Mr F. A. Whitaker at Hamilton.

Waikato Times, Volume XIV, Issue 1186, 3 February 1880, Page 2

Mr F. A. Whitaker at Hamilton.

Mb Whitaker addressed the electors at the Courthouse, Hamilton, on Saturday last- The attendance was not large, owing no doubt to the fact that many were engaged in harvesting, and that there is a general feeling of confidence in, and satisfaction with the action of, their member in the late session of Parliament felt by the electors of Waipa. On the motion of Mr Whitalrer, the Mayor took the chair, and opened the meeting with a few remarks. Mr Whitaker then came forward, and was greeted with applause. He remarked that the attendance did not appear to be large, but the audience was an eminently intelligent and respectable one. The smallness of the attendance might be accounted for in various ways, but he thought the chief reason was that ho still retained the confidence of the electors. A large number of persona only attended political meetings when there appeared to be a chance of a row ; but as this condition was not to be fulfilled on that occasion they were not anxious to be present, tie would not be required to address them at any length. So much business had been crowded intu the last session of Parliament that it would not be possible to enter into consideration of it at length, and he would therefore content himself by giving them a general resume of what had been done regarding the principal measures brought before the House, together with some slio-ht reference to the present fiuancial position of the colonytie did not think it was on record, but after any general election parties had never gone up to the Souse so evenly balanoed as in the last session. The newspapers did from time to time publish lists of the success tul candidates for the various districts of the colony, with an indication of their political creeds. This nun was set down as a supporter of the Grey Government ; that as a member of the Opposition ; and the other as an independent member. But in most instances these lists were very inaccurate. When he went down to Wellington he found the House contained a large number of persons with no fixed principles at all. The " independents" probably numbered one- third of the whole. The situation was, therefore, of a very critical nature, and the newspaper accounts of it were very varied in character. True information on the subject was extremely rare. He considered, however, that he was in a position to guage the state of parties pretty accurately, and he found that so far as pure Grcyitcs wore concerned they did not muster more than about 30. On the other hand, he found a number of Otago members ready to, and desirous of, making common cause with the Auckland party, with the object of placing Mr Macandrew at the head of the administration. He had been applied to himself to join this party several times, but to these applications he had replied by saying hs would take a few days to consider the matter. He did so, and he came to tho conclusion that it was absolutely impossible to keep Grey in office by these means. He had told them when he was elected as their representative that ho was not going down to Wellington to follow a minority. He saw plainiy that those who feigned to support Grey were really intent on placing Macandrew in his place. He would not consent to act in this underhand manner ; he thought it better to at once attach himself to an honest opposition. This, then, was really the position of affairs when the session opened, notwithstanding what certain newspapers may have said. Newspaper reports were liable to be colored by the opinions of tho^e furnishing them, and they were far more likely to get the truth from him ; moreover, the result proved that he was right in his calculations. It was understood that if the programme had been carried out seven Otago members would have afterwards deserted the Grey party for the purpose of making Macandrew Premier. But Maoandrew was not the man to be Premier, and did not deserve the support of any Auckland members, beoause there was no greater enemy to Auckland than James Macandrew. (Hear, hear). He (the speaker) could not forgot that in the matter of the San Franoisoo Moil Service. Mr. Macandrow bad dono bis utmost to have I)tmcdin maclo the port of oall, instead of \ uokland ; ho could not forget how he had been hoeusscd in the matter of the 1 names Waikato Railway; he could not forget the manner in which the Wangarei RailwayOontract had beeu neglected. He could not forget these things and had he come back to his constituents he was sure they would have told him not to support such a man. (Applause). It was lecorded in tha history of Queen Mary that she said they wquld find the word " Calais" engraved qnheu heart after death, and he believed that if the heart of James Macandrew were to be examined they would find engraved thereon " Otago." He (the speaker), trusted he was moie colonial in his sympathies and he resolved that as long as he was able he would work his utmost to, keep ]\f aoaudrew frqra attaining tq the head of affair*. He did not take any darfcicular credi t tq hintself, but he and those who worked with him were successful. At the time of his election he had told them that he went down to support certain measures, viz: — inai|hood sufirage, with certain limitations., triennial parliaments ; a neAy and more liberal land law fqr the colony: a change in the incidence taxation ancj tq deal with the subject of educatiqn. <\s they were aware he had always been a strong advocate of secular education, and knowing that the present Premier l\&<\ qu former qooasjqns taken up the qunqsito side he had the rjuestioi}. put tq him. Mr. Hall was a man of strict honesty and integrity, and one whose word could be relied on, and he had his assurance that the basis of education would not be interfered with. He had of course attended at the various caucuses of his party, and assisted in determining that all tfyo liberal ineas* ure3 shou}d be passecj. into law. He might say that the, Grey party pould not even manage its own affairs. £to dist organised were they, so split up into sec1 tions, that they h a( l tq appqint a cqmraittee, ofteq. representing various divisions. When it came to this he baw £hey would not last, as no pqliticaj. party would* witnqufc a responsible, heaoj. !|?he party was not homogeneous, ai}.d the affairs of the country were in such a state as to call for Government by a strong party. Of the Grey party they found Grey had his little party, Macandrew had his, and Sheehan his, while Mr. 4 e Lautour also had a small personal following) since '4e'velQpe.d ii+tq what is Jjjxowu as the " Young New Zealand Party.' They were not a united party at this critical time. Finally, the Hall party got a majority, which he believed might now be set down as from thirteen to fifteen. That much he felt constrained to say in introduction. It now became his duty to show how far he was justified in according his support to tho Hall party. The first measure brought down was the triennial parliaments bill, and regarding this ke v/ould refer to a rather curious little iftattdr 1 . A b.ilj 'cf a somewhat similar nkture'was fduud'in the' pigeon koiek qf, the previous Government, but it was intended only to come into force at the expiiation of the present parliament. ' Such a measure he considered a sham. He strongly objected to it, and the Hall Government objected to it too. Well, they carried their mQagaro through its several

