MR J.B.WHYTE, M.H.R., BEFORE HIS CONSTITUENTS.

Waikato Times, Volume xxvi, Issue 2458, 8 May 1886, Page 2

MR J.B.WHYTE, M.H.R., BEFORE HIS CONSTITUENTS.

Meeting at CambridgeMr Wm it. addrc--ed the electors in the Public Hall, Cunbiitij,'!', on Thursday night. The hall was fairly filled, and cm tlu motion <>f Mr Houghton, chairman of the Town Hoard, Mr T. WelU was voted to the chair, and Ijiiefly iutro duced the mcmboi. Mr Whyte, who, on ri-inpf, wns received with applau-e, s.ud if lie hul no othoi reason ho was glad to ha\cthis oppoitunity of publicly tha-iking tlie olectors of Waikato for tho exttcino kindness they had shown him <vi the occasion of the last election when he was sulfeiing from a seveie illnoss, and tumble to visit the district and Address them on the .subject of his political views. They were good enough to forgive him, and to express their detei initiation that in his then weak stite of health no one should be permitted to nppwe him. It was his highest ambition to prove to them that he hid not for<jotton thnt act of kindness, and to do nothing to give them reason to regret it. (Hear, hear.) Ho was afiaid that his remarks that night must be c infilled to a review of the past. He would have greatly preferred, had it been practical ile, to look ahead and to express his views of the probabilities and possibilities of the future, and the probable policy of the Government. 'To do so was, however, not possible, because, so far as he could ascertain, the Government really had no policy. No sooner did one Minister givo expression to some startling proposition than another discredited it. They were told by one that the North Island Trunk Railway loan was to be appiopnated to other purpose*, but another member of the Cabinet denied it. l -9?heiu thoy hoard of Sjr Juliuj iVogel's great ten million borrowing scheme, but, strange to say, the Premier said ho would have none of it, and by that day's paper they would have seen that the Treasiiroi himself, speaking in reference to an article which had been in tho L >ndon Standard, denied tho authorship of the proposal. Again, Mr Dallance, at Wanganui, threatened it dissolution befoie tho House met, and this also was in its turn contradicted. And similarly with the question of protection and free trade. It seemed to him at the tune that lie ought to convene a meeting of his constituents and give publicity to his opinion upon the various subjects thus brought fnrwaid, but before ho could make arrangements tho danger had blown over. It was, therefore, quits impossible to pi edict what the future would be, and as he had said before, he would confine himself to a review of the nut. It would bs neccs*ary to go sotno distance back, us he had been unable to \isit the district at tho last election. He regretted that most of the remarks which he intended to make would be unfavourable to the present Government, although he was quite aware that Ministers had done a good deal, and had tried to dp a great deal inoro to foster the mining industry ; also t-> encourage the fishing industry. Mr Ballance too had done a good deal to be remembered for. He had introduced a liberal laud law, under which it was possiblo for any man who really wanted land to Rot it upon the most reasonable terms. He also cheei fully admitted that in the matter of public works the Government had been .at least fair, if not liberal to the district. It would therefore be seen that in his criticism he was not actu ited by local or palti y but by national and broad considerations. Concerning the Treasurer, he might remind them t'nt he was perhaps the only member in the North Island who spoko favourably ot Sir Julius Vogel, when that gentleunn re-entered colonial polities. He said either for weal or for v\ oe the country was going to have Sir Julius, nnd that on the whole, through his public works policy of 1870, he had in the past done more good than l>ann. Ho tlicrowprm did *i«.fc view- his advent with much dread, because he believed that were he harnessed together with good men, much me might be made of his acknowledged abilities. This doctrine was humourously characterised at the time as "Vogel with the brake on." (Laughter.) He (Mr Whyte), went down to Wellington favourablo to a coalition, but attempts in this direction failed. He had always heard good accounts of Mr Stout. He mentioned these things to show that he did not view the advent of the present Govftrnment to power with very much regret, while ho was al&o to home extent actuated by the belief that it was not well to allow the reins of Government to remain too long in the hands of one set of men, and so long as lie felt tho affairs of the colony would be woll looked after he saw nothing alarming in the change of Government. After that there followed, as they were all aware, a vast amount of Cabinet-making, the result of it being that the present Government got into power, and had retained it ever since.

