Supplement to the Aslibu.rton Guard ism, Saturday, November 12.

MR. EDWARD G. WRIGHT'S

ADDRESS TO THE ASHBURTON ELECTORS.

TO THE Electors of Ashburton.

Ladies and Gentlemen, —

I have once more the honour of placing my services at your disposal as a candidate for the Ashburton seat. • In doing so, yon are aware the position is, not of: my own seeking, but is taken up at the earnest request of many friends who, with myself, have lost all confidence m the present Government, and fear that financial disaster will overtake the colony unless more prudent men are placed m power, and the finances of the colony controlled by capable and patriotic men. In the last Parliament there were so many men returned as the sworn followers of Richard Seddon, that they have obediently fallen into rank and file, and. their leader, knowing this, has ridden rough shod over all constitutional laws, and relied upon the number of his obedient followers to support whatever he desired. The position is one of great danger to the State, and requires an im mediate check. The avowed Liberals are at last realising the humiliating position which they have occupied, and right and left announce them selves as Independent Liberals, and no longer followers of Mr Seddon. LAND FOR SETTLEMENT. Upon the question of settling the people on the land, I have only to point to opinions, long since expressed, to show you that upon this subject I am entitled to be classed amongst the most liberal of the Liberals. The occupation and' proper cultivation of the waste lands of the Crown is so important a factor m the national prosperity that I have advocated these lands being given away, if necessary, to ensure their cultivation, and that m any arrangement made for encouraging people to occupy these lands, no rent or other payment / should be demanded for the first two years, so that whatever capital the occupants might start with should be available for fencing, building, draining, or clearing, and the settler be relieved of all anxiety about progress payments, or interest, until he should have time to get some return for his labour. He. would thus be m a position to put all his energy and capital into making a good btart, which is the best guarantee of success. Then coni?s the question as to the proper class to settle upon the land, and m this Tespect the present system . of. ballotting is a mistake, us it makes it possible for a shipload of immigrants from the adjoining colonies, who may possess neither fitness nor experience, to compete against the trained workmen of this colony, who by years of labour have become qualified to make the . most successful of pioneer settlers The present system of ballotting for sections is nothing more than a State lottery, and the regulations need some radical amendments. In districts where the Government possess no Crown Lands available for settlement, and owners of private estates suitable for settlement are willing to sell those estates to the Government, at fair and reasonable rjrices, no valid objection can be offered to the Government making such purchases with the view of subdividing the larger holdings, and so promoting a closer settlement of the land. The Lands for Settlement Act, however, goes further, and provides for the compulsory acquisition of land for subdivision and settlement purposes ; and wherever large estates are left unimproved and block the progress of a district, I see no injustice m the compulsory purchase of such estates, pro vided the owners are paid the fair market value for them. But it should not be forgotten that these lands were purchased under the laws m force at the time, and when the district possessed neither roads, bridges, nor railways, without which the lands could not be profitably cultiva vated; that under the then existing conditions they were for the most part only available for grazing sheep, and that the moneys paid for the lands of Canterbury furnished the means fcr making the xoads, bridges, and railways of Can - terbury ; and Had not Canterbury been robbed of her Land Fund by the abolition of the Provinces, she would have required no borrowed moneys to have completed her own railways. By all means settle the people on the laud, and do away with the cry of the unemployed, but it must be done with judgment ; better five acres of good land for a villager chan 50 or 100 acres of shinglebed. And for small farm settlements, 150 to 200 acres of good land would be preferable to 500 acres of third rate quality ; and so soon as the settler is m a position to purchase his property, he should be at liberty to do so, provided he has fulfilled all the settlement conditions. Too many State tenants will always be a source of trouble and danger to the State, and the pioneer settler should be encouraged to become the freeholder when he can safely do so. You will gather from the fore going remarks that I cordially approve of the perpetual lease system, which, by the way, was first introduced into our land laws by a so-called Conservative Ministry ; but I think that the holders of perpetual leases should, under proper conditions, be permitted to purchase the fee simple of their farms. I "TOO MUCH CANTERBURY." I now come to Mr Seddon's taunt that he did ' not want too much Canterbury m the distribution v of the loan money. Having for the last three

