MR BUCHANAN AT TAUERU.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3630, 12 November 1890, Page 2

MR BUCHANAN AT TAUERU.

, 'Mr C.Buohanan addressed thoroughly representative meeting.a the Taueru aolioolhouse last evening The attendance was very good,- overj available seat being occupied, and i number being unable to find scatini accommodation. ■ Mr F. Smith occupied the chair and briefly introduced Mrßuchanai to the meeting,. Mr Buchanan opened his remark by informing "those present that h was a candidate for tho House c Representatives, and was . there t address the electors on some of tli most important political questions oi the day. Hewould like before doiii| so to say a few words in reference t the ohange of boundaries. , They ha formerly been in the Mastertoi district, and it was his opinion tha it would have been bettor if tin Taueru had remained in that distrioj Parliament had, however, carried ou the expressed wish of the country' b; reducing the number of represents tires, and the Commissioners whi bad the re-arranging and mappini out of the W'airarapa ha found that as it became < neces sary to add to the southern district something must be taken from tin mstern, and that was how he carni io addvesa them on this occasion Although he was not so well ltnowi n the Taueru as in the:, south, h 'elt sura from the manner in wiiiol iheyhadmct him that lie shouli receive a patient hearing, He*wa i dettler-like themselves, and it wa 0 their' mutual interests, to mee ihus and discuss calmly the,, politico natters of the present day. Afte hey had given him an opportunity if explaining his views, ...he ehoul ake, pleasure in answering ,au luestio.ns thoy might like ,to pui Applause,) One of the diißoutic nth which candidates had to dea n addressing a large electorate at iti everal centres was that of repetition L great deal of what he had said a lis first Carterton address and whid aany of them had seen in print lust unavoidably be repeated, The] /ould, however, like to hear froii 1 candidate's own lips, face to face /hat he had to say. Mr Buchanai lien reviewed the financial posi ion of the colony at the dii olution of the old Parliament and a he present day.' He said tha [though it was impossible for all ti greewith either the Stout-Vogel 0 Ltkinson Government, no one couli by a measure of praise to tli iresent Government for the finar ial position in . which they hat eft the country. Passing on to thi übject of taxation, lie had alway ipposed the tariff, and it wa? only b; he assistance of the Opposition .tha he measure was carried. Mr Bunn; n his recentaddrcss at Carterton hat ed bis audience to believe that him lelf and Mr Beethamhad never raise l i word against tho "black" tarifl Phis he strongly protested againßl rail if Mr Bunny did not know bette: le certainly ouglii lo have dono sc Mr Buchanan then alluded to tin vorlc done by the last parliament Iwelling at length on some of th norfe important amendments, an ixpressing views similar to thos ilveady reported at his Cartertoi lioeting. Coming to tho INCIDENCE OF TAXATION, ie explained tho present position 0 lie colony under the Property ta. ind Customs Duty audshowed ho\ mposßiblpit TOlil bo to raise th l jMjiiiredfimonnt of revenue by a lan ,ax, In his address at Carterton h md avoided personalities and hat lot alluded to Mr Bunny or his view as ospressed in a published address iut Mr Bunny had not treated hin n the same manner. He bad m kit to find with tliao gentleman fo loing so, none whatever, but sow i ivould be lwcesSajy to allude ti jertoin warks made at his reoen address at Carterton, On that occa aion Mr Bunny had proposed ti iboliah £1,272,000 of taxation b; ioing away with the Customß tarii and the Property Tax, and would ii place of this introduce a Land am Income Tax. Mr Butpiy Jiai further stated that tho unim prayed V>luo of the occupied land; Waa £75,000,000 of money and tha the valuation was too low at that Mr Bunny had access to. the rasordi and ha coiM possibly havi stated that the value wa fifS>QQO,OOQ lie Mr (Buchanan) oouli not understand, Unfortunately thi truth was that the value wa only £57,000,000, and if figures wer gone into they would find tha allowing a reasonable return of sa six per cent., no leas than five shilling in the £ would be required to mee the amount lost by doing away witl the Customs and Property Tax Such a method as this proposed b Mr Bunny would be simply. ruinous At the present .time nearl £80,000,000 had been advanced oi mortgage, principally in tho couutr districts, and supposing a lan' owner to have raised sixty or seventy five per cent, on his estate, under 1 land tax lie would have to pay a ta: 01} the \vUole pf the land, while the mortgagee would escape, On th oilier hand, under the present systeu a man was only taxed for what h really owned, During his term 0 office Sir It, Stout liad promised ti show them how to raise the require! sura of • money by a lam tax, but ho ; had gone 011 without doing so, and it was oul a few days ago that Sir Sober admitted thfi 1 impossibility of doin it, He (Mr Buchanan) allowed tho many changes were necessary, but a the same time he did not know hoi Mr Bunny could have asked-ai intelligent audience to, believe tha such a large sum could bo raised an< yet taxation bo abolished. He wai afraid that either that gentleman bat not looked into figures, or if he hadhi bad drawn a smiling picture simply tc please his hearers, and made promises to them that he knew were not likely to be carried oat. No candidate from either side of the House, with the Bxception of Mr Bunny, had dared to put such proposals before the country. [Applause), And he would challenge Mr Bunny to show publicly by figures how this could be donor (Mr R, A, Butcher hero interjected "He will be here ou the 19th.") Mr Buchanan then dealt with the questions of land settlement, dummyism, ihe labour difficulties, and education, tn .regard to the latter he informed his : heaters that Mr ljunny in his Ordytown address had spoken in favait Rising tjie school ige and restricting the educational ixpenditure ill srioli a way as to-save £150,000, If returned, lie |Mr Buohanan) should most strongly ipposs any such- step, because it ivould lead to the closing altogether if! many country schools owing to ,he attendance falling below ; the • . If' suoh a course ..were ,veiu b .. . " word the settleollowed it .wouiu . •<.. sent of land by taking away from tue eitfei;, wjif) ps pushing his way into hi' bacV'Sjduijfe alui(s the only etum 'he had fov"liie ehare" of

