POLITICAL.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4447, 17 June 1893, Page 2

POLITICAL.

Mr. A, W, Hogq, MR, at the theatre Royal, t/lasterton.

The Theatre Koyal, Masterton, wasI fairly well-filled last night, when Mr A. W. Hogg, M.H.8., delivered on address to Lis constituents. A number of ladies were also present. The chair was occupied by His Worship the Mayor, Mr A. W. Renall opening the meeting on his behalf, Mr Hogg, in opening Lis address said it was nearly since last he had addressed tie electors, oud since that time, in a political sense, New Zealand had seen many changes and had made rapid progress. They, had felt the effects of the new policy propounded by the Ballance Ministry some two years ago and could now judge of its success. All must agreo that since the Liberal Government had taken the reins of power New Zealand had gone forward,-not backward. The question they M,to consider was whether the «fatry was materially improved, andS&tthether Parliament hud- bad anything to do with this improvement, ''He knew it was contended! that the legislaturehad little to do with the prosperity of the country, and the opponents of the present Ministry said it was due to the weather, to the crops, to the markets, to anything in fact except

POI.ITIOAI, ECONOMY. He should be sorry to think this was so, and there was ample proof to the contrary. During the administration of the continuous Ministry, a period of some ten or eleven years, when there must surely, have been various kinds of weather, and fluctuations in the markets, the country went baok, but not so under the Ballance Ministry. They had witnessed thn abolition of the Prrj? , perty Tax and the substitution of the Land and Income Tux, Many had . predicted that this would drive away capital, that they would, .JPI not be able to raise enough revenue with it, that it was evorything that was bad and would eventually drive New Zealand to the dogs. But instead of these predictions being verified they found that it had produced more revenue than the old tax. The measure was certainly a revolutionary one, and almost a complete ohange in the incidence of taxation, but it had . - proved to be in the right direotion, Farmers had been told that the tax would weigh oppressively on them, and the large estate owners had been . active in trying to make the farmers believe it would drive them out of tho country. This being so, he was not surprised that at the last general election a number of Liberal farmers had rather leant to the Conservative . side. He would ask any of his farmer friends, who might be present, ; whether the change had been for the { better or for the worse ?At a repre- \ sentativu gathering of settlors, great ~ and small, at which ho had been present recently, th 9 general confession had been that the Land and Income Tax had been for THE BENEFIT OF ALL CLASSES, Men who went in for improvements worn not now taxed for their industry. He was exceedingly glad to koow that the fp'sp had been converted, not becatift pi\ , benefitted himselfjbut thesettler^L '1 farmers were tho benefit. AMr recently told him (Mr Hogg) Sat whereas he had to pnv £l2 per annum under the Property Tax he now paid nothing, and surely this was a benefit-. No doubt tho new tax was an infliction in certain quartors, but it had gone right home to the right people, and pressed most heavily on the huge landowners, absentees and. purse proud syndicates. An absentee who perhaps draw from £20,000 to £BO,OOO per annum from the colony had a right to contribute towards the Government and the welfare of (he country from which be derived his wealili. (Applause,) If a few were injured the many were benefitted by the removal of taxation, which had . pressed heavily on labor and the' small struggling settler. The Land and fncorne Tax had caused improvements , to be made, thus stimulating labor, and had caught the professional men, and all who derived large incomes from any source whatever. The uet» tier and small farmer had to put up with a large share of taxtion, and it was only fair that the wealthy pro» fessional man and tho merchant should help to

BEAR THE BURDEN. I r-fM Tho desire of. rather to reduce taxation than to in* crease it, and it was 'intended to ex* empt improvements altogether, instead of aa at present only up to £B,OOO The reason improvements on property had been taxed at all was that the Government did not wish to introducs a measure of a too revolutionary nature. Odo very gratifying respect in which New Zealand differed from her sister colonies was that she had ceased borrowing, and ho hoped would be able to refrain for a number of years, as the large sums sent away annually to pay interest impoverished the country, It had been said that it was the Atkinson Ministry who bad ceased borrowing. This was true, but; why had they ceased ? Simply be* cause the British capitalist bad buttoned up his pocket against further demands, He was willing to give the late Ministry every credit for ceasing ■ to borrow, but felt certain that, had they remained in office, Wnhwing would have been attempted Oner thing, however, he had to point out, and that was that if tho present Government had ceased borrowing-they had not ceased spending. It was much to be regretted that about the time of the lest general election, large numbers of men—the bone and sinew of the country, and men who could ill be spared—had been driven away to Australia. A Public Works policy had been put in force by the Government and since then about £440,000 per annum had been spent in public. works. Surely this was not stopping the public works. The

