SIR JOHN HALL AT RAKAIA.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2587, 1 December 1890, Page 2

SIR JOHN HALL AT RAKAIA.

Sir John Hall addressed .the electors of the above district ,m the Town Hall, Rakaia, on Thursday, evening. There was a large attendance, and Mr Ooster, chairman of the Road Bqard, presided, and briefly introduced thel,, .speaker," asking that he should be accorded a good hearing, such a one as had ab all other times been given to other candidates. The! meeting was a;mqst orderly pne,,.,and the, speaker was, listened to, most attentively throughout, and repeatedly applauded. ; Sir John, m, opening his address, stated that he spoke' to much disadvantage, having already addressed the electors m ten different halls and schools. He spoke on the chief events of last session; »nd said that lie .^luspidmit that the proceedings ta^W whoW *f*M not of a satisfactory nature.' "Stonewalling and general obstruction on the part of a very small section of the House was the cause of much waste of time, and he'much' regretted that the character of representatives was much deteriorating. He hojjed the first duties of the new Parliament would be to introduce some measure for stopping the wholesale waste of tijrie m the House. Sir John referred m a most satisfactory manner to the last Financial Statement; on the retrenchment carried out by the late Government, going into considerable detail as to departmental expenditure and loan expenditure. The subject of land settlement was dealt with at length, likewise the subjects of Land Nationalisation, Taxation, Ifirty Government, Federation, Defence, &c. With regard to i the Education question, on which a string feeling seemed to exist, Sir John said that last session nothing at all was done towards any alterations, but during the 1889 session a Bill was introduced for I enabling the Government 1 *to jmake a! grant m aid to private schools, under certain conditions. They were to have a minimum attendance, be up to the standard of State schools m secular teachings, subject to Government inspection at all times and many T other conditions. Those electors who have heard the opinions he had always expressed »n this subject well knew that helgave his vote m favor of this Bill. He would have broken his word had he done otherwise. Some electors are afraid that such a concession would endanger our national system. If he could for one moment think so he would oppose ifc most strenuously. On the contrary, he was fully persuaded that ir would give us peace, and make our system truly national. In this 'opinion he was supported by Sir Harry Atkinson, the leader of the present Government, and by Mr Ballance, the leader of the Opposition, and many others, who all stated during the debate that if the Bill wan passed it would not endangejf the; rfational system of which we.are all so proud. With regaid to female luifirage; Sir John said that during last -session, he was able to bring on the subject; Both tlie debate and the division thereon were noteworthy; the former as showing how purely insignificant are the arguments which can be brought against the proposal, and that, m fact, the opposition to this imuortant reform rests really upon blind and thoughtless prejudice. The motion was carried by 37 to. 11. Jps subsequent endeavor tq, afc once pjace this reform on the. Statute Book was not successful. The opinion seemed to be that, although the principle wtm correct, there, was scarcely time to

bring it into practical operation toy tho pi'Cßciit election. He hoped the subject would he further considered m the new Parliament and pressed forw.ird. Two difficulties stood .m the way. First, probable opposition m the Legislative Council, and, secondly, the difference amongst our own friends, some of whom would at once give the franchise; to all women, and others, who will m the first instance give it only to those occupyiny an independent position and paying taxes. He sincerely, trusted that tlwise differences would. not materially/interfere with the practical realisation of'this reform. The speaker continued at length to the effect that he trusted the dfcy I"wasi not far distant when the denial to one half if our population of the right given to every adult male (with the exception of minors, lun&tics and convicts) whatever his qualifications, would no longei. be persisted m. v Sir John then 'enlarged on the question of the "Hare" system of voting, dwelling upon the necessity for the representation of minorities '; he pointed out that the terms Conservative and Liberal as used m this colony were misleading. with regard to. himself if elected, he would stipulate for an independent, position ; he would not be a blind follower of anyone. Should Sir Harry Atkinson b« enabled to resume the active leadership, he might safely say that he speaker) would be found giving him a general support. If unfortunately Sir Harry was was unable to take the lead, a new Government would have to be formed, ,a,nd with regard to this no opinion could at present be expressed. All he could say was that he should support any Ministry whose policy was one of economy and prudence m the matter of public .'finance; of general abstention from borrowing, and of energetic development of our resourses by encouraging legitimate settlement of the land. He would not support any new fangled theories of taxation or land administration which would deter persons m or out of the colony from investing their capital on the development of our natural resources. (The speaker here resumed his seat amid cheers). In answer to questions, Sir John said that many attempts had been made to encourage the beetroot sugar industry m New Zealand, without succeiss.He would support a bonus for its encouragement, but did not expect airy great result. He knew the industry was not Carried on successfully m England. He thought that tbeauctioTieers 1 license fee should be fairly divided between town and' country. The advance to the Newl Plymouthj Harbor. Board had been made m the interest of the colony an! with the concurrence of. the Public Accounts Committee, including Mr Ballance. The expense of fortification had .been incurred by the late Government, not by the present. He certainly thought the Colony should share the expense of defending ourselves, and not =always look to tho Old Country. He did not think that school holdings should be fixed by statute. Mr Mitehelson had not said that the Government proposed taking £75,000 off tho Education vote. The qualification of a man should be more considered than his occupation ih selecting a J.P. He considered the increased settlement had been owing to'move liberal land laws, and to a sufficiency of land being kept ready for occupation. The perpetual lease system vr«is popular, largely because it contained the right to purchase. Was certainly not m favour or elective J.P.s, or of an elective Governor. The former should be men of character, and the latter should not be a partisan, but above all connection with parties m the colony. He was not m favour of assisted immigration, ejecept perhaps m the case of imall farmers with families. There had been no division on Pyke'a Private Schools Bill last session, and it could therefore be no excuse for the withdrawal of support wrich had been promised to lam (the speaker) before last session. With regard to wages and reductions Sir John paid he paid his own men six shillings a day and had never thought of any reduction. He most strongly denounced the' falsity of the statement that lies had recommended a reduction of laborers'wages to 3s "6d per day, as that was sufficient to 1 live on, the statemenc Avas untrue —m fact it was.a lie and a pure invention of the enemy. Sir .John explained the circumstances of the reduction of salaries m 18 79. The members own salaries were Ifirsfc reduced 25 per cent. Although sor|ie of the railway hands were reduced to 6s per day, others m the service m other parts of the colony had their wages raised to that amount. He did not knpwhqw the money was voted for the Opunaki wharf; but it must have beenincludedin some ot jief vote/ He did nofc agree with all the [Railway Commissioners had done, but would not vote for their removal until afteij further trial. Efforts had been made by 1 himself and others to get the Commissioners, to. make certain reductions m freighjb,' but h*e was not of opinion,that an all round reduction would be advisable, as it would cause a deficiency m, the .revenue, and throw additional burdens on the; taxpayers. The Property tax, introduced by his (Sir John's Hall's) Government, did lay a tax on mortgagees. He did not put a^axontea; it was there long before he Came into office. Full information as to all Crown lands available for settlement m the colony could be obtained at the Crown Lands Office. He was of! opinion that if railway men had been dismissed m consequence of their having gone as delegates"to Wellington it was most unjust. The Commissioners could not) be interfered 1 with m their action.—Mr Broadbent moved that a hearty vote of ihanks be accorded to Sir John Hall for hiss able arid^ statesmanlike address, and spoke at length' j upon the necessity of sending (educated men to represent them. The motion was seconded by Mr Betts, and on being put to the meeting was carried unanimously.' A vote of thanks to the chairman terminated the meeting. After the public; meeting a very strong Committee was formed to promote Sir John Hajlfs return.