stages until at length it was committed. In Committee, clause after clause was passed and at last they came to that fixing the limit of the duration of Parliament. Thereupon a number of the Opposition members wanted to alter the time from three to four years, leaving- out of consideration the past session, thereby to defeat the intention of the bill as regarded the present Parliament. The member for Mount Ida, who was an honest painstaking man, agreedwith him (Mr Whitaker), that the bill should be made something bettei than a sham, and the measure was ultimately carried in hiich a form as would afford them in the year 1882 another opportunity of exercising their privilege as electors. The second measure — manhood suffrage-^had also become the law of the land, and now any man over 2L years of age who had been twelve months in the colony and six months resident in the district where he lived was entitled to a vote. These measures were passed into law, by what some Grey papers were pleased to call the Conservative party. In a Canterbury paper he, Mr Whitaker, had been described as an ultra radioal. He believed himself to be a thorough liberal but, at the same time, there were many others of his party in the House who were fully as liberal as he was. He believed in carrying these liberal measures into law, and not dangling them before the eyes of the country like a bunch of carrots before a donky, which, although the poor animal never got them always succeeded in making him go. (Laughter), tie thought he had faithfully carried out the promises he made to them at the time of his election. He did not believe there existed in any of the other Australasian colonies a more liberal land law than they now had in New Zealand. Ample provision had been made for the establishment of special settlements and promoting the sale of land by deferred payments and the settlement of village sites. No large blocks could now be obtained by any person as before. Another burning question was that relating to the incidence of taxation, and the necessity which existed for some alteration He felt strongly on this subject, and had referred to it in no measured terms in 1878 and 1879, because he knew that while property had largely benefited by the expenditure of borrowed money on public works, the working man, through the medium of the Customs duties, was the largest contributor to the revenue of the country. The exemption had been fixed at £300, but he, and others with him, were in favor of making the amount £500. They should not tax the first savings of a man, because they knew very well that the first £M 0 or £500 wds the hardest to get. Others were of the same opinion, and they were successful. Uther exemptions were suggested, but the only amendment carried was one in favor of the exemption of agricultural implements. He thought those who were the actual producers from the soil, and created the wealth of the oountry, should not be unduly pressed upon in their efforts to do so. He was about to attempt to get household furniture exempted, but there vece so many other motions — indeed Mr >hriraski, the member for Waitaki, had enough standing in his name almost to fill a page of the Order Paperthat the Treasurer, fearing that the bill would be left the mere shadow of its former self, got it at once passed through committee. tic considered that the operation of a tax should touch only those who were able to pay it, and that tho&e who could not should not be oppressed. The people who would pay this tax were those who could afford to do so. There was great opposition to it, but he could not see why. Those who had £500 worth of clear propprty were able to pay, and those who had not would not be affected by the tax. These, he apprehended, were the principal measures he had promised to support. Turning to the finances of the colony he said he did not believe any thing could have presented an aspect more gloomy. They had had no financial Statement in 1878. Sir George Grey did, it was true, read a short statement to the House during the session of that year, hut its effect was to leave everybody in the same darkness as before. Major Atuinson followed this last session, when they had the whole position placed lucidly before them. Major Atkinson was an exceedingly hard-he ided man of business. He had never indeed seen his equal at figures. The lean which was not even then floated, and the rais}ug of which \yax qr pestilence in Eurujie might have sadly interrupted was. hypofchecatecj to the extent of 2,300,000, and there was> not a shilling to meet theae liabilities. The Grey Government came in with a credit balince of £130,000, and left oftica L\SOO,dO;) to the bad. The Civil iio vice had bee ime so overgrown that it was neces&ary to provide £G JO, OOO for the next years services from some source ov another. It was clearly impossible to r.iise this by taxation, aud tye floating deb,t of Treasury tylls had to b,e increased to £1,8,Q0,00Q. It was absolutely necessary that fresh taxation should be resorted to. Nothing hut the most extraordinary efforts CQuld restore the confidence of the people of the home country iv the p osperity of the colony. }n the tiouse there were a number of practical ooininon sense men, and they w-ere agreed that the qqlqny's finances Avanted revising. They said we should no longer rely on the land fund as a source of ordinary revenue. It was too fluctuating in its character to depend upon. They were, in fact, using capital for iucon^e. It -vrivs policy as any man oi business knew. This fund couh} now go to the legitimate object of providing for public works, not in the district in which, it was raised, b,ut over the colony as a whole. New Zealand affairs were heavily criticise^ a,t ho.mo, aud People there new to, a turn how we stood, au<4 we cquld, not b,e £8,00,000 to the bad \n one year withqut feeling the effect of ft. S.till the lean was raised spite of the influential opposition of a portion of the English Press, and that it was raised was mainly due to the wi^dam. of the present Government iv taking the land fund out of ordinary revenue. He had said, \yl 4 en last addressiug thorn., th,as a sum of £•400,0,0,0 would be required. A. sum, of fcSj7O If UQO to b,e raised Tiy a property tax was agreed to and he acceptpd this although now and then the motions had to be raised^ to make up the difference ; but the articles so taxed were spirits wines, &c, not necessaries of life. This was wisely done that we mjght go to the qld country and show we wyte ftre^ared, to tax ourselves to maintain our credit. ■\ye could not afford to let it be thought we did not take care to pay our debts. It was tq the credit of the Ministry that they manfully stood up aud carried out an unpopular course to put the financial position of the colony on a. so.uu,d L,as}s.. In conclusion h,c wqulcj. tquch upqn, a. few ! Iqqal matters. The first and perhaps the most important of these was the Thame* Waikato Railway. He had led thorn to infer that Mr. Maoandrew had deceived him in this matter, when he got to Wellington he found it had not been attended to as had been promised, and that the engineer had received no instructions rosrarding it. I here had been a lot of talk about it [a voice, " They turned the first sod."^ (laughter.)] While the Grey party were in power he could only ask questions about it, but when the Hall party took afiice he saw about it for hitnself. He Gfoild ge,t no satisfaQtqry, answer to his luestions oui of the G r rey party w.hen in power. 'He saw 'that his 1 constituents' were holding meetings, and it occurred to fiim that they wero doubtful as to his 3arrying out their wishes. He was quite jontent, however, to go on working! in his 3wa quiet iray, feeling assumed th^deeda

