THE WAIKATO ELECTION

Waikato Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2333, 23 June 1887, Page 2

THE WAIKATO ELECTION

MR G. W. RUSSELL A.T HAMILTON.

Mil G. W. Russell, of Cambridge, who has come forward to contest the election for Wnikato, addressed a public meeting at Le Quesne's Hall, Hamilton, on Monday evening. The weather was very unpropitious, but notwithstanding this there was a fair attendance, between 70 and 80 people being present. The chair was taken by the Mayor (Mr Barton), who briefly introduced Mr Russell, remarking that it was scarcely necessary to ask a Hamilton audience to accord anyone a fair and impartial hearing.

Mr Russell, on rising, said before refo.rring to the political questions of the clay he would like to make a few preliminary remarks. A correspondent writing to Thk Watkato Times had objected to \m coming forward as be had not received a requisition. In the first place, such a thing would involve expense, and in the second place he regarded it, as he regarded votes of confidence) at public meetings, as a contravention of the spirit of the corrupt Practices Act. The proper time to record one's verdict was on the polling day. It had also been said that ho ought not to put Mr Whyte'to the expense of a contest, but that was quite absurd and quite'out of touch with the spirit of the age, which was quite averse to the maintenance of: pocket boroughs. He desired to cay at the outset that any references lie might make to Mr Whyte would be in regard to his public capacity as their late member. In his personal capacity Mr Whyte was widely and deservedly esteemed, and by none more so than the speaker. It had been stated in Thk Waikato Tim us that he was the nominee of the Government. Now ho wished to give that statement an absolute and unqualified denial. He came before them as the representative of no party or clique, but at the request of a number of the electors. With part of tho policy of the present Government he agreed, and with part he did not, but he preferred them to the present Opposition. The Opposition was made up of so many different elements, including in it Sir George Grey, Major Atkinson and Mr Ormond, that it was all heads and tails. No Government formed from it would stand a week. If he were returned he certainly would vote for the Government as against the Opposition, but he did not consider it possible that the present Government could stand, and he looked forward to a coalition which would include Sir R. Stout and Mr Ballance, whom he regarded as the strongest men in the House.

The Financial Position.