, FLOATING DEBT ! of the colony had also beea redncad , for the first time for many yearß, He , would again briefly state the broad fact that the new taxatira<|SS compelled | improvements, had forced .owners of ! large estates to improve their properties or cut them up, had enabled Government to carry out a fairly largo Public Works policy, and had made the credit of New Zealand stand higher than ever. For alllthis to whom did they owe a great debt of gratitude, but to the late Premier, the Hon, John Ballance, whose . memory all revered, tibortly before | Mr Ballanco died he had told bim ; (Mr Hogg) that at the last election, the men he had been most afraid of were tbe large farmers, who bad been spurred on by the landsharks to believe that the introduction of a Land and Income Tax meant ruin; Today tbe farmers of Wanganui were only too ready to "come forward and ' admi 1 , that they hadfailed to reoognise . a great statesman and a true friend} , Mi

■i, (Applause) He would now deal with v the next great matter affecting the D general welfare of the oountry, and lo this was the Land Aot. All' would bi remember that in 1891, mi attempt :1 - was made to'pass a Land Aot, bat hi v an obstructive Upper House bo w ■ mutilated the measure, that the Gov- w ernment were obliged to abandon it. in At the next session, by tho recoil- B Btrnotion of the Upper House, the h Tory faction wa? compelled to give di way and the Bill was'passed. It wns v, one of the mast complete measures L ever passed, containing li FOUR HU.NDFIEn- AND EIGHTY-TWO Si vSfAUSES C( :. framed to imJet all the requirements it of settlors both large ami small. Onu p cf its great features was that it acted as an effectual check on land mono- tl poly, and made 640 acres of first-class w , land, or 2000 acres of gecoml-oUs A land the limit which any person ii . could obtain from the Crown. (Ap- b plause). It acted as a complete check w on speculation, as the title could n not bo obtaiucd until the stipulated tr improvements had been made. It ii therefore beltoe impossible for a man tl to buy and then allow tr it to remain idle, while be waited for tl the unearned increment. The new oi Land Act also gave freedom of choice e: as to tho method of taking up land, V and land in the market could be se- ft cured either by cash purchase, on it occupation lease, or on a lease in t( perpetuity. This lust was a n«v fo i- ut ture and provided for hind being h taken up fur 999 years at a four per tl cent rental on capital value, the rent if remaining the same all through. J People had now therefore tho privi- w lege, if wealthy, of buying for cash, vi andifnot,ofiakingitupin other wa\s. m Under tho ballot system tho poor ti man had as good a chance as the man v> with a bank bohind him. The liill h had been introduced to enable bumll n men to tale up land at low rentals ; p to prevent tho aggregation of T small holdings into villages, villages p (into into runs; to t! .. depopulation as in England, a where the people were crowded into C tho towns, whilo the land, which had belonged to their forefathers v and should have been theirs was I CONVERTED INTO DEER PARKS. t This was what they wished to prevent 8 in New Zealand, and the Crown in- J 1 tendodto prevent aggregation, and when one lamily left the land would " see that another took its place, jj There bad also been a revival of the VillageandSpecialSettlementschemes, f particularly in the Puketoi and hush n districts. Many residents of Manor- f ' ton, Pahiatua, etc,, had with keen j 1 foresight taken up sections with the f view of making a home for them* jselves in the future. Tlia land in '' these settlements had been surveyed and divided into sections of frotn '' ■IOO to 800 acres. Altogether in this 8 district about 100,000 acres had J beeh thrown open within the last fl year. Some of tho land was rather J 1 rough, but it was all good grazing 11 country and would in time make 8 splendid farms, He had no doubt j the conditions under which the ' land had beeD taken would be made as elastic as possible to enable v men working in town, who 0 really intended finally to settle on the D land, to have every opportunity of " doing so. He did not think that in any case the land would be rashly 1 - - ' t jyu'O"anyone who '' go into the 8 wilderness mid make a home. A 11 large block of land in the Forty-mile f Bush the Government intended soon 1 to form into Village Settlements, round a town which would become * the great centre of a splendid tract of ' country. Those who had taken up c land in the [ SPECIAL SETTLEMENTS * Bhould not get discouraged, even if f there wete drawbacks, He knew the 1 roads were bad, and in some parts 8 1 simply in a fearful condition. In the ' Makuri it was stated that when a 1 horse went down on some of the ' roads, it took ropes and tackle to get 1 him out, and then the animal's shoes 1 Were invariably left behind. In ' taking up new land one did not 1 I always experience pleasant times. J 11 Rome was not built in a day," nor ' r yet was bush settled, but he would ' ■ not be afraid to tell Commissioners of ( land and Ministers that they must ' give the settler plenty of time. Some 1 of the best settlers were townsmen j . who earned money in the town to ' ' -enablo them to make a homo in the j country. Village settlers were much better offtljtfitho poorer townspeople, ' for being heavily rented ( l ad with little j yards, raieilfflflglike wild beasts in a menagerie, tho village ' settler had his comfortable little farm at about a shilling a week rental. Except in very rare cases anything approaching the poverty met in towna was never seen in these settlements. He had found the people living in comfort and independence, and could name manyinstances of old Masterton residents who had taken up land and now possessed a perfect little paradise. In the Special Settlements some of the settlers had teen able to make from X2O TO £3O PER MONTH by sale of milk to Butter Factories, most of which they were able lo bank, because they did the work themselves and also had other returns from their laud. He hoped to see a prosperous city, and prosperous villages, farms and homesteads, peopled with friends " , from Maateiton and elsowhero, before very longming up in the Bush, and then the Would acknowledge that tho schema of the present Government was the best, and that the land was their proper place. It was still found that the demand for land was great, and hundreds were willing to form Special Settlements, Unfortunately most of the good availablo land bad been taken up. What a different state of things there might have been in Masterton at the present if the country round about had been peopled with village settlers I industries would spring up of tbem • selves, the main thing was to get people attached to the soil. He had made an effort to secure a piece of Native land, which would have out up very nicely for village settlement, but the land-grabber was before him, and the Beetham family and Mr I Buchanan htfWleAhred it between | them, The land alluded to was at the ■ back of the WERAITE ESTATE, , about which there had lately been so much trouble. It was the piece of land which had led to what he might term a conspiracy to ruin Dr Homing, who had worked hard to improve bis property. If any man in New ' Zealand deserved the thanks of the community, it was Dr Hosking for protecting his property against spoliation. If the road was made through \V iraito, who got the benefit 1 Would ' it lot largely increase the value of the ad oining lands, and if so why should no' the owners of theso lands bo made to >ay for cutting through a man's pri perty, and undoing the work of yens. He (Mr Hogg) was proud to ft' be had done s)l be could to pre* L -V... i ,

