MASTERTON ELECTION.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 2640, 6 July 1887, Page 2

MASTERTON ELECTION.

MR G. BEETHAM AT THE -THEATRE ROYAL.

Mr G, Beethafa' addressed tha electors-in the Theatre Royal last evening, and notwithstanding the un-' favorable weather there was, about 500 persons present, the dress-circle king fairly patronised by ladies, Mr E. Feist was voted to the chair, 'And in introducing Mr Bpetha'in said, that he had appeared so often before- them, arid was so well and favorably known that there was scarcely any'need for ceremony, All who had taken the trouble to watch Mr Beetham's actions in the House would agree that'he was actuated by pure motives and never stooped to anything savoring of corruption. He came before .'them to give an account of his Stewardship and state his viewi on the political outlook and he hoped'they would give him a patient hearing. (Cheers)': . '; Mr G. Beetham, who was received with cheers, said that the Chairman had spoken of him better than he deserved, although he. must idmit that the electors of the distribt had : always given him a favorable reception* He appeared before them in a twofold character, as a member of the district and;'as a candidate" seeking .their suffrages. He was greatly pleaW to, see so many ladies present, although ho roust confess that he felt, a little nervous before them, as he had to refer to them in his address while dealling with fomale suffrage. (Laughter,)

,THE OPPOSITION. in the first place he : would state somo of tie reasons why he opposed the present Government. When lie had appeared before thpm at the last election, the question was pub to him, •' Would he offer a factious opposition to the Government V He then said lis would give them that mede of support he thought they deserved, in the best interests of tho colony. In the first place he considered the proposal of Sir Julius Vogel to borrowitf.OOO.OOO as very detrimental to the interests of the colony. The Government, finding that the opposition was so strong against them modified this proposal considerably. (Applause), The question of dealing with local finance was also brought forward, and'judging from a speech made down South by Sir Julius Vogel, it was thought that it would be fairly dealt with, but thq scheme had to be. altered to a greatextent before it passed, and even then did not suit hia (the speakers) views. He did not approve of Sir Julius Vogel's fiscal policy for raising tho customstariff; aid 'reducing the property tax.'The'tariff proposals were not according to the wish of the people, andthe Government were compelled' to withdraw them. On this the Ministry were defeated but refused to resign. Ho objected to Sir Julius Vogel's Eist and West Coast Railway scheme, which was intended tp commit the Colony to an "outlay;.. of 195,000, and he thought it «was a most inadvisable measure. • ©wing to .the opposition scheme,.a much more, favorable contract had been let, iu every way advantageous to the colony. (Cheers). They all knew that by tho Hospital and Charitable Aids Bill a .demand was made on the Wairarapa tdsuppprtthe-Wellinoton poor. They wero called upon to find Li,087 13s 8d during the present year, out of which they were only to receive back' about L 575. This meant a conaiderablo loss to ■ the district as they would lose the whole of ihe subsidy on the amount. He had, with his colleague, Mr W. C. Buchanan, fought''for the Wairarapa district to obtain local self government in that matter and were so far successful as. to get independent hospital districts," (Cheers.) In Wairarapa South they suffered materially under the Act as they paid about ,£SOO and got no return. Ho had introduced a Bill last session," which would have done away with this injustice if it had passed. Tho Government had not acted fair to the district over this Act, as they voted in favor of the Waipawa and against the Wairarapa hospitals being locally self governed. Ko local government, Sir Robert Stout had said at Rangitikei, " that when the Government 'took office they intended to strengthen local government, that theironly desire was that the people should manage their own affairs, and that the only chanco of economy was to get tho people to manage their own affairs locally."

