MINISTERIAL VISIT.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume IV, Issue 533, 18 November 1890, Page 2

MINISTERIAL VISIT.

CAPTAIN RUSSELL AT GISBORNE. There was a very large attendance at the City Rink last night, on the occasion of an address fmm the Hon, Captain Russell, a candidate for the Hawke’s Bay country constituency. The gallery contained about 100 ladies. The Mayor (Mr Townley) occupied the chair, and briefly introduced the speaker, explaining that he had kindly consented to address the meeting, at the request of some friends, who had telegraphed on learning that he was coming lirough Gisborne. [ln our report, so as to anticipate the speech at Te Arai tbi-j evening, we have condensed and included the Hon. Captain Russell’s remarks at Hastings on himself, on Parliament, on the Opposition, and on the female franohise.J Captain Russell, on coming forward, was greeted with prolonged applause. Referring to retrenchment he Raid that one part of the scheme carried on by the present Ministry was the reduction of the number of members from 91 to 71, and he little dreamt he should have ’'he honor of becoming a candidate for so important a district as Poverty Bay ; still less that he should have the additional honor of addressing such a large meeting in Gis borne. He had at once jumped at the proposal, knowing that he should receive a cordial welcome, though he had wondered whether Poverty Bay would appreciate one who was distinctly a Hawke’s Bay man coming there and asking to join in its representation. While they might be sorry in one respect they would have the advantage, if his constituents did him the honor of returning him, of having another member interested in the good fortunes of the Bay, and that a Minister of the Crown. He [in his Hastings speech] regretted that many good men would have to be left out of the new Parliament, but he did not agree with the view that, it had deteriorated in recent years. Speaking of himself he said he had served the public for over twenty years, fi-s‘ in the old Provincial Council, and for fifteen years, with one short respite, in tbe House of Representatives. He had latterly oeen appointed as a Cabinet Minister, which he considered nit only as a high honor to himaelf but as a compliment to the constituency he represented. Of course that brought with it many disadvantages, such as having to take a sedentary ocoupadon and leaving his old home. He had ofien been asked why he, a strong Freetrader, had taken office in a Pro teotionist Ministry, but the question was simply answered. The members of th) Ministry had themselves been divided in opinion, but thsy had found when ihey took office, that it was necessary to restore the financial equilibrium, and the only possible way to get the money was through the Customs. A part of the policy was the imposition of a .primage duty, which was essentially a Freetrade tax, as it protected no industry. The Opposition, who were distinctly Protectionist, j d ied forces with tha Ministry, the tariff was carried against a hopeless minority of freetraders, and there was an end of it. His Freetrade friends had strongly urged him that that was the proper light to look at it, and that it would b-jto the advantage of the country now that there was no chance of a reversion to Freetrade principles, for him to take office. In doing so he violated no pledges, and he cordially agreed with Ministers on some points. O i one or two minor points he did nnt agree, but it was impossible to get seven intelligent men to think ex icily alike. Ha wag as strong a Freetrader as ever, and if he had to choose between abandoning those principles or resigning office, it would not take him two minutes to make up his mind to resign. Most of the reforms made by the present Ministry were done before he took office, and he could therefore refer to them with absolute impartiality. It had,' alas, more or less truly bean stated that Sir Harry AUcingin had bei continually imposing fresh taxa’ion. But why ? Because, coming after spendthrift Governments, he had to impose taxation io pay the bills run up before he took office. He was pleased to realise that Poverty Bay had for many years given its cansis ent support to the party which ha was connected with, and without saying a word against Mr Arthur's adversary, he would say that Gisborne would show its good sense by returning a supporter of the present Government. He numbered Mr Arthur among his personal friends, and therefore did not care to say anything in his favor, but this he would say that he never knew a man so pester the Government to get attention to the local requirements of his district, and they were obliged to bring in a Bill. Large reductons in expenditure had to ba made — a task as unpleasant to them as it was unpopular to the country, but whan history came to ba written ha felt (hit greater kudos would be bestowed upon tha Ministry than contemporary history had conferred upon them. The health of the Premier who was a man of generous impulses, had unfortunately broken down under the strain. Friend and foe alike regretted that so capable and energetic an administrator had temporarily broken down, hut he sincerely hoped it would only be temporary, and that Sir Harry would again be restored to health aud be able to devote many more useful years to the service of the country. (Cheers.) It was only a short time back they had an instance in Poverty Bay of how, when a serious trouble threatened, he abandoned all other business, and rushed up to Poverty Bay, and prevented what might have been a very grave trouble. (Cheers ) He was at a disadvantage in dealing with general subjects, coming after the Premier’s manifesto, which he advised everyone who had not done so to read. He supposed he ought to follow the good old principle of s tying that the Ministry with which he was associated was the best ever in office ; at any rate he recognised the beiuty of not departing from precedents in this case. He houest’y believed that the present waa the best Ministry that could be got in the House. He did not believe that there were not other men iu the House ciptble of forming a good Ministry, but he did say that the present Ministry, he believed, hid justified a renewal of confidence in them. There was a difference in the men occupying either side of the House, 1 ut very little difference in policy.

