THE ELECTION CAMPAIGN.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume IV, Issue 532, 15 November 1890, Page 2

THE ELECTION CAMPAIGN.

MR KELLY AT THE THEATRE ROYAL. There was a large gathering at the Theatre on Thursday evening, when Mr Kelly addressed the electors. The Mayor occupied the chair, and said he felt sure Mr Kelly would get a favorable hearing. He was a politician of long standing, and had previously represented this district, having been on that platform 15 years ago. Mr Kelly was received with great applanee. He said it was fifteen years since he bad the honor of addressing them from that platform, and he then had the disadvantage of opposing a local man. Since then parries had sprung up, and they had been fighting on party On one occasion he had declined to contest the seat because he was afraid he mteht keep a Liberal candidate out. Mr McDonald being a Liberal, he had then given him his support, though he bad to go against Captain Morris, an old personal friend and an old settler in Tauranga district. The : result was that Mr Allan McDonald was re uraed. On that account h) felt that he had a particular claim on tha Liberals of Gisborne, and he expected a large support from them. (Applause.) From the Conser* varivea on the other side he would not get a large support, because he had all along supported Liberal measures, always assisting the ' Government in ordinary work, but voting against them on no confidence motions. Mr Arthur had accused the Liberal party, first of having endeavored to prevent his acting as a member of the Native Affaira Committee As a matter of fact the motioa to prevent Mr Arthur acting was made by a Government supporter, Honi Taipua, and his (Mr Kelly’s) own name was included in those objected to. Why he had also been objected to, he believed, was because of something he had done in the previous year in regard to a petition in which Mr Arthur was concerned. Mr Arthur had stated the objection was made by the Liberal party. The Opposition had no previous knowledge of Tsipua’s intended action, or if they had they wopld have assisted to get Mr Arthur’s name placed on the Committee. Mr Fish was the only one who had taken up the matter, but that gentleman had, for two previous sessions, supported the present Govern* meat. While he did so they lauded him without stint, and no man could have been better in their eyes, but immediately he reversed his position, no man could be worse (to their eyea) Mr Fish was . very able and eloquent man, and so was a, greet loss to the Government dating tbe lut session, , ... Then there was ths Harbor Ael, and IM strange podrion Mr Arthur had taken over that, b'amiog the Opposition for h.viog worked against it. Why, it would never have been oarriel if it had not been for tbe Opposition, (Hear, hear.) He (Mr Kelly) had himsnlf gone round to the principal met of tha Opposition side of tbe House and acked them not to oppose the Bill; he had told them that the work was in bis elec* toratc—(hear, hear) —and had been successful in getting them to abstain from opposition to the measure. (Cheer?,) Messrs Fish and Seddon had spoken when the Bid wai going through the recond reading and they were anxious for information. The Bill had not been printed and no information wal available. They wanted to know what revenue was likely to be derived from the endowment and the question was put to Mx Arthur himself and he confessed he did not know. Members were completely in the dark and could not get sufficient information. But even in these circumstances there was no real opposition to the Bill--in fact he believed there had not been a division upon it, and he the Opposition had refrained from interfering, in consequence ot what be (Mr had to’d them. (Cheers; vice, “Where’s your Arthur now? 1 ’) Mr Arthur had also, in his Gisborne speech, referred tC the number of lawyers on the Committee, but he had actually to get a lawyer to help him to get the Bill in its proper shape—(laughter)—and to explain ths measure and help the Committee to investw gate it; otherwise, the Bill not being pat before them in plain term’ he did not suppose the Committee would have allowed it Cq pans. (Laughter and applause.) Mr Arthur hnd also blamed the Opposition for obstructin'? the business of the House, and had said there had been stonewalling. To show how much justification there was iu that accusation he might say that he ha 4 been in the House for ten session?, and there had never been less obstruction than there was last year, but he held that it was the duty of the Opposition, whenjthe Government Hubmitted measures not acceptable to the country, to strongly oppose those measnree. (Cheers.) There had been practically no stonewalling, and how Mr Arthur could make such an assertion was a thing he could not understand. That gentleman had regretted that Sir Harry Atkinson could not attend the House ; so did the Opposition, for if he had been there the business would have been conducted in a better way. Sir Harry would have defended his position, and not allowed the Government of the country to be conducted in the Hoase as it was last session. Ministers would listen to all that was said in opposition to a measure, and instead of offering a reply they would, knowing they had a lot of servile followers at their back, rush to the vote. It was the same with whatever they took up, and whenever anything came from the Opposition the majority of servile followers was used to defeat jt. Mr Ballance bad moved a resolution that the Opposition thought every sensible man would have supported if he were not a servile supporter of the Government, The motion was that the primage duty was unnecessary and unfairly maintained, that < revision nf the property tax was necessary, Bui a be’ter land settlement policy required. It was acoapted by Government as a wentft - confidence motion. They never attempted to defend their position, but let the Opposition talk on it and then brought out their majority. Last session Sir Harry Atkinson had held a caucus on account of hie health, and tha Opposition had pledged themselves not to take any advantage of the Premier’s illness, so there was no chance of getting them out of office, but towards the close of the eeqaion they thought the Government should appeal to the country, beihg quite unable to carry any of their own measures- Whenever they proposed anythin?, some of their own party always voted against them. Though their measures were thrown out, they still held office. It was a sad thing for a country when it had a Government which ooul4 not carry its own measures. (Hear, bear J When Mr Arthur was at Opotiki he told " them that localism was exploded, that the interests of tbe two districts were practically similar, and any supnort they gave to him was not given individually, but to the party, In Gisborne Mr Arthur went on the local tactics. He (Mr Kelly) asked them Iq Gisborne to support him, not on local, but on party principles. (Applause.) If they were for the Liberal party they would be for him. (Cheers.) That evening’s paper, the Herald, had made the statement that the Government, on taking office, had brought down proposals to reduce the expenditure by £390,000 a year, but the House bad refqved to go so far, ahd items estimated to save £45,000 were retained—that the total savings, after three years, amounted to £294,000. That practically put it to the readers of the paper that Government had saved £294 000. The journal mentioned was very careful to avoid also telling them that the enormous taxation of £400,000 was imposed upon the country by the present Government He would give them some' figures showing the expenditure IM7, £4 078,464 ; 1888, £3,973,679, being a decrease of £104,785; 1889, £4,117,427; *" an increase of £143.748, and las' year the vote was increased by £4,127,417! 8o that instead of reducing the estimates they had been increasing them I Last year there had been many increases in large salaries, but not iu small ones; so the Opposition tried, in connection with the 80-oalled u skinflints,” to reduce the estimates by £lOO,OOO. The Government said they could not possibly reduce the vote, but finding ibis imperative if they wished to retain