The appeal to the country was to be made oh the question of finance. The question was, were they to continue to spend money as wastefully 'as they had been doing since the year 1870, when Sir J. Vogel initiated his public works scheme? The colony had got into debt to the extent of £32,000,000, but it had lost the good opinion of the world, as evidenced by the writings of Fronde and the Standard. The people of New Zealand were popularly regarded as wasteful and extravagant, who cared not how they spent their money so long as tiiey got it. Well, their credit had been stopped, and it had become necessary to pause and consider their position. Their climate was of the best, their wheat yield was the best, tho country offered attractions to capitalists who desired to embark in mining and in numerous other industries. They were burdened with a debt of £32,000,000, the interst upon which amounted to £1,7G4,000; the local bodies had gone on the money market to the extent of SJ.- millions, the interest on which was £275,000. Thus, the colony sent out for interest no less a sum than £SGOO every day. The debt amounted to £G4 per head for every man, woman, and child in the country. The only reproductive works upon which they had spent money were the railways, which returned a revenue of £250,000 over the working expenses, so that they were paying a million and a half for indirect benefits. Who was to blame? In many quarters the odium was cast upon Sir Julius Vogel, but those who did so were ignorant of New Zealand history. Between 187-1 and 1884 Major Atkinson was eight years in power and most of the time he held the purse In that period he made 1250 miles of railway. Those were the days when fortunes were made ; the country would never see such days again. They must consider now they were going to get out of the mess. During the past year they had spent in governing the country £2,144,G54, which, added to the interest paid, gave a total of £-1,184,427, which had to be paid before anything was left to support the population. Of a total population of 578,000, those, over 15 years of age numbered about 101,000, and if civil servants, prisoners, and all other nonproducers were deducted, it would be found that tho whole burden of taxation rested on the shoulders of 100,000 people. This was very shocking, especially if they would consider what would happen if a large goldfield were to break out in Australia. Why the people would go there in thousands. There there would be fortunes in prospect, here nothing but debt. He would quote another significant fact. The number of people or companies who paid property tax was only 27,000. These were startling facts. Where was the remedy ? .Sir Julius Vogel said they must put on additional taxation, and Major Atkinson said the same thing. He (Mr Russell) believed, and he thought the meeting would agree with him, that before additional taxation was talked of they should go in for retrenchment. (Wear, hear). He thought it was C|irite feasible to save £200,000 or £300,000 a year. They were paying higher salaries than they could afford. The Governor ought not to receive, more than £5,000. At present the Premier got £1750, and other Ministers £1250 each ; he thought these figures might be reduced, respectively, to £1250 and £1000. The house allowance should also be reduced, and only actual travelling expenses paid. The cost of working the Legislature was frightful. The Speaker of the House got £800 and the Speaker of the Council £GOO a year, and the salaries paid to the other officers, the clerks, etc., brought up the total to £11,000. This sum could be reduced by £5000 without mpairing the efficiency of the staff, The total amount paid in hononaria to the members of both Houses was £25,040, to which must be added £11,000 for travelling and other expenses, making a total of over £3G,000, an amount which he submitted was beyond the means of the colony (Hear, hear). He thought £150 a year, (not a session) was enough for members of the House. They would not in that case be so eager for a second session. As for the members of the Council, thi-.y should not be paid at all. (Applause.) By doing this they would save £11,000, and the country would be all the better for it. He quoted figures to show that last session members of the House received £32 per week, £8 per working day, or £1 per working hour. It was quite evident that a now set of men with new ideas was wanted. The old members had got so accustomed to the expenditure that they did not believe it could be cut down. Then, they spent £220,000 in defence; they had a standing army of 320 men, which cost £87,000 a year, £37,000 going in salaries. _ This department required careful watching. The Governor, unfortunately, was an expert in defence matters, and that no doubt had a good deal to do with the expense. AVell, the country had the fortifications, and he believed they could man them for £37,000. Instead of employing highly-paid officers they should lay the duty of inspecting the permanent force on the volunteers, just as they imposed magisterial work on the unpaid justices of the peace. (Laughter and applause). When the cable informed the colony that the Russians were cornins? they could easily meet them. Unless he was mistaken, tho colony would soon become a happy hunting ground for the European military men out of employment, while they would also be raising up a set of "curled darlings" from among the youths of the colony. Now, he wanted to avoid this. If they had to ficlit he believed the people wore willing, but he did not believe in keeping up an ornamental army, or being frightened into spending £70,000 on unproductive work. He thought they should support the volunteering movement to a certain extent, but there were some objectionable features in it. It was sometimes used for political purposes, for instance. He thought the volunteer vote, £40,000, would bear cutting down. He thought boys should be drilled, and afterwards, as some sort of acknowledgment for the benefit of a free education, they might agree to go through a course of military training, and so the country would always have a well drilled militia at its command. With regard to the civil service, all departments were overmanned and many could be done away with. Regarding tho scale of pay, ho acknowledged that in some departments, such as the railway and telegraph, a special training was required, but ordinary clerical work should bo paid for at ordinary rates. The Survey Department cost £104,000. Ho

