R McMINN AT TE AWAMUTU

Waikato Times, Volume XIII, Issue 1065, 22 April 1879, Page 2

R McMINN AT TE AWAMUTU

Shortly after 3 o'clock, Mr McMinn arrived at the Public Hall, but, as. there were but few present, the meeting was not opened till nearly four, when about thirty electors were present. Mr Mackay was voted to the chair, and asked the electors- present to give Mr McMinn a fair hearing. Mr T. C. Hammond proposed that, as there were not many electors present, the meeting be adjourned to Ohaupo or Hamilton, if Mr McMinn, would consent. Mr Reynolds seconded.

Mr McMinn said, that he had fixed upon Te Awar_.utu as the most central position, geographically and commercially ■ and he thought that, at Ohaupo, after a cattle sale, people had their business to attend to, and there would be no successful meeting, and if he had intended to address the electors of Waikato, as weU as of Waipa, he would have called the meeting at Hamilton. Hosvever, he was quite prepared to do as the meeting wished. He was quite m the hands oi his constituents.

Mr Cunningham said, if Mr McMinn had been courteous enough to come forward to address the electors of Waipa here, and to explain the action of their progressive Government, it was paying him a very left-handed compliment to ask him to adjourn the meeting to some other place. .

Mr Hammond said, he was willing to withdraw hia motion, if Mr McMinn would consent to call another meeting m •another part of the district. One third of the electors of the Waipa district were m and hear Hamilton.

The motion was then put to the meeting, and lost upon the voices. Mr McMinn then rose, and said, I have to apologise for not giving a full week's notice of this meeting, I sent tho notice away on Thursday, but, as there was no mail on Good Friday, it did not reach Hamilton m time for Saturday's paper. This is the first time I come before you as your member, when I last appeared here, I was only a candidate. I shall crave, then, your indulgence, while I explain to .you simply the measures which were brought before the House last Session, No dou,bt, you know -owofchjug

of many of them, but tlnse on the spot can form a better opinion of the results of the session. , THE ELEC.OEAL BILL. The most important measure brought forward by the Government last session was the Electoral Bill. lb was a bill to improve and extend the franchise. Property owners to the value of £50 are entitled to a vote, and those , leasing property of the annual rental of less than £5, are sho entitled to vote. The Electoral Bill sought to reduce tho property owners' qualification io £25, and also to give to any one living m any district m the colony for twelve months, the right to vote. This was all very fair, as, no doubt, there are many who have no property, and are not leaseholders, who | yet pay as much m taxes as those who have. This Bill also &aye a dual voto to the Maories. . I voted for tho bill, because I thought that the Maories wore not properly represented, and that they ought to be encouraged to put their names on the Electoral Rolls of this district. There are somewhere about 40,000 Maories m the colony, and these have only four representatives. Now, the European representation is equal, to about one m every 5,000. On these grounds, therefore, I voted for the bill. But when the Land Tax Bill was brought before the Home, and I found that the Maories were exempt from taxation on lands, even what were held by them under crowh title, I then saw the matter m another light, and, therefore, I did not vote for the Bill again. , THE LAND TAX. The Land Tax Bill was the next most important measure brought before the House. Its principle was to tax the land without the improvements. It was thought that the revenue of the country should be augmented by a tax on land, as its value had been increased- by railways and other public works. The tax, I think, a very reasonable one, and its principle I have always endeavoured te carry out, m my connection with road boards, &c; to tax the land, but not the improvements. But I do not see why owners of land of less than £500 value should be exempt. This was , never intended to be the case, when the Bill was first brought before the House. Sir George Grey had never intended that it should be so limited. They might reasonably make the limit £50 instead of £500. The result of the Land Tax iv the North Island, perhaps, will not be up to expectations, bnt talcing it on a whole, I do not think that' the amount raised will fall far short of that expected. I did hear of a case where the valuation of the laad cost £70, and the returns were only £40, but this is an isolated case. ( If the limit had been £50, instead of £500, very much more might have been raised. BEEE DUT:. BILL. The next bill of importance brought m by the Government was the Beer Duty Bill. This Bill I voted for, as it was a Government measure. I did not see that it would press hardly on the poor man, but I was not very sorry when.it was thrown out. ' The £40,000 expected to have been realized by a tax on beer, would, no doubt, be very useful, but it would require a class of men to collect it which it is not very desirable to have m the colony, as they become fit for nothing else, like the excise men at home. The Companies Duty Bill was withdrawn when the Beer Duty Bill was defeated. This Bill sought to levy a duty on all trading as a company. The Beer Duty Bill was, as you probably know, the most important defeat the Government had during the Session. PRIVATE .BILLS. There were four private bills brought forward during the session. Mr Whitaker' s Representation. Bill was one of them. It was based on Hare's system of representation. The machinery for working it seemed rather .complicated. Mr Whitaker, however, affered to let his bill go m committee along with the Government measure. , But this was objected to, I wish it had, as then, perhaps, something might have been done to extend the franchise, but I do not know any thing about Parliamentary etequette, and it was said that it would net do to let Mr Whitaker, who was regarded as a member of the opposition (I dont't believe he was, myself) put m his bill with the Government one, as, if one was passed, he, Mr Whitaker, would get the credit for it.