• How far'these views were carried out could be judged by the Hospital and Charitable Aid Bills, Sir Julius Vogel had proposed to lessen the subsidy one half, which was wrong in principle, as the Government should have assisted as far as possible instead of ~'attempting to lessen the powers of local bodies. He considered that personal property should bear its burden of the taxation of the colony, and did not think that hospitals and charitable aid should be charged against real" property. (Applause). He did not believe in Mr Balance's Land Acquisition Bill, nor the Native Land Bill as passed and brought into effect. His knowledge of the Native race was sufficient to convince him that it would stop the settlement of the Native land. He had expressed himself every time he had the opportunity in the House, but was told by Mr! Ballance that land would Bell more rapidly than ever. He knew that the Maories would have nothing to do with an Act in which the Government dealt with their land, and the result had been that no Native lands were disposed of during the last twelve months through that source. Those who had bought land from the Natives could not boast of having made any very large fortunes, oj course there wero a few exceptions in which the parties had got hold of good blocks of lands, but the general buyer found that the time, trouble, and ex--pense of dealing with the Natives did not leave a very great margin for profit. Ho thought that, the Natives should be able to place their land .in the market and get a fair competition fori fc/aud his most earnest wish was, that; the unoccupied Nativo lands should be settled upon, (Cheers) What was required was gppula- . tiqn :to help;/ the Colony- quit- of i its present difficulty, (ap'plaase),* Mr Bal-

lance had said that *• he was pleased that no native land had been bought under this Bill." Had it been generally known that ir was the Govornment's desiro to prohibit the settlement of the Native lands tho Bill would not > have received the. support, it did, and he toped its repeal as brought forward by Wi Pere last : session would' : be dgaiis before the House.; He thought tjie North Island-had enjoyed the pickings, long. Enough,- .and 'lie /hoped •some of the Southern eapitalists'woiild be induced'to-take up lands in this Island, as thatywas what was required, and he • knew of plenty of good-land on the East Coast; that would be'favorable; for investment if it was.thrown open for competition.' He took great Objection to SirEobert Stout, who in many instances depreciated capital, more especially in his landhationalisation fad. What New Zealand wanted was capital There were large amounts needed every ;year to pay t he, interest' on Government, local hodies,and private loans, and unless the capitalists 'could be induced to invent.money.;in - the colony, the circulating medium would become very short indeed. He knew of a case where two firms, had recoivod instructions to withdraw from the colony L 1.00,000 daring the past month, and if that was the experience of twofirnis in Wellington what would it-mean all over the colony 1 1t meant that unless the credit'of the colony was restored, absolute ruin would follow to a great many people who -were at the mercy of the foreign capitalists, He blain«d Sir Robert Stout for this state. There was very little in the country to realise on, and they must depend upon the capitalists. The Government must reassure the English capitalist that the in the colony would be well protected and that could only be done by discarding land nationalisation and other fads. (Cheers.) He was greatly surprised to hear that Sir Robert Stout, who preached that the colony should never part with its land, had 1000 acres at Waitaki. He. believed, however, that he was converted, because he tried to sell it, but could uot, (Laughter.) ECONOMY. There was acontinualcry of Economy, Economy, throughout the colony. Candidates advocated it when soliciting the support of the electors, but forgot all about it when they got to the House. (Laughter).. Sir Julius Vogel over estimated his returns by L 325.000 for which he did not give him much credit, although ho was .such a great financier, aud was going to carry the colony along by leaps and bounds, Sir R. Stout did not show economy in his District Railway purchasing Bill which committed tho country to L600,D00. That Railway was already in existence constructed by tueu with their eyes open, and he did not see that the Government had any more right to purchase that and take the burden off the shoulders of theso men and place it on the country, than they had to purchase the debts and loans of the different local bodies. Such an act was unjust to the colony, as the line referred to was not paying working expenses, Sir Julius Vogel when he "proposed to purchase the line said it was to be bought at absolute cost of production, but he was glad to say that after a hard fight the Opposition compelled them to purchase at valuation, thus effecting a considerable saying to the colony, for. which Jthe Government could not tab any credit. He referred to the Waimate Railway, which was thrown out by the House, but by a. system of log rolling was inserted in a surreptitious manner, and at a lato hour, and passed, pledging the colony to £33,963. In connection with this, ho did not believe that Major Steward thought he was doing wrong by receiving the commission of £loooon the sales, and did not believe that Sir Julius Vogel received anything in connection with it, although the Committee's report was anything but favorable to them.

REPRESENTATION.