thought tho work could be done much more cheaply by contract. If they deducted the items of defence and education they would see that it took £1,500,000 to run the country, and he could only nay that if they could not find 95 men who could reduce that sum by 10 per cent., they were the biggest nation of fouls on God's earth. (Applause.) If members only set their faces against extravagance, a saving could be effected, but when a member got to Wellington he was taken by the hand by the members of the civil service, invited out to balls and parties, until at length he became ensared in the net. How was it possible to vote for a reduction in the salary of a man at whoso house one had been the previous night ? It was a difficult question, but when they took into consideration ;the present price of , produce, and the fact that men nvere walking about idle, was it reasonable that such evils as ho had pointed out should be perpetuated? (No, no). Tho whole cry of the country was " Retrenchment." If they looked at the figures again they would see that if all the reductions ho had enumerated were made they would save £212,000, and he asked them was it not possible to do this, if they sent men to the House, pledged to carry out retrenchment in a proper manner? (Applause.) Education. Another field in which a saving might be effected was education. One of the most hopeful signs of the age was that socialistic tendency to improve the condition of tho masses. The education system was a modern growth, but all people now recognised its necessity, at the same time they had to fix a limit of some sort. There was a pointbeyond which the state ought not to go. It was the duty of the State to provide for the sick and destitute, but nobody would insist that they should provide them with drawing rooms and elabonate couches ! So in regard to education, it was the duty of the State to give a boy sufficient education to enable him to enter the battle of life, in other words to provide hini with a key to unlock the storehouse of knowledge, but it was not called upon to train him up from the time when he learned A. B. untilhebecameaß.A. or a IJ.D. and that without making any charge. (Hear, hear). They had primary schools, native schools, high schools, and universities. Some of these institutions were endowed. In Otago the early settlers were very cute and set aside land for that purpose, but the Auckland people had not been so smart. In the Otago University the students cost £09 per head, of whicl) the state paid £56 ; at the Auckland College there were 108 students costing £39 per head, all paid by the state ; the New Zealand University, which only granted degrees, cost £3000, and the Canterbury College cost £7316. The secondary schools coei £00,838, or £15 per pupil, all paid by the state. This showed that children could get a smattering of education where the rich could go and the poor could not. The grant to education boards amounted to £411,000, and when to this amount was added the net cost of secondary education and £0000 raided by local committee?, the total cost of education would be found to be £497,319. He asked them to pause and ponder over these figures. The cost of the boards was £10,000, Auckland's share being £2500, out of which they paid a secretary £500 a year to administer affairs and "boss " the board. (Laughter.) Now, the country could not afford to do this. He thought they might reasonably ask parents to pay a small fee for instruction above the 4th standard. He had spoken to several people, and they were all agreeable to pay, say, 10s a quarter, which would produce, say, £20,000. A large saving might be effected by raising the school age from sto 7. His experience was that no child could learn much until it was seven years old. The average age at which children passed the Ist standard was eight. By this they would save £112,000, assuming that there were 28,000 children now at school under seven, following on the lines laid down, that the duty of the State ended with primary education, he would withdraw all, or neariy all the support given to colleges and universities. If Auckland people wanted a high school let them pay for it and not ask the hard-worked settlers of the Waikato to help them. When once the democracy was thoroughly roused theso reforms would be effected. The education reserves should be colonialised. The education system might be improved by giving it a more practical turn ; every girl ought to be taught to darn and every boy should be taught some branch of technical education, so that when he left school he would be fit for something besides a bank clerk. They might also spend some of the money now granted for higher education upon agricultural college?. They were essentially a farming people, and any means by which they could improve their methods of cultivation should be eagerly seized, and here he would like to ask what had been done in the matter of the agricultural college for Waikato? A reserve for the purpose near Hamilton had been handed over to the Waikato County Council, and again he would ask publicly, what had been done? He judged by the silence that nothing had been done, and if not, why not? Whangarei had got its school of forestry, and Waikato required an agricultural college much more urgently. He trusted before tho contest closed to obtain an an answer to his question. If they made education partly self-support-ing they would save £188,000, which added to the amount which could be savad iu the expenses of legislation, £112,000, gave a not saving of £400,000! and yet notwithstanding this, they had Vogel saying that taxation must be increased, and Atkinson saying that they must got more o;it of the customs ! The sum he named as being possible to save represented one-third of the whole customs revenue and £90.000 more than was produced by tho Property-tax. The people must see to it that the outcry about retrenchment was not a more flash in the pan. It was no use sending men to Wellington who would go in for cutting down expenses by £20,000 or so ; as Scobie Mackenzie said in the House, they wanted an upheaval which would permanently lower the level of expenditure ; they would have to go in for more of the old English simplicity in living. The country was almost insolvent and yet what had been done, so, far to rdmedy matters ? The expenditure must be lowered ; the representatives must see to it that every department is worked in the cheapest possible manner. Tho people of Waikato should insist upon this who ever their member was. There were other matters to bo attended to as well ; there was the question of land settlement and, most important of all, railway reform. Railway Reform.