office they discovered they could make B redaction of £50.0001 That although they had pretended they were unable to make any reduction I They wanted to make the reductions in their own way, bu the Opposition persisted in knowing how the reductions were to be made. Instead of Government reducing expenditure they would see that there had been an advance in the Defence vote, bringing it up to £150.979- In 1888 a reduction had taken piece, and ever since it had been gradually increasing until it is np to £165,826, although they had reduced the capitation by nearly half, from £21.000 to £12.000. They would see that this was not a retrenching Government. (Hear, hear.) In the Native and other departments public buildings, and domains, there had been large increases; instead of reducing the Government went on increasing the burdens of the country. He mentioned this to show that the country was brought face to face with retrenchment, and must have honest and not sham retrenchment if their burdens were to be lightened, and not increased. (Applause.) Speaking with all respect of Mr Arthur, he did not believe chat gentleman had voted for a single act of retrenchment last session. (Voice : Give it him ; laughter and applause.) There had been advances in the Native De part meat, In Education, and Public Building, in each of which there should have been reductions. There had been an advance of £112,000 in four departmentsDefence, £27,000 ; Native Department, £5,000 : Education, £27.000; Public Bui dings, £63,000. If the Government went on increasing, there was no chance of the country's burdens being relieved. (Hear, hear.) If the StoutVogel Government had to increase the taxation as the present Government had done, there would have been a howl from one end of the country to the other. But it had been done by a Government that had gone in to make retrenchment I (Laughter.) And such was their retrenchment ! (Laughter.) The Hutchison charges were another matter that bad taken up much attention daring last session. The charges were of two kinds, of a public and a private character Mr Hutchison accused the Government of having greatly assisted the Bank of New Zealand with the funds of the country, that Government had borrowed money at 5 per cent? while they had money in the Bank of New Zealand, for which they were only getting 3 per cent., and had an arrangement that they were to get no interest for anything over £400.000 From the Colonial Bank £700,000 had been borrowed at 5 per cent, and £50,000 from the Auckland Savings Bank, and £lOO,OOO had been borrowed from the National Bank of New Zealand to assist the finances of the colony, and to have a credit balance in the Bank. When the Stout-Vogel Government were in office they had to their credit on the 31st March, 1887, at London, £228 759, and in the colony £149,832. total: £378,591; and on the 31st March, 1888, the present Government bad to their credit, at London, £537,777. and in the Colony £844 800. to'al: £1,181,977. showing that the present Government had in excess of the Stout-Vogel Government, £803,386 lying idle, while we were paying five per cent, for most of that money to Other Banks. Mr Hutchison said that the borrowing of further money was for the purpose of assisting the Bank of New Zealand in its difficulty. The statistics of the country proved that the money was there, and there was no getting over that. With regard to the private chargea against individual member*, he did not say it was right to bring such charges against private men, but he held that Mr Hutchison was perfectly right to make charges in Parliament if he could substantiate them. The charges against individuals would he heard in the Supreme Court, pnd they wonld then see who was right or wrong fCheers.) On the other charges there could be no answer. It was shewn that while an epormons amount of inoney was lying idle, the country was paying 6 per vent, for a further sum ; they were paying £425 per week interest for this money j With regard to the question of education, he intended to support the present system, gs be had always done. (Cheers.) He believed considerable reductions could be made, such as with inspectors and other high officials. He believed £50.000 or £60.000 might be saved, but before ho would Support »nv reduction he wonld require to fully understand wfiat part of the svstem was going to suffer, Rome people held that the school age should be altered from 5 to 7, Others that the highest standard should he made the fourth. Rich reductions would materially affect the working class. A free education was the onlv thing the working Classes got from the Government in return for the taxation they paid. (Voice: Bight yen ere, and applause.) If they could not ord to give a free education to their children, then the oonntrv must he in a very bad state indeed. (Cheers.) While he was In the House he would see that the system did not suffer if be conld prevent it. (Cheers.) He would now be happy to answer any questions. He had a severe cold and could not speak so fully as he might otherwise do," but ha would be p'eased to give them any information he could, Mr Kelly then eat down, there being prolonged cheering. Mr Siglev said that at a meeting of the Working Men's Political Association a series of questions had been framed, tn be submitted to each of the candidates. The questions were :— 1. Wonld you advocate that the prepintv tax be abolished; and a one per cent, tax oh the unimproved veins of all land be subItitnted, the same to be doubled on land knegu.to be held for purely speculative purposes ?—Answer; He had slwavs voted •gainst the prnpartv tar, and still intended to oppose It 1 ha had intended to refer to it in his address, but he had such a heavy cold on bins that be bad to give (n. He oertainlv thopcht where land was held for speculative purposes ft should bear Inoreaseu rate, especially if it was allowed to remain id's. 8, That ne mere Crown tends be sold, bht dealt with under the perpetual leasehold eyrem f—He beHefed the leasehold system war the back tor men of small mesne; a large area ip the Bay nt Plenty had bean cut up •nd eettled, and a number of small farmers Bow held land formerly idle; thia had taken place within the last two years, and he had seen much raitab'e land in thia ffittrlot which mlcht be out np in the same way. (Applause). It elected he would strive to get it dent. (Apple ns*.) 8. That Gatwja»nt and Municipal contraots be given only to firms pledged to pay a atatgfi gjfntovtnrate of wages; eight hours to • uav'l work, and no contract foreign