The reason that li 9 had not addressed them at an earlier date was, that he wanted to know the.boundaries of the new districts. He very much regretted to lose Gladstone, a district that he •had always worked so well with, and he was sorry that the Bush district had been cut off, as they all knew that ■he had worked hard in company with his friend Mr McOardle to further the settlement of the Bush districts. (Cheers.) He was sorry that the Government did not 806 its way to reduce the number of members, for he felt it his duty to vote for the reduction to seventy-one, as it would lessen the expenses, save time, and assist the legislation of the colony. (Cheerß.) Sir Robert Stout had appeared willing to have eighty-eight members in the House, and was no doubt annoyed when he found how his supporters accepted the reduction. He blamed Mr Seddon for the opposition to reducing the number of members In the House, and said that if Sir Robert Stout was sincere he could have passed the Representation Bill in 1886, but was no doubt afraid of losing a few of his supporters, and his place in power. To this he attributed the present extra session, and said that the Government, and not the Opposition, were entirely to blame in the matter. He alluded to the fight of the Opposition over the margin which had secured the extra man toie thi district He thought the people of New Zealand were far too liberal in their representation. In Victoria they had one member to every 12,000, in New South Wales one in 8864, and in New Zealand one in 6522, and in America one in every 600,000. He had been in favor of the Wairarapa returning two .members,' and considered that would be quite enough. He thought the Colony was coming to the end of borrowing, and they should look to a a man to represent them thoroughly, one who would conserve their interest by prudent legislation, exercise his judgment for the general good, and not because he could screw the most' out'of the Government for his district. ■■'■■''■ FEEEIRADE. „• He considered. Freetrade'a mis- 1 nomer in New Zealand, as the. fiscal! requirements compelled the levying.';ofl large Custqiri's duties. His idea #as| freetraders far as was wnsiet&it'

with the requirements of the- CoiJJ* (Applause.) He alluded to Mr Ballance'schange of views, and oould not? blame', him;. but thanked him for pro; Tiding-some strong arguments La : T favor of had not ;alwayß: been > consistent Ereetrader, for he. foimd' on. looliiog over an old eleetion addresg,, that he had an"import; duty on timber lot 2s per 1000 ft, s -aoid ; that was not an act of a; Hreetra'der. [laughter] The duty thon hadbesn taken off, and. market • was 'flooded'■':,'.with, -foreign timber, which stp|ped : the Sawmills,. but by impoVmg the duty, whioh was : stpl'on, the-indußtry, was 1 ously protected; .• Mr (vßalltoee stated. that the -great test. question of the election would be Freetrade v. Protection; Sir R. Stout, who' took a different view: of. the .question, skid he "Did not know if i this .Colony could be called a freetrade.Colony with 16| per cent ad valorem duties,: and regarded the question solely as a side issue." .Hej!d» hardly understand how two MinislJ ceuld bring such opposite views before ■ .the .-public. He quoted extracts- to show-Mrßallance'sxiews in favor of . freetrade,.and said that howuldnot read that gentleman's.proteotive views; he would merely say,' they were quite opposite. (Laughter.) He referred to the. disastrous.effect of Protection in America, their,once powerful mercantilefle'etwasreducedtoafew coagtal Yessels, its wealth" of raw. cotton sent to Englandj who exported as much'bf the manufactured goods, in two : weeks as America did in. a year. 'America exported.into Canada.-1,409,000 yardsil of cotton stuff a year, and England, j although ..competing- - thousands of miles away, sent 82,686,700 yards annually. A great many might say that a country with protection was not prevented from exporting, but this was a case in point, showing, that a protective country could not export like a freetrade one. Ho said New Zealand was likely to'-become : a great commercial country,, and be ; hoped they would not adopt'the suicidal protectiye policy.that was wished for by a great many. They had receive Map side of the question from theJlr but this was quite fallacious on being looked into. He did not blame Mr Hogg, for he always iinade the best of anything he took in hand.- (Laughter.) Now, in the exports of Protective-Vic-toria, the item of gold, which was in itself a most important: one, had not been taken into consideration. Mori Hogg had never mentioned anything! about.it,' [Laughter.]' In 1885theexport of g01d.wa5.'J2,940,872,' and in New South .Wales for the same yoar £866,888. : Prom 1851 to 'BS Victoria exported gold to the value of £214,912,000. As money made the marejto go, it did. not much matter what the export was; it, was all money's worth. He alluded to the difference between the two colonies, Victoria having good land and'"climate, while New South Wales -suffered from drought, and had no good land near--its sea-, board, and had a very.variable chmjfc' often causing destruction to its stocx As the question of freetrade and Protection was an extensive one, he intended to convened public meoting forthepurposeofdisoussing it. They would then, find out if there really was anything in it. .He,.was in favor of Protection to:' a certain ""■' extent, and advocated the bonus:system, as an inducement for capitalists to settle in tie Colony and establish industries.. He would be quite prepared to support the bonus system, as bonuses could always be stopped, and if ftoi claimed returned* to the Treasury chest. He alluded to" the supposed workman's paradise, Victoria, where 400 sheemakers turned out on strike owing to the ..keen eom« petition and the employers wishing to lower the wages of the men. Protective France and Germany with their sugar bounty fighting England with lollies, the English woollen trade, boots, ironmongery, and Colonial woollen industrieswere also dwelt upon, the speaker's arguments being J|i favor of Freetrade as against Paction.