years received a slavish support from the whole of the Canterbury members — bar one — he is not unnaturally surprised at their audacity when asking for a few crumbs out of the new loan. That Canterbury has suffered unusual depression for years past is not very surprising when it is remembered how largely she has been drawn upon and taxed, directly and indirectly, to help other districts m the colony. First, she estab lished 40s an acre as the price to be paid for her Crown lands, whilst elsewhere throughout the colony the price ranged from 5s to 20s per acre only ; then, m the high tide ,0:8 here prosperity, she was deprived of her land fund to make roads and bridges for districts which sold their lands at 10s per acre. Next, we find her subject to ex cessive railway charges, paying 7-J- per cent upon the cost of all her railways, whilst other paits of the colony were not paying more than 2 per cent, and she is still subject to a railway tariff: unne cessarily high, and no doubt is still paying 7-J per cent upon the cost of her railways, whilst the method of keeping the accounts was purposely altered so as to prevent the true returns from her railways being ascertained. And, lastly, Canter bury is made to pay a progressive land-tax upon a valuation that is higher than prevails else where, and for what object ? Why, to make roads and bridges for the rest of the colony after providing her own at the cost of her own settlers, and then we are insulted into the bargain by being told by the Premier that he does not want " Too much Canterbury.'' When it comes to the division of future loan expenditure let Can terbury remember that, whilst willing to assist some weaker parts of the colony, she has her own interests to defend, lest she become exhausted by her own generosity. PROHIBITION. You are well aware that I am not a Prohibi tionist, and have frequently expressed the opinion that sound beer m moderate quantity is a moie wholesome drink than tea or coffee, but I recognised that the sale of all alcoholic drinks required etrict supervision to prevent the whole sale adulteration that was at one time rampant, to the great injury of those who drank strong liquors, and therefore at the |l%ieral election m ib9o I promised the temperance reformers to support their Local Option Bill, and voted for it upon every division, and also supported every amendment m the law with a view to the better regulation of the drink traffic by closing bars at an earlier hour, and by providing for a chemical analysis of the drink sold. lam still a supporter of the Temperance. Party m their laudable efforts to diminish drunkenness and all its attendant evils, but I cannot support them m their demand for prohibition. The law now m force is suffi cient, if only it be enforced, and the police officers throughout the colony be instructed to discharge their duties rigidly without fear or favor, which, however, is not likely to be the case so long as the decisions of Ihe Police Magis trates are set aside by the Premier to screen offending publicans. By the law as it now stands the Temperance Party can *-hut up every hotel, m any and every electorate, whenever they can carry a vote for no license by a majo rity of three-fifths of the recorded votes ; and I believe the cause .of temperance will be advanced more rapidly by moderate action on the part of its advocates th m by endeavouring to force on total prohibition and seeking to coerce all those who disagree with them. Therefore, whilst dis posed to enforce the strict observance of the licensing laws, I am not m favour of more drastic legislation until the necessity for it is more pro nounced than it is at present, seeing that it is admitted upon all hands that drunkenness is rapidly diminishing, and that the younger sec tion of the community is wonderfully temperate. Nothing ha^» yet occurred to warrant the demand for placing clubs under special police supervision, as if they were hotels. Such a law, if enacted, must needs include all the clubs m the colony within its provisions, and would be a serious violation of that privacy of intercourse amongst the members of these institutions which the law hag hitherto^ respected. It should,^moreover, be borne m mind that m the event of any club abusing its charter for the sale of liquors to its members, the charter can be revoked by the Government at any time without question. EDUCATION. Having assisted for some years as a member of the Board of Education to work the educational system of the colony, I am of opinion that more time should be devoted to technical education, and less spent m cramming children to pass the sixth standard, which many of them do with a most superficial amount of knowledge, and it is satisfactory to know that the Inspectors now attach more importance to spelling, grammar, and composition as pass subjects. The importance of being well grounded m technical science as a pre paration for the business of life is exemplified by the enormous progress made m Germany of late years by due attention to this branch of educa tion. Our national system of education is now so thoroughly appreciated and firmly established that no one ventures seriously to advocate any radical change. There is, however, great neces sity for more religious instruction than is now given. I should support the introduction of a Scripture text book to be read at the opening of the school so soon as the various Christian sects shall agree as to its compilation. It is surely not