taxation vizthe education of his children.: If they wisli tbo lands to is lie -.pasiie/ ou. A question: had been raised by Mr-Bunny and others, in reference .to the frozen meat trade, whioli had surprised him very miioli; The Waiiariipa Stair had a short time ago published, the following remarkable passage : ' % , - • What signifies rise: in.' wool; or,an increased produolion of frozen moat to the swagger humping bis blankots from station to station looking vainly for employment? Will this'kind of prosperity give him moro constant work or better wages ? Will it reduce the price of beef aud mutton or take the duty off his tobacco ? Will it help the labor fund ? Will it add to tho profits or earnings of the oarpenter, the cabinetmaker, or the. blacksmith? Will it'help the takings over the oouiiter ?■ Will it put additional settlers on the land, or holp tho young industries in our towns and sities ? Will it clothe the ndkqd orfeed the hungry? Will it inorease the attractiveness of the Colony and draw population ? ; What is the good of wealth if it goes chiefly to. enrich absontecs? What does the community gain" if most of this wealth is spent abroad oris invested in the, acquisition of'miles . upon miles of land from which population will be excluded ?' Is money thus applied a blessing or a curse to. the people ? (laughter,) *

Mr Bunny had followed iu much the same strain, aud had : asked who got the beuefit from the frozen meat? He maintained the large grazier, and the large landowner, while the working man pays 8d per

lb for .''cull ■ewes aud old cows." . Suoh anappeal was perfectly ridiculous. It might just as.well be said that it. did not matter to the wage, earner whether the Bawmiller got 2s 6d or 10s per 100 ft for timber; lie bad personally takengrcat'interest

in the frozen meat trade, aud had taken the matter up in this district to prevent monopoly by providing a door for the small settler to get rid of his produce. It was admitted by almost all that the frozen meat trade was of

paramount importance to the colony. Stock was, the produce of the land, and the settler; by selling' his stock pocketed the produce, He was proud to have been able to assist the settlers in establishing the frozen meat trade, and he would say it'was not true they had to pay l|d per lb more for their meat. In conclusion Mr Buohanan said he did not want any man to vote for him who felt'he was not acting rightly. He thanked them for their attention and invited questions,, whereupon Mr R. A. Butcher rose and asked," Did younot say the Btout-Yogel. Government went in on ut pledge to abolish —(A voice: Don't you think we had better abolish whiskey, Butcher? (Low 1 laughter)—to abolish taxation ? Mr Buchanan: I did, .

•Mr Butcher: And yet did you not oppose the Bill to exempt agricultural implements ? Mr Buchanan: No fiill ever came before the Bouse. At the- aame time he had gone against the motion because he did not think it fair to exempt any one class of machinery although he would have been i gainer by so doing. Mr Butcher: Is it true you insist on the hands employed on your Black Bridge estate working from 7 till

Mr Buchanan: No. ' Mr Butcher: I. !moan slumping and busbfalling Mr Buohauan: Aa all my stumping and busbfalling is let by contract the men are af liberty to please themselves how long they work, All ordinary employees only -work 8 hours per day. ■ j Mr Butoher; One more question; (Cries of "Sit on him," "Sling him out," ''We don'twant papermenbere," ifcc.) After Mr Butoher had informed the delighted audience that " paper men" had as much right to ask questions -as anybody else, he proceeded to inquire if the mortgagee could not be got at by imposing an income tax, .

Mr Buchanan replied that this could*"be done, and denied having tried to lead the meeting to suppose otherwise; On his side lie should like to ask how much would it improve the land owners, to know that the mortgagee was taxed? As an illustration. -Under a land and income tax the free man would be asked to pay, whioh would he quite right, Mortgaged men also would have to pay lax on an acreage which they really did not own. Would it be to their benefit (except in an infinitesimal degree) to know that the other man was also paying tax ?'

Mr Butcher; Oh, just one more, are you in favor of taxing absentees ? Mr Buchanan replied, to the effect that he wasnothu'avorof a special tax, Such & tax would tend to place a lot of land on the market, and unfortunately we still had a deal of land unoccupied and no money to work it. The colony had been largely benefited by the introduction of English capital, and a special tax on absentees would tend to drive it away. Anyhow, the question was a vory small one as there wero only about 50 pooplo owning over 2,000 acres who were absent from the colony.

The Chairman then enquired if any othor gentleman wished to.ask questions, No one responding, Mr Ernest 0 Smith moved a hearty vote of thanks to Mr Buchanan,which was unanimously accorded, Mr Buchanan thanked the electors and the chairman, the meetiug then terminating.