He himself had been one of the first to condemn the o’d extravagance and had iu consequence been denounced as a Jeremiah, but now a’l were agreed that there should be no more extravagant public works expenditure. Unfortunately the Opposition when in office had shown a deficit. Th|s district wqs q remarkable iUbstratinu of how a place could progress without being assized by the profligate policy. Iu regard tp the fiscal policy, Sir Robert Stout had truly r< presented the Opposi tion when he said it would ba absurd to juggle with the colony’s finances at the present time, and whichever party was in power there c uld be no njater.al Both sides of the House ogre d on tha desirability of land settlement’, but ’he thought it might justly be chimed that there had been more settlement during the last three years than at any previous period of the same duration. It was also agreed that the education system should not be interfered with. (Applause.) There was also another point of agreement, in which Mr Ballance joined, that each side considered it was the most competent to occupy the Ministerial benches. (Laughter and applause,) He went qn thus to explain the difference between the Opposition snd the Government : The Opposition, when in power, involved rhe colony in debt, and by their enormous expenditure brought it to th« verge of ba- kruptcy, The present Government had ceased extravagant expenditure, restored an equili. brium in the finances, and raised the credit of

ihs colony in tbe European markets to a point not OoOi|ptsd for many years before. (Applaqse.) ]s?bt and bankruptcy had vanished, and prosperity was dawning on the oolbuy through the careful adrhmtsti'atiQ(i of the Ministry, (Applause.) The first thing the Government had to set about was to make large reductions jo expenditure, and the annual expenditure was now £291,400 less (han when they went into office. That was a great feat, and he questioned’whether any Other set Qf men woqld have accomplished such a result. Unfortunately, ‘ that might to some extent be accountable far the great depression for the first year or two after the Government went into office, but it was inevitable. It could not be avoided, because of the load of debt piled up by their predecessors in office. And now they had the absurd spectacle o£ the Opposition, who,