too much to hope that sufficient tolerance may prevail to bring about so desirable an object at a very early date. FINANCIAL OUTLOOK. The most vital question before the constituen cies at the present time appears to me to be the very dangerous financial position into which the colony is drifting. The Government has shown such a disinclination to give information either by answering questions or furnishing returns that the real position is probably not fully dis closed. But enough has come out to show that it 1 is very grave. A Ministry which appealed to the electors on a non-borrowing policy have m three years made additions to the public debt and liabilities of the colony considerably exceeding five millions sterling. .We are told that these additions will not involve additional burden on the taxpayers, as the money has been and will be spent on objects of a reproductive character. Of the huge debt under which New Zealand labours there is hardly sixpence with regard to which this flattering prospect was not held out : yet, excepting the railway expenditure, which re pays part of its interest, there is but a bare fraction of the debt the interest of which has not to be found by the taxpayer. The Seddon Ministry, after exhausting the released sinking funds, and other indirect means of raising money, has at length been compelled to throw off the non -borrowing mask and to ask for a loan of a million sterling, nearly half of which they admit is already spent or pledged. Then, with regard to the public expenditure, a Parliament pledged •at the hustings to retrenchment and economy has sanctioned appropriations more extravagant and wasteful than we have seen for many a long year. During the last year of Sir Harry Atkinson's rule the public works and Native expenditure was £334,000. This year it is to be £1,113,000. On roads alone over £300,000 was spent last year under various headings. For goldfields. the exploration of which is now to be chiefly m the hands of wealthy German and other foreign syndicates, a huge slice of this loan is set apart. One electoral district alone is to have £70,0'i0. You will, without difficulty, spot the favoured electorate. How does Canterbury f-ire m the distribution of this million, to the interest on which she will contribute about £7000 a year? All the electoral districts m Canterbury pu r . to gether will receive 0,11.4 a a mere ; fraction o.f it. What is to be the end of this waste and extrava gance ? It can only be an oppressive addition to a taxation which is already greater per head than that of any other British colony. Th » burthen of this addition will not m the long run fall only upon those who pay wages, but must be shared largely by those who receive them. Taxation like water finds its way downwards. Already New Zealand has to send away £1,700,000 a year for interest upon its National debt — a sum equal to 5,000 sovereigns for every working day, the greater part of which, if retained within the colony, would be spent on the employment of labour. This new loan and all the other large additions to our debt for which our present Go vernment is responsible, means heavy increased drains upon the earnings of the colonists, and consequent further diminishing of the wage fund of the colony. The apparent recklessness of the Seddon Administration m this matter appears to be a source of the gravest danger to New Zea land, and should be checked if we are to avoid serious disaster. A policy of borrowing and squandering is a game of political fireworks which may for a time illumine the favoured dis tricts m which the money is spent, but will surely be followed by deeper gloom and greater diffi culties, of which we have had a proof m the past history of New Zealand. NON-BORROWING. The pretensions of the Government as advo cates of a non-borrowing policy arc at last ex ploded. For six years they have thrown dust m the eyes of the people by arrogantly announcing their self-reliant policy ; and during the whole time they have tricked and dccciv d the people, they have seized every available sinking fund j under their loan conversion operations, and finally raked m £85,000 belonging to the Local Bodies. Post Office and Savings Bank deposits they have also swallowed up, and now, having exhausted every means of surreptitious borrowing, they are driven to open borrowing to pay for expenditure already incurred. No Government more reckless m finance has ever controlled the Treasury, and much of this money (spent before the loan was authorised) has been expended upon goldfields, presumably for the benefit of a foreign syndicate, from whom the Premier receives a salary. The expenditure upon the goldfields may possibly be justified as developing the resources of the colony, but m such matters the Premier of the colony should be above suspicion, and should not de scend to become the paid servant of people whose interests directly clash with the interests of the taxpayers. The export duty on gold should again be collected, and funds would thus be provided for works on goldfields, which would not then be made a burden upon other industries. The farmers pay rates for the roads they require, and the gold miner should, by an export duty on ! gold, also provide the means for his own roads. The miner comes and goes, but the farmer must endure for all time and should not be saddled with the miner's costs. This non-borrowing Go vernment has increased the public debt about

