax; and Income Tax, so. as to touch up those who were receiving large salaries, and he- would stake his .-that there.fwore/V .many who were receiving their tlw sands »• year who were not. paying w\. much towards the revenue ofv.tha colony »s the struggling working'man with ;'a; family. .(Applause,) , It ■would also touch up the absentees who were drawing their, thousands from the country,-arid: the ; Banks,'lawyers, and other professions and officials who were making large.sums in the colony. He considered it the easiest : method to raise and collect money,- and if a few thousands extra were required ill the Government had to do was to increase the tax to meet it. HeVould wnot support Mr Balance's Acquisition S Bill, as he did not: believe that ,thu*e '-\ who were lucky enough to get land should hayo it interfered with iu';that way, but it should be made to bear its burden of the country's debt; : By a progressive land tax the large land* holders would soon be glad to.dut up their runs and settle the.people.upon it. (Cheers.) The income tax he would fix on incomes of £l5O. and upwards. A population able to earn its'living was required for the settlement of the land. The land should be laid; off in small blocks;to suit small He believed in theYillage.and'Spe«jM Settlement Scheme to acertain .extfncp' but thought that before settling the people on. the land, roads and bridges should bo made, so that men of small meaus could earn their -living, while settlement was going oil, and be able to get on to the land. .'. If they, continned to carry out the ! settlement scheme as they had been doing during-.j the paßt few years, he had no fear of the j future of the colony, (Cheers). He considered that theory to atopborrow* ing was raised by thoso who had -niceestates; which had been iniproyed by the expenditure of public money. The colony was in its infancy, itiid by judicious borrowing and careful' expenditure they could push it ahead of any other country under the surifN He was not going to find fault ways, as ho considered they did great soiviceto.thecolony and were a general benefit.' Ho would not be in favor ot either selling or leasing them, as he wfi sidered.'a;'company,, would studr making "nWnev before public con* venience. : While'they- >were in tha hands of thes Government they could bo regulated by them; and although they might only bo receiving a small percentage on the outlay they''should remember the great saving in carriage ot goods and traffic generally,. and the great public convenience. He would not be. prepared to alter the present educational system. (Cheers) A great many;wereof opinion that they should stop at the* fourth standard, but he did not, He gone into the matter and found out that, by knocking off the fifth and sixth standard in this Educational district the saving would be under £IOOO, and he would not be prepared to support an alteration in that direction unless a greater saving could be made. He thought there was too much cramming in the state schools, and was in favor of teaching useful subjects, and teaching, them well. (Applause), Was in favor jjjjg trades being taught in schools, assP means of inculcating a spirit of independence among the scholars on reaching manhood. (Cheers) He would knook off the vote for higher education, and let those who want it pay for it, it should not come out of the Colonial Treasury. More attention should be paid to the mental capacity of the scholars by the teachers. 'He would go into the Native question fully -when he met his Native audience." The time had come to let the Natives alone to manage their own affairs; they should have tho same liberty as the Europeans, as they are amenable to tho same laws. He considered -that the expenses of tho Native department as so much money wasted to the colony. He had an idea of retrenchment, and would point out"ways in which agreat saving could be effected with advantage to the~!State. He considered that the L18G,200 spent upon defences as so much money thrown away, and could' have be?n better spent on roads and bridiA (Cheers.) If the colony was goingm take its own part in time of.war they would have to spend much moro than that, if a. Russian or any other 'fleet was to;corae they would enter our harbors in spite of the Colonel Whitmore, Major Bodhams, and all their staff, (Laughter.) He would knock off LIOO.OOO from this''department. (Cheers), He would abolish the Nativa department and. put it under the management of the Colonial Secretary, and save several- year by that. He would not do away with the Legislative Council,, bnt'. thought the title of "Honorable", was quite sufficent pay for- them, they had no eleotions to contest; but by this they lost a great pleasure, as. he always felt it a very great pleasure to address such an intelligent class of men as hi found there that evening. (Cheers, and ironical applause.) He would abolish free passes on the railway to Members out of session, as he considered that members should not use $e Mway for their private, .business at M I expense bfjbKe country, (ApplausJ! ! He would knock off the" San Fr&nF eisco Mail Service, and save £25,000 a year. '.He considered that.the splendid fortnightly direct servioe waß suitable for all the requirements of the colpny,-an|did not believe, in making pepplejay for.•a,.seimce for th|. benefit of the merchants, The expeo^l