rent the road being taken through Dr Hoskiiig's property, it was no onger tho property of the Doctor, »ut belonged to tho widow of ; ;he man who purohased it from liim, and the Minister ol Lands would 860 she did not suffer any ' ivrong in the mattor. It was out of i io ill-feeling to Messrs Beetham and Buchanan that ho had noted thus, but i merely because a wrong was being i lone. Had the position been re- ' versed and Dr Hosking or Mrs 1 Lucena been iu the position of Messrs ] lieethum, and acted a» they had, he should have taken exactly the same t sotirso. (Applause.) Before depart- ! ing from the great question he im- 1 plored his hearers to STICK TO TIIE LAND 1 that they had taken up. They had I witnessed the late financial panic in 1 Australia caused through the bursting of tho banks, but the land was a bank which was always reliable, and which paid a good interest 011 tho 1 money and labour invested in it. Tho man who sold his bit of land would i lind ho had killed the goose that laid the golden eggs, Another important measure, introduced last session, was the Land lor Settlement Bill, which enabled the Government to buy up estates for tho purpose of settlement. Very few estates had yet been offered lorsalo. The Government did not intend lo disturb the freehold, or attempt confiscation, but land could be lakon for public purposes, and he hoped large landowners would meet the Government half way, but if not, they had tiio promise of Minister of Lands, that legislation ivouW be effected io enable the Government to take up land for settlement in the same way tLat it was now taken for a railway or other public work, Tho Cheviot Estate, which had been purchased by tho Government, would 60on maintain a large population instead of a few shepherds. The beneficial effei't of the new land policy was already noticeable, ana the British farmer was turning his attention to New Zealand instead of Canada. BRIEF REFERENCE was then maJo by Mr Hogg to tho Improved Farm Systom and lie hoped that the new system would prove as great a success as the Village Settlement and Special Settlement schemes had, Monoy was of course necessary to enable settlers to carry out improvements and stock land. It had been suggested that a loan be raised to assist, hut he hoped that this might be avoided. There was, however, no reason why numhm should not be relieved by the FuWic Trust Offico and the Government lusurance Department, which, iu the issue of loans, were actiug as a State Bank. He would like to see this plan extended, and instead of borrowing from abroad, to induce capitalists to invest with the Government, and get farmers to borrow from the Government. He did not say they were going to cease borrowing, but wished to see it done from within, not without the Colony. Mr Hogg then referred to the LABOR LEGISLATION which had been solely for the benefit of the working classes, and to prevent men being robbed right and left by unscrupulous persons. Working men had continually asked him to explain these measures, and without wishing to affect his friend the Chairman, he should certainly recommend working men who wished to protect themselves to purchase the ten measures affecting workmen particularly, which could be obtained from the Government Printer for Is 6d. It had been stated that in many cases tho men on the co-operative works were being overpaid, but from personal knowledge he knew this was not so. On the Mount Baker Block roads, many were working at a wage which amounted to about 6d per hour. When asked why they did it, men had replied "we have seotions ahead, wo want this road for ourselves," He merely mentioned this to show that the Government were not wasting money on theso works. The Shop Hours' Bill was another useful'measure, but was not exactly what the Government wanted. He was of opinion that all shops should be closed on a specified afternoon, throughout tho country. Artisans also should have their aftornoon. As they were aware, the Upper House had been improved, and the tenure of office made seven years instead of for life. A great constitutional question had also been fought, and the Governor had been shown that lie must take the advice of'his Ministers. They had tried the experiment of putting labor representatives in the Upper House, and it had proved a success. Before the Upper House had been merely a sort of PARADISE for worn-out Conservative politicians, but now the now contingent,able intelligent tuen, would make theso gentlemen Bwullow somoof the" cold hash" rejected during last session, The Conciliation Bill was to provide for the constitution of a tribunal of tho best men in the country, to adjust labor disputes and arbitrate on the grievances of both sides, Who threw this Bill out? The representatives of Capital in the Upper House, who wanted one-sided legislation, He trusted that this coming session it would be forced down their tbroals together with the Friendly Societies' Bill, and the Law Practitioners' Bill. The Electoral Bill had also been killed by the Upper Chamber, and not wilfully slain by the Liberal Party. He had for years past both written and spoken in favour of the Womans' Suffrage. The Houso of Representatives was in favor of it, but the Upper House was to blame by tampering with the ballot. The Government was anxious that the Bill should pass, but they were not prepared to part with tho privilege of the ballot, The Bill would undoubtedly pass NEXT SESSION but whether or not its provisions could be brought into effect before next election, he could not tell, Bolls would have to ba altered and there would scarcely be time. Another thing was that some of the , supporters of the Bill were a little afraid ofitß immediate effect on , Liberal legislation,although he had nc doubt on that score himself. The Local Government Bill ,was also an important measure which had been [ thrown out, Referring to the Local . Veto ho said be believed, as a coDsistenl [ Liberal, that the majority should rule ; , and he should therefore support such c , measure, but he .did not go all the , way with some of their Prohibi- . fion friends and expect that all !. the public houses in New Zealani , would be shut up in a fow months, I He certainly thought, referring to'thc 3 matter of hotels, that the Licensing I Act required alteration to enable j the , DENS or INFAMY f (in many cases owned by brewers whe ) would not allow a respeotable person , to hold a license) to be swept away, l