LAND QUESTIONS. It had been reported, and some believed it, that he had not done his best to assist Mr Ballance to settle the people on the'land. He must deny it, and they all-knew he haddono hisbest. [Cheers.]- He had never thoroughly believed', in the Special Settlements, as.against the ordinary Land Board way 0f,.-disposing of land. : He thought that by cutting up isolated blocks of land they could not make/, continuoussettleinent, but had found J one of his objections had been removed. He trusted that the Village Settlement would'., prove successful, and thought the one ,at Pahiatua, fromita favorable position would bathe making of homes for the settlers • that would prove a credit to themselves and profitable to the Colony. Mr Ballance had been credited with introducing liberaUand laws in the colony, but he contended.: that Mr Rollolton was the initiator of them, al(wfh Mr Ballance introduced the SpG&aland Village Settlement schemes. Mr Ballance had been.;'callfld to account for his expenditureof £70,000, when his department had only £7OOO to ' spend on his. Village Scheme. He excused himself to the House by say ing that tlie Government had the sumof - £IOO,OOO set aside?o v r special purposes, and he [Mr.'Beethani]- thought that if the whole .jfsjffije Ministers had v ; spent in the same'way as Mr Ballance.; it would have cost the tountry about i/ £420,000. There,™ land to the S North of Auckland that wouldnot keep a mouse (laughter), on which men with families had been placed under ' the Village Settlement scheme. The* t Government had advanced the usual amount for buildings and improvements, but he- fully expected that when the gum diggings were, worked out, the people-would clear out, and leave the land .and buildings on the' hands of the Government. : ' \ IAiTO.-ACQpBITIOIf,V >.fit :. v• _ Sir Robert Stout,hi said that theWf;y timentg of the ■ English "people were-' itt ' i favor of and that the frsKoid' eyatem had been tried, but that noVone ' lookingattheolderjouhtties of Europe could/Bay that it-walasuccess.' He (thV ■ speaker) .could say ;tK>t he, would do hia best to carry out Mi sentiment, as hei helieyed.thafc everf Mn : . r to the ; colony eves.. (^e^^ J Mt'|ap» jttd

!»no more to-destroy the confidence of 'the English capitalists than,any other man, and has been tho cause of a considerable amount of money being with•drawn from the colony. While the tenure of the land lawß were so uncertain it was felt undesirable on the part of the ; • capitalists to send their money hero, fle Was glad that his friend Mr McCardle •■#ed with, him jft .his ideas of land .•nationalisation.--."(Cheera). *. ..' ' . "—.■:'■'. ■■ -.:';■: SCcbiTlOH." ':' ..... ••• .....He'had on:.two or: - .eipreasedhisboKef that the,: State ed'uca*' tion should-jnot -go beyond'! the..4th Standard, but .found on enquiry "that to 'carry this put ,would' be; detrimental:: to the colony. • Still, however, he believed v that it was worth consideration. He con- ' ftidered that those'- who wentju for the higher branches of education should pay for it.. (Cheers.).: He thought they might impose some fee for the two higher standards, . and .. make . the "higher branches 'self, supporting, (Cheers | and dissent). The Government-would have • to face tho question in.the future as thero •was close upon £500,000 annually spent ppon education.-' . There was a certain lection of. the community, who from religious scruples could not take part in the statb education, and on whose behalf the utmost economy should be observed. If elected ho would move that a select committee be appoiuted to deal with the matter, (applause). . JBMALE SUFFRAGE.