£5,000,000, quite apart from the £2,000,000 guaranteed to the Bank of New Zealand, and the probable loss of another £1,000,000 on account of the Assets Company, of which Board the Premier is a member drawing £400 a year. The appropriations for public works have increased enormously under the present Government, and from £334,000 m the last year of the Atkinson Administration, as already stated, they have mounted up to £1,1 13,000 by way of appropria tion for the current year, of which Canterbury receives about £20,000, and is snubbed when she remonstrates. Unless this reckless expendi ture is clieckeil it will be found-when the present Ministry go out of office that the country "will be n on the verge of bankruptcy as it was m 1879, when a former Liberal Ministry failed to provide for the interest then falling due, and the un pleasant task was forced on the Hall- Atkinson Ministry of cutting down the salaries of the civil servants to help make good the deficiency m the Public Treasury, which was brought about by. the reckless finance of their predecessors. The bank ing legislation of the last two years has shown the incapacity of the Government to protect the taxpayers of the colony, and those loud voiced demagogues, who proclaim themselves upon all occasions as the friends of the people, have m reality shown themselves to be nothing better than puppets m the hands of cunning finan ciers: they guaranteed a trifle like without taking the trouble to ascertain the true position of the bank, and the year following they repeated their blunder by sanc tioning the purchase of the Colonial Bank, while they have now wasted the best part of a session m preventing the truth of the matter from being inquired into. The taxpayers may well ask themselves, For whose beuefit was all this banking business undertaken ? Every question calculated to bring but the truth was ruled' 1 out of order, and the public have yet to learn the real facts of the case. There was only one Opposition member on the Banking Enquiry Com mittee, and he was threatened with persoml viol ence by the Minister of Lands. The whole thing is foul with corruption, and the public of New Zea land Avill not be satisfied until it is cleared up. I commend for their perusal the minority report of \tr George Hutchison, which, was published m tho Press of the 10th October. MINISTERIAL EXTRAVAGANCE. The extravagant of the present Ministry is well exemplified by their personal drafts upon the public exchequer. In I S B7 an Act wa < passed, with the express object of strictly limiting the amount of public money wl ich Ministers could expend m any on- year upon their own travelling a'lowances. This was fixed at £1000 for the whole Ministry. Yet, i r i flagrant violation of the law, Parliamentary returns, wliich were ex tracted from the Government after mc edible difficulty, show that, during the financial year 1693-94, the Seddon Ministry drew from the ■Treasury for their travelling allowances and ex pen es, £2030 1 5s 3d, while m the year 1894-5 the amount had run up to £3129 18s 4d. SPOILS TO THE VICTORS. The scandalous doctrine of " Spoils to the Victors/ so openly avowed and practised by Mr Seddon, unless speedily put down, is calculated to sap and undermine all sense of honour and honesty among the people. Spoils to the vict rs means the robbery of the honest and industrious taxpayers of the colony to find the means for wholesale bribery and corruption of the political toadies and hangers-on of the Government. No more shameful and pernicious doctrine was ever promulgated ; and it is, unfortunately, too true a reflex of the character of the present Administra tion who do not hesitate to encourage spies and informers, and to reward them with appointments that should be given to the most deserving of the civil servants of the colony : who also appoint men as Justices of the Peace who are frequently m a condition when they ought to be fined 5s by their fellow Justices ; whil>t some of the ap pointments to the Legislative Council are calcu late)dt6;:degrade the whole Parliament, ancl to bring into contempt a position that should be the most honourable m the colony. CO-OPERATIVE LABOR. The wasteful extravagance of the so-called co operative labour does not come under the obser vation of the Ashburton electors, as we have no public works, good or bad, m progress m Canter bury, but the system is m full force m other parts of the colony, and is not only wasteful m itself m resorting to the most primitive style of doing work, but is subject to gross abuse for political purposes. Six years ago, when a general election was pending, as it now is, a crowd of men (votes for Mr Seddon) were em ployed m the Teremakau and the Otira Valleys improving roads that did not require improve ment, and attempting rock cuttings m the Otira that have since been abandoned. Now, the same process is being repeated, and men are being collected m the Otira Valley, ostensibly employed m making part of the Midland Railway, but m reality gathered together to make Mr Seddon's election see m case Mr Grimmond should ven ture to challenge the seat Every man who applies to Mr Seddon for work is drafted to the Otira. How is it that Mr Seddon, having a per