What the Government has done. It was an old saying 1 " Businc«s first and pleasure afterwards," but in the colonies it was by no means an uncommon thing to reverse the process, and following the principle he would in the first place ntter what pleas&nt things he had to say about the Government before proceeding to find fault with them. In the first place he gave them credit for fostering tho mining industry. They had passed mnny measures that were really useful, and they had endeavoured to pass mope. On of them was the Fisheries Act, which, there was some reason to believe, would induce a particular class of men to settle in the country. Then there was Mr Ballance's Land Act, which was a liberal as need be. If people would not settle in the land nndor the provisions of that msasure, he did not believe they would nettle there nt all. He need not refer st greater lengt'i to tlm measure, because they were all familiar enough with it.

The Session of '84. The session of 1884 might be described very briefly. So much time had been spent, he would not say wasted, in attempts to fern a stable Government, tint by genonnl conspnt it was agreed that abstract questions should not be dealt with, and that- the H<>ut>« should content itself with arranging financial mi itter<», lpforms in administration, and any-other matter winch could not easily be po«|jpnnod. Therefoie the so»>i'm had only three prominent features ; viz. : th°, <-ei/.urp of the Sinking Fund, prttc'iaio »if District Riilways, and the East and West Coast riilway propo. sals. As regard tbo question of ceasing to pay Sinking Fund he approved of it ns a general principle, as it seemed to be absurd to pay into this fund while the colony continued to borrow. It was simply receiving with ono hand and paying back with the other. But the colony had agreed to pay towards a sinking fund, and they ought to do it, and as a matter of fact they even now paid it. The Treasurer boldy got over the difficultyby burrowing money to pay the Sinking Fund. By this transaction the colony was practically £250,000 a. year to tbo bad as compared with two years and a half ago. The money formerly used to pay the debt was now used for revenue purposes. He did not object to this in itself, "so much as he did strongly object to the money so obtained being used for tbo purposo of relieving the propertied classes. This, however, was what tho (Government did, because they immediately reduced the property tax one half. Tho no\t matter was tho District Railways Dill, which he would vefer to again by-andbyo Finally, there was the East and West Coast Bailway, which formed tho third and most prominent foature in tho work of tho soßsion. Under this bill, ah finnlly p:\ssnd, it wait proposed to givo to anyone undertaking the construction of tho lino half the cost in land. To thin meamiro many had taken gcont objection on tho nauo that they were pint ing with a largo part of their landed twtate, butjt was admit tod by overyono that this was one of tho main trunk lines that would have to be built some day or other, and it wjw alsTt recognisod that tho colony could not undortuko it at present. A largo portion of the colony, numuly tho \vlu»la prminco of Canterbury, iiiMtitcd upon having it doiio by f-oino monnaor auothor. It wan evident* that it would always, bo a firmidablo stumbling block \n politics, nnd an politics had been described as a nystnm of compromise tha House decided to deal with the question", imd tho bill was tho result. Ifc must be remembered, however, that two vpry important limitations were inserted in the bill, one limiting the amount of the cost per mile and the other that no land should be valued at le«s than 10* pez- acre. When it tv»B remembered that a large quantity of this land was of very poor quality indeed these limitations had tho effect of reducing the value of the concession very much. Again it ought fc« bo bore in mind that the colony retained tho alternate secetions which would no doubt be of aa areat \nluu with tho lailwny running through thorn as tho whole would hivve boon without the Un* Thereforo the colony part« 4 with

\oiy little. Moreovu it ti <«l been found liy c\jmnencc that in ..ellin^ tlio l.nxN of tin- colony neaily the whole of the ]-i»ue 1-. wuiu swalluwtd up in ndtimiiMi.ition .aid promoting settlement by row!*, Mir\e^ Ac, but on bro.idei KriHindi lie {;i\c it .is his opinion tint oven if the culony had pa it (id wth wli it \vn> of l\r?cr money vultio, ha thought it rcatiy did not m.itti'r very much what tlio vi.ite g<it fur the land, pn>\ided it w\w brought into useful ocju|i.ition and in small ureas (Applause). Tim tho company inthuirnwn intcrL".t-< would ha-.e to do. Tliorefnio it would be s-ccn th.it by tlim it it had any effect tho colony would vciic an u'liigrition agency in IJn^lcid nf the boit discubtion, that \v.<> to say, an n^ency which would *end out people ]).)^io^sed of tho means to profitably occupy tho hind. He thought tho Hou-e had done a uiio thing in !«»■<■»- mpr the 13ill, and if the lino were built undci its pio\isii>ns it would bu a go-id tiling foi tiie c ilony and for colonial politic*, a- it would re-iioU' .1 \ery di-tinb-iiik eleiuent. Now th.tt thiu question w a-, dispn^pd of, thc<4 )\ eminent would not now need to lump in any so-called \igoroni policy to cover up the enormity of tln-> woik.