■tihe Government as a wholo could 3*B cut down, and he'referred to. the system of circumlocution that prevailed iii the Government offices. Ministers should devoto the whole of their time to tho affairs of .the .state, ind riot be allowed to carry on private ■business, and this would effect it Hr6E|a"vlng to the country; He did ;fiof consider there wfc.re' proper meansf§ carjying-bn pure local Government; was required- wore;'fewer 'forms,larger power, and- more Money, ; this.-would enable xhe Local Bodies .to jdjal effectually with their sow'ii-coh-'/cernsV'flnd assist materially in' the. "settlement of'- the country. ; There ,'iere/foo many small iorms;;qf Local -uovernmenti to" make it a. success. If ' returned he was. prepared to support the views lie had brought forward, regarding Custom's duties, Land: and ' Income Tax, and Eetrenchment,, the latter he calculated woulJ effect a saving of £150,000 a year. A. great jnany peoplo said '.'-Don't vote for ■Bunny he's got no stake in the', country,' (hughter). Just so! but he < must inform them,, that although he had got no flocks or-herds, he could tell them whew the shoe pinched. It was. necessary for them to get someoneoutsido the flocks and herds party to give them that information, (Cheers and laughter). He was mi a squatter but one of themselves, they must get.'a working man-to work for the work-1 ing class, as the squatter worked for the squatters in the House. (Cheers). ■ They said "Bunny has got no .stake in the country,'.' but he thought r'the name of Bunny, was pretty well ' known, throughout the district. (Laughter). ; He could point to children and grandchildren almost by the hundred, and considered that was a sufficient stake, They constantly heard tho cry that there was ho money 'in the country, he. would just refer them to the amount spent during the Christmas kohdays, which averaged £ 1 per head of the population, spent on ex-. eursions, picnics, Theatres &c. He considered there was plentyof money in the colony, all that was required was to put fmanoial affairs in a proper state, «l settle:tho people on the lands, I the future of the colony was bound .tbb'e successful, (Cheers). -.He contended that there wero just as good fish in the sea as ever was caught, and if Major Atkinson or Sir Julius Vogelwere to. die they would find •just as good men to. fill -their places. .He should not pledge.hnhself to. any kparty, and if returned -would do his Ibest for the colony at. large,-; and he when he came back they •' would be satisfied withihe choice thoy : had made. Mr Bunny then' resumed his seat amid cheers, n The following . answers were given to questions asked: by Mr Price:—Considered the Governors salary should be reduced, would ■ be prepared to support a reduction in the salary of the next Governor. Considered that if the Ministers devoted their whole time to the official duties their salary of £I2OO was not too much, as there was plenty of hard Akfor.themonoy. • Would sell the ministerial residences, and turn- them into-money, as he did not think they • were, wanted. -'.•.">.'■ By Mr Lydqw; Was in favor of : abolishing the nominative system for ' the Upper House, But was not prepared ; to say what elective system he would adopt. Would make large electorates, and the term to be seven years. . A voice; What do you mean by a progressive land tax? Mr Bunny: If you owned 50,000 aores I should tax you more than a tan who had 40,000 or less, and you glad tocut it up, as I should make the tax stiff enough to touch you up.' (Loud cheering.) Mr Colin Goodin attempted to speak, but the larrikin element took possession of the nleeting'-and would not listen to him. He, however, wrote his question on a piece of paper, and handed it to Mr Bunny, which was a query, " How did Mr Bunny propose tjLgct the money to pay men 7s or »day?" Iftr Bunny: We shall find it the same way as we pay for our tea arid sugar— out of our breeches pocket. As for you, I think you are a 8s Cd a day man, and by what I can see (a • voice: eighteenpence) Oh!, I didn't -think he- had got so low as that. (Hoots, yells, "turnhim-out," "he's mad,"' , t)roar.) ■■ Avotbfc! thanks, was proposed by Mr B. Boys, seconded by Mr (Mister. A voice: I propose an amendment, that a vote of confidence be given. ■ r \Mr Bunny: What's your name ? • • ijjpi voice: Bunkum (laughter.) Mr Bunny: I wont ask you to give "me a vote of confidence; .-the ballot _ box is the placo for that. '. V The vote of thanks was then carried, . and a similar compliment to'the' Chairman concluded the meeting.-