education. Mr Curtis* Education Bill was another important measure. With regard to Education; when I came before you as a candidate I said I Avas iv favor of secular education. T always thought that when children w&re brought up and tought together irrespective of any denomination or sect it tended to foster natural feeliw and to keep down petty jelousies. But there are here iv this district as good electors and da good men as I am myself or anyone here, who hold a different view, and I promised hi deference to them to vote for denominational education iv lar«-e centres. When, therefore, Mr Curtis' Bill was brought before the House I gave it one vote. But I have been led to see that denominational education will not work, aud having fulfilled my promise to a certain seetiou of my constituents by voting on that occasion, do not feel bound, and will no do so again. (Applause.) When before you last I promised to examine the various education systems. . I had no time but to barely run through Forsters Eduction Bill, now m vogue m England. It seemed to me not not to be so much a system m itself, but a scheme to comprehend all various schools m the Kingdom, the National School, the Ragged school, &c. I was quite surprised when I saw the amount expended ou public schools m the colony iv 18,77 ; the amount was £275,000. .Nothing like this amount would be spent if there was a denominational system. There are over 200 schools m the Auckland provincial district. I have heard ifc said that the prsent system is all that is wanted provided ifc was properly administered. This then is not the fault of the LegNlature, but ifc rests with tho people theme*, yes to elect boards who will cany out the Act properly. However, all things considered, I think the present system of education the best we can have.

duration op parliament. Dr Wallis brought iv a Bill to reduce the duration of Parliament from five years to three years. I believe every member of the Government voted for the Bill, but if they had given it a more cordial support, I believe ifc would have been carried.' British Parliaments usually only lasted three years, and ifc was thought that it would be quite long enough for colonial Parliaments. For instance, if a constituency returns a member whom after the first session they are not satisfied with if they have to wait five years for an election, they will try to get rid of him, but if it only lasted three, they would say, "Oh this is tho second session, there is only one more so we will give him another trial, j and. then if he does not please us wo can get another.'

SHEEP BILL. The Sheep Bill was an important measure passed last session. I was on the committee to draft the /BUI. I senfc a draft copy to several gentleman iv VVaikato hoping they would give me somo hints, but I received none. However, the* Bill was passed, and ifc is a very stringent one conferring great power on the Sheep Inspectors and also great responsibilities. •It is designed to stamp scab out of the colony. Th,e fines to be i-dUcfod arc very i