When this Bill'came on for the second reading in the House he did hub votefor it. It Was'generally-admittcd that the women should have Borne right, bub what that was to be, wa> notuniversally understood, Somo members called them angels, and.

Borne said they were not (laughter), a deal of trash was spoken over the Bill, gome trying to argue that women were belter and some that they were worse than men, (laughter). His opinion was that.women were not inferior to tho opposite sex, and-as they had a vote in concoction with local Government, they should also havo a voice in the election of the representatives of the Colony, (cheers) It had been said, if women are allowed to vote why not allow them to sit in the House, (Hear, hear). This was a knotty point and required some consideration. During the debate in the House Wi fere, a native member, remarked that he was "sure his wife would not allow him to sit in the House with any woman unless she was there too. (Laughter) Another Rktive member said that the members ™ild be always looking at the ladies insteadofmindingtlieir business, (Laughtor) He was veiy doubtful if the admission of ladies to the House would assist in making the progress, of Legislation faster than it now moved. He was afraid that if there were some good-looking lady members there, some of the bachelor nienibors of

the House, like his friend Mr Buchanan, vould be airing.- their eloqUonco before them to the detriment of the colony. He related an incident that happened at harbor's shop in Maßtcrton last week, in which a political Btation hand told him " lie was not going to vote for Beetham because he had voted in favor of giving women a vote, his mate told him so," GENERAL. He would not touch upon taxation now, there would'bo plenty of time during the next six weeks to deal with that subject. With regard to the Upper House he believed that the Honorarium should be ro-

duced by one half, They should remember that there were a number of poor .An there, and if their services were spßth having they should be paid for. He'would not be in favor of abolishing this House altogether as he considered it a check to hasty legislation. By taking away .the honorarium they would make it a cbamber.for.the rich only—a very undetirablo thing. He believe that an dectivo chabberwouldbeproferablo ajid thatlarge electorates should be defined for tho purpose of returning the members. If. ; eloctcd he would givo it consideration, and hoped he should judge wisely. (Cheers). :, lie railways;. The Wellington-Wnirar-ajft line was about fourth on the M tof paying lilies,'and was returning L2 5b . per cent on tho working expenses. r (Applause). Re defence; Too much had ken spent on elaborate defences. He had heard from an. experienced authority that a und bag defence would be equally as effective as our forts and batteries, and thought it would have been better if tho Government had hot taken so much notice of outside showm tho construction of theso works. (Cheers). He was proud to see such a spirit ofJoyalty pervading the populace of Master«as was evinced during tho Jubilee ivities.. Every credit was due to thbse who had worked so hard to ensure its success, especially as all entered into tho celebration in a spirit of loyalty, and without any prospect of gain, PERSONAL.

■• He had heard it stated in Masteiton that he had said Mr Hawkins had voted in favor ofiwducingworkmen'swages. Suchastate- . ment was false, and made by an enemy, . (Applause,) He had never heard of the wages being lowered till he saw it in the newspapers, and he had never made a .charge against Mr Hawkinß or any other man. ' (Cheers.) If he had fault to find t. with any man, or anything to say against anyone, he would not say it in the street, but on tho public platform, (Cheers.) At present there were two candidates before them soliciting their suffrages; he could not say how many mora there might be before the day of election. It was for • them to ]udge who wns beat qualified to represent them, Ho had been returned by them four times, and he was grateful for the trust reposed in him. Ho had always felt it his duty to serve them, and did bo with great pleasure, If elected he would-use his. best endeavors to servo t&jta'as in the past to the best of his fQpty. (Applause.) If they thought thoy could get anyone to serve them better than himself, thoy should olect them, and dismiss him with a vote ofthanks. He hoped they would throw off ' all friendship in the present election and vote for the man they thought would serve thorn best, Ho did not wish them to vote for him because he was a good - fellow, or because they had personal . regard for him, but hoped that they would'have.no desire in view but to.serve the colony. (Prolonged applause,), Mr Beetfiam then resumed his seat, \ "'. ".; ' (juzsnoNs, ;'.' The following answers wore givon by Mr Beetham to questions asked ; Did not "think that Sir Julius Vogel received £40,000 out of the.Colonial Treasury, thought thero must be some •mistake made' by the questioner. Although he always voted against the Bible Win? -read in the State schools he was in .. favor of the rising generation receiving ; religious instruction, but would not.sup-: po'rt'the introduction of religion into the : Bcnools. (Applause),; Re the £IO,OOO proposed to be granted to the Imperial '. Institute \ did notthink Itwbbhis duty' «t as apologist for the Government innatter, at.the Bame.time did not Bth'em for their action, as ; he con- : 'tidered It would debase the. colony in the' S'' es of the'wqrld ; if they actde otherwise, ad ahrajß voted; against a Land Tax in ■_ of ei Property Tax, as tho latter ; -' ; %ji;hed/ the mortgagee, whereas the for- • affected-the hard, working and he preferred the-tax that the ; (Cheers). " Alhe was rfo't'-in favor of the pension ' ' B^^^lwcc^deredtliattlw colony

