MEETING AT HAMILTON.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2156, 4 May 1886, Page 2

MEETING AT HAMILTON.

Mr Lake addressed a meeting at the Public Hall, Hamilton, last night. There were about 100 persons present, notwithstanding the inclemency of the weather, i nd the chair was occupied by His Worship die Mayor, who briefly introduced Mr Like to the meeting. The address was practically the same as that delivered at Oliaupo, and at its close Mr Lake was warmly applauded. In response to an invitation from the chairman, Mr Parr asked (1) Did Mr Lake believe in a land and income tax in lieu of customs duties in necessaries and a property tax ; (2) Was he in favour of the abolition of plural voting ; (3) Was he in favour of an elective Upper House; and (4) Was he favourable to the establishment of a State Bank of Issue. Mr Lake said he was not in favour of an income tax, having found from his experience of it in England that it was inquisitorial and vexatious. It was almost impossible to arrive at the income of a farmer even m the Old Country, and it would, be still more difficult to do so in a new country like this, where nearly everything beyond what was required for absolute necessaries of life was spent in improvements. He objected to a land tax on the general ground that land, as distinguished from other property should not be made a special object of taxation. As for the disguised land tax proposed by the Government, which was a property tax with exemptions for improvements up to £3,000, if the improvements were taken off the value of the land there would be very little left to tax. The Government could give no information as to the real proceeds of the tax after making these reductions. He voted against the abolition of plural voting, because there was so much power in the hands of those who did not find the money that it was necessary to give property some additional power. Mr Parr said the working man paid through the customs. Mr Lake said Mr Parr appeared to use the term " working man " in a very narrow sense. The fact was that in this country they were nearly all working men, and all contributed to the oustomi revenue. With regard to an elective Upper House, he said that if it were proposed to make it similar to the Lower House he did not agree with it, but that some reform in the direction of making the Council elective for a longer term and with certain rostruc tions, was worthy qf consideration. No plan, could be worse than the present. He, however, even in his short experience had had reason to cay, as somaone bad said in England before him " Thank God we have a House of Lords." The mistakes

made by the House may hate batn many, but they would certainly have been wort* if then- bad been no Kccond chtunbor. Amongst the miny pru.-ni'-es of f lic Uovernnifnt w.is otii! to iefor:ri the council, and this tiiuv Ind li id fulfilled by appointing eleven mv men in one yeir. With regard to tlu> State bank of H-m\ lie had n t gone into both -idcrt ot the<(Uf«.tioue\h.iU'»tively, but si i If.ir .is he h.id gone his '•[■iniou wm not favourable to it. Mr C. J. W. Barton asked Mr Lake if he would consider it his duty to support a> petition to Parliament if signed by all the local bodies and the majority of hi* constituents? Mr Lake said it was evident that tomo word had been omitted. Mr Bat ton repeated the question, and «ai<l there was no word omitted. Mr Lake: Very well. Of course I should. Mr Barton then asked why Mr Lake had not supported the petition praying for a. commission to oxamino and report upon Mr Vajla's or any other scheme of railway reforu. which might be submitted to it. Mr Lake said that he had never concealed hi» opinion that Mr Vaile had not convinced him of the practicability of his scheme, but he had thought it hi* duty to support an enquiry, and that he, like all other settlers in the district, would of course benefit by any general reduction in freight and passages. Ha had never had any real opportunity of doing so effectively. The petition wm presented, went through the uaual channels, and wai referred to the Govern* ment. He might easily have kept on asking questions and moving reaolutiont, as was often done by men desirous of getting up a show of zeal for their own advantage in the eyes of their constituent*, but nobody could accuse him of being a humbug, and in this case, teeing no ctunco of moving with effect, be preferred to keep'quiet. Captain Steele wanted to know what Mr Lake went to Wellington for if it were not his duty to *up]M>it a petition signed by bio constituents and by 7000 people all over the colony. Mr Lake said he had dono all that could reasonably be expected of him. Capt. Steele said he had spoken to Mr Ballance of the wint of courtesy shown by the Government to the 7000 people who signed the petition. Ho pointed out to him that it was largely signed by chairmen of local bodies anil leading men all over the colony, and tiie reply he got from Mr Ballance was that there was no doubt that bad their members insisted upon it the commission would have been granted. Mr Lake said, no doubt Mr Ballance waa, in this case, as in many others, endeavouring to throw discredit upon two men who** only crime was that they consistently opposed the Government. It appeared to be a question of the credibility of Mr Ballance or himself, and he was quite content to leave it at that. In answer to a further question by Capt. Steele, Mr Lake said he was in favour of doing away with free railway passes for members of both Houses, just as he was, m f«ir as he was personally concerned, in favour of abolishing the honorarium, but he had the colony to consider. He had noticed that those who were most persistent in their apparent endeavours to abolish the honorarium took care before voting to see tbat there was no chance of the proposal being carried. Capt. Steele asked Mr Lake if ha would pledge himself to support the appointment of a commission to consider the question of railway reform. Mr Lake said lie would much rather he were asked to support a proposal for making the railways more useful to country settlers. He was strongly of opinion that the railways should be employed to open up the country^ Captain Steele then moved that a hearty vote of thanks be accorded to Mr Lake for his services in the past. In doing so he wm bound to express his regret that Mr Like had not seen his way to support the petition for railway reform. He gave him credit for being an honest and straightforward man, but all the matters he had dealt with that night were nothing when compared with the question of how to settle the country. Mi Parr's scheme* about State banks of i«sue, and so forth, were of no use unless they had the people to work on. He supported Mr Vaile'* scheme because it was the only one that had been brought forward, and because many of the leading men in Auckland who had before pooh-poohed it, were now strongly in favour of it. During the last five years, he had no hesitation in saying, owing to the high tariff* half a million had been kept one of the Wnikatn. Only a few weeks ago a gentleman with plenty of money had concluded not to settle here becau-e of the high railway charges. The country was not only standing still, but it was goinor back. He was quite certain that the adoption of some such scheme as that of Mr Vaile would soon double the population of the Waikato centres. Mr Parr seconded the motion. Mr William Wood at this stage of the meeting proceeded to put a number of questions to the member, but he waa almost inaudible owing to the applauae kept up while he was on his feet. The motion was then put and carried unanimously. A vote of thanks to the Mayor terminated the meeting.