MAJOR JACKSON- AT TE AWAMUTU. [BY TELEGRAPH.—SPECIAL REPORTER.] Te Awamutu, Last Night.

Waikato Times, Volume XVII, Issue 1463, 17 November 1881, Page 2

MAJOR JACKSON- AT TE AWAMUTU. [BY TELEGRAPH. — SPECIAL REPORTER.] Te Awamutu, Last Night.

M.ajor Jackson addressed the electors here last night. Upwards of 100 persons were present, and Mr James Cunningham was in the chair. Major Jac son said he had alreadyrepresented the district in Parliament, but that was siX or eight years ago. Since then Waikato had made rapid strides in population and improvement, and he had pleasure in congratulating them upon the fact. In asking their suffrages, he assured them he had no private interest to serve, and if returned he would he prepared to vote on all questions on their own merits As thiwas the first occasion upon which he had appeared before them, and what he said might be made use of hereafter, he had made copious notes, and, with the permission of the meeting, he would refer to them more closely th-in he would otherwise have done. The first matter referred to was the Representation Act passed last session. He did not agree with the outcome of that measure. It was not a fair re-adjustment for the North. To secure fair legislation as between the two islands, the representation should have been equal. If it was necessary to give, say, forty members to the South, then it was also necessary that forty members should have been given to the North. In adjusting the basis, the native population ought to have been taken into account for the North. They paid taxation to the revenues of the country ; they consumed a great deal of spirit.iou* liquors ; they wore jewellery, and otherwise they were large contributors to the revenues of the colony. That fact should have weighed with the Legislature, and the representation should have been made so as to include them. Although he was opposed to the basis of population as provided, they must not for a moment imagine that he would have carried that opposition the length of <.aking himself, had ho bpen in the House, a party to the " stonewalling'" movement which took place in the passing of this measure. On the contrary, he was free to admit the principle that a majority must always rule. Were it otherwise, were a minority to carry the day, the there would be an end of constitutional government. That would be the establishing- of a very bad principle, and on some other occasion, when the minority were determined to carry a bad measure, if that principle were once established, then it would be carried to the detriment of the colony as a whole. He thought that it would be difficult for the North at any future time to get the present adjustment altered, despite the promises held out to the contrary. Such men as Macandrew would be tenacious of the power they had obtained, and in that way he believed it would be difficult for the North Island to secure the additional representation the increase of population now tending towards it would shortly warrant. He next referred to the separation question. He was not of opinion a step in that direction would be at all advisable ; it would mean the establishment of two great provinces, and these, in their turn, might become dissatisfied, and the separation process would have to go ori, until the whole colony was cut up and divided into a species of road board districts. He wag a member of the House in 1876- It was in the previous year that abolition of the provinces was first mooted. At first it was proposed that abolition should only be given effect to in the North Island. At that time it was alleged by The Waikato Time* that he was not in harmony with the constituency on the abolition question. He met his constituents at a meeting held at Ohaupo, and on mentioning the fact to them he told them that if it were true that he did not represent their views he was quite prepared to make room for someone else. They were satisfied,, however, with what he had done, and the next session abolition was given effect to, not as against the North, but as against the whole colony. He had thu3 assisted in carrying into effect that measure ; at the same time he was free to admit abolition had not proved the unmixed blessing he had at one time imagined it would. Under provincial administration a great deal of what was called logrolling went on. The superintendents from various provinces, in the south more especially, came up banded together for the express purpose of carrying out their own particular objects, and although logrolling still existed in the House, it was not carried out to the same extent w it bad been under provincialism.