He placed this plank in the very front of his platform. It was this that Waikato wanted and, unless he was greatly mistaken, it was upon that the election would turn. Since the initiation of the Public Works policy £14.000,000 had been spent on railways, and Parliament had allowed Ministers to manage this huge concern withouteven securing that there should be an annual discussion upon thesubject. The sum spent in this province was £1,(540,000 and the lines yielded a net revenue of £'2 9s Id per cent. The effect of the system was, as they had seen, to improve the large cities and to ruin the country districts. He quoted figures to prove that Auckland had largely increased ia value and population, while the value of property in Waikato had decreased and the population had remained stationary. Waikato had nothing to thank the railway for. The intention ofthe orginators of therailway construction scheme was threefold, first to find employment for men, secondly, to settle the country, and lastly, to raise revenue. The first and second considerations had been obscured by the third, which was never intended to be inoro tharfi dependent on the others. Instead of using the lines to foster settlement, the Government had used them to squeeze money out of the pockets of the people. The Victorian railways paid all the interest on the debt of the colony except £202,Sf>(> ; Che New South Wales railways paid all except £220,541 ; the Queensland, all except £444,537, while New Zealand railways only contributed £400,140 in 1884 (leaving £1,293,024 interest on the public debt) to be paid out by the general taxation of the country. Since this the revenue had fallen, and profits decreased. It was not necessary that he should go over the whole of the ground iu regard to Vaile's system. He accepted it in all its essentials as a sound system which would promote settlement, increase the value of country lands, create inland towns, lessen poverty, and withal prove a financial success and return revenue. Ho wished to be perfectly explicit upon this point, but at the same time he was not going to bind himself to every detail of Mr Vaile's scheme. There were some features, such, for instance, as the inter- Waikato 4d and 0d fares, which he did not approve, but he thoroughly believed in the stage system, and would do his utmost to have it carried out in all its essential features. Referring to the present system of management, Mr Russell related two orthroe anecdotes, which have already appeared in print, bearing

