MEETING OF ELECTORS.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume IV, Issue 520, 18 October 1890, Page 2

MEETING OF ELECTORS.

Mr W. L. Rees addressed a large meeting of electors at McFarlane's II all on Thursday evening. The Mayor (Mr Townley) occupied the chair, and in introducing the speaker casually alluded to the questions now upp Tinost in the minds of the electors. It was always, ho said, a pleasure to listen to an address from Mr Rees, and more so at a time when there were so many questions to s’ir the minds of the people. Mr Rees was warmly applauded, and began by affirming that the time was one of momentous importance to all classes of people. Then entering upon a personal explanation, he said that until recently it had been his intention to contest the East Coist seat Having been previously beaten he would like to again enter the field, but in view ot the changed condition of >he electoral dist r iot, and the fa it tha'. Mr Kelly had determined to stand in tha same interests, hia committee, after careful consideration, had decided th it it would be better for him to accept an invitation to con’est another seat in the earns interest, they knowing full well that if returned ns a member for Auckland City be would be able to do the distric.’a work as well as if he were i's m-mber. (Applause.) Ljaving tbe personal quea-ion the speaker went on to dwell on the momentous is uea now before the country, and the great change that had been made in the constitution of the House. The last House had ended none too boou, and had got into such a state as to bring the inetitu'ion into contempt and make many people wish for some great change. Alluding to the ridiculous way in which the East Coast electorate had been arranged he pointed out how it had been managed that the two Liberal candidates should be brought to fight against each o'her, and they would either have to vote with a feeling of localism and throw over their principles, or vole for thoir pi incipuls and accept one almost a stranger to them Another new feature was the principle instituted of one man one vote, which should make each min feel the responsibility thrown on hirn.