He was further opposed to separation, as he had uo doubt it would be objected to by the public creditors, whose security it was most likely to disturb. Referring to the Waste Land Boards' administration, he was of opinion that the present districts were much too large. The members of the board as constituted, were, since Mr Firth left the board, entire strangers to the district, and, as such, they would not be expected to have much real sympathy, or even knowledge of any peculiarity in its affairs. What he would advocate was that these districts should be sub-divided so as to make them smaller, and that members of the boards should be elected instead of being a nominated body. In other words the members of the boards should be placed under the control of the settlers in the particular district for which they were elected. He was also opposed to the preference shown by Government in matters connected with the waste lands administration to persons brought from outside the colony. He thought those who were born in the colony and whose parents had been its pioneers should have the same rights and privileges in that respect with those brought into the place. Then again the land should be sold in accordance with the requirements if the country — the good land in small lota, the bad in larger, and medium lands in such quantities as might be required. He approved of the manner in which the Waimate Plains had been disposed of, and thought that that plan might very well be more generally adopted. He was also in favor of capital and labor being made to co-operate together in the settlement of the land and by, following the course proposed he believed that desideratum would be largely promoted. Government should likewise take care to lay out lines of railway before deposing of the land. By that means purchasers would know where railways were to go and (jrovernment would get the benefit of these projected works in the increased value it would give to the land before being sold. There was another point to which he would allude, and he could quite believe it was one in which there wore those who would not agree with his views. It was this, that in future all lands of the Crown should be sold subject to a email acreage royalty, such an amount as would in future years be available for public works in the district within which the land was aitnated. Two bridges had been erected over tho Waipa river, but if the inhabitants of those districts had to keep them in repair they would find that they had got hold of a white elephant. For the maintenance of these works endowments ought to be set They were colonial works and the cost of their maintenance ought to be provided for by the colony. Alluding to the deferred payment system, he objected to the residential clause at present in operation. During the first two or three years it ought to be made optional, the remainder of the term being made compulsory. By that means deferred payment noldern would be at liberty to go outside their own holdings and at, a most eriticnl period of their term they would be enabled to earn money by their labour, md so provide the means for carrying on ! .'heir operations. The speaker next referred to the native lands. In former times these were solely acquired by Government, and harinsr control of the Native Land Courts they could drive the natives to make any bargain they liked. I M'nce then Government had ceased to be sole purchasers of these lands. Still he | thought it would have enabled them to not as a kind of agent for the natives. Now, under existing arrangements, i Governmentfand the European are enabled to buy these lands togethor and the result of that is that tho Government get all the l .nd land while the European secures the trood land. Government he thought shouldn't retire altogether from these Durchases, but at tha same time they should reserve for themselves a reasonable moiety of the land by way of cnmmis-'ion for the trouble and expense put to in acting as agents for the natives. Ample reserves should be made and the remainder of the land put up to unction. The coat of advertising and other expenses incurred by Government on behalf of these sales, ought to be made a charge upon the land, to be paid when sold. The Native Lands Courts were not, he understood, satisfactorily worl- ed It ; was quite impossible for the man of small means to get any portion of these lands — they wsre invariably secured for the man of big means. He thought the competition should be open to everyone. The land shojtld be surveyed and the cost made a lien on the property itself, and in this way the title would bo individualised, and each particular block made to pay tho expense of its survey, The man of small means would then have the cost of surveying the block purchased by him allocated upon that particular block, and not as it waa found to be at present — the cost of the whole of the land saddled on one, perhaps the one particular block. It was the difficulties occasioned in that way which prevented the small man competin? with the man of larger means. Then again it was said that it was utterly impossible for anyone but a solicitor to obtain imformation respecting the disposal of these lands. That difficulty should be remedied so that the information was made available to all alike. It would also be advantageous if some step were given effect to for the protection of absentees and minors, unless minor* were so protected he could foretell that great difficulty and hardships might be occasioned. These interests ought to be defined by the judge, <jtker~ wis-e children of five or ten years when they come of age might not improbably discover that a wrong had been perpretrated, and in that way much soreness and great complications might be occasioned. He was not in favor of county councils. It would be much better to knock them altogether on the head. The Government should take over the main roads and bridges, and in that case the road boards, as they existed, could very well deal with the balance. The members of theae boards miprht likewise be constituted members of waste lands boards, as also licensing commissioners within their particular districts. He could see no necessity for any other body being constituted to come between these boards and the Government. As long as the road boards were dependent upon the Government for subsidies, such an interjection as the county councils were wholly unnecessary. At all event! they would agree in this, if it was necessary to hare road boards then it was altogether unnecessary to have county councils. On the other hand, it necessary to have the latter, then the former became wholly superfluous. He had heard lots of people who talked of local government, but he never knew of a man who could say what it should be. Hia own opinion was that they did not stand so much in need of local administration as they did in need of money to carry on the administration they had. If they had the money he believed the government would be all right enough, - whether it was local or any other kind of government. A word more on that point. It was very necessary that Government should give a guarantee that the funds appropriated for a particular work should be devoted . to the carrying out of that work, and before the payment was made - a certificate should be granted that the particular work for which it was intended had been executed. The railways had been most useful in this, as well as in other countries. The original intention