The Recess of '84 '35. This brought him to the recess of 1884-8."), which was distinguished by only one proiDinent events, namely, thecreitinnuf eleven new "Lords" This ho thought they did not regaid with pleasure, and certainly it was not a step calculated to reduce Uie bnrdons of tho iwoplo. This avhr done by a Government which had pionnsed to reform the Upper Hou^c.

District Railways, i Ho would revert to the session of IsB4 very shoitly, in order to explain his action in the matter of the District Railways Bill. Dining that ses-ion the Government attempted to pass a hill empowering them to pmclia^e all the District Railways in the colony. With the principle of this, in two 1 expects lio agreed. Fir>-t he thought that the Government ought, if possible, to own all the lines m the colony, and in the second place, the bill proposed no increase to the Government liability then existing, namely, 2 per cent, on the co-t of the railways, while it pioposed to reduce tbo liability of a large number < f ratepayer fioin 5 per cent. t(» 2 per cent. He therefuie voted for the bill, but g.ne notice of an amendment which h« meant to move when tiie bill gut into committee, t<> provide for tho only danger which he thought lurked behind the mediae. This wn« annwly tho puceh ,it which those lines \v ero to 1)3 bought. The inei its of tho line-> were v arious, and no particuhus had buen supplied to the House. He therefoie moved in committee th.it no contract for the purchase of any of the.se railways should bo finally ratified until submitted to both Houhi;? for their consent, lie thought this was absolutely ncccssaiy, in order that the colony should not be victimised by pui chasing unprofitable and at the same price as profitable lines. The Houso divided upon that amendment, and it wa.s rejected, and he had no hesitation in spying that it wa« the ftb=ense of a clause of that nature that wrecked the bill in the Upper House. Several ineinbeis of th.it Chamber had infoimed him that if it had been in they would not have voted ag.iinsb it, but being unable to amend it, they rejected it altogether. Consequently power was simply taken from the Hou->o to negotiate for the pmeha&c of thy^e lines during the reces a _ to be submitted to Parliament the following session. Thi.s was done, and it w.is all he had htrLven for. In the following session the tei ins of each proposed contract were submitted to the Public Accounts Committee for examination, and a repoit was made that all the contracts should be ratified with two exceptions. Ho voted m accordance with this report, but tho Government were strong enough to carry the purchase of all the railways, good, bad, and indifferent. By this it must be borne in .mud that at lea^t £1500,000 wa.s added to the debt of the colony.

The Government Promises. Ho would now recall to their minds the promibss made by the (* >veinment on their accession to power. They promised a roinstated finance and rednced expenditme; (2) reduction in taxation ; (3) a good system of local government with figured finance ; (4) reform in native land legislation, and that the colony would, under their rule, progress by leaps and bounds. As ro garded reinstated finance, it was true that they were promised a surplus this session, but he thought it was very easy to show a surplus when, by means of the seizure of the Sinking Fund, they obtained £230,000, by means of the Hospital and Charitible Aid Act JSTojOOO, which was shifted from the Government to the localities, by increasing tho custom «ad btamp duties and tho Pioperty T.i\- they had neaily 4*400,000 at their disposal as compared with their predecessors. It w.is true thntpait of this sum had been handed b-ick to the local bodies in the shape of subsidies, but it was within the mark to say that the increased expenditure was not less than £300,000, as compared with what it had been two years and a- half before, he thought was a very startling fact, anri should be borne in mind when considering the position of the colony.