A serious difficulty that faced the country at the present time was that the borrowed mrney had all been epent, aud now they had to go on prying the continual drain of interest. Vogel’s proposition to borrow 10 million pounds, at which people had at first stood »ghaet, hud been enlarged to a borrow, ing of 34 millions. After the present Gevcrn* rnent or their supporters had been in power for twenty years, with short Interruptions, and had had to do with the spending of this large sum, they came forward and said they were not po itioal charlatans with quack nostrums! After bringing the oounlry into this stats, borrowing and spending th.-se millions, th-y turn round and say they have no remedy to propose. He thought those who made such a mnfea-doo after expending the money and inflating the burdens on the peop'e, wore the biggest charlatans of all, (Hear, hear, and applause ) The speaker quoted Mr Bryce’s figures published in Tuesday's Standard, and then continued, Now they were in the position that for every £2 spent iu carrying on the work of lhe country £3 went to work out a " dead horse ” —was sent away to the foreign bondholder, to bring no return- of buy kind. Taxes had beeu heaped Ou as much as possible, and with the revenue decreasing there was not n member of the Government had got anything to propose. The Labor question he had previously spoken of as ths coming question of tbe age. The prosecutions noted in history were now a thing of the past-every man had a vote, and in religion a man was at liberty to worship as he pleased, wi hout risk of being burnt at the stake. But then came ths great economic question, which this generation had to solve ; otherwise it would mean anarchy and revolution. (Applause.) Tha present Government was helpless, and offared no solution. A majority had approved ot a Conference, at which only one employer appeared, and oonsrquently nothing war dona. Though in Naw Zealand the strike had nearly tsr|U>* noted, it had not finished in Australia, and was being watched with interest from America ano England. But strikes were mere bubblings up of what was beneath tbe surface. As in the Tarawera eruption lhe outburst only showed the mighty forces working beneath, and if in this great Labor question some ou'let were not f >und for tbe burning and seething beneath the surface, there would he such a revolution as the world has never seen. (Hear, hear, and applause.) In England such old-fashioned Conservative papers as the Titu s were accustomed 'to .esy, “ Oh, it is all right; the sams thing is always goirg on,” but eo was the river St. Lawrence going on until it came to tha great frits. So was it with the French revolution, and the elements were very much lhe same now. If those who were at tha helm of State did not look to these things, if civilisation remained heedless and did nothing, civi'ization itse f would be dim dished. In New Zealand there was still the serious ques’ion to faoe as to what had become of all the haen whose places had Iren file! through the strike. The speaker spoke strongly on the seriousness of this phase of the question. Coming to local matters be rtferred to the claim made by Mr Arthur of h ving relieved the district from a heavy burden in harbor rates through lhe measure he had got passed. He would be sorry to detract from the work of any opponent, but a great deal more might have been done. An endowment might have been applied for, and would probably have been got. The loan migbt have been so arranged as to get a cheaper rate of interest. A more important question thin the harbor was that of native land titles. The district was entitled to demand soma measure dealing fairly with the difficulty. This might be done with a few simple (flames. He had promised Mr Mitchelson that ha would draft a Bill that Government was to circulate among both Europeans and natives, but the Bill had been allowed to lie there—be believed the Government were actually afraid to circulate it, Mr Arthur no doubt had an intelligent interest in this matter, but they must remember that there were two classes, one wishing to look the land up in large estates and the other desiring to get the land cut up and properly utilised, The speaker next alluded to the disadvantages 0! the property tax, and advised that tbe bond" holders should be made to share the burden that was now crushing ths country, and would bs still harder to bear when tbe whole of the borrowed money had been exchanged. Sir George Grey had made tbe proposition some years ago, but had been e'igmatiHd in a most abusive way; tint, however, would always be the case with reformrrs until reason, humanity, and justice had sway, and these men would then be looked upon at saviours to their country. He believed a great conversion scheme saving 250 to 300 thousand pounds a year m’ght be Carried out in regard to local loans, And pointed out tfie success of Mr Gosohen’e scheme. The native difficulty was really a vary simple matter. Say in the case of Gisborne it was judged necessary that every resident should sign a public contract. That would be an absurdity, They bad their body corporate to deal with such matters, and so it was with all companies. Why could not something of the kind be doue in regard to native tribes, allowing each hapu to deal through a ootnmittea, the chairman of which to be appointed by Government ? That was as simple as A B C, but the influences to be contended with had grown So bad that those who dabbled in these lands lud got so that they derirel to shut out tha outside ptibiio, and the result was that large areas got into the hands of * few individuals, as was the case up the Coast. (Ilea", hear ) The process should ba eitnplifi-id. and tbe natives prevented from having these large estates kept utilised. Years ago Captain Tucker and he had gone to the King country aud at the request Of Wahanui he (Mr Rees) had drawn up a B 11 that would have allowed the whole King country} to have been dealt wi h, but nothing had been dene with it, and so he had gone on continually drawing up BiUs with no result, Instead of accepting some such simple solution Government had appointed a moat expensive Comntisdon, and what did it do? Partially finished Mr Arthur’s title, and then Mr Seymour and the natives had agreed to settle Whangura on '.a common-sense basis, and the House actually did not pass the bill, As to settlement of the land why did not the Government assist it ? New Zealand was like a groat joint stock company, only instead of receiving dividends the shareholders wore called upon to continually pay calls, If the

Government wanted to spend the money, why not spend it so that it would help the people ?—promote settlement and give work ? If they did that it would secure greater happiness and would also solve the great labor question. App'ause.) In conclusion Mr Bees sail the coming election contest was to be one between those who desired to carry out the things he had spoken of—the Party of Progress—and those who wished things to drift on as they had been drifting on for the past ten years. Mr Arthur was a great personal friend of his; he was an intelligent man deservedly popular and holding a high posiiion in society, but Mr Kelly was also a man of sound tense and cf much Parliamentary experience. The sympathisers of the former were with the large land-owning class, while Mr Kelly would advocate the interests of the great bulk cf the people. He believed that he (Mr Rees) would have had a much better chance than Mr Kelly—(cheers) — but that gentleman having declined to retire he (Mr R e-) had withdrawn solely that the Liberal vote should not be sp'it up. and the interests of the party sacrificed. In every civilised community there w«s a broad marked line between the two classes—one party wished to stay where it was and keep possession of everything it had, and the other party wanted to move on, to get a fairer distribution of wealth, to get homes of their own, and live comfortably as God fearing men and women. There was no animus between himself and Mr Arthur, and if they fought in twenty election contests he did not believe they woold have an angry word, but he be'ieved the interes'i of the district, of the colony, of the British Empire, were safer in the hands of the people than in the hands of a small class. He could not impress too strongly on them the necessity of upholding the sacredness of the franchise, and not commit the breach of recording their votes on any per sonal grounds. One vote might decide an election, and one vote in the House might decide a great policy. In Auckland he won’d be working with a staunch friend and experienced leader, Sir George Grey, but he would watch the election he:e with con siderable interest. He predicted a great future for the East Coast district, which had been so favored by nature, and before sitting down expressed his warm thanks to those gentlemen who had so faithfully supported Im in the' past. (Cheers.) Captain Tucker rose to propose the following resolutions : — "That this meeting express its entire confidence in Mr Rees. That the division in the Liberal vote in this district is greatly, to be regretted. That under the unhappy circumstances now existing here, and in view of Mr Rees coatesting the Auckland City as a friend of and co-worker with Sir George Grey, this meeting records its earnest hope that in such contest Mr Rees will be successful. That the chairman be requested to wire thia resolution to Sir George Grey, the Auckland Herald, and the Auckland