when in office, had de dared th it it was impossible to reduce the expenditure by £lOO,OOO, clamoring for more reductions, J and tiying to impress on the country that the Ministry were the ex'ravagant p op’e and the Opposition the economical people A certain pirtv of gentlemen, known as Hie (( Skinflints,” had but one idea, and that was to cut down everything to the lowest limit. The effect of such economy could only be to disgust members of the Civil Service with their occupaion, and make them seek employment outside the service. In that way the colony would lose its best servants, and only the drones and idle men would remain. It was (th a y knew) very easy to sav, “ You must make wholesale reductions,” but it was not so easy to do it. The annual expenditure of ihe colony was £4,121,840, At first sight it seemed a very easy thing to reduce that. But out of that sum £1,897,602, had to be sent out of the colony annually for interest and sinking fund on the public debt. Then there were charges of £260,000 fixed by Act of Parliament, and there was no avoiding Then the railways—the income from which was included iu the revenue—cost £6“6 000 a year. Then there was education, £365,090. All were agreed that there must be no material reduction there, and he took crelit to the Government that, for the first time, they had endeavored to grapple with the question of school buildings. They placed a sum on the estim ites which, if it ha l been passed by the House, would have provided school accommodation for almost every child in New Zea’and. (Applause) He had that day visited the Gisborne School, which they knew was the best, or one of the best schools in New Zealand, but the building was not in the same proportion, and he hoped that, from the amount voted, sufficient would be obtained so as to provide a remedy for the horribly crowded state of things at present. Then there was tha Department of Justice, of which he had the honor to be the head. There were Resident Magistrates all over the colony, and they were generally very hard-worked men. The vote for that department was £llB,OOO. Then there was £163,000 spent on defence and the police. Last among the items was the for the Postal and Telegraph Department, £251 090. This was a revenueearning department, and the position of the officers was such that not long ago there was a possibility of a strike amongst them. List year the Go arument passed a C‘aerification Act, to place them in a more satisfactory position, and now these hard worked officers could not be dealt with in spasm >dic fits of absurd economy He trusted that the next Parliament would pass, as one of its first measures, a Classification Act for the whole Civil Service. These various items, on which there onu’d b» no material reduction, came to £3,760,000 out of the total of £4 120,000 Tnere was a popu’ar idea—he would not say that in hla early days he did not *hare it—that there was oonaiderab e room for reduction iu the (< big building ” at Wellington. Well, £75 000 was the total amount of the Government expenditure there, and when it was remembered that the whole Government business of the colony centred in Wellington it would ba seen there was no room for wholesale reductions there. If comparisons were drawn bstween New Zealand and tha Australian colonies it would ba found that salaries were from 25 to 50 per cent less here. As a sample of economy he would quote tha expenditure on polios in soma neighboring colonial It was highest in Queensland, there was one officer to every 425 inhabitants, and tha cost was 8s l£ i per head on the whole population, New Zealand was lowest qn the list, with one officer to 1346 inhabitants, and oust wa» 2s lOf 1 par head. Victoria was next to New Z-aland, with a cost of 4s per head, or nearly double the expe iditure here. Speaking of the D fe oa expenditure he said that when the Russian scare was on it w.B, he knew for a fact, intended to send a filibustering expedition to New Zealand. Gr»*at preparations were hastily made in the chief towns : there were forts, guns, and mines, some of the guns purchased being almost as de icate in structure as a watch. But with all these things they had not the men to man them ; which, to him, seemed like so much money thrown away—it was like having an expensive s'e »m engine and grudging the cost of the coals They had now to choose between dismantling the forts, or by proper treatment of the Volunteers be able, if the evil day ever oune, to get men to man the guns. He had proposed a scheme by which Volunteers in the four centres wou’d get £6 a year on the fulfilment of certain duties, duties that would be ro arranged as to fall upon holidays. To country corps £2 5s was to ba paid to do a* they liked with Coming to the question of a land tax his hearers would have gathered that there oouid be no reduction. He should rather have seen some of the Pi creative duties reduced in preference to doing away with the primage duty, but the House had decided otherwise. After fifteen years’ political experience he had come to the conclusion that no direct tax was more fair, more equitable, aud less inquisitional than the property tax. An i ncome tax would be more inquisitional. It was urged (hat the propsrty tax was one upon thrift, but all wealth, whether the result of thrift or of successful speculation, had to be taxed. If wealth was the result of thrift, and it was considered that wealth should be taxed, how could the taxation of thGft be avoided ? The property tax was not only a tax upon luxury, but was also a tax upon land and income If a man held land he was taxed upon its value, and if a man had money he was taxed upon it. Tha only incomes that were not taxed under the property tax were those of the clergy, lawyers, doctors, and managers of mercantile houses and clubs. He would not ask how a tax on these incomes was to be levied, whether on the Ist of January, before the income was> earned, or on the 31st of December, when it was spent, but pur posing these incomes taxed, under any system of fair exemptions, the amount derived would be go little that it yras not worth considering. Instead of a land tax and income tax increasing tfle amount taken from the wealthy classes the result of the substitution of those forms of taxation

for the property tax would be to take less from those classes. Speaking for himself a land tax exempting improvements would be very much better for him, for under the land tax which was enforced by Sir George Grey he (the speaker) paid infinitely less than he did now under the property tax. What was understood by this cry for a land tax ? Was it intended that there should be a fair Ux nn land all round, or one to burst Up big estates ? If the first, then it would not yield so much as the property tax . did, and would take less from the wealthy, If it was intended to be a r< buster,” then as soon as it served its purpose, and the big estates were burst up, would the buyers of the pieces into which the big blocks were divided have to constitute between them what had been originally imposed on the whole block to burst them up ? Besides, under the property tax, the owner of a piece of land that was mortgaged did not