Local Government and assuiei financeThpy were promised an improved system of local government, and there had been absolutely no change of any importance even attempted. As regarded the assured finance, when it catie .tp lie examined, it turned out to be simply a return to the old system of subsidies, which had been found to work mainly in the direction of pampering thetich districts and eUrv iug the poor. To those who had much much wjs given, and to those who had hLt!e, little was given. It was true that in this scheme it was proposed to give small districts £2 for £1 on their rates, and to the larger districts only £ for S, but one or two illustrations would suffice to show that that did bring nbmit a reasonable distrib'ittrn. For instance, in the country of Sehvyn where the road? had all been made long ago out of the laud, funds, and when some of the local bod ien wern*> wealthy that they did not need, to strike a rale at nil it was proposed to offer tint country under this bill £10,000 a year for 25 years whether it needed it or not. .Again, tho county of Eden nc ir Auckland, which they all knew was .ift'ered nearly £3000 a yeir for twenty-five year whether they ner.4 it or not, whereas a cpunty lil^o 1 Whakatane where there weie •no roads, and where there were few settlers to tax and likely to lemnin few until theie \v»>re rotids wqi c offered only a few hundi eds. That would .suffice to bhow the uneqn.il operation of tho proposed measure. But ther»» wan a still womo featuje-to which he would refer. In introducing the bill, tho mover told tho local bodies that if they wished to make biirc of the.>e subsidies that thny must borrow against them, in case some succeeding (Tovernment bhould repeal the Act. In other words they were told to borrow up to the hilt against these subsidies whether they needed them or not, and >f course in »elf-defefoce, every local body would proceed to do no. Now it must be remembered that this £300,000 was the interest of coven and a half millions, if borrowed direct by the colony, which could borrow at 4 per cent. The local bodie« on the other hind could not hope to get it at loss than 5 per cent, probably more. The whole thing meant that the interest ,of seven and a l.nlf millions was sot apart for tho purpose of borrowing through the medium of tho lucul bodies not more at the outsido than six millions. Ho did not think ho was putting it too strongly when he Raid that this was tho most profiglate proposal that had over boon laid before the polony, Coniprvrml with it, tho thrmvtenod ten million borrowing polioy w»s sober, sensible aud sound, finance. Happily it was rejected, and provision made for six months until the whole subject could be reconsidered. This borrowing policy hay ing happily dis-' appeared and being disavowed by its reputed author, it was needless to discuss it further.

Native Land Legislation. Reform in the native land laws had also been promised in the direction of putting down land j"bbery and ministerial patronage in native title*. Ho admitted that Mr Ballaneo was thoroughly sincere and zealous in the cause, but the Bill which he brought down would not, in his opinion, have tended to decrease these evils, but on the contrary would increase them. That Bill had several serious defects which lo would enden our to point out a* shortly as he oiMild, It was true that a very important addition was givoii notice of by Mr Bal- j \ linen in hl« Introductory speech referring j to the manner hi which fha hinds were to ba doilt with, namely, that it should he under the refutations of the ljnd li\vs of tlift colony, which was a very material improvement to rim Bill. But the bill as it stood had the following more prominent defect* • There was no additional provision mado for the individuftlisation of titles. The rights of the minority wtrt ovwiddnn, iu> % tare

majority could (h-euic c\ drilling. For instance, if 21 "lit. hi" iO own- i « « i-hed to nell, the w kliim of the 10 could nut prevent it. Nor w is tlicu' mv in >\ m >'.i f-tr tlio rights of minors. It v. i< pi.>]> >*. tl th.it com. mittiH"< sh-Mild he f< lined t > »i i vi'iy lil-'ck in tlii? isl.uid, and it w i h then fore c\idcn tint there would he thoiumls of tlieso committee*. Th<^e committee", iip.im had to .i|i|iro.ich and operate through the lncdimu of a board consisting of three uicmbjpt. The cii iv man .aid another of these three weie to bj nominated by the Government and evc.yt'iuig uabto bottled l»y «i majority of winch the cliairmuu would Live to bj one That w.»> to s.iy if ther* was a majority ag.ii:i>t the chairman the board weie unable to do an} thing. It was therefore evident th it, the whole power rested with the chairman For these reason he thought the Muoi is would be afiaid to put their l.uid through the cmrt not knowlug wh.it coiunuLtej would be chosen, and whnt would ullimatcly become of their l.nuH. Ho aho thought tl'»t pouer to le.iM) only « .mid l.c gi\ en. Tluis of count* involved the i">t ibli-tinn^nt of .v ii,\tivo landlordißiii. Th^y nad all hoard of the many evils cuiiueit<_d with ljmlloidi-m put he did not think a n.itr.e Lindloidi^m would bo an improvement upon that oj which they knew v) much, and when ho reflected that it would al.v> be a coiumnm<<tic land* louli.-un, It must be evident that these eul-< would bn increased (Heir lioar.) He ako thought tlint it would throw tha power into the h f iuds of a lot of smart young half-castes who were growing up. It was fmther profiosed to invest part of the proceeds in the h indH of the Public Trusteo for thu benetit of the native. Thit might be theoretically good, but he thought if they wished to impiovc the Manrin off the f.icc of the raith, the quickest way w«s to iuakc them a race of pensioner*. The Government also under the Bill would occupy tho position both of buyer and seller ; the Hml power in almost e\ »»ry ca%o rented w jth tho minister. He did not th'iik that ministers used that power in an improper manner, nor did he think rhe piesent nuni-ter did, but »s im])utalions of th.it M>rt wtre very common ie was desirable that they .«hould be avoided. He thought further that the Bill would tend to pupotunte and enlarge the nativo office The cost of currying on all this bethought would be very gient, and would either v ei y neaily c\h.iu>t t!ie whole proceeds uf tho land or be provided by tho colony. He had shown that in tho ca>>e of Government land it nearly all went, and he felt certain that a similar result will follow m the c.iso under notice. It wm propo>ed that tho i eductions in the price ie.\li-ed should not exceed one-third of the proceeds. But oven if tho natives consented to that he believed it would be much greater and the deficiency would have to be inado up by the colony. Therefore ho wm gl.id tho Bill had not passed, but knowing the earnestness and zeal of the present Native Minwter in the matter, he still hoped that that gentleman would be able to bring down a Bill which he (tho speaker) could support.