iebor.be permitted to-anter into the colony ?— He thanid like farther time to consider that queMon | Hit could ba dona it appeared fair; ; private oouaruts ntcourse could not he Inter fered with. Ho had always been in favor of , the eight hours system. 4. The gradual development of the Go-* vernasant Savings Bank into a State Bank of iasUA; the nation’s credit to be organised for the porpoee of encouraging productive enterprise ?—He believed a State Bank would be of great benefit to the Country; there was a gentleman in the House who dealt with nothing elee but this question; and if returned he- would submit it total tn. fVoice: MrGandlaat; laughter •nd fcpjhime 1 ‘ 7 6. That all coal mines be taken over by the. State, and be worked for the public bemfit •—H« hardly knew what he could gay to that; he did not see how the Governmefi' oonld tike over the mines unless they paid through the nose forthem: if a Bill Were passed to take over the mines, the speculators would want to get three times their value. 8, Would you be in favor of taxing Native lands ?—Certainly he would, and hoped It wonld noon come tc pagq. (4pMr Ca<ron bed urged that Natives and Europeans should be placed on the game footing, and as soon ag they were the land would be taxed the same. (Applause ) Mr Suday aha. asked whether Mr Kelly would be In favor of common jurymen being paid at the usual rate of wages, and the candidate replied in the affirmative. Mr B. Cooper asked was the candidate in favor of free trade in natrve landr. [Voices; No and Yea]' He was ant; be thought the lltateI Itate should go in and purchase all the nativ •adi< There bad been a good deal of troubl

through allowing free trade, and he believed the Poverty Bay district had been greatly retarded ihrough it. [Cheers; Mr Cooper : He answers very well.]