have to pay on the amount of his mortgage, which was paid by the mortgagee, but under a land tax the owner would have to pay on his acres. The endeavor that was being made to induce people to settle upon the land seemed to him totally incompatible with the cry for a land tax, for it wts like saying to people who thought of going on the laud that us soon as they did so they Should be subject to special burdens of grinding taxation, What with interest on mortgages, low prices, and uncertain crops through the weather, the struggling settler had quite enough to contend with apart from singled out for special burdens. A fair tax was one which fell

equally upon all classes, and wealth, whether on land or in other forms of industry, waq the proper subject of taxation. Let them suppose three youngmen who came to the colony with a moderate amount of capital each. One would elect to stay in a town, and to lend his money to a hardworking farmer. The next oils, he would suppose, had a little more enterprise, aud he rented a corner section in a town, put up a large warehouse, let it, and lived upon the rent. Nelther of two would be taxed under & land tax, ftl hough under the property tax they cou'd not escape. The third man, he would suppose, went into the bush and took up laud, denied himself many things, and worked harder than his town brethren, and was the real producer of the three, yet ■

because he was a landholder he was to bo picked out for apeci •.! taxation. The thi £ did not seem jari. Hu thought it would be best to encourage pejp’e tog > upon thu land and produce, a id, whilst not allowing them to esc ipe their fair sh ire of taxation, no to tax them unfairly, which wan'd tend to drive from the colony the most useful class of settlers. When he (the speaker) virited Melbourne he spoke to several men of means who talked very highly of the colony, its sa übrious climate, and so ou. and who said that they would like to live in New Zealand. He told them that the be-t thing they could do wou'd be to come to the colony and settle, but they rep ied to the effect that the utterances of the public men of New Zetland forbade that. They were for ever ta’ki g of imposing some special form of taxation, and they consequently did not feel safe in leaving where they we e iu face of so much uncertainty as to how hey would be treated in New Zealand. In spite of what had been said to the contrary, land settlement was progressing favorably in the colony. In 1880 the number of holdings of one acre and upwards in area was 23,000, and that had increased to 38,000 holdings in 1890. The colony wan now in tbe position of having 25 per cent of its adult males landowners, a state of things which could not be equalled in auy other country. The speaker also referred to the opening up of the Motu by a good road to Opotiki. It had been said so often, that unfortunately many people hid come to believe it, that we had been suffering fr >m an exodus of peop e from our shores. During one year that was the case, but during all the o- her years our increase of population, ahhough not large, had been steady. Io 1836 there were in round numbers 16,009 arrivals and 15,000 departures, the net gain being 1061 people. In 1887 there were 13,009 arrivals and 12,000 departures, there being still a gain of 977 persons. In 1883 there was a great change, 22,000 leaving against 13,000 arriving, leaving a net loss of 9,175 people that year. But in 1889 there was a gain, only a small one, it was true, of 214 people, but in spite of the heavy drain of 1888 our population had largely increased. Some people seemed to forget the large yearly arrival of baby New Zealandert, and although they arrived in a very juvenile condition, their arrival was the cause of A steady increase of our population. But why was there ever an exodus? In 1886 we spent £1,333,464 upon public works. In 1883, the year of tbe loss, a policy of re* trenchment Was forced upon us, and tho expenditure fell to £613,939, or in other woris we spent £719,000 less in 1888 than in 1886, or at the rate of £155 per head of the people who left the oolony. When cessation of expenditure on such a scale toofc place it was natural that the people who had hitherto been employed upon public works, should leave us for other colonies that were still spending large amounts of borrowed money upon such works, and the wonder was not that we had lost many, but that we bad not lo«t more. But prosperity was onoe again dawning upon New Zealand, the increase in the exports being quite phenomenal, And although there had been S gain QQ ths staple industry, wool, in reality the general increase was due to new industries. The increase in the exports showed the recuperative power of the colony, and were due, he believed, largely to tfie cessation of thg expenditure of borrowed money on ptybltQ works, as that left the people to. their own resources, aud induced them to go on tbs land and producs, instead of relying upon what the spending aud borrowed money could do. In 1886 the exports were valugd at £6 551,000, and had grown in 1888 to £9,042,000. That was not fictitious prqi» parity, the result of increasing our indebted* uess, but was due to an actual increase dt producing power. Tie cessation of the old