Hospitals and Charitable Aid. A< legards the Hospital and Chaiitablfl Aid Act the had been lately «o fully ventilated that ifc was hardly neceisary to go into the matter tli.it evening. He, how e\ or, hoped to be able during the next session to secure amendments having the effect of lessening the unequal pres* huro of tho Act in the country districts.

Messrs Meiggs and Co. Another prominent feature in the session was the att'iiniit made by tho Government to foist Mew-i Meipfgs and Co. on tho colony. Ho had already mentioned the concessions granted by the House in the previous session to anyone who wonld bind the railway, namely, half tho value in land. Tin-, had not been found to be sufficient, and Messrs Meißtf.i olfeaed to construct the line provided also that vvoiking expenses were guara n teed by the Oo\ eminent, and with an addition il £97,000 a year. This •uulaeituia puipnvil \. # is actually advocated by tho Government. Happily, however, the Honae rejected it by a substantial majority. Viewing this occunence in the light of recent events they had still more reason to congratulate themselves. The construction of the line had been taken over by a company, and tho question might be rcgnided as finally settled.

Railway Reforms. They had been proinUcJ that the oxpanditure upon open railway-, would bo greatly reduced, but he would not be surprised to find that it was greater than e\er. Then they were told that the management of ths railways would bo greatly unproved, and that an expert was to bi» appointed to take charge of them. Mt Riduudsvn joined th« Cabinet, and it was claimed for him that he was the bast Minuter of Public Works the colony had e\ er had. Well, they had waited two yeais and a half for the promised impiovemtiiir, and it was only too painfully manifest that Mr Mawvell was still the Minister for Hail way*. (Applause.) He would not say much about this question jus»t then, n> he had been given to under' stand it would bo brought foiward at a later stage of the meeting. Ho would just say in tins connection that he believed it was the intenti m shortly to reduce the tinff for poods &c.

