MR JOHNS AT HAGLAN.

Waikato Times, Volume XVII, Issue 1462, 15 November 1881, Page 2

MR JOHNS AT RAGLAN.

Mb Jotow, * candiid»rs for the tion of Waipa in the .General Assembly opened tbe political o«»paign ; at Raglan

on Saturday evening. Owing to the shortness of the notice given it was eight o'clock before a audience could be got together and then some 20 electors had assembled. Mr William Powell having been voted to the chair, bespoke a fair and impartial hearing for Mr Johns, and introduced the candidate. Mr Johns commenced his addrcs by stating that there were four prreat principles underlying any system of government, and these were : (1) a thoroughly national system of education ; (2) fair and equitable taxation ; (3) wise and liberal land laws and (4) the faithful administration of these three. They mijarht naturally vay there were many other important principle*, but he would answer any such objection by paying, give them the four he referred to ana the rese would inevitably follow. It was his intention, to touch shortly upon e<>oh of the^e principles and to point out where in his opinion their shortcomings lay. First then as regarded education, he would say he was a thorough supporter of tbe present system. For a system of education to be of any use it must be made thoroughly national ; it must be secular and free. He would dismiss the subject with the assurance of his entire belief in the present system, which, however, could be improved in datail. Next as to the question of fair and wise land lawe. No country could be prosperous if the people had not an interest in the land. History would show them that a country has prospered just in proportion as the people have acquired an interest in thi- land. They all knew to what a low status a " tramp' 1 had been relocated ; th»t he was looked upon as a bad citizen ; us a man not to be depended upon in any emergency • It was because he had no interest ia the lnnd. It was mo>>t important that the people should have an interest in the soil of the country they inhabited. The syntfin prevailing in this colony did nob favor this. They were all aware of the way in which the Colony was fir.sfc nettled. Under the treaty of Waitangi, the Government obtained tho pre-emptive right over the native land ; but thin system had been departed from. Pressure had been brought to bear upon successive Governments, until they now found, while theoretically native lans could be secured by anybody, the system was so hedged about that it was impossible for a poor man to enter into competition for them. The system, therefore, could not but be defective. In t.hiconnection he intended to show in wh-it respect their late member h.id been tmilty of a breach of tbe trust reposed in him on the wtrengrth of a distinct pledge that he would brin£ about a chansre in the land system. But first he would touch upon taxation. 0 «ystern ouifht to be adopted unless it wm* fair and equitable ; Men ouefht to be tnxfd according to their .ihility to pay : But this was not the principle in force in this country. Must of thorn were aw-ire that about threefourths of the revenue of New Zealand (leaving out of the question the railway receipts, which went to pay interest, on borrowed money) was derived from the customs duties, and he would ju<fc tell them what custom* duties meant. It was a tax upon food and clothing ; a tax not upon the size of their purses, b"t upon the size of their stomachs. They did not fepl what they paid in this way, but he t-ould tell them that each individual paid from £5 to £15 per annum, and the man with a large family paid the most. They would, he thought, freely admit that such i system was defective. They all remembered the grand story ahout people being expected to give according to their several ability. Here the very converse was the case. They gave, not according to their ability, but their necessity. (Hear, hear.) Then as to the faithful administration of the laws. He had shown them how, in regard to the land laws, the administration had failed. Tho history of these laws disclosed nothing but corruption. Let them look at the history of several large blocks of land purchased by speculators. He would mention, merely by way of example, the Patetere block. This was partly purchased by speculator* in the very teeth of a Government proclamation; pressure was sought to be put upon the Government then in office to remove this proclamation, and as soon as the new Government came into power r-he end of the speculators was attained. He would not say they bribed tbe Government, but undue pressure was brought to bear upon the Administration. The result was direct Hpoliation of tho public estate. The Crown exercined a protective right over all the laads in the colony, and a& the " Crown " was nothing else than "the people," the right was theirs, and ■10 the land should not hare become the uroperty of any body of men other than the people. Their late member, in a hustings speech, made a distinct promi^p to endeavour to reduce the customs duties an a most uujust method of taxation, but on his arrival in Wellington he sided with a party which immediately increased thp customs duties by £250,000. It was easy enough for a man to pledge himself, bat unless he took the right steps to carry out his promise it was of very little value A.t Te Awamutu their late member sa ; d, in answer to a question by him (the speaker), that the present system of dealing with the land was very injurious, that men should not be allowed to purchase large blocks of land for speculative purposes, and that he would do his best to abolish the system. He was returned to the Houso, and one of his fir^t acts was to assist in removing the proclamation from the Patetere block, aud to secure that land for speculative purposes. He was one of the chief asaintauts in that transaction He had told them at Te Awamutu the other night that he was acting professionilly, and thought he had a perfect right to do so. It must be remembered that Mr Whitaker did not defend the company who purchased this land. He actually helped them to commit the crime. What would they think of a lawyer who helped a man to commit murder? There wa* little difference between the two. Iti regard to the other candidates — for he intended to rub them all down — Maj.-r Jackson, the longest in the field, wa< known to have been a supporter of the present Government. At the last election he was a staunch supporter of Mr Whitaker, and helped to secure his return. The major now professed to be converted by the liberals, but they could take such profession, at such a time, for what it was worth. He was very sorry to have to ••ay anything against Mr McMinn, for he believed him to be an honest man. But what would they think o f a general doing battle .for them, who deliberately went over to the enemy ? Were he defeated they rould sympathise with him, but no palliation could be found for an act of desertion. And it was this that Mr McMinn had been guilty of. He mentioned these things his presence before them that evening was a reflection on the other candidates. Now, as regarded his own views, and his schemes for carrying them out. It was easy, of course, to find fault with existing institutions, but the difficulty was to put something in their place. He would begin with taxation. It was unjust to tax the poor man in greater proportion than the rich : It was nothing more or less than downright robbery. He would take off the duty on tea, because it was a necessity for the poorest man among them. This would involve » loss of between £30,000 and L 40,000 r which could be made up by retrenchtnent and rigid economy. Not after, the manner of {he 10 per cent, rednction, which be heartily condemned. Mr Whitakfr might tell them that his Govern* roensww*<&Tero»etrttf retroQcijmeot,