public works system and a policy of reliance upon our own resources would still further bring about a healthy state. The principal increases in our exports were in frozen meat, dairy produce, and phormium tenax, and agricultural produce had also enormously increased. The speaker dwelt in high tertqe on the marvellous increase in the exports 0| Poverty Bay, and considered tbe freezing works would do more good than all politicians could. Why should not fruit be one q| the items of increase ? Deposits in the banks had increased steadily, the railways showed an enormous increase, and there was every indication of the return of prosperty, It gave him great pleasure to talk to them in that strain, as he had been called a gloomy Conservative for holding that (he public works policy would prove prejudicial to the colony. He believed now chat we bad got to the bottom of the abyse, and were able to meet all the requirements of the tax collector td send Homo interest and sinking fund iu connection with our debt and leave a balance in our favor, so that with what we might call quiet Government in power, not desiring to force the colony unduly ahead, we might hope to soon see flourishing times. Referring to the recent strikes, he spoke of the conduct of the men as heroic, but strongly condemned the faulty judgment of the leaders who had—no doubt thinking it was for the best—brought about such a disaster, which reminded him of the gallant, but foolish charge of the Light Brigade Had it not been for the <f wanton and wasteful discussions ° by tl;e Opposition last session, several measures would have been passed bearing upon the welfare of the people The Government introduced a Truck Bill, Employers* Liability Bill, Bill to Regulate the Employment of Females, &c. All those bills dealt with pressing social subjects, but owing to tbq senseless obstruction of the Opposition tfie Government were unable to give effect to

those measures, which remained to be dealt with in the future. Captain Russell spoke warmly in favor of the female suffrage, referring to Miss Fawcett, Miss Nightingale, and to the Queen, and asking who would say that such women were not as fitted as men to exercise a vote P The ques* tions of to-day were social ones, and women were as much interested in them As men'. Dwelling on the land question, he strongly urged upon the young men to go in for settling upon tbe hud. He lamented the chaotic condition of the Native land laws, and explained a scheme for individualising titles. Courts should be held a fixed centres, and not cease work till all tbe lands in the surreunding district had been dealt with. Reserves should be made for the natives aud the remainder of the land brought into profitable occupation. Tbe Courts should issue notices dealing with blocks of land in their turn, individualising them into hapus. with areas of from 4Q acres to 1000, and subjecting them to the same taxes as Europeans. He said he was opposed to what was called a " heroic” or '* vigorous *' policy, believing that no Qo« vernment could create prosperity, although it might, by wise laws, minimise the depression. A “ prudent ” policy guided the colony on to the goal of progress, while a “heroic*’ one meant debt, taxation, and disaster. Before concluding he mentioned thit'he had been selected as one of the delegates at the approaching Federal Con.

vent ion, which showed that he had possessed the confidence of Parliament. The dig. advantages of an alliance with Australia were too strong to allow of New Zealand joining in tho Federation, but it had bien left open for her to join at any future and their object at the convention would be to try aud obtain reciprocity in the matter of products. In conclusion he compared work of retrieving the colony’s position to tfiat <>f two jockeys, a skilled an t unsnjled one, in a steeplechase. One would knovf how to handle his jaded horse over the last jump, while the other would go gt it foolishly and the horse would qrash into thq obstacle. With pru lent management tfierg would soon be prosperity, and the splendid district of Poverty Bay, with its magnificent climate and honest and industrious people, would share in that prosperity. He adviseq them not to be lea 1 aw v by wiil-Q’ the wisps, (Continued cheering.) Mr J. T. Ev&ns moved a vote of thanks to the hon. gca leman, spying that he believed everyone would approve of the able speech, and that they would agree that the prepoa4 derance uf good judgment rested with those who occupied the Ministerial benches. The speaker highly complimented Captain RUssqll, tbe remark* being warmly a&« pl&uded. M 1 ’ W. Mirgiu anq enthusiastic applause followed* A vote of thanks to the Mayor Goncluded