Oapt. Russell's Motion, &c. They had all heard a great deal about the now celebrated motion carried by Capt. Russell. It had been used by the Government ns an excuse for not undertaking numerable necessary works they had been asked for. At Te Aroha, the Minister made use of it when asked to put up cattle yards nt the railway station. The facts of tho case could be btated very shortly. At that tune the money in hand amounted to £2,100,000, and the estimates provided for £2,000,000. Had tho estimates been passed another loan would have been necessary, but the Houmj objected, and told the Government that they mu»t re. duce thuir estimates by £"»OD,OOO, leaving it to the Minister for Public Works to say where the reductions should be made. This the Minister did, taking between £300,000 to £100,000 off railway*, and the balance off other works. It was clear, therefore, that even supposing the course subsequently punned by the Government was a dignified one, in pleading thnt the Opposition had prevented {them garryinj out this, that, and tho other thing, tho statement was neither fair nor true. The case would have beon quite different if the Government had beon at>ked to undertake any work which was known to be in tho list of things struck out of the Estimates. Moreover,, when they remembered that while the excuse ww being u*ed the Government were erecting » traffic bridge at A&hbtuton, alongside a combined railway and trafflo bridge, at a cost of ten thousand pounds, it would be apparent to all that the effect of Capt. Ruv.ell'b motion had not been fait in Cap. terbury. To his intense surprue, for he had always entertained a high opinion of the Premier, he afterwards saw that the Pi emier, in speaking at Dunedin, boasted that he had been able to let contracts in bit own district, thereby favouring his own constituents at the expense of the rest of the colony. In his moxt recent speech, Sir Julius Vogel had referred to what he called the " panic " which eusued wnen Major Atkinson had the management of tho colony's finances. He (Mr Whyte) had never heard of this before, but he knew that lomething very like n panic ensued when the ten million borrowing scheme was propounded by Sir Julius Vogel. What the colony wanted more than anything else was settlers who would coma piopared to take up and cultivate the land, and this class wou.ld have been effectually kept away if that scheme had been adopted. It was not, however, worth while to discuss tlmt matter now as the scheme had quite disap. peared. Sit* George Grey had propounded a. scheme of land settlement of buying up largo estates and offering them to small settlers on reasonable terms. Well, theoretically there was no objection to that, and no doubt the landed proprietors would bo very glad to see it brought into force. Many of them would be only too glad to sell tbeir land on the terms proposed by Sir George Grey. But for that \ery reason the scheme was not required, as people desirous of li\ ing upou the land could make as good towns for themsehes with the owners without the inter veution of the Government Moreo\er he was afraid that the power to purchase private estates would be a dangerous one to put in the hands of any Go\ernment. However to a small extent the principle of that proposal had been embodied in tho Land Act cif last session, whereby power had been piven to purchase blocks not escceding 1000 acres in each | I'/calily, when required for village settlements These purchases were to bo made on the i-pc iinmend'itmtt of the Waste Lands Jsr>ard, and ratified by both House? of Parliament. There was another mutter that might appear latlur a small affair, but which might grow into a great nbuso and against which ho hnd to the boot of his ability steadily set his face. It was this. Any increase to tho number of paid pot>U tious, jq the gift of the Govcr^