should not break faith with those they had entered into an agreement with, but .carry it out. He was glad to say that tho pension systom was now abolished. Be Land Board expenses, ho was glad to be able to make an explanation, as lie considered it duo to Mr McCardle after what had been said about him. When attending.the Board meetings, he (Mr Beetham) badi-used his free pass on the and had alio no hotel expenses to pay, 'whereas Mr McCardle's position was different, for ho had to pay a large j sum'in-travelling expenses, and also had pto pay for hotel accommodation, and he did npt consider they had anything to : blamohirofor. Hethoughtthb .mistake . rested, with-the. Government ;hv .sending two. men from that district and increasing the'expenditure in the way they, had done, -. • (Cheers.) Mr McCardle had proposed a resolution which was adopted, that the Board meet once a month, but the work of the Board was so heavy that they could not consistently adjourn for so Ion? a period. Did not vote for Minister's wives to travel at the oxpense of the Government, but thought that members from a distance should not be debarred from having their wives with them during the session. Did not think it would be judicious to abolish free passes ou the railway to members out of session. He had •travelled considerably over the Colonial railways, and believed it was lib duty to do so, as he made himself acquainted with tho requirements of tho Colony as a whole. He hoped that whoever thoy returned would take tho opportunity, of travelling through the Colony as he had done. He did- not behove in members travelling at tho expense of the country to transaot private business, as sorno did, Tho expense was very small and thero was always plenty of room on the railways for a poor member, (laughter). Although ho thought trionnial, parliaments too short, he was not in favor of altering them to quinquennial ones. He was not in favor of total prohibition of the liquor traffic although he sincorely wished to soe sobriety among tho peoplo. (hear hear). He knew there were men who liked a glass of beer aud he would not be in favor of depriving them of it. (hear hear). Ho heard it remarked down the street tho other day ''There is Boctham down there rolling them all in to haye a drink," (lauohtor), those who said so were not his friends, at the same time he could tell them that if he met a friend of his at a Bar, he should ask him to have a drink. (Hear! hear! and laughter.) Ho could say nothing against the employment of barmaids, as he believed there were as good and virtuous young women among them, as there were among any other class of women, ond thought they could do a great amount of good in their sphere, by 'discouraging the habits of drinking among certain classes of men. He had no doubt that good-looking barmaids were agrcat&ttraction to young num. (laughter) He did not think it necessary to increase the bottle licenses, as that was a question already decided by local option. Mr McCardle. Mr McCardle. who was received with loud cheers, ascended the platform, and ' announced to tho electors of Mastorton his intention of abandoning tho contest in this district for tho purpose of standing for. the bush district of Woodville. He thanked, tho electors ol Wairarapa North for the liberal support he received at the last election,bub considered it was his duty to stand for the district and peoplo for whom he had labored so long. He knew he had a bard fight before him, and had an old and well tried man as an opponent. Ho hoped he would retain tho confidence of the'electors Of Wairarapa North, and solicited their votes in the coming contest, (loud cheers). Mr T. B, Chamberlain proposed, and Mr G. Heron seconded, a vote of thanks to Mr Beetham for his able and instructive address, The motion was carried without a dissentient, aud a similar compliment to tho chair co ncluded the meeting.