feotly free hand as regards the Midland Railway works, does not give a part of it to the unem ployed of Canterbury ? There is plenty of scope for "the employment of a few hundreds of them m the vicinity of the Cass River, and towards the WaimakaTiri Gotge, where the men would find a genial climate at this season of the year, and be able to do much more effective work and give b%tter results for their wages than can be done b\the patchwork style of work now m progress "m the Otira Valley. It is lime that the unemployed m Canterbury asserted their right to share m any expendituie which the Premier is authorised to make m eonnbjction with ' the Midland Railway, the moreW because by far the larger portion remaining to be doncTis within the Canterbury boundary. - <; OLD AGE PENSIONS. The old ago pension scheme put forward by MrSe r ldon was crude m the extreme, and put Jorward as a vote catcher only. Such a Bill re quired the mos% careful preparation ; but with that lofty indifference to detail which characterises the work of Mr Seddon, details were forgotten, and he no- doubt relied on its rejection by the Legislative Council to save him from the trouble of providing the ways and means. That some provision should be made for the old and infirm, whether 65 or under 65, commends itself to bur common humanity ; but the provisions of such an Act must guard against imposture of every kind, and not sap the self-reliance and self respect of the Anglo-Saxon race. Thy pension should be the reward of an honest if unsuccessful life, and not the refuge of those who will neither sow nor reap for their own support. THE ELECTIVE EXECUTIVE I do not believe m, but prefer the system of Party Government, under which the liberties of Englishmen have been built up for centuries past. The responsibility under Party Govern ment is clear and we.l defined, and the electors are the proper judges to decide when the party m power has been true or false to the national interest, and deal witn them at the ballot-box a<> _.._-■ cordingly. An Elective Executive oho ••on by ■mem bers of Parliament would be destructive of that sense of responsibility to the House and to Iho country which no Minister can shako off under , the existing system, and .which/the experience of centuries strengthens and confirms!; Lot' 3 us not go back to the Doge* of Venice and tho Dark. Agos-. LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. It is so many years since I first advocated tho reform of the Legislative Council, by doing away - - with the- purely nominated character of that branch of the Legislature, that it is perhaps ad visable to remind the elsctors of the fact. But however desirable it may be to do away with the nominated system, there is no more foolish cry than that of doing away Tvith the Second Chamber altogether. The Legislative Council have done excellent service to the -colony upon innumerable occasions, by acting as a safeguard against the rash and hasty proceedings of the Lower House, and sending back for reconsidera tion measures which their authors hardly ex pected to see passed, and which had been pro moted only as party moves ; occasionally, how ever, they have done the unexpected, as when they passed the Female Franchise Bill. The only reform of the Legislative Council that at present commends itself to my judgment is, that the members shall be elected by the people of the colony, by grouping ten or a dozen of the ordi nary electoral districts, and by conducting the elections on the Hare system The Council would then, m all probability, be composed of men of ability and integrity, who were well known for their patriotism, and we should not see the nominations to the Council made as the reward of political perfidy. IN CONCLUSION Permit me to say that m accepting the present contest I have neither personal desire nor am bition to serve, that during the nine years I have (at intervals) had the honour to. /represent this district m Parliament I have striven by all fair means for the advancement of the Colony and the development of its resources, and have never sought the slightest personal favour from any Ministry. Should you do me the, very great honour of electing me at a time when I am not able to address you personally, I shall feel great pleasure m watching over your interests, and shall support every measure calculated to pro mote healthy enterprise, to restore confidence, and to stimulate honest industry and self-reliance among the people. I have the honour to be, • Your obedient servant, EDWARD G. WRIGHT.

FEINTED AT THUS " ASHJBTJRTQN MAII, " OFFICE, GENERAL PRINTING WORKS,