upon the anomalies of the tariff. He also quoted from Mr Hudson's evidence before the commission to show that tho present system prevented people from using the lines. He was aware that there was a difference of opinion in regard to Vaile's passenger system, but they all agreod that the freights wanted lowering. So far as the small settlers were concerned the rates were most oppressive. They wore the saino to-day ns they were three years ago, and yet the prices of stock and produce havn declined considerably. One settler told him that a reduction of £1 per truck on cattle would save him £40 a year, and thero wero many other cases which ; might be given. These grievances had been g«ing on multiplying for years, and why?' They .. had their members in the House, and the * newspapers had kept hammeringaway at the subject, and yet the cursed huckstering systom still existed. They would roraenibcr that a year ago, in that very hall, he had urged the Reform League to take up a, practical attitude. His suggestion was adopted, with the result that Parliament was flooded with petitions and a commission way appointed and brought up a report. He thought that the time for action of that kind had gone by; The war should now be carried in to the floor of the House. Their member should ask Parliament why the present system was tolerated. Ever since he had been in Waikato the Times had been pegging away, but they should send a man to tho House who would say, "You are stagnating the country." On the question ot railway reform Mr Whyle was on his ■trial. He must be judged by the reforms -he had advocated in the past, and not by his promises for tho future. If in the past he had tried to obtain reforms he deserved thanks, but it is quite evident he had not succeeded. The electors should say to him "You have j done your best and failed ; we must therefore givo somebody else a chance." (Laughter.) Some of them might laugh, but-that was the principle they would adopt in respect of their own private affairs, and ought not that principle to be applied to public affairs, upon which ' depended their whole future ? (Hear, hear). Everything depended upon railway management. Mr Whyte had told them straight out that ho could not suppoi't the adoption of Vaile's scheme. Now the people of Waikato had been working hard for railway reform; the district was the home of reform; and the question had been made one of the loading planks in the platform of many politicians. Mr J. A. Connell, of Auckland, supported it, and Major Jackson also believed that Vaile's scheme should have a trial. Now, if. Waikato returned Mr Whyte they would be electing the most uncompromising and, he would say, the most able opponent of that scheme. Mr Whyte had made the subject his special study, and had made out the best possible case against Mr Vaile. If, therefore, they elected Mr Whyte all their efforts in the direction of reform would be rendered nugatory. If he (Mr Russell) were returned, his first business would be, not to see who was in power, but to see that the efforts of Waikato in the direction of reform were not strangled. He would support no Government who would maintain anything like the present order of things. In the present mixed state of parties the times were propitious for a change. They would remember that in 1879 four Auckland members turned out the Grey Government. (Loud laughter). Well, he would not defend an action of that kind, but regarding the question of reform as one which largely affected the district he hoped to represent (laughter) he would endeavour to make his position a lever to get reform. They should bear in mind the words of tho Bard of Avon. 'There is a tide" &c. Protection. It was also necessary to their prosperity that they should have a manufacturing population. He would therefore advocate a policy of vigorous protection to those industries which stood in need of it. He was aware that diverse opinions were held on this subject. Victoria was a protectionist, and New South Wales was a free trade colony; (No, no) well, the people of New South Wales called themselves free traders. Now it appeared to him that the free traders based their arguments upon the case of England, but circumstances varied. England owed her supremacy to the large amount of her exports, but the pressure of the tariff had been felt there. American flour could be obtained in England at 2s Gd less than it could be produced there, and English millers were actually selling American flour. One Bradford manufacturer had removed his plant to America, and would ship the whole of his manufactured goods back to England. In England one fourth of the population were engaged in manufactures. In New Zealand the proportion was one twenty-ninth. They must create a manufacturing population to eat what the farmer produced. He read the following extract from Mr John Stuart Mill's "Political Economy. Book V., chap. 10, sec. 1 :— "The only case in which, on mere principles of political economy, protecting duties can be defensible, is when they are. imposed temporarily (especially in a young and riainer nation) in hopes of naturalising a foreign industry, in itself perfectly suitable to the , circumstances of the country. Tho superiority of one country over another in a. branch of production, often arises only from having begun it sooner. There may be no inherent advantage on one part, or disadvantage on the other, but only a present superiority of acquirer! skill and experience. A country which has this skill and experience yet to acquire, may in other respects be better adapted to the production than those which were earlier in the field ; and, besides, it is a just remark of Mr Rae, that nothing has a greater tendency to promote improvements in any branch of production, than its trial under a new set of conditions. But it cannot be expected that individuals should, at their own risk, or rather to theit certain loss, introduce a new manufacture, and bear the burden of carrying it on until the producers have been educated up to the level of those with whom the processes are traditional. A protecting duty, continued for a reasonable time, will sometimes be the least inconvenient mode in which the nation can tax itself for tho support of such an experiment. But the pro. teotion should be confined to cases in which there is good ground of assurance that the industry which it fosters will after a time be able to dispense with it; nor should the domestic producers ever be allowed to expect that it will be continued tc them beyond the time necessary for a trial of what they are capable of accomplishing." In 1805, when the goldfields in Victoria were declining, the question arose, how was the population to be retained ; and a protective tariff was adopted, and the results had fully justified the step. In ISBS Victoria, which cultivates 3 times the area N.S.W. does, imported agricultural implements of the value of £15,000; whilst N.S.W. imported that near £03,000 worth. During the same period Victoria exported £29,000 worth of implements of her own porduction, while N.S.W. expoited £751. Victoria sent£2s,ooo worth to N.S.W. alone! In 1875 N.S.W. exported £80,000 of her own production of agricultural implements, machinery, apparel, and; slops, boots, saddlery, and carts and carriages. In ISSS this sum had fallen to £68,000. During the same period Victoria' 3 exports of the same articles rose from £148,000 to £308,000 and increased £220,000. In 1875 N.S.W. imported goods to the amount of £704,000, but in 1885 the imports had increased to £2,032,000; whilst Victoria's on the other hand, were in 1875 £327,000, and in 1885 they had decreased to £138,000. Protection afforded superior inducements to population. Morally, too, its effects were good, as it tended, by giving employment to youths, to abate the larrikin nuisance. In Melbourne there were few or none of that class which committed the Mount Rennie outrage. • New Zealand possessed great facilities for manufactures; she had coal, wood and minerals, but it was not to be expected that people would put their money into new industries which did not hold up a reasonable prosr pect of success. It was impossible to compete with countries where labour was cheap, but they must endeavour to keep the money in the country. Mr John Parr : How about the farmer? Mr Russell: Well we provide people to eat his produce. Instead of sending mutton to England the fanner will have a market in the colony. The Borrowing Policy. . Mr Russell then snid ho had shown them how taxes could be reduced and how money could be saved, but he was also of opinion that they should restrict borrowin", to getting sufficient to complete works already begun and which afford a reasonable chance of being able to pay. Beyond that they should not go. Miscellaneous. He would go in heartily to support tho mining industries, and to secure for Waikato, what it much required, greater powers o{ self-go vermnent, Tjiey certainly