A lively individual here caused some amusement. He eaid he never had the honor in hiw life, but now he would like—|Voice: some cl Crawford’s XXX ! Laughter.] When the laughter subsided it appeared that tbe individual, who had probably been Before the J.P.,’e in their official capacity, wanted to know if Mr Kelly would be in favor of magistrates not being able to retain their seats on the Bench longer than three months.

Mr Cleary handed up a (paper saying that when Mr Kelly was formerly member for this district, a sum of money had been passed for public buildings in Gisborne; what explanation had he for all the money being spent in Truracga I— [Laughter and cries of ■’Ohl” Mr Kelly said he was not aware of anything of tbe kind being done; nor could it be, as money voted for one distinct purpose could not be spent tor another. In reply to a question whether he was in favor of the franchise being extended to women Mr Kelly said he had always en-deavored,-to do what he could for the ladies, and as soon as they made any attempt in that way be would be inclined to assist them. (Laughter and applause.) In reply to Mr G. Henderson, as to whether he would be in favor of consultations being legalised in New Zealand, he said it was a great mistake to allow so much capital to go out of tbe country, and if it could be retained here he would be glad to assist in a step in that direction. In reply to Mr Tharratt he said he was not io favor of New Zealand federating with Australia; we wanted to federate with ourselves first—we were separated enough as it was. (Applause ; voice :Go it, Kelly; you'll win 1)

There being no further questions, Captain Tucker then rose to propose a vote of thanks, speaking at some length on the subject. He alluded to Mr Kelly as a political warrior, and complimented him on his tact, and the straightforward way in which he had answered questions put to him on the spur of tbs moment. He commented on the unsatisfactory nature of the electoral boundaries, and the disadvantages under which the candidates labored. He felt quite sure Mr Kelly would receive a fair nearing throughout the whole district, — (Applause) — and that Liberals would heartily reciprocate his views Mr DeLautour, on rising, received quite an ovation, the cheering being most enthusiastic He said it was so often his happy lot to follow Captain Tucker on the platform on these occasions, that he had, in their interests, seriously protested when asked to second the vote that evening. Of course a man ought to be ready to give answer for the political faith that was in him. At the same time he would like to see them bring out the young men, the young men born in New Zealand, and reared on the soil—(cheers)—and he protested against them bringing him uj> there that evening. [Voice: It’s no good.] Still it would be churlish of him, who had now been in the place eight years, on that day or thereabouts, to refuse to be their spokeman, in thanking Mr Kelly—who was no new man, who was a tried man in ths public service—for coming there and putting bis views before them, leaving them to judge whether they could accept the Liberal doctrines which he professed. He came to advocate public prlncinles apart from mere local considerations; to put his views fairly before them, leaving them to choose whether they would accept bis services. Just now he (the speaker) thought it was important they should try and hark back to old principles a bit. They found public questions distracted by all sorts of questions, such as whether Sir Harry Atkinson was going to be in ths House, or whether Sir Hobart Stout was goiug to stand or not, All these questions were battled out in the papers, and put I forward as if the whole future of New Zea- I land depended on the presence of any one ' man in the House. The future of New Zea- ; land depended on the views they, the people ! of New Zealand, held, and the manner in ' which they had imbued their represents- : tives with those views. (Oheere.) It did not matter a pin what men they put to the ’ fore front for the time being. If they I idolised men, without respect to their views, i he thought it wou’d be an evil day for New Zealand. (Hear, hear ) Let them try and get principles. With some of Mr Kelly's views they might differ, but so fares those views agreed with what they defined as Liberal principles, in his name and their name he thanked that gentleman, (Cheers) In reply Mr Kelly said that, if elected, he should annually address the electors, and give them an account of his stewardship, and he should also keep himself always in communication with the local bodies, so as to have a full knowledge of tha district’s wants. (Applause.) He then moved a vote of thanks to the Mayor, which wag warmly applauded.