would speak louder than words, and he could now tell them that he believed thin was the first railway for the construction of which tenders had been invited since the prorogation of Parliament, and he believed that before the next session tenders for the continuation of the line to "Waihou would be called for. Me had also done his best to have the road from Cambridge to Rotorua put in hand. It was not in his district, but the road when constructed would filter a krge amount of traffic through the Waikato, and as such he felt it to be his duty to urge on its construction. He was in a position to say that this work would be commenced forthwith. He was content to be judged in the future by the past. He intended to got the Raglan and Waipa country opened, Hamilton would then find it was not without a back country as good as any in the district. Four things were necessary for the salvation of this part of the colony — tho opening up the Waipa side of the couutry— the Thames Waikato Railway — a branch railway to Cambridge, and lastly, the Rotorua Hoad. In the accomplishment ! of these works, he would feel he had succeded in doing his best for tho district. If they were wise they would insist on the economical management of the finances of the colony, and a careful and judiciou3 administration, and not like spoilt children clamour for indiscriminate expenditure in special localities. He was not gifted with eloquence, but he felt that he had clearly planned the position as far as he had gone before them. Mr. Hadfield said that the addre^ifhatl been a most able one, and complimented Vl r. Whitaker on the manner in wh'oh he had attended to the interests of hia constituents. Hd thon proposed and Mr. Mays seconded :— " That this meeting having heard Mr. Whitaker's address, desire to express their fullest confidence in him as member for Waipa." Mr. S. Steele sad Mr. Whitaker not only deserved the confidence of the electors, but their thanks for the way he had got the district its fair share of the public money. The resolution was then put and carried amidst general acclamation. A vote of thanks was passed to the chairman, and as the meeting dispersed three cheers were given for Mr. Whitaker and three more for Mrs. Whita^er.