ought to be in a position to administer tho lands of the district, for one thing. If they had a Land Board in Waikato much greater energy would be displayed in all matters relating to the settlement of tho country. In conclusion, he would say that he was a stranger to mo3t of those present, but he believed they would give him credit for possessing a certain amount of energy, and if they did him the honour to elect him, his utmost efforts would be used for their welfare. He was asking them to put a great trust in his hands, and he thought he would prove himself to be worthy: of it. Ho thought they should all vote according to their consciences. If they thought Mr Whyte the better man of the two, vote for himj if not, then vote the other way. He could assure them of one thing, and that was, that whether he was elected or not, his services would always be at their command when the welfare of the beautiful district in which he had made his home was in danger. There were other questions which he would like to have touched on, such as taxation, the land question and others, but he would have to defer them. After thanking the meeting for the patient hearing they had given him, Mr Russell sat down aniid applause, having spoken for over two hours. Questions. The Mayor having invited questions, Mr Parr desired to know what prices the American fanner got for his flour, cheese, &c, Mr ■Russell could not say, but he presumed they got a remunerative price, or they would not export. Mr Parr: How does protection affect the fanners in Victoria ? Mr Russell: I cannot tell. Mr Parr : Do not the artisans in Victoria get lower wages than those in New South Wales, seeing that implements are sent from the former to the latter country! ? Mr Russell: Ido not think so. I believe the average wealth, of tho people of Victoria is in excess of those of New South Wales. Capt. Rnnciman asked if Mr Russell would favour the removal of the.restriction on local distillation, seeing that the raw material was raised in the colony ; also, if he thought there should be any exemptions under the property tax. Mr Russell .said his opinion was that local distillation had been stopped on account of : the increase of lunacy. (Laughter). . However, he thought the restriction should be removed. He considered the exemptions under the Property Tax Act to be just and right. It was a recognised principle that some portion of a man's property must be left untouched. Capt. Runciman asked if he did not think every voter should contribute something to the revenue. Mr Russell did not believe in taxing a man because he was an elector. That would be contrary to the spirit of manhood suffrage. Those who did not pay property tax contributed through the customs. Mr T, C. Hammoiid: How would protection affect our four principal articles of export, viz., wool, wheat, gold and gum ? Mr Russell said the burden must be felt somewhere. The wool-growers were not numerous, and the tariff could not therefore greatly affect them. At the present time the colony was sending millions away every year which might be kept in the country. Regarding gum, he did not know much about it, but he thought protection would provide better employment, in factories, for the gum digger. Mr Hammond : Then I understand : you will use protection to concentrate the people in the towns, and Vaile's system to send them out into the country. (Laughter), Mr Russell : We shall have manufactories in all the towns in Hamilton, Cambridge and other p'.aces. (Hear hear). Mr A. Swarbrick : If you_ were returned and a vote of no-confidence in the Government were immediately tabled, would you vote for the Government, bearing in mind all they have done in the past ? Mr Russell : Yes, as between the Government and the present Opposition. As Sir Robert said, Solomon might be succeeded by Rehoboam. (Laughter). Mr Parr: Protection will diminish the revenue, and in that case how will you make up the deficiency ? Mr Russell: The manufacturing class will consume dutiable goods, and thus increase the revenue. (Oh, ho !) Replying to Mr Hammond, Mr Russell said he did not think the present Government had been economical, but he was not going to saddle them with the whole of the blame. He hoped an entirely new party would arise in the House. He was not a supporter of either of the present parties. Mr Parr: How does the Victorian revenue increase if her imports are decreasing '1 Mr Russell: From her railways, which pay nearly all the interest on her national debt. If the New Zealand railways were as well managed we should not require any taxation. A voice : Have they got Vaile's system there ? Mr Russell: No, but they have a nonpolitical board. Mr W. A. Graham moved a vote of thanks, and in doing so remarked that whatever their feelings towards Mr Whyte may have been they must hear new things from him before they voted for him again. They had to thank Mr Russell for several tilings, one of which was his advocacy of railway reform. Capt. Runciniim said it gave him great pleasure to second the motion. Mr Manktelow addressed a few words to the meeting in favour of Mr Russell, and the Mayor then put the motion, which was carried. In returning thanks, Mr Russell said he had spoken at Hamilton first as he was little known there. At Cambridge and Te cS roha he was better known, as they would see by the result of the poll. (Laughter), lie hoped that what he had said about Mr Whyte would not be construed into anything personal. He gave in to no one in his adiniratiou for the many estimable traits in that gentleman's character (applause), and he opposed him on public grounds only. The meeting closed with the customary compliment to the Mayor.