but he (the speaker) could tell them thatthe retrenchment policy of the Government was not their own, but had been forced upon them by the House ; by members of all shades of opinion. The Government had come down with enti mates little, if anything below those of their predecessors and the House had insisted on their reduction. Concerning the land question, he had very little to add to what he had already said. It was not possible under present condition* to secure native land, except in large blocks. Men held these blocks for speculative purposes and got a profit of 100 or 150 per cent. An easy remedy could be found for this state of matter?. If they returned men to Parliament whoae interests and whose selfishness moved them in an opposite direction they would never get amendment. {Something in this direction would surely answer: — Allow the natives to employ Mirvejors to lay off their land in suitable nized blookc, the Government advancing the money necessary, which should be repaid by the pnrchaser, the Government protecting both natives and purchasers, and the land should be sold in open market. The land would be cut up into block* aooordinsr to its nature, (food land in small lots, the inferior into larger. Suoh a soheme would be found to answer admirably, but it would require to be honestly administered. The old fogies, the old hands who have ruled the oolony so long would never do thin for them. He had lived 20 years in the colony, and thought ho could speak with some degree of authority upon that point. There wero several other subjects which he wished to touoh upon, but to •avfl their time and prevent repitition he would now afford them an opportunity of putting any questions upon the current political questions. No one appealing inclined to ask questions. Tho Chairman said ho had listened to Mr John* with some decree of pleasure, but he regretted that he had omitted all mention of the very important question of protection. What were his views upon thar ? Mr Johns said this was one of the subjects which he had purposely omitted He might say at once that he believed free trade, in theory, to be perfect. But they had to deal with things in a practical light, and if they found it necessary to the establishment of local manufactures, they must have recourse to protection. It was, of course, an open question as to which was the better way to foster these inilustries, protection or a system of bonuses. He had purposely left out all mention of sugar when speaking of the ouatoms duties, although it was an article of universal consumption, and was taxed to the extent of $d per pound. His reason for this was that there were many parts of the Waikato suitable for the growth of sugar-beet, and he thought every encouragement should be afforded the promoters of a sugar industry. (Hear, hear). Protection would thus be afforded all classes But there were other articles, snch as saddles, for instance, the protection of which would only touch a few, and would not therefore be fair in its application. The establishment of industries was a great want. (Hear, hear). They had no tnatket for their produce, and until they had manufactures they could not expect one. (Hear). Before he sat down he would like to say a word or two on another subject. It was the practice for candidates to come before them and say they were "independent," but he was not such a one. A man mu9t represent someone, and the "independent" man generally represented himself. If they were satisfied that his views were sound, they would be in accord, and he would, if returned, represent them, but if he neglected to take steps to carry out these views he would fail to represent them. He would tell them at once, then, that if returned, he would attach himself to the party most likely to carry out measures embodying the views he held. If returned he would faithfully and honestly endeavor to represent them and not himself, and if he found he had oeased to represent them he would resign. He had heard it said that a member should not be a mere delegate, but he held the contrary opinion. A member should be the ambassador of his constituents. He would if elected at once cling to the party whose past history led him to believe they would carry out the views he had expressed. (Applause). In answer to Mr Robertson, Mr Johns said the native policy in the past had been characterised chiefly by meddling and muddling. Great injustice had been shown the natives, who were now deprived of lands they had been allowed to occupy for yeard. He believed, however, that Mr Bryce was honest in his intentions. He had acted in a straightforward manner, and there was every reason to believe that the result would bi± a great advantage to the country- He thought the native policy of New Zealand had been made up of blunders. They would not have had any difficulty at all had the natives always been treated fairly and honestly. (Applause). There being no further questions, The chairman proposed a vote of thanks to Mr Johns for his address. This was seconded by Mr Robertson, and carried unanimously. A vote of thanks to the chair brought the meeting to a close.