nient, and for which incmberH of the House were eligible. Sevcial proposal-* inuthing this had b-'en made during tho last two year*, but happily they had all been defeated with two exceptions, which he would inontion. There were several Parliamentary committees appointed by tho House, and tho chair non of theae c nninitteos had hitherto, with two exception*, dona the work for tho honour of the thing, and thero was no luck of good man willing to continue to do ho. Howe\er, the Government th>i]<?ht proper in 1884 to put upon tho Estimates two minis of £100 oachfor the chairman of the Goldfields and tho Waste Lands Committees. The chainnin of the Goldlields Committee accepted his £10) with thanks, but .Mr Fulton, the eh lirman of the Waste Lands Committee, and an excellent chairman too, sent his back to the Government. He did this, not ljecausc ho had any objection to roaming £100, bat bjcmso he objected on principle to chairmen of committees being paid. Ho thought it worked badly. However, what did the Government do? Next session they unseated Mr Fulton, and put itt% supporter of their own, who was willing to accept, and did accept (jay, and -one who everybody know was not nearly as good a chairman as Ins predecessor. Howe\er, he was glad to say that tho Houso reduced these two amounts to £50 each, aud g.ive a very plain intimation that they should not appear in the Estimates again at all. He would just shortly refer to an event of world- wide fame, vu, the fact that recently, for the first timo, colonial troops had been seen fighting side by side with the Imperial forces in a foreign land. He thought this a mo*t important event, which would no doubt mark an era in the history of our Colonial Empire. He also wished to allude shortly to the recent prosecution pushed t» a successful issue by Mr Bryce against Mr Rusden for an atrocious charga against, not only Mr Bryce, but against the colonists of New Zealand. Ho thought the result of that prosecution would tend very much tolo«sen that impression which prevailed at, Exeter Hall and elsewhere that the colonists of Now Zealand were greedy, cruel, and bloodthirsty in their treatment of the native race. He (Mr Whyte) had put a motion upon the Order Paper to the effect that the Colonial Government should conduct tho prosecution and bear the expense. He did this because he thought that colonists should jealously guard the reputation of their public men. Mr Bryce, however, had asked him to withdraw it, nnd said he would take tho task upon his own shoulders. This, he thought, was an exceedingly plucky thing to do, as, had he lost his case, he would probably have been mined. As it was, he was informed that the whole of the damages would be swallowed up by costs. Before sitting down he would briefly summarise his reasons for being still in opposition to the Government. He admitted the undoubted individual ability of various members of tho Government, and gave them credit for having done some useful work. He also admitted that they had treated his district very fairly, and his reasons theroforo "for beinjf still in opposition were neither local nor paltry, but national and colonial. He could ha\ c no respect for a Government that avowedly abandoned every shred of their policy in order that they might stick to their seats; that Allowed their estimates to bo ruthlessly cut down without resigning, and afterwards paraded their own humiliation as a reason for not proceeding with ordinary work; that promised local bodies an assured finance, Mid kept that promise by offering them borrowed money to borrow against at a higher rate of interest; that promised to abolish the Property Tax, and ended by increasing it ; that were led by a Premier who a openly boasted of having used his position to favour his own district in the matter of public woiks at the expense of the rest of the colony ; that promised to put down native land sharking and Ministerial patronage in native titles, and introduced a bill, unintentionally lie believed, Highly conducive to both ; that promised to reduce taxation, and in addition to seizing the Sinking Fund, increased tho Customs, Property Tax, and stamp duties j that endeavoured to foist Meiggs and Co. on the colony ; that promised reform in the Upper House, and kept it, by putting in more new men in ono year than their predecessors had in five; that in order to reward a political supporter, unseated a good chairman, who refused to accept pay in favour of an indifferent ono who did accept it ; that posed as friends of the masses, and endeavoured to more heavily tax the necessaries of life and relieve the Property Tax ; that promised that nothing but physical force wo.i)ld remove them from the Treasury benches— and kept that promise, ft afforded him no pleasure to say this even of, his political opponents. He, however, remembering the individual ability of members, and their zeal, hoped that out of ajl their trials and tribulations good might come. Mr Whyte resumed his seat amidst loud applause. The Chairman intimated that Mr Whyte Would be glad to answer any questions that might bn put to him. Mr James Forrest asked tho following question :— Although the country has been spending millions of borrowed, money, and we have an unequalled climate and vast resources, we are f>till not retaining our natural incroase of of population, peoplo leaving by thousands every year because the country is not worth living in. Do you, think protection is likely to give our people permanent employment, and as a confluence wages, food, and clothing ? Mr Gwynneth protested that this was not a question, as it assumed that certain things were facts, which he for one did nut believe. •Mr- Whyte sai4 he was quite willing to Answer ,the question as it stood. It began by laying down certain alleged facts, which he did not acknowledge to be such. Ho admitted that they were spending borrowed millions ; he also admitted that New Zealand had a splendid climate, and to some extent he agreed that tho colony was_ not retaining its population, but lie declined to believe that the people were leaving by thousands, or that the country was not worth.; living in. (Loud applause). He would] bn lorry to admit such a thing, either publicly or privately ; neither, even if such were the case, did he think protection would do much to cure it. (Applause). 30ff J./P. Thomson asked if Mr Whyte wduicf uae his best endeavours to socuro & return to tho old system of two trains a day to and from Cambridge, connecting with the trains at present running from Frankton junction. Mr Whyte said the best answer to that v question was that he tried to do this already. Whether ho would bo successful or not he could not say, but he could tell them on good authority that a new timetable Would be issued shortly, but he could not say anything as to its nature. Mr Kincaid as if Mr Whyte would aupport a further grant for the completion of Mia Tauranga-Gainbridge road ? Mr Whyte thought he might claim the credit of having obtained all the money already expended on the road. He got the first vote and several others afterwards. The only drawback was that he owned land upon the road, but of course that was no reason why money ahould not be spent upon it (Laughter). He had often thought the road was the best of the three between the Bay of Plenty and Waikato, because it was the most natural route for rqople who wished either to bqy or sell oftttlp, At present nearly every hoof , that deft or went to the Bay of Plenty was conveyed by sea iv very, very indifferent steamers. At the present time the grades were good and the r»ad only require widening to fit it for wheeled traffic. He was afraid however that the answer of the Government might be to the effect that they gave the 1 >cal bodies subsidies and (hey ought to do the work. Cant. Souter asked Mr Whyte to state hi* views upon the best way of settling people on the land, whether by Sir George Grey's scheme, or by handing money at a low rate of interest ? Mr Whyte said this was not an easy question to answer right off. In the first place tho land law passed last session was an extremely liberal measure. Land at Te Aroha, the upset price of which was formerly £3 per acre, was now offered to anyone who wished to settle at a rental of Is per acre with a perpetual lease. If this would not suit people surely nothing would, Mr Parr : Yes, but it takes all a man can mako off the land to pay taxes. Mr Whyte was afraid it would be a long timo before they would be able to do without taxes. As to the question of purchasing private land, power was given in tho Act referred to to do this'on a limited acale, as he had already stated. Mr Gwynneth said a portion of the Rntorua and Taupo roads, some four miles, laying between Cambridge and Morris' corner, had been shifted on to the ■houlders of the Taotaoroa Road Board by the Government, while the road at each end was still retained. He asked Mr Whyte if he would endeavour to get , (his altered. Mr Whyte said if ho were asked to gire I