heavy aud iv some districts the power to inflict tho five i.s suspended for three years to enable flock owners to get rid of soab^ If the fines were inflicted m such a distnot as Marlborough, many would be absolutely ruined. It is to be hoped that this Act will have the effect of causing scab to be completely stamped out of the colony. PUBLIC WOBKS. With regard to the Public Works 11 °J the Govem menfc, I believe, that all that was promised and was possible to do m the North Island, has been done. 1 believe that if the Government saw their way to do any thing on the line ef extension from Te Awamutu to Taranaki, it would be^dono to-morrow, if possible. 1 believe the Minister of Public Works wishes to deal fairly with all parts of the Colony. The Thames and Waikato Railway is being proceeded with ; and, with regard to .hat, if the Government had to hear as much from many others as they had to do from myself and Mr Whitaker on this matter, they would have enough to do. The Fencing and Impounding Bui was brought m late m the Session, but was not carried through- The -Deceased Wife's Sisters Bill passed the Lower House, but was thrown but m the Legislative Council. THE LAND TAX. With regard to tho Land Fun*. Lho colonisation of which Mr Whitaker 1 ink done so much to bring about, when I I got down to Wellington I found my name wu- ? Waste LaQ( i's Committee. Mr W hitaker was also on the same Committee. We found a number of Bills which Mr Whitaker detected as a regular crusade against the Land Fund. There was 20,000 acres wanted for hospital endowment, 40,000 for a harbor endowment, and many others which were an attempt to get the Land Fund back again m those bouthern districts. Mr Whitaker most effectually put the set on these schemes. I have now given you an account of the various measures brought before the House last session. As for the future I cannot tell what may arise, but you may be sure I shall always work for the best interests of this district.

The Chairman now stated that it was competent for any elector to ask Mr McMinn any questions. Mr Johns asked if the Land Tax was limited to property holders over the value of £500 to defer capitalists from purchasing large blocks of land ? Mr McMinn said that nothing was said to the effect when the Bill was being passed. It was certainly better that the land should be sold m lots of 100, 200, and 300 acres, but he did not see why men should be prevented from purchassing large blocks of land. It would be too much like class legislation. Mr Hammond said, Mr McMinn has said nothing about the finance. He would like to know sometliing about the deficiency. Eight millions were to be spent m this colony m three years, three m the North Island, -and five m the South. . Very little of the money had been spent m the North Island, but Mr Macandrew would take care that every penny voted was spent m the South Island. The railway extension contracts' m the South Island were let some six moth's ago, but what has been done m the north ? The Thames-Waikato contracts have only just been let. In the South Island the work is well under way, but, here it is not begun.

Mr McMinn said finance, was a very wide question. , He did not know there would be a deficiency. Theland sales had not been so productive as last year. This, of course, the Government could not help.and there might become, slight deficiencies elsewhere, but he did not think fchey would amount to anything -considerable. As to railways, the Southern contracts were always advertised m the Auckland papers, he did not know of any new contracts, but the extension of the main line and that north of Ambeiiy. But the Ohaupo and Te Awamutu extension, Kaipara, Kawakawa, at the Bay of Islands, the Grahamstown Omaha branch were all going on. If the Government saw their way to letting any more contracts, or doing any earfch-Avorks on the Te Awamutu and Taranaki line, they would do so immediately. Mr Roche asked if Mr McMinn was m favour of separation.

I Mr McMinn said : Decidedly not. Mr Cunningham asked if Mr McMinn would advocate a return to provincialism. Mr McMinn said he would not. The provinces had done their work, and the •Auckland province had disbursed tho small amount of money she had at her disposal m as economical a way aa possible. Mr Roche asked if Mr McMinn would be m favour of the repeal of the Counties Act. Mr McMinn said tlie Government had not made up their miuds Avhat was the best form of Solf-Govcrnment. Whthur it' should be done 'by the Counties or by the Road Boards or by both combined. The Government, at "present, were not pressing the working of Couutic's Act ou those Conn- ties where it is not worked. Mr Rooho- proposed a vote of confidence m Mr McMinn. He had been returned as a supporter of the Government, and had done his best for tho interests of his constituents, and was therefore entitled to a vote of confidence. Mr Parsons seconded. , * The motion was put to the __£____£ and carried. Mr McMinn thanked them for their cordial vote, he had done his best for Waipa aud would continue to do so. And although he was a supporter of the present Government, yet he bid them remember he was member for Waipa, one of the most important constituencies m the colony, and he would always do his best for ifc. A vote of thanks to the Chairman concluded the meeting.