Star*** —-He thought there could be no objection to any of the resolutions. If there had not been another Liberal candidate in the field Mr Rees would have contested the eeat. and ne believed his chance of success would have been very good indeed.. But he now, at the wish of his committee, after the matter had been fairly represented to him, abstained from the contest here, and contests another seat instead, so as not to split up the Liberal vote. He trusted Mr Rees would be el cted in Auckland. (Hear, hear, and applause.) If Mr Rees went into Parliament for any district, he would give vigorous assistance to the member for the East Coast, and they would thus have two strings to their bow. He felt sure that all Liberals would vote for the resolutions, and a great number who did not class themselves with that party would also support it in the hope of Mr Rees getting into Parliament, and thus giving additional representation to the district. (Cheers ) Mr DeLautour —(cheers) —rose to second the proposition. He had always valued Mr Rees as a politician, and always valued him as a persona! friend, He (the speaker) knew how great was the need for some momentum, some vita! force, in Parliament, if any good work was to be done at all. (Hear, hear.) And Mr R«en had got that force. (Applause.) Yon could not control Parliament entirely by reason, You might have a man capable of reasoning like Socrates and Plato, yet if be could not uphold his reasoning by a spint of verve, and put life into it, his philosophy would all be lost. (Hear, hear.) They wanted men of Mr Rees’s stamp in Parliament. (Cheers.) They were surely tired of the laiisez-faire policy that •ven our present member had given way to. They warred men who had the mind, heart, voice, strength, and courage to propose that which they believed to be good. It was not for them that evening to eri'icise either Mr Arthur or Mr Kelly, but whether they voted for Mr Kelly.or not, as a stranger they would give him a cordial welcome. (Applause.) This would be the only gathering during the electoral campaign, that they would have the opportunity to express their thanks to. Mr Rees, for the able way in which he explained his views, for hie deep interest in the welfare of the place, for hia past fights and future fights for others and for them. For all these reasons they would bid him success, and if they could make him successful they would do so. (Cheers.) He complimented Mr Rees on hla address, and said that there they had never had a better one—one more temperately put from the Liberal platform f f politics. Take that one idea which was really becoming a practical one, that the time had come with the reviving public credit when they .might consider the question of consolidating the local leans of the Colony, thus giving •dditional security and saving an immense stun in interest. Whether the money was borrowed by local bodies or not, it was a pnbHc debt, and the State must stand by the focal bodies. It was all nonsense to say that they were -not responaib’e. Parliament initiated the legislation, controlled the legislation, sanctioned it, and reviewed ity and no Bill was allowed to pass for ffeing to the money market, without first having the colonial imprimatur. He defied the colony to repudiate debts contracted in that way. (Applause.) They wanted men who would speak out their thoughts, » and not be afraid of being before their * time. G>id knows there was enough to keep fhd® down. Let them do a tithe of the good work there was to be done. (Cheers.) The Mayor complimented Mr Rees on his address, and said that no matter what their political opinions mieht be, they should be glad on account of his connection with the district, to see him successful in Auckland, feeling sure that he would always give •very assistance. The resolutions were then put, and earned Unanimously, with loud cheering. Mr Sees, in reply, thanked the Mayor for hi* kind words and .aid that though they . had been politically opposed, it was evifant that that had not affected the Mayor’s tense of fairness. Tha moAtang then broke up.