it as his opinion that this road ought to bo a colonial road, he would havo to Rive tho same opinion in regard to many other road.*. He really thought they oujtht to bo glad that the Government had not handed over moio than four miles (applause and laughter.) Mr Rusaoll asked :'. Will you support a Commisiion of Enquiry into the working of the railway*, and especially to enquire itto tho merits of V.iilo's scheme, such Commission to consist partly of members to bo elected by tho Chambers of Commerce ' and Agricultural and Pastoral Associations ? Mr Whytesaidof course ho would. It might perhaps be as well to give the meetins the history of the la«t petition. As they would perhaps remember, the petition did nut reach him until tho session was two months old, and then some delay occurred in waiting for additional papers, etc. In due course he presented the petition. He did not follow the usual course in cases of tins kind and merely present it, but he endeavoured to draw tho attention of the House by calling attention to the fact that it had been largely and influentially signed by chairmen and members of borough councils, county councils, road boards and chambers of Commerce, and by many others holding prominent positions. He did everything he could think of to bring it under the notice of members. After presentation the petition was referred in due courpe to the Public Petitions Committee. Then occurred a little delay, and then down came a supplementary petition, and he repeatod the process. This petition was sent to the Committee, and ho attended and supported the prayer of the petition before that Committee. Tho general impression in the House was that tho petition had been got up solely in the interests of Mr Vaile's scheme, or the passenger rate portion of it, and nothing could dissipate that impression. After a time the Committee reported, referring the petition to the Government. That of course was jnoat unsatisfactory, and he brought the question before tho Houso several timss. On one of these occasions he received a most unsatisfactory answer from the Minister, and he moved tho adjournment of tho House in order to speak. It happened, however, that a similar motion had been made just before, and tho rulo was that a second motion to adjourn could not be made until some business had boen done. Well, he waited until some busine«s had been done, but just as ho rose tho Premier got up in front of him and caught the Speaker's eye first. Before ho got another chance the half -past live adjournment arrived. But he did not rest there. After resuming at 7.30 he moved the adjournment and spoke on the question, at the same time giving notice of a question he intended to ask the next day. The next di*y ho put this question, and the result was tho Government to furnish a report upon Vaile's scheme. That report, which Was from Mr Maxwell, they had doubtless all seen. He did not know how his action was viewed by his constituents, but he knew what Mr Vaile himself thought of it, because that gentleman wrote him a letter thanking him for the part he had taken. It it was intended to present another petition he would suggest that they base it upon more general grounds. There seemed to be a strong prejudice against Vaile's scheme, and indeed he himself did not profess to endorse it. Of course this schome wo\ild receive 'attention if a commission were' appointed. He. wished also to say the new petition was signed by 7000 people, representative men in most cases, and belonging to constituencies represented probably by 50 or GO members in the House, and yet not one of these members took a real interest in the matter. If a similar petition were presented again, efforts must be made by those signing to get their members to take an active interest in it. In reply to various other questions he gave answers that were apparently satisfactory to the .meeting. Mr W. Reid proposed a vote of thanks and confidence, which was duly seoonded. Mr Gwynneth moved as an amendment, " That one addition should be made to the motion to the effect that the meeting pledged itself to support Mr Whyte against all-comers, and do everything in their power to prevent a contest. There is no doubt that this would have been carried with very few dissentions, but Mr Whyte requested Mr Gwynnetb to withdraw it, as lie thought it unreasonable to ask any meeting to pledge itself for the futuro. He was fully satisfied with the motion as it stood, To this Mr Qwynneth demurred, but finally tho amendment was withdrawn, and the original motion was then put and carried, without a dissentient.