MR BEETHAM AT MAURICE. VILLE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 2670, 10 August 1887, Page 2

MR BEETHAM AT MAURICE. VILLE.

The inclemency of the weather on Saturday evening did not prevent the electors of Mauricevijie from mustering in force to hear the popular candidate, Mr Bnethani,;in the School-house, Mr Guadersen, who was voted to the chair, introduced the Jecturer us an • old friend and an old, .sutler' who had identified hi[d'sel{w|th'.|the wants ami wishes of the people,.'.and"." who. had' ill ways taken tlje liveliest- interest • iti; the progress vf'tie settlement.Mr ijleejbam, who tfas receired fjth. evident marks of respect, ledged tho complinicnt Of'such. 9" large audience on a roidi'.wet, eveniugV. atid expressed i regret that, circumstance's necessitated the holding of elections in midwinter. He would endeavor,'if possible to have tbeni held in summer for tbe future. Referring to the Chairman's compliment, Mr Bcotham said he was now before them as a candidate, and as an. old member he, wished to redeem a promise he had made by explaining his uotion in the past. (Applause.) When entering the last Parliament ho had promised to support the Government in all things consistent and reasonable, But the Stout-Vogcl Ministry fwuro. not nor would they, go- out; Like Englishmen they/did j; not know when tbey were beaten, although he and the majority of tbe House bad repeatedly ex posed theirinconsistency. and their incapacity to tuauage the affairs of the country.- They did iiot understand tho subject of local self-govern-" ment, rind the policy of Sir Julius Vogel was calculated only to expose the country to insuperable difficulties, with a mill-stone rouud. every man's neck, from which it was impossible to bo relieved. Sir Julius Vogel'a ability was generally ..-.-acknowledged' and admired ; he had done much for the country in. the construction of railways', roads, public buildings, and public works generally. But there was tio continuity in his policy, and as a consequence they had-.tb regret the waste of immense sums of money in .-.unproductive works, .with corresponding waste and extravagance on the .part of the Government. The matter of expense should bo closely looked into,, and no money should be raised till they knew what it was for, and until, after careful consideration, they were convinced that it .would be expimded judiciously. He.jbad lately travelled' a groat deal through New. Zealand, taking 6pecial noticu of railways; and public works iu Auckland, aud- in the .South Island geu'erally, Some railways did pay, but otherV wero, and for generationti woald remain, iiuprdfitable. In tho proviuco of Auoklund, for instance; fiom-Thames to Te-Aroha, Ikero was ; a railway . which should never have been made. It run along; a navigable river all the way, aud'. al-, though it cost £50,0.00 it might never yield a peuuy dividend. Some of the, Hues'of-tho South Island were not much better, and it was tho duty of electors tp, return such members as would oppose the construction-of'all unprofitable lines in tbo future.' Iu reference to tbo Midland Railway Mr Beetham said tbe country was iucjebted. to the Opposition for successfully, resisting Sir Julius Vogel's policy of reciprocal jobbery, by managing to have alternato blocks of laud reservjd along the Hue, so that the company was practically' powerless to interfere with tho sottlerß. He opposed' Sir Robert Stout's Bill for Hospitals, as be considered it most unfair that country districts, such as the Waitarapa should not only have to support tboir' own poor, but also contribute towards charitable aid iu Wellington. ' Sir Ro'iort Stout wished Hospitals to be charged on the rating area of Local Bodies, instead of landrd and personal property. The latter method he considered, would compel all to contribute towards the support of such institn-. tious. He opposed Mr Ballahce's .Land Acquisition Bill which was' foreign to the spirit of English Legislation, which would lead to endless confusion and animosity, audprovent people from ronowing their mortgages in many cases, owing to tbo insecurity of laud tenure in tho Uolouy, Asa matter of fact he could state./ Mat ,£IOO,OOO would be withdrawn from Wellington in two years hence, and invested elsewhere, owing to the pr«sent unsettled state of the land question in New Zealand, Capitalists at Home were becoming afraid to invest money in the country, knowing that the principle of the Land Acquisition Bill. if. once admitted, might extend even to villages and small areas, causing industry to languish, and settlement to cease. Referring to laud , companies, Mr Beetham said he had : beeu grossly misrepresented by Mr .Hogg at Mastorton in connection with thePuketoi Block, evenafter Mr Hog(» badheardhis (Mr Beetham'B) explanation. Mr Beetham bud tried to obtain land for Messrs Fahinn Bros, who ultimately purchased elsewhere, aud bia (Mr Beetham'sj brothers had merely purchased land in> the ordinary way, a hotbed of scab on which they had to expend 145,000 in addition to tbe purchase mouoy, before they derived ope penny from it. The land on which so uiuch capital had been judiciously expended, ■ was now cut up into three sectioni, and could be had at ut reasouable figure by any one wlio desired it. Tho present Ministry deserved uo crodit for anything counected with the settlement of land, with the exception ot Mr Ballance'B Village Settlement Scheme, which gave people a borne where they might improve the land,, and supplement their support at the same time by working ou adjacant and larger settlements, tbp scheme deserved encouragement, but Mr Balance'should not have spent £70,000 without authority. To put settlers )n Kauri Guru land, giving each of ihem £2O to build huts was » waste )f money, and only deferred the agony. 3um land: was useless for arable:or wstoral purposes, and when the ivas exhausted, the people would have wthing to live on. A Wairarapa >aper stated somo time ago that he Mr Beotham) had voted to raise the and in Wellington to £1 per acre, • ledid nothing of the kind: he had imply been deceived by Mr. Ballance, vho, when taxed with '•■ it, pleaded [uilty to a rather questionable artifice