was tbat these works ohould be chargeable on the particular district through which they wer© made. That was the scheme as originally propounded by Sir Julius Vogel. In that way the landH would have been required to make up any deficiency that might arise in the case of non-paying lines. Political pressure, however, was brought to bear on the Legislature, and that wise proposition wai eventually knocked on the head. The 1 ensued a system of log-rolling, and the result was lines were sanctioned whioh did not pay; indeed, in' one instance it was said a railway had been made winch did not pay the expense of greasing the wheels. In consequence of the original intention having been departed from, the Government became powerless to prevent such abuses. He thought the lines should bo worked at the leant possible rate for traffic charges. So strongly did he feel on that point that he would go the length of saying that for the first year or so manures, such as bonedust, guano, etc., required by farmers for fertilising the soil, should be carried free of charge. By that means, he believed, the Railway Department would be more than recouped the loss in the extra quantity produced, and which would eventually be sent back as return freight. The concession, he believed, would be found to repay tho railway traffic a hundredfold. With regard to the cost of passenger traffio, he thought the public had not much cause to complain, probably second-class fares might be introduced, and return tickets made available for a longer period than at present. Suppose they were to ho made available for one month he did not believe the department would lo*e by it. The Government would have the use of the money during all that time ; and then again such tickets would be lost in the interim, tind that would be an additional gain to the Government. Such tickets should also be made transferable. An arrangement, or rather arrangements of that kind would be advantageous to the railway, at all events lie knew that they would prove of immense advantage to the settlei'S The Cambridge branch line ought to have been made long since, and he was glad to find that it was now about to be undertaken. The more railway communication they had. the better it was both for the district and the colony. The ThamesValley line, projected by a private company, was likewise a source of gratification to him. Indirectly, Government would reap the benefit of that work, and on that acconnt the Government ought to give it every possible assistance. Their main line should also be carried on to Waitara with all possible despatch, so as to give effect to the original plan of carrying out the main through line to Welling ton. The Waitnate Plains traffic, by rights, should have come in this direction, and would have been the case had the through communication been available. Nome of them mi^ht object, as it would be thesneans of bringing cattle from the South into this district. The cattle, however, Vtould come whether they wanted them or not, consequently the objection was not a valid one. He objected to the railway refreshment rooms at Mercer,as it was in reality an opposition shop for the sale of spirituous liquouvs to the hotel established nt that place. The refreshment room paid no license, consequently the competition was unfair. If such rooms were a necessity, then he would restrict them to the sale of non-intoMcating drinks. Passengers had time enough allowed to go to the hotel if they lequired such drinks. It was unfair that railway employees on this line should be paid a lower late of wages than on the South Island lines. He thought they had a good cliim to be compensated for the reduction made in that way. He announced himself an advocate for free trade, and quoted a United States authority to piove that his views on that point were gaining ground in Amprica In dealing with taxation, he quoted largely from the estimated revenues and expenditures of this colony, dwelling at considerable length on the expenditure provided for the civil service. With the object of reducing taxation, he was in favour of amalgamating offices as were proved to be unnecessary. In that way he opined considerable savings might be effected. It was a mistake to say that the Property Tax operated against the interests of the poor man. The £500 exemption excluded one man out of every 20 or 22 members of the community, and in that way it could not be considered a crushing tax. An income tax, so as to get hold of incomes derived from a certain source, might also be advantageously resorted to. The ten per cent, reduction as carried out, operated most unequally. Salaries under £200 should have been exempted. He was also in favour of imposing a tax similar to what was known as the Wilderness Tax in Canada. By that means, lands held for mere speculative purposes would be reached. He instanced the case of Raglan, where one man had held a large tract of territory for the last 24 years, to the detriment of the surrounding settlement, which land its ovner persistently refused either to sell, lease, or improve. After touching lightly on the subsidies question, he professed himself an advocate of free, secular, and compulsory education, and in order to reduce the present enormous charge of the system, he would restrict school ages between bix and thirteeen years. That, he paid, would reduce the cost at least £70.000. Teachers in this Island were paid a lower rate than in the South. That he considered unfair, and ought to be readjusted. He denied ever having been interested in the purchase of native lands, either directly or indirectly. Ho denied having on a previous occasion retired in fa\ or of Mr Cox, or that he wished to go into Parliament as a means of securing a billet. The assertion was equally untrue that he desired to enforce aland claim. It had been said that he was an Ormondite. The fact was he was neither an Ormondite, a Hallite, a Whitakerite, nor any other ite. He was prepared to follow the leadership of any one who brought forward the measures he indicated. If they returned him he would give any g-'evance they might entrust to him for redress such attention as would ensure its being taken notice of by the House or the Government, as the case might bo. A few unimportant questions were put and answered, after which a vote of thanks and confidence was put and carried, with only a few dissenting voices.