THE NEW CANDIDATE FOR WAIKATO.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 2344, 19 July 1887, Page 2

THE NEW CANDIDATE FOR WAIKATO.

TO THE KIUTOIt. Slit,—lt is not often 1 ask the insertion of any communication from myself. Bel this be my excuse for what must necessarily Ik.a somewhat lengthy letter. Air KusselTs platform consists of three planks—lst. Betn-ucbment; tlnd. Protection; Srd. Air Vailos Kailway Beform Scheme. As to the, first, Retrenchment, I dismiss it with tlie observation that no candidate dare face the electors except on that ticket. With regard to the second plank. Protection, it w-ems to me to lie the height of impudence for any man seeking the votes of a country constituency- to dare to make any such proposition. What can protection do for farmers? Comparatively nothing. It can and will increase the price of everything in the way of clothing and of ,-iery agricultui-.il implement he uses ; but it cannot proti et the three great products of the land," whe-.t, wo d and “ witlles," and yet on these products the whole prosjierity of the colony depends.

Protectionists (ells us that we want months to cat these products. V-iv line; but no one now living will see the day when in this colony the demand will equal the supply. In the meantime are farmers t. starve, and the thousands of haul-working and broken-heat ted men of to-day t - in hurried into utter ruin by the bankruptcy court ?

Xmv, let us briefly consider the number of persons engaged in manufacture in this colony. l!y lefeieuce to “Harter's statistics :: 1 tied it is ;>i per cent; tli.it, 1 suppose, means directly engaged. le tus multiply this by three, and ive get the number of people directly engaged in manufactuie and those dependent on them, as, say, 10 per cent, of the population. Is this insignificant minority to boss the show? I guess not —not if the country is true to itself ?

The third plank is Mr Yaile's system of railway reform. Let me first of all say that self-interest compels me to lie as anxious about railway reform as any man, but I join issue when yon state, as yon d. in your issue of July 12th, that “ the qnestion has passed beyond the region of debate.” I s.-.y unhesitatingly that Mr Yau-'s system begins where it should end, in other words, that it is a reduction in freight we want infinitely more than a reduction in passenger fares. ITider -Mr Vaiie’s system we want an increase of Waikato borne :> isengers of o to 1 before we even make up the revenue at present accruing from the passenger traflic. Xmv, presuming he got the increase, and presuming that I’O, it even 40 per cent, of the increase represented the town traffic, ho would still have to move the Waikato population cither three or four times. Let me show how tins would he done: If the settler was an employer of labour, his stockman would want to go to town to see the races, the fare was “only half-a crown; the ploughman would want to see the Agricultural Show, the lad (for odd jobs) to see the regatta ; all because the fare was “only half-a-crown.” If the man was blessed with wife and family, his wife would want to go shopping, Ids daughter to hear the ojiera, his son to see the play at the theatre : all because it was “only haif-a-crown.” X’mv, is it “ only balf-a-crown Y Let us figure it out: Fare there, 2s Od ; fare back, 2s (id ; four days’ (two in town and two travelling) board, &c., say 24s ; extra expenditure, 20s ; four days’ loss of wages, 20s ; total, Mi !ts ; and this amount yon must multiply three or four times, according to the number of times he is “ moved.” Remember also that this is the direct loss to the man himself, without allowing anything for the indited loss the employer might suffer from his absence. Is this the sort of reform we want? I say Xo, a thousand times No. Offer no inducement for either man, master or maid to gad about and neglect their work : keep them at home ! 1 think it was -Mr Vaile himself who in one of his letters to yon, said “ You cannot have products without producers ; therefore provide first for putting you men on the ground” Xmv this may be a very epigrammatic sentence, but to my mind it is also a very stupid one ; let us dissect it :*onr present passenger fares are, say 20s first-class, and our freights arc, say, 40s per truck, and 10s per ton for potatoes ; the producer would want to go to town perhaps four times a year, but how many times, or how many trucks, does he want f« send his produce down ?Let ever}’ man work this little sum out for himself according to his own individual requirements, and I venture to say that a substantial reduction on the freights of his produce would put infinitely more money into his pocket, and would in dnee greater settlement on our waste lands, rather than a reduction of his passenger tickef to the idiotic sum of “half-a-erown." It is all nonsense to talk of wh it Mr Yaile w mid do about reduction of freights when has made his £200,000 profit on passengers; legislate for to-day. and let people gad about to regattas and operas when by reduction of freight producers are able to produce at a profit. To sum up—Mr Hassell's retrenchment plank is common to everyone ; his protection plank would bring disaster and ruin to the farmer : his railway reform plank is rotten in every place he puts his huger mi. Recollect also, Mr Russell w*mid go to the House pledged to support a Ministry whose Minister of Rublic _ Works is the greatest opponent of Mr adc s scheme in the whole colony ; hmv does he reconcile himself to this ? J ask the Waikato settlers to support an old and tried member ; rsepected in the House and in every homestead, he deserves the continued support of all, and I have every confidence that the electors will at the proper time prove true to themselves and to the interests of the country.—Vonrs obediently, I’armkii John.