to obtain his vote. In tbe\ economy, it ,was only iietoi&ary to rofW b) i the Native DeparttrienV and tbl Vickers case to show/ how lifcilti economy was practised. Twelve ao'niiis ago the Native Department cost £I2OO now it costs 33000. Mr Vicars,-an experienced hand of service,- was dismiss!, anil fctir'Tnen ,m his place. One. of'them:waa.fMtnerly an editof ofa p'aperNative atfairQras of ■;' Sanscr-ifcrnVJf■ ••■ i aDor , WftS required. have: •8' Te nf:^e:pii«ifei ; ence to their''.old" servant, *nd.if be (Mr Btetham) W returned,.He 'wM seethatthe fullest'.' enquiries ; : ,wer>!, made.' (Applause). After refernnV to Major Stewart's' curious connection with rail ways in the South Island, Mr Beetham went on to say that the Government, and not, the Opposition, wen? responsible for the second session at a cost ofJt'3o,ooo. The, Representation'■■Bill, advocated by Sift Robert Stout,' was obnoxious w Southern mombefK, who threatened to, extinguish the Premier if he reduced the number of members from 91 to 71. Sir Robert hud tti eaUlm leek, and rather than, obstruct legislation the Opposition yielded. Sir Robert Stout said it was possible to reduce tho expeuditare .by LIOO.OOO, without impairiup;,, the efficiency of too public. service- He,should have said so and indicated .howthis was to be effcoted before going to bis constituents. Sir Robertsaid'that'tbe Atkinson party would taxthe necessaries of life. Tho very opposite, however, was the case, and the effrontery .qf Buch an assertion from tho Premier was simply astounding. The present Government had raised the duty on/tapioca, macraoni, rice,, sago, medicines, boots and shoes, perambulators,' h. ut and they proposed such-a ..further iricreasa of duly on irticles of dress', and domestic use as would iitldj!2 a head annually to the expenses of every poor family. If protection meant taxation they were already protected enough, since tb.e averagotax on most'imported articles now reaches from 30 to 40 per cent, Jfe France and Germany where labor vim' much protected, a working umu got from 2s to 2». 6d a, day, while in freetrade England the wages were 50 per cent higher, and in New Zealand the wage* four times 'as much. Having been, misrepresented, in Mauriceville oil the question of Education Mr Beetham wished to. state emphutically that while ..admitting the necessity of care and economy in the expenditure of the Education grant/he would never let economy interfere with i be efiicjeuov :of tho- prcsenf "sys'tenii . Advahwd education wits uecessanv.btit ilie, rich audnottheStatc'shouidpay forit. If be voted for the Wellijj-ton College (and he : would,do-' so: agaio) it was ■simply bcctttise he .wiHbid to seethe Education Reserves : .of -New Zculuixl fairly divided., He objected -to the ■introduction of Zulu labour, he nevtr, tried to coerce or. press the'working! classes or reduce their" wages'. But ipf answer to several questions Mr Beethani'' said he would vote for. a '.material re: duotion in Ministers' salaries, and for a reduction in the honorarium, to mem* bers. Pensions weroabpjialiod in 1880,. but -vested rights'were respected. Mr Maxwell had it--in hi« power to retire on ut pension if bd liked, but the £15.0 grunted by tbo'Governiuont .wagii gratuity to Which/uo length of. /senioa uow entitled; him.. (Hore a gentleman charitably expressed a bopo that Mr Ma'xwell might .wot his feed on his voyage to, England.) •■• The workjog of the Manawafcu railway might be imitated by thoMata lines with protit, and he said the telephone was not likely to be seen in Mnmi'ceville till after the ope'uiiig of Parliament. Women having property should be entitled to a vote, but'they, would be altogether out of place us members of Parliament. On the motion of Mr Jessen, a. voto of thanks was uriauinioiinl jf accorded to Mr Boelhaui, who replied, and after the usual compliment to the chairman (Mr Gunderson), the, proceedings terminated.