and that suoh a atate of things as existed in too many hotels should exist, was a orying shame. He would repeat that if an effort was made to take the licenses from tied houses he would support it, (Applause) It had been stated that he was an out-and-out supporter of the present Ministry, He wished to aay ( he had simply supported it honestly and intelligently, and because he was a Liberal," anil tho policy had been a good one. As long as the present policy was continued he intended to support it, and while bo continued to obtain the oonfidonco of his constituents ho was quite content, but as soon as they fouud Bomeone who could do better, and more fairly represent all classes than be had done, for, although he did his hest for all, both the small eettler and the capitalist, he could not altogether meet the views of everybody, he would ask thein not to hesitate, but to "rub out his name." He would now conclude, thanking them for their kind attention, (Prolonged applause). Questions were then invited, Mr Hogg expressing himself / willing to give his views on any point. QUESTIONS. The following written questions were handed to Mr Hogg (1) Are you in favom of the Railway Commissioners Insurance Bill. (2) Would you be iu favour of giving tho plate-layers a half holiday on Saturdays, seeing that they are on the road Irom h«lf post six in the morning till six o'clock at night, Tliey havnn't got time to cut firewood unless they do it on Sundays. (3) Would jou be iu favour of giving the plate layers a week's holiday every year. Mr Hogg said he could answer the questions very briefly, He was not in favor of tho Railway Commissioners Insurance Bill, and considered that railway servants should have the Biime holidays as other members of the community, Mr Baumber asked if he understood ; that Mr Hogg would support the Direot Veto Bill, Mr Hogg: " Most decidedly." The following written question was handed upKnowing the large and increasing work at the Resident Magistrate's Court, and the difficulty cf the public in transacting business for some time past (owing to the Court being frequently closed), will you be in favour of obtaining extra clerical assistance to obviate this ?" Mr Hogg said he would do his best to obtain more clerical assistance, as he believed the present clerk was overworked, and he did not like to see any man overworked. No other questions were asked, Mr A. W, Renall said it had been his lot to move a number of voteo on various subjects, but he never did anything with more pleasure than move at the present time a vote of thnnks and confidence in Mr Hogg. Mr H. E, Eton seconded the motion. The Chairman requested a show of bands in favor of the motion, which was declared carried unanimously, the decision being received with applause, Mr A. W. Renall then made a few remarks on the necessity of looking after the lands for the people, Mr Hogg returned thanks, the meeting concluding with